Issues in Military Ethics

Martin L. Cook

Description

Reflecting on a seventeen-year career teaching at military educational institutions of the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy, Martin L. Cook finds a powerful but underappreciated basis for military ethics in the oath to the Constitution that members of the armed services pledge. In Issues in Military Ethics, Cook considers the role of airpower in counterinsurgency war and the place of robotic weapons systems on the battlefield, but he also looks beyond ethics in the conduct of war to issues arising in military life generally. He addresses a range of other issues with pressing contemporary relevance, including civil-military relations, ethics education, and religion, in particular the ascendency of evangelical Christianity in military culture. This volume serves as an important resource for scholars, members of the armed services, and educators alike.
Preface
Acknowledgments

Section I. Overview: Legacies and New Challenges

1. What Should We Mean by “Military Ethics”?
With Henrik Syse

2. Reflections on the Stockdale Legacy

3. The Day the World Changed? Reflections on 9/11 and U.S. National Security Strategy

Section II. Civil-Military Relations

4. The Revolt of the Generals: A Case Study in Professional Ethics

5. U.S. Civil Military Relations since 9/11: Issues in Ethics and Policy Development
With Mary Beth Ulrich

Section III. Ethics Education in the Military

6. Teaching Military Ethics in the U.S. Air Force: Challenges Posed by Service Culture

7. Professional Military Ethics across the Career Spectrum

8. Thucydides as a Resource for Teaching Ethics and Leadership in Military Education Environments

Section IV. Religion in the U.S. Military

9. Is Just War Spirituality Possible?

10. Christianity and Weapons of Mass Destruction

11. Evangelical Christianity in the U.S. Military

12. Diagnosing a Loss of Religious Diversity in the U.S. Military

13. Whether (Modern, American) Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved

14. A Force for (Relative) Good: An Augustinian Perspective

Section V. Ethical Issues in War

15. Michael Walzer’s Concept of “Supreme Emergency”

16. Asymmetric Air War: Ethical Implications
With Mark Conversino

17. Ethical Dilemmas in the Use of Airpower in Counterinsurgency War

Notes
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Éthique et morale
• Ethique et morale
• Éducation
• Education
• International relations
• Philosophy

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 04 mars 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438446929
• Langue: English

Extrait

Issues in Military Ethics
To Support and Defend the Constitution
MARTIN L. COOK

Cover image: Department of Defense photo of the U.S. Air Force graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs; taken by Cherie A. Thurlby.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cook, Martin L., 1951–
Issues in military ethics : to support and defend the Constitution / Martin L. Cook.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4691-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Military ethics—United States. 2. Military service, Voluntary—United States. 3. Civil-military relations—United States. 4. Military education—Moral and ethical aspects—United States. 5. United States—Armed Forces—Religious life. 6. War—Moral and ethical aspects. I. Title.
U22.C596 2013
174'.935500973—dc23
201202609
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The Officer's Oath to the Constitution
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God]
Note: “So help me God” optional, governed by the Constitution, Article VI: “[A]ll executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
Preface
The world and the U.S. military have changed dramatically, and along many dimensions, since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Our military forces have been engaged in sustained combat for more than a decade. The experience of military life for individuals, especially but not exclusively in the ground forces, has changed from a primarily garrison force, occasionally deployed in short and decisive operations and low-key sustained nation building, to repetitive rotations into extremely violent and stressful combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Those realities have forced rather dramatic evolution in the culture, approaches to war, and even weapons systems in all U.S. services—perhaps most publicly symbolized by the writing of, and subsequent implementation of, the Counter-Insurgency Manual for the Army and the Marines. Less visibly but equally important, the Air Force has struggled to assimilate a dramatic growth in remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs—commonly called “drones”), and all air assets have evolved in their ability to provide close air support (CAS) to ground forces—historically not a mission the Air Force, in particular, was especially eager to embrace.
Alongside these internal developments in the military, our culture has witnessed an extreme polarization in our politics, augmented with intense and often religiously fueled culture wars. Those cultural changes inevitably seep into and present challenges to the ostensibly apolitical and religious neutral culture of a military whose central ethical commitment is to Constitutional government. Part of the teaching of ethics in the military throughout this period has been an on-going effort to bring clarity to the meaning of the Constitution and of the oath to it by military members in sensitive areas such as the reality or appearance of partisan political loyalty or the inappropriate foisting of personal religious convictions on one's unit or subordinates, often in the face of false but powerful alternative historical narratives about those matters, grounded in partisan politics or religious communities.
This volume collects a wide range of chapters written since the publication in 2004 of my previous anthology, The Moral Warrior . Most were written as contributions to specific topical collections or as conference papers for topical conferences. They reflect my close association with and observations of the evolution and internal dynamics of the U.S. military and my own institutional location during this period (from 2003 through 2009 at the Philosophy Department of United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and from 2009 through the present as the James Bond Stockdale Professor of Professional Military Ethics in the College of Operational and Strategic Leadership at the United States Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island).
Acknowledgments
The chapters in this book were written during my time spent teaching in the Department of Philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy and serving as the James Bond Stockdale Chair of Professional Military Ethics at the Naval War College.
At the Air Force Academy, I owe a special debt to Colonel James Cook, permanent professor and department head of the Department of Philosophy. There is no finer example of the officer-scholar than Colonel Cook. Deeply learned himself, he continues to do everything in his power to uphold the highest academic standards in an institution where other commitments and values (to officer development, athletics, etc.) often compete with and encroach on the academic mission of the institution. He has assembled and leads a strong group of civilian and military scholars and teachers to deepen cadets' understanding of the moral commitments they have made as future officers in the United States Air Force. To my many colleagues and friends at the academy, I owe a debt of thanks.
Similarly, at the Naval War College, I am indebted to Rear Admiral Thomas Zelibor USN (Ret.), who graciously invited me to join the College of Operation and Strategic Leadership, and to Rear Admirals James Wisecup and John Christenson, the presidents of the Naval War College during my tenure here so far. They have supported the ethics program of conferences and speakers I have organized during my tenure—often contributing themselves to the substance of the program. My colleagues in the Leadership and Ethics group of the college have provided unfailing support and encouragement. Thank you, Dr. Olenda Johnson, Dr. Tim Demy, Professor John Meyer, Professor Gene Andersen, Rear Admiral James Kelly USN (Ret.), and Katherine Felmly.
Thank you to my old and dear friend Dr. George Lucas, of the United States Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School, who has been a constant encouragement and has critiqued or helped with reviewing virtually every piece in this collection.
My wife, Nicole Gresham, has been unflagging in her support and, in addition, has brought her formidable editing and copywriting skills to bear on the manuscript. Almost all of the pieces included in this anthology have been published previously. All are reprinted here with permission. Their original publication information is as follows:
“What Should We Mean by ‘Military Ethics’?” With Henrik Syse, Journal of Military Ethics 9, no. 2 (2010): 119–22.
“Reflections on the Stockdale Legacy.” Lecture, 15th annual University of San Diego James Bond Stockdale Leadership and Ethics Symposium, January, 2012. Published in The Naval War College Review 65, no. 3 (Summer 2012).
“The Day the World Changed? Reflections on 9/11 and U.S. National Security Strategy.”
The Impact of 9/11 on Religions and Philosophy, in the series, The Day that Changed Everything? Matthew J. Morgan, ed. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009, 233–43.
“The Revolt of the Generals: A Case Study in Professional Ethics.” Parameters 38, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 4–15. Reprinted in U.S. I Digest (Publication of the United Service Institution of India in New Delhi), 11, no. 21 (September 2008–February 2009): 26–45.
“U.S. Civil Military Relations Since 9/11: Issues in Ethics and Policy Development.”
With Dr. Mary Beth Ulrich, The Journal of Military Ethics no. 3 (2006): 161–82. Reprinted in C. A. J. Coady and Igor Primoratz, Military Ethics . Padstow, Cornwall: Ashgate, 2008, 433–54.
“Teaching Military Ethics in the United States Air Force: Challenges Posed by Service Culture.” In Ethics Education for Irregular Warfare , ed. Don Carrick, James Connelly, and Paul Robinson. Ashgate, 2009, 107–18.
“Professional Military Ethics across the Career Spectrum.” 2010 Fort Leavenworth Symposium Report, Army Command and General Staff College Ethics Symposium, Ft. Leavenworth, KS.
“Thucydides as a Resource for Teaching Ethics and Leadership in Military Education Environments.” The Journal of Military Ethics 5, no. 4 (2006), 353–62.
“Ethics Education, Ethics Training, and Character Development: Who ‘Owns’ Ethics in the U.S. Air Force Academy? Ethics Education in the Military,” ed. Paul Robinson, Nigel de Lee, and Don Carrick. Padstow, Cornwall: Ashgate, 2008.
“Is Just War Spirituality Possible?” In review for publication in a collection on Catholic Just War Thought, edited by Dr. Greg Reichberg.
“Christian Apocalyptic and Weapons of Mass Destruction.” In Ethics and Weapons of Mass Destruction , ed. Sohail Hashmi and Steve Lee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, 200–10.
“Religion Dimensions of the U.S. Military.” In revision for publication, Cambridge University Press anthology, Religion in the Military, edited by Dr. Ron Hassner.
“Religion in the U.S. Military.” Speech given at the Int