I received word this week that the "Dateline" episode this Memorial Day Weekend, on Sunday 25 May at 7pm EDT, will address the guilt that many soldiers experience after killing (justly) in war.
Dateline came by my office last October and filmed an interview. I hope that the show will raise awareness on the issue. A big first step to helping our soldiers make sense of their experience of killing in war is breaking the taboo and becoming more honest about the moral reality of war. A second necessary step is having a shared vocabulary that enables soldiers and citizens to talk about the wrestle through the concepts and experiences. Traditional Just War Theory is woefully in adequate in addressing the moral issues of individual killing. Hopefully my writing has contributed to both goals. More needs to be done. I invite you to join the discussion and the cause.
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This is my latest version of laying out the argument. Feedback is welcomed! A moral justification for killing in war By Pete Kilner, 2009 In...
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Some of my fellow Soldiers have questioned whether I should be addressing this issue--the need to talk about the moral justification of ki...
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By Pete Kilner, Ph.D. revision of "A Third Form of Moral Injury" (11-11-2016) Currently, the academic literature on mora... -
War is a breeding ground for moral injury. Even in a justified [1] war that is fought justly, combat soldiers are likely to intentional...
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Initially presented at JSCOPE 2005 . This version substitutes "leaders" for "ethicists," because it's leaders at all...