A Reflection of Society

So what exactly are we to make of the events of last weekend? I thought about posting my thoughts earlier to the small number of you who read these entries, but I wanted to wait and not jump to conclusions. It still seems a bit early to try and figure out what happened to cause a 38 year-old career soldier to commit such a horrible act. If I were to listen solely to the TV, I’d come away with the impression that he was suffering from acute PTSD due to TBI (a concussion is classified TBI and we don’t claim PTSD for every football player who takes a violent hit resulting in a concussion) and that is what made him snap and murder civilians. Reading articles in newspapers shows a bit more complicated and nuanced picture of what happened. Regardless, we won’t know the truth until a trial and even then we will ponder the unanswered questions that aren’t discussed. So, I’m not looking to figure out what happened in this solitary case. I think there is a larger issue at play that affects not only this particular Staff Sergeant, nor the military in general. There is a larger issue that affects our entire culture and it is one I don’t foresee any media from investigating: a lack of training in our lives of how to make ethical decisions.

Back in the submarine days, anytime some unexpected event occurred we got all the key players around and conducted a critique. I have experienced my fair share of critiques as both the subject of the gathering as well as a neutral observer there to write down the facts and find the root causes. The goal is to find the points that led to the failure and then discuss ways we could prevent it from happening again. Sometimes, there are things you can’t foretell and you are just left holding the bag and have to figure out the recovery. But many times there are distinct and multiple errors that led to the particular gathering with the Commanding Officer and outside agencies offering assistance and possibly punishment. Undoubtedly, there is an investigation in Afghanistan doing similar things right now asking many questions that relate to the specific events leading to a horrific act early one morning. And that is necessary and needed for closure with his unit.

But, I think there is a larger root cause at play here, and PTSD is just a symptom not a cause. I can probably safely assume that everyone who has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq has suffered some form of combat stress. The overwhelming majority come back, decompress and that is it. A very small number come back and have trouble reintegrating with their families and society in general. We work hard to identify them and get them the treatment they need. Most of the time, it involves talking about what they went through and assuring them that it’s normal to think things are a bit bizarre in the US compared to the life they lived for 7-13 months in country. Some of those who can’t readjust just can’t get back in the swing of things easily so we need to get them specialized treatment because they can’t function as our society expects. If this Staff Sergeant couldn’t function and make decisions he most likely would never have deployed in the first place. So while the PTSD argument is compelling and plays well with the press, I think it is a red herring (there is a chance he saw something and just snapped, but I don’t get that kind of vibe from what I have been reading).

He made terrible decisions with horrific results. I would venture the amount of time he spent learning about ethical decision-making was miniscule at best. Most of the Marines I encounter don’t come from any kind of background that teaches ethics at all. And no, it doesn’t require a religious background to study ethics (though many people will try and convince you of that, probably a reason why we don’t teach ethics in public schools). Many come to the military to get a sense of order in a chaotic life where ethics is the last thing in their minds. We send them to boot camp and some specialized schooling where ethics is presented as this ethereal concept of black and white decisions based on the law of armed conflict and decisions of right and wrong. Then we take these kids who have no real idea of their ethical framework and what drives their decisions and put them in combat, a place where ethics can rapidly become murky for the best trained and informed individuals. You see and hear about things that rattle your worldview and how you order your life. If that is shaky to start, things can rapidly deteriorate.

Ethics isn’t just right and wrong choices (in the military we have to follow the Geneva Conventions, etc.) it’s about our decision-making ability. The way I reason through a murky situation says a lot about the ethical framework under which I operate and my framework is probably different than yours. Knowing how we think and reason is important not only for me, but also for my commander. If I know how I will approach and ethical issue and talk about it with those in my immediate chain of command through open discussion of case studies they know in which situations I may struggle ethically. Some ethical frameworks (relativism) don’t work in a military environment and if an individual won’t refocus their framework then maybe we need to send them on their way.

But, we don’t want to “force” a belief system on people if they work for the government. Our society is libertarian by nature (i.e. I’ll do what I want as long as it doesn’t infringe on another’s rights) and we feel that moral and ethical standards may cross that line. I disagree. In the military (and I would argue for society as a whole), we need moral and ethical boundaries to function properly. When recruits arrive without understanding what comprises ethics and how to reason through decisions fully we are starting them out at a disadvantage. So what can we do?

This is only one approach and probably isn’t anywhere near the right one. In our battalion we talked with every Non-Commissioned Officer and higher in rank about ethical decisions and how to talk about ethics with their Marines and sailors. We described many types of ethical frameworks and let them discover which one they operated under. We talked about the strengths and weaknesses of each. We also talked about how the Geneva Conventions came into being as well as the Law of Armed Conflict and international expectations. We also discussed why the US follows a certain standard of behavior in combat with groups who seem to not follow the rules of war. We let them disagree. We let them vent about it before we got into country. We agreed that it isn’t “fair” but it is what they signed up for and if they had a serious problem with it to come see me. We then showed some movie clips and talked about the ethical ramifications of each as a guide of how to discuss ethics with their Marines. We talked about how they have multiple opportunities each week to bring ethical discussions into their work. Finally, we gave each NCO access to dozens of case studies if they ever needed material to get a discussion started. Most importantly we didn’t make it a forced program and just told them we expected this from small unit leaders and why it would help them in the long run. From every indication, it worked in combat and we’ll use it again before the next deployment and I’ll take the program with me for every command I serve as well as any churches I serve upon my retirement.

I could be wrong on this whole thing, but I just think the media is looking for a quick surface answer because they are scared and finding out their complicity in what happened last weekend. If we are truly honest with ourselves we will see our faces in the mirror as we realize that ethics is in everything we do and we have placed learning about such an important thing in the background or just expect the military to teach a life-long skill in a few weeks of boot camp. It takes a great deal of time and effort to prepare yourself for the short moments where you have to make rapid ethical decisions (and yes, it does happen in the civilian world as well especially in school where cheating is on the rise). And if you haven’t explored where you stand you will rapidly learn your ethical foundation is made out of sand in the face of a tsunami.

If you have other ideas to teach ethics, drop me a line and let me know your ideas. As always if you have comments, feel free to discuss here on this page.