The Soldiers Creed

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my Warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage and destroy the enemies of the United States of American in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I AM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER.


Today I attended an open house for a past student of mine. When I first met Dawson, he was a sophomore at Kearns High School. Was a baseball player, hockey player and a total ladies man. With all of that, I had him in my class. I was a student teacher who was not quite sure what I was doing teaching high school. My first day of class, there is Dawson.....chatting like crazy. I do what I thought any good teacher would do. I moved him right to the front. And it was just the right thing to do. Watching him play baseball and hockey was always a treat and I always ended up with a signed baseball or hockey puck! Now, Dawson is a great young man ready to tackle the world. To hear him say, "I am the person I am today because of you" brings tears to my eyes. And when he says he is willing to play the "older brother" role and make sure I am dating only good, nice guys and him saying where ever he is, he will fly home for my wedding (one day) How grateful I am to have been able to teach Dawson and to get to know him and his family. And now I know that there is so much more to teaching than history and facts. There are a lot of "Dawsons" out there and I hope they turn out to be as good the one we are very soon sending the the U.S. Army.

Good Luck Dawson!