The Consequences Of Constitutional Ethics In The Constitutional Paradigm

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When reviewing the difficult decision with my Company Officer, he discussed the pressures of passing command inspections, maintaining a professional relationship with your Chief, and preserving personal integrity. Firstly, he noted that ultimate goal of command inspections is to prove the operational readiness of the ship. The inspection will expose any failing parts of the ship and improve operational efficiency once they are fixed. Failing the inspection itself will have negative consequences, but those pale in comparison to punishments for being caught falsely signing the records, or “gundecking”. This point about falsifying the maintenance records also relates to the professional relationship with your chief. My Company Officer said that …show more content…

The Constitutional Paradigm denotes a list of priorities that sailors are obligated to follow; the order from highest to lowest priority goes “Constitution, Mission, Service, Ship or Command, Shipmate, Self” (59). Therefore, Constitutional ethics say that I have a higher loyalty to my ship and its mission than I do to my shipmate and self. While my Chief may be angry and I may be punished for failing the inspection, I cannot allow him to sign off on the records and endanger the safety of the ship and our mission. In short, most moral theories clearly defend my decision, and some even require me to follow this course of …show more content…

In my relationship with my chief, I need to understand that there is a difference between leadership and “likership”. Although a positive rapport with my Chief is helpful, there is no reason that he must like my personality. I cannot be swayed by my Chief’s personal opinion of me when making the decision. Therefore, my duty to report the ship’s problems is prioritized over having a friendly relationship with my chief. Another issue that could arise with the argument I made earlier is in my application of utilitarianism to my decision. While the chance of the inspectors checking the jobs is low, that is still a possibility. Furthermore, the consequences would be enormous if our falsified records were noticed and exposed. I and my Chief could be sent to Captain’s mast, and our entire division would face severe punishments as well. When I compare this punishment to the lesser consequences of maintaining my integrity and failing the inspection, the choice is clear to not allow the records to be changed. Overall, there are certainly reasons to allow my Chief to mark off the jobs, but ethical reasoning can raise objections to most, if not all of

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