Post pride should be year-round effort

David W. Kuhns Sr.

Northwest Guardian

Last week was Pride Week. We took time out to celebrate all the wonderful aspects of life in the Army and at Fort Lewis.

One element of the week was what used to be called spring clean up. When it comes to taking care of our post, it’s too bad people don’t show more pride year round.

Twice a year, Fort Lewis sets aside time to clean house. All over post Soldiers pick up trash, dig weeds, trim lawns and touch up paint.

These semiannual clean ups are an Army tradition, duplicated in some form on just about every installation.

The major clean-up projects undertaken during Pride Week are the sort of thing that just take too long, too many people to perform, during the normal course of the busy year. A special week frees up the resources to get the big stuff done. But, why do we need to have a special occasion for the rest?

There was a time when police call was part of every Soldier’s day. After a morning formation, the company would extend out in a single rank, double-arm interval, and slowly walk through an assigned area. NCOs prowled at the rear, ready to point out any small bit of refuse that was missed.

The police call mentality extended through the rest of the day, too. Woe to the private who walked past a cigarette butt on the ground, if there was an NCO in sight.

A Soldier making that sort of mistake would have found himself “pushing Fort Lewis to Portland.”

That attitude has changed over the years. There are still police calls, but they are no longer a daily experience common to all Soldiers. And Fort Lewis is still far tidier than any civilian community — but it could be a lot better than it is.

Want to have some fun? Place a candy wrapper on the sidewalk and then stand back and count how many people walk by without picking it up. My guess is that you will have a long wait.

Fort Lewis is a great looking post, and I hate to see it sullied by scraps of paper in the gutters or cigarette butts on the sidewalks. Everyone should do his part.

When I go for a walk at lunch, I usually get back to the office with a pocketful of bits of refuse.

If I can collect gum wrappers on my walks, so can you.

Maybe the old days weren’t as tidy as I remember — aging Soldiers’ memories have a way of altering past realities — but there is no doubt that we can do a better job now.

Units are busier now than they might have been in the past. Training is high-speed, focused and designed to prepare Soldiers to perform their duties in life-or-death circumstances.

There is little time to devote to ticky-tacky details. But there is always time for individual effort.

Good Soldiers keep their hair neatly trimmed; they maintain their uniforms; they keep their equipment clean and serviceable.

It is a matter of pride — it’s part of being a Soldier, a civilian employee or post resident.

That sense of self-worth needs to extend to our home, too. Taking pride in Fort Lewis should be a year-round effort, not something limited to a week every spring and fall.