The CGO students had a chance to skype with Captain Chad Plaisted of the US Army who is currently in special forces training in North Carolina. We asked him to talk about what ethics means in the context of the US military, and how that dovetails with or departs from his own personal code. Captain Plaisted focused initially on the more formal values of the army, which include things like loyalty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. He then articulated his personal approach to life as one that comes from Bill Hayward, former UO track coach: Live your live so that every day you can look someone straight in the eye and tell them to go to hell. The idea is that if a person lives their life with the proper values that they don’t have to  worry about justifying their actions and will always be ready for evaluation or judgement.

Captain Plaisted talking with the CGO

While our discussion included the complicated issue of what one does in combat, Chad also wanted us to realize that ethics infuse many other aspects of military life – from dealing with PTSD, counseling troops on deployment to treat their families back home with fairness, and his own approach to the troops serving under him. He stressed that a lot of what people see in the media is not how the military is, and that as a whole the military as an institution holds itself to a high moral and ethical code.

Captain Plaisted noted that may not always agree with the politics of a particular policy, but affirmed that he made a commitment to the institution of the army and he will go where they tell him to and execute his assigned mission. He made a point of saying that soldiers are forbidden to carry out illegal orders (like kill civilians),and that he is sworn to carry out the mission of the army to the best of his ability. Chad used his experiences in witnessing injustice to make an impassioned argument that the US has the responsibility to help people who are victims of oppression. His favorite part of deployment in Iraq was visiting villages and giving pencils and soccer balls to the children there. He firmly believes that there is something innately human that says “this is not right and we need to do something about it.”

The CGO group picture with Captain Plaisted on Skype