Accountability
Accountability in the Military
As a Medical Officer of the US Air Force, one is expected to be professional and ethical enough to make decisions that positively impact on his or her department to the extent that he/she can be accountable for actions or consequences that arise as a result of their decisions or choices. In the true essence of the word, accountability comes in where an individual is under the obligation to justify their choice of actions to an interested party, in this case the US Air Force. As a medical professional within the air force, one is free to choose but never free from the consequences of his or her choice.
It is important to be accountable especially in the military because it means one is under obligation to execute a given task whether they are willing to do it or not. Being accountable calls for the basic understanding of one’s tasks and responsibilities, like in this case of a medical professional who is expected to know what to do and when to do it with as minimum supervision as possible such that if anything goes wrong as a result of their chosen actions, they can be held accountable.
The importance of accountability in the US Air Force cannot be taken lightly as it may mean the difference between losing and saving a life. A military medical officer is expected to not only do his job well, but also ensure those around him execute their tasks properly too. One does not have to experience combat to understand that just being in the military is inherently dangerous given the types of equipment and weapons that are used to train and deploy with. As an example any live weapons range you go to part of the safety brief is “everyone here is a range safety” meaning anyone can call a cease fire if they observe dangerous behavior or a situation regardless of rank and it can be a Colonel or a brand new private or even a medical officer, does not matter. As such in that event everyone becomes accountable.
As a Medical Officer of the US Air Force, one is expected to be professional and ethical enough to make decisions that positively impact on his or her department to the extent that he/she can be accountable for actions or consequences that arise as a result of their decisions or choices. In the true essence of the word, accountability comes in where an individual is under the obligation to justify their choice of actions to an interested party, in this case the US Air Force. As a medical professional within the air force, one is free to choose but never free from the consequences of his or her choice.
It is important to be accountable especially in the military because it means one is under obligation to execute a given task whether they are willing to do it or not. Being accountable calls for the basic understanding of one’s tasks and responsibilities, like in this case of a medical professional who is expected to know what to do and when to do it with as minimum supervision as possible such that if anything goes wrong as a result of their chosen actions, they can be held accountable.
The importance of accountability in the US Air Force cannot be taken lightly as it may mean the difference between losing and saving a life. A military medical officer is expected to not only do his job well, but also ensure those around him execute their tasks properly too. One does not have to experience combat to understand that just being in the military is inherently dangerous given the types of equipment and weapons that are used to train and deploy with. As an example any live weapons range you go to part of the safety brief is “everyone here is a range safety” meaning anyone can call a cease fire if they observe dangerous behavior or a situation regardless of rank and it can be a Colonel or a brand new private or even a medical officer, does not matter. As such in that event everyone becomes accountable.