US ARMY QUARTERMASTER CENTER & SCHOOL Historical Vignettes

"D" IS FOR DUTY

The history of the U.S. Army is full of examples of soldiers who, in the face of unbelievable odds, when it seemed all might be lost, managed to carry on nonetheless – out of a sheer sense of DUTY. Whether it was because they felt the call of patriotism. Or an attachment to the unit. Or to their fellow-soldiers.

If you were to ask a bona fide war "hero" why he or she did what they did, they’d probably have a hard time explaining it. There’s a good chance they’d say: "I don’t know about being a hero. I was just trying to ‘do my duty.’"

At the end of World War II, many in the country and in the press hailed the Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, as a national hero. He didn’t quite see it that way. His response was: "I’m just a Kansas farm boy who did his duty."

GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR., another acclaimed hero from World War II, also believed strongly in the importance of doing one’s duty. "If I do my full duty," he said, "the rest will take care of itself."

"Do your duty in all things," the Confederate GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE is said to have advised his son. "You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less."

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DUTY IS A SENSE OF OBLIGATION. That means in the military you don’t always get to do what you want to do. Often it’s what you have to do. Or feel you should do, or must do.

CAN YOU THINK OF ANY EXAMPLES OF HOW YOU, AND THOSE AROUND YOU, ARE CALLED TO DUTY ON A DAILY BASIS?

IS THERE STILL A PLACE FOR "DUTY" IN OUR HIERARCHY OF VALUES IN THIS MODERN DAY AND AGE?

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