Military Review. Special Edition: Center for the Army Profession and Ethic. September 2010

摘要

The core of the Army profession is our ethic. The Army ethic, however, is paradoxical. It must be sufficiently foundational to anchor the Army culture across time, yet adaptive enough to respond to changing environments. The Army has been in transition since 2001, and General Dempsey has recently noted that it is important that Soldiers and leaders refine their understanding of what it means to be professionals--expert members of the profession of arms--after nine years of war and to recommit to a culture of service and to remember the responsibilities and behaviors of our profession as articulated in the Army Ethic. He has asked CAC to lead this important discussion for the Army. To help inspire the needed discussion about our Army profession and its ethic, the Center for the Army Profession and Ethic (CAPE) and the Military Review have partnered to offer this anthology of recent writings. This collection is no mere academic exercise. Only through knowledge can we improve ourselves as an organization, and Army-wide efforts to reinforce our ethic must begin with senior leaders. The authors of these articles have thought long and hard about what they have to say. Their experiences, their educations, and, in many cases, their lifelong work validates the observations they make. Some have won awards for what they express here. The contributing thinkers, including officers and Soldiers in the field, have experienced and examined the Army's ethical successes, as well as failures and contradictions, and have highlighted some institutional shortcomings that we, as a profession, must address. As the leaders of our profession, we have the undeniable duty to come to grips with these issues, weighing them, and giving them their due with energized and renewed examination.