Abstract

This dissertation is about the relationship between military honor and the practice of rewarding certain military behavior. Hence, "honor" will refer to that elusive notion, having to do with reputation, good image and respect, and "honors" will refer to the tangible recognition given to an individual or a unit for having demonstrated a particular kind of trait, or for having behaved in a particular fashion, ;My first task, therefore, is to spell out what we mean by "honor," as well as other related terms such as "courage" and "heroism." Then, I will turn to the more mechanical, but no less important, task of providing a historical sketch of military honors. I will draft a short lineage of early forms of military decoration; then I will spend a bit more time on standardized medals, focusing on two famous decorations: the Purple Heart and the Congressional Medal of Honor. ;Having provided the historical background, we are now ready to turn to the question of why the military gives medals out at all. I will provide a cursory review of management theory in order to show that the military awards program is currently treated as a management tool, merely as a means to encourage certain kinds of behaviors. ;Next, I will show that the management theory of medals is incomplete. While this theory accounts adequately for a number of medals, namely those awarded for service and achievement, it cannot properly address those decorations given for heroism. I will enhance this management theory with a more accurate description of what is going on, discussing medals given for heroism in terms of fulfilling an obligation of sorts. I call this the "obligation theory of medals," and while the management theory explains why the military administration bothers to award the majority of medals, my theory holds where the management theory falls short. ;In a nutshell, an act of valor is not one that merits mere recognition since it is often not a behavior that other soldiers ought to emulate. Indeed, heroic acts sometimes go counter to training or explicit orders, yet, when accomplished, the hero's sacrifice leaves his comrades with a debt. Medals serve as an attempt to discharge this debt, but since the comrades do not have the authority to award medals, the military administration steps in to legitimize the obligation imposed