personal courage army values essay

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Personal Courage as an Army Value

Updated 18 October 2023

Subject Military

Downloads 38

Category Government

In the U.S. Army, every soldier learns to live by the seven-army values. These values are broken down into the acronym LDRSHIP. These values are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage. Loyalty represents the true faith and allegiance every soldier should have to the U.S. Constitution, Army, and fellow soldiers. Duty is the willingness to fulfill one’s obligations. Respect is the treatment of people the way they deserve. Selfless Service teaches us that we should put the welfare of the nation, army and fellow soldier way above our own. Honor states that every soldier should live to the values of the army. Integrity guides soldier on doing what is legally and morally right. Personal Courage says that every soldier should be ready to face fear, adversity, and danger both physically and morally. Despite having to abide by all the values, Personal Courage is my favorite value. In this essay, I present reasons why I choose Personal Courage as my ideal value in the army.

Personal Courage goes beyond facing fears and adversities, as a soldier I have to pick myself up once I fail and showing boldness in overcoming the voice of doubt. I am entitled to risk my safety for the wellbeing of my comrades. Confidence is a key factor that will aid me to respond to adversity. Personal Courage assumes two different forms, physical and moral (Rush, 2006). Physical courage represents overcoming fear and risking bodily harm to perform your duty. A soldier in combat risks her life to achieve a specific objective. Additionally, a soldier is not afraid of being injured or death since they have kept fear aside and opted to do what is necessary. Moral courage is the willingness to stay firm on the army values, principles and convictions despite any threat. Moral courage enables leaders and their subordinates to stand for what is right despite the consequences. Soldiers taking responsibility for their actions display moral courage even when things are going astray. In addition, leaders willing to consider new ideas and initiate changes that will benefit in achieving a common goal, portray moral courage (Thomas, Dickson " Bliese, 2001). I chose Personal Courage as my favorite value since it acts as a pillar on which all the other values are built. As a soldier, I have to portray moral courage by standing firm to exercise all the principles and convictions learned.

Currently, the U.S. soldiers are fighting in varied environments compared to those who fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam missions. Well, all these environments were and are critical, dangerous and stressful. In this era, people are changing on a daily basis. Today they are your friends, but tomorrow you find them bombing you soldiers and initiating war. These are harsh conditions demanding personal courage. As a soldier, I am entitled to accept such adversities and confine to the army’s principles. Personal Courage grows as a soldier progresses. It begins as physical courage where a soldier overcomes fears of bodily harm. As a soldier progresses, the physical courage improves to become moral courage. Here moral courage reveals itself as candor. A soldier becomes frank, honest and sincere with others by keeping their words free from bias, prejudice, and malice (D’Alessandro, 2014). Moral courage helps soldiers on a joint mission since they eye on their strategy to achieve a common objective. Personal Courage requires us to step outside our comfort zones and let go of fears that limit us from doing essential things in our mission. This favorite value aid soldiers perform new functions that they have been fearful or never felt comfortable doing. A soldier who lacks Personal Courage will never realize their full potential (Thomas, Dickson " Bliese, 2001). Therefore, Personal Courage is the essential factor that determines a soldier’s performance since fear block them from learning new things, expanding their horizons and exploring possibilities.

Personal Courage is a value that demands personal sacrifice. As a soldier, I will exemplify the real meaning of Personal Courage when I defend my country and shield my comrades from danger. It takes Personal Courage to continue undauntedly and perform with the least resources available.  During Basic Combat Training (BCT), soldiers learn these army values, and they live them every day. In conclusion, all the seven Army Values should be reflected by a soldier’s actions and decisions.

D’Alessandro, R. J. (2014). Army Officer's Guide. Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.

Rush, R. S. (2006). Enlisted Soldier’s Guide (seventh edition). Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books.

Thomas, J. L., Dickson, M. W., " Bliese, P. D. (2001). Values predicting leader performance in the US Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Assessment Center: Evidence for a personality-mediated model. The Leadership Quarterly, 12(2), 181-196.

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Home — Essay Samples — Government & Politics — Army Values — An Overview of the 7 United States Army Values

An Overview of The 7 United States Army Values

• Categories: Army Values

About this sample

Words: 981 |

Published: Jun 20, 2019

Words: 981 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Army values essay outline, army values essay example, introduction.

• Introduction to the Army Values and their importance
• The role of soldiers in upholding these values

The 7 Army Values

• Duty: Fulfilling responsibilities even when undesirable
• Loyalty: Being a reliable and faithful person
• Respect: Earning respect through self-respect and respect for others
• Selfless Service: Performing service without personal gain
• Honor: Upholding morals and values consistently
• Integrity: Being honest and doing what's right
• Personal Courage: Overcoming fears and doing what's right

Interconnection of Army Values

• How the Army Values are interconnected and cannot be separated
• The importance of living by all of these values
• Reflection on the significance of the Army Values
• Personal commitment to living by these values in the future

The Main 7 Army Values as an Integral Part of Ones Moral Standing

Works cited.

• Smith, J. (2018). The Importance of Army Values in Building a Strong Military Culture. Military Psychology Review, 25(2), 45-62.
• Johnson, L., & Davis, M. (2019). Integrity: A Cornerstone of Army Leadership. Journal of Military Ethics, 32(3), 201-215.
• Thompson, C. L., & Anderson, R. (2020). Courage in the Face of Fear: Exploring Personal Courage in the Army. Journal of Army Psychology, 42(1), 189-204.
• Davis, A., & Roberts, M. (2017). Loyalty and Commitment in the U.S. Army: A Psychological Perspective. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(2), 345-360.
• Gonzalez, L. S., & Wilson, B. (2018). The Role of Respect in Building Effective Army Teams. Journal of Military Leadership , 28(4), 201-215.
• Baker, S., & Turner, R. (2016). Honor and Ethical Conduct in the U.S. Army: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of Military Ethics, 45(4), 521-536.
• Smith, E., & Davis, M. A. (2020). The Value of Selfless Service in the Army: A Moral Perspective. Journal of Army Ethics, 28(2), 233-248.
• Anderson, R., & Roberts, M. (2017). The Importance of Duty and Responsibility in Army Operations. Journal of Military Leadership, 42(2), 233-248.
• Gonzalez, L. S., & Johnson, S. (2019). The Impact of Army Values on Organizational Culture: A Case Study. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 45(4), 521-536.
• Wilson, B., & Thompson, C. L. (2016). Building a Culture of Integrity and Honor in the U.S. Army. Journal of Military Psychology, 28(2), 233-248.

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ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Voice for the army - support for the soldier.

• Personal Courage

Face Fear, Danger, or Adversity (Physical or Moral)

What really causes leadership challenges is the situation; the environment that you have to fight in, and today our Soldiers are fighting in a much more different environment than they were in WWII, Korea, or Vietnam. I am not saying those environments weren't critical, stressful, and very, very dangerous, they were. But the environment is different today. Today they are your friends, tomorrow those friends are driving a car with a bomb in it and killing your Soldiers. That's a tough situation.SMA Julius W. GatesTell the absolute truth.SMA Robert E. HallYou must tell your commander the truth: the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good NCO who is listened to will always level with the commander, and then it is up to the commander to take heed or ignore it, remembering that he or she has to live with the outcome.There is a lot of material on what should be done regarding leadership, but it takes intestinal fortitude to do what is right. It takes guts for an NCO to use inherent authority and responsibility in training, maintaining, leading, and caring for soldiers. Young noncommissioned officers are the ones who call the shots; it is on their knowledge, initiative, and courage that our success in battle rests.SMA Glen E. MorrellProfessional courage is the steel fiber that makes an NCO unafraid and willing to tell it like it is. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to the soldiers’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he is wrong.SMA William A. ConnellyThe greatness of our Army has always been the ability of our soldiers who serve in the ranks to rise to the challenge against the odds, in the face of danger, and win.SMA Julius W. GatesThe good NCO has never been short in confidence, either to perform the mission or to inform the superior that he or she was interfering with traditional NCO business.SMA William G. BainbridgeMoral courage, to me, is much more demanding than physical courage.SMA Leon L. Van AutreveThe equipment and weaponry will continually change and improve, and the size of the military will expand as needed, decreasing during times of peace. But the unyielding will of the soldier and the dedication of professional military leaders will not change. Our soldiers can do a great deal more under pressure than people think. You’d have to see them perform in combat to believe it.SMA George W. DunawayHow can fear help you? Fear is not altogether undesirable. It is nature’s way of preparing your body for battle. As a consequence, the body automatically undergoes certain changes. You may temporarily lose a sense of fatigue, no matter how tired you are. Fear can stimulate your body, make you more alert, and prepare you for unusual physical effort.One of the easiest things to do is to talk to someone. Talk is a convenient way to relieve your tension- and it also helps the men you’re talking to. It’s a reminder that the rest of the team is with you. Your confidence goes up and your fear goes down when you think of the coming fight as a team job. You know the striking power of the team.Action or “doing something” will also help you overcome the initial paralyzing effect of fear in combat. This is especially true when you’re waiting for battle and the suspense is bothering you. Put your fear aside by doing something- even if you have to make work for yourself.No man ever adjusts himself perfectly to battle, regardless of how much combat he’s seen. Veteran soldiers also experience the reactions caused by fear. The difference is that veterans have learned to control their fears better than green troops. Learn to control fear and make it work for you. The man who controls his fear and goes about his business despite it is a courageous man. There’s no limit to what courage can accomplish on the battlefield.SMA William O. Wooldridge

Army Quotes

Leadership and leadership development.

• Leadership Communication
• Leadership Development

ONE TEAM ONE ARMY ONE FUTURE

• Building a Better Army
• Recruiting and Retention
• Reserve Components
• The Army and the Nation

RECOGNIZING NCOS AND SOLDIERS

• Achieving Goals
• Noncommissioned Officers and Soldiers
• The Sergeant Major of the Army

THE ARMY VALUES

• Selfless Service
• The Army Values
• In Conclusion

Understanding Basics of the Army Values

Concerning the military ethos, students might wonder about the essence of the army values. These aren’t just terms. They’re the very spirit that encapsulates the heart of every soldier and creates the military’s spine, the same way as in the soldier essay . You might ponder, “Why is an essay on army values so instrumental to grasp?” These values serve as the building blocks, fostering discipline, understanding, and commitment in the military environment and as life lessons that go beyond.

Army Values and the Core of the Military Ethos  

Army values transcend beyond the realms of military boundaries; they resonate with the virtues every society aspires to embed within its citizens. These principles, ingrained in the heart of every soldier, serve as beacons for civilians, guiding us toward better interpersonal dynamics and societal harmony. When penning down an essay on army values, one isn’t just documenting rules or codes but reflecting on the pillars that can potentially elevate societal values, such as veterans’ essays .

The beauty of these values lies in their universality. Consider “selfless service.” A deep look into this principle can lead to personal revelations in a globalized world often tainted by selfish motives. Or ponder upon the idea of “respect.” It’s not just a military term; it’s a mantra for a world yearning for mutual understanding and empathy.

Now, it’s essential to remember an army values essay isn’t just an academic requirement. It’s an opportunity to contemplate how these values can redefine societal benchmarks if adopted universally. So, when you’re tasked with crafting a 1000-word essay on army values, view it as an enlightening journey where each word and sentiment contributes to a larger vision – a vision of a world driven by honor, duty, and unwavering ethos.

Detailed Look into Each Army Value  

Every value adds a new layer to the army’s ethos. While loyalty signifies unwavering faith, duty emphasizes the essence of commitment, and respect speaks volumes about understanding and mutual harmony. When you work on your army values informative essay, you’re not just exploring military codes but decoding life lessons that can shape personal and professional lives. By the end of your deep dive, your army values essay outline will be more than just an assignment; it’ll reflect ideals that transcend boundaries.

The First Pillars Loyalty, Duty, Respect in an Essay on Army Value

These pillars aren’t just limited to how soldiers interact. They’re lessons every student can incorporate into their academic and personal journey. Loyalty isn’t just about being true to your country and yourself. Duty in an essay on army values can translate to our commitment to our goals, and respect can shape our interactions with peers, teachers, and self. When you wrap up your army values informative essay blc, these principles seem less like military essay codes and more like universal truths.

Integrity, Personal Courage, and Army Values Essay BLC

The beauty of these values lies in their universal applicability. For instance, selfless service in an army values informative essay could resonate with a student’s voluntary service at a community center. Honor reminds students of the pride in hard work, integrity emphasizes authenticity, and personal courage mirrors every time a student stands up for what’s right. Thus, an essay on these values is less about the army and more about molding character.

Tips for Structuring Your “Army Values Informative Essay”  

Crafting an essay isn’t merely about adhering to a structure; it’s about narrating a story. When delving deep into the essay on army values, you’re not just presenting facts but weaving a tale of honor, courage, and integrity. Your army values essay is a representation of your perception, your exploration, and your connection with these values.

To guide you on this narrative expedition, here are some tailored tips for structuring your essay, ensuring it’s both comprehensive and compelling:

• ☑️ Begin with Context : Open your essay with a broader context. Why are we talking about these values? How have they emerged as pivotal in both military and civilian life?
• ☑️ Present Real-life Scenarios : Infuse life into your 1000-word essay on army values by including real-life instances that epitomize these values. Such anecdotes make the narrative relatable.
• ☑️ Incorporate Quotes and Sayings : Spice up your army values essay with relevant quotations from prominent military figures or ancient philosophers. This adds depth to your essay and showcases extensive research.
• ☑️ Value-based Subheadings : Use each value as a subheading. This ensures a logical flow in your “army values essay outline” and makes it easy for readers to follow.
• ☑️ Engage with Questions : Why are the army values important essay? Answering them keeps readers hooked and fosters a deeper understanding.
• ☑️ Conclude with a Personal Touch : Wrap up your army values essay blc by sharing your take on these values and how they can shape lives beyond the military realm.

Writing the Ideal “Army Values Essay BLC”  

While the core values remain constant, their interpretation and significance can have unique nuances for different groups, like BLC students. Delving into the heart of the army values essay BLC means addressing these nuances and presenting a perspective that speaks specifically to and for them. It’s not just about knowledge; it’s about showcasing a tailored understanding.

⏭ ORDER CUSTOM ARMY VALUES ESSAY ⏮

 While writing an essay on army values, you’re not just concluding an assignment but ending a journey of understanding, reflection, growth, and reading related articles on military topics . With writers’ help at Writing Metier , we are ready to assist with essays on army values.

As you’ll realize, the army values aren’t just military codes. They’re life’s teachings. As you ponder “Why are the army values important essay,” remember, it’s not about the words but the ethos behind them, the ripple effect they create in the world beyond the army.

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Laura Orta is an avid author on Writing Metier's blog. Before embarking on her writing career, she practiced media law in one of the local media. Aside from writing, she works as a private tutor to help students with their academic needs. Laura and her husband share their home near the ocean in northern Portugal with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.

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• RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR
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Professionalism is the Foundation of the Army and We Will Strengthen It

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In my nearly 37 years of service, I’ve seen the strength of the Army profession in action — in the courage and dedication of our soldiers, leaders, and army civilian professionals on the battlefield and in garrison. I observed that strength watching a company commander display his professional competence and leadership while driving conversation during a National Training Center after action review. I experienced it while shaking the hand of Staff Sgt. Ashley Buhl , the embodiment of the character and soul of our profession and the 2023 drill sergeant of the year. And I felt it, just a few weeks ago, watching Pvt. Jamavius Curry (pictured above) lead his formation in reciting the “ Soldiers Creed ” at his basic training graduation. Our profession allows us to maintain trust; construct cohesive and disciplined teams; train our soldiers, leaders, and civilians; and build climates that don’t tolerate harmful behaviors. In a changing world, our profession undergirds all our strengths; but it must be continuously tended, or it will atrophy.

The Army is a part of American society at large and will always reflect its attributes — we cannot assume that the dynamics operating in America won’t affect our profession. Changes in generational preferences and worldviews impact the way our profession manifests across our ranks, but that diversity in thought can also lead to novel ideas . While social and sensationalized media put a spotlight on every misstep and sometimes overlook efforts to improve, it also presents an opportunity to highlight the value of service. Perhaps most importantly, our adversaries grow stronger every day and seek any seam to erode our advantages, but also provide us with a renewed sense of purpose. As we work to transform our Army, we will rely on our people to keep us ahead of potential adversaries. Our profession will continue to produce unparalleled soldiers and leaders who serve as the foundation of America’s relative strength.

Indeed, it is our people that give us our greatest advantage. No other army can boast the U.S. Army’s disciplined, trained, and fit soldiers capable of operating independently, making difficult decisions, and working as part of cohesive teams. All of that — all our advantages — stem from our unique version of professionalism.

Over the years, generations of Army leaders have stewarded that strength. Our professionals have always taken lessons from ongoing wars and conflicts to improve the way we educate and train, adjusting our culture and systems to reflect a changing society. In the mid-20th century, sociologists like Samuel Huntington and Morris Janowitz considered how a democracy could maintain a large, standing army and established the foundational concepts of the profession that we still use today. In subsequent decades, Army leaders such as Gens. William DePuy and Donn Starry , and the newly formed Training and Doctrine Command and Forces Command, worked to deal with the effects of the Vietnam War and build professionalism and discipline in the nascent all-volunteer force.

Today, it is our duty — our professional obligation — to account for the impacts of a generation of war, the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Israel, and other hotspots around the globe, current recruiting challenges , and various societal factors to determine how our profession may need to adapt to maintain its vitality in a tumultuous world where many advantages we once took for granted seem illusory, the time is ripe to focus on our Army profession. In this article, I intend to stoke such a discussion. As I discussed in a recent episode of the War on the Rocks podcast , it is our obligation as Army leaders to refine and update our understanding of what it is, take stock of what we’re already doing to steward and strengthen it, streamline and rationalize those existing programs, and determine where to go from here. However, senior leaders cannot do it alone. This is our profession, and we need soldiers across the entire Army —active, guard, and reserve— to generate ideas and move it forward.

The Army Profession and the Professional

Before we can determine how to strengthen our profession, we need to agree on what it is. This is well-trod territory, and I can’t claim to have some new, visionary definition that will fundamentally alter our trajectory. However, this topic is a personal one and we all have a viewpoint. A common understanding and some accepted lexicon will go a long way to advancing the conversation.

Army doctrine defines the profession as “a trusted vocation of soldiers and army civilians whose collective expertise is the ethical design, generation, support, and application of landpower; serving under civilian authority; and entrusted to defend the constitution and the rights and interests of the American people.” That’s probably a good enough starting point, but it is especially important that our current understanding of the profession has two primary components : the profession itself and the professional it produces. These two components are heavily interrelated, feeding off one another to sustain and improve themselves. The split may seem unnecessary, but I find that it enables us to zero in on specific aspects of each and tailor potential solutions to where they will make the biggest impact.

Our profession is more than the competence, character, and commitment of individual soldiers, non-commissioned officers, warrant officers, officers, and Army civilian professionals in our ranks. It must also encompass the systems with which we develop expertise, accountability, and responsibility. It is a complex system that builds professional warriors who fight and win our nation’s wars within the legal, moral, and ethical bounds of our profession.

The objective expertise that we provide to our nation, that no one else can, is in warfighting. The Army is obligated to have well-trained soldiers and competent leaders to meet this requirement — and the systems that our profession uses to generate that competence are vital. These systems should start with encouraging and moderating diverse discourse on war and its related fields through writing and publication, research, experimentation, and conferences among our professionals and associated parties (think tanks, academia, industry, etc.) However, this is not simply an intellectual exercise. Our purpose is to produce expert warfighters and competent professionals. As such, our system of knowledge generation ought to go further, to turn that discourse into knowledge (doctrine, programs of instruction, training scenarios, etc.) and then transmit that knowledge to developing professionals through training and leader development.

Our profession also requires a system of self-policing that qualifies who we access, retain, and promote. We are trusted with the survival of our nation and the lives of its youth. We are rightly held accountable for that trust. Grounded in our oaths , the “ Warrior Ethos ,” and the “ Army Values ,” our profession produces soldiers and leaders of character through well-established systems of selection, promotion, retention, training, and leader development. Through these accountability mechanisms, we build individual character to produce better soldiers and citizens.

Trust, combined with quality training and leader development, is vital to ensuring that we are a ready and professional army. That trust is built from the responsibility that our profession shows to its members and the commitment that our professionals show to their profession. By caring for soldiers’ needs, providing them the skills and resources to live full and healthy lives, and setting them on the path to a better future, we demonstrate that responsibility and earn their commitment. Ongoing programs steered by the Army People Strategy — prevention, quality of life, life skills development, etc. — are great displays of this responsibility and must be continuously improved to enable our commanders at echelon.

The Army’s systems of expertise, accountability, and responsibility build competent and committed professionals of character. However, it is not these systems that together build a culture. Rather, our profession is a complete entity that enables the Army’s commanders to build positive cultures, which I define as climates and environments that do not tolerate eroding factors such as sexual harassment and assault, or any form of discrimination, while fostering cohesion, dignity, and respect for all that raised their hand and took an oath.

What Are We Doing About It?

I remain an optimist. The Army profession isn’t broken; it simply needs to be stewarded more thoroughly. While it is important to note shortfalls such as soldier and leader misconduct, lack of fitness, harmful behaviors, and more, we — as a total team — are obligated to embrace the profession to build soldiers and leaders of character, competence, and commitment, and to foster positive organizational cultures. To do so, we will continuously improve and refine our professional systems to ensure focus, prioritization, and accountability.

The Sergeant Major of the Army — supported by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, Forces Command, and the total Army — has undertaken efforts to reestablish the primacy of the sergeant in this area through a revised Blue Book and the revitalization of common task training and testing at echelon. But unless leaders at every echelon prioritize the effort, we will continue to be challenged. We must also combine this effort with leader development — delivered through “brick and mortar” schoolhouses and further honed at the unit level — at all echelons to reinforce the basic competence of our profession.

To build our expertise, we are working to improve our professional discourse , which will encourage our leaders to think and write about what we do. We have simultaneously sought to expand the understanding of our soldiers and leaders through direct means. Finally, we are investing to streamline our systems of doctrine and program of instruction development to ensure rapid incorporation of lessons and new ideas.

Even the character of our individual soldiers and leaders should be considered as outputs of our professional systems. It is true that our problems with misconduct and indiscipline are, in part, inevitable, just as they are in any other organized group of human beings. But we cannot and will not simply blame soldier indiscipline on generational values or junior leader unwillingness to enforce standards, nor can we blame continued senior leader misconduct on a “few bad apples.” As we continuously transform, we have the opportunity to examine how we bring people into the Army, acculturate them at initial entry and pre-commissioning sources, train them in our values and culture (across a career, not just at institutional training), assess and evaluate them for their adherence to our norms and responsible behavior, and select them for promotion and positions of increased responsibility. We have begun these processes through more effective acculturation at basic training and by enhancing professional military education, assessing future battalion and brigade leaders, and reinforcing the importance of our oath .

Lastly, we often look at the commitment of our soldiers and leaders to their profession as a one-way street. Individuals should remain committed to our values and to their mission; however, we also have professional responsibilities to care for our people, provide for their and their families’ needs, offer safe and healthy environments for them to work and live in, and set them up for a future in or out of uniform. Continued efforts to improve foundational soldier and leader skills, the provision of resources to commanders to build healthy command climates and reduce harmful behaviors, and increased investment in quality-of-life initiatives are demonstrations of our commitment to these responsibilities.

What Can You Do? A Call to Action

The first, and most important thing, we can all do is exactly what we’re trying to do here: acknowledge that our profession is not a constant. While it is certain that our profession undergirds all our strengths, I again remind you that it must be continuously tended, or it will atrophy. This simple acknowledgement — and the commensurate requirement for each and every professional to think deeply about his or her profession, discuss it with their peers, come up with solutions, and drive them into existence — is the most important thing we can do. Our professionals are obligated to increase their engagement on relevant topics in daily interactions, as well as by writing for expanding outlets to spread lessons learned and generate dialogue. If that is all this article achieves, that will be enough.

Each of us must also work to rebuild pride in service. Wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army is a big deal. That honor and responsibility ought to be reflected in each and every one of us. After a long term of service, especially following multiple deployments, it’s easy to get jaded and cynical — to forget why we joined in the first place. But I challenge each of you to go to a basic training, Basic Officer Leader Course, or Officer Candidate School graduation (or at least think back to your own) and look at the sense of accomplishment in every new soldier’s eyes and the pride of every family member. Attaining membership in our profession is hard — as it should be — and pride in service must be reinforced in every unit, school, department, and section.

We all know that our profession is huge. It is made up of countless units, teams, offices, and departments that are manned with people from all walks of life. I encourage every solider and Army civilian to take responsibility for their piece of the profession. Each of us — no matter our rank, mission occupational specialty, or assignment — can strengthen the whole by strengthening its parts.

This we’ll defend.

Gen. Gary Brito is the commanding general of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. He is responsible for strengthening the Army profession, building the next generation of soldiers and leaders, and delivering holistic solutions to the future force. He previously served as the deputy chief of staff G-1 at Headquarters Department of the Army and in a variety of command and staff assignments, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

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