Today is the Army's Birthday. Part of being a soldier is carrying the torch of tradition given to you so that you can pass it on to others as they join the Big Green Machine.
Last year I was less than five hours out of my dress blues from the Army Ball when I got the phone call that a VBIED had killed two of our soldiers and wounded several others. This year I'm in Afghanistan.
While I am not an idealist about military service, I do believe that those of us who make the choice to serve can only do so with the traditional values of "duty, honor, and country" if nothing more than to satisfy our own moral and legal obligation to the contract we signed.
Gentlemen, Duty is doing what is expected of you. Honor is conducting yourself in a right and moral manner in all things. Country, well, I don't know what that really means to me right now. My country is very different from when I signed on in 97, and while I still love my country I'm not sure if my service is of any real benefit to her.
Ever wonder why the US Military continually ranks so high in Public Trust? It isn't because we are different people than Congressmen or Senators (who are just as human as anybody else from all medical reports), it is because we are the same as the people of the United States. The vast majority of the Legislative body is a bunch of lawyers creating work for other lawyers. The vast majority of the US Military is now a caste of warriors along family lines. Less than 20% of us now serving came from a family that didn't have an immediate family member also serving.
I worry about that some. Some say that our Military represents the very best of America, but I have no idea if that is true. But I will continue to do my best, if nothing more because I gave my word that I would do so. And if personal accountability and dedication are the only things I can pass on when I leave the Big Green Machine, I think that I will be fine with that.
About Me
- AM
- Raised by conservative Christian parents, enlisted in the Army at 18, used the GI Bill to finish college, and I'm back in the Army. Along the way I've encountered a huge cast of characters, some I got into trouble with, some that passed on skills that have helped me on my life journey.
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6 comments:
Sir:
As I understand it, you're a day early.
It was on 14 June 1775, that the Continental Congress authorized George Washington to raise a body of troops.
However, I didn't learn of my Army's history until years AFTER I had become a civilian.
But, when I was in the Army, troop morale was VERY low, and military service was quite unpopular, as it seemed all of society was opposed to the war in Viet Nam, and openly ridiculing any soldier who participated.
As an officer, you might take these factors into consideration as you attempt to inspire your enlisted personnel by instilling them with a knowledge of their heritage, history, tradition, and ceremony.
I wish there'd been more of that when I was a lowly PFC.
Based on my own experience, I suspect that elan and esprit de corps really does make the monotonous tedium, personality conflicts, loneliness, deprivation, and combat horrors more bearable for the enlisted ranks.
Thank you.
John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Gulfport, Mississippi 39507
Please understand that a "military caste" implies a feudal society of nobility, priests, soldiers, and the peasantry.
America is not the United States. The US is a creation of the American nation (people) via the device of a federal constitution. We can uncreate it should we wish. Given the US federation ejected its own constituent members in 1914ish, there is no reason for it to exist. But I digress.
The original agreement provided for a temporary army, specifically to prevent the creation of a "military caste". Of course, they did not use such an ugly word and spoke instead of standing armies.
But the point was to prevent a separation of firepower and political power, which always ends in suffering and death.
I call on loyal officers to reject the very notion of "military caste" (and I've heard this from field-grade friends, most distressingly) along with the corresponding "civilian" term in such vogue, even with law enFORCEment types.
Officers of the United States: it is your great privilege and fortune to be AMERICANS, even CITIZENS, if we forgive the present state of our union and think of our history instead.
As CITIZENS your responsibility it to AMERICA first (the nation), AMERICANS second (the individual citizen), and the AMERICAN COUNTRY (our land) third.
The United States is merely a legal fiction, a federation, an entity, and not a very useful one at that.
In the name of the Pilgrim Fathers and our God,
The Spirit of '76
I served as did my father and my grandfather, ete,ete. We serve for either a career like my dad did and my brother is doing, or as myself that was in for 6 years. We serve because there is a price to pay for the benefits of citizenship, and we pay it with military service. When my son is of age, I hope he will continue the family tradition, but I will not force him.
I would suggest that the reason the US Military ranks so highly is because the majority of Americans know or have known someone who has been in the military, and recognize that honor.
Re: being generations of warriors, I wonder how the advent of the entirely volunteer service has affected that? My father was drafted into the Army in WWII (he was the first US-born American in our family), and I registered for the draft during Vietnam, but didn't get called up. That was before the all-volunteer army; none of my friends or any family I knew of enlisted, so the thought never really crossed my mind.
I suspect that being exposed to family members who volunteer for the service will make volunteering tend to run in families. Maybe more volunteers in a towns or groups where it's seen more often even if it wasn't their immediate family.
My family has been Regular Army or Navy since 1849; the Family business.
During my career, I tried mightily to pass on Army and Regimental history and traditions, and I found that the troops mostly liked it. There's a sense of pride in connecting with the brave past, and knowing your history.
Very few Americans know anything about Heraldry. and my Soldiers were surprised to learn that those DUI actually meant something. Most of them had no idea the Regiment was as old as it was or had the history it did.
Army never encouraged that sort of thing, and the Brits and Marines are far better at it than we are.
Anyways, guys... what you are doing does mean something. It means I still live in a country that is worth defending. No matter how flawed or skewed. I live here and I like it... and you, and others like you, make that something special.
Thank you... in case you haven't heard that recently.
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