Martial Virtues and Whistle-Blowing: Loyalty Misplaced and Courage Misunderstood

This paper aims to explain the tension between the phenomenon of whistle-blowing and military values, embodied in core martial virtues of loyalty and courage, which are integral in all armies. By defining these virtues in the military context, the author demonstrates how expressing dissent in the military is not necessarily opposed to loyalty and courage, but rather that it is necessary if conflict of different loyalties is properly managed and if courage is properly understood. Only by ensuring that armed forces are led by those who truly understand military values and martial virtues, and that whistle-blowing can be both patriotic and heroic, can we strive for a lasting peace. By courageously expressing loyalty to his nation, institution and profession, a soldier may act heroically by blowing the proverbial whistle.