"...through all this welter of change and development your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable. It is to win our wars. Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purpose, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishments; but you are the ones who are trained to fight. Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country..."
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Farewell Speech to the Corps of Cadets, West Point 12 May 62
The Mad Duo have added a new section to their 'Spoor Pit', where they archive articles of professional interest. The new one is called Warfighting and the Profession of Arms. The other two sections right now are one about Rhodesian Military History and one for Officer Safety (for LEOs, though other lessons can no doubt be learned there).
Unknown photographer's shot of a tattoo of a warrior's ethos.
"The noble profession of arms is exactly that - Noble. The military of the United States is not so slowly evolving into a warrior caste wherein just a fraction of the population serve to protect the rest. They are, particularly in the combat arms, a misunderstood sub-culture ever more out of touch with the citizenry they are sworn to protect...frequently mocked as knuckle-draggers, often accused to be comprised of those 'who had no other option than the military in life', they are in fact the most educated and well trained military in the history of the world...and the best of them are in a very real sense Warrior Scholars who can easily vie with their academic analogues from 'civilian' educational institutions in virtually in any form of intellectual endeavor. It is not surprising, then, that the younger generations of Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine and Coast Guardsman are so often voracious learners...nor is it surprising that so many potential lessons, so often paid for with blood, are ignored by the very institutions these men and women serve. "
Richard Kilgore, 29 MAR 11
