Duty. Honor. Country. These words were chiseled in granite above me, printed on the diploma in my hands and engraved on my class ring. I had just completed a four year regimen that had been honed over 174 years to be difficult.
The year was 1976. I had just graduated from West Point. In return for four years of education, I owed the nation at least five years of Army service.
I became a “service member.” But like most of my peers, I wasn’t really thinking much about service. At age 21, I was more focused on the adventures ahead — of becoming a good officer and leading soldiers.
After 34 years in the U.S. military, I learned that Armies are built soldier-by-soldier, platoon-by-platoon. Like the bricks in a house, the soldiers in each unit contribute to a great military, just as the citizens of each neighborhood help determine whether the nation stands strong. Nothing is more important than developing in our citizens a sense of responsibility to each other — and to the nation.
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