Soldiers must judge how much force is necessary to accomplish their goals. This involves considering how to reduce the risk to soldiers while also considering civilian lives and property. The author of this paper contends that, in some situations including peacekeeping operations, soldiers are morally obligated to consider the least force possible when force is necessary.
Soldiers are legally obligated to ensure that loss of civilian life and property damage must be in proportion to the military advantage which is gained. However, soldiers must also be concerned with moral considerations, which may be more restrictive. Soldiers may have to accept more risk to themselves in order to minimize the foreseeable bad effects. If there is ambiguity as to what the mission is, this causes more problems for soldiers in making the morally correct decision. Answering the question as to what the mission is will have moral as well as political significance.
The author states that in a situation where peace must be established, the use of as much force as permissible may be necessary. However, peacekeeping situations require consideration of the least amount of force necessary.
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