The Warrior King

641 Words3 Pages

A Commander sustains an ethical command climate in war by establishing clear intent and purpose for their organization, accentuated through his vision. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Law of War are the military guidelines and penalties for soldiers to act accordingly. Distinctively, the majority of people know the difference between right and wrong. Command team (i.e. Commander and NCOs) are role models for the organization and set the example for their subordinates, which led to sustaining an ethical climate. Discipline organization exhibits high physical fitness, technical competence and successfully accomplish the mission. For example, the case study “Fall of the Warrior King” illustrates that the organization failed …show more content…

The nature of the enemy was changing and as there was conflicting guidance from MG Odierno to use more force and COL Rudesheim to use more non-lethal methods to combat the enemy, whoever that was. LTC Sassaman viewed COL Rudesheim as the desk jockey who did not really know what was going on in the field, and as a result of the conflict in guidance, discipline started to break down within the battalion. LTC Sassaman did not have a “how to” manual on how to combat insurgency and at the same time stand up a government. LTC Sassaman points out in the case study that the intent of the Soldiers who forced the two Iraqi’s over the bridge were not criminal. The decision by LT Saville to make these civilians jump into the Tigris River as a non-lethal threat describes the permissive attitude allowed that leads to unethical behavior in combat. There was no standard operating procedure for unethical behavior and is there one today beyond the army core values? The case study also stated LTC Sassaman’s superiors were not reprimanded or reviewed for their part in this unethical behavior of 1-8 IN BN. The generals in charge failed to have a clear battle plan, and left it at the battalion, company and platoon level to figure out, which set many Soldiers up to fail in this chaotic theater of operations during this

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