Ethical Lapses In The Military

Abstract
Ethical Leadership is the theory that leadership should be defined by the ethics and beliefs of a certain group or culture. The military tends to have different ethics than the country they serve due to the strain of the job. The U. S. Military still channels the core values and beliefs of the United States when in battle, but sometimes there are ethical lapses. The population tends to have harsh expectations for those who serve in the military. When the military does not do what the public decides is the “right choice” in high intensity moments, the public tends to shun the decisions that have been made. Many soldiers are often left homeless after they retire from their military careers due to this shunning. Wounded Warrior Project
There was a failure to teach Charlie Company the values, attitudes, beliefs and norms of the U.S. Army. As a result, they created their own and when they massacred a bunch of unarmed babies, women and old men the army was furious (Rielly, 2001). The investigation led after the massacre found that these rogue murderers were actually a typical unit that was left out of the correct training to prevent these ethical lapses from occurring. The investigation uncovered that the soldiers created a cohesive group centered around the values chosen by the unit to respect. So when mass murder happened, everyone outside the unit saw it as wrong while those inside the unit thought it was perfectly normal. This was further strengthened in an article on engaged leadership in the military where they studied causes for misconduct. “Furthermore, low levels of training and poor unit discipline are key indicators for misconduct. Leaders should be aware of the previous experiences of their soldiers and create a climate that not only demands they act appropriately, but also ensures they hold other unit members accountable for their conduct as well” (Warner,
With the help of other ethics experts and other officers built a chain-teaching instructional model focused around Laws of War, Army Values, and the West Point Honor Code. This model works by senior leaders teaching their immediate subordinates and they turn around and teach their subordinates and so on until all levels of the military personnel are taught. This was the model created because those subordinates will listen to their superior officer that spends the most time with them and cares about them more than some hired out trainer they may see once. The proof of this is shown in this