When faced with adversary, he cannot be fearful of losing face or seeming disloyal but instead must ask 'what actions are necessary to take for the greater good?' Even when a military leader disciplines a subordinate for disobedience, these actions are because of the requirements of safety and the need for adherence to institutional rules, not because of personal anger. Military officers must hold fast to an "objective professional ethic" of responsibilities owed to themselves, to the institution, to their leaders, and to the American public.[footnoteRef:3] When personal and individual obligations conflict with those of the collective ethos, the need to preserve institutional authority must be upheld. For example, "where it would be improper for a manager at IBM to invade the privacy of her employees, the officer is morally obligated to do so" rather than place others in the service at risk.[footnoteRef:4] [2: Margaret Hermann, "Assessing leadership constraints: A trait analysis," Social Science Leadership Automation, 1998, 15] [3: Snider, D., Nagl, J. & Pfaff, T. "Army professionalism, the military ethic, and officership in the 21st century." Strategic Studies Institute, 1999, 8] [4: Snider et al., 1999, 8.] The stakes are very high in decision-making in the military, and even though there must be an adherence to mission and protocol,...
Blind loyalty or a disregard for the philosophical underpinnings of the mission and the ethos of the unit can cause the military to forget its higher values and the reason men and women fight and die on the battlefield.[footnoteRef:5] A strong military leader is willing to voice an opinion, even if that opinion may not be the popular one or the well-respected. He or she may need to defer to superiors if that opinion is ignored -- or to stand up in the face of outright abuses. Refined personal judgment as well as a strong internalized code of military discipline is required to strike this delicate balance between obedience and judgment as a leader. [5: Kermit Johnson, "Ethical issues of military leadership," 27]
Worst Faults a Military Leader Can Exhibit: Incompetence, selfishness, and living in the past "If America is to meet the multiple challenges of the 21st century, it is crucial that we develop a system that places the right people in the right places in government at the right moment."[footnoteRef:1] But just as critical as being the 'right' type of leader is avoiding making some of the most typical mistakes of poor
Military Lessons Learned From Vietnam: Achieving Professionalism in Nursing The war in Vietnam is no longer America's lengthiest war, but it remains one of the costliest with more than 53,000 American lives lost and billions in national treasure spent. Indeed, the Vietnam War made it clear that it is possible to win all of the major military engagements but to still lose the war. Despite this overarching failure, a contemporary analysis
This situation can be somewhat complex, as an individual is likely to be placed in a position where their own skill set will be put to efficient use, meaning that their capabilities often (and ideally always) match the position and designation they have (USAI 2009). This means that perceptions of an individual's capabilities based on his or her MOS is likely at least partially rooted in truth, but that
Military Education SAMS MONOGRAPH PROSPECTUS FIELD OF STUDY The field of study will be a combination of history and operational art. The proposed topic is professional military education at the field-grade level during periods of peace. The training and actions after Armistice and after World War II will serve as case studies to help understand the topic at a deeper level. After twelve years of conflict and two wars, what reasonable quality of training
Military Rebuttal I am writing to express my deep remorse for my actions, which were conducted in a moment of poor judgment. I want to establish immediately that I am fully responsible for my actions and understand the gravity of my transgressions. There were many courses of action that I could have pursued, any of which would have been preferable to my ignoble conduct. I assure that in the future I
Military Draft In arguing against reinstating the military draft in the United States, several things come immediately to mind. First among those, for anyone who has learned anything at all about the Vietnam War, is that the draft can be devastating to society, causing upheaval at home as well as the return of bright, strong young men in body bags. David Halberstam, a journalist of considerable experience, wrote a book, The
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