March 26, 2015
Not long ago I was searching for an obscure office off a little-used corridor in the lowest subterranean level of the Pentagon when I had an epiphany. Though it seems far-fetched at first glance, J. K. Rowling’s fabulously successful series of Harry Potter novels is nothing less than a thinly-disguised allegory of the U.S. armed forces.
Rowling’s tale is about good, evil, and coming of age in a community based on arcane magic, existing among but hidden from the rest of human society. It revolves around Hogwarts, an academy where trainee wizards learn their craft. Students arriving at Hogwarts are assigned to one of four centuries-old houses within the school based on their personality traits, and their lives then revolve around these identities as the houses vie with each other for preeminence. And this is where the parallels with the American defense establishment start revealing themselves.
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