The necessity of moral suspension in times of war

War is on some level a game. Usually there is two sides, making moves and taking turns. The only difference is, there are no rules in war. War is a game without rules, without mercy, without emotion. Although certain situations require human emotion and interaction, war is most productive when all emotion is removed and as humans we just perform. Emotionless, robotic, cold, ruthless, and morally indestructible; these are the traits of the ultimate war culture. War on any level is impossible without first burying personal principals and destroying the moral compass.
War stories, such as “the lone survivor” are prime examples of why emotion is not possible in times of war. In “the lone survivor,” a group of navy seals is doing surveillance over a village in Afghanistan. They encounter three Shepard’s and a young boy. The leader of the group is faced with a moral dilemma to either kill the four people or ensure his squads safety, or to let the seemingly innocent people go. Ultimately, his emotion gets the best of him and he lets the boy and shepherds go. Within hours, the squad is surrounded by more than one hundred Taliban members and every squad member dies except the leader whom made the decision to let the shepherds and boy live. What are the effects of his decision to let the four innocent people live? The guilt of the three men he was with and the nineteen others shot down trying to save them? Knowing that an entire mission is a failure and the PTSD and post-war bodily complications as well is just the start. His broken vertebrate, bullet wounds, shrapnel and rock filled wounds gouges in his legs that nearly killed him, all results of his morals. When we take a look at how the emotion factor killed nineteen United States sold...

... middle of paper ...

...led to Sparta’s success as a dominating war nation.
Moral dilemmas are in every decision we make as humans. However, war makes normal everyday rational thoughts irrational, absent minded, and all together altered. Emotion makes us weak, even vulnerable. In times of war, there is no room for emotion or morals. The fact wars are won and lost based on how far a side will push to win proves that emotion plays no part in war. In order to be the most productive, one must push harder than the other. This kind of emotionlessness is more often than not the deciding factor in who wins or loses the game of war. Will letting your opponent win because you feel bad come back to stab you in the back? Is that a risk one is willing to make when defending a nation? Regardless, war on any level is impossible without first burying personal principals and destroying the moral compass.