Army generals at a conference at the Greater Richmond Convention Center yesterday made it a point to thank the younger soldiers for their service.

"I'll end by saying something we don't say much in the Army," said Maj. Gen. John A. Macdonald at the Army Logistics Symposium: "Thank you for what you do."

Brig. Gen. Alberto J. Jimenez went Macdonald one better, calling on the senior officers to stand up and give their juniors a round of applause.

More than 400 sergeants and junior officers -- students at training courses at Fort Lee and Fort Eustis -- attended the professional development forum.

And generals telling the troops thanks for anything is not something soldiers see every day.

"What you saw was a reflection of the importance of retaining the young men and women who are on the edge of making the Army a career," said John Grady, spokesman for the Association of the U.S. Army, the symposium's sponsor.

Stretched by the demands and dangers of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the all-volunteer service is depending on soldiers like those early-career sergeants and officers to become the backbone of its leadership, Grady said.

"In a long war, our nation has short memories," Jimenez said. "Let's not forget our soldiers returning home."

The U.S. Army wants to be, if not an "Army of One," one Army, said Karl F. Schneider, the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff for personnel.

Shedding its Cold War structure to fight the war on terror, the Army has found it needs every one of its active-duty, Guard and Reserve soldiers, as well as its civilian employees and even soldiers' families, military officials said yesterday.

And it wants to treat them well, top leaders at the symposium said.

"We are all in the business of caring about people," Macdonald said.

The three-day conference brought together about 400 top-level Army, Defense Department and civilian logistics leaders.

"Thank you for your service," Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody -- the Army's top-ranking woman -- told the soldiers as she closed the forum, "and thank you for joining this noble profession."

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or pbacque@timesdispatch.com.