Analysis Of 'The Pentagon Should Adjust Standards For Cyber Soldiers'

In the modern military, emphasis is shifting from combat arms roles dominating the armed forces to roles that may be considered more so support, chief among which is cybersecurity. Cybersecurity units have been having trouble recruiting people who meet the qualifications to serve as a cyber operations officer, but also meet physical standards set by the military. In “The Pentagon Should Adjust Standards For Cyber Soldiers - As it Has Always Done” by Major Crispin Burke, an officer in the U.S. Army. The Author describes how in his mind, the best way to get qualified people into cybersecurity positions is to lower physical standards for this branch and allow people who would otherwise be disqualified from military service to serve in this branch.
Burke uses the following historical example to justify altering standards for the cyber corps, “The armed forces have had a long history of adjusting and ignoring standards or waiving certain training requirements to allow for talented recruits in a variety of specialized fields — early aviation as well as the legal, medical, and religious fields are prime examples. The institution long accepted this, too — a uniform deficiency that might get an enlisted infantryman hemmed up may well be tolerated in a chaplain, a doctor, or a senior warrant officer. Cyber soldiers, for the time being, should be no different” (Burke). He cites the fact that not all standards are held across all branches and that people in certain branches are held to higher standards as it is and uses logos to convince the reader that it’s just as logical to relax standards with the cyber branch. He also explains how this is similar to chaplains, doctors, and warrant officers, all very important people, which appeals to the reader with
By first making the reader feel as though there is a problem that directly, emotionally relates to his claim, he uses logos to prove how much of a problem it truly is. The article states, “The United States has become spoiled because for the last generation it has been fighting weak regional adversaries that cannot effectively attack rear areas. That is changing with the rise of Russia and China, which can challenge the United States in all warfighting domains. Experiences in World War II and Korea remind us that rear areas are not always safe, and sometimes rear area personnel must defend themselves against attacks by regular and irregular forces. Witness the Battle of the Bulge, Guadalcanal, Chosin reservoir” (Cancian). The author points out how things that worked in the past will not work in the future, but rather we need to look further back in the past. Here he is using the exact same rhetorical strategy as Burke, using the past to demonstrate their point, here being that all military personnel need to be trained and combat-ready because you can’t always choose which troops take contact and which do