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U.S. Army War College >> Strategic Studies Institute >> Publications >> The Army Officers' Professional Ethic--Past, Present, and Future
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Authored by Colonel Matthew Moten.
Colonel Matthew Moten of the West Point History Department has asked why so many other professions have clear statements of professional responsibility, but the Army officer corps does not. This essay briefly surveys the history of the Army’s professional ethic, focusing primarily on the officer corps. It assesses today’s strategic, professional, and ethical environment. Then it argues that a clear statement of the Army officers’ professional ethic is especially necessary in a time when the Army is stretched and stressed as an institution. The Army officer corps has both a need and an opportunity to better define itself as a profession, forthrightly to articulate its professional ethic, and clearly to codify what it means to be a military professional. Finally, the monograph articulates such an ethic focusing on the four roles of commissioned officers—Soldier, servant of the nation, leader of character, and member of a time-honored profession.
Real Leadership and the U.S. Army: Overcoming a Failure of Imagination to Conduct Adaptive Work
The New Aztecs: Ritual and Restraint in Contemporary Western Military Operations
Defining Command, Leadership, and Management Success Factors within Stability Operations
Military Leadership
Managing Change
Military Culture
Military Professionalism
Retention and Recruitment