Photo By Sgt. Seong Hyeon Bae | Mr. Michael W. Clark II, Joint Special Operations University, College of Special...... read more read more
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From Dec. 3-5, 2024, personnel with the Special Operations Command Korea headquarters staff and subordinate units enhanced their skills during the ethical leadership course at Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea.
Sponsored and facilitated by the command’s chaplain, Maj. Joonki Hong, the course honed in on U.S. Special Operations Command’s 1st Special Operations Forces Truth, which states, “humans are more important than hardware.”
The USSOCOM ethical advisory team—Rev. Dr. John Edgar Caterson, Dr. Kari A. Thyne, Mr. Michael W. Clark, Chaplain Col. Christopher Dickey, and Sgt. Maj. Howie Crosby—led the course and helped guide developmental discussions with the SOCKOR participants.
“The Religious Support Team is charged by joint doctrine to be the ethical advisors to the command,” said Crosby, USSOCOM Special Operations Chaplain’s Office Senior Enlisted Advisor. “This course fulfills that mandate by providing the environmental map so the service member can identify where they are on the moral, ethical continuum.”
Crosby also articulated that the curriculum empowers participants through 13 ethical battle drills, or exercises, that provide people with the experience and knowledge to make ethically and morally-based decisions in support of national defense priorities.
This sentiment amplified a key theme SOCKOR participants and leaders expressed an interest in, ensuring uninhibited leadership when high stress and distance factor into those decisions.
In his opening remarks for the course, Hong’s tone for the participants impressed that their commitment to advancing their personal skills and training better supports not only their own well-being, but that of their troops and the people they interact with.
“Here at SOCKOR we’re closer to more threats listed in our National Defense Strategy than any other [Theater Special Operations Command],” said Hong. “Ensuring we’ve invested in our people through the spiritual, moral, and ethical lines of effort has real impacts on our ability to meet those strategy goals.”
Hong further emphasized that the SOCKOR culture must continue to encourage an environment where conversations about ethical decisions occur naturally.
“In ambiguous environments, leaders must balance mission success with ethical decision-making, even when the lines blur,” said Clark.
A concern that the team preemptively addresses through the course material is a concept known as ethical drift, where people start to lose sight of their personal and organizational moral compass over time.
“This course is targeted and specific for the SOF community,” stated Caterson, USSOCOM Chaplain executive subject matter expert and Joint Special Operations University program director. “Training for ethical leadership should be just as rigorous and intentional as tactical and operational training.”
Though the conference concludes with participants receiving a certificate of completion, the real value the instructors and Hong described is carried inside each individual who participated.
“We need to keep in mind that even in the SOF community, we’re humans and susceptible to making decisions drifting from our meaning, values, and purpose,” said Hong. “We increase awareness of those factors offered in this course to prevent potential moral drift.”
The JSOU regularly hosts the ethical leadership and other courses as a means to invest in the broader SOCOM community. For course information, people can reference their website at: https://jsou.edu/.
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.20.2025 22:13 |
| Story ID: | 489029 |
| Location: | KR |
| Web Views: | 212 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, SOCKOR personnel strengthen ethical leadership at JSOU course, by Molly Polzin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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