Lieutenant Colonel Maurício Gröhs
Yes, we paint the curbs! And we also polish our boots. Yes, we cut the grass! And we also have our hair cut. We value order over chaos: “Put your house in perfect order before you criticize the world,” argues Canadian thinker Jordan B. Peterson[1].
Beauty is being lost in contemporary society, in all aspects of culture. In sculptures, music, architecture, appearance and communication. In conduct, basic principles of social coexistence are constantly being relativized.
The Brazilian Army is a conservative institution. But that doesn’t mean it’s rigid to the point of being static. The institution is constantly modernizing, for example: the Cobra Strategic Project, replacing the 7.62 M964 rifles with IMBEL IA2 rifles; the Armoured Forces Strategic Program, acquiring armoured vehicles (VBTP GUARANI and LMV, from Iveco Veículos de Defesa), equipped with technological command and control systems and remotely controlled weapons (REMAX towers). Both foster innovation in the country and contribute to strengthening deterrence.
There has also been progress in the human dimension. In this respect, the recent entry of women into the Brazilian Army’s military teaching line deserves to be highlighted. In 2018, the School of Logistics Sergeants graduated the first female sergeants in the Intelligence and Ordnance career. In 2021, the Agulhas Negras Military Academy graduated the first aspiring officers in these specialties.
There are always those rules that change. Think of the following image: a military officer in uniform, with an umbrella and a (black) rucksack on his back. A clear disciplinary transgression in the 2000s, but not today.
These examples serve to illustrate that being conservative doesn’t mean being against change. Rather, it means preserving “a set of values, duties and ethical principles that are fixed, immutable and universal benchmarks” [2], in the midst of the necessary changes in the face of evolving scenarios in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world [3] in which we live.
Military values, duties and ethics must form an immutable basis, i.e. they cannot be relativized. The Army’s Vade-Mecum 10 on Military Ceremonial is clear about this and reinforces the argument, reminding us that these basic elements must guide the life of the military, as a citizen and as a soldier [4]. There can be no dual personality!
Integrity. A word with a lot of meaning. Taking Stephen R. Covey as a reference, integrity can be defined as the ability to make commitments and honor them, living by immutable and universal principles [5].
All of us in the military must honor the soldier’s commitment [6]. We must opt for order, we must turn our actions towards maintaining personal integrity, the integrity of the institution and the integrity of the country. And we work daily to ensure that the chaos of values does not become our “new normal”, so that there is no relativization of values.
Imagine the following hypothetical situation: “Oh, but the serviceman only took a uniform that wasn’t his. Will he be excluded ‘in the interests of discipline’ just for that?” The grounds for this decision could be described at length here, which, to some “inattentive” people, might seem drastic.
But let’s just focus on something written a long time ago and still valid: “Whoever is faithful in a little is also faithful in much. Whoever is dishonest in a little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10-11) [7]. There can be no relativization!
It is the military’s duty to look after the public assets we have at our disposal to fulfill our mission. But beyond that, the painted curb and the cut grass are part of our “leaving the house in perfect order”, since they convey “meanings and values that are relevant to us and that we consciously want to express” [8].
Just as we take care of our assets, we must always strengthen the human dimension of the Land Force. It is our duty to cherish order, to cherish centuries-old values, historically defended by our heroes, represented above all by the patrons (with Duque de Caxias at the pinnacle of this noble gallery).
This is how it has to be. We need to be order in the midst of chaos.
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1PETERSON, Jordan B. 12 regras para a vida: um antídoto para o caos. Rio de Janeiro: Alta Books, 2018.
2 Plano de Integridade do Exército Brasileiro. 1ª Ed. Brasília/DF, 2018.
3 Ver: O Mundo em Acrônimos e a Comunicação Estratégica do Exército. Disponível em: https://eblog.eb.mil.br/index.php/menu-easyblog/o-mundo-em-acronimos-e-a-comunicacao-estrategica-do-exercito.html#:~:text=A%20prop%C3%B3sito%20do%20uso%20deste,disponibilizado%20na%20Era%20do%20Conhecimento. Acesso em 17 Maio 23.
4 Vade-Mécum de Cerimonial Militar do Exército – Valores, Deveres e Ética Militares. 2ª Ed. Brasília/DF, 2016.
5 COVEY, Stephen R. Os 7 Hábitos das Pessoas Altamente Eficazes. 99ª Ed. Rio de Janeiro: Best Seller, 2022.
6 Descrito no Regulamento de Continências, Honras, Sinais de Respeito e Cerimonial Militar das Forças Armadas. Brasília/DF, 2022.
7 BÍBLIA. Bíblia King James 1611. 5ª Edição. Niterói: BV Books, 2021
8 SCRUTON, Roger. Beleza. São Paulo: É Realizações, 2013.
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About the author:
Lieutenant-Colonel Maurício Gröhs – Lieutenant-Colonel Maurício Gröhs is currently Chief of the 4th Supply Depot. He holds a master’s degree from the Meira Mattos Institute of the Army Command and Staff School, with the research topic “Formulation of National Defense Policy” (2019-2020). He worked on Operation Covid-19, coordinating with Civil Defense and Rio Grande do Sul government departments the distribution of medicines, food baskets and warm clothing to the population (2021). He worked on Operation Welcome, coordinating with UN agencies the internalization of Venezuelans in Rio Grande do Sul (2021). He was one of the creators of the “EaD Without Tutoring” pilot project for Administration Agents at the 3rd ICFEx (2018), a model currently adopted by the Institute of Economics and Finance of the Army’s Secretariat of Economics and Finance (IEFEx/SEF).
*** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***