Moral Disengagement in the Army: The Soldier's Creed and its Effect on ROTC Cadets, the Future Leaders of the Army

Abstract

Americans have come to expect accountability, responsibility, and integrity from their military. There is evidence that many Army leaders are not living up to this standard. Therefore, there is a need to reassess the foundations on which these leaders are being trained. The present study aims to answer the question of whether the US Army is inadvertently training its future leaders to morally disengage. Moral disengagement (MD) is a cognitive process that allows individuals to push through the mental barriers of guilt and morality to commit an unethical behavior and to further justify their actions. Although this study did not find significant evidence in the Soldier’s Creed of the mixed messages that provoke mechanisms of MD, it did arrive at a better collective understanding of MD in the Army than was attainable prior to the research. This thesis demonstrates the need for further research on this topic in order to work towards a future Army where soldiers are trained to be morally engaged and to fully understand the value of a human life.