Things They Carried Essay: The Role Of Ethics In The Vietnam War

The Death of Ethics in War In the midst of war, where life and death decisions have to be made in an instant, moral and ethical principles become blurred especially when considering the right and wrong. Ethics in war is a topic that has been debated for decades and has reached no conclusion to this day. To implement some morals into war and to prevent atrocities from happening such as annihilation of innocent citizens, laws of war were implemented to stop these events known as war crimes. Nonetheless, the Vietnam War had these horrors still prevalent throughout its duration with war crimes such as the Mai Lai massacre, the usage of Agent Orange and a myriad of others. The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a Vietnam War veteran, discusses the

Throughout wars all over the world, the laws of ethics were implemented to stop unspeakable acts and the torturing of innocents. During the everyday operations and mission that made up the war, the role of ethics is to ensure the safety of citizens and to lessen the brutality of the actions. Even on a much smaller scale, soldiers have to face the question of morality every day while figuring whether they should be following orders and killing the adversary or trying to abandon the war but risk being killed themselves. As a result of the brutality, the role of ethics in war is “...to help decide what is right or wrong, both for individuals and countries...” (BBC). Everyday decisions of war deliberate the idea of morality and proper conduct. In many instances, it is overlooked and horrifying missions are carried out, such as massacres. The idea of ethics acts as a guide for soldiers and military officers to steer them towards acting in an honorable fashion even in such horrors as war. It attempts to draw a line between the right and wrong and to pave a moral path for those