(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] The Army profession
is a trusted and disciplined vocation
serving under civilian authority
to defend the Constitution
and the American people.
We provide a unique and vital service to society
by developing and applying expert knowledge
in the field of land power.
- When the Army demonstrates
the essential characteristics of trust,
honorable service, military expertise,
esprit de corps and stewardship,
it builds trust with the American people
and our civilian leaders,
that we're performing our mission in the right way.
- [Narrator] Our relationship with the American people
is built on a foundation of trust.
Continuously reinforced
as we contribute honorable service,
demonstrate military expertise,
provide faithful stewardship
and exhibit courageous esprit de corps.
These are the essential characteristics
of the Army profession.
Trust is the bedrock of our profession.
External trust is the confidence and faith
the American people have in the Army
to serve the Nation in the right way,
ethically, effectively and efficiently.
- The American people depend on
the Army to win its nations wars.
- They see an American soldier
and they have an expectation.
And it's our job to live up to it.
- We take an oath.
That oath is to again,
to protect the Constitution
of the United States
whether you're in uniform
or a civilian.
- Stressing the Army profession externally
is about letting the public know
that we're gonna take the trust that you
put in us and placed in us
and freely give to us
and use it wisely.
And employ it
to not only make the Army better
but realistically to make our nation better
and make America better.
- [Narrator] Internal trust,
within the Army,
is reliance on the character,
competence and commitment of Army professionals
to live by and uphold the Army ethic.
- People want to follow people with character.
Do things right every single day
even when people aren't looking.
Competence is what people look for
and strive to be,
it's what subordinates emulate
in their seniors and superiors.
And commitment,
everybody will follow somebody that
wants to drive to the end and get the mission done.
- If you don't have a profession,
you don't have leaders of character
then you're not gonna be able to exercise
mission command
and fundamentally you can't war fight
if you don't have it.
- We have this trust
that leaders will exploit the initiative.
That because they understand the mission
given to them,
that they can direct lead and assess
and assume some risk
allows soldiers to figure it out on their own.
- The greatest way I can build trust
is to be honest in words and deed.
If I tell em,
PT is important
they expect to see me outside
the next day doing PT.
- We are a family,
we are a team.
You will learn to
trust and count on people.
And people are going to learn to
trust and count on you.
- Honorable service
is support and defense of the Constitution,
the American people
and the national interest
in a manner consistent with the Army ethic.
- Honorable service
starts from the time you take an oath
to join the military.
- We exist to serve
the interests of the American people,
to support and defend the Constitution.
- Honorable service is
doing the right thing
even when no one is watching.
Doing what needs to be done
without necessarily having to be
asked or told.
Seeing what needs to be done
and actually doing it.
- [Narrator] Military expertise
is the ethical design, generation,
support and application of land power.
- It is understanding our professional body of knowledge,
our doctrine which is our professional body of knowledge.
It's being able to execute the tasks that
the nation expects us to be able to execute.
So to have an effective team in combat
you've got to have competent leaders,
you gotta have competent soldiers,
you gotta have competent units.
- We develop military expertise
through a very old time tested routine
and that's practice.
Readiness is one of our main responsibilities
and the Chief of Staff of the Army's
number one priority for us.
In order to be ready,
you have to practice those things
that you want to best.
The best units we have in the Army
do the simple things very well.
And that's because they exercise those tasks
that are critical for their survival
on the battlefield
and a means for them to win
the nation's wars.
- It starts with the Soldiers Creed.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
With what we do we have to be
experts at our job because
when we're out on the battlefield,
that's where it all comes to fruition.
- [Narrator] Esprit de corps
is the Army's winning spirit,
a collective ethos of camaraderie and cohesion
within the team.
It is embedded in the Army culture of trust
and sustained by leaders at every level.
- Esprit de corps is
more than the unit tshirt
that you wear for a run.
Esprit de corps
means belonging to something bigger than yourself.
- It's a sense of belonging,
a sense of pride
with your fellow soldiers
in your ranks.
And so it helps to complete the mission everyday.
- Building esprit de corps
into formations is an absolute
combat multiplier.
And when the chips are down
and the stuff gets tough,
units, formations, teams strive
to have a very strong sense of cohesion
throughout history have always performed
magnificently on the battlefield.
- At the end of the day
in front of adversity, conflict, disaster, chaos,
there's a semblance of calm
that esprit de corps establishes.
You're not alone,
you're going through this as a collective,
not as an individual.
The outcome is greater than yourselves.
- [Narrator] Stewardship is the responsibility
of Army professionals
to strengthen the Army as a profession
and to care for the people and other resources
entrusted to them by the American people.
- Now as a senior leader in the Army
I have a responsibility
for stewardship of the Army,
not only today but for the long term.
So are we investing in our junior leaders?
Are we making the right investment
in equipment and doctrine and concepts
and all those things for the future.
- And also for stewardship of our
monetary resources.
Our American public needs to know
that we are doing everything we can
to make sure that
all those resources that are invested in us
are spent wisely
and are those capabilities that we really need
to take care of those that are relying on us.
- But stewardship of the Army profession
is much bigger than stewardship of resources.
Leaders must mentor and train
soldiers and Army civilians
to have these same set of values,
to be ready to be the future leaders
of our profession
and to carry it forward into the next generation.
- A lot of times we tend to
relate stewardship to money and finances
but in this profession its also about
being a good steward
of the lives that are entrusted to us
so whether it's someone's son or daughter,
or their mom or dad or sister or brother,
that life is precious
to those individuals.
So it's incumbent upon us as leaders
to be good stewards of those lives
that are entrusted to us.
- [Narrator] We are not a profession
merely because we say so.
Consistent demonstration
of the essential characteristics
establishes and strengthens the Army
as a trusted military profession.
- The Chair of the Joint Chiefs once said,
"we're professionals,
not because we say we are,
but because of how we serve".
And so what I took away from that,
we can say we're professionals
all day long but people can observe us,
how we serve, how we conduct ourselves.
And so having these principles,
having a basic ethic that we live by,
really solidifies that term of being a professional.
It's not just what we say we are.
It's how we act and how we live and how we serve.
- Make no doubt
that the United States military
is the most lethal force on the planet.
But what you get
when the United States Army shows up in your country,
you're not just getting a lethal force.
You're getting a force that has been trained
with ethical standards and discipline.
It has values that we embrace
and we live by
and we're here to do
what is right.
- [Narrator] Whether it's in the honorable service
of generations of battle tried heroes,
the expertise of our soldiers and civilians,
the esprit de corps of storied units
or the stewardship of senior leaders,
the Army builds trust as a profession
by accomplishing the mission
in the right way
both for today and for tomorrow.
The Army exists as a profession
for one reason,
to serve the nation
by supporting and defending the Constitution
in a way that upholds the rights and interests
of the American people.
Regardless of component or cohort,
we share an identity as trusted Army professionals
with character, competence and commitment.
We are Army Strong.