- Is the Military a Profession? Why or why not? How many professions do we have? Why are they different?
- Why does the answer to these questions matter – both to the military, and also to civilian policymakers?
- How should the issues of “integrity” and “morality” be viewed within the military profession, or in any profession? Are we cultivating these traits? Why/why not?
- How have recent “flare-ups” (moral failures of senior leaders, or when the CJCS pens an open letter, or when retired flag officers publicly disagree with policy) impacted the military profession?
- What are the main challenges – the battlegrounds – over the future of the military profession?
Snider is currently a Professor at the Army War College where he has taught and conducted research for the past eight years. In a military and academic career spanning more than five decades, Dr. Snider has held multiple positions of service to the United States military and to the Republic.
Snider commissioned as an Infantry officer from West Point in 1962. He served three tours in Vietnam, earning decorations for both valor and wounds received in action before continuing to serve with the 7th Infantry Division, including as Battalion Commander. Later on active duty, Snider served in multiple staff positions as a strategist and war planner - Chief of Theater Army War Plans in Europe during the height of the Cold War, Joint Planner for the Army Chief of Staff at the Pentagon, and as staff member of the National Security Council at the White House under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He retired from active service from the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1990.
After retiring from active service, Snider taught at West Point for 14 years, where he helped renew the study of military professions, their ethics, and their civil-military relations, publishing four books dedicated to these topics. He retired as Professor Emeritus from West Point in 2008.