Understanding Military Culture

The Army’s Professional Culture. Although there are multiple cultures throughout the formation, the Soldiers shed their differences and unit for a single belief: the calling of selfless service for the nation. Simply, the culture is to be a family. Soldiers not only have their families, but also their brothers and sisters in arms to share and pull each other through the darkest and happiest of times. Furthermore, climate complements culture. A Soldier must never feel like the Army is more of a job than a calling. Without selfless service, the formation loses its identity. Even if there are outliers in the formation, the Army reminds those individuals of their expected behavior through the Warrior Ethos. Additionally, an engaged leadership can mitigate a degrading climate.

Army leaders must balance the link between the Army’s culture and it’s climate and institutional practices. When there is a proper balance it has a huge impact on the mindset of the Army’s Soldiers. Their actions or inactions impacts the five key attributes of the profession, and the four fields of expertise, and have long term effects on the Army’s culture and climate. These actions influence Soldiers’ perceptions that they are serving professional who have answered the call of service to the republic, it is important that Soldiers understand that their role is a calling and not just a job.

This start with artifacts, which make up the base level of what a Soldier is. (CG TRADOC, 2010, p.10) These artifacts then feed into the beliefs and values of the organization. If artifacts and values to not line up there will be an undermining of the authority within the organization. The next piece in the defining what it means to be a professional Soldier falls into three cultural dimensions; the personal identity, the community, and the hierarchy. (CG TRADOC, 2010, p.10-11) These three domains of culture do not always fall directly in line and do change over time. It a leader’s job to shape the interaction between them. This shaping is most evident in times of change when the largest schism between the three dimensions is likely to

One subculture within the United States is that of the US Army. The Army defends the nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is an exclusive group since not everyone in the country serves in the Army.

The culture for those who come from the military is highly disciplined and has an emphasis accomplishing goals for the larger group. Veterans witness a low “work ethic and see people squander away their opportunity” creating a difference in the culture between ex-military and civilian populations in daily life (Rodriguez, Ricardo, 2016:Personal Interview). The experience for Ricardo, a

Through investigation of Lee’s, “Warfare and Culture in World History”, Chapter 9, titled “The American Culture of War in the Age of Artificial War (Adrian Lewis), one can learn the transformation of the American culture through a military perspective. This chapter provides readers with an in depth look into the traditional culture of war and how it transforms into a more advanced, refined, futuristic culture. We learn how the psychology, sociology, beliefs, concerns, approaches, and connections to the community are all altered through the change in culture. It is explained that despite the

Furthermore, the author defines three levels of Army Culture. First, artifacts, which lie at the surface to include all the tangible phenomena that soldiers see, hear and feel when operating in an Army unit. Second, espoused beliefs and values, which are what the Army says is important by its published doctrines, regulations and other policy statements. And lastly, basic underlying assumptions, which is the deepest level of the Army culture that include three dynamic major cultural dimensions: professional identity, community and

The best way to exemplify the Army’s Professional Culture is the Warrior Ethos; “I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, I will never leave a fallen comrade.” (CG TRADOC, 2010, p.15). The operating environment is always changing but what sets the Army apart is how we adapt to these changes. Striving for excellence in every aspect is what sets us apart from the rest. Culture in the Army has three levels; Artifacts, Espoused Beliefs and Values, and Basic Underlying Assumptions.

The United States army started in 1775 with only a group of volunteer fighters who opposed against the rule and the oppression of the British. (Hogan 2005) The U.S army is still an all-volunteer fighting force today defending and defeating enemy threats to the United States. Since the creation of the U.S army it has built on tradition and honor for its country and willing to defend the constitution for more than two and a half century. Learning the culture of the United States Army will help give people an understanding of the people who serve in the army as well as learn what shaped the army today.

Remember that culture is the way things are done at a certain place and it derives mostly from the ethics, and priorities that an organization sets. We also examined the chain of command within the Army. There are chains of command in every workplace but the Army’s is a very complicated system and it allows everybody to know their roles within the organization, it also allows people to advance which boosts morale and self-esteem. This paper also informed about the Operations Process which is the way that decisions and missions are carried out within the Army. Remember that there are four parts of the Ops Process that can be applied to any task in our daily lives; Plan, Prepare, Execute and Assess. In conclusion, even though people may not think of America’s soldiers as managers, they are. They are managers because from day one they are forced into leadership roles and they are taught these management processes. The Army requires Specialists and Corporals to complete 80 hours of training, called Structured Self Development (SSD), in order to be eligible for promotion to Sergeant. The training teaches the Army culture, management styles, Army regulations and more. It is very important to teach all workers at every level, how to effectively manage and lead because eventually they will be the ones making the calls and tough

The American Army 's history, composition, and structure predisposed the leadership to a rigid fixation on conventional warfare. In contrast to the British army-as-force-projection model, the American Army found its first task a matter of national survival. This historical trend - the continued perception of the Army fighting a war of annihilation - helped in many ways to keep the Army purely focused on its military objectives. Unconditional surrender was the name of the game, and smaller political goals were seen at best as derivative to, and at worst, preventative of the fabled 'total victory '. The varied composition of personnel which make up the US army also ensured a degree of formality, and a deference to rank. The structure, born of open-combat wars at large scale, was constituted around large divisions, which often rotated officers and manpower in and out. In short, everything within the Army was organized -rigidly- around the principle of a large scale conventional war. What worked against the Germans would work against the Russians.

There are many traditions that have been established over the long history of the military services. These many traditions can be broken into numerous customs and courtesies. A custom is a way of acting in a manner that has been continued constantly over a long period of time. It is almost like a law. A courtesy is a way of displaying good manners and politeness when dealing with other people. Military courtesy conveys respect both up and down the chain of command.

As stewards of our profession, commanders ensure that military expertise continues to develop and be passed on to aspiring professionals through operational development. It is during this developmental phase that Professional Soldiers put their knowledge and skills to the test. Operational Army units certify and recertify their Professional Soldiers through repetitive and realistic training events including the Combat Life Saver Course, platoon live fires, and exercises at the National Training Center. In the course of these challenging and realistic experiences, the Army’s operational units develop Soldiers and leaders prepared to maintain high standards, discipline, and operational readiness. Operational development and adaptability will continue to drive changes in Army doctrine, organization, leadership, and education as we enter the post-war era. Without this kind of development, the Army could not maintain a well-disciplined professional fighting force.

Culture of a nation is manifested and influenced by a number of factors. National psyche and traits being the most pronounced ones. Military culture , to a certain extent , is in harmony with the national culture, however, it has its own impulses and dynamics. It incorporates obedience that curtails individual freedom or at times it may be at tangent with the socio-cultural values of a society ; Military culture of British – Indian Army ,as inherited by us is a case in point here. Philosophy of our present military outlets draws strength from history , organisational infrastructure , uniform , traditions social moorings and a host of other factors which , despite numerous changes , is still undergoing the process of evolution.

Military Discipline is a state of order and obedience existing within a command. Self discipline in the military is where soldiers do the 4 rights without being told, even in the absence of the commander. Discipline is created within a unit by instilling a sense of confidence and responsibility in each individual. To strengthen discipline, senior leaders need to give praise to their subordinates, either individually or as a whole, for tasks done well. By doing this, it will accomplish every commanders goal of having a unit that functions well and builds a bond which binds together the team. Everything in life requires some sort of discipline. Whether it is hitting a baseball, learning to sew , playing a musical instrument, making good