While it's insanely difficult to actually apply logic and numbers to human life in practice, it's really easy to do so on paper. While I agree with AM in theory, I don't know if I'd actually be able to do something like that. I'd sooner kill myself than choose 15 other people who had to die.
Also, while I agree the "let the married men live" ideaology is a bit rough, that's the sort of thing I'd use in my justification rather than techical merits. I'd take in stuff like age, health, and family into consideration before "skill". General nebulous "quality of life" stuff, moreso than "how useful are you to me?". Then agian, that would make things infinitely more difficult...
Then on top of that, there's always the topic of volunteerism. Do you tell your crew that 15 of them are going to die, or do you just slip your chosen majority the cyanide and pray for forgiveness? Do you let the men decide which of them is going to be sacrificed for the greater good, or just take matters into your own hands? Ideally, the entire crew would discuss the issue, but "most of us are gonna die" isn't exactly the best fodder for calm, rational discussion. There's really no easy answer.
I kinda went off topic there...
But yea, 15 dead guys is definately preferable to 20 dead guys. No matter how you look at it. But, it shouldn't be an acceptible practice just 'cause he's high-ranking... it should be a last-ditch "we've exhausted all other options" decision which really shouldn't be made by just one person.
Also, I'm going to pretend that Wolfbelly doesn't exist. <p><div style="text-align:center">
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Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=brainwalker>BrainWalker</A] at: 10/5/03 5:23 pm