Many units of the United States Armed Forces have distinctive mottoes. Such mottoes are used in order to "reflect and reinforce" each unit's values and traditions. Mottoes are used by both military branches and smaller units. While some mottoes are official, others are unofficial.[1]: 68–69 Some appear on unit patches, such as the U.S. Army's distinctive unit insignia.[2]
The use of mottoes is as old as the U.S. military itself. A general order issued by George Washington on February 20, 1776, when he was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, directed that "it is necessary that every Regiment should be furnished with Colours" and the "Number of the Regiment is to be mark'd on the Colours, and such a Motto, as the Colonel may choose, in fixing upon which, the General advises a Consultation amongst them."[3]: 341
United States Army
Major Commands
United States Army - This We'll Defend
School of Military Packaging Technology (formerly Joint Military Packaging Training Center) - To Preserve and Protect[2][4]
Joint Multinational Readiness Center - Train to Win[2]
Joint Readiness Training Center - Forging the Warrior Spirit[2]
Joint Security Area, United Nations Command - Panmunjom (JSA) -In Front Of Them All[2]
15th Air Base Wing - None. From 1942 to 1992, the motto was Prosequor Alis (I Pursue with Wings). In December 1992, the Air Force Historical Research Agency approved the wing commander's request to delete the motto since it was no longer applicable to the unit's mission.[27][29]
United States Coast Guard - Latin: Semper Paratus, lit. 'Always Ready' (The Latin motto is also the name of the USCG service song, 'Semper Paratus' composed in 1927)
Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) - ‘Nox Noctis est Nostr’ (The Night is Ours)
Office of Search and Rescue - ‘So Others May Live’
^ abMartin, Mike W. (13 December 2012). Of Mottos and Morals: Simple Words for Complex Virtues. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1442221291. LCCN 2012040100. OCLC 1105522222. OL 28494717M – via Google Books.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamanaoapaqarasatauavawaxayazbabbbcbdbebfbgbhbibjbkblbmbnbobpbqbrbsbtbubvbwbxbybzcacbcccdcecfcgchcicjckclcmcncocpcqcrcsctcucvcwcxcyczdadbdcdddedfdgdhdidjdkdldmdndodpdqdrdsStein, Barry Jason (20 November 1993). Capelotti, P. J. (ed.). U.S. Army Heraldic Crests: A Complete Illustrated History of Authorized Distinctive Unit Insignia. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0872499638. LCCN 93003109. OCLC 243774589. OL 1395752M – via Google Books.
^Erlandson, Robert A. (24 May 1996). "Wrapping up at school Packaging: New graduates of an Aberdeen Proving Ground course now can safely ship everything from computer chips to battle tanks". The Baltimore Sun. ISSN 1930-8965. OCLC 244481759. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2021. To Preserve and Protect" is the motto of the School of Military Packaging Technology at Aberdeen Proving Ground -- one that its dean, Larry J. Franks, said is taken very seriously because the lives of soldiers, sailors and airmen depend on the school's success.
^CID History, United States Army Criminal Investigation Command.
^The U.S. Military Academy Coat of Arms and Motto, United States Military Academy (accessed December 19, 2016).
^Finnegan, John Patrick; Danysh, Romana (1997). Military Intelligence. Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History. ISBN 0-16-048828-1.
^Millett, Allan R. (11 November 1991). Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps. Free Press. ISBN 978-0029215951. LCCN 80001059. OCLC 832934333. OL 7270113M. Retrieved 25 February 2021 – via Internet Archive.
^Year in Review 2013: Confronting Danger, U.S. Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security, p. 13.
^Marines Dodging Death: Sixty-Two Accounts of Close Calls in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq and Lebanon (ed. Robert A. Simonsen: 2009), p. 44.
^Albert A. Nofi, The Marine Corps Book of Lists (Da Capo Press, 1997), p. 79.
^James M. Morris & Patricia M. Kearns, Historical Dictionary of the United States Navy (Scarecrow: 2011), p. 1.
^Jacqueline Klimas & Tony Lombardo, Mabus has motto if Navy wants one, Navy Times (April 20, 2013).
^Eric M. Bergerud, Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific (Westview, 2000), p. 76.
^Grace Palladino, Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits: A Century of Building Trades History (Cornell University Press, 2005), p. 113.
^Frank J. Allston, Ready for Sea: The Bicentennial History of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps (Naval Institute Press, 1995).
^Command of Navy's Largest Fleet Logistics Center Changes Hands (press release), NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk Public Affairs (September 10, 2011).
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-05-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Bill Yenne, The History of the U.S. Air Force (Longmeadow, 1992), p. 120-22.
^Bernard C. Nalty, Winged Shield, Winged Sword 1950–1997: A History of the United States Air Force, Vol. 2 (University Press of the Specific: 2003), p. 75.
^David Milne, "Strategic Air Command," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History (2013, ed. Timothy J. Lynch), p. 313.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafagahaiajakalamanaoapaqarasatauavawaxayazbabbbcbdbebfbgbhbibjbkblbmbnbobpbqbrbsbtbubvbwbxbybzcaCharles A. Ravenstein, Air Force Combat Wings: Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977, Office of Air Force History, 1984.
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