Military Recruit Ethical Analysis

Army’s Ethical Failure to Properly Vet Recruits
Mental behavioral issues impact the Army’s ethical standard when one whose behavior conflicts with those standards. We continually have new recruits coming into the Army, both enlisted and officers. According to the United States Army Recruiting Command (2013), new recruits make up around 80,000 of the force in a single year for both the Active component and Reserves. This influx of new recruits continuously puts ethical standards at the forefront of Army issues, not saying that new recruits are the only ones who have mental illnesses. There are plenty of stories about senior leaders who have mental illness as well. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the Army is failing to identify
Additionally, between 2001 and 2011 the rate of active duty members with mental health issues have increased by 65 percent (Brewin, 2013). These mental disorders (e.g., intermittent explosive disorder) also influence the individual’s ability to be productive and adhere to the Army’s ethical culture. Those that have mental disorders may find that when under stressors, clarity of mind and moral awareness are fundamental to preventing one from stepping into the “evil zone” (Tripodi & Wolfendale, 2011). For example, take the rogue squad of the Stryker Combat Brigade they called the “kill Team.” The squad leader, SSG Gibbs charged in the death of three men during patrols in Kandahar, Afghanistan (Schmitz, 2012). He convinced those under his charge to kill, for him, this was a sport, SSG Gibbs also cut off the victims fingers and kept them as war trophies; SSG Gibbs would then plant a weapon next to the victims in attempt to make them look like combatants (Schmitz, 2012). More than 22,000 veterans of the war in both Iraqi and Afghanistan with mental health disorders - discharged from the Army for misconduct behavior (Howell, 2015). For many, this is horrifying news that would suggest veterans are troubled with many compounding issues, or you could look at all this data and conclude that Soldiers today face
We continually have new recruits coming into the Army, both enlisted and officers. According to the United States Army Recruiting Command (2013), new recruits make up around 80,000 of the force in a single year for both the Active component and Reserves. This influx of new recruits continuously puts ethical standards at the forefront of Army issues. The purpose of this paper was to illustrate how the Army is failing to identify those with mental illnesses at initial entry, and how implementing a psychological exam will detect those with dangerous mental disorders prior to entering the army, and alleviate recruits from bypassing the