MARCH 17, 2025 – As the Army celebrates its 250-year legacy, it looks back at its best commercials of all time.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the campaign “Be All You Can Be” focused on the opportunities for personal and professional growth within the Army.
Be All You Can Be
These commercials, featuring aircraft, airborne Soldiers jumping out of aircraft, dropping supplies, camaraderie, deploying, computer and high-tech skills, have about 432,000 views on YouTube and are a compilation of ads from the 1980s and 1990s.
In the early 2000s, the Army slogan became “Army Strong,” emphasizing the strength and capabilities of the Army and its Soldiers.
Army Strong
The Army Strong commercial has more than 1.2 million views. It opens with the Merriam Webster definition of strong, but states there’s a difference between strong and Army Strong. As music plays over the video, a montage plays of Soldiers, past and present, from various career fields, showing camaraderie and strength as they perform their jobs. They jump out of aircraft, home in on enemy targets, and perform humanitarian mission while showing physical and emotional strength and strength of character.
Army of One
From 2001 to 2006, “Army of One” focused on individual excellence within the Army. These commercials only had around 10,000 views.
In these commercials, Soldiers hustle out of a helicopter in the dessert to protect his team in a deployed location in the commercial, a Soldier states, “An American Soldier serves more than his Army. He is a selfless defender of our rights and freedoms. He is proof that one Soldier can and does make a difference.”
Be All You Can Be
A 2018 commercial received 809,000 views via YouTube via the Military Power Channel. For this commercial, it is a medley for all the service branches. For the Army commercial, it opens with the Army uniform and describes what the Army means to the men and women who serve as it shows aircraft and Soldiers performing a variety of missions, from medical to airborne to infantry. “It’s a key, an acceptance letter, it’s a passport, it’s a magnet, it’s a pair of wings. It’s a breakthrough. It’s a diploma. It’s a secret handshake and the jersey of the greatest team on earth. It can make you stronger, more respected, wiser. It can take you further than you ever imagined.”
The Army returned to “Be All You Can Be” and has held “This We’ll Defend” as its motto since the Revolutionary War, reinforcing the idea that its purpose is to protect and defend the nation. The Army also celebrates a strong camaraderie once a year with its Army Navy Game.
Army Navy Game
The opening ad for the Army-Navy game received 386,000 views. It opens with people across the country, from all walks of life, receiving mail, first by horse, then by the older cars of the 1920s up to today and computers. Throughout that time, it’s all been the same, anxious, but excited young people, wanting to become Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy or Midshipmen the U.S. Naval Academy.
With the “Jump” commercial and the return to “Be All You Can Be,” the Army reached 1.6M views.
It’s a short commercial, showing the anticipation of the Soldiers, seeing the jump from their viewpoint, reminding the viewers that your greatest victories are never alone.
The “First Target” hit 1.3M views.
The viewer is inside a tank, seeing how a gunner would call out a target, load and shoot at the target.
Both did well, but the “First patch” commercial hit 5.3M views.
This commercial opens with a ceremony celebrating Soldiers completing basic training but then skips to them going through flashbacks of the hard work they performed in basic training such as physical training, obstacle courses and rappels.
During the ceremony, the ad shows a Soldier waiting for his father to put on his first patch who then tells him he’s proud of him.
The Army-Navy game commercials consistently perform well, but the return of the “Be All You Can Be” slogan has garnered millions of views with only a year into its return.
Super Bowl
What’s the biggest commercial of all time for the Army? Right now, it looks like the “Stronger People are Harder to Kill” Super Bowl commercial. It has been reposted on several platforms and viewed 44,000 times on YouTube in one month, along with more than 1 million views on other platforms.
This commercial highlights the Army’s Holistic Health and Fitness program. One of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program’s award-winning weightlifting athletes lifts heavy and states, “Stronger people are harder to kill.”
Which commercial do you like most?
By Shannon Collins, Army News Service