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Chapter 7 - Ethical Armouring for Special Operations Forces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2023

Deane-Peter Baker
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Canberra
Roger Herbert
Affiliation:
United States Naval Academy, Maryland
David Whetham
Affiliation:
King's College London
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Summary

In our concluding chapter, we refocus our attention on the individual SOF operator. A career, or even a deployment, in special operations exposes operators to an exceptionally high risk of post-traumatic stress and moral injury. We argue that states, therefore, have an obligation to ’ethically armour’ their special operators against moral injury, a battlefield hazard that is just as deadly as a sniper’s bullet. Leaders at every level must ensure that SOF are educated and trained in the moral complexity of their profession. Given the emergence of SOF power as an essential instrument of statecraft, the political sensitivity that is often a feature of special operations, and the independent and improvisational decision-making that is necessary for special operations to succeed, a casual acquaintance with the ethics of their craft is insufficient. As with other skillsets that SOF are required to master, mastery in the ethics of special ops must be the standard.

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The Ethics of Special Ops
Raids, Recoveries, Reconnaissance, and Rebels
, pp. 178 - 217
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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