The article tries to explain the ostensible contradiction between the concurrent indifference of the public towards the military and the relatively high public confidence in it in contemporary states. We seek to reveal characteristics of the complex relationship between the public and the military, using a theoretical elaboration of civil-military relations and the public's role in them, as well as a secondary analysis of public opinion data and comparing it cross-nationally. The Slovenian case is the subject of detailed attention, taking into account that public trust in the military is relatively high although it is accompanied by low public interest in military matters and by indifference. The article predicts that the co-operation in international peacekeeping operations and missions that has been a key source of the military's legitimacy in the last two decades might gradually become a source of its illegitimacy.
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