Western militaries spend considerable resources on trainings designed to professionalize foreign militaries. We contend that professionalization may politicize foreign officers by reinforcing a belief that soldiers are superior to civilians. We test this theory through a survey of nearly 3000 self-described military personnel in Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia. In all three countries, we find that military personnel who identify as professional tend to be more supportive of military coups, of the military having veto power over security and economic policy, and of active-duty officers becoming the defense minister and the president. Through a causal mediation analysis, we find that this effect of professionalism on politicization may be caused by beliefs that the military is more fair, moral, and trustworthy than civilians.