Profession in Arms

“I Am an Expert and I Am a Professional!” is a chant that is regularly heard in the army on daily basis. But what does it mean to be a professional? All this is embedded in the Army’s creeds, codes, values, ethos, and culture. An Army leader must embody these principles and understand that these attributes not only characterize the American Soldier but are the foundation for maintaining the Army as a profession of arms. According to “The Army White Paper, The Profession of Arms,” The Army has been successful in keeping the high regard and sacred trust of the American people, as the military, over the past decade of campaigns and conflicts of war, has upheld the most important attribute of trust to be a profession.

The Human Resources Sergeant in the Army profession, on the other hand, reinforces the Army’s vision which enhances that Soldiers and readiness are the focus of each one of them. Embodied throughout the human resources, support doctrines are a depiction of how human resources sergeants contribute to current and future forces operations and how as human resources professionals, organizations, and systems play a critical role in support of the total Force (FM1.0). The Human Resource Sergeants assess, weigh, plan and execute the overall mission of the Army to ensure constant support and readiness. The article, “The Army White Paper, The Profession of Arms”, speaks of the required key attributes and characteristics of a profession of arms; expertise skill, trust, development, leadership, values, services, and duty. The human resource sergeant uses a competency-based and performance-oriented strategy guided by six human resource enduring principles to select the best. These principles include anticipation, accuracy, timeliness, integration The Human Resources Sergeant as well does synchronization, and enhances responsiveness that assure a higher quality, more diverse and ready Total Army (FM 1-0). These competencies are aligned with the responsibilities, knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to fulfill mission requirements as well define the Army as a Profession of Arms.

The Army profession requires high levels of organization and expertise for Soldiers to succeed in their missions. In light of this vital aspect, human resources sergeants undertake work synchronization by aligning human resource support operations with operational, tactical, and strategic military operations in space, time and purpose. This helps in ensuring optimal relative readiness and operational capabilities at a decisive time and place. The Sergeants play a critical role in creating an environment that is conducive for socialization which goes along with education and training. In line with human development expertise, it helps the Soldier to develop effective present and future stewards of the profession in conclusion, FM 1-0, 1-7 states the focus of human resources operations is, “meeting the goal of providing efficient and effective human resource support relies on multi-functional human resource leaders who focus their knowledge and skills in support of the Army’s most important asset—its people.”

References

AR 25-50, Preparing and Managing Correspondence.

cAG Effective Writing Handbook

FM 1-0, Human Resources Support

The Role of the Human Resources Sergeant in the Army Profession 4 US, Department of the Army. An Army White Paper, The Profession of Arms. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. 8 December 2010.