How Does French Culture Influence American Culture

Civilians throughout the world constantly look at the US Army and assess what makes it operate the way it does. The realization is that it is not only the regulations that are a driving force behind the actions of the Army and its Soldiers, but also the collection of each individual Soldiers beliefs, morals, and actions that dictates the culture of the Army. This idea of what drives culture is what will be the focal point of this paper. Not in regards to the Army, but rather the country of France. Through research we can see that what makes French culture is the combination of religion, values, economy, politics, and military. The main religion found in France is Catholicism, where 64 percent of the French population identify as Roman Catholic. However, there are a large number of other religions found within France to include Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mormonism to name just a few. The most astonishing aspect of religion in France is that “….about half of the population is not religious or atheist — despite the fact that it is generally considered to be the birthplace of Western secularism.” (4). With such a variety of beliefs found within a country, the values that

This carries over to air defense as well. It is interesting to note that when the United States began to develop their air defense, the Coast Guard went to France to receive training. Even from the commencement of US air defense the French were ahead of the game and assisted the US in developing their own air defense. It is apparent even today as “Only 2 countries in the world have developed a self-propelled, self-contained SAM system capable of firing radar guided missiles, France and Russia.” (2). The US has developed a highly effective air defense branch but we would not be where we are today without the guidance from