(inspirational classical music)
- [Narrator] Trust is the bedrock of the Army profession.
The American people place special trust and confidence
in the Army.
As a profession that considers honorable service
to the nation its highest priority.
Our professional responsibility is to preserve
the trust we've earned.
Our moral obligation to uphold the Army ethic
is the source of trust with the American people.
The Army's ability to accomplish its mission and win
in a complex world depends on trust.
Among leaders, peers, and subordinates,
between soldiers, and Army civilians.
In the Army, by Army professionals, and their families,
and between the Army and the American people.
Our relationship with the American people is built
on a foundation of trust, continuously reinforced
as we contribute honorable service,
demonstrate military expertise,
provide faithful stewardship,
and exhibit courageous esprit de corps.
Within the Army profession, mutual trust is necessary
to build cohesive teams.
- Trust is a solemn promise between individuals.
I'm gonna do everything in my ability to take care of you
and I know that you're gonna do it for me.
Without the element of trust between individuals
in the Army, it would be a breakdown of our institution
as a profession.
We have to be able to trust each other from leader
to subordinate, and subordinate to the leader.
All the way down from the Chief of Staff of the Army
to the lowest private.
Trust is the foundational aspect, I call the building block
of which everything else is built upon.
Without trust, organizations can't accomplish their mission.
- [Narrator] Trust among leaders, peers, and subordinates.
- We have to have the mission command philosophy
to be able to exercise discipline initiative
in the absence of orders, or in changing,
evolving conditions to where the leader may not
be able to talk to the lead, and that requires trust.
And again, it's a two-way trust.
It's trusting the leaders, and it's the leaders
trusting the lead.
- The whole premises is based on trust.
Trusting the subordinate to do the right thing
to accomplish the mission, follow the commander's intent.
And then for that subordinate to have trust in that leader
that when they do make a decision that they feel is the best
in that situation, that the commander, or that senior leader
is going to underwrite that decision.
- To put it very simply, you are gonna trust me
if you know at the end of the day I'm more concerned
about accomplishing the mission, taking care of you
as one of my soldiers, and making sure that
in every day and every way I'm doing the best I can
to play my heart out for the team.
That's how I build trust with you.
This is about me being competent,
this is about me being proficient,
but it's also fundamentally about me being selfless.
- Trust between leaders and followers is very important.
As a follower I have to believe that my leaders
are going to utilize me and my subordinates,
my peers effectively in order to accomplish a mission.
And at the same time, a leader has to trust in his or her
soldiers to be able to execute within standard
and within a certain window of time.
- You have to trust your peers, you have to trust your
superiors, and especially on the battlefield.
You need to know that when your battle buddy needs
to be where they need to be, and it's gonna save your life
if that person is there.
- I need to know that I can trust those around me,
and trust really can only come through time.
Maybe even one moment in time can let me know
that I can trust you because I called upon you, I needed you
and I found out that I can count and depend on you.
- Trust is a very powerful word, but it means so much.
And I think it's earned best through our words, our deeds,
and our actions.
If I can't say that my audio is matching my video,
I will not gain the trust of the men and women
with whom I serve.
- When you're true to your words and deeds
it gains a certain amount of respect.
The soldiers want to be a part of your team
because they trust you.
- [Narrator] Trust between soldiers and Army civilians.
- Understanding the roles and responsibilities
of each soldier and civilian, assist both cohorts
in seeing where and how they fit as part
of the Army institution.
I think a big part of this is that to build trust
we must listen.
Soldiers and civilians may have different perspectives,
but they have the same intent in terms of serving
the Army honorably and capably.
- We take an oath, that oath is to protect the Constitution
of the United States whether you're in uniform
or a civilian.
Civilians and Army soldiers, they work in concert
whether in the battlefield or in an office environment,
they're there to accomplish that one goal,
which is the Army mission.
- Trust enables mission command.
It gives senior leaders the confidence to issue orders
framed around commander's intent, and allows subordinates
to use discipline initiative and prudent risk
to achieve outcomes.
- With mission command, I'd tell you, here is my intent,
this is why we're doing it, and then you run with the ball.
You take it, you do it whatever way you want to get there,
and as long as you get to that intent, that end state,
that is what I was expecting, then that's mission command.
- [Narrator] Trust in the Army by Army professionals
and their families.
- I have to have 100% trust in the Army that they will
provide the best training and equipment available
so that my husband can complete his mission and,
God willing, he'll come home safely.
- There's a trust between the American soldier
and their leaders that we will do the things
that get them prepared and ready to fight and win
on the battlefield and return home to their families.
- My soldier that deploys to combat has to be focused on
a very critical task, fighting and winning
our nation's wars.
They can't be worried about the basic needs
of their family when they're gone, and that's why
we spend so much time ensuring that our families
are well taken care of, because it's trust.
A soldier's gotta trust the fact that even though
he or she is putting themselves in harm's way
and sacrificing so much, the people he cares about,
loves, and so close to him in his life
are gonna be taken care of.
And that's critically important to success of both
the mission and our family's trust in the organization.
- [Narrator] Trust between the Army and the American people.
- We must always remember that we are accountable
to the American people.
We serve the American people and we are entrusted
with the care of their sons and daughters in uniform.
Trust with the American people
is something we can never lose.
- I think it's very important that we maintain
that public trust so that we assure America's citizens,
parents like myself and others, that they feel good
about entrusting their sons and daughters to our care.
- As it's related to homeland, and what
the Army National Guard does for emergency response,
there must be trust that we always have our citizens'
best interest at heart, that's what they look for
their Army to do, the right thing each and every time.
- When we perform our mission in a matter that upholds
the Army ethic, it builds trust with the American people
that we serve them in the right way,
protecting our nation's values.
- The public can trust us to know that when you're sitting
behind a scope, and you're looking through there,
and somebody's in your cross hairs, as much as we may not
wanna see it this way, in that moment in time,
you're judge, jury, and executioner,
so I would hope that the public can trust us
and what we do, again, that we've employed the Army ethic,
that we're professionals, that we've built that character
and that confidence to know that in that moment,
we're gonna make the right decision.
- [Narrator] In it's simplest sense, trust is confidence.
External trust is the confidence that the American people
have in the Army profession, to serve the nation ethically,
effectively, and efficiently.
Internal trust is reliance on the character,
competence and commitment of Army professionals
to live by, and uphold, the Army ethic.
Army leaders at all levels strengthen the Army culture
of trust by establishing ethical command climates,
essential for mission command.
- Trust equals confidence.
Confidence that you know you're trained.
Confidence that you will perform your duty
in a manner consistent with our shared moral principles
and values in the Army ethic.
And confidence that you will persevere under
the most difficult conditions.
- We build trust between the components by reinforcing
the fact that we're one Army.
Regardless of what component we are,
it's gonna take every single one of us,
Guard, Reserve, and Active Force, to accomplish
the missions our nation's asking us to do on a daily basis.
- We are America's Army.
The trust of our American citizens in our Army
is critical to the success.
We represent them to the rest of the world.
In many cases, we are the face of America
no matter where we go and what we do.
They must trust that we're ready to fight and win
our nation's wars.
- We're the most trusted organization in America.
It has not always been that way, and it's not a right,
and that we will stay that way.
We are the people prepared to sacrifice all
for the sake of the American people,
and we've sworn to do it.
And they have to have trust that we will.
(intense music)