Moral dilemmas in a military context. A case study of a train the trainer course on military ethics

Interpreting ethical challenges in military operations

“…The students formulate their personal learning objectives in this respect (for example, to suspend immediate judgment, or to listen without prejudice and bias). NCO training and other ranks education, on the other hand, focus more on 'real soldier activities' (e.g., basic weapon skills and drills) and normative ethics such as behavioral codes; only NCOs who are trained ethics instructors receive a 9-days training in moral competence (Van Baarle et al, 2015). However, even when having participated in ethics education most servicemen still seem to find it difficult to recognize the moral dimensions in events as they are unfolding.…”

“…Especially when focusing on issues and experiences that are considered to be part of the 'grey-zone' (i.e., those situations of which individuals are uncertain about their personal accountability and the righteousness of their actions), it is very difficult to be sure about the accuracy of the servicemen's stories. As other recent studies conducted in European military organizations show similar ethical challenges (e.g., Schut & Moelker, 2015;Van Baarle, Bosch, Widdershoven, Verweij & Molewijk, 2015), we considered the material relevant for first explorations of individual moral assessment.…”

“…In this dissertation, however, I take a different stance in line with relevant contemporary literature (cf. Van Baarle et al, 2015): instead of focusing on outcomes of the decision-making process such as fairness and altruism (e.g., in the distribution of resources), I reserve the term "ethical" to refer to a certain state in an individual's morality. Moral judgment does not therefore refer to a process resulting solely in altruistic or fair decisions; it refers to a process in which an individual displays a certain sense of moral awareness and moral competence.…”

“…Ethical challenges, like the one described above, in all sorts and degrees are part of the daily business of uniformed professions, in particular the military (cf. Van Baarle, Bosch, Widdershoven, Verweij, & Molewijk, 2015;Richardson, Verweij, & Winslow, 2004). Throughout this dissertation, I have used the term ethical challenge to refer to value-laden situations that are the result of interactions with other individuals, teams or cultures and make it difficult for the decision-maker to determine what the morally sound course of action is.…”

“…In military operations, in particular, and strengthened by increasingly complex operational environments, conflicting beliefs about soldierhood, mission goals and right or wrong may become apparent (cf. Van Baarle, Bosch, Widdershoven, Verweij, & Molewijk, 2015;. It is in the nature of these ethical challenges that they cannot be dealt with on the basis of regular routines or rules (cf.…”