THE MORAL EXPLOITATION OF SOLDIERS

In a 2013 article for the Washington Post, Sebastian Junger described the typical US soldier's relationship to both war and to the society for whom he or she fights as follows: Recently he was a guest on a national television show. and the host expressed some indignation when I said that soldiers in Afghanistan don't much discuss the war they're lighting. Here, Junger touches on an important point regarding the disparity between the young age of most soldiers and the moral weight of the activities they are asked to perform. Furthermore, he also notes the distinctive relationship between the modern state and its soldiers with respect to the apportioning of responsibility and moral concern. Junger continues on this point and brings people to the heart of the ethical quandary that most soldiers find themselves in-that of having to shoulder a profound set of difficult moral responsibilities and taxing moral burdens on behalf of a disengaged and oftentimes radically disinterested society.