Accession Number:

ADA514082

Title:

The Army Officers' Professional Ethic - Past, Present, and Future

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

ARMY WAR COLL STRATEGIC STUDIES INST CARLISLE BARRACKS PA

Personal Author(s):

• Moten, Matthew

Report Date:

2010-02-01

Pagination or Media Count:

41.0

Abstract:

General George W. Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, once observed If you walked around the Army and asked people what the professional military ethic is, you would get a lot of different answers. That is because Armys professional military ethic is not codified, although its spirit is resident in a number of documents. Other American professions have clearly promulgated statements of ethics. Within the Army, there are several extant statements of ethical responsibility--for Soldiers, noncommissioned officers NCOs, and civilians--but not for officers. This monograph briefly surveys the history of the Armys professional ethic, focusing primarily on the Army officer corps. It assesses todays strategic, professional, and ethical environment. Then it argues that a clear statement of the Army officers professional ethic is especially necessary in a time when the Army is stretched and stressed as an institution. The Army officer corps has both a need and an opportunity to better define itself as a profession, forthrightly to articulate its professional ethic, and clearly to codify what it means to be a military professional. Finally, this monograph articulates such an ethic.

Descriptors:

• *ETHICS
• *OFFICER PERSONNEL
• *ARMY PERSONNEL
• MORALE
• NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS
• BEHAVIOR
• CORPS LEVEL ORGANIZATIONS
• ARMY
• LEADERSHIP
• MILITARY HISTORY

Subject Categories:

• Personnel Management and Labor Relations
• Military Forces and Organizations

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE