Over the last year, I have walked nearly 1,000 basic trainees (one company per Basic Training cycle) through the Foundational Values program. They are introduced to it in their first week of Basic Training and then engage in a 10-week hands-on experience where they learn, observe, and apply the Army Values. At the end of Basic Training, they do a Capstone class with me where we talk about what they learned, see how the Army Values apply not just to Basic Training but to all aspects of life, and we crack the door open on Aristotelian virtue ethics using the Values as Virtues framework.
The trainees who invest the time to complete their workbook throughout the cycle show an increased self-awareness and understanding of how their day-to-day actions shape their character and the importance of developing good moral muscle memory that can help them make wise decisions in difficult circumstances. Having done multiple Capstone classes, with groups made up primarily of trainees from 18-25, I have seen a lot of encouraging levels of engagement and creativity.
Here is the presentation I use for the Capstone class. It typically takes about an hour, with a significant amount of that being the group activity and discussion, and dialogue about the video clips. The group activity is one of my favorite parts of the class, and I had some fun stickers made that I hand out to those who volunteer to participate in the group activity.
The final part of the Capstone class is a discussion of “Eulogy Virtues” using the clip from Senator John McCain’s funeral. This poignant clip provides a powerful way to get people thinking about what really matters in life. I encourage the trainees to periodically engage in a thought exercise where they consider what someone might say about them were their eulogy to be written right now. How do you become the type of person that earns a good eulogy?
