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 training:

“They must be able to kill and show compassion at the same time; they must be loyal to their country, their regiment and their friends without compromising their own integrity.”

Dannatt gave a lecture entitled The Battle for Hearts and Minds: Morality and Warfare Today.

Dannatt describes a “spiritual dimension, beyond the rational and beyond the moral”.

He continues: “I sense…that much as our leaders in the army must instil in their soldiers the core values and standards of behaviour that are so vital today and police them rigorously, so too our leaders need an understanding of this spiritual dimension, and so have an idea how to provide a response for their soldiers, because they are asking for it – and that is a real responsibility.”

Precepts of morality and ethics are central not only to a properly functioning military (and, ultimately, society), but also in how members of that military will ultimately reintegrate with society.

If the first time a soldier contemplates the moral conflict of taking a human life while still valuing human life is on his post-deployment leave, it’s too late, and the military has failed him.

Unfortunately, for some that may be the case.