Tag Archives: ethics

US Marines Conduct Ethics Stand Down

The Marine Corps has been emphasizing ethics as part of General James Amos’ intent to reach “every single Marine” on the topic of ethical conduct.  In one case, at least, the sessions seem to be versions of college philosophy classes, with a drill down on each of the standard ethical “examples” used in most ethics courses:

Bardorf and Rowan guided the Marines through the murder of Kitty Genovese. They discussed the Good Samaritan Experiment held by the Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Stanford Read more

Book Review: Biblical Ethics

James P. Eckman
Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, 2004.
Topic: Modern ethics

A concise Christian perspective on ethics across the spectrum of modern issues, including culture, politics, and war.

Recommended. While not specific to the Christian fighter pilot, it can provide a greater understanding of the reason a Christian should make the choices he is obligated to.

This book is available from Amazon. (This site is an Amazon Associate and may earn from qualifying purchases made through Amazon referrals.)

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Do the Right Thing: Bootleg Movies and Deployed Troops

Some have likely read the story of Hyman Strachman, the 92-year-old World War II veteran who has shipped thousands of bootleg copies of movies to the combat AOR:

Hyman Strachman [is] a 92-year-old, 5-foot-5 World War II veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs, almost 4,000 boxes of them to date, free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even Strachman admits the “error” of his ways:  Read more

The US Navy, King David, and Bathsheba

The Stars and Stripes notes the US Navy has “sacked” 150 commanding officers over the last few years for misconduct.  Of 80 instances over a five year period, half were for adultery, inappropriate relationships, harassment, or sexual assault.  One of the solutions noted:  Take a look at the Bible.

So how can the Navy abate this steady tide of offending COs? Perhaps by asking, “What would David do?”

That’s King David, he of Old Testament legend Read more

The Failure of Ethical Training in the US Army

A US Army platoon leader has a fascinating article in Army Magazine: former US Army Captain Kevin Bell wrote How Our Training Fails Us When it Counts, recounting a story from 2008 in which he led a platoon in Afghanistan.  He uses his personal experiences to describe how the US Army woefully fails in its efforts to prepare its soldiers for ethical challenges in combat.

No infantryman who sits through the required PowerPoint classes on the Geneva Conventions and treatment of enemy prisoners of war (EPW) leaves the classroom with a new perspective on the ethics of war…As it stands, though, classroom and field training on detainee operations do almost nothing to help soldiers untangle the twisted moral landscape of anger, intelligence gathering and justice in wartime.

Without directly addressing it, he highlights the weakness of the situation-based ethics currently taught in much of the military academia:  Read more

Military Can Lead Society on Morals, Ethics

Society has so much lost its moral compass that one General officer says the military can no longer assume its recruits will enlist with an acceptable level of core moral behavior.

General Lord Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, said this about the British society and its military.  He proposes that the military

can teach society about the importance of ethics and morality.

Dannatt says “mental and moral preparation” is as important as physical Read more

Soldiers, Chaplains Try to Keep Empathy and Humanity in War

An official Department of Defense article notes the importance of empathy in war and its relevance to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.  In virtually every war in history each side stereotypically demonizes or otherwise dehumanizes its enemy.  Unfortunately, militaries must move past that division after the war is complete — especially when one military is supporting the establishment of their ‘former enemy’s’ government.

In Afghanistan, one soldier had an epiphany that led him to think more deeply about the people he fights:  Read more

Weinstein Complains of “Wretched” Christian Air Force Training



According to the Air Force Times, the Air Force is reviewing “all” materials it uses to teaches “ethics, core values, and character development.”  The reason?

More Christian-themed course work surfaced.

The gross misrepresentation of the Chaplain briefing at Vandenberg, promoted by Michael Weinstein and his “religious freedom” allies, has already been discussed.  The latest issue is a “complaint” about ethics training in ROTC.

The ROTC briefing, called “Core Values and the Air Force Member,” contains references to the Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments as examples of ethical values. Two additional slides list the New Testament teachings of Jesus known as the Beatitudes, and seven of the commandments, including “Have no other gods before me.”

The 22-slide briefing also cites the Golden Rule as an example of ethical values. One of the slides points out that the Golden Rule — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — is found in five of the world’s major religions.

Shocking, isn’t it?  A slideshow on ethics gives Christian Read more

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