A New Army Commercial? (My Own Design!)

Well Daniel, let me say that the whole field of advertising, commercials and marketing are best described by the word "propaganda". Think that's too strong? I know a bit about this - my brother has been in the business for over a third of a century, which might possibly be longer than you've lived.  We live and drown in a sea of propaganda, whether political, commercial, or religious. We are so used to it that, like a fish in water, we don't even recognize its existence. I highly recommend Orwell, his "1984" as well as his other works. In any case, as reasonable persuasion, let's look at the former mottos you overpraise. "Be all you can be"? Pathetic that one has to join a group of people whose primary mission is to threaten or to deliver destruction, death and pain on orders to ‘be all they can be'. Why not doctoring or teaching or...well, the list is endless. "An Army of One"? I believe we call the guy who tries to go it alone, "AWOL" or "a loose canyon" or "a danger to the rest of the group". An army - any army throughout history - worked best when it acted in a disciplined manner in a group. Alexander's 50K men beat Darius' 2MM men because the former acted as a group, while the latter acted as many many armies of one. You're right that "Army Strong" is pathetic, though I guess I just don't get the gayness.

Finally, your idea. I think it's a great motto; a lot more honest motto; and a lot more effective than scenes of people scaling cliffs to prove they're macho. I seriously recommend you send it to whichever dept. is in charge of the recruitment-prop department. I think they would take it seriously.

And keep safe.

Alcuin