Recently, a National Guard Soldier was arrested on October 28, 2025, and charged with attempted violation of the Export Control Reform Act. The Soldier was arrested and charged with attempting to sell military helicopter parts to Russia. The Soldier reached out to Russia in 2024 to offer his services. Law enforcement noticed this and utilized undercover agents who posed as members of Russian intelligence. The Soldier travelled from Kansas to New Mexico in 2025 to meet the undercover agents at a hotel. He agreed to sign a document indicating his offer to help Russia. The Soldier agreed to take photographs of Fort Riley and purchase and sell a Garmin GTR-205 radio used in military helicopters. He intended to accept thousands of dollars in cash for the transaction.

Between 2021 and 2022, five women were attacked in their barracks rooms on Fort Hood, Texas, by a Soldier who raped or attempted to rape. A 31-year-old Sergeant was arrested and arraigned with nine Uniform Code of Military Justice charges. The Soldier held the women against their will and often at gunpoint. He allegedly stole possessions from these women and disposed of the bedding to prevent being arrested. One victim had her cell phone stolen with a credit card, which the Soldier attempted to use to access her bank account and obtain cash fraudulently.

Both incidents are just a few out of several that have been brought to the public’s attention in the media, bringing disrepute upon our military profession. ADP 6-22 indicates that the Army profession, “is a trusted vocation of Soldiers and Army civilians whose collective expertise is the ethical design, generation, support, and application of land power…entrusted to defend the Constitution and the rights and interests of the American people.” (ADP 6-22; 1-8)

Trust is a characteristic of our Army profession. “Trust is the foundation of the Army’s relationship with the American people, who rely on the Army to ethically, effectively, and efficiently serve the Nation.” (ibid., 1-11) In our profession, we rely and trust that our fellow battle buddies can be depended on, especially in a life-or-death situation in battle. When trust is lost, esprit de corps is lost, and professional relationships are broken. Lack of trust has a cascading effect on mission success.  When the public loses trust in our profession because of a few wrongdoers, our profession looks bad for everyone within our organization.

What does it mean to be someone who can be trusted? When we say someone is “trustworthy,” what do we mean? A simple definition of being trustworthy means that someone can be relied on to do what is right and be honest. The Army expects this from every Soldier. In his book, The Thin Book of Trust, Charles Feltman provides four basic assessments that provide a framework of trust.

These assessments are care, sincerity, reliability, and competence. Care has other people’s interests in mind as well as our own when making decisions and taking actions. Sincerity is being honest. We say what we mean and mean what we say. Reliability is meeting the commitments we make and keeping our promises. Competence is having the ability to do what we are doing or propose to do.

We all have various levels of trust when it comes to these assessments. It is our goal in the military to maximize these levels of assessment to align most appropriately with our oath toward the Constitution, the Army Values, and Warrior Ethos. We must not only hold ourselves accountable to being trustworthy, but also help our brothers and sisters to be trustworthy Soldiers. If we find ourselves to be reliable and come to work on time, being at the right place at the right time, but lack in an area of competence in our MOS, then we must work toward building that competence required to excel at what we do. Likewise, if your fellow battle buddy is competent in what he or she does, but lacks the appropriate level of care for others, we must come alongside them and help them build the required level of care to be a person who can be most trustworthy in our profession. Being trustworthy is a team effort. We all need support in any area of these assessments. I encourage you to be a team member who is supportive of others in building trust with each other.

As a Chaplain, I would also encourage you to examine your spiritual fitness. There is a close correlation between ethical behavior and morality. When we are spiritually fit, we are more prone to making good moral and ethical choices. When we are not spiritually fit, we have the potential to make unethical and unhealthy choices. Seek out advice or help. There is nothing weak or embarrassing about getting help from someone else.  I encourage you to be someone who can be trusted even when others are not looking.