The Army Officers' Professional Ethic

<p>Colonel Matthew Moten of the West Point History Department has asked why so many other professions have clear statements of professional responsibility but the Army officer corps does not. This essay briefly surveys the history of the Army's professional ethic focusing primarily on the officer corps. It assesses today's strategic professional and ethical environment. Then it argues that a clear statement of the Army officers' professional ethic is especially necessary in a time when the Army is stretched and stressed as an institution. The Army officer corps has both a need and an opportunity to better define itself as a profession forthrightly to articulate its professional ethic and clearly to codify what it means to be a military professional. Finally the monograph articulates such an ethic focusing on the four roles of commissioned officers-Soldier servant of the nation leader of character and member of a time-honored profession.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p><br>