Squadron Officer School - Cogito Yearbook (Montgomery, AL)

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ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT ln the broadest sense, we seek to develop all aspects of the young officers who attend the Squadron Officer School. We speak of this as developing the whole man. We guide and encourage the mental development of our students as do the other professional military schools. But, unlike many of the other schools, we guide and en- courage the physical and ethical development of our stu- dents as well. We believe that we have a responsibility that goes beyond developing a sound mind and a strong body, it is--to inspire, teach, and exemplify ethical development. Our program for the students' ethical development has many facets. Some parts of our program are quite obvious, other parts are less discernible. We cannot, of course, take the approach that a church-owned school might take. For example, we cannot teach a religion, although we know that some belief must be the cornerstone in the foundation upon which ethical development is based. Our students hold beliefs that became a part of their make-up long before they come to our school. However, they do have ample opportunity to strengthen their beliefs while they are here. iiriiwewii - - i hi' ' S it 1' s.. T .wil .,. -nate. -' 'H y . y fig Wu -,Z be established for ethics or ethical, so that we may have a common understanding. The definition which best fits our situation is: Ethical--in accordance with for- mal or professional rules of right and wrong. We assume that our students know right from wrong. They know this from their previously established beliefs or mores. Our approach is that honor, trust, and personal integrity begin with self-respect. Hence a foundation for ethical develop- ment at the Squadron Officer School may be found in the honor code: l will not lie, cheat, or steal, and l will not allow among my associates anyone who will violate these precepts. Our honor system is student monitored, that is, it is set up so that the students themselves govern the system and initiate action on alleged honor violations. We accept an officer's word withoyt question, we do not monitor his activities because we expect him to monitor and control himself. There are no cashiers in our coffee bar. The stu- dents place money in the amount of their purchases in the coin boxes provided. No one checks to see that this is done.Another case in point is that the section commanders do not superintend their section members during exami- nations. Rather, the watchful agents at work are self- respect and personal integrity. The operation of the honor code is an obvious facet of our ethical development pro- Just how then do we, as a military school, promote the gram, yet, it is so well accepted and established that we ethical development of officers? First, a definition Should X ' - if , 'xiti-'1,,f fe, U INTEGRITY

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A constant upgrading program, supported by SAC in- structors, keeps the school abreast of the latest tech- niques. These instructors, together with the faculty of the school, prepared a manual on unarmed combative measures. The students develop their abilities to an ac- ceptable level and then are given this complete step-by- step guide so that they may continue to progress in the use of unarmed combative measures. They need only re- fer to the manual to be able to practice the proper methods and they take the manual with them upon graduation from the school. More than half of the students bring their wives with them, and the school offers a program for them also. ln the academic area they hear special lectures on timely Air Force topics. Wives participate in the competitive sports program by cheering for their husbands' section. They accompany their husbands to most of the school's social functions. So it was no surprise that the ladies took an interest also in the unarmed combative measures training program. The ladies find it to be useful know- ledge, since the far-reaching duties of their :Air Force husbands so often leave them to care for themselves. Faculty members of the Squadron Officer School developed a two- hour program to present to the wives as one of a series of orientation programs. Two of the wives of the Squadron Officer School faculty were able to help with this program after taking ten hours of instruction. These two ladies were able to perfect certain of the iudo tech- . r niques to such a degree that they were able to throw their husbands effectively during the demonstration for the students' wives. Although there is no such course, over 90 percent of the wives who attended the lectures and demonstrations on physical self-defense for women in- dicated that they would like to attend iudo and self- defense classes. The vitality of Squadron Officer School has taken on a new dimension with the addition of unarmed combative measures training. The faculty of the school also has been responsible for the spread of interest in this activity throughout the Montgomery area. They formed an Air Uni- versity Judo Club and have appeared on local television. As a result of tlfiese television appearances, the club has been asked to perform for local community clubs where their programs appealed to men, women, and youngsters. But the greatest spread of interest is among the faculty of the school. All members were required to learn the fundamentals in order to instruct in the unarmed com- bative measures program. The graduates of the Squadron Officer School are far better equipped mentally and physically to defend their nation as a result of having attended this i4-week school. Now that they have been exposed to unarmed combative measures training, the graduates have increased their potential effectiveness in situations calling for self- fense or hand-to-hand combat. -5f'i55 7'i-'7-ffi-'1 .s3'T'r'.? '3 X .. ..,.,:: ,if'X .11 Z'1i:l - L e-- -1 1g-w-- 1 1 P---W - M . , ,. M 3 will 1 ' 1 l' .sv--P1is'f2a ig? ' ' H., .. .. ..... A W W, -A I 1 ..,,..,, ,. , c. , .,...,..., R Fm 'sfpg 'fm .1'11 1 -, sigffr11..i Qgpmwe.-.11,'111 .1 1 'll 41' ' ' ,Qanzsw-Qi '11- ' 4 'W 1 'Sai .zilibglh 'iw' 11' l ,,, if ' . s ft five?-.: l ' ... ju... W D...-'..L,w, F W . - f, .-.-. . 5, - ' 2'5'1W '1f-:1'I'5'vQQki' 5354 4 -l.- ' 1 - ---. 1 f i t ol-1 :eieMaiei Tff1.:e22i2+5'f.f1-5 +11'3.X ' RU-ali' K 1, . i iz, 1 . -1 i f Haig A i K if i f' 5i iEL1fi:i Qu 1 1 1 gi, 'M tn we is ., Mg, 52143 11 ' fi ...H 'mr CN fi -1 Q QE1, xg ,.-L , 1, pgs: '1.v !l 9'F '5 3- -19 H- We

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tend to forget that it exists--so steeped in naturalness has it become. Still in the area of our honor system is the subiect of plagiarism. Each class our student body writes a total of approximately 3200 graded writing assignments, including aerospace power studies. With a requirement for this many writing assignments, plagiarism could be a problem. It has not been a problem here, and we attribute this to the per- sonal integrity possessed by our students and reinforced by our honor system. We have said that we also teach ethical development, and here we mean teach from the standpoint of lectures and seminars. There are lectures and seminars presented at Squadron Officer School which relate directly or indi- rectly to formal or professional rules of right and wrong. Among these are: ln the Leadership area of instruction--The Whole Man, A Thought for the Day, and Moral Dynamics--three separate lectures on morality presented by chaplains and of 30-, 20-, and 45-minute duration, respectively. The Code of Conduct for American Servicemen is presented in two 45-minute lectures. These are followed by a two and one-half hour seminar discussion on the proper conduct of servicemen with regard to capture and keeping faith with their fellow men as prisoners of war. The seminar dis- cussion is followed by a 30-minute television presentation by a Marine officer who was a prisoner of war in Korea. The entire leadership block of instruction applies,to some degree, to formal or professional rules of right and wrong in man's association with his fellow man. ln the National Power and international Relations area of instruction--Military Aspects of Conflict is the title of a 3-hour seminar examination of the nature of conflict. The Nature of M0111 A Survey of idealism, Realism, and Pragmatism is a 45-minute lecture on the philosophical explanations of the meaning of man, truth, and reality. Ethical and Moral Aspects of Communism is a 45-minute lecture on the ethical and moral differences between com- munism and democracy. And, ideologies in Conflict is a 3-hour seminar discussion of the philosophy of communism and democracy. A consideration of formal or professional rules of right and wrong, as these rules apply to a nation and its leaders, is an integral part of instruction in this area. We do not mean to imply here that a maior portion of our formal instruction is devoted to the ethical develop- ment of our students. We have merely listed instruction that may influence theethical development of our students, and indicated that a thread of ethical development is ..,....s- in---tt. num 1 . t v . I G' ,W q , it W q.. I I Q f - ' l 0' J 1 V t L , ' s Je I ' ' ' ' ' 1' S 1 K