Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 73

ETHICS IN COMBAT

they may struggle with the memory of killing for many
years afterward.
When soldiers make decisions about killing,
they make moral choices. When soldiers have time
to consider a moral problem and make a decision,
their thought process usually integrates an ethical
foundation of personal concepts of virtue that influence intent, rules that guide actions, and the consequences likely to follow the decision. Even if all these
things are understood theoretically, applying these
moral concepts is not a habit in the average soldier.
Therefore, when a decision must be made and action
taken in the moment, the conscience is morally disengaged. The enormity of the decision is only considered
in the aftermath.
In the dense fog of war, soldiers need more than
these sometimes-competing frameworks ranked by the
dominant value and only contemplated when given
the opportunity after the fact. Soldiers need a way to
understand and apply moral guidance and internalize
moral standards as second nature to all their actions.
This essay proposes that the principles of just war theory
can help soldiers develop a clear moral vision when
they have to measure out whether to kill.
Ideally, soldiers take life in the belief they will
make the world a better