Military Review English Edition March-April 2014 | Page 60

Professional Education Sought by
Students
Conversely, from the students’ perspective, serving
in the profession of arms connotes commitment to the
ethical standards of their profession and a striving
for their mastery.15 Professions, by definition, license
and continually train their members, especially their
senior officers and members, and sanction behavior
determined unprofessional or illegal. By this method,
professions enable and motivate their members to
serve appropriately in the discharge of their duty. In
the leaders’ perceiving themselves responsible to the
larger community and duly conforming their actions
to this responsibility, they retain societal trust.
The military is a profession that trains, educates,
and licenses its members. Officers have much
required pre- and post-commissioning training and
education, interim training and studies, and professional military education throughout their careers.
Promotions, awards, oaths, assignments, and periodic
evaluations also award soldiers and certify them as
qualified within their profession. The educational
piece includes the SSCs, charged with senior leader
education and necessary to maintain expertise of the
military profession. The SSCs influence policy and
education at institutions well beyond their walls.

DOD Direction
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen.
Martin E. Dempsey, recently stated at The National
Defense University, “For the first time, our competence
and character are being evaluated by experts and pundits while we fight . . . . There will be an ever-increasing
expectation of servicewomen and men to achieve that
intricate balance of high character and high competence.”16 His words were more than aspirational: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had previously directed
Gen. Dempsey to review ethics education to better
inculcate “a culture of value-based decision making
and stewardship of general and flag officers and their
staffs.”17 Recently, the Joint Chiefs duly reviewed some
of the ethical violations of senior leaders. They are
drafting recommendations to avoid lapses in critical
judgment.18 Their preliminary findings included that
“we need to . . . reinforce that [ethics] training more
frequently in an officer’s career.” The chairman was
charged with a long-term effort to make and implement
recommendations in consultation with the secretary of
defense.19 These efforts remain ongoing.
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Providing ethics education is to accept the burden
imposed by Gen. Dempsey and echoed by the directives of the Strategic Landpower Task Force, to
develop ethical senior leaders who “exercise moral
nerve and restraint” and to “develop mutual trust
and understanding.” The responsibility of providing ethics education falls on the SSCs because they
possess the expertise. Ethics education is a thoroughfare for SSCs to influence leaders’ character
around the globe with reverberating effect.
In stewardship, the SSCs can either prepare their
own curriculum now or await the imposition of a
system designed elsewhere.20 It is best to be ahead
of the curve by anticipating change, actively influencing the debate, and guiding policy development
and implementation.

Ever-Increasing Lethality Alters
the Ethical Equation
The ever-increasing lethality of terrorism and the
force deployed to combat it commands our urgent
attention. These permutatio