“You are always on parade”, but are people always watching? Every member of our great organization is the face of our Army, and it’s on each individual to uphold our standards and represent well our profession. Whether we like it or not, we evolve in a separate culture with its own genres and rules. A civilian will probably make no difference between two service members in uniform, hell he or she will even presumably call them all soldiers. If we, future officers, don’t portrait ourselves as leaders to the public, it may cause serious harm down the road.

Indeed, as the public is looking up to us for their safety, our soldiers are looking at officers for inherently three vague concepts: motivation, direction, and purpose. However, I  believe there is more. We are in the business of people. Yes, insert the three above ideas and you will probably get to where you want to go the way you want it to be. Nevertheless, as we grow, hierarchically and mentally,  as officers to become better leaders, it is crucial not to forget about the ones that made it possible. I said it before to junior enlisted and younger cadets, my biggest prid would be one day to salute them and call them “sir” or “ma’am”. Since I don’t want this post to turn into a compilation of citations, I will only illustrate my point using a short line from Napoleon: “The Art of Governance is to not let people age in their current position”. Army officers lead into battles but should also pave the way for their subordinates future.