Essay On Army Profession

The Profession of Arms

The United States Army is a Profession of Arms, or a group of professionals united by common beliefs mastering skills to best accomplish the mission at hand. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary a profession is “a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill.” (Merriam-Webster). To understand the Army as a Profession of Arms you also need to understand why we consider ourselves professionals. According to the Profession of Arms white paper “professions produce uniquely expert work, not routine or repetitive work” (Dempsey, 2010). Today’s Soldiers learn and develop skills through years of training, from infantryman training in combat operations to the human resources specialists being proficient in personnel and administrative actions. Soldiers of all ranks become professionals in the career field they select to help them best serve in their selected profession. By becoming skilled in our trades we can best serve the Soldiers around us, the needs of the Army and the people of the United States.

Now for the first time after over a decade of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan we are seeing the number of deployments dwindle. As we transition back to a Garrison Army: skills such as drill and ceremony, which were labeled as not important during a time of deployments, are now relevant again. As leaders in today military we need to re-emphasize these skills to all Soldiers. Drill and ceremonies, customs and courtesies, and our military history are all task the set us apart as a profession. As leaders it’s up to us to train, educated, and instill this knowledge and skill in our future leaders as our leaders did for us, while ensuring we are maintaining tactical proficiency in our skills thus balancing our