ABSTRACT
In the past decade, Anna Simons has emerged as one of the foremost social scientists studying defense, security, and military matters in the United States. Her 1997 ethnography, The Company They Keep: Life Inside the US In her essay, Simons turns anthropology's concerns inside out by reframing the new culturalism of the post-9/11 era in the context of the military's politics, practices, and epistemology. Anna Simons offers a perspective on education and training at the NPS, in this case teaching SOF operatives, based on long experience. Like Clementine Fujimura, Simons' tenure at an elite institution in the Professional Military Education system antedates the events of 9/11 or the military's increased interest in anthropology since the mid-2000s. With Fujimura, Simons also notes tensions between teaching and indoctrination. Simons quips that it might be better to think of her students as indoctrinees. In Simons's case, her students have been there, often multiple timesa theme echoed in Jessica Turnley's essay as well.
