The United States Army values are a set of seven core values that guide the behavior and actions of every soldier, both on and off duty.
There are seven army values that a soldier needs to know and needs to live by. In this post, I will explain those seven army values and their meaning.
The seven army values are not like the soldier’s creed, but they’re the things soldiers should know and live by.
The army uses acronyms to help soldiers remember certain things. The army values have its acronym, which is leadership, but it’s spelled as LDRSHIP (seven letters)
- L: Loyalty
- D: Duty
- R: Respect
- S: Selfless Service
- H: Honor
- I: Integrity
- P: Personal Courage
- Loyalty: Being faithful to the Army, the unit, and fellow soldiers.
- Duty: Fulfilling one’s obligations to the Army and the country and taking responsibility for one’s actions.
- Respect: Treating others with dignity and respect, regardless of race, gender, or cultural background.
- Selfless Service: Putting the welfare of the nation, the Army, and subordinates before one’s interests.
- Honor: Living up to the Army’s values, principles, and ethical standards and always doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.
- Integrity: Adhering to the Army’s moral and ethical principles, being honest and truthful in all dealings, and being accountable for one’s actions.
- Personal Courage: Doing what is right in the face of danger, adversity, or moral or physical discomfort, and taking responsibility for one’s actions and decisions.
Who should know the Seven Core Army Values?
For those of you that are looking to join the Army at some point, this is something you learn in basic training, so it’s good to get a heads up on it and know it before you go; it will give you an advantage and make it a little bit easier in basic training.
Those currently in the Army probably know these 7 Army values, but you can follow along if you’re interested.
Then, for those of you who are veterans out there, it depends on how long ago you got out of the Army. I joined back in 1999, and they have been around ever since then.
What is the 7 Army Core Values acronym?
In the Army, they often have an acronym, something that is a word, and each of the letters of that word represents another word to help you remember a particular thing that the Army wants you to remember.
The Army has its own as well, which is leadership, but you spell it differently than you would if you were writing it out. The acronym for the Seven Army Values is LDRSHIP.
The seven letters represent one army value:
- L: Loyalty
- D: Duty
- R: Respect
- S: Selfless service
- H: Honor
- I: Integrity
- P: Personal Courage
I will elaborate on what each of those means. So you have a better understanding of what it is a soldier is supposed to take from this, what it is they’re supposed to honor, what it is they’re supposed to embrace to live the army values.
Army Value 1: Loyalty
The first Army value is respect: a soldier should be faithful and loyal to their country, to their leadership, to the Constitution, to the Army, to the unit, and to fellow soldiers.
Army Value 2: Duty
The second Army value is duty: soldiers should fulfill their obligations to the Army and the country and take responsibility for their actions. This army value means accomplishing your mission. You must do many tasks and missions, and you must achieve this as a team.
You’re not just one individual Rambo runner out there on the battlefield getting the thing done by yourself. You work as a team and as a brotherhood.
Duty is to accomplish the army mission, whatever it is. If that army mission is to raid a building and clear it of any potential enemies, that mission is to cook food for the soldiers to be well nourished and able to accomplish their mission, or maybe that mission is to make sure these vehicles are fixed on time so that the mission can get accomplished.
You must make sure you accomplish the mission and work as a team to achieve this goal, which is the mission of the United States Army.
Army Value 3: Respect
The third army value is respect: a soldier should treat others with dignity and respect, regardless of race, gender, or cultural background.
It means treating others the way they should be treated. That’s not to say that you can’t have some fun with some soldiers or your friends or whatever, but if you’re making fun of someone to hurt them, then yes, that’s not being very respectful.
If you’re having fun because you’re buddies, or whatever the case might be, it’s okay to mess with other soldiers. Soldiers do this all the time. That’s fine to do. But if you’re trying to put someone down or make fun of them to hurt them, that’s not being very respectful. You should also respect younger soldiers, older soldiers, and your leadership.
The image of a soldier doesn’t just come down to how they treat other soldiers; it also includes civilians. So if you’re out on the streets or at a restaurant, you should respect those civilians who are cooking the food or checking you out at a cash register, whatever the case may be. You’re still projecting a good image of the United States Army. So you’ve got to be respectful to both individuals in the military and civilians out in the world.
Army Value 4: Selfless Service
The fourth army value is selfless service: a soldier should put the welfare of the nation, the Army, and subordinates before their own interests.
This essentially means placing the mission first, placing the welfare of others above your own, and not just going and thinking about yourself and only trying to look after what would benefit you the most.
Selfless service would be putting the mission above the needs of your own. Getting the mission accomplished is important, even if that means having to work late or even if that means you might be in a little bit of danger.
Army Value 5: Honor
The fifth army value is honor: a soldier should live up to the army’s values, principles, and ethical standards and always do the right thing, even when no one is watching.
Honor is a big deal. That’s honoring the army values, honoring those that came before you, honoring your leadership, honoring your nation, and honoring a lot of other things; essentially, just be honorable.
Army Value 6: Integrity
The sixth army value is integrity: a soldier should adhere to the army’s moral and ethical principles, be honest and truthful in all dealings, and be accountable for one’s actions.
That means doing the right thing even if no one’s looking. So, for example, if you are on CQ and nobody is around, don’t take a nap. That’s not having the integrity to do the right thing, even though no one’s looking.
Arm Value 7: Personal Courage
The seventh Army value is personal courage: soldiers should do what is right in the face of danger, adversity, or moral or physical discomfort and take responsibility for their actions and decisions.
That means just having courage. Place yourself in danger to be courageous and ensure the mission gets accomplished.
There are a lot of different examples of personal courage you can probably think of; you have to be courageous. You can’t let fear get the best of you if you’re going to be an army soldier. So you need to be heroic and fearless.
It’s okay to be afraid of what’s on the other side of that door, but you need to gather up your courage and charge through and attack that objective.
Core Army Values Conclusion
Those are the seven army values that a soldier should live by. You should know these values. As far as being tested on that, that depends. Some units are super heavy on this and may want to quiz you, and some don’t care and may only be a basic training thing.
You may learn the 7 Army values in basic training, and then it may only come up again when you’re doing a promotion board or even a soldier of the month board where they want you to recite the Army values. But if you’re getting ready to join the Army sometime soon, it’s a good idea to know the Army’s values.
You should know the acronym LDRSHIP. You should know what each of those letters stands for and have some interpretation as to what each of those words means to you as far as how you’re going to live the army values to represent your country, your nation, and to stand out and be a soldier to the people.
Army values serve as the foundation of the Army’s culture and are integral to the training and development of every soldier.
By upholding these values, army members demonstrate their dedication to serving their country and fellow soldiers.
7 Army Core Values FAQs
The Army Values are seven core values that guide the behavior and actions of soldiers in the United States Army.
Loyalty
Duty
Respect
Selfless Service
Honor
Integrity
Personal Courage
1. There are numerous advantages to adhering to these values.
2. They foster unity, trust, and cohesion among Army members by creating a shared language and culture.
3. They instill a sense of personal responsibility and accountability and assist individuals in making ethical decisions in complex and challenging circumstances.
Check out other important army creeds such as the nco creed army and the rangers creed.
Born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, he graduated from George State University with an MBA in Actuarial Science. His hobbies include beach volleyball, hiking, fishing, and lifting weights
George is also a certified nutritionist with a passion for health and fitness.
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