"I fear they do not know us"

"National leaders and advocacy groups say they see a widening rift between a military at war and a public at peace, distracted by a sputtering economy and weary of hearing about Iraq and Afghanistan." USA Today published a piece on the alienating effect that has on families who've lost loved ones in combat.

Read the article here.

Stress and RPAs

A new study on RPA crews indicates their greatest challenge isn't PTSD, it's burn-out from long hours and inadequate staffing. But there's still the dissonance of remotely killing someone half the world away, then, two hours later, taking your kid to a soccer match. 

"We try to select people who are well-adjusted. We select family people. People of good moral standing, background, integrity," said Lieutenant Colonel Kent McDonald, who was also involved with the study.

"And when they have to kill someone, and when they're involved with missions when they're observing people over long periods of time, and then they either kill them or see them killed, it does cause them to re-think aspects of their life and it can be bothersome."

Read the article here.

The Trolley Problem

Researchers have attempted to learn more about the ethical choices we make, updating the classic "Trolley Problem" by adding a virtual element to make it more "real." The findings? Pretty much what you'd expect: "Evolution has hardened us into brutal and selfish creatures. We make split-second calculations that result in murder — unless a family member is at stake."

Read the article here.

Thanks to C2C Michael Sortino for forwarding.

The Ethos of Fighting in Hockey

Recent reports on brain injury and a lengthy NYT feature on NHL enforcer Derek Boogard are focusing attention on fighting in Hockey. As a supplement, the NYT published an article tracing the origin of fighting in hockey to late 19th century Montreal, where the sport was first played. One theory has it that the first hockey clubs formed around ethnic and religious identities, lending a clannish or gang-like quality to the earliest teams. Thus you had the Victorias (Scottish Protestant), the Montreal Athletic Accociation (English Protestant), the Shamrocks (Irish Catholic), and the National and Montagnards (French Catholic). Researchers found little evidence of fighting between teams that involved punches, but the use of sticks for slashing and clubbing was prevalent. Once fighting was "allowed" in the early twentieth century, incidents of more serious injuries involving sticks declined. In recent years, the last serious case of stick-related violence occurred in 2002, and the NHL averages about one fight for every two games.

Read the article here.

Cyber Attack as Just Cause

In a recent Pentagon report, the United States declares it reserves the right to retaliate with military force against a cyber attack and is working to sharpen its ability to track down the source of any breach.

Read the report here.

Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest 2012

Here's an opportunity for you, as a military ethicist, to display your mad skills, contribute to the field of ethical study, and possibly win a cash prize.

The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest is an annual competition designed to challenge college students to analyze the urgent ethical issues confronting them in today's complex world. Students are encouraged to write thought-provoking personal essays that raise questions, single out issues and are rational arguments for ethical action. This year's topic: articulate with clarity an ethical issue that you have encountered and analyze what it has taught you about ethics and yourself.

Guidelines are posted below; more information can be found here.

Hobbes on Comedy Central

Andrew Napolitano channels The Leviathan to explain the Libertarian view of government. Watch The Daily Show interview here.

What's Wrong with Torture?

If you missed the Reich Lecture last evening, here's a link to Dr. David Sussman's article, "What's Wrong with Torture?" Dr. Sussman's talk was based on this article.

Pew Research Center: Gap Grows Between Military, Civilians

Citing the convergence of two records - the length of OEF and the relatively small percentage of the population serving in the military - Paul Taylor, editor of the Pew Research Center's study, "War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era," said he wanted to investigate this unique period in US history. "We've never had sustained combat for a full decade, and we've never fought a war in which such a small share of the population has carried the fight."

Citing results of the study, Taylor observed, "there is a gap. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing is in effect, frankly, above my pay grade. It's an interesting question."

Read the article here.

Review the Pew study here.

A Due Process in War

What legal argument authorized the targeting of an American citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi, in Yemen?

The Justice Department wrote a secret memorandum authorizing the lethal targeting of Anwar al-Aulaqi, the American-born radical cleric who was killed by a U.S. drone strike Friday, according to administration officials...

“What constitutes due process in this case is a due process in war,” said one of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss closely held deliberations within the administration...

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights argued on behalf of Aulaqi’s father last year that that there is no “battlefield” in Yemen, and that the administration should be forced to articulate publicly its legal standards for killing any citizen outside the United States who is suspected of terrorism.

Read the article here.

Superman Renounces U.S. Citizenship

Comic books are getting complicated:

...Superman announces that he is going to give up his U.S. citizenship. Despite very literally being an alien immigrant, Superman has long been seen as a patriotic symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way," from his embrace of traditional American ideals to the iconic red and blue of his costume. What it means to stand for the "American way" is an increasingly complicated thing, however, both in the real world and in superhero comics, whose storylines have increasingly seemed to mirror current events and deal with moral and political complexities rather than simple black and white morality.

Read the posting here.

Ask. Tell. Defense Leaders Laud Repeal, Return of ‘Equality’

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on DADT:

"I testified early in 2010 that it was time to end this law and this policy,” he said. “I believed then, and I still believe, that it was, first and foremost, a matter of integrity... It was fundamentally against everything we stand for as an institution to force people to lie about who they are just to wear a uniform. We are better than that.”

Chairman Mullen said the repeal will strengthen the DOD and emphasize positive values.

“Today, with implementation of the new law fully in place, we are a stronger joint force, a more tolerant force, a force of more character and more honor, more in keeping with our own values,” he said.

Read the DoD news article here.

R2P Justified...?

Speaking before a select audience of UN representatives gathered to discuss support for Libya, President Obama offered the following:

“Libya is a lesson in what the international community can achieve when we stand together as one.”

“I said at the beginning of this [Libya] process, we cannot and should not intervene every time there is an injustice in the world. Yet it’s also true, that there are times where the world could have and should have summoned the will to prevent the killing of innocents on a horrific scale.”

Read the Article here.

A New Flock for Military Chaplains

The International Humanist and Ethical Union adopted a resolution on the pastoral support of non-religious military personnel that calls for:

1.States that provide support for religious personnel, veterans, and their families through the provision of chaplains to make Humanist equivalents available to non-religious personnel, veterans, and their families.

2.States that provide counsellors or chaplains to support all personnel, regardless of religion or belief, but that limit the opportunity to apply for these jobs to religious applicants, to end such restrictions and open all such roles to all qualified people.

3. Humanist groups to seek ways that they can ensure that non-religious service personnel are not discriminated against in their national armed forces and that all service personnel have full enjoyment of their guaranteed human rights.

Read the full resolution here.

A Case for the Toleration Clause...

William McGurn, writing in today's WSJ, makes the case for that most unpopular aspect of cadet life, the toleration clause:

"Our military academies are not filled with moral paragons. Like their peers, their student bodies are populated with young Americans in their late teens. They are every bit as human, and an honor code has never been a guarantee against scandal. From the huge 1951 cheating scandal at West Point that saw more than 80 cadets expelled (including nearly half the football team) to more recent scandals at Navy and Air Force, the academies have had their share. The difference is they don't delegate to the NCAA the idea of right and wrong, and they take community seriously. On these campuses, no man is an island. The message is: You are all in it together."

Read the article here.

How to Read Plato

The Maze of Moral Relativism

"There is no half-way house called 'moral relativism,' in which we continue to use normative vocabulary with the stipulation that it is to be understood as relativized to particular moral codes. If there are no absolute facts about morality, 'right' and 'wrong' would have to join 'witch' in the dustbin of failed concepts."

Read the article here.

You Hack, We Shoot

"Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have delivered a stark warning to the Pentagon: its failure to address key questions surrounding how the United States military would respond to a cyberattack – and what precisely constitutes an act of war in cyberspace, for that matter – remains a “significant gap” in US national security policy."

Read the article here.

The Argumentative Theory of Reasoning

The ancient Greeks thought rationality, our ability to reason, was the distinguishing feature of humanity. It allowed humans to identify and search for higher truths, allowing us to move beyond the purely physical realm of the natural world. Now, cognitive and social scientists have developed the argumentative theory of reasoning, which suggests that reason evolved to win arguments. Rationality is a function of the evolutionary requirement to persuade.

Read the article here.

Coming Out; Opting-Out

Should service members be allowed to "opt out" of an enlistment if the military changes its values?

"Sir, we joined the Marine Corps because the Marine Corps has a set of standards and values that is better than that of the civilian sector. And we have gone and changed those values and repealed the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy," the sergeant told Gates during the question and answer session.

"We have not given the Marines a chance to decide whether they wish to continue serving under that. Is there going to be an option for those Marines that no longer wish to serve due to the fact their moral values have not changed?" he asked.

"No," Gates responded. "You'll have to complete your ... enlistment just like everybody else."

Read the article here.