Ethical Entrenchment: Who Determines the Ethical Climate of the U.S. Military?
Location
Room 217, Schewel Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Entry Number
128
Start Date
4-5-2023 1:45 PM
End Date
4-5-2023 2:00 PM
College
College of Education, Leadership Studies, and Counseling
Department
Counseling and Human Services
Keywords
ethical leadership, moral injury, military ethics
Abstract
Research on the ethical climate within the U.S. military has increased substantially in the last two decades (e.g, Tatum et al., 2019: Allen, C. 2015; Spain, E. 2022, etc.). This can be traced to increased exposure of senior military scandals, content of Geneva convention violations by US service members, and fatal training exercises. However, despite the increased attention to the military ethical climate, more questions have been raised by this research, such as: when and in what capacity are our service members exposed to ethical training? (Robinson, 2007). What is the purported benefit of ethical training? (Tatum et al., 2019). How does the military population respond to such training? (Robinson, 2007). Is ethical training only in response to the public exposure of unethical behavior? (Tatum et al., 2019).
The real issues lie within our military culture’s entrenchment in the “core warrior values;” (Robinson, 2007), within the ‘mission first’ ethos (Hatcher, 2016); within the unseen sacrifices our service members readily make for an organization in which the ethical framework lacks continuity. Our service members may lack a foundation, a role model, an organizational character to carry out their role in an ethically competent manner. The psychological impact of such failures of our military leaders to properly support and prepare our service members results in moral injury, depression, interpersonal relational difficulties, and suicidality (Phelps et al., 2022). This ethical dilemma within our military is not new, the detrimental effects on service members has been researched since the Vietnam War. Fifty years later and the questions are still more numerous than the answers. In this presentation, we tackle the unanswerable with humility, curiosity, and hope.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. David Gosling
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Ethical Entrenchment: Who Determines the Ethical Climate of the U.S. Military?
Room 217, Schewel Hall
Research on the ethical climate within the U.S. military has increased substantially in the last two decades (e.g, Tatum et al., 2019: Allen, C. 2015; Spain, E. 2022, etc.). This can be traced to increased exposure of senior military scandals, content of Geneva convention violations by US service members, and fatal training exercises. However, despite the increased attention to the military ethical climate, more questions have been raised by this research, such as: when and in what capacity are our service members exposed to ethical training? (Robinson, 2007). What is the purported benefit of ethical training? (Tatum et al., 2019). How does the military population respond to such training? (Robinson, 2007). Is ethical training only in response to the public exposure of unethical behavior? (Tatum et al., 2019).
The real issues lie within our military culture’s entrenchment in the “core warrior values;” (Robinson, 2007), within the ‘mission first’ ethos (Hatcher, 2016); within the unseen sacrifices our service members readily make for an organization in which the ethical framework lacks continuity. Our service members may lack a foundation, a role model, an organizational character to carry out their role in an ethically competent manner. The psychological impact of such failures of our military leaders to properly support and prepare our service members results in moral injury, depression, interpersonal relational difficulties, and suicidality (Phelps et al., 2022). This ethical dilemma within our military is not new, the detrimental effects on service members has been researched since the Vietnam War. Fifty years later and the questions are still more numerous than the answers. In this presentation, we tackle the unanswerable with humility, curiosity, and hope.