Information Paper on The Profession of Arms, An Army White Paper In 2010, the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff directed that the Commanding General of Training and Doctrine Command lead a review of the Army Profession. This came at the height of nearly a decade of very high operational tempo in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Army leadership felt this immense stress upon the force could potentially cause the Army to lose touch with the foundation of its ethic and what it means to be a profession. The underlying premise was that no such traumatic period of prolonged conflict could occur without some kind of change. While this is not always bad and certainly the force had become much more proficient in its warrior tasks and drills, leadership became concerned that other core competencies had fallen to the wayside. Among these, is the ability of the Army to self police itself, care for its families and soldiers, and continue to find time for development amongst operations (Profession of Arms, 2010, p. 1). Also waning, is the Army’s ability to modernize how it manages talent and interact with the population it serves (Prof. of Arms, p. 1). …show more content…
This drives how and why the Army fights. Interestingly enough at the time of the white paper, ethic was not actually codified in doctrine (Prof. of Arms, p. 2). As a baseline, the paper proposes that the purpose and moral basis of the Army is defending human rights and the United States right to political autonomy. By extension, this also means protecting others who respect human rights and not violating rights in the process (Prof. of Arms, p. 12). The Army ethic is exemplified in how it fights and true leaders exercise ethic by not always resorting to deadly force (Prof. of Arms, p. 13). This careful execution of force with moral ethic is what brings about the ultimate objective of conflict, which is sustainable peace (Prof. of Arms, p.
Ongoing efforts to continue developing the skills needed to promote efficiency and effectiveness continues. The Army White Paper: The Profession of Arms (2010) notes that “as the Army reflects now on what it means to be a profession in the midst of persistent conflict, a central questions frames major challenges now facing the Army’s strategic leaders: the sergeant
Throughout the history of warfare, there have been countless attempts to professionalize the world’s militaries. Examining the United States “Profession of Arms” is often service driven after major wars/campaigns as the force faced reductions in size, change of mission, or change of force structure such as post-WWII, Vietnam, the end of the draft, end of the cold war, and end of OIF/OEF. As an example, Charles C. Moskos examined the profession in 1977 with respect to the establishment of the all-volunteer force and whether it was deviating from a calling and transforming into an occupational model. Moskos’ primary concern was the occupationalization of a calling and the methods in which the military could adapt and re-invigorate the calling
The PoA white paper defines the Profession, more specifically, the Profession of Arms, by calling it “a vocation comprised of experts certified in the ethical application of land combat power, serving under civilian authority, entrusted to defend the Constitution and the rights and interests of the American people.” (U.S. Army Combined Arms Center. Center for the Army Profession and Ethic. United States. Army Training and Doctrine Command, 2010, p. 7). In order to belong to this exclusive organization, Soldiers must possess certain key attributes. This will help carry the Profession for years to come. In the Profession of Arms, Soldiers must be willing to embrace the four key attributes (Development, Expertise, Service, and Values). This is necessary in order to establish “trust,” the most important attribute to ensure the livelihood of the Army as an institution. Our profession, in order to exist, must absolutely establish trust, not only within its ranks, but also with the Soldiers’ families and with other civil institutions, something that should be front and center in the development of our future
The Human Resources Sergeant plays a vital role in the Army Profession of Arms. An Army professional must have various attributes of good character and leadership skills and the “Be, Know, Do” qualities to be called a profession at all. All leaders must embrace the challenge of balancing multiple responsibilities at once within their profession in order to accomplish any mission. As a United States Army Human Resources Sergeants, we must always consider the culture of the Army and its Profession as an important factor to mission accomplishment. Human Resources Sergeants are those who provide the services needed for admin functions which in turn fuel’s the Army Profession of Arms.
In the whitepaper “The Profession of Arms” page 2 (Unknown, 2010), it states that “professionals are actually servants”. This statement could not be any truer for any member of the Adjutant General Corps. Members of the Adjutant General Corps are professionals serving professionals. The Army as a whole are the professionals that serve and defend the people of the United States of America, and the Adjutant General Corps serves the Soldiers of the Army.
A Profession of Arms. It is a title that the United States Army currently holds. A Profession that is uniquely separates us based on the lethality of our weapons and operations. Many factors are involved that make what we do in the Army a Profession and not just a job or an occupation. To maintain this idea that what we do is a Profession takes understanding what a Profession is, a tenuous balance by leadership and the culture of the professionals within. As a Human Resource Sergeants, we do not carry the Arms that grant us our lethality, yet we still have a vital role within this Profession of Arms.
The second proponent in carrying out functions related to the Army Profession and Ethic is a web-based resource named CAPE (Center for the Army Profession and Ethic). CAPE is fairly similar to The Army White paper, in terms of topics. Subsequently, both publications provide an overview of the Profession of
While these three points are extensively discussed and dissected, it is apparent that the key factor that makes us professionals is the ethical standard that we must hold every individual soldier, from the lowest private to the highest general, to. One of the major points that are missing is what happens when the ethical standard is breeched and how it is dealt with.
The purpose of this document is to provide a standard for what the Army, as a profession of arms, should look like, in order to begin a discussion to see if the Army is achieving this standard. In doing so, the author defines the key attributes of a profession of arms, describes the Army’s professional culture, and discusses the Army Ethic.
Human Resources Sergeants are the leading contributor to the Ultimate goal of Readiness of the Force, while emulating the Army Professional Culture as leaders and providing the Army stability throughout our profession. What does the Profession of Arms mean? The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a Profession as “a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary online).
The Profession of Arms The Profession of Arms whitepaper was released on 8 December 2010 with the intent of “facilitating an Army-wide dialogue” regarding the current state and future of the profession. The document is divided into four main sections (Army Profession of Arms, Army Culture, Army Ethic, and Civil Military Relations) and ends with a conclusion that reflects upon the impact of being at war for a decade in both Iraq in Afghanistan. The goal of this paper is to exam and discuss the key points of each section. The first section focuses on providing a definition of what it means to be a Profession of Arms. The whitepaper offers four reasons why the Army is considered a profession, rather than a job or occupation: 1.
In the military, soldiers are the professional image civilians look up to when coming in contact with the Army branch. In the US Army, becoming a soldier and embracing this profession means living the Army values on a daily basis by ensuring that Loyalty, Honor, Personal Courage, Respect, Integrity, Selfless Service, and Duty, become part of a soldier’s character. However, not all soldiers have the same duty or responsibility in the military. In order to become victorious and accomplish the purpose of their profession, soldiers must continually learn how to work together as a team.
U.S. Army An Army White Pages: The Profession of Arms. TRADOC: Center for the Army Professional and Ethic, 2010.
According to TRACDOC commander General Robert Cone, it takes “years of hard work to reemphasize training and doctrine and years of individuals seeking to professionally improve themselves and the profession” to reach the desired end state of masters in the profession of arms.
What is a profession? First and foremost let’s look at how we can define a profession from a general point. A profession is an occupation requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation. Profession doesn’t mean only to be perfectly prepared on the basis of theoretical aspects, but to meet the strict criteria as well. A good professional should be a leader and leadership means solving problems. Leaders can be assessed according to the amount of resolved problems. Everybody has a tendency to be successful, in trying this; a successful leader has to be confident in his decisions. It follows from that, that generally we can consider the leader as an expert, a matured personality, somebody who meets the high