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Whether or not members of the military are receiving adequate ethics training has been a hotly debated issue of late. Recent trends seem to indicate that it has not been up to par. A Code of Ethics might help.
In July 1990 the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a report to the Senate accompanying the 1991 defense authorization bill stating that midshipmen and cadets at the Service academies are not receiving enough training in "specific real life ethical situations that military officers will face." The report also cited a survey conducted at the Naval Academy that found that 90 percent of midshipmen believed that "something is only wrong if you get caught." Commenting on the study Sen Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va), a member of the committee, was quoted in the Washington Post:
In my book it seems that something basic is missing, which goes to the core of this whole thing. These young people who graduate from the service academies should have a fundamental understanding of what is right and what is wrong . . . and if we are turning over into officers a lot of men and women who think it's only wrong if you get caught, we are not doing our jobs when a lot of lives hang in the balance.
A close examination of the Marine Corps most likely would reveal a similar situation. On average, the academies have more training in professional ethics than civilian colleges, where the Marine Corps gets most of its officers. To solve this dilemma the Marine Corps must find the "something basic [that] is missing" and correct the problem.
I believe that due to changes in the military and changes in society it is now necessary for the...