THE ARMY PROFESSION: A NARRATIVE

Army Doctrine 2015 depicts the Army as a profession consisting of two sub-professions: the Army Profession of Arms and the Army Civil Corps. This all-inclusive model of the Army as a profession is ahistorical and begs the question why Army leaders adopted it. Surveying key profession of arms models, the sociological study of professions, organizational theory, and narrative theory suggests Army leaders may have developed the Army Profession concept as a rhetorical device aimed at improving or reinforcing discipline within the Army. Organizational theorist, Valerie Fournier described a theory of professionalization in which an organization’s leaders could use the concept of a profession to inculcate behavioral norms within the organization. The research into the Army Profession concept supports the inference that Army leaders developed the Army Profession concept as a rhetorical device.