Although many people consider the army to be little more than a job, the expertise required to ethically apply lethal force to ensure the security of the nation, while simultaneously maintaining the American people’s trust, specifically defines the Army as a profession. The rudimentary element of the Army organization is the professional Soldier. Without the Soldier, the Army does not exist. Being a Soldier in today’s Army requires lifelong learning and the continuous pursuit of professional development. Professionals require years of study and practice before they are capable of expert work. 2 This holds true in all facets of military service. For example, for a Cadet to commission into the Army as a Second Lieutenant, the Cadet must complete an average training requirement of four years of ROTC, in addition to obtaining a four year Bachelors degree. This does not include basic branch training to qualify the Lieutenant in his or specific job, or the exponential amount of training that he or she will be required to attend throughout a 20 year military career. This amount of training more than qualifies an American Soldier as a professional.
In addition to being an expert, the Army professional must also be ethically and morally sound. Unique to the profession of arms, Vote core purpose and reason that the Army exists is to apply lethal force. “3 Because of the violent nature of military business and direct subordinate relationship to the civilian population, the Army has a high ethical standard. “The Army establishes and adapts an Ethic that governs the culture, and thus the actions, of the profession and the practice of individual professionals, inspiring exemplary performance by all members. 4 The military ethic is imperative because of the direct correlation it has between the client and the service. Without civilian trust in the result or product, a military governed by civilian leadership would no longer have credibility, effectively relinquishing the Army status as a professional organization. However, the Army’s ethical conduct and effective lethality in recent wars has solidified the trust in cap ability of the Army as a profession and its professional Soldiers.
Using Ethel force is a necessary evil to provide security on an international level for the American public and its interests, but how does the Army get its Soldiers to volunteer for Combat during an era that resides in persistent conflict? The answer is to intrinsically establish an ethical and moral foundation based off of community and the time honored tradition of military service. A sense of community broadens Soldier’s identity by developing the “l” into the ‘We. 5 This is the well-spring for cooperation and 360-degree loyalty and service rived from professional networks and the basis for unfamiliar attached units to quickly establish ‘Swift trust. ” These networks and the values on which they are based cause Soldiers to exert themselves for the benefit of those in other units and to put the institution’s interests ahead Of their own. It is also the root of selfless service for intrinsic reasons as no Soldier can ever be paid his or her true value to the Republic. 6 To be a member of the profession of arms means to selflessly serve for the greater good of the nation.
