“Duty, Honor, Country” 1898 | “Army Values” 2024
"West Point," more formally and less familiarly known as the United States Military Academy, was founded on a high bluff above the Hudson River. The "Point" garrisoned during the Revolutionary War was due to its unique strategic location, as its overlook above the Hudson made it uniquely suited to monitor and potentially prevent British ships from entering the Hudson, controlling the Hudson Valley, and aiming their way into New York Harbor. Ultimately, Benedict Arnold, in 1780, who was up to that point the fledgling America's greatest military hero, betrayed the secrets of the West Point defenses to the British. The name Benedict Arnold has come into common use as a sobriquet for someone who is a traitor, disloyal to their country, and has spread into common usage as a euphemism for disloyalty generally.
West Point, one of three "Service Academies", along with the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) and the United States Air Force Academy (Air Force), has since its inception been an elite institution that combined a superb science and engineering curriculum along with military training. Upon completion of West Point, cadets were and are typically commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. Though the West Point and Annapolis curricula have broadened a bit since the early days, all graduates receive education and training in the hard sciences and engineering. In other words, there are no “Gender Studies” majors offered at the Service Academies. But there will be…
Sick, “Woke” culture has now invaded the military from top to bottom. On March 11, 2024, it was announced that the time-honored motto of West Point, "Duty Honor Country," has been canceled and replaced with "Army Values." The signature motto has been emblazoned in the hearts, minds, and mission statement of all cadets for decades and made famous to the outside world by Douglas MacArthur in his farewell speech to Congress in 1962. MacArthur was a 1962 graduate of the Point and its Superintendent.
He and his father were both Congressional Medal of Honor winners.
MacArthur was the Supreme Commander of the Pacific Theatre and presided over the Japanese Surrender on the Battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945.
He was also the architect of the Inchon invasion during the Korean War, the brilliantly decisive battle that turned the tide of the Korean War.
Perhaps MacArthur's greatest accomplishment was his brilliant architecture of the rebuilding of Japan, turning a defeated foe into our strongest ally in the Pacific.
MacArthur also had one particularly shameful episode in his career when commanding U.S. troops to stop WW1 Veterans from marching on Washington to collect their bonuses.
With all of the hubris, arrogance, success, and failure, MacArthur's guiding light and North Star were his words "Duty, Honor, Country." Even during the times of bad command decisions, dangerous hubris was never far from the passionate motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.”
The Army and the entire military now have been infiltrated with an increasingly disloyal, disengaged, and politicized command structure, which if not reversed quickly, will destroy our military and render our nation helpless against our most lethal adversaries, China, Russia, and Iran.
What I'm discussing here is not just the sickening cancellation of the motto but what that cancellation symbolizes. “Duty, Honor, Country” captures the essence of a quintessentially perfect ethic and mission for those who serve. The replacement motto is, in fact, not only a poor substitute but dangerous. The military and its affiliated institutions are not independent and free-standing in their mission. All branches of the military collectively exist to protect and defend the country. “Army Values”? What are they? Just ask the Shah of Iran when his army refused to leave the barracks in order to defend the country from the rapacious destruction of the Ayatollah in 1979. “Army values”? Did the disgraceful General Mark Milley invoke "Army Values" when he treacherously disclosed US military strategy to his Communist Chinese counterpart? Has Milley embraced the motto and mission statement of his Alma Mater, "Duty Honor Country?" His loyalty should have been to his country, and the chain of command would have prevented him from doing so without consultation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
There is a word that lies somewhere between travesty and tragedy that captures the essence of both. This perfect word eludes me right now. However, the cancellation of the “Duty, Honor, Country” motto at West Point as ordered by Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland is a tragedy and just the beginning of an aperture opening that will widen into a catastrophe of the enlarging reality that our military is becoming “woke” and will soon be unwilling and unable to defend our nation.
The next President of the United States, who I hope will be the Republican nominee, must make it a top priority to reinstate the motto “Duty, Honor, Country” and fire the “woke” coopted Superintendent.
If not, what happens? West Point will go South, and quickly… along with the nation that it serves: The United States of America.
-Emes