Guest Blogger 1LT Jason Nunn: What It Means to be a Soldier - Blog Entry 2

(Jason Nunn, a Northwood High School and Greensboro College graduate, will be a guest blogger in honor of Veterans Day.  He is a First Lieutenant in the United States Army and is currently stationed in Iraq.  We've asked him to give our Hot Topics Blog readers a first-hand account of his experience as the American Armed Forces wind down their mission in Iraq.  Our hope is for social studies classes to participate by asking him questions to help them make a real-life connection to history and current events.)

 To me being a soldier means living the seven core Army values (LDRSHIP). These are the first set of rules that all soldiers learn.  Everything that you do in the Army is somehow tied to these set values, and we are evaluated on each value.  I personally am a believer that you cannot have one without the others.  For example:  If you do not have personal courage you cannot have loyalty, and so on.  All of these values are exuberated individually and as a unit or team.  I know that every day I work alongside soldiers who share these values and that makes us a great team at the end of the day.  Overall, I guess that at the end of the day the Army and being a soldier are not that hard; you only have to live by seven simple values.



Loyalty
Loyalty is the faithful adherence to a person, unit or Army.  It is the thread that binds our actions together and causes us to support each other, our superiors, our family and our country.

Duty
Duty is the legal or moral obligation to accomplish all assigned or implied tasks to the fullest of your ability.  Every soldier must do what needs to be done without having to be told to do it.

Respect
Respect is treating others with consideration and honor.  It is the ability to accept and value other individuals.

Selfless Service
Selfless service is placing your duty before your personal desires.  It is the ability to endure hardships and insurmountable odds because of love of fellow soldiers and our country.

Honor
Honor is living up to the Army Values.  Maintaining respect, consideration, integrity, honesty and nobleness will ensure that you and your military organization will reflect great honor for your fellow soldier, the nation, state and local community.

Integrity
Integrity means to firmly adhere to a code of moral and ethical principles. Every soldier must possess high personal moral standards and be honest in word and deed.

Personal Courage
Physical courage is overcoming fears of bodily harm while performing your duty.  Moral courage is overcoming fears of other than bodily harm while doing what is right, even if unpopular.