And rather than tell soldiers what it means to wear the uniform, officials are hoping to show them.
A multimedia version of Army Doctrine Reference Publication 1, "The Army Profession," which includes 55 videos, was and launched Monday at the Center for the Army Profession and Ethic's website in an iBook format. Plans call for Android and Windows versions, officials said, in addition to the traditional .pdf PDF version, which went online last week and includes a new, 10-page chapter defining the Army ethic.
The video-supplemented versions are part of what the Army calls "living doctrine," what officials said will better engage soldiers beyond traditional manuals.
"When we're talking about 'honorable service' in the Army ethic, being an honorable servant of the nation, one of the buttons will take you to the Medal of Honor recipient speech of Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts, who just absolutely says it in a way that nobody else can," said Col. John Vermeesch, director of CAPE, said. "He is a living personification of honorable service, and his words, I think, will resonate with soldiers in a way that no doctrinal manual could."
Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Ray Odierno discusses the Army ethic with senior Army leaders at the Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., in July 2014
Photo Credit: David Vergun/Army
Centuries in the making
More daunting than the technological hurdles was the distillation of the service's ethic into a single chapter. The piece, a draft of which was supplied to Army Times, pulls from Army history, including traditional sources such as the Declaration of Independence and various creeds, and from discussions on the topic at the service's highest levels: Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno hosted a general officer-filled two-day conference last summer at West Point on the issue.
"It was a lot of give and take along the way," Vermeesch said. "We may not have gotten it 100 percent accurate at this point, but it's a great place to start, at least."
He said he hoped the codification of the ethic would spur greater discussion of its principles within the force, possibly allowing its use as an evaluation tool.
"We are very good at assessing our decisions and actions for whether they're effective," Vermeesch said. "The one thing that we don't necessarily address is, are they ethical? ... As we make decisions in the future, we think [that] would be meaningful."
The tech aspect
While manuals used in explosive ordnance disposal and survival, evasion, resistance and escape training have included similar technology — and more advanced capabilities, such as 3-D modeling — ADRP-1 is the Army's first "living doctrine" available to a mass audience, said Helen Remily, Army Training and Doctrine Command capability manager for the Army Distributed Learning Program.
It's also the first produced entirely in-house, Remily said, with input from her team, CAPE, the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate, the Center for Army Leadership, Army Training and Support Center, and the headquarters of the Army Publications Directorate.
Another 70 pieces of doctrine are being considered for upgrades, Remily said, all with the goal of grabbing the attention of readers more accustomed to a multimedia environment.
"We're using storytelling [in ADRP-1]," she said. "Real-world scenarios. And really, when we talk about engaging the reader, we're engaging their emotions, as well. ... A soldier seeing another soldier faced with an [ethical] dilemma, and what she did, I think is very important."
The enhanced doctrine will be showcased at a July symposium at West Point hosted by Odierno and Army Secretary John McHugh, officials said.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
