The Kernel

by Jacob Roecker

A proposal for a concise functional definition and qualitative application of the Army’s Professional Military Ethic.The Army, lead by General Casey, has put out a call to discuss and define the Professional Military Ethic (PME). For the most part, only field grade officers have entered the conversation and have remained fixed in the perspective that the PME is solely an “officer topic.” Jacob's engaging discussion, based on careful thought and sound research, signals nothing less than a paradigm shift of the way we view and teach ethics in the United States Army. Where other authors have approached the subject from a top-down rules-based mentality, Jacob argues that ethics, by definition, must be approached from an individual perspective. The consequences for this shift include ending the decades long odyssey for a functional definition of the Professional Military Ethic and a training model that develops Soldiers in a way to proactively prepare for the challenges of the complex and ever changing battlefield - rather than react to the shortcomings of their predecessors.

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2010