Colonel Chaveso “Chevy” Cook, PhD
In BriefToday’s Soldiers operate in morally gray zones—in cyberspace, through proxy conflicts and under the watchful eye of constant global visibility—and society’s expectations for ethical leadership have become sharper and more public.
As the Army “transforms in contact” to lethally meet the next threat, it needs values that leaders can purposefully enact to morally, ethically and intellectually keep pace with the unprecedented technological and societal advancements of modern conflict.
A reinvention of the Army values as loyalty, empathy, adaptability and discipline (LEAD) will address the potential gaps in our post–Cold War value set to invoke the mindset shift required to morally and ethically make the hard, strategic calls on tomorrow’s battlefield.
“The battlefield is changing as fast as the technology in your pocket, and we know we have to change.
– General Randy George, Army Chief of Staff [1]
Introduction
For decades, the U.S. Army has centered its moral and ethical identity on the seven core values enshrined in the tidy initialism LDRSHIP: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. First grouped together in 1995, these values were part of a post–Cold War push to professionalize the force and rebuild public trust. But today, three decades later, the strategic and societal landscape has changed dramatically. As technology makes warfare more complex, it also becomes more ambiguous. The difference between skilled and unskilled armies is quickly becoming more and more pronounced, both on the technical and tactical edge.
It’s time to ask a hard question: Do the current seven Army values still serve our force—and the nation—as well as they should? This is not to speak heresy or spark controversy. It’s a matter of enabling optimal leadership for what will undoubtedly be a continually intricate future.
Where LDRSHIP Came From—and Why It May Be Stuck in the Past
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