Overview

Joe Gifford
Joe grew up in DC area into an army family.
He was allways a bright student and an athelte and occupied positions of
leadership sicne an early age.
After school he joined the army and was accepted at Westpoint
Was very influenced by his parents who since an early age instilled
qualities of leadership and competitiveness.
He graduated out of Westpoint as a second Leutinent and got into 3 rd ACR.
Soon after he joined, his platoon was transferred to Iraq for counterinsurgency operations.
West point
Founded by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802
Prominent leader development Institution, trained 4000 cadets each year.
Aimed to develop commissioned leaders of character dedicated to the
values of Duty, Honor , Country.

Overview
The Iraq invasion
MNF led by US invaded Iraq and removed Saddam Hussein
from power
Coalition provision authority was set up as a functional Iraqi
democracy headed by an American.
Due to failure to control population centers, insurgency
grew around these areas comprising of anti-western foreign
fighters from neibhouring countries.
Numerous causalities on both side with up to 25000
civilians and 1400 U.S soldiers dead.

Q1.) How well prepared is Joe Gifford for the situation he is

now
in? How well prepared are his soldiers? What could he
Joe Gifford
have
done
get everyone
Joe has
alreadyto
evacuated
all his troopsready?
into the Bradley which are armored vehicles and

can shield them in case the explosion took place.

If he finally choses to evacuate the three civilians, he will be risking his and his troops
life. Besides he didnt even have an interpreter to his aid.
He was In a moral dilemma weather to do his duty and respect the rights of his troops by
letting the three civilians die or to respect the right of the civilians to live and the
responsibility he has towards them by going in and saving them.
He is a strong leader who has the support of his troop members and is good at the art of
persuasion knowing that not all problems can be solved through standardized course of
action.
Soldiers
Most of the soldiers were hands on with the Bradley tank which the troops used to shield
from the potential blast.
The unit had not engaged in a counter-insurgency operation before and had practical
experience in conventional heavy-handed tactics only.
During their prior practical engagements, they had not used rigorous identification
procedures to differ between civilians and insurgents and thus felt less obliged to fulfill
their moral commitments towards them.
They believed In the leadership skills of Gifford of making quick and tactically sound
decisions in difficult situations.
The soldiers knew that they were engaging in a hostile environment where their lives
would be at stake and were a bit scared too after Lt.Morses death.
Approach that could be followed by Gifford

What would be going in your mind if you

were in Giffords situation?

When faced with a dilemma of choice like Gifford ,we typically look
around for advice on the 'best' choice we can make and try to weigh the
pros and cons of the situation.

Whether to return to the building with explosives and save three Iraqis
and risk the lives of the soldiers or to leave those 3 people dying alone for
the sake of other lives(moral justification).

What is the probability of success of our decision, what will be the result
and repercussion of the decision made by us.

What should Gifford do? Justify your

reason.
He should look for ethical purposes
Is he comfortable with the likely consequence of his actions.
Is he meeting his duties and respecting others rights.
He should look for indicators to assess if he is getting morally disengaged
He should not consider the civilians an subhuman and something that has be
compromised upon during an ambush-Dehumanization.
He should weigh his decision by not considering three civilian lives less important
that other lives-Distortion of consequences.
He should not think that the civilians have not followed their orders of moving into
safer places and thus he is less inclined to save them now-Attribution of blame.
He should re-enter the house to save those 3 people as his duty directs him to chose
others before him and fulfill his obligation towards the civilians as a soldiers creed
tells him to do so.

Also, he should remember what his Godfather taught him the importance of
looking out for the minority.