The Necessity for Morality in the Profession of Arms

A Reflection Regarding General Dempsey’s Publication of America’s Military — A Profession of Arms (2012)

In General Dempsey’s white letter, America’s Military — A Profession of Arms, he denotes the importance of our military upholding the ‘calling cards’ of “duty, honor, courage, integrity, and selfless service.”. To maintain the values listed in his white letter, it is required for us as servicemembers to uphold an explicit reminder of our volunteering to the profession of arms we serve and the challenges ahead that require the maintenance of the listed calling cards in this profession.

In our modern military there is no longer room for mercenaries or barbarism which accepts marauders interested only in the payment of soldiering or killing absent-mindedly. Due to a hyper-globalized world which enables instant feedback of modern events, such actions that defy a generally acceptable moral compass imposes a risk to the nation if such onslaught without thought or morality is conducted by our troops. Because of this, not only the Oath of Enlistment or Oath of Office which communicates a defined objective for a servicemembers initial entrance into the armed forces, but also values inherited through the institutions they join embody a set of ethical guidelines that steer our modern militaries towards a unified moral compass. This unification of accepted morality creates autonomy within ground-level troops who need to make decisions almost instantly. Although “many who only know the cycle of repetitive combat and deployment”, written by Dempsey, may fix upon scope that enables efficiency in their conduct of this profession of arms, a reminder amongst ourselves laterally and hierarchically of our commitment to maintaining our values will be the best way to uphold General Dempsey’s calling cards. Laterally, this includes peer to peer accountability while hierarchically, it will be important to further education and give broader scope to the reason behind upholding these calling cards.

Education as to the reasoning behind the importance of upkeeping the five calling cards will further motivate our troops to maintain these high standards and professionalism. As mentioned previously, our hyper-globalized world enables immediate insight of our troops’ actions. Denunciation of our nation via our servicemembers’ actions will disintegrate the trust our nation puts into our military. As Dempsey accounts, that trust in our military from our nation is the bedrock of our ability to take action when necessary along with conducting ourselves under our own power without unnecessary restraints imposed due to lack of faith. Regarding trust, “It must be continually earned”. Educating our servicemembers from the ground up that their actions, regardless of how insignificant they may find them, have international affects. These affects can be both positive and negative. However, it takes a continuous effort of maintaining the values listed to build trust little by little and one show of lacking any of them to create a landslide of mistrust.

The importance of Dempsey’s calling cards are implied. However, the most junior enlisted must be reeducated of their importance for them to have a valued affect for our servicemembers to maintain them. That is why a constant reminder of our adherence to the profession of arms and the importance of applying these values to challenges we face ahead are the best way to uphold the values Dempsey mentions.

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