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Updated: 10/27/01

Professor Davida Kellogg

Shawn Stanford, CadetStuff Staff

Ethics is a system of morals, or the study of systems of values and moral judgement. Ethics is touched upon in the CAP Cadet Program in several places, but in the military it is critical. Military ethics  are part of the basic foundations of military service. They are the standards of behavior to which service members are held, called the Professional Military Ethic or PME.

According to Professor Kellogg: "Military people are held to a tougher set of standards than most civilians because of the huge trust that the country has to place in them. The Profession of Arms is first and foremost an honorable profession. The soldier without honor is nothing but a killer."

So, what does that have to do with being a cadet? A lot! But let's find out more about the amazing Professor Kellogg first...

"I guess you could say that I'm the all-American girl from New York City," she says. "I'm a Paleontologist by training. I went to Barnard College and then got two more graduate degrees from Columbia. My husband and I now live in Maine with the youngest of our three sons. Our oldest son is a Coast Guard officer stationed in Juneau, Alaska - there's some great fishing out there; our middle son is a chef."

And, as mentioned earlier, she's a cat person: "I'm partial to the Maine coon cat; they're super long furred and they're very friendly." That long fur keeps them warm on excursions in frigid northeastern winters and leads us right into Professor Kellogg's next feat: Antarctic exploration.

"I've been to Antarctica half a dozen times with the National Science Foundation. Until recently the Navy ran the show down there, the Coast Guard still breaks the supply channels through the ice and the Air Force still flies us scientists to McMurdo Station."

While it may not seem like Paleontology and its parent discipline, Geology, would have much to do with military studies, Professor Kellogg points out that it actually turned out to be very helpful in her interest in military history. "Geomorphology is taught at West Point as Terrain Analysis. When I started visiting battlefields to dope out how the battles actually went down, being a Geologist was a real advantage because I could see how the battle was controlled by terrain. I work a lot of that into my Military History course, and do a lot of work with maps and sand tables."

"A smart leader with a feel for terrain can win a battle before the first shot is fired. Think of Governor K Warren who rushed Union troops to Little Round Top before the Confederates could get their artillery up there and enfilade the whole Union line."

Yes, she's a Civil War buff! "When I was on a Military History fellowship at West Point I was infected with the Civil War bug on our staff ride to the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields, and I still haven't gotten over that. Fortunately my husband and youngest son have also got the bug. We enjoy walking old Civil War battlefields."

That West Point Military History Fellowship is a story itself. But how did Professor Kellogg go from being a paleontologist to being a military historian? Through the Boy Scouts, of course!

"My husband took over a Boy Scout troop with no visible leadership; the older scouts kept to their own little clique, and the younger ones were left pretty much on their own. They weren't progressing. I figured that if you need to know how to teach leadership you ought to go ask the experts. I asked the commander of our Naval ROTC detachment and was invited to sit in on their senior leadership course. The rest, as they say is history."

Military history, that is. When the university's military history professor died, the commander of the Army ROTC battalion asked Professor Kellogg if she'd like to apply for the military history fellowship at West Point. After completing the fellowship, she would return to the University of Maine and teach for the AROTC. "I believe my answer was something like 'throw me in that briar patch!'"

"My particular area of interest is the Vietnam War. For some years now I've been doing an oral history of local Vietnam vets. They range from straight leg grunts to admirals, from B-52 pilots to nurses. I never get tired of listening to them; they've taught me a lot about warfare you won't read in the history books."

Her interest in military ethics grew out of the fascination with military history. Notes Professor Kellogg: "So many of the historical incidents we teach are also stories about how soldiers and their leaders did or did not behave with honor."

It was a call for papers - and a dare - that turned her interest in military ethics into a serious study. "After I started working for AROTC, one of my colleagues there showed me the flyer for JSCOPE. On a dare, I wrote a paper on military service as an ethical choice."

JSCOPE, the Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics, is held in Washington DC every January and is attended by military officers, cadets, and civilian instructors from around the world. "My paper was accepted. I was the only woman on the schedule that year except for the Sheila Widnal, the Secretary of the Air Force. That was pretty daunting. Things have changed a lot since then." Yes, things have changed a lot. Professor Kellogg is now well-known in military ethics circles and has had several papers accepted by JSCOPE.

A guiding light in her ethical thinking is Air Force Brigadier General Mal Wakin, who was head of the Philosophy Department at the US Air Force Academy for many years and a founding father of JSCOPE. Professor Kellogg says, "The thing about him was you could see he really believed in what he taught his cadets."

The fact that the Air Force saw fit to promote an ethics professor to the rank of brigadier general demonstrates the importance of ethics to the military. This is something that CAP and JROTC cadets should consider.

The Army ROTC battalion on the University of Maine campus is about 100 strong; a good size that allows for training and leadership opportunities but won't lose anyone in the crowd. Plus there's a growing Navy ROTC detachment attached to the Maine Maritime Academy. "The people I work with really care about the cadets," Professor Kellogg says.

Professor Kellogg is not only an ROTC instructor, she's also an Information Officer for the Coast Guard Academy. She confirms the rumor that the USCGA is harder to get into the any of the other service academies. "No Congressional appointment is needed, and selection is strictly by merit. The USCGA is the smallest of our military academies - the whole corps of cadets is about the same size as just one class at West Point - and you can see how competition for appointments would be pretty fierce."

Why the fierce competition? Professor Kellogg has her theory: "Where else can you spend your summers learning seamanship by sailing a square rigger? I was lucky enough to sail EAGLE twice, and would pack my seabag and go back on board in a New York minute!"

The Coast Guard Academy has a week long summer program for high school juniors called Project AIM. Attendees get a taste of the life of a 4th class cadet before they actually apply to the Academy. AIM Applications are available through your local Coast Guard Auxiliary; ask for their Career Counselor. If you can't locate the one in your area, Professor Kellogg, who is a CGAux Career Counselor for 1st Division N (Maine), is happy to help. "Send me an e-mail and I'll help you find the one for your area. Career Counselors can also be very helpful if you're thinking of enlisting in the Coast Guard."

And the reason ethics are important to CAP and JROTC cadets? "ROTC and service academy cadets who start out with Professional Military Ethics in high school will find the adjustment from civilian to military standards easier and more natural than many of their college classmates who are dealing with them for the first time," explains Professor Kellogg.

"High school cadets who don't go on to a military career will still be better off in civilian life for their exposure to PME. Having a reputation for honest dealing can be a real business asset, and many companies now expect employees to work by a company code of ethics."

So, there you have it: Professor Davida Kellogg, paleontologist, wife, mother, military historian, ROTC instructor, Coast Guard Auxiliary member, Antarctica veteran, cat lover, military ethicist...

...and CadetStuff contributor.

Thanks, Professor!