Edward M. Coffman has written that "[a]nyone seriously interested in American military history has to come to terms with Samuel P. Huntington's The Soldier and the State.

[3] Specifically, the officer corps display specialized knowledge in the management of violence, maintains a monopoly on education and advancement in their field, and have an overarching responsibility to the society they serve and thus do not 'compete' in the open market.

Huntington argues this 'professional ethic' differentiates 'officers' from amateur groups engaged in violence (reservists, mercenaries, technical specialists, etc.).

It is the responsibility of the military to provide the public good of common defense since it acts as an agent to the principal government and citizenry.

(Huntington highlights the fact that the President cannot usurp the military hierarchy and appoint a lieutenant to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff).

[6] Additionally Huntington argues the officership displays a decidedly 'corporate character' as the officers tend to: live apart from general society, delineate hierarchy by specific uniforms and insignia, and maintain a strict separation (within the Department of Defense) from lay people who merely 'administer violence' (reservists).

Finally in the 19th century the idea of the aristocratic military genius was replaced by the Prussian reliance upon "average men succeeding by superior education, organization and experience."

He states that, "no country has had a wider variety of experiences in civil-military relations than modern Germany", with its officer corps achieving unmatched "high standards of professionalism" and then being "completely prostituted" under Nazism.

Chapter seven explains the structure of civil-military relations provided by the conservative U.S. constitution and civil control of the military.

Chapter sixteen analyzes the Cold War structure of the Defense Department in the context of civil-military relations.

Chapter seventeen discusses the challenges faced by the heightened ongoing defense needs of the Cold War versus the tradition of American liberalism and the move "Towards a New Equilibrium" between the two.