Recent anti-Bush, anti-war editorials have prompted me to revisit my Army values. Here are my thoughts:
Loyalty: I am proud of my president. He is my commander and I will stand by him.
Duty: I will take pride in my profession as a soldier. I will not allow public opinion, mounting casualty reports or dissenting family and friends to deter me.
Respect: I will cherish the rights of the free press. Whether I agree or disagree, therein lies my right to speak and be heard.
Selfless service: My country is worth dying for. And so it is also worth living for.
Honor: I will remember that a cowardly life is a life half-lived, that character and reputation are the best promotion and highest reward.
Integrity: I must always aspire to be better than I am, constantly narrowing the gap between belief and action.
Personal courage: By God’s grace, I will never forget that without moral and physical courage, I cannot live out the other Army values.
While others may wring their hands in doubt and despair, we as soldiers cannot. They can sit in the stands as spectators “row upon row.” We do not have that luxury as we must enter the arena and “face the bull” every day. Army values help us to do that in some very practical ways.
Chaplain (Maj.) Don Zapsic
Camp Liberty, Iraq
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=31736