Ethical Conduct in War - Essay Example

Soldiers comprehend that the military and their fellow soldiers look forward to them showing a high sense of honour beyond what is shown in popular culture. The world of honour in the military involves an individual discovering his real identity in roles and turning away from the roles is turning away from oneself. Hence, soldiers recognize that he or she is expected to take risks and forgo something to achieve the task, shield fellow soldiers or defend innocent people. The use of force to decrease risk to fellow soldiers while placing the mission or innocent people at risk has to be considered to be inconsistent with the military code of honour as well as professional ethics.

While emphasizing ethical behaviour as a goal, soldiers also value a utilitarian basis for sustaining the highest moral standards. Education on values in soldiers can ring hollow unless tracked in a manner that offers perspective and shows relevance. Therefore, showing soldiers their enemy’s propaganda aids in emphasizing the significance of ethical behaviour in countering misinformation. In the military, considerate treatment, addressing grievances and developing trust within the population is one of the essential means for achieving success in military operations.

Historical examples of extremes or abuse in pursuing tactical convenience have corrupted the moral nature of military units and destabilized planned objectives (“Moral, Ethical, And Psychological…” 13-16). Leaders in the military learn from history to evaluate their activities and put modern operations within the perspective of previous experiences. Evaluating previous military operation experiences allows leaders to question contemporary missions, evade mistakes committed in the past, identify opportunities and recognize effective techniques.

Though education and indoctrination in professional military ethics as well as tough and realistic training are essential, they are insufficient in preserving moral character in intense emotional and psychological pressures that result from combat (“Moral, Ethical, And Psychological …" 17). Therefore, leaders prepare units to cope with the stress that results from continuous operations within a counterinsurgency environment because combat stress usually results in unprofessional and unethical behaviour.

Since counterinsurgency operations are more stressful compared to conventional war, control of stress is a command responsibility even when grieving the loss of fellow soldiers. Military leaders have to be familiar with grief counselling and be able to watch soldier behaviour carefully to identify warning signs of stress like disconnection, suspiciousness toward comrades, distractibility and inconsistency (“Moral, Ethical, And Psychological …" 16). Leaders have to look for soldiers who have become “revenge-driven” because they can break down the discipline of the unit and inflict significant damage to the mission and fellow troopers; therefore, leaders endorse a commitment to fellow troopers and mission as the main motivating factors in war.

Certainly, following rules of warfare slows down reaction time and forces commanders to discriminate the use of firepower because the discriminate and precise use of firepower does more good than harm even at the lowest levels.