{"product_id":"an-american-profession-of-arms-the-army-officer-corps-17841861-modern-war-studies-9780700611140","title":"An American Profession of Arms: The Army Officer Corps  1784-1861 (Modern War Studies)","description":"\u003cp\u003eFollowing the formation of a regular army in 1784  a popular distrust of military power and the generally unsettled nature of national administration kept the army in a continual state of fluctuation  both in terms of organization and size. Few officers were making a long-term commitment to military service.  But by 1860  a professional army career was becoming a way of life. In that year  41.5 percent of officers had served 30 years  compared to only 2.6 percent in 1797.  Historians  while recognizing the emergence of a pre-Civil War professional army  have generally placed the solid foundation of military professionalism in the post-Civil War era. William Skelton maintains  however  that the early national and antebellum eras were crucial to the rise of the American profession of arms.  Although tiny by todays standards  the early officer corps nevertheless maintained strong institutional support and internal cohesion through a regular system of recruitment  professional training and education  and a high degree of leadership continuity. Through socialization and lengthening career commitments  officers came to share a common vision of their collective role with respect to warfare  foreign policy  Indian affairs  domestic politics  and civilian life.  The result  Skelton shows  was the formation of a distinctive military subculture rooted in tightly knit garrison communities across the frontier and along the seaboard  from which prominent Civil War leaders would emerge and whose essential character would persist well into the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646994210869,"sku":"ByrdShop_0700611142","price":32.03,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780700611140.jpg?v=1781684718","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/an-american-profession-of-arms-the-army-officer-corps-17841861-modern-war-studies-9780700611140","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}