The Good Soldier

First comes the courage of the citizen-soldier; for this is most like true courage.... This kind of courage is most like to that which we described earlier, because it is due to virtue ... — Aristotle

When Americans think of courage, a model we are often drawn to is the example of the citizen-soldier in combat. We find many stories of battlefield bravery: the heroic example of the Continental Army at Valley Forge, the daring of Joshua Chamberlain at Gettysburg, the courage of the men who landed on the Normandy beachhead, and more recent examples of heroism in the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. We draw inspiration from such accounts of self-sacrifice. However, where does courage, particularly battlefield courage, come from? Soldiers are not born inherently brave, and yet many are able to tap into some reserve of courage when placed in harm’s way and asked to risk their lives on the battlefield. How does this courage come to be, and how does the military, particularly the United States Military Academy at West Point, work to inculcate that kind of courage?

I believe courage can be divided into two different but related types. The first type is physical courage. This kind of courage allows soldiers to perform acts of physical bravery and strength that can impress non-soldiers. Examples include scaling cliff faces, rappelling out of hovering helicopters, parachuting out of aircraft, assaulting an enemy stronghold, and holding out against a ferocious enemy attack, to name just a few. Oftentimes the bravery demonstrated in such situations is as much the product of good training as anything else. Aristotle makes this point about the virtues in general, with courage as one of the virtues he addresses. As he notes in his Nicomachean Ethics, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

For Aristotle, the key to virtuous behavior (to include courageous behavior) is habituation. We have to habituate ourselves to facing fear and reacting courageously. A great deal of military training focuses on exactly that — the formation of certain military virtues through repetitive training. At the United States Military Academy at West Point, much of the day-to-day life of a cadet is all about developing certain soldierly virtues. Cadets eat, live, and breathe the life of the virtuous soldier. Everything from their dress and physical comportment to the requirement that they be honest and forthright in all their dealings becomes, by force of daily habit, a part of who they are.

Like that of all soldiers in training, cadets’ field training places them in situations approximating the kinds of extreme circumstances they may face on the battlefield. In this way they become accustomed to facing arduous and fearful situations, and through repetitive practice, overcoming those fears. Tough physical training, mentally and physically challenging battle drills, airborne and Ranger training, mountaineering courses, et cetera, are all designed to habituate cadets to facing difficult and dangerous circumstances and overcoming their natural fears. What to an outside observer appears to be courageous action may largely be the product of patterned behavior or habit.

The second type of courage has more of a cognitive element, and is therefore more difficult to attain. I choose to call this type of courage moral courage. For a military leader, this type of courage is essential. My experience as an Army officer suggests that Aristotle’s view of virtue provides a framework for how the military, particularly West Point, approaches this challenge. For Aristotle the exercise of virtues is concerned with attaining a mean when it comes to behavior. For example, if one is seeking to attain the virtue of honesty, one should seek the mean between the excess of boastfulness and the deficiency of understatement. When one is seeking to attain the virtue of courage, the mean can be found between the excess of rashness and the deficiency of cowardice. Again, from the Nicomachean Ethics:

... courage is a mean with respect to things that inspire confidence or fear, and [the courageous person] chooses or endures things because it is noble to do so, or because it is base not to do so.

Here we see the cognitive element involved in courageous behavior, for the courageous soldier must choose to endure fearful things. The emotion of fear is present (the truly courageous person is not without fear) but the courageous individual chooses to face down his or her fears.

As I said, this kind of courage is particularly important for leaders to possess, for while having the right habits of physical courage is a necessary condition of good combat leadership, it is not sufficient. Leaders on the battlefield cannot depend entirely on habit. Such leaders must make courageous decisions, decisions that involve the use of deadly force and the risk of violent death to themselves and their soldiers. At times, in the face of deadly enemy fire and an atmosphere of high personal risk, the combat leader must face down his or her fears and make the right tactical decision. How do I most effectively deploy the people and weapons available to me in this fight? Do I attack with my platoon in this direction? Do I hold in place or do I change positions? More important, how do I inspire the soldiers under my command to remain calm in the face of this threat and follow with confidence the orders I give them? In the fear and chaos of combat, a leader making these kinds of decisions must have a deeper reservoir of character to draw from that goes beyond habit. This deeper reservoir is where we find true courage.

The kind of education offered at West Point (the kind I received as a cadet and later taught to cadets as a professor there) recognizes the need to provide our military with leaders that exemplify this kind of courage. That is why the curriculum cadets follow includes generous portions of philosophy, literature, and history. A curriculum that recognizes the importance of education in the liberal arts provides future leaders with the intellectual resources to illuminate and motivate virtues such as courage. Such an education provides one with an historical context. It allows future leaders to recognize that the problems and challenges they face, whether on the battlefield or in life, have been faced by others before them. Education in the humanities provides one with moral exemplars to emulate and the self-knowledge to understand one’s own character (with both its strengths and flaws). It can give us rules to live by when everything and everyone around us is going to hell. Most of all, education in the humanities can help one develop a kind of personal integrity that makes a courageous leader, one who “chooses or endures [fearful] things because it is noble to do so.”

With the right education, courage, as a kind of virtue, can be taught. Physical bravery is part of the equation, but moral courage represents true courage. Combat leadership requires moral courage; it is the only kind of courage worthy of the name.