As I wrote in last year's Martin Luther King, Jr.’s holiday message, and worth repeating, is we will mark his birthday by commemorating his life and belief in justice, universal equality and a color-blind society. Dr. King, through faith, perseverance, and reason, changed the course of our Nation forever. He lived by the measure "What are you doing for others?" -- an ideal that resonates with our Army values and Warrior Ethos.

Since 1994, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (MLK Day) has been set aside as a national day of service (http://mlkday.gov). It also is part of United We Serve, President Obama’s national call to Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems.

While the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians who shared an autumn harvest feast in 1621 started the modern American Thanksgiving tradition, the day's meaning reaches far beyond recognition of a good crop.