Obedience In A Few Good Men

Obedience to people in authority is a deep-rooted trait that we all possess by virtue of our upbringing, and as Milgram put it, “it is only the person dwelling in isolation who is not forced to respond, with defiance or submission, to the commands of others” (Milgram 1974). This trait is exhibited every day in family circles, workplace and school. People are most likely to obey instructions from people they perceive their authority to be legal or moral. We see people obeying their pastors, leaders in various societies and other people they see as higher to them; and they obey anything they are being told even if it involves killing another human being. They justify their actions, however wrong, on obedience to authority.

Task: Provide an essay summarizing MCWP 6-11 Leading Marines, also answer the question of, ‘Why did the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps want every Marine to read MCWP 6-11’, with 1000-1500 words.

Many of the standards that I would have frowned upon outside the u s army are essential to the work success within the United States military. Punishment of not following orders is not deemed to be a positive occurrence in an average person’s life, whereas the United States military guide maintains that punishment strengthens my determination and discipline and enables me to learn and fully take the importance of following orders in US army seriously. Not following orders is not an optional choice while living the standards of the United States military.

To follow orders within the unit promotes morale, Esprit de corps, the completion of tasks and details that promote the benefit of the unit as a whole, and transition of communication in the unit. When orders are not being followed, it creates a doubt within the mind of not only the Noncommissioned Officer, but the other core leaders of the soldier. The soldier himself or

The Disciplinary Regulations of the United States Army define military discipline as "a strict and honorable compliance by all servicemen with the order and rules prescribed by laws, military regulations and orders of commanders (superiors)."

-Justice:   A leader should be fair, and not play favorites with Marines.   It is also important a leader hands out a fair punishment to a disobedient Marine.

Following orders is of the utmost importance in the military. Obedience is what enables the military to operate in an organized and effective manner which is clearly very important during challenging military situations. While an individual can question the notion of obedience in daily life, this luxury is often not available in the military where the grand goals and aims require smooth internal functioning and hierarchical coordination. Indeed, many of the standards that would be frowned upon outside the military are essential to the work's success within. For example, punishment is not deemed to be a positive occurrence in an average person’s life, whereas the military guide maintains that punishment

“You don't need a patch on your arm to have honor.” Lt. Daniel Kaffee, portrayed by Tom Cruise, says at the end of the movie to Lance Cpl. Dawson after the final ruling is read, stating PFC. Downy and Lance Cpl. Dawson are innocent but are dishonorably discharged from the military. A Few Good Men portrays the negative impact on military personally from strict obedience. Lt. Daniel Kaffee, along with Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway and Lt. Sam Weinberg; played by Demi Moore and Kevin Pollack, must defend PFC. Downy and Lance Cpl. Dawson from being charge of committing a Code Red. However, Lt. Kaffee believes that PFC. Downy and Lance Cpl. Dawson committed the ‘Code Red’, but because it was a direct order

Everyday, people are forced to face with vicious circle of decisions: whether to stick to their morals or obey the authority figure. But it’s a fact that people have a propensity to obey authority, more than to preserve their own morals. A Few Good Men is a film that illustrates the struggle every marine faces-- to follow orders, good or bad. But why would marines follow the orders without hesitation if that order questions the principles they live by? Because the orders in the navy are meant to follow all for the reason of making everyone in Navy into good marines and to be strong enough to defend the nation. It required unquestioning commitment and obedience to orders. The articles, “The Perils of Obedience” by Stanley Milgram and “The

Starting off with the facts of the movie, case that is being presented is a criminal one. Two Marines, PFC. Louden Downey and Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson, are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and conduct unbecoming a Marine. The reason I

The members of the armed forces are well know, and well respected for their discipline. Part of that discipline comes from the ability to follow the orders of your subordinates, even if they don’t feel like it or don’t agree with them. How disciplined can a soldier be if they don’t follow orders. The soldier in question can’t be very disciplined if they fail to follow instructions right? It goes against everything a soldier stands for. This makes them a danger to their team members, especially in a time of war. I do not think

Lt. Daniel Kaffee uses his Harvard law education to represent two Marines who are being charged for murder in the movie A Few Good Men. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway

Stanley Milgram wanted to do a study on the obedience to an authority figure, and the obedience is a situationist experiment that evidences what happened the real life (Badhwar, 2009). Milgram’s idea was the Holocaust situation and the Nazis who had the authority over European Jews, during World War II, when the Nazi killed thousands of people because they had power, as well as how lived Nazis enemies in the death camps. The point of the research was people behavior in the obedience situation, and Holocaust situation was more compliance behavior of the Jews. Milgram’s experiment had to use three participants’ one experimenter, teacher, and learner. Milgram wanted to make observations about if the obedience was a factor of the life or it was to the Nazis behavior and attitude. Milgram decided to post the experiment information in the newspaper, and he paid four dollars for one hour in the experiment. The teacher had to give some words to learn if the participant responded wrong he received electroshocks. To be specific, the researcher used a transmitter with 30 interrupted buttons with 15 volts to 450 volts. In other words, the research has to examine the capacity of the response of the participant and how is the resistance of an individual. The researcher wanted to analyze the memory of the participant to recall the words and response time.

The use of deception in research has been an ongoing controversial debate in the study of Psychology. The method looks to extract and analyze data with the help of human subjects/participants; however, the subject is given false information about the task or objective that the study wishes to discover. Although the word deception may sound malicious and immoral, the purpose of a deceptive method when conducting researches attempts to make significant contributions to the scientific field being studied. One of the articles that will be discussed in this paper is an experiment that was conducted by a man named Stanley Milgram in 1963 that studied the human quality of obedience and its ability to become destructive. The other article that this paper also looks at is a research that determines the psychological impacts of deception in a psychological research. The latter further looks upon ethical components that is associated with the research. With deceptive research still capable of creating risks, is it time to allow researchers to utilize Milgram’s research method in order to further increase our understanding of obedience? This paper looks to prove that the use of deception in research studies should be utilised, since the results of the experiment can be extremely useful. Even though risks may rise from the experiment, they can be greatly alleviated.

Obedience is a concept that many people have instilled into them in some form from a young age. This act of listening to someone that is in a higher standing than oneself takes many different forms in a person’s life, but obedience can quickly evolve when in dangerous territories such as Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The role that obedience plays in this becomes much more important when faced with life or death situations. The film, A Few Good Men, directly explored and elaborated upon this topic. This movie features characters such as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway, Capt. Jack Ross, LTJG Sam Weinberg, and Colonel Nathan R. Jessep who were played by: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, and Jack Nicholson respectively. Directed by Rob Reiner, this film centered around the court case of Lance Corporal Dawson and Private First Class Downey when they supposedly acted upon orders in punishing a fellow officer with a “code red”, which resulted in the man’s death. This incident occurs at a military base that is stationed within yards of the border. In A Few Good Men, the setting plays a major part in how the events of the crime play out: the danger that the men feel, and the authority which the situation places upon men all play into the factor of how obedience lead to this man’s death.