Army’s past, future celebrated during birthday ceremony

Current soldiers, retirees and the workforce at the McNamara Headquarters Complex celebrated the Army's 251st birthday during a ceremony June 11.

Defense Logistics Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly, the event's keynote speaker, connected the service's history to its future.

Noting that this celebration is only weeks away from America's 250th anniversary, Simerly said it was a good opportunity to revisit how the Army helped shape America's beginnings.

"This anniversary is a tribute to the soldiers who built that legacy, who sustained it across two-and-a-half centuries, and who continue to carry it forward today," he said. "Generation after generation, through triumphs and trials, each soldier is a part of that story."

Simerly spoke about the Continental Army's early battles under Commander-in-Chief George Washington, and how Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben of the Prussian army trained an elite group of 100 soldiers in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, who then trained the rest of the Army.

"Over time, the Americans improved in their precision, maneuver and mastery of arms," Simerly said. "These changes gave soldiers confidence, improved morale, and - for the first time - allowed the Continental Army to fight with the cohesion of a European force."

The training at Valley Forge and the victory in the Battle of Yorktown became the foundation of the Army. Revolutionary War lessons echoed decades later through Gettysburg, where the Union soldiers stood their ground and turned the tide of the Civil War, as well as in future conflicts, he said.

"It was the spirit of Valley Forge that infused our soldiers as they advanced across the beaches and hedgerows of Normandy, and that met the challenges of Korea and Vietnam with courage and discipline," Simerly said. "And it is the same professionalism that has guided our soldiers through the complex missions of the modern era - from counterinsurgency to peacekeeping to large-scale joint operations - meeting every demand with the grit and determination first forged on those frozen parade grounds in 1778."

From those battles, the Army's core values started to emerge, he said.

"You can see the roots of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage taking shape in that encampment long before those words were ever formalized in doctrine," Simerly said. "Those values form the inheritance of every soldier who wears the uniform today - an unbroken chain of service, sacrifice and excellence stretching from Washington's encampments to the battlefields of our own time."

Today's soldiers carry that legacy, deployed across the globe and safeguarding American interests, he said, with precision and professionalism.

"From cyber warfare to special operations, to humanitarian missions, to battlefield engagements - the modern soldier is trained and ready for any challenge," Simerly said.

He thanked the agencies located at the McNamara Headquarters Complex, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Defense Technical Information Center, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which hosted the ceremony, for their support to soldiers and all warfighters around the globe.

"As we celebrate America's birthday and the Army's birthday, let us reaffirm our promise to support our soldiers and each of our service members with excellence," Simerly said, "ensuring they have the support they need, whenever and wherever they need it."