Ethical Dilemmas in the Military

ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN THE MILITARY
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Ethical Dilemmas in the Military
Introduction
Values inform principles. Principles guide behavior. With knowledge of what one is required to do and not to do, professionals are prompted to comply with the application of professional ethics and values that guide the conduct of civil workers. The military is one of the areas where the application of ethical issues has been an issue under contention. Army officers face a great challenge in doing what they are required to do by order and what they think is supposed to be done as morally upright. In this sense, ethics basically refers to the rightness or wrongness of a decision or action that an individual does. It more or less related to the morality principle. The morality principle is a set of natural and universal rules that guide the conduct of all human beings. In the military, soldiers are sometimes called to war, to resolve conflict or bring a particular scenario under control (Perry, 2004). In all these assignments, military officers are subject to follow whatever they are told to do. As part of their training, one is required to follow orders to the latter, failure which will be treated as a military offence, subject to punishment including dismissal.
This scenario sets the basis of the argument. In other words, while in the battlefield and/or call of duty, should military officers, no matter how compelling a situation is, do what is morally right for them or follow orders including going against the principles of morality which define ethics? This is the dilemma that military officers and soldiers are faced with in their line of duty. Just like any other profession, the military is also subject to ethical consideration because the elements are human beings. In respect to this, this paper will discuss the ethical dilemmas that soldiers and military personnel are faced with in their line of duty. Specifically, the paper will address concepts of ethical conduct in decision making, ethical conduct in action, social responsibility in decision making social responsibility in actions. To arrive at the conclusions case analysis with the use of illustrations will be used to in respect to the topic of discussion.
Ethical Conduct in Decision Making
In the military, soldiers and other military personnel are trained to take orders. Failure to take orders is a military indiscipline case subject to punishment including dismissal. During combat, there is barely enough room to make decisions. The battlefield does not allow for time to think. Besides, other compelling situation in which the military has a direct involvement is also not a good venue to ponder about issues (Perry, 2004). The greatest dilemma here is whether to do what is wrong as commanded or do what is right as an individual consent. As much as soldiers are expected to follow orders, they are, by the principle of morality also expected to be morally responsible for their right. For instance, when an army officer in combat or in life saving situation is ordered to kill civilians, the question is whether to do it or not. Making this decision is one of the greatest dilemmas. As an example, if a soldier is ordere...