Wartime Stories Essay Example for Free

Wartime Stories Essay While there are few that claim war is one of the greatest institutions of humanity, it is certainly one of the most discussed, more recalled, and most participated in creations civilization has yet conceived. The lessons that can be learned from wars vary greatly in ethical and moral implications, from those that say war must be participated in with ruthless precision, while some feel that war must be fought with decency and honor. Whether to sacrifice one’s own life for a greater good, or to fight merely to preserve one’s life at all costs is a question of utility value versus ethical egoism. Movies such as Saving Private Ryan present interesting ethical dilemmas concerning a soldier’s internal and external ethical duty during war. While the men are charged with possibly giving their own lives for the life of only one other soldier, they are torn between the duty to their country and their orders, and their dissatisfaction over having to devalue their own existence for that of someone they do not even know. They feel a greater duty to each other, as well as the war effort in general, but feel their mission to save Private Ryan falls outside their duty, and effects little their honor. However, the movie persists in continuously asking the question of wartime ethics. The question for the men is whether their life is worth that of Ryan’s, merely one soldier among the millions. The order they have to get Ryan is one of utility value, as dictated by the rules of service. It is a soldier’s duty to follow orders, no matter how much they may disagree. If soldiers began disobeying orders it could spread and eventually break down the entire system. The obligation that Captain Miller feels in the movie is that the successful fulfillment of his orders will not only continue to hold loyal to the chain of command, but will also bring his unit one step closer to going home. However, when finding Ryan, the situation changes as Ryan refuses to come with him, agreeing that his life is worth only the value of those men with which he fights. Still following his orders, Captain Miller does everything in his power to save Ryan, still fight the war, and keep alive the chain of command, never once letting his own desire to go home influence his loyalty to his orders. The soldiers in the movie spend the majority debating the value of saving Private Ryan as opposed to fighting the war and trying to win it. They feel that they are on a mission that unduly puts their lives on the line for little purpose, as they value their lives far more than Ryan’s life. Their individual egoism would seem to oppose the entire concept of being a soldier in the military, as the chain of command is dependent upon groups of individuals functioning as a single unit. Even as a single unit, they are forced to abandon their individualistic ideals, as the unit is in as much danger as each individual. In the end, most of the men die, save for the most vocally opposed soldier, the most inexperienced and cowardly, and Private Ryan. The men fulfilled their orders, but paid with their lives, as they feared they would. The death of the soldiers, including Captain Miller, seems to suggest that in sacrifice lays honor, at least in war. The soldiers all recognized the mission as wrong and dangerous, but their duty as soldiers required them to fulfill it. On the one hand, the mission was fulfilled, but on the other hand they all died. The utility value of their sacrifice saw that not only was Ryan saved, but the important bridge was held, and they did in fact fight a very important part of the war, as well as a less important but far more â€Å"decent† part. The fact that Captain Miller is killed by a German soldier that he previously released rather than killed also seems to suggest that decency in war is often rewarded with death, as he and most of his soldiers exemplify. The senselessness of war and the mass violence of modern warfare would almost suggest that loyalty and duty to anything but oneself is a fool’s errand, but it also suggests that by fighting for the best attributes of humanity, like altruism and sacrifice, the entire human race takes a step closer to a civilization free of things like war.