Marching Orders Volume Two: Values

Book excerpt: This is Volume Two of Marching Orders, which like the original, is a book of devotionals intended for use by members of the Reserve Components of the United States Armed Forces attending Annual Training. As I said in the introduction to Volume One, Annual Training is a unique experience which can only really be understood by someone who has "been there and done that,” and, as a retired Army National Guard Chaplain I think that I qualify on that account. The purpose of this book is simple: to provide daily devotionals from the Christian Bible for troops attending Annual Training. Depending on the Reserve Component one is assigned to and the location where it is conducted, an Annual Training period can be 14, 15, or 17 days long. Reserve Component units that train overseas can be on duty for as much as 21 days. To split the difference, this book provides 17 days of devotionals. Our focus in Marching Orders Volume Two is our values as Christian members of the Armed Forces. Values are deeply held convictions that guide us when no other procedures, rules, regulations, or laws apply. They also greatly affect how we carry out our duties even when some sort of governing rule or document exists. I think an example from my civilian ministry will illustrate the role that values play in our lives: I serve in a rural town in south Alabama, and a new pastor came to our community recently from a large, metropolitan city. I asked him what the biggest difference he had seen as he made that transition. He told me, “Back in [the big city] if your church held an event, people expected it to be top-notch. If you put on an unimpressive or sloppy event, people just would not come back. They’d go down the road to the next church. Here [in the small town] people don’t seem to care as much about how good the event is. They are just grateful that you took the time and effort to do it.” Thus, we can see that in the big city, people hold to the value of Excellence, but in the small town, people cherish the values of Relationship and Caring. Every Soldier should be familiar with the Army Values (Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage) as well as the Warrior Ethos which asserts: • I will always place the mission first. • I will never accept defeat. • I will never quit. • I will never leave a fallen comrade. These are statements of belief that thrust Soldiers forward to victory in battle or success at home despite encountering all varieties of adversity. Likewise, our other military branches have statements of values as well, such as the Navy’s list of Honor, Courage, and Commitment, and the Air Force values of, “integrity first, service before self, and excellence in all we do.” The similar mottos of the Marine Corps (Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful) and the Coast Guard (Semper Paratus: Always Ready) are also value statements, and good ones. Truth be told, some Service Members often hold to less wholesome and less honorable values as well. I cannot count the times in my career I heard a leader say, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” Contrast that cynical statement with something I heard more than one Coast Guardsman say about risking their lives during search and rescue operations during a storm: “The fact is, you have to go out, but you don’t have to come back!” I hope the devotionals included in this book will encourage the latter type of values, rather than the former! Some of the values we will examine will be from the military services, while others will come primarily from the Bible; however, every devotional included within will be based on God’s Word. Please note that I have chosen to use the King James translation of the Scriptures in this book for several reasons. First, the King James Bible has historically been the most commonly used translation among Protestants. In addition, the New Testaments provided to troops by the Gideons are usually in the King James Version and so this book will complement their efforts. Finally, according to the American Bible Society, the King James text is in the public domain, which resolves any copyright issues over its use in this book. Feel free, however, to read the focal passage of each day’s devotion in the translation of the Bible that best suits your needs. Some of the included devotionals will have a military theme, but not all of them do. However, as I said above, all of them do have a basis in Scripture and in the tenets of the Christian faith. I trust that they will encourage and sustain the reader during the trials and triumphs of Annual Training. Every blessing, Chaplain Otis Corbitt