My Only Creed Up To This Day

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.

I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.

I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my Warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment, and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of Freedom and the American Way of Life.
I am an American Soldier.

So there you have it. This really is 99% of what I am right now and have been for 37 months so far. I say this creed today because today I am simply a soldier. Tomorrow, though, I stand before a promotion board to become a Non-Commissioned Officer. At that point I will live by an additional creed; the NCO Creed.

I say 99% because though I am a guardian of freedom and I understand the idealistic components of the theoretical "American Way of Life", too much in recent times have I hung my head in shame or bewilderment at what disgrace we broadcast to each other and the world as representation of our daily, de facto lives. And though I joined the Army to be part of a force of change in the world against movements to which I whole-heartedly object, I also realize that my greatest effects will be wrought in the hearts and minds of my children by the example I have tried to live, the philosophy behind my life, and the meaningfulness of our lives together.

So a creed should be something more than what we recite in Church, or before a promotion board. It should be the words that succinctly and powerfully sum up our raison d'etre. Today creeds have been supplanted by overstimulation and the ideal of immediate gratification, for what else drives our maniacally capitalistic society but the money of the shallow. No one ever made a dime from depth nor nobility.