We must follow the tune of a different drummer.
Our vocation is one that is unlike most others, and because of this it requires different things of us. This difference, fundamental to our profession, is nothing to be ashamed of. It is defined by terms that include self-sacrifice, devotion to duty, and the highest standards of personal and professional integrity, and contains the values that are among the most respected of Western civilization.
We have been through bad times before. Unpopularity, lean budget years, and slow promotion have been characteristic problems of the armed forced in every post-war period in American history. What has enabled us to survive these problems in the past has been adherence to our ideals and principles, and not adaptation to the social fashions of the day, regardless of their appeal.
We will not do ourselves or the American people any service by passively following the drift of society and permitting ourselves to reflect all of the confusion, doubt, and self indulgence that surrounds us. If we wish to be more than an image of a Navy, if we want to retain our identity as an institution whose ethic goes beyond shallow slogans ((e.g., Global Force For Good)) and publicity campaigns, we must make the decision to go against the grain, to establish and demand from our people as set of standards and an order of dedication that is our own, and not “a reflection of society.”
The Stranger in the Crowd
By Lieutenant Commander K.C. Jacobsen, U.S. Navy
USNI Proceedings, September 1974
I Like The Cut of His Jib 