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This article analyzes the ethic of the US military to rescue its fallen warriors. The US military will go to extraordinary lengths to evacuate its wounded, and more interestingly, to recover its dead. While taking risks to recover the body of a fallen soldier may make no rational sense, it impacts significantly on the unit, the military profession, and US society. This article examines the "leave no man behind" phenomenon through individual, family, unit, institutional, and societal perspectives. Possible reasons why the ethic has increased in salience and potential future implications are also discussed.

The MacCoun, Kier, and Belkin critique of Why They Fight: Combat Motivation in the Iraq War is based on the incorrect assumption that the outcome variable of the study is combat performance. Why They Fight seeks to investigate combat motivation—not battlefield performance. Why They Fight examines why soldiers continue in battle despite obvious risk to personal safety. Referencing a well-established body of literature and using a methodology appropriate for analyzing combat motivation, Why They Fight concludes that today's soldiers, just as those in the past, fight for each other. Why They Fight also reports, however, that today's soldiers are motivated in combat by notions of freedom and democracy

The author examines the Operation IRAQI FREEDOM environment and concludes that the complexity, unpredictability, and ambiguity of postwar Iraq is producing a cohort of innovative, confident, and adaptable junior officers. They are learning to make decisions in chaotic conditions and to be mentally agile in executing counterinsurgency and nation-building operations simultaneously. As a result, the Army will soon have a cohort of company grade officers who are accustomed to operating independently, taking the initiative, and adapting to changes. The author warns that the Army must now acknowledge and encourage this newly developed adaptability in our junior officers or risk stifling the innovation critically needed in the Army's future leaders.