Where do your values come from?

SGT Mark Halmrast — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 11:44:22 -0400

Each of us share certain values in the military -- teamwork, service, honor, duty, to name a few.

Some would say those values are not as common in broader society than they were back in the day.

Which invites the question: where did you get your values?

Mine came from my family, informed by the Judeo-Christian values that permeated my childhood. I am grateful to my father and grandfather, honorable men who were for me role models.

Those values were reinforced through youth sports, good friends, and a society at large that championed them.

How about you?

Response by MSgt Danny Hope made Oct 14 at 2017 11:45 AM

MSgt Danny Hope — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 11:45:00 -0400

Family and community

Response by SGT Jim Arnold made Oct 14 at 2017 11:53 AM

SGT Jim Arnold — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 11:53:27 -0400

they are learned when the child dawns the age of reasoning and understanding.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Oct 14 at 2017 12:00 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 12:00:45 -0400

Damn good question. My values are the values of Western Civilization. I've studied others and found them wanting. Interestingly, Hillsdale College is offering a free online course study Western values from the Book of Genesis to the writings of John Locke. I recommend it highly.
https://online.hillsdale.edu/courses/western-heritage-2017/home/schedule

schedule

Response by SSgt Gary Andrews made Oct 14 at 2017 12:37 PM

SSgt Gary Andrews — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 12:37:26 -0400

Started at home, where "doing the right thing" was the order of the day. Learned about teamwork and sacrifice in high school athletics. Learned about leadership and achieving goals in the Marines. Learned about turning around and lifting up those behind you in my civilian career. Now......I'm just trying to get a golf ball to go where I want it to.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Oct 14 at 2017 12:51 PM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 12:51:29 -0400

Mine are partially from my dad, and partially from the military.

Response by SSG Diane R. made Oct 14 at 2017 1:06 PM

SSG Diane R. — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 13:06:23 -0400

I would dare say most of my value system came from my Austro-Hungarian grandmother.

Response by PFC Lisa McDonald made Oct 14 at 2017 2:04 PM

PFC Lisa McDonald — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 14:04:55 -0400

My values come from lived experience.

Response by PO1 Tony Holland made Oct 14 at 2017 2:30 PM

PO1 Tony Holland — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 14:30:37 -0400

From my father, 26-year Navy LDO LT, from the Boy Scouts and Explorers, and from
Alpha Phi Omega, the National Service Fraternity.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 15 at 2017 3:19 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 03:19:50 -0400

My values grew from an intensely military childhood, then into my learning and studying the vikingar, and now most of what I used to drive myself daily came from my becoming a Marine.

The mixture of all has given me an extremely strong belief and value system to rely on in my adult life.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 15 at 2017 6:33 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 06:33:31 -0400

Christ as the foundation, family as the frame.

Response by TSgt Johnnie Keller made Oct 15 at 2017 8:16 AM

TSgt Johnnie Keller — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 08:16:08 -0400

From the Bible, my dad and many of the NCO's that taught me how to be a soldier.

Response by SGT Jim Ramge, MBA made Oct 15 at 2017 11:05 AM

SGT Jim Ramge, MBA — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 11:05:56 -0400

My parents - major contributors and everything else was simply an outside influencer. That includes the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts, my education and military service. I am very thankful from whom raised me and am raising my own with those same values - however, not necessarily using the same systems. Karate vice Boy Scouts for further discipline and greater respect for one another with a chance for self-achievement at an early age!

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Oct 15 at 2017 12:38 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 12:38:22 -0400

I'm more pragmatic. When we are teens, we have whatever our parents thought worthwhile enough to pass on; to an extent. For me, I rejected the notion of a normal family having drugs, anger, and violence. It taught me the lesson life is much easier and more pleasurable if you stay away from certain things. So what became more important to me is thinking and behaviors which keep life simple and garner rewards over time. Taking care of people. Doing the right thing. Never stabbing someone in the back. Following orders. Teamwork. The list goes on. I did those things because they were the opposite of what I had as a kid. I found them to be much more comfortable to live with. And if you look at it, easier.

Response by Lt Col Jim Coe made Oct 15 at 2017 12:38 PM

Lt Col Jim Coe — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 12:38:42 -0400

I think my core values came from my parents: hard work, honesty, value of money, appreciation of beauty, and belief in God. The values were refined over time through my life experiences. Boy Scouts and Civil Air Patrol helped me learn the value of our freedoms and personal responsibility, which led to my joining the military. A middle school history teacher taught me to value the perspective a knowledge of history provides. The Air Force helped me develop a deep sense of duty that shaped my adult life. Working in public and private enterprise taught me the value of integrity. My faith journey built on my childhood experiences leading me through times of doubt and questioning ultimately to faith in God and belief in the redemption available through Jesus Christ.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Oct 15 at 2017 12:49 PM

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 12:49:16 -0400

First and foremost My parents and Grandparents, also from schools at the time in the earlier 1960s, some time in a Military Academy, involvement also as a Cadet in Civil Air Patrol then My time in the US Air Force.

Response by SFC Mike Wilkins made Oct 16 at 2017 1:05 AM

SFC Mike Wilkins — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 01:05:16 -0400

My values come from me and my beliefs, not from what someone tells me. I believe in helping my fellow man as long as nobody or nothing is harmed. I don’t follow like a lemming and I speak my mind. I say what I mean and mean what I say. Yes my mouth has gotten me in trouble at times.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 16 at 2017 6:59 AM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 06:59:09 -0400

SGT Mark Halmrast, I believe the concepts of values and ethics are often conflated. The definition I found says: "A person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgement of what is important in life." I think those are two different things. The first talks about ethics. That's principles and standards. The second talks about values (what is important in life). If you are discussing the first, there are societal ethics that are agreed upon by consensus or dictate. In the military... it's dictate. In society, it's consensus through normative societal processes and institutions (whether that's voting in laws or the judiciary deciding what those laws mean where the rubber meets the roads). The standards and principles are codified in laws and regulations for a society, and sub societies, and sub-sub-societies, etc, etc, ad-infinitum. If you are truly talking about values, then that is personal. I don't believe organizations or societies have values because they are made up of individuals who...unless they have a hive mind...have different personal values. They can share the same ethics, but values are highly personal. The larger an organization, the less likely you are going to find that personal values coincide with the organization's "Values." I have to capitalize that and put it in parenthesis because I don't think they truly exist. I think they are the values of one person that have been shoved on an organization. If we take the Army Values for instance, it's been formed into a great pneumonic, "LDRSHIP." Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. Those are great, don't get me wrong. Some of them can be found in the Great Virtues described in ancient text. Good stuff. There is no "F" however. In every leadership class I have ever taught I talk about knowing yourself first. That means talking about what you believe in...what you VALUE. 90% of everyone I have talked to says that Family is their number one value. That means 90% of the officers I have talked to have a conflict with the Army Values. The Army Values does not account for the fact that the most valued thing in their lives is family. Above duty. Above honor. Above selfless service. The larger the organization...the more dissonance created by using the term values to describe what is really...ethics.

Response by Sharon Lee made Oct 19 at 2017 5:50 AM

Sharon Lee — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 05:50:00 -0400

Family & Church/Apostolic, without a doubt. Not the new Apostolic, the old Apostolic way!