Understanding Rebellion in the Military During Wartime

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

Rebellion in the military takes a variety of forms, including mutiny, sabotage, combat refusals, illegal drug use, and going AWOL (absent without leave). Such actions are severely punished, particularly during wartime. This study investigates when such rebellions emerge and when they succeed in changing warmaking and policy. This research focuses on one of the most notable but understudied rebellions over the last century, which occurred during the US-led war in Vietnam (1965-75). Despite the risks and costs of rebelling, American GIs led intra-military mutinies, attacks against officers, military prison riots, anti-war protests, and other kinds of rebellions. By 1970, disciplinary breakdown across the military prompted the US government to withdraw its ground forces and end the draft altogether in 1973. Despite the importance of military rebellion in shaping warmaking, political control, and state-society relations, however, little is known about when and how service members rebelled, or why they choose very different tactics when responding to grievances. This study conducts approximately 300 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of Vietnam veterans of varied backgrounds and service histories. Transcribed interviews are coded using a two-stage process in qualitative software, according to the principles of grounded theory and process tracing methods, to uncover the meso- and micro-level mechanisms giving rise of rebellions and their varied forms. These data are supplemented with archival and secondary sources, including newspaper reports and government documents, to verify and elaborate on the interview data. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from political and military science, criminology and psychology, history and area studies, and peace studies, this project’s findings increase public knowledge, improve decision making, and advance the study of military loyalty and dissent. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.