The Stars and Stripes covered the “Navy and Marine Corps’ annual conference on combat and operational stress,” and indicates new “buzzwords” — “moral injury” — are causing some consternation:
One Marine commander roped into a panel discussion at the last minute bluntly took issue with the phrase: “As a Marine, I’m insulted.”
Lt. Col. James “Hall” Bain…said he thought the term implied that Marines were stressed as a result of immorality.
The Corps trains Marines to have “the skill and the will to kill,” he said. “It’s based on an ethical standard.”
In his defense, LtCol Bain seems to take issue with the terminology, not the concept. In other places, the term “moral injury” has been used to describe the dissonance that occurs when one man kills another: Read more…
After the recent articles on moral courage, Chaplain (LT) Paul Hyder writes on the “need for moral leadership.” Highlighting Abu Ghraib and the recent allegations of a US Army ‘hit squad,’ Hyder makes what seems to be an obvious recommendation:
When we, as a nation entrust men and women with the authority to use deadly force, they MUST be morally grounded and ethically above reproach. (emphasis original)
It is vital that our military leaders at every level (NCOs, SNCOs and officers alike) be rooted and grounded in moral leadership principles. When this is not the case and the moral compass is not calibrated, the slippery slope of immoral behavior can easily erode from ‘‘cutting a few corners” to cold blooded murder.
The question, of course, is how does the military “teach” morality? How does Read more…
Chaplain (Maj.) Sid A. Taylor is a Baptist Pastor and US Army Chaplain, currently deployed to Iraq. He oversees the “spiritual needs of more than 4,000 Soldiers:”
While not everyone here has the time nor the desire to attend the service of his or her choice, within FOBs Marez and Diamonback [sic], there are six protestant services, five masses, one Latter-Day Saints service, an Islamic Prayer Room and a Jewish meeting held each week.
Chaplain Taylor has an admirable perspective on the concept of the total person in the military, something the US Army is trying to recapture in its Comprehensive Soldier Fitness programs:
One of the biggest tasks before a chaplain is “Ensuring the spiritual and human dimensions of what we do are not lost.”
“The Army understands the importance of values, morals and integrity in everything we do. Soldiers have emotions and Families. They also have a soul that needs to be sustained in order to do what they do.”
Some might say, for example, that the scandal at Abu Ghraib Read more…
Categories: Chaplain Tags: abu ghraib, Afghanistan, army, Chaplain, ethics, Iraq, Islam, Jewish, Military, morality, Religion, sid taylor
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