Military men have a stern commitment to honor, and they feel morally obligated to this. Hall Lynn in her book Counseling Military Families (2016) indicates that soldiers still head into battle even when things get tough and their fellow soldiers are dying. Soldiers would rather choose death than dishonor when it boils down to those two choices, and that is the power of honor in military men. Most would consider dying in battle as an honorable death. She states that “…in most battles of the Civil War, where the chances of being wounded or killed were extraordinarily high, the soldiers continued to enthusiastically march directly into the fire (pg. 59).” At such a point, soldiers have no choice but to fight to the death and most are consumed by a sense of honor. They cannot run away even after witnessing or experiencing atrocious deaths of their fellow soldiers. Some soldiers reportedly lose themselves while in this state.

While these acts can be considered brave, military men in combat forget that they do not only put their lives on the line, but also put their families in harm’s way. Devotion to duty and sacrifice would be greatly commended by the state. In fact, soldiers who die are celebrated, and they ascend to heroic status. But the case would not be the same if it were up to the families of these soldiers since they risk losing their loved ones. For that and many other reasons, the matter has become inevitable when therapists are dealing with soldiers and their families. Various therapists have confirmed that the issue has become an obstacle to therapy.

As the author suggests, the concept of honor among military men may be extremely valuable but hard to understand. Most importantly, the society should learn to shun wars by reflecting on the consequences to itself, generations to come as well as its antagonists (Hall, 2016, pg. 59 - 60).

References

Hall, L. (2016). Counselling Military Families (2nd ed., pp. pg. 59 - 60). New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.