Ethical Desicion Making
US ARMY COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE
Intermediate Level Education (ILE) Common Core
L100: Leadership – Forging Success in Uncertain Times
L103: Ethical Decision Making
Reading L103RA
A Pragmatic Ethical Decision Making Model For The Army: The Ethical Triangle
Dr. Jack D. Kem
In May 1968 soldiers of Charlie Company, 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division entered the village of My Lai in Vietnam and within three hours over 500 civilians had been massacred. This horrible memory of the United States Army at war was again remembered in 2004 as the case of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq exposed atrocities that continue to be an embarrassment for the military. The war in Iraq has also had a number of high profile cases that relate to ethical behavior, such as the court-martial for six reservists who had “scrounged” vehicles to deliver supplies to troops in the field and the scene of a Marine reacting to a perceived threat and subsequently killing an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Fallujah.
In all of these cases, the public has had widely different opinions of how to treat the military involved in the incidents. For Lieutenant Calley and those involved in My Lai, many in the public viewed the actions of Charlie Company as understandable because of the nature of the war in 1969 – everyone seemed to be the enemy, and the “search and destroy” missions of that time were based upon intelligence that indicated the enemy was using hamlets such as My Lai for refuge. As a result, the punishment for all of those involved in My Lai was very light or not at all; Lieutenant Calley was the only one convicted but he only served three days in prison and was pardoned by President Nixon after serving three and a half years on “house arrest.” For the recent cases in Iraq, the reaction has been mixed in the public, from widespread support for the Marine in Fallujah and the reservists who “scrounged” the vehicle, to disgust at the Abu Ghraib cases and
Intermediate Level Education (ILE) Common Core
L100: Leadership – Forging Success in Uncertain Times
L103: Ethical Decision Making
Reading L103RA
A Pragmatic Ethical Decision Making Model For The Army: The Ethical Triangle
Dr. Jack D. Kem
In May 1968 soldiers of Charlie Company, 11th Infantry Brigade of the Americal Division entered the village of My Lai in Vietnam and within three hours over 500 civilians had been massacred. This horrible memory of the United States Army at war was again remembered in 2004 as the case of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq exposed atrocities that continue to be an embarrassment for the military. The war in Iraq has also had a number of high profile cases that relate to ethical behavior, such as the court-martial for six reservists who had “scrounged” vehicles to deliver supplies to troops in the field and the scene of a Marine reacting to a perceived threat and subsequently killing an unarmed Iraqi prisoner in a mosque in Fallujah.
In all of these cases, the public has had widely different opinions of how to treat the military involved in the incidents. For Lieutenant Calley and those involved in My Lai, many in the public viewed the actions of Charlie Company as understandable because of the nature of the war in 1969 – everyone seemed to be the enemy, and the “search and destroy” missions of that time were based upon intelligence that indicated the enemy was using hamlets such as My Lai for refuge. As a result, the punishment for all of those involved in My Lai was very light or not at all; Lieutenant Calley was the only one convicted but he only served three days in prison and was pardoned by President Nixon after serving three and a half years on “house arrest.” For the recent cases in Iraq, the reaction has been mixed in the public, from widespread support for the Marine in Fallujah and the reservists who “scrounged” the vehicle, to disgust at the Abu Ghraib cases and