Military and Societal ValuesColonel Malham M. Wakin, in his evening address, asks whether Plato's statement that "knowledge is virtue" is true. Many contemporary experiences suggest otherwise. To some extent, such an observation could also apply to the military. Colonel Wakin argues that we may have some basic knowledge about human behavior, but we live in a highly pluralistic society in which some practices reject this basic knowledge. However, even if the military comes from this pluralistic society, the uniqueness of the military function will always keep its primary practitioners apart from the mainstream of civil society. The military profession swears to defend values, a way of life that integrates the minimum conditions of human dignity. After examining the convergence of values ​​that are functionally necessary for the military and those that we know are fundamental to social existence, he concludes that a competent military profession can serve as a moral anchor to the parent society. I was going to have the opportunity to study philosophy in graduate school, I was extremely excited. What a wonderful opportunity it would be, I thought, to sit at the feet of Socrates and be enlightened by those who have studied the crucial problems of human existence. I expected the senior philosophy professors to be wonderful role models in their personal lives and looked forward to associating with those who had solved the problems of the universe. Indeed, these senior teachers seemed very wise. They were dazzling in their ability to cite the names and theories of great thinkers from all eras. They knew the opinions of those whose names I couldn't even pronounce, and I said to myself, "I will never be able to grasp all these ideas or remember them well enough to teach them to others." » But as time went on, I became slightly devastated to find that these senior teachers were not, as a group, the friendly teachers of everyday life that I had expected them to be. They weren't all inherently nice, not even to each other. In fact, some would sometimes cross the street to avoid meeting and speaking to a colleague. And some have struggled in their most important personal relationships - divorce, legal wrangling, envy, defamation, narcissism - hardly what I had hoped for in the most competent and studious people in our society..