Cautiously, the lead squad emerges from concealed positions along wooded high ground above the mock village. A man wearing civilian clothes and a frightened look approaches the wary point man as if motioning for help. Suddenly, a muzzle flash bursts from a second-story window in the village. The platoon leader quickly calls for smoke to obscure friendly movement. With a squad providing suppressive fire, the assault element plunges through the billowing cloud and rushes toward the mock village.
Out in the field—just like in combat—duty, emotions and exhaustion clash. In the field, little goes as planned. An enemy slips back into the civilian population. An innocent child is caught in the crossfire. In the field, the radio won’t stop buzzing, mosquitoes won’t stop biting and a good night’s sleep is a dream.
Tactically, this scenario is routine—just three battle drills stitched together. Any veteran of World War II, the Vietnam War or the global war on terrorism could empathize with the conditions while solving the problem with a napkin sketch.
Yet, beneath this tactical simplicity lies something more significant: moral complexity. Every decision in this training lane—and many of those to follow—has moral significance. Every step taken on physical terrain also is a step on moral terrain.
Responding Appropriately
But there is a gap in how the Army prepares leaders for the moral complexity inherent in warfare and the opportunity to close the gap by leveraging existing field training. Moral terrain coaching, developed by one of the co-authors of this article over the past few years and with the help of many, is a 25-minute structured conversation emphasizing the moral dimensions of a given field training event. Its goal is to develop moral competency: the ability to recognize, reason and respond appropriately to morally significant situations.
Unlike conventional training that prioritizes mission execution, moral terrain coaching encourages soldiers to reflect on the emotional, environmental and physiological factors that influence moral awareness, moral reasoning and moral courage. Field training typically emphasizes tactical skills, leaving moral growth as an afterthought.
Leaders often make too much of a distinction between education and training between the classroom and the field. As a result, they miss opportunities to help soldiers recognize, reason and respond to moral complexities naturally embedded in the training they’ve already planned, financed and assigned personnel to support.
Moral terrain coaching offers a way to weave moral competency into field training, ensuring that soldiers learn not only how to complete the mission, but also how to navigate the inevitable moral complexity they will face in their professional service, whether in garrison or combat. Importantly, moral terrain coaching is designed to integrate into existing unit field training without disrupting attainment of required training objectives.
To evaluate the effectiveness of moral terrain coaching, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, hosted a large-scale research trial this past July and August. Senior leaders from U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Army Futures Command and other organizations observed the trial in order to understand moral terrain coaching’s potential for integration into their units.
Significant Results
The trial involved 569 cadets who were split into two groups: 386 cadets in the test group who received moral terrain coaching, and 183 cadets in the control group who completed only surveys. The test group received coaching from platoon mentors—officers ranging from captains to lieutenant colonels—who were given just 45 minutes of instruction before guiding cadets through the coaching process.
The results were statistically significant. Moral terrain coaching was shown to increase moral humility—the appreciation of both one’s own and others’ moral strengths, the willingness to learn from others, ask for support, reflect and admit mistakes.
As Cadet Athena Chitty, West Point Class of 2026, put it, “I definitely started thinking about my character a lot more and the type of person that I wanted to be and the type of person that, when I woke up in the morning and looked at the mirror, I was proud of that person.”
The trial also demonstrated that moral terrain coaching fosters a desire for self-improvement. Reflecting on the power of examining role models, Chitty said, “I remember talking about somebody that I looked up to. We had to write down on this little note card a person we looked up to ... and that really stuck with me ... just thinking about somebody I look up to, why I look up to them, extracting the virtues … and figuring out why I want to emulate them.”
Chitty’s remarks underscore the essence of moral terrain coaching: helping future leaders develop not only tactical competence, but also moral competence.
The findings from the moral terrain coaching trial highlight its potential as a transformative tool for leader development. In the military, decisions are rarely black and white, and leaders must prepare to navigate the moral complexity inherent in their service.
Developing Leaders
By fostering moral humility and encouraging self-reflection, moral terrain coaching helps develop tactically and morally competent leaders.
Incorporating moral terrain coaching into operational unit field training—ideally through observer coach/trainers—would support development of moral competency early in a leader’s career. As these leaders rise in rank, their ability to recognize, reason through and respond appropriately to the moral terrain will positively shape the culture of their units and influence future mission outcomes.
Increasing Competence
The character of warfare is evolving and so must field training. Human-machine integrated formations exemplify this evolution, reinforcing the need for leaders and teams that are both tactically and morally competent. Moral terrain coaching enhances moral competence by leveraging existing unit field training, enabling service members to better recognize, reason and respond to morally significant situations.
By increasing moral competency, moral terrain coaching helps service members navigate the moral terrain—whether on the front lines or behind a firewall.
Investment in programs like moral terrain coaching will ensure that the Army’s next generation of leaders is better prepared to face the tactical and moral complexities of modern warfare, and return with honor.
Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Clemens, U.S. Army retired, served 31 years in numerous leadership positions, retiring in 2018 as the sergeant major in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. He deployed to operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and numerous times to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Maj. Benjamin Ordiway is a civil affairs officer who teaches officership at the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. Previously, he was a civil affairs team leader and chief of the Civil Affairs Planning Team, 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion (Special Operations) (Airborne). He enlisted in the Army in 2004 as a cavalry scout and commissioned as an armor officer from West Point in 2012.