Martin L. Cook 
Issues in Military Ethics 
To Support and Defend the Constitution

Reflecting on a seventeen-year career teaching at military educational institutions of the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy, Martin L. Cook finds a powerful but underappreciated basis for military ethics in the oath to the Constitution that members of the armed services pledge. In
Issues in Military Ethics, Cook considers the role of airpower in counterinsurgency war and the place of robotic weapons systems on the battlefield, but he also looks beyond ethics in the conduct of war to issues arising in military life generally. He addresses a range of other issues with pressing contemporary relevance, including civil-military relations, ethics education, and religion, in particular the ascendency of evangelical Christianity in military culture. This volume serves as an important resource for scholars, members of the armed services, and educators alike.

Table of Content

Preface

Acknowledgments




Section I. Overview: Legacies and New Challenges



1. What Should We Mean by “Military Ethics”?


With Henrik Syse



2. Reflections on the Stockdale Legacy



3. The Day the World Changed? Reflections on 9/11 and U.S. National Security Strategy




Section II. Civil-Military Relations


4. The Revolt of the Generals: A Case Study in Professional Ethics



5. U.S. Civil Military Relations since 9/11: Issues in Ethics and Policy Development


With Mary Beth Ulrich




Section III. Ethics Education in the Military



6. Teaching Military Ethics in the U.S. Air Force: Challenges Posed by Service Culture



7. Professional Military Ethics across the Career Spectrum



8. Thucydides as a Resource for Teaching Ethics and Leadership in Military Education Environments




Section IV. Religion in the U.S. Military



9. Is Just War Spirituality Possible?



10. Christianity and Weapons of Mass Destruction



11. Evangelical Christianity in the U.S. Military



12. Diagnosing a Loss of Religious Diversity in the U.S. Military



13. Whether (Modern, American) Soldiers, Too, Can Be Saved



14. A Force for (Relative) Good: An Augustinian Perspective




Section V. Ethical Issues in War



15. Michael Walzer’s Concept of “Supreme Emergency”



16. Asymmetric Air War: Ethical Implications


With Mark Conversino



17. Ethical Dilemmas in the Use of Airpower in Counterinsurgency War



Notes

Index

About the author

Martin L. Cook is Admiral James Bond Stockdale Chair of Professional Military Ethics at the United States Naval War College. He is the author of several books, including
The Moral Warrior: Ethics and Service in the U.S. Military, also published by SUNY Press.