Do military personel properly question the individual ethics of each mission they are assigned?

Question

Joining the military and signing Official Secrets Act - resulting in an inability to freely convey a story that does NOT PUT NEGATIVE RISK ON SECURITY, SAFETY AND HEALTH - could lead to problems. Constant threat of legal action could deny the public and serving personel information they may require. This inturn may lead to recruits joining when they do not know the entire truth about conflict.

Do the ground-force military personel ask enough questions of each assignment, or do they not care about the politics of each mission before they obey a higher command.

People willing to be maimed or killed do so not only when they do not recieve the whole truth - or may not express their personal experience after conflict - but they do so at a fraction of the remuneration i.e. wages, obtained by those that send them into battle.

Is the excitement of joining worth giving up other luxuries?

PLEASE: NO COP-OUTS ABOUT WWII. THAT WAR COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED BEFORE IT STARTED. READ THE BOOKS.

Answer 1

Do military personel properly question the individual ethics of each mission they are assigned?

No, but that is the nature of the beast.

Answer 2

You seem to misunderstand the military. When you join, you give up many of your freedoms. You also are given the responsibility to follow the orders you are given. There will be times when you WANT to disobey orders given to you however you had better have a great reason for disobeying them as you will find yourself in front of a court marshal.

You do not have the luxury of reading the morning paper or watching CNN and are therefore cut off from the level of news that the public enjoys and takes for granted. The recruits joining do NOT know what is going on in the real world nor do military personnel ask questions. As I mentioned before, it is their responsibility to follow orders. Not read the paper or ask questions.

Yes, the people getting killed and/or maimed do so at a lesser wage than those giving the orders. Again, not sure what the point is there are similar examples one could use to showcase that point such as police officers, construction workers, firemen, etc. who all risk getting killed and/or maimed by following orders of people who make more than them.

To some the "excitement of joining" may be "worth giving up other luxuries". To others, there may be no other perceivable option. If you want to look at a disparity, look at the social/economic make up of the military vs. the non-military. You will see that there are a disproportionately amount of soldiers from poorer upbringings. Sad but true. I'm not sure "excitement of joining" is a good phrase. Most who join do so for other reasons.

Both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq could have been avoided as well. Much like most other wars including WWII.

Hope my input helps you understand us military types better.

Answer 3

"Do military personnel properly question the individual ethics of each mission they are assigned?"

I am going to answer this question as it pertains to the United States, and the United States Armed Forces.

No they don’t, because there is no mechanism within the military where it would be proper to question the ethics of a mission. There are supposed to be non-military mechanisms, and political process that wash through the ethics before it reaches the military. However once the problem reaches the military and the elected government decides on a military solution there is no longer any room for debate at least in the military forces that are going to be carrying out the mission or objective. All of the questioning for the mission, and ethics are supposed to be debated prior to it reaching the military.

The military would cease to operate if individuals questioned why they are given a particular objective, or mission. This is why we have elected officials, and this is why the military is under the control of those elected officials.

Those in the military are informed as to what an illegal and legal order is. They are bound to not follow illegal orders according to US law, the Geneva Convention, and the UN Rules of Warfare. Aside from being given a blatantly illegal order those in the US military have no choice but to follow the orders of those appointed over them.

It is not their place to question orders, or to have an ethical debate and then decide whether or not in their infinite wisdom if they should follow those orders. This is the duty of the elected officials who run the military.

Our system itself is designed to where the military makes no decisions as to why they are employed on an objective, the civilian government does that. This is done to protect our nation against its own military.

The last thing you want is a military that decides on its own what exactly it is going to do. Once given a mission then the military makes tactical/operational/strategic decisions but the mission itself is decided by the elected government and that mission can be terminated at any time by the civilian government controlling the military.

It is done this way so that the military is a tool of the elected government, not the other way around.

Answer 4

I'm not sure where you are trying to go with this question.

The U.S. military is all volunteer. They join because they want to serve this great nation.

Military operations are not up for debate. Troops are suppose to follow orders. You can not have a well honed military if every mission is up for debate and discussion.

I've never heard of "properly question the indivudal ethics" when it comes to military engagement. This is not something for individual personnel to do. What they are doing may be but one small part of a larger picture. They would have no clue as to how to judge the mission in most cases.

This question seems absolutely ridiculous.

If someone wants to sit at home and play Nintendo and watch TV that's fine, do that and question the ethics of the movies you watch. For those people that choose to serve in the military they don't have that luxury. At least in the United States it is a choice to serve so those people serving are there because they want to be.

Answer 5

It's not to say that enlisted men don't care about the politics, etc. It's the fact that they are doing their job. If the command structure in the military wasn't the way it is, then things just wouldn't work.

When you are trying to orchestrate that scale of people, equipment, etc. Everyone has to do their specific role in the time frame given and the way instructed or it would have a domino effect creating havoc throughout the system.

Militaries have been run in such a manner since the dawn of time/beginning of recorded history. Look at the Romans or the feudal system of the dark ages/early middle ages.

I wouldn't say that there is an excitment in joining. Many people do it out of a love for their country or out of family tradition or to better themselves. For some people, it's the only chance out of a bad situation.

Any military, especially during times of conflict have good and bad aspects. It's up to each individual to determine what is right for themselves and to serve if they feel it's what's best for them for whatever personal reasons.

Answer 6

No and neither should they.
However, I will put a "rider" on that statment.
The UK government, and others, currently allow public and private prosecutions of military personel whereby an individual can be taken to a civilian court and tried for some "perceived crime" committed on operations.
I firmly believe that all but one or two people in the services will not knowingly commit any unethical crime if they had known ALL the facts about a mission.
So if we deny them the facts about a mission or not tell them other important issues about that mission we MUST protect them from public courts.
They all know they are accountable for their actions and agree on sign up to carry out orders from those who are "in the know".
Most of us never know what it is like to be in a combat situation and the split second decisions needed.
Our UK service people need protection from the public just like the American servicemen and women are.
Thank you for asking this question allowing many of us to comment on this very important issue.

Answer 7

The underbelly of the military isn't very pretty. You just have to take orders and shut up. Check your morals at the door. Think about the military as a restuaunt. If you saw what really goes on in the kitchen, you'd never eat there again.

If you have the nerve to question orders, you're basically signing up for every dangerous mission your unit encounters. Your MOS won't protect you either. You've all had infantry training and if they need some extra bodies, which they increasingly do, then you're it.

Answer 8

A soldier's job is not to "convey a story." It is to perform the mission they are assigned. Nor are they to be involved in politics; the reason is that the military serves civilian, elected commanders, not the other way around.

The UCMJ allows for soldiers to refuse clearly illegal orders, and defines those situations.

"This inturn may lead to recruits joining when they do not know the entire truth about conflict." Sorry buddy, nobody who hasn't been there knows the entire truth, and not even then.

The deal is clear to everyone, including you: you sign up, you go where you're told and you do what you're told and there's a decent chance you could be killed, maimed otherwise permanently damaged. In return you get miniscule pay, basic necessities, and the respect of a small % of your fellow citizens.

Don't kid yourself: soldiers know what they're signing up for.
As least in the US they get to volunteer.

Vlad.

Answer 9

Once you sign on that dotted line, you give up a LOT of rights - such as questioning an order or "superior rank" ;-)

IF you are brave enough to question something, you had better be damn certain to add the word SIR.. or Ma'am at the end of your question !!! otherwise you could see yourself being marched to the cells. Small those those 2 words are, they could keep you THIS side of the cell door !!

Simple as.

Once that green uniform goes on in the morning, you are just a number.. a pawn to be played. used and abused with by ones own Govt.

Simple as.

Sad fact as you can see nightly in the news, or daily in the next days chip paper.

IF you are very very lucky, you will have an immediate heirarchy system who would be willing to protect your back.. but with so many of those concentrating on thier own future careers once thier demob day arrives, that is yet another luxury you can kiss goodbye to !

The only person you CAN RELY on is yourself... and your TEAM mates.. and your Mammy and Daddy of course (not that they can help you once you sign on that dotted line ! So, think on !)

Answer 10

I have no nead to read the books since I was old enough to know what was happening in the offset WW11, and was stationed at Perdiswell Park with the 7th Worcester regiment on the day Britain went to war with Germany against the madman Hitler, there is no way that war could have been avoided. To get to your question The men at the sharp end has no alternative but to obey command from any rank which is greater than his own, his ultimate aim is to suppress the foe by death or capture, but we were never taught the rules of "capture, but I forcefully agree with the point you are making, this situation that remains, is a system that dates back to medi-evil times

Answer 11

in all trueness yes we do i am an ex soldier of her majesties armed forces, every operational tour i deployed on tested me both physically, mentally, emotionally and ethically. true soldiers dont get a choice where or when they go we just get on with it.
we leave the talking to the politicians and get on with the meat and potatoes of the job at hand, however its more of a question of why we fight. when you have seen some of the sights and heard the stories and seen the evidence first hand you get the feel of the mission you are on.
The balkans tested me to the limit because it seemed pointless, neighbours who had known each other since childhood turned on each other in a glance for no other reason than religion or race.
ethically if soldiers pondered on these things too long theyd all go insane because we dont always defend the right people so as a previous answer was put ours is not to reason why ours is but to do or die.