Altruistic Military Suicide

Sergeant York, Audie Murphy, Jimmie Doolittle, and Teddy Roosevelt Jr.; these men are all famous examples of Medal of Honor recipients.  This is the highest military honor awarded to a soldier involved in a combat situation.  Current regulations permit no chance for error of doubt in judging whether the person deserves the award.  The deed of the person is to be by incontestable evidence of it by at least two eyewitnesses.  The act must be so outstanding that it clearly distinguishes his gallantry beyond the call of duty from lesser forms of bravery.

The act must also involve substantial risk of life and must be the type of deed which, if not done would not subject him to any justified criticism.  There are three different types of Congressional Medal of Honor that currently exist (Riemer, 1998).  The original, established in 1861, and retained by the Navy Coast Guard and the Marine Corps.  In 1904, the U.S. Army used a version.  In 1965, it was adopted by the Air Force (Department of Defense 2002).

 This study will focus primarily on the research carried out by Emil Durkheim in his general theory of suicide, while introducing the concept of “heroic suicide.”  There will be specific focus on the four general types of suicide as discussed by Durkheim.

 The first two are fatalistic and anomic suicide.  These deal primarily with an excess or lack of social regulation.  The other two, egoistic and altruistic deal with a lack of or excess of social integration.  These are addressed via case studies. 

 The primary focus of this study will center on altruistic suicide with an emphasis on the excess of social integration related to relinquishing one’s life so his comrades may live.  The military grooms individual men into cohesive, closely-knit family structure.  Altruistic suicide in combat often results in a posthumously awarded Medal of Honor.  This is the brunt of the hypothesis.

There are three varieties of altruistic suicide according to Emil Durkhiem and they are to include obligatory altruistic suicide, optional altruistic suicide and acute altruistic suicide.  Acute altruistic suicide involves martyrdom as seen in some Middle Eastern countries, whereas the optional variety allows for the individual involved in the act has a choice of whether or not to proceed with the action (Durkheim, 1897).