Gary L Salmans

Reinvigorating Ethics in the AF Officer Gary L Salmans

Edgar Puryear in his book Nineteen Stars defined character as that which "shapes the actions of the individual leaderit sustains him in moments of great crises, it causes him to do instinctively the honorable and right thing when he is confronted with great decisions."1 The military historically places great importance on teaching new officer candidates how to be leaders, specifically moral leaders. By taking a cursory glance of the tremendous moral leadership that the military has developed in its past it can be asserted that the techniques it has used to inculcate moral reasoning to its leaders has been largely successful. However, will these tried and true techniques used in the educational and training institutions of the AF continue to be successful in the development of officers as society continues to change?