3 Myths About the Military Career that are False

The world we live in is said to be created by myths and legends. Myths are widely held beliefs or ideas which more often than not, are either false, or an exaggeration of actual facts. Indeed, all myths are products of the human mind based on limited facts and information and therefore reflect only limited aspects of the reality that is. In this article, I will look at three myths about the military career that are false.

To begin with, the first popular myth that is very common is that military training and career are strenuous and have little to do with the civilian world. For many still, the perception of the military is largely shaped by Hollywood movies where soldiers are depicted mainly as 'infantry' with a knack for walking lengthy distances, spending long nights in dugouts and surviving in harsh terrain on nothing but locusts, honey and a tin of baked beans. In reality, though basic training for military personnel covers infantry skills, not every officer or soldier is an infantry man. In fact, the majority are not. After basic training, officers and soldiers are taken to their specific corps in line with their professional competencies. In the Zambia Army, apart for the infantry corps, there is a corps of Engineering, Medical, Education, Signals (ICT), Finance etc. The Army has cooks, lawyers, musicians and various other professionals filling out its ranks in many different specialities. Moreover, even for the infantry, three (03) out of the five (05) examinable courses for Promotion Exams (PROMEX) are 'noncombat', which are; Military Law, National and International Studies and Administration.

The second common myth which is closely related to the first is that military service is for 'under-achievers' and that the army is a preserve of the crude and less talented in society. However, by looking at education alone, and with what has been previously highlighted, this myth is easily busted. Of course, one cannot deny that during the colonial and part of the post-colonial period servicemen were a bit 'rough around the edges', but so too was the rest of the indigenous civil service. As a matter of fact, it was the military as an institution that begun modernizing faster than the rest of the civil service which some have linked to the many fallings-out between African militaries and their civilian leadership in the post-independence era. However, today, most modern armies around the world are professional institutions with many requiring a minimum of a college degree before joining for officers. Examples of such notable countries in Africa include; Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and most recently Rwanda. In developed countries, even enlisted troops are not as poorly educated as myth would have you believe. In the U.S. for example, 98 % of the enlisted force has at least a high school diploma as compared with 86.7 % of the U.S. civilian population aged 25 or older. In the Zambia Army, as already alluded to, certain corps such as Medical, Engineering, Education, Legal etc., are made up almost entirely of professionals with a minimum of a university degree. Thus, all things considered, the Army has a higher combined total of professional men and women than any other institution in Zambia and now attracts some of the best minds in the country.

Finally, the third and rather insidious myth about the military is that women cannot progress very far in the career. I addressed this in one of my previous articles but the issue seems persistent. To be sure, since the first women were recruited in the Zambia Army in September 1974, the employment of women in the Army has evolved from mainly 'non-combat' roles to more active duty military service and deployment on both local and international operations. A more recent phenomenon has been the Female Engagement Teams (FETs) which have been very successful on peace operations in places such as the Central African Republic (CAR). Furthermore, women have been rising in rank and military status with the current Director of Army Legal Services (DALS) being one of the youngest female Colonels in the sub-region while the ICT Branch of the entire Army is headed by a female Brigadier General.

Of course, there are some roles in the military which are daunting not only for women but men alike, but largely, progression in the military career has less to do with gender and more with personal ambition, ability and preferences. All in all, at the center of every myth is another: that of the people who created it and their interpretation of facts. Therefore, to explode or bust a myth is accordingly, not to deny the facts, but simply to re-allocate them.