Warrior Ethos
As an aspiring Army leader, I have been taught a multitude of leadership traits, such as respect, integrity and personal courage. However, the one that stands out the most to me is honor. Honor at school might mean never cheating on an exam or always doing what you say you are going to do. In the Army, honor is all of that and then a lot more. We take honor to the next level, the battlefield, where a M4 makes a bigger difference than a 4.0. In the field of battle a soldier has to live to a certain standard in every part of their life. We are trained to be warriors. As such we have a code, a set of ethos to live by, to guide our lives, on and off the field. Mission first, never accept defeat, never quit, never leave a fallen comrade, these are the guidelines by which each and every Army soldier lives by. To better describe this set of ethos I have chosen to pull scenes from the movie “Men of Honor”. As a forewarning, this movie has one big flaw, it’s about the Navy. However, I’ve gotten past that and can now see how the Army works through every branch. One case were Navy man Carl Brashear exhorts one of the warrior ethos is right in the beginning. Brashear joined the Navy and wanted to become a Navy Diver. He had one problem, he was African-American. At that point in time there had never been a person of color admitted into diving school. Boatswain’s mate Brashear had sent in over 100 letters to get admission over the course of 2 years. He was finally allowed to enter diving school in 1950. In my eyes this is a great example of never accepting defeat. Brashear could have easily accepted the fact that a man of color had never been admitted to diving school and remained a cook. But he chose to disregard what the world was telling him. Army Values demonstrated: respect, honor, integrity, personal courage. Another demonstration of warrior ethos given by Boatswain’s mate Brashear was a classic example of never leave a fallen comrade. During a
Citations: "Pioneering Navy diver Carl Brashear dies in Portsmouth", The Virginian-Pilot (July 26, 2006), p. A1. Retrieved on 22 Oct 2008. Archived from the original on 2007-11-02. U.S. Navy profile, NHC, 2001. "Oral History of Master Chief Boatswain 's Mate Carl M. Brashear, USN (Ret.)". U.S. Naval Institute (17 November 1989). Retrieved on 22 Oct 2008. "Transcript of Service". U.S. Navy profile. Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2008. Forster, Dave (2006-07-30). "Navy pioneer 's life, career led by determination", The Virginian-Pilot, pp. A1, A10. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2008. Wiltrout, Kate (2008-09-19). "Navy Ship Named For Diving Pioneer", The Virginian Pilot, pp. Hampton Roads 1-2. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2008. Warrior Ethos: Man of Honor c/CPL Fedewa, Steve 23 October 2008 MS II