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A few good men analysis
A few good men summary and analysis
Military duty ethics
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In the movie A Few Good Men, director Rob Reiner displays a conflict between the authority of Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Jessep and his subordinates, Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private Louden Downey, who unintentionally kill a fellow soldier. In an attempt to teach Private Santiago a lesson, Jessep manipulates Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick into ordering Dawson and Downey to commit a Code Red on Santiago. Codes, manipulation, superiority, and morality all factor into their decision to carry out that fatal order. A similar scenario develops in the article, “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” where authors Herbert C Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton investigate whether or not Lieutenant William Calley was justified in organizing …show more content…
These soldiers were left in a situation where they really had no choice. It is this exact situation that fuels seemingly poor decisions made by officers in the military. The code that every soldier must follow dictates that when given an order, he or she must comply. At the time of another soldier’s Code Red, in which he was food deprived, Dawson disobeyed and snuck the man a meal. Setting up as a precursor to Dawson’s future actions, Jessep tarnishes his record without reasoning due to his disobedience. Having realized what happens when he fails to follow an order, Dawson ensures Kendrick’s Code Red ordered on Private Santiago is carried out. Similarly to the case of Dawson and Downey is the trouble that Lieutenant William Calley fell into during the My Lai Massacre. His decision to remain non-rebellious against his superior’s orders resulted in him alone being charged with what the court ruled to be murderous acts and not simply two men following orders. Hamilton and Kelman rebuttal Calley’s statement with, “You could be court-martialed for refusing an order and refusing an order in the face of the enemy, you could be sent to death, sir.” (136). According to the account by Calley, an officer who disregards his superior’s commands takes the chance of punishment for his actions; therefore, the dichotomy that Calley receives in his position promotes him following orders given to him if he could be so far as killed for disobeying. Though it seems unethical to murder hundreds of innocent Vietnamese townspeople, the position that Calley was placed in made it as though he had no choice at all. Similarly, Dawson and Downey, with the codes by which they must follow in the military and the laws they must abide by as U.S. citizens, are given a choice between two actions which condemn each other;
Kendrick, after learning about the incident, ordered a code red to be set for barracks restriction, and the denial of food for a week. Dawson, after personally questioning the morality of the order, disobeyed and tried to assist Lt. Barnes by sneaking him food, an action that displeased Kendrick. Kendrick then punished Dawson for his disobedience by neglecting to promote him and negatively evaluating his fitness evaluation. From this point forward, Dawson had just seen the introduction of the power that Kendrick had over his military experience, one that Kaffee would later recall to be “A lesson he learned after the Curtis Barnes incident.” (A Few…) But, if this order was no different in terms of punishment or in the matter of a soldier simply being disregardful of their marine code, then why was Dawson so reluctant to disobey Kendrick the second time involving Santiago? Not only would Dawson more than likely have to face a much greater consequence for having disobeyed a second time but also Kendrick must have stressed the importance of this order as his leadership was being critically by Jessup. In the meeting where Jessup called the order for the code red, Jessup accentuates “I'm gonna blame you. Then I'm gonna kill you.” (A Few…) discussing if Santiago doesn't meet his baseline
Comparative Analysis The power of blind obedience taints individuals’ ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong in terms of obedience, or disobedience, to an unjust superior. In the article “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,” Marianne Szegedy-Maszak discusses the unwarranted murder of innocent individuals due to vague orders that did not survive with certainty. Szegedy-Maszak utilizes the tactics of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization, respectively, to attempt to justify the soldiers’ heinous actions (Szegedy-Maszak 76-77). In addition, “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” by Theodore Dalrymple distinguishes between blind disobedience and blind obedience to authority and stating that neither is superior;
The Army currently has an ethical code ebodied in the Army Values, which provides guidance to the individual and the organization. These values are universal across the Army regardless of an individual’s personal background or religious morals. Professional Military Education schools teach the Army Ethic and evaluation reports for leaders affirm this ethic. The Army punishes individuals, especially leaders, who violate this code. The Army administratively punishes Soldiers who do not adhere to this code, and the severity of punishment increases with rank. One recent and highly visible example of this is former General Petraeus’s adultery and the subsequent professional sanctions he experienced. The Army gr...
In A Tactical Ethic, Moral Conduct in the Insurgent Battlespace, author Dick Couch addresses what he believes to be an underlying problem, most typical of small units, of wanton ethical and moral behavior partly stemming from the negative “ethical climate and moral culture” of today’s America (Couch, D., 2010, p. 15). In chapter one, he reveals what A Tactical Ethic will hope to accomplish; that is identify the current ethics of today’s military warriors, highlight what is lacking, and make suggestions about what can be done to make better the ethical behavior of those on the battlefield and in garrison. He touches on some historic anecdotes to highlight the need for high ethics amongst today’s military warriors as well as briefly mentions
The incident is described by social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman and sociologist V. Lee Hamilton in the article “The My Lai Massacre: a Crime of Obedience.” Lt. William Calley, charged with 102 killings, claims to have followed orders from his superiors, only accomplishing his duty, which is also a theme throughout the movie, A Few Good Men. After presented with a request from William Santiago, a marine on his base, to be transferred, Jessup refuses. The film depicts, through Colonel Jessup's authority, the refusal to obey a reasonable request as well as the pride one possesses when fulfilling his duty and baring superiority.
Lance Corporal Harold Dawson has much to lose from disobeying the code red order from Colonel Jessup. By previously disobeying an order that contradicted with his moral compass, he was denied a promotion in rank. Because of the negative result from disobeying an order from a superior, there is an incentive for Dawson to obey orders. Milgram would find this course of action to be reasonable based on society’s standards because he found the power of authority to be slightly unstable with no threats of punishment imposed on his subjects; however, he readily concludes authority “managed to command a degree of obedience” even while having no power to impose any punishment (Milgram 88). Concurring with this conjecture is Zimbardo as he found prisoners
...mrades having their legs blown off by booby traps, or their allies being picked off by hidden snipers. These soldiers did not understand the language of their enemy and many attempts at communication would be misunderstood and commands intended by Americans would receive a different reaction. Furthermore, the American forces knew that they were in a hostile area because the Vietcong friendly National Liberation Freedom Committee had publically announced that Vietcong attacks against U.S. forces had taken place in the area before the My Lai incident. In the disillusioned world of Vietnam the hamlet of My Lai was leveled. It was brutal yes, but the American soldiers were in a war unlike that of any America had experienced before. The My Lai massacre was a terrible event waiting to happen. If it wasn’t the My Lai incident, there would have been another like it to come.
The investigation caused 14 United States officers to be charged of war crimes related to the My Lai tragedy, but only one of these men was convicted. These unjust killings and cover-up even further fueled the wide disapproval of the vietnam war among Americans nationwide (History.com). The small My Lai congregation was believed by the United States to be a stronghold of Viet Cong forces, so the area was often bombed by the U.S. prior to the mass killing. Lieutenant William Calley led a group called Charlie Company on a seek and destroy mission after receiving word that the Viet Cong took over a nearby village. Prior to this event, Charlie Company endured many losses during a previous fight called the Tet Offensive, so many in the Charlie Company’s unit were extremely emotionally unstable because they saw many of their close friends previously die or suffer horrible injuries because of the Viet Cong soldiers.
The 1986 during the Vietnam war, the slaughter at My Lai Massacre “is an instance of a class of violent acts that can be described as sanctioned massacres (Kelman, 1973): acts of indiscriminate, ruthless, and often systematic mass violence, carried out by military or paramilitary personnel while engaged in officially
Davenport’s various violations of the Code need to be considered from another point of view as an example of responsible disobedience. As Dr. Davenport and Antwone are both members of the military, there is a certain camaraderie experienced between them that the general public does not experience. Taking this into consideration, Dr. Davenport may be expressing responsible disobedience as he violates various standards in the Code in an attempt to respect the intricacies of the military culture (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2007). Because the military is a culture of its own, it is difficult to say whether any or all of the situations that resulted in an ethical violation were justified. It is easy to say that Dr. Davenport violated principle ethics during his work with Antwone but virtue ethics may support Dr. Davenport as he interpreted the standards in the context of the military culture (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2007).
Most of the soldiers did not know what the overall purpose was of fighting the Vietnamese (Tessein). The young men “carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what had brought them to the war in the first place” (O’Brien 21). The soldiers did not go to war for glory or honor, but simply to avoid the “blush of dishonor” (21). In fact, O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were to...
In A Few Good Men, by Rob Reiner, both Demi Moore’s character, Commander Jo, and Jack Nicholson's character, Colonel Jessup, outrank Tom Cruise’s character, Danny, yet he only obeys to Colonel Jessup. Why is this? In the article, “Obedience” by Ian Parker and movie, A Few Good Men, both discuss the concept of obedience to an authority figure. An aspect of obedience they both analyze is the idea that the gender of an authority figure produces a different level of obedience in their counterparts.
Going After Cacciato, by Tim O'Brien, is a book that presents many problems in understanding. Simply trying to figure out what is real and what is fantasy and where they combine can be quite a strain on the reader. Yet even more clouded and ambiguous are the larger moral questions raised in this book. There are many so-called "war crimes" or atrocities in this book, ranging from killing a water buffalo to fragging the commanding officer. Yet they are dealt with in an almost offhanded way. They seem to become simply the moral landscape upon which a greater drama is played-- i.e. the drama of running away from war, seeking peace in Paris. This journey after Cacciato turns into a morality play, the road Westward metaphor. As Dennis Vannatta explains, "The desire to flee may have begun as a reaction to fear, but by the time the squad has reached Paris, Paul has nurtured and cultivated it until it has become a political, moral, and philosophical statement" (245). But what about the atrocities going on all the time? How could they be ignored in the face of this larger drama? As Milton J. Bates puts it, although Going After Cacciato is "not atrocity-based in the manner of much Vietnam War autobiography and fiction, [it does] record incidents in which Vietnamese civilians are beaten or killed and have their livestock and homes destroyed" (270). This book has an almost offhanded-like way of dealing with these My Lai-like atrocities. Why? What's going on here?
There is much debate over the actions at My Lai. The judge who presided over Lieutenant Calley’s trial had this to say in a documentary about the March 16th at My Lai: “If the orders for that mission included unarmed, unresisting men, women, and babies, it was illegal, and a soldier has a duty to disobey such an order.” Others argue that there are no illegal orders in a war. In war, the rules are kill or be killed, be it by the enemy, or fellow countrymen.
High-ranking army officers sheltered the proceedings at My Lai, until one combatant, Ron Riden Hour, overheard the incident second hand and composed it in a memo to President Richard Nixon. The letter was largely overlooked until late that year. Analytical reporter, Seymour Hersh got his hands on the story and cross-examined William Calley as soon as possible. The story broke out and hit front pages and headlines. In March 1970, an authoritative US Army inquiry board accused fourteen sergeants, including Calley and his company commander-in-chief, Captain Ernst Medina, of the misconduct involving My Lai ( My Lai Massacre Takes Place in Vietnam). Calley was personally condemned of murdering twenty-two individuals. In March 1971, Calley was given a life sentence for his role in leading the massacres at My Lai. Several saw Calley as a culprit, and his judgment was condensed upon appeal to twenty years and later to ten (My Lai Massacre).