TITLE:
A Phenomenologic Approach to the Warrior Experience and Ethos: Consideration of an Arc of Enchantment in the Formation of Individual Military Identity
AUTHORS:
Elise Annett, James Giordano
KEYWORDS:
Military Ethos, Profession of Arms, Warrior Identity, Command Authority
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.16 No.1,
February
27,
2026
ABSTRACT: Military identity emerges through the lived, imaginative, and moral experience of service. This paper introduces enchantment—the cognitive, narrative, and symbolic structuring of meaning—as a foundational dimension of military life that sustains commitment, moral coherence, and disciplined action under conditions of risk, ambiguity, and existential strain. We propose the “arc of enchantment”, a phenomenologically grounded trajectory encompassing initial enchantment, disruption, disenchantment, reflective integration, and re-enchantment. Disenchantment is not failure, but a predictable encounter with operational and moral reality that can destabilize identity or, when supported by reflection and institutional guidance, deepen ethical and professional resilience. Enchantment functions as cognitive and moral armor, enabling agency, judgment, and ethical integrity where analytic rationality alone is insufficient. Military institutions have an ethical responsibility to cultivate and sustain these dimensions, ensuring warriors can inhabit ideals with disciplined judgment, ethical clarity, and resilient moral agency.