Over the past few years, public confidence in the U.S. military, which has been extraordinarily high for decades, has fallen precipitously. In a poll of attitudes toward the military, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute found that the percentage of people expressing a great deal of trust and confidence in that institution had fallen from 70% in 2018 to 45% in 2021. There is at least anecdotal evidence to suggest that this fall from grace is related to the perception that the military, like Esau, has sold its birthright for a mess of pottage, that it has squandered its standing as a profession, becoming just another self-interested bureaucracy. 

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