"Readiness is as much mental as physical. I’m proud to serve with you. Now get after it."
- LTG Charles N. Pede, United States Army Judge Advocate General

Now. Get. After. It.

Doesn’t that just give you the chills?! Welcome to 2018 everybody, and thanks to LTG Charles Pede for equipping us with such a supercharged rallying cry. I’m freaking hyped.

If you’ve yet to read the Army Judge Advocate General’s 8 January Address (TJAG Sends #40-04)—which might as well be called the “Be Ready” Manifesto—you’re wrong. Scope it now. For in it, LTG Pede lays out a mission set for the year ahead and challenges Judge Advocates to pursue excellence in all they do. I’ll let him take it from here, via editorial selection of some choice sentiments:

Stepping beyond ‘unit readiness’ programs, I want each of you to begin 2018 carefully examining how you will improve. In what ways will you be a different lawyer by January 2019? Set goals now and pursue them aggressively. What skill will you deliberately cultivate and refine? Recognize the difference between an idea and a plan and ensure that you have a feasible strategy to improve yourself. How will you focus on becoming a better Soldier?

While LTG Pede’s emphasis here is geared more towards the scholarly demands of our occupational specialty, his claim that “[r]eadiness is both a state of mind and a physical manifestation” presumes that Judge Advocate will apply the same rigor in pursuing achievement and distinction in the warrior arts inherent to our dual profession.

And so—with due acknowledgement and deference to TJAG—I echo his call for determined and uncompromising self-development across the vast array of Soldier skills.

Will 2018 be the year you finally attain 300 points on you Army Physical Fitness Test, or keep your max score streak alive? Will you train for an administration of the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge test and search tirelessly across the Army for opportunities to take it?

Will this be the year that you—through blood, sweat, tears, and the creative deployment of all manner of Machiavellian schemes and maneuvers—secure a slot at Airborne School or a mobile Air Assault Course?

Will you dedicate yourself to training on native Army weapons systems so that you can surprise your colleagues, your unit, and even yourself at the M4/M9 range you made time to attend?

If the answer to these questions is “yes”, then I commend you for committing yourself to the spirit and letter of our TJAG’s vision for the New Year. He has called on us to better ourselves; let’s answer that call.

And let’s do it with a freaking “HOOAH”.

How will we be different attorneys in 2019?
We'll be better ones, sir.

How will we be different Soldiers in 2019?
We'll be faster, stronger, more competent, more determined, and more accomplished ones, sir.

Over the course of the next 12 months, whether in the fight or training in its anticipation, know that the Order of the JAGWAR supports your efforts, and—like LTG Pede—is proud to serve with you.

So let’s build the JAGWAR community this year, and let’s better ourselves. Word to LTG Pede; I’m hype.