The Professionals
Surveys show military officers score high for honesty and ethical standards—and military leaders top the list of public confidence in leaders of major institutions.
By Col. Warren S. Lacy, USA-Ret.

Periodically, we like to step back and take a fresh look at our profession of arms. Like most people and institutions, we tend to get wrapped up in day-to-day chores at the expense of the big picture. For MOAA, our focus usually is on pending legislation or other actions that affect members’ daily lives. But if you look at MOAA’s mission statement, you’ll see the words “dedicated to maintaining a strong national defense.” In this vein, MOAA has taken steps to enhance its role as the professional association for all military officers.
 
As we reported in past issues, last year MOAA added a new staff position to develop programs in the professionalism field. Already, we’ve reached out to staff colleges and senior service schools to recognize stellar performers. Also, in January 2005 MOAA was a sponsor for the Eisenhower and National Security for the 21st Century Symposium at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University. We’ll report on that event in a future issue.

February being black history month, we thought we’d examine how the military profession has changed over the years with regard to contributions by black servicemembers. Our story “Talking Race” (page 60) views the issue through the eyes of two father-son teams of military officers.

And speaking of military officers and professionalism, how are we doing in the eyes of the public? Two surveys help answer that question. The Gallup Organization’s annual survey on the honesty and ethical standards of professions (December 2004) found 72 percent of Americans rating the ethical standards of military officers as very high or high, up from 65 percent in 2002 (though the U.S. military’s successes

in Fallujah, Iraq, at about the time the poll was conducted might have helped improve the rating). Nurses (79 percent) and pharmacists (72 percent) joined military officers at the top. At the bottom of the list were car salesmen (7 percent), advertising practitioners (12 percent), and lawyers (16 percent).

The Harris Poll of confidence in leaders of major institutions (March 2004) found that “... confidence in our military leaders remains extraordinarily strong. Whether or not the war is viewed as justified, only a tiny minority of the public (7 percent) does not have confidence in our military leaders. The gap between our military leaders and those next on the list is huge. Fully 65 percent continue to trust our military leaders. Following are university and college leaders (37 percent) and leaders of medicine (32 percent).” Need we say more?