Army needs a new can-do motto

Recently, a member of our church received an urgent letter from his son-in-law, who is assigned to the Army's 17th Signal Battalion in Kitzingen, Germany, but is in Iraq. He is assigned to Forward Operating Base Speicher. In his letter, he requested a care package of hygiene products, hard candies and beef jerky. I offered to write to the command group at Fort Gordon to see if we could put these urgently needed and required items in with equipment shipments to Iraq.

The delayed response that I received back implied that any packages shipped to Iraq from Fort Gordon could end up in a warehouse and most likely would never get to the intended. Furthermore, it was suggested that we pass the collection plate and take up a love offering, and mail the packages. First of all, how many forward operating bases named Speicher are there in Iraq? Secondly, the post offices in foreign countries are operated by military supply technicians and Navy storekeepers. Duh.

Prior to 2001, the Army's slogan/motto was "Be all that you can be." The implications were very effective and led everyone to engender "all for one and one for all." ... Now the Army's motto is "An Army of one." The then-secretary of the Army who created this new motto failed to realize that "one" means a single, solitary, lone individual, separate, and, for one person. Where is the camaraderie? Where is the esprit de corps? ...

I propose that the Army come up with a new motto that indicates teamwork: "United we stand, proudly we serve." The church did pass the collection plate to pay for the shipment of our care package to the soldiers in Iraq. The $350 it cost to mail our eight care packages could have been provided to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. ...

David G. Edmiston Sr., Grovetown