Authors Personal “Code of Conduct”

Initial theological influence’s:  Roman Catholic; Protestant; [Born-Again] Pentecostal Christianity; Episcopal.

Present Religious Influence/Identifier: [Born-Again] Pentecostal Christian*

1. Teaching’s and lesson’s so written in the [Christian] Bible; all included “Book’s” of the Disciples.

Military creed’s and code of conduct influence’s

American Warrior Ethos (circa 1979-1989)

1.  I will always place the mission first.

2.  I will never accept defeat.

3.  I will never quit.

4.  I will never leave a fallen comrade.

American Paratroopers Creed

Samurai* (Japanese feudal period origin’s)

English translation: “…one who serves…” (Ironically, a Christian tenet as well)

The Bushidō (Way of the Warrior) code as typified by seven virtues:

Rectitude (義gi)

Courage (勇yū)

Benevolence (仁jin)

Respect (礼rei)

Honesty (誠makoto)

Honor (名誉meiyo)

Loyalty (忠義chūgi)

Associated virtues

Filial piety (孝kō)

Wisdom (智chi)

Care for the aged (悌tei)

Chivalry (Medieval Period)*

A term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. It is usually associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honor and courtly love: “the source of the chivalrous idea“, “is pride aspiring to beauty, and formalized pride gives rise to a conception of honor, which is the pole of noble life.”

The Knights Templars*

The Knights Templars were an order of military monks founded during the First Crusade. Their name comes from the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, on the site of which they built their headquarters. Their function was nominally to protect Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem.  They were essentially Cistercian monks following the rule of St Benedict, and also warrior knights – the combination was not regarded as odd during the Middle Ages – or indeed until the advent of the secular age. They were famed throughout Christendom for many reasons. Their independence from the normal Church hierarchy invited the hostility of bishops. Their fighting prowess attracted ambitious noblemen and wealthy patrons. Their ever growing wealth invited the envy of kings. Their friendship with Moslem hashashin created a scandal. Their military record was exceptional.
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar or the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers) existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. It was founded in the aftermath of the First Crusade of 1096 ostensibly to ensure the safety of the western Christians who made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem after its conquest.  Endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church in 1128, the Order became a favored charity across Europe and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in white mantles each with a red cross, were among the best fighting units of the Crusades.  Members had to sign over all of their wealth and goods to the Order and take vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience just like other monks. Most brothers joined for life, although some were allowed to join for a set period. The red cross that the Templars wore on their robes was a symbol of martyrdom, and Popes repeatedly told them that to die in combat was a great honour that assured a place in heaven. There was a rule that the warriors of the Order should never surrender unless the Templar flag had fallen, and even then they were first to try to regroup with another of the Christian orders. Only after all flags had fallen were they allowed to leave the battlefield. This uncompromising principle, along with their reputation for courage, their excellent training, and their heavy armament, made the Monastic Orders the most feared combat forces in medieval times. One consequence was that the Moslem armies, who generally took Christian knights prisoner and ransomed them back, usually executed captured Templars and Hospitalers. Grand Master Gérard de Ridefort was beheaded by Saladin in 1189 at the Siege of Acre. Starting with founder Hugues de Payens in 1118–1119, the Order’s highest office was that of Grand Master, a position which was held for life, though this could mean a very short tenure. All but two of the Grand Masters died in office, and several died during military campaigns.

(Loved, envied, and hated all at once: I know the feeling, still, to this day)

St. Maurice (Patron Saint of The Infantryman)*

Saint Maurice was brought up in the region of Thebes (Karnak/Luxor) located in Upper Egypt and became a soldier in the Roman army. He was gradually promoted until he became the leader of the Theban legion, formed of 6600 soldiers. This legion was sent, upon the order of Emperor Maximianos (286-305), to resist the tribes’ attacks at the western borders of the Roman Empire. The Theban legion settled down all along the western borders from Germany till Italy, in Agaune near Lausanne in Switzerland (the today’s town of Saint-Maurice martyrdom, in the year 302 AD).  The Roman Emperor and his soldiers worshipped and offered scarifies to their idols before they engaged in battle. Saint Maurice and his soldiers were asked to share in this action, to worship Roman gods, but they refused to worship and declared their faith in Jesus Christ.  The leader Maurice declared that he and his Theban legionaries were Christians also; he sent a letter to the Emperor in the name of all members of the legion declaring their faith in Jesus Christ.  The emperor was disappointed and gave orders to torture (persecute) one tenth of the members of the legion, in order to terrify (scare) the rest. However, the soldiers accepted torture declaring their faith in Jesus Christ. The emperor then ordered to kill all of them. All members of the legion, headed by Saint Maurice, were martyred. The date of his martyrdom is 25 of the Coptic month Toot.

The Roman Army (The Triarii)

The hastati would engage the enemy. If things got too hot, they could fall back through the lines of the heavy infantry principes and re-emerge for counter attacks.Behind the principles knelt a few yards back, the triarii who, if the heavy infantry was pushed back, would charge forward with their spears, shocking the enemy with suddenly emerging new troops and enabling the principes to regroup. The triarii were generally understood as the last defense, behind which the hastati and principes could retire, if the battle was lost. Behind the closed ranks of the triarii the army would then try to withdraw.  There was a Roman saying ‘It has come to the triarii.’ which described a desperate situation.

The Spartans

Disciplined and Dedicated Warriors

The Spartans were a fiercely disciplined society dedicated to the pursuit of military perfection.  The Spartans were the powerful inhabitants of the southern Peloponnesus, a large peninsula in Southern Greece. Their power and prominence was most notable from the 6th century B.C. through the Classical Period, though they continued their famously disciplined existence through Roman times.  Avidly regimented in their goals to achieve military supremacy, the Spartans were a closed-off society that trained their soldiers from birth, proving time and again just how formidable a military foe they could be, perfecting the hoplite phalanx military formation, and soundly crushing many foes, including the powerful Athenian army.  The Spartan army was known widely as the strongest in all of Greece.  Before the rise of Athens, it was the most powerful Greek polis.  Athens and Sparta were famous enemies, only calling a truce to fight as allies against the Persian army in the famous Persian War during the 5th century B.C. The reluctant allies were at odds soon after, though, and Sparta flexed its military muscle during the Peloponnesian War, where Athens was forced to surrender to them in 404 B.C.  Sparta was above anything else a military state.  It kept itself closed off from the rest of the ancient world, both culturally and commercially. The Spartans chose to focus their interests on all things related to military training.  The training was aggressive, thorough, and grueling.  Spartan soldiers were expected to make the lifetime commitment for the good of the state, without protest.  Spartan parents were expected to release their infant sons to the state for training for the good of the state, without protest.

Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States (principally Georgia, the Carolinas and Eastern Tennessee). Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian-language family. In the 19th century, historians and ethnographers recorded their oral tradition that told of the tribe having migrated south in ancient times from the Great Lakes region, where other Iroquoian-speaking peoples were located.  In the 19th century, white settlers in the United States called the Cherokees one of the “Five Civilized Tribes”, because they had assimilated numerous cultural and technological practices of European-American settlers. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the Cherokee Nation has more than 300,000 members, the largest of the 563 federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States.  Of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians have headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. They were forcibly relocated there in the 1830s. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is located in Cherokee, North Carolina.

*Present code after military service; Creed/Code during “security business”.