Force Protection is used as a point of departure to develop and analyze a larger issue of vital importance to the military profession. A number of factors, both domestic and international, are corroding the professional military ethos (PME). These include the rise of post-modernist and egoist ethics as well as changes in the structure of the international system and hence in the demands placed upon the United States Army. The long-term effects of such corrosion may be seriously negative for future military effectiveness. U.S. Army officers, contrary to history and tradition, are increasingly unwilling to take casualties in the accomplishment of their military missions, which has become second priority to force protection. What does this portend for commanders socialized in this new ethos when the war tocsin sounds again for major conventional wars in which effectiveness has in the past been made possible, at least in considerable part, by the self-sacrificial character of military leaders and soldiers?
The paper will address these questions by placing force protection in the context of military professionalism and by suggesting remedies at various locations within the professionalism framework. For West Point, the specific recommendation is to renew the self-conception of future graduates by a "principled" approach to officership. Such a view places officers at the boundary between the institution and the society it serves rather than, as currently, having an officer corps focused solely on the internal aspects of the institution. The paper also suggests other adaptations and changes necessary at both the institutional and individual levels in order to reconcile the tensions within the military ethic and to increase the professionalism of the Army officer corps.
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