Army Professionalism: There are things to work on

By Rev. Jim Purcell

When I was a soldier, and my father, cousins and uncles before me, there was a spoken and unspoken rule in the service that 'Thou shalt not be fat,' among other things.

Why? Why such a rule?

Because good soldiers have not been, historically speaking, chubby. Being a fat soldier in the employ of someone as a soldier immediately informs the world of some things: 1. Whomever is hiring the fat soldier has made a mistake, is blind or has no idea how to staff an army; 2. The army the fat person belongs to is not keen on readiness, ergo it can afford to have fat people milling about; 3. Fat people are known to be lethargic, plagued with health problems and most are lazy; and 4. Good soldiers are not fat, so the fat soldier we are discussing is not a very good soldier.

When someone is a civilian, it would be mean-spirited to bring up the role of physical conditioning in someone's personal regimen. However, there is nothing in civilian life, including policing, that is very close to be a professional soldier in the nation's employ.

Soldiers historically have pressed uniforms, shined boots and brass to perfection and have done this not only because it is their duty but to demonstrate to the world they are sharp soldiers. This is a hallmark of their professionalism. Well, that is not done anymore.

The bayonet is gone. In the history of the U.S. Army Infantry, though, the bayonet was far more than just another appliance of war. It was a unifying theme to units. "The Bayonet" reflected a unit's determination, up to actual use of bayonets, to stand no matter what. No matter what comes, there they will stand. And, while that whole concept might fly over the head of a civilian as fast as a jet aircraft, the Spirit of the Bayonet was an appliance of war much more useful than actual bayonets ever were.

I have heard the excuse, "Well, this is a wartime army and they are not concerned with weight, or old ideas of professionalism and the trappings of armies in the past." Well, I will name a few other armies that had lost their want of the professional trappings of soldiery before their states waned: Rome, to the Visagoths; England in the time of Henry VI, when the king lost France; Napoleon, in Russia, when he simply poured recruits into French uniforms and bothered with only the most basic of training; and the list goes on and on. The firs thing great nations lose when they are on the decline is their military professionalism.

And what of today? There is more heinous UCMJ offenses today than I have ever seen before. Soldiers are less physically able than ever before, at least in the Army. Standards are lax and there are many "special units" formed that do not amount to the performance of traditional Army units before the great flood of non-professionalism in the administration of that failed Caesar George Bush.

What is the thing to do? Well, I do not know about the weighty issues of the military today. However, I think I speak with some experience and authority when I say: 1. If someone is fat and in the military they should be chaptered out; 2. Standards of personnel appearance should be reinstated immediately; and 3. Standards of personal conduct should be immediately improved. Of course, all of this happens in training. It is the lack of adequate training that is the scourge of an army. In chaos and poor training, an army is reduced to something less than admirable.

Standards. The military is eating precious dollars today that are being diverted from the people of this republic to them. The very least they could do is demonstrate the standards of their fathers, and imposing American armies of the past.

Eliminate the age of  so-called "operators" and return emphasis not to the 'very special' and back to intensive training of the mainline battle lions (battalions) of our Army and things will get better.

I would not ever say anything negative of our troops, as they are the best in the world. However, I believe there is room for improvement, as there is in every endeavor of life -- some more than others.

(Rev. Jim Purcell is a former U.S. Army Paratrooper who garnered the rank of Sergeant before being honorably discharged from the U.S. Army, where he served in several Airborne assignments, as well as Light Infantry and Bradley missions between 1983-1991. He later continued service in the Reserves, where he served as a Military Police Officer briefly.)