This article will not focus on the definition of profession. The United States Army is about more than words: it's about action. The action of over 238 years of tradition and service. The Army is a profession. A profession requires its members to undergo extensive training and learn specialized skills. Those who practice a profession must commit themselves and their skills to a vocation entrusted to them by the public. A profession provides its members with intrinsic value that motivates beyond financial gain. The Army is a higher calling that requires all of these qualities and more. The Army requires its members to adhere to extensive training and learn specialized skills. From the moment a soldier transitions from the civilian sector to the military, he or she is indoctrinated with training. Regardless of rank, the Army requires each Soldier to be technically proficient and mentally competent to be qualified in their respective military occupation specialty. As a soldier advances in his military career, he is required to continue his education and training. Army leaders are expected and required to continue to develop their capabilities through academic study, operational experience and institutional training. An opposing view holds that anyone can learn these skills; however, statistics show that less than 0.5% of the population serves in the armed forces, indicating that a soldier is a rare mix of intelligence and character.1 These lessons are necessary qualifications to achieve what General Martin Dempsey describes as “ effectiveness rather than efficiency”. 2 Just as the profession of medicine must provide healing, the media must provide truth, and the law must provide justice, the profession of arms must provide security... middle of paper... bonds of the people it serves and continues to develop in the service of others. As a professional, a soldier lives these words through action. Bibliography Eikenberry, Karl and David Kennedy. “America and Its Military, Adrift,” The New York Times. (March 2013). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/opinion/americans-and-their-military-drifting-apart.html?_r=0 (accessed 9 FEB 14). Feickert, Andrew and Stephen Daggett. A historical perspective on “empty forces”. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, January 2012. Jones, Jeffrey. “List of nurses at the top of honesty and ethics for the 11th year.” Gallup Economy. (December 2010). http://www.gallup.com/poll/145043/nurses-top-honesty-ethics-list-11-year.aspx (accessed February 9, 2014). US Army. A White Paper on the Army: The Profession of Arms. West Point: Center for Military Profession and Ethics (CAPE), December 2010.