Understanding Military Culture: A Canadian Perspective

Paul Dickson is a strategic analyst at the Directorate of Air Strategic
Plans, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa.

Understanding Military Culture compares U.S. and Canadian military
traditions in order to examine the impact of Americanization on the
Canadian Forces. (Interestingly, English also considers the possible
“Canadianization” of the American military.) The bulk of the book
reviews the literature on military culture, describes different
interpretations of the nature of the two countries’ military cultures,
and lays out the primary questions. English’s view, based on the
existing literature, is that the Canadian Forces must continue to tread
a fine line between retaining the ability to work in combination with
U.S. forces—interoperability—while ensuring that its educational
institutions, organizational structure, and people reflect, and remain
attuned to, the needs of Canadian society.

Understanding Military Culture does not contribute a great deal of
original insight into the relationship between the Canadian and U.S.
military cultures (as the author suggests, 21st-century Canadian
military culture awaits rigorous study), but it does gather together in
one place the theories and schools of thought that frame the issue; that
alone makes it a useful and important work.