What Being a Member of the Profession of Arms Means to Me:

When describing the nature of the duties and responsibilities of their work in the U.S. Army, soldiers assert that they are members of the profession of arms. As professionals, they view their work as far more than just a job – they take the Army on as a lifestyle and a responsibility. In fact the Army says that its members are soldiers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a weeks. To be a member of the profession of arms means to accept responsibility for the security of the nation, and to always be prepared to defend it from harm and act in its interests. In order to fulfill this duty, a professional soldier inherits certain expectations and standards of performance for the use of the power he has been entrusted with. A soldier must maintain core war fighting proficiencies while striving to improve himself and his unit. A soldier must be prepared to sacrifice and work towards a cause greater than their own personal self interest. And a soldier must also accept the consequences of their actions, maintaining accountability of their unit and themselves.

Professionals are expected to be subject matter experts within their respective fields. Maintaining such as position involves balancing two competing requirements. First, they must maintain proficiency in their core skills. Second, they must learn new trends, techniques, or skills as they emerge within their field. Doctors and Lawyers attend extensive schooling in order to become certified to provide services to their clients or patients. On top of this, however, doctors are expected to attend conferences and symposiums, read medical journals, and consult with peers throughout their careers, in order to learn about new treatments and studies, many of which may even supplant or contradict previous learning. Similarly lawyers must maintain awareness of new laws and legal codes, as well as court cases which set new legal precedents, which could drastically alter the legal landscape. And so too must professional soldiers maintain awareness of developing threats and emerging trends around the globe. A nation expects its military forces to provide security and protect its interests, and therefore soldiers are expected to be subject matter experts in the field of warfare – to win the wars they fight. An army must maintain its core competencies, drilling and rehearsing its skill sets so that when it is called to fight, it can do so competently and defeat enemy forces. A well trained, professional army holds a decisive advantage when pitted against a poorly trained force. However, professional soldiers must also be open to change, and to recognize when new developments and conditions necessitate a change in doctrine and tactics. Armies throughout history have learned the painful lesson that the army that prepares to fight the last war all over again will lose to the army that has prepared to fight the next war. Military Revolutions and Revolutions in Military Affairs change the way wars are fought, and a professional soldier must be ready to recognize when such change has or will occur. Thus professional soldiers must be experts within their field, mastering the art and science of war as they know it, while remaining ever vigilant to changes on the horizon that may invalidate their training and doctrine.

A soldier must be prepared to sacrifice and work towards a cause greater than their own personal self interest. Deployments are an easy hardship to highlight – a soldier leaves his family and home behind to go into harm’s way, to fight and possibly make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the nation. Often he must take great personal risk in order to safeguard his unit and his comrades. It has often been said that while soldiers go to war for many different reasons, they fight in the individual battles for the sake of their comrades. Soldiers have performed many heroic acts to keep their buddies safe, to watch each others’ backs. Furthermore, soldiers expect deprivation and hardship in the field as a necessity of maintaining logistics in a war zone. But even outside of a deployment, a soldier faces other hardships. Soldiers understand that they must work hard in peace, or suffer for it in war. Soldiers can expect to go into the field for weeks at a time, all year round, training and preparing to fight. And they must work long hours and sometimes on weekends in the normal course of their duties. The strain on family can be enormous. But this is what is expected of a professional soldier, to master the many complexities of warfare. All of these things, however wide the spectrum of danger and discomfort, represent the sacrifices soldiers make, putting the interests of their country, unit, and comrades above their own.

A soldier must also accept the consequences of their actions, and maintain accountability of their unit and themselves. An army does not exist for its own sake - it exists for a higher purpose. When a society raises an army, it expects that military force to safeguard its interests and beliefs, and to represent it on the field of battle to enforce those interests and beliefs. Thus it is incumbent upon a professional soldier to live up to the expectations of that society, and accept responsibility when they fall short of those expectations. One example of this would be to safeguard against fraud, waste, and abuse of men, material, and resources. Corruption within an army represents a betrayal of its people and its mandate, and of its own soldiers. An army is an institution, and the faith and support of the people it serves and protects, and the soldiers it is comprise of, is critical to its strength and success. Nowhere is this more apparent than in a democratic nation with an all volunteer army. Such an army that loses the faith of the people will not attract the best and brightest to its ranks, and will not receive the support of the government and the people. Warfare today involves a mobilization of a country’s resources, manpower, and national will, and requires strong support in all three areas in order to obtain victory. Such trust and support is earned, and can be quickly lost, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. A second example of maintaining accountability is to act within the laws of war and rules of engagement. War crimes are even more devastating in eroding national will than corruption in a democratic society. Thus soldiers must maintain high standards in the way they conduct themselves, both on the battlefield and off.

Being a member of the profession of arms involves hard work and dedication to duty, and the demands, expectation, and responsibilities are great. Even while a soldier trains daily to master the skills of war, which have grown ever more extensive as technology and the complexities of warfare have advanced, he must keep an eye out for threats and trends which may force him to change everything he has learned. It is incumbent upon a soldier to constantly evolve and seek the improvement of both himself and his unit, while never allowing the basics to erode. Furthermore, a soldier must be prepared to subordinate his own interest to those of his unit and comrades, accepting deprivation and hardship for the sake of a greater cause. And last, a soldier must hold himself and his unit accountable to their nation and society, remaining representative of the people whom they serve and protect, and the soldiers who constitute it. Only then can a soldier successfully claim to be a professional.

MAJ James Moore
Student, Command and General Staff School
U.S. Army Combined Arms Center
Fort Belvoir, VA

"The views expressed in this BLOG are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Dept. of the Army, Dept. of Defense, or the U.S. Government."