Profession Of Arms Essay

The Army White Paper, The Profession of Arms, provides an insight into what it means for the Army to be a Profession of Arms, what it means to be a professional Soldier, and how Soldiers individually and as a profession meet these aspirations after a decade of war. The Army is made up of numerous jobs that have multiple roles. One in particular is the Human Resource Sergeant. HR Sergeants are a profession of its own; they provide a broader framework for the Profession of Arms, balance the role of the Profession’s leaders, and are greatly influenced by the Army’s professional culture.

As the Army transitions from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, the organization is well served to take a long look in the mirror. After ten plus years of deployments, our combat tested warriors are sure to possess more than enough valuable knowledge to reinforce and improve upon our status as a profession. A TRADOC published paper explains “to be a professional is to understand, embrace, and competently practice the expertise of the profession.” I believe the profession of arms exists and there are many components that reinforce this argument. Among these components, initial entry training and institutional learning, shared values, and a monopoly on our mission are three of the most important tenants. All Soldiers must graduate

The question we must ask ourselves is what exactly the Profession of Arms is and what is our role as Human Resource Sergeants (HR Sergeants) what is it that we bring to the fight, what’s our contribution to the Army’s overall objective. As we emerge from years of war, from constant back to back deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, we find ourselves in an era of persistent conflicts where we find ourselves embroiled in conflicts all around the world. In a world that seems more dangerous today than it was yesterday it is important we remain vigilant and remain capable of fighting and winning our nations wars. We must never forget the ethics instilled upon us by the Army. We must hold fast to our Army Values to which our profession is

To the first question, what does it mean for the Army to be a Profession of Arms, there are several terms used to help define the link between the profession and the professional. Each set pulls one word for the Profession and ties it to the Professional; expertise-skill, trust-trust, development-leadership,

They also have to remain connected with the evolving needs of the professionals within. Leadership requires the ability to the exact state of personnel readiness at all times. Personnel readiness has to be at a constant maximum. When the Profession of Arms wants to have a sense of personnel readiness, it turns to it Adjutant General (AG) Corps. The AG Corps looks to its HR personnel to sustain the warfighting function. HR personnel are the keys to providing exceptional support to the Profession of Arms.

By using those values and principles, the Human Resources Sergeant must have to pass on the lessons, values, and culture to the new generations of Soldiers to create their identity, develop it into character, and to inspire them to be aspiring professionals that are capable of accomplishing any mission to protect the American people. The leader also needs to reinforce the ethics of the Profession of Arms with the intention of maintaining an effective and virtuous Army for the security of the nation. Other than that, an Army Human Resources Sergeant is someone who is passionate about making the lives of Army families better and comfortable as they respond to extreme transitions such as PCS, separations, and deployments. The Sergeant is capable of ensuring the Soldiers and their families’ transitions go smoother as they go through such separations from their loved ones. Sergeants in Human Resources first priority is to eliminate stress and foster a good quality of life for many Army families, provide them the health and financial benefits they deserve.

Human Resources Sergeants are the leading contributor to the Ultimate goal of Readiness of the Force, while emulating the Army Professional Culture as leaders and providing the Army stability throughout our profession. What does the Profession of Arms mean? The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a Profession as “a calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long and intensive academic preparation” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary online).

To understand whether the Army is a profession of arms, we must understand the term profession and what it takes to be a professional. “Professions use inspirational, intrinsic factors like the life-long pursuit of expert knowledge, the privilege and honor of service, camaraderie, and the status of membership in an ancient, honorable, and revered occupation. This is what motivates true professionals; it‘s why a profession like ours is

A Profession of Arms. It is a title that the United States Army currently holds. A Profession that is uniquely separates us based on the lethality of our weapons and operations. Many factors are involved that make what we do in the Army a Profession and not just a job or an occupation. To maintain this idea that what we do is a Profession takes understanding what a Profession is, a tenuous balance by leadership and the culture of the professionals within. As a Human Resource Sergeants, we do not carry the Arms that grant us our lethality, yet we still have a vital role within this Profession of Arms.

What does it mean to be a profession? A profession is an occupation that produces expert level work, whose professionals uphold that expert level work and continually strive to add efficiency and legitimacy to what they are practicing. You can’t have a profession without

According to the “Profession of Arms” handbook, the crucial five key attributes of the profession (organizational level) and the Army professional (individual level) are closely linked together and the goal is that once in the profession a soldier evolves into a true professional of this humble occupation. The first key attribute of the profession is Expertise that evolves into Skill. The second one is Trust. The third key attribute is Development that evolves into Leadership. From my personal experience, the Army shapes exceptional leaders through ongoing training and advancement opportunities within the organization. The fourth element consists of the army values that shapes the character of the soldiers. And last but not least, the service which evolves into the intrinsic duty that a true soldier fells to serve and defend his/her country (The Profession of Arms,

In this paper, I will explore our building blocks in becoming Army professionals by looking and understanding our history and traditions, our impact in the profession as HR and the HR role in leadership development. We must be able

The Human Resource Sergeant’s Role in the Army Profession is to take care of our organization in preparing us for what is taking place now and what the future holds. As we quote the creed in stating, “I am an expert, and I am a professional”, we should be experts in our roles and carry out those roles as professionals. We are to take care of soldiers just the way we expect our leaders and counterparts to take care of us in their delegated professions. We play an integral part in everyday tasks and assignments. Similar to NCOs we are the “Backbone” of our organization.

The Army is a profession because it requires a collaboration of highly training Soldiers who possess specialized skills that combine to operate in complex situations in more complex environments. General Martin Dempsey stated that “The Profession of Arms requires expert knowledge, and that expertise is manifested as unique skills in the individual professional and by Army units.” For the purpose of this paper the operational definition of the term profession is: a type of job that requires special education training, or skill. In order to meet and maintain the demands of this definition, The Army has established the Army Development Model which consists of institutions, operational training, and self-development to create highly skilled service members.

Professional soldiers differ from the ordinary citizen particularly in psychological and personal characteristics and qualities. A soldier professional does not want a war, but he wants to be prepared for the worst possible variant of development. We can say that working in the armed forces is characterized by several attributes. I think the expert work, self-improvement, ethics, fulltime commitment and discipline are the most important ones. The expert work comes out from the requirements for controlling highly specialized equipment and procedures that occur only under the conditions of the armed forces. For example, an engineer knows the procedures for mine-clearing, building floating bridges, command and controlling submarines, fire control of air defense systems, logistic equipment transfers and many others. All of these activities call for a maximal professional approach and adherence to precisely specified procedures, which can be achieved only by professionals with many years of experience. So, to move forward and improve our professionalism it is very important to consider self-improvement. In my opinion, learning from experienced master soldiers, be active in self learning and have good motivation are the right ways to succeed. A profession of arms can be, and it certainly is, a dangerous way to meet our life necessities. It would be quite ridiculous if somebody stated he worked for armed forces only for loyalty to the