Throughout their career, army officers come across statements like, "here sign this training roster," which are uttered by training or readiness NCO. Such phrases are never questioned and the officers who end up appending their signature and are usually thankful that they missed the training mainly if it was death by powerpoint presentation on something that has been repeated severally. Despite the fact that such actions are against best practices in the Army, the trainers and trainees are glad that the signed documents indicate an accomplished task. Readiness NCO would like to demonstrate that they have satisfactorily performed their work and therefore such signatures will help solidify their argument of a completed job. The following question needs to be addressed in this case. Is it ethical for the army to falsify or forge training documents? In addressing this issue, it is desirable first to understand what ethics amount to in the army. Army ethics are the moral principles that guide in conducting the mission, duties, and performance of all other activities. It is reflected in the values, laws, ethos, oaths and shared beliefs in the army culture. Ethics inspire and motivate members to make the right decision and always to take the correct action. It is the heart of the shared professional identity, dedication, purpose, and the calling of the army. Violation of the army ethics is breaking the sacred bond of trust. Ethical Issue facing the Army and categorically the Army National Guard is the forging of official documents and in this case, training rosters or certificates and the Army Physical Fitness Test scorecard also known as the DA 705. This paper examines the falsifying and forging of training documents by the army and its relation to the values held by the army personnel (States, 2007; The Soldier’s Blue Book, 2017).
Background and the Army values
The army together with the other armed forces is mandated to preserve the peace and security of a country in addition to defending the U.S, Commonwealth and other countries occupied by the U.S. The army also supports national policies and helps in the implementation of national objectives. They are responsible for overcoming nations that are solely responsible for aggressive behaviors that endanger the peace and security of the US. Adhering to and upholding ethics is a lifelong commitment of the army. Whether a soldier is serving or not, they are supposed to be moral and ethical role models for the people around them and therefore contributing to the well being of the country as a soldier for life. Soldiers are guided by The Army Ethics which is a set of laws, values, and beliefs that are deeply embedded in the core of the army culture. They are practiced by all members therefore motivating, and guiding their appropriate conduct for all officers who are enjoined in a shared moral goal. A soldier is required to learn about the seven values in their combat training. The values should not only be acquired but must form part and parcel of the officers throughout their life irrespective of whether they are on the job or not. The seven values are what guides a soldier and are what being a soldier is all about. The next discussion focuses on the seven core values (States, 2007; The Soldier’s Blue Book, 2017).
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In the army, being loyal means bearing true faith and allegiance to the constitution, the unit as well as other soldiers. A soldier believes in and devotes them to a course. Being loyal means supporting the leadership and standing up for the fellow soldiers. Being in uniform and doing their work demonstrates the loyalty of a soldier. The second value is duty, which involves fulfilling the required obligation. It implies the ability to engage in a task as a team. An army's work is a combination of sophisticated tasks, missions, and responsibilities that are continually changing. Soldiers fulfill their obligations as a unit every time they desist from engaging in shortcuts that can undermine their integrity. Respect is the third value that soldiers must adhere. The army believes in treating others with respect and dignity and expects other to reciprocate in the same manner. With respect, it is possible to appreciate the contributions of others. It is trusting that everyone has done their job and completed their duty. A soldier should strive to put forward their best efforts and knowing that they have contributed to the team. The fourth value is selfless service in which the soldier places the country, army and subordinates welfare is put before their own. A soldier should loyally do their duties without expecting to be recognized or to gain. Honor is the fifth value in which soldiers are supposed to make it their daily part of life. It involves officers who make it their habit to be honorable and solidify it with each value choice made. It is all about conducting, acting and adhering to the values of loyalty, duty, respect, self-service personal courage and integrity in daily practice. Integrity is the sixth value in which soldiers are required to do what is right, legal and moral. It is a quality developed by the soldiers by adhering to ethical principles. In practice, it involves doing or saying nothing that that is deceiving. Integrity helps in building trust and accepting oneself. The last value is personal courage to face danger, adversity or fear. It can be physical or moral where the former involves risking own safety or enduring physical duress. The later is a long slow process in the right direction, especially where such actions are not popular with the rest. Personal courage can be built by supporting honorable things ( Army.Mil, 2017).
The Root Cause
The National Guard on average has 39 training days per year. During that limited time frame units in the National Guard have to perform all of the same training requirements as active duty soldiers. Similarly, other needs must be met including; admin task and personnel issues and individual and crew-served weapons qualifications. Additional requirements include the Army physical fitness test that is repeated every month for the failures, weapons and vehicle maintenance, necessary soldier skills and mandatory briefings that include suicide awareness and prevention and equal opportunity. The training must meet the needs of SHARP or sexual harassment/assault response and prevention, combating trafficking in person and dealing with outdated and boring training material used during or for training purposes (States, 2007; The Soldier’s Blue Book, 2017).
The scenarios in the training videos or vignettes never change. Training power points or videos still use soldiers wearing the old BDU's or camouflage uniform. This uniform has been out of date for almost ten years having been replaced in 2004 by the ACU and FRACU. This shows that the materials used for training are not up to date and therefore might not be relevant to the current needs. Similarly, some of the training is redundant having been repeated severally. Additionally, there is knee-jerk reaction training when something happens like a vehicle accident, suicide or complaint of sexual assault. The army sometimes has what is called a stand down and spend precious training time telling people how to drive safely. If a soldier is not present in such occasions, the sign in roster will be forged to meet the suspense of higher HQ.
With all of those training requirements and the short time to accomplish them including higher headquarters demand for 100% training completed within a specific time frame, Leaders sometimes feel that there are not too many options left except to forge or just have a soldier sign the roster even when they were not present for the training. Soldiers also photoshop certificates to meet suspense from higher HQ on when to have the task completed ( Panzino, 2017).
The act of falsifying and forging training documents
Trainings are routine activities in military camps. Soldiers must keep fit by engaging on a training program irrespective of whether they are in active combat or not. Whenever there are plans to deploy the army to a battlefield, the team must be engaged in a rigorous pre-mobilization training exercise. During such training sessions, issues like necessary soldiering skills and theater-specific training are conducted. Each event or briefing has a sign in roster that is completed by each soldier in attendance. If a soldier is not present for whatever reason, they would sometimes be allowed to sign the roster later even though they never participated in the actual training session. Similarly, once the pre-mobilization training is over, soldiers are released until a later date when they resume active duty again.
In some cases, soldiers receive phone calls from the operations sergeant requesting them to report to their respective stations for a week or so training session because their names are missing in the sign in rosters. If one or more soldiers cannot be found either because they have traveled to a distant location or communication cannot be completed, the sergeant will take care of the missing names by falsifying the details of the officers and therefore achieves the roster on their behalf. Such acts usually invalidate the entire training requiring the soldiers to undertake it once more because someone forged or had soldiers sign lists just to meet the suspense.
Impact on the force
Few soldiers need the training and may not get it because they were doing something else at the time the instruction was given and their names were forged, or they just had the soldier sign it to meet the suspense requirement. The impact on the force could be fatal if the soldier is going to a combat zone and missed theater-specific training or lifesaving training, but the name was signed as having satisfactorily attended the training. If the lower ranks see the practice of forgery or just signing the roster without attending the training, they may not think the training is relevant. Similarly, forging or having someone just sign the training roster could cause morale or discipline issue in the ranks. Lastly, falsifying or forging the lists is punishable under article 107 on false statements and article 123 on forgery. Such an individual will be punished as per the direction of the court-martial (UCMJ, 2007).
When a leader's integrity is brought into question, it can have a determinate effect on the whole organization. Leaders in the army influence the soldiers by motivating them and providing a purpose and direction for the army. The leaders personify the values of the army and the ethos. They act as communicators, coordinators, and negotiators with different stakeholders. They should understand the implications of their actions and decisions. Any activity that is contrary to the values of the army and standards of conduct compromises the strategic objectives of the country. Leaders must be ethical and ensure that they make personal sacrifices in their selfless service to the nation. They are mandated to develop the ethos of the army through realistic training, discipline, commitment to the values of the army and pride in its heritage ( States, 2007).
Solution
Some of the potential solutions for addressing falsifying or forging of the training rosters in the military includes. Reducing the number of hours spent on radiant training can also be a workable solution. Keeping the training up to date is necessary. The BDU or camouflage uniform should not be used in training power points because they have been out of date for close to ten years. Trainers should stop the knee-jerk reactions every time something happens, or someone does something stupid. Such responses will not solve anything in the long run and are considered to be a CYA or cover your ass type approach to training (Woody, 2017).
One potential solution could be to make all distant training learning, but the challenge with such an approach is that the soldiers will not do it on their own time at home and there are not enough computers at armories for soldiers to use. Personal computers cannot be plugged into the networks to address computer shortage for security purposes. There are problems in trying to log into the military website, and the issue can be severe as most soldiers will struggle with it because of issues getting the standard access card to work at home and therefore some will give up. The system networks are down most of the time making it difficult for soldiers to access remotely without any difficulties ( Panzino, 2017).
Another potential problem with the challenge facing the army is to increase the number of training days to the National Guard. However, this approach is not a popular solution. The composition can be adjusted to reflect the needs of the army, for example, if some of the not warfighting training were reduced or eliminated then the National Guard would not need as many additional training days. Similarly, it is possible to conduct combat readiness training during the time already allowed. Extra training days can have an impact on National Guard soldiers with full-time jobs, family and school requirements ( Panzino, 2017).
Conclusion
Ethics in the army plays a critical role in their performance the day to day activities of the soldiers. Army ethics are the moral principles that guide in conducting the mission, duties, and performance of all other activities. It is reflected in the values, laws, ethos, oaths and shared beliefs in the army culture. Falsifying and forging training documents amounts to unethical behavior by the army which is required to hold high standards to develop trust. They are supposed to observe the seven values of the army, and their leaders must instill a culture ethical behavior. Forging of training documents is not only punishable by law but also reduces the trust towards the military, can have a catastrophic effect on untrained soldiers in the battleground, raises discipline issues and compromises the army values. Some of the solutions include adjusting the training program, avoiding reactions to events and extending the training days. All these actions can lead to decline in the number of forgeries reported in army training.
References
Army.Mil Features. (2017). Values. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.army.mil/values/
Army Guard Soldiers to see increase in training days. (2016, October 05). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/965325/army-guard-soldiers-to-see-increase-in-training-days/
Panzino, C. (2017, August 07). 3-star: More training days for the Guard as the Army struggles with readiness. Retrieved November 21, 2017, from https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/03/09/3-star-more-training-days-for-the-guard-as-the-army-struggles-with-readiness/
States, U. (2007). AR 600-100 2007: Army Leadership . Washington, DC: Headquarters, Dept. of the Army.
The Soldier’s Blue Book:The Guide for Initial Entry Training Soldiers. (2017). Fort Eustis: Dept. of the Army, Headquarters, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.
UCMJ – United States Code of Military Justice. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2017, from http://www.ucmj.us/
