Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.
Issue link: https://chemical.epubxp.com/i/68692
Improve Our Motto T By Lieutenant Colonel John R. Kennedy (Retired), Ph.D. he motto of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, "Elementis regamus proelium," is expressed in Latin—a dead language that is unknown to the vast majority of the U.S. population. The English trans- lation of the motto is "Let us rule the battle through the elements." In addition to the confusion caused by the use of a dead language for our motto, the Latin version of the motto has been routinely written as "Elementis, Regamus, Proelium!" for the past several years. This is incorrect. While the use of commas to separate the individual words in the motto of the U.S. Military Academy "Duty, Honor, Country" is appropriate, the motto of the Chemical Corps is a sentence and separating the words with commas is wrong. We would never write "Let, Us, Rule, The, Battle, Through, The, Elements." We should not write, "Elemen- tis, Regamus, Proelium!" 7KHUH LV D VLPSOH ¿[ WR WKLV FRQIXVLRQ :K\ XVH D GHDG language to express the Chemical Corps motto? Writ- ing the motto in Latin does nothing to enhance it; it only PDNHV WKH PRWWR PRUH GLI¿FXOW IRU WKH ZDU¿JKWHU WR FRP- prehend. We should follow the advice commonly found in writing guides to "write in English." English is the lan- guage of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. It is the most widely spoken language in our country. Using English to express a motto does not in any way diminish the authority or impact of the motto. If English is acceptable for the motto of the U.S. Military Academy, it should also be acceptable for the Chemical Corps. 7KH XVH RI /DWLQ IRU RXU PRWWR LV DUWL¿FLDO DQG SUH- tentious. Neither of those characteristics describes the modern-day Chemical Corps. Let us change the motto of the Chemical Corps from "Elementis regamus proelium" to "We control the battle through the elements," which is D PXFK PRUH PRGHUQ PRWWR WKDW RXU ZDU¿JKWHUV FDQ HDVLO\ understand. Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy (Retired) is a physical sci- entist at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aber- deen Proving Ground, Maryland. He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from New Mexico State University, a master's degree in physical chemistry from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Texas A&M; University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Naval War College, College of Naval Command and Staff. We control the battle through the elements. 20 Army Chemical Review