Military Ethical Dilemmas

The Army's definition of leadership is “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.” Today’s army leaders are faced with many contemporary issues that impact the Army in some shape or form. This paper will cover some of those contemporary issues I think Army Leaders are facing today. Those issues are succession planning, moral and ethical dilemmas and Army Reserve budget constraints. As an Army leader, one should be able to deal with these issues and move forward effectively.

First, succession planning provides continuity among the ranks and within the section. Succession planning today is an overlooked issue among army reserve leadership.

Moral and ethical dilemmas pose tough calls for Army Leaders but decisions have to be made. The Chief of the Army said, “one of the hardest things a Soldier will face in his or her career isn't necessarily the enemy. It might well be telling another Soldier that his or her behavior is ethically or morally wrong.” Some examples of the dilemmas faced generally involve issues with fairness in performance evaluations, fraternization, homosexuality in the service, employee drug and alcohol abuse. As Leaders, we have to be conscious of the standards and why they exist. We also have to be careful in our decision making not to elude that not meeting the standards and doing things against Regulations and Policies are acceptable. Over the past couple of years, we have seen some of our top Leaders removed due to unethical behavior namely for fraternization or looking over sexual misconduct that had taken place. Just recently, the Army begun the Transgender integration into the forces. Regardless of personal opinion, these individuals have certain rights and Leaders have to ensure guidance is followed. No doubt, we are all aware the Soldiers who filed bogus travel documents and received thousands of dollars in fraudulent travel claims. In this case, the Approving Officials (AO) had an obligation to do what was morally and ethically right and did not. They allowed the fraud, waste and abuse to incur giving the perception that it an acceptable act. I think it is important for Leaders to respond to the dilemmas they encounter and respond