Professional military To understand the system of value operating inside the Defense Department, we must also look at the outlook that the professional military has on policy making. Two different general sets of perspectives exist. The traditional view sees the professional soldier as being above partisan politics. A clear line separates military and political affairs, and professional soldiers are expected to restrict themselves to speaking out only on those subjects falling within their sphere of expertise. In the fusionist perspective the professional soldier must acquire and use political skills if he or she is to exercise an effective voice on military matters. Moreover, the line separating military decisions from political ones is blurred. No pure area of military expertise exists wherein the professional soldier can expect to find his or fusionist, military involvement in traditional nonmilitary areas is all but guaranteed by the increasing use of the military as an instrument of foreign policy and by problems of resource scarcity.