The Need for an Ethical Fitness Assessment in the US Armed Forces

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhile many attempts have been made to institutionalize ethical training in the United States Armed Forces, the intended aim of each undertaking – changing the overall perception, understanding, and appreciation of ethics – is not fully achieved. Additionally – and conspicuously absent from each of the ethical initiatives of the warfighting institution – no method to evaluate and assess the ethical behavior of its members exists in the Armed Forces. Because Service members do not have a standard from which to measure personal behavior, they cannot adequately assess if they are meeting those standards. Such a void necessarily precludes continuous ethical maturation. In order to make ethical behavior resonate within its ranks, the United States Armed Forces must change the institutional impression of ethics by implementing an Ethical Fitness Assessment, which would standardize the description and evaluation of ethical behavior and lay the foundation for translating ethical knowledge into ethical practice.