ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses whether now is another similar period of transition and, if so, what is the new idea of military organization and purpose. Drawing heavily on the historical experience of Western European nations, to include the United States, it is possible to describe and contrast modern and postmodern military organizations, and to speculate about the factors facilitating movement from one type to the other. The dominant change in military force structure is away from the mass armed force model, based on conscription, toward a smaller, voluntary, professional force that relies on reserve forces to accomplish its missions. The postmodern military is required to be much more responsive to changes in the larger society. The widespread military obligations of which citizens used to have are supplanted by new, broader forms of civilian service. In the postmodern society, military service itself becomes more androgynous and the citizen server replaces the citizen soldier.
