The Army Officers' Professional Ethic

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic
Author: Matthew Moten
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2010
Genre: Leadership
ISBN:

This monograph surveys the history of the Army's professional ethic, focusing primarily on the Army officer corps. It assesses today's strategic, professional, and ethical environment. Then it argues that a clear statement of the Army officers' professional ethic is especially necessary in a time when the Army is stretched and stressed as an institution. The Army officer corps has both a need and an opportunity to better define itself as a profession, forthrightly to articulate its professional ethic, and clearly to codify what it means to be a military professional.

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic
Author: Matthew Moten
Publisher:
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2010-02-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9781461082477

General George W. Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, once observed: "If you walked around the Army and asked people what the professional military ethic is, you would get a lot of different answers."1 That is because Army's professional military ethic is not codified, although its spirit is resident in a number of documents. Other American professions have clearly promulgated statements of ethics. Within the Army, there are several extant statements of ethical responsibility-for Soldiers, noncommissioned officers (NCOs), and civilians-but not for officers. This monograph briefly surveys the history of the Army's professional ethic, focusing primarily on the Army officer corps. It assesses today's strategic, professional, and ethical environment. Then it argues that a clear statement of the Army officers' professional ethic is especially necessary in a time when the Army is stretched and stressed as an institution. The Army officer corps has both a need and an opportunity to better define itself as a profession, forthrightly to articulate its professional ethic, and clearly to codify what it means to be a military professional. Finally, this monograph articulates such an ethic. For more than 2 centuries, the U.S. Army has developed a mature professionalism, but one that waxed and waned over time. The historical record shows that wartime crises tended to produce, or perhaps to expose, the profession's shortcomings, which peacetime reformers then sought to correct. The Army's professional ethic embraced national service, obedience to civilian authority, mastery of a complex body of doctrinal and technical expertise, positive leadership, and ethical behavior. But at the beginning of the 21st century, it was less healthy in terms of its junior professionals' acceptance of a lifelong call to service. Time would show that it was doctrinally unprepared for the trials that lay ahead. Eight years of repetitive deployments have left the Army, in the words of General Casey, "stressed and stretched." Some observers think the Army is near the breaking point. Several factors contribute to that stress. One concern is the type of warfare that the Army is being asked to conduct, counterinsurgency, which is one of the most ethically complex forms of war. Further, during these years of war, some policy decisions have tended to blur moral, ethical, and legal lines that Soldiers have long been trained to observe and uphold. Officers, above all, must fight to maintain and safeguard the laws of war as a professional responsibility. Third, since the post-Cold War drawdown, the armed forces have chosen to rely more and more heavily on commercial contractors, sometimes for inherently governmental functions. Today, the Army is "selling" large tracts of its professional jurisdiction. Finally, professionally improper dissent on the part of retired generals and the widespread perception that they speak for their former colleagues still on active duty threaten the public trust in the military's apolitical and nonpartisan ethic of service as well as the principle of civilian control.

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic
Author: Col Matthew Moten
Publisher: Scholar's Choice
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2015-02-16
Genre:
ISBN: 9781298047410

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Army's Professional Military Ethic in an Era of Persistent Conflict

The Army's Professional Military Ethic in an Era of Persistent Conflict
Author: Don M. Snider
Publisher:
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2009
Genre: Leadership
ISBN:

"This essay offers a proposal for the missing constructs and language with which we can more precisely think about and examine the Army's Professional Military Ethic, starting with its macro context which is the profession's culture. We examine three major long-term influences on that culture and its core ethos, thus describing how they evolve over time. We contend that in the present era of persistent conflict, we are witnessing dynamic changes within these three influences. In order to analyze these changes, we introduce a more detailed framework which divides the Ethic into its legal and moral components, then divide each of these into their institutional and individual manifestations. Turning from description to analysis, we also examine to what extent, if any, recent doctrinal adaptations by the Army (FM 3-0, 3-24, and 6-22, etc.) indicate true evolution in the essential nature of the profession's Ethic. Then, we present what we believe to be the most significant ethical challenge facing the Army profession -- the moral development of Army leaders, moving them from 'values to virtues' in order that they, as Army professionals, can consistently achieve the high quality of moral character necessary to apply effectively and, in a trustworthy manner, their renowned military-technical competencies."--P. x

The Future of the Army Profession

The Future of the Army Profession
Author: Lloyd J. Matthews
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Primis Custom Publishing
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Who are the future members of the Army profession and how is their competence to be certified to their client, the American people? This is a contemporary analysis of the Army profession, its knowledge and expertise, with conclusions and policy recommendations.

Essential Guide to Military Ethics

Essential Guide to Military Ethics
Author: U. S. Military
Publisher:
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2017-03-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781520823256

This unique book reproduces five valuable monographs and documents about military ethics, including the 2015 Fort Leavenworth Ethics Symposium (The Professional Ethic and the State Symposium Report), the book Army Professionalism, The Military Ethic, and Officership in the 21st Century, and important speeches by Trump Administration National Security Advisor McMaster on moral and ethical conduct in battle. Army Professionalism, The Military Ethic, and Officership in the 21st Century - The authors address what they perceive to be a decline in military professionalism in the Army officer corps. The authors first describe the ethical, technical, and political components of military professionalism and then address the causes for the decline. They conclude by proposing a set of principles which, if adhered to, will reinvigorate the vision of the officer corps and motivate the corps to selfless service. Fort Leavenworth Ethics Symposium - This compendium of articles document the independent thought of many experts, covering a wide array of related topics regarding Soldiers and politics, trust between society and the military, caring for service members and veterans, moral injury, and the professional obligations of the military. Although chosen for this year's symposium, these subjects are enduring and represent longstanding topics that will shape how we view the relationship between society and the military for years to come. Chapters include: Breach of Trust: A Contributing Factor to Traumatic Stress Injuries in Soldiers * The Profession of Arms and the Moral State We are In: The Shared Mission of Ordered Liberty * Wounded Warriors as Army Professionals and the Tension Between Selfless Service and Self-Interest * The Unjustness of the Current Incantation of Jus Post Bellum * Veteran's Administration: Can it Provide What the Nation Needs it to Provide? * Ethical Paradox, Cultural Incongruence, and the Need for a Code of Ethics in the US Military * Moral Injury and the Problem of Facing Religious Authority * A Uniform Code of Military Ethics * Jus ad Bellum, Conscience, and the Oath of Office: The Problem of Selective Conscientious Objection in the United States Military * To Support and Defend * Towards Just Intelligence: Wielding Power More Legitimately in an Era of Persistent Conflict * Kevlar for the Soul: The Morality of Force Protection * Grounding British Army Values Upon an Ethical Good * Multiple Ethical Loyalties in Guantanamo * Competing for Relevance: The Army Ethic in an Age of Moral Diversity * Ethical Considerations in Humanitarian Efforts * Preparing Soldiers of Character * Stewardship in the Army and Stewarding the State * Officers Should Not Vote * The Two-Mirror Model: A Concept for Interpreting the Effects of Moral Injury Moral, Ethical, and Psychological Preparation of Soldiers and Units for Combat - Address delivered on by Brigadier General H. R. McMaster, U.S. Army - Because our enemy is unscrupulous, some argue for a relaxation of ethical and moral standards and the use of force with less discrimination, because the ends-the defeat of the enemy-justify the means employed. To think this way would be a grave mistake. The war in which we are engaged demands that we retain the moral high ground despite the depravity of our enemies.

Once Again, the Challenge to the U.S. Army During A Defense Reduction: To Remain A Military Profession (Enlarged Edition)

Once Again, the Challenge to the U.S. Army During A Defense Reduction: To Remain A Military Profession (Enlarged Edition)
Author: Don M. Snider
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2013-05-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1304057186

As with the post-Cold War downsizing during the Clinton administration in the late 1990s, one critical challenge for the U.S. Army centers on the qualitative, institutional character of the Army after the reductions-will it manifest the essential characteristics and behavior of a military profession with soldiers and civilians who see themselves sacrificially called to vocation and its service to country within a motivating professional culture that sustains a meritocratic ethic, or will the Army's character be more like any other government occupation in which its members view themselves as filing a job, motivated mostly by the extrinsic factors of pay, location, and work hours? In mid-2010, the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff directed the Commanding General, Training and Doctrine Command, then General Martin Dempsey, to undertake a broad campaign of learning, involving the entire Department. The intent was to think through just it means for the Army to be a profession...

Army Professionalism, the Military Ethic, and Officership in the 21st Century

Army Professionalism, the Military Ethic, and Officership in the 21st Century
Author: Don M. Snider
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute
Total Pages: 56
Release: 1999-12
Genre: Command of troops
ISBN: 9781584870111

This paper, jointly sponsored by SSI and CPME, is intended to be the first of many whose purpose is to promote scholarship on Officership and the Professional Military Ethic as well as enhance the discussion of military professionalism within the Army and sister services.