BLUF: Moral Leadership Training (MLT) is unavoidable; it is only a matter of which morality is being instilled. Per Army Regulation 165-1, “Many moral issues affect the lives of Soldiers, Civilians, and Families, impacting effectiveness of service, command climate, unit readiness and cohesion. The commander uses MLT [Moral Leadership Training] to promote unit readiness, good order and discipline, warrior ethos, spiritual fitness, positive moral choices and Soldier and Family care” (Section IV, p. 27). It should be obvious, but the West, America, and the Army are amidst a cataclysmic cultural and moral sea change. A crucial series of questions will invariably be explored, and some set of values will take precedence. Again, it is only a matter of which values, and which morality will be atop the pyramid.

Will the values be those rooted in the unchanging truths of Scripture, or will they be the shifting opinions of individual men and women whose feet are planted firmly in mid-air? By what standard will values be inculcated in any culture and in a nation’s armies? These are not unimportant questions; they are profoundly important.

I remember when I was a young, enlisted Soldier many years ago, and days and nights when the drill sergeants were teaching us young scouts the basics of land navigation. We’d go out into those hills of Ft. Knox, KY and we’d plot points using protractors, pencils, maps, and our Army-issued compasses. But I was most enjoyed about navigation was terrain association. We would pick major objects that served as solid points of reference; that way, if and when we got turned around at night (and we did), or if the fog had set in, or we had plotted incorrectly, we could always go back to the benchmark, to that fixed point, and say, “Ah, now I see where we went wrong. Let’s start over and be sure we fix our eyes on that which is immovable.”

Those ‘basic’ lessons are fundamentals for a reason. We all need a fixed point. It’s the same regarding Moral Leadership Training (MLT); it’s not a matter of if a morality is being inculcated but only a matter of which one. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 ESV). I sense that we are in a day when there’s a lot of heat and passion about these ideas but often much less light and wisdom. My prayer is that wisdom would be sought and heeded. The fixed point of truth is still where it has always been; the question is, will we have the humility and wisdom to abide by it?