FORT STEWART, Ga. — Soldiers of the 599th Quartermaster Battalion are celebrating their new unit motto, which acknowledges the unit is likely nowhere near the tip of the spear.
“Look, we realize we’re not combat arms, special operations, or those beefy signals intelligence guys,” said Lt. Col. Michael Longinus, the 599th battalion commander. “But we are the Army’s longest-serving and only remaining mess-kit repair battalion, and that’s something to be proud of.”
Longinus told the Duffel Blog the 599th’s previous unit motto, “With your tray, or on it,” implied a potential for violence that his soldiers just do not possess outside of their homes. Thus, his unit was ready for a new motto that more accurately reflected its role in land warfare.
“We are decidedly not ‘the tip of the spear’ — at least not on the offensive or friendly forces side of it,” Longinus said. “And I feel a motto like Molon Labe would just invite other units to come and take our stuff — more than they already do.”
