The Concepts of Canadian Armed Forces Ethics in a Military Setting

The Concepts of CAF Ethics in a Military Setting
Name
Institution
The Concepts of CAF Ethics in a Military Setting
Introduction
Cpt. Semrau was doing patrol in Helmand Province on the morning of Oct. 19, 2008, with his unit and other ANA soldiers when they found a man fatally wounded after he was shot down by US Apache Helicopter. Upon seeing the man, Cpt. Semrau administered ‘mercy killing’ by shooting him in the chest and killing him. His actions were based on his personal values and they were inconsistent with the Canadian forces code of conduct. Therefore, the goal of this essay is to establish whether his actions were ethical and highlight how soldiers should approach similar situations on the battlefield.
Analysis
Ethical Values
In this ethical situation, Cpt. Semrau violated the value of integrity. As indicated in the article Ethics in the Canadian Armed Forces (22), integrity does come first even though the values are considered equal. The article continues to state that for the Canadian Forces, “integrity implies consistent alignment of moral awareness – discerning what is right and what is wrong.” As a member of the Canadian Forces, Cpt. Semrau had to be consistently aligned with the value of integrity and always be morally aware of his actions. He was to always judge and act on situations by considering their rightness or wrongness. As per this value, no single action is supposed to be instigated by one’s beliefs or instincts. Therefore, the captain did violate the value of integrity.
Ethical Principles
The principle that is directly linked or tied to Cpt. Semrau’s act is Respect the Dignity of all Persons. As per this principle, CF members must ensure that they respect humanity’s common identity regardless of the obvious diversity. Therefore, one should not “torture, do violence to, brutalize, injure, coerce, bully, deceive, manipulate, use as expendable, treat unjustly, discriminate against, harass, otherwise ill-treat another human being.” Looking at Cpt. Semrau’s situation, one could argue that he did act against this principle because he did violence to another human being. His actions were in direct violation of this principle. One can argue that his act was merciful but the bottom-line is that he did commit a violent act against another person. The issue is indeed debatable because it raises the question whether mercy killing is ethical or not. But as per this second principle, Cpt. Semrau did violence to another person.
Discussion
According to ‘Module 1 Reading: Ethics in...