Military Ethics Essay

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Recommended: Different processes in military decision making

To What Extent is it Ethical for a Soldier to Disobey the Orders of a Superior?
Introduction:
A soldier receives information about some armed militants protecting a compound filled with chemical weapons. He receives a mission to infiltrate the compound and take out the armed guards, allowing the government to seize the chemical weapons. However, if he does not successfully complete this task, these weapons will potentially destroy entire cities and harm thousands of people. Upon entering the compound, he does not find armed insurgents; rather he finds women and children who appear unarmed. And then the questions emerge in his mind, “How do I react?” What decision will create the most favorable outcome for the soldier, and everyone …show more content…

A philosopher by the name of Jeremy Bentham described this ripple effect by explaining the number of people viewing each level of the effects. As a ripple expands it affects a much larger area, just as when a decision is made, it affects a small crowd and moves out slowly. In the early 1800's, Bentham's studies showed that if one focuses on who is involved at the most immediate level, the person making the decision can quickly deduce the “ethicality of any decision by helping the greatest number of people” (Mautner). When a soldier decides whether it would be ethical to pull the trigger or not, they must think of how it will affect others. On the immediate level, the soldier may save his entire team. However, this soldier may have also killed or injured a civilian in the process. This would then expand to the civilian’s family, who may develop a vendetta against the United States, become terrorists, and first us thousands of lives down the road. For Bentham, an ethical person would stop to consider the long-term consequences of their actions and do the greatest good for the greatest number of innocent people. However, if a soldier for the United States kills another United States soldier to save innocent foreigners, they would immediately be tried for treason. If the soldier still protected the most innocent people, what made this decision …show more content…

As far as the military code of ethics is concerned, “if an order does not cause the deaths of innocent people, it must be followed” (GC, DOD). While the Department of Defense continues to elaborate into broad ideas from this quote, the general idea represents that all soldiers should unquestionably be ready to act however their superiors wish them to. As far as the military’s concern reaches, a soldier’s job requires him to act upon what he is told and no more. The military views the only innocent way to disregard a direct order as the protection of an innocent bystander. But what if you disregard an order for the life of a teammate, or for yourself, to selfishly avoid paying the ultimate price? The men who created this document find it easy to declare a soldier guilty, but do they have the

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