By Lt. Col. Allen West, USA ret

“Duty, Honor, Country…mere words to some”

Duty – A moral or legal obligation, a responsibility. A task or action that someone is required to perform.

Honor – High respect, great esteem. An adherence to what is right or to a convention standard of conduct.

Country – A Nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.

Last December, I became a member of the Round Canopy Parachute Team-USA (RCTP-USA). Their mission is to remember the accomplishments and achievements of US Airborne forces by commemorating their heroic endeavors.

This past week I was in Palatka Florida with RCTP-USA going through Airborne refresher training in preparation tojump into Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Very few of those brave American men remain on this side of the earth. What an incredible privilege it was to jump out of two of the original C-47 aircraft from that famed airborne operation, Tico Belle and Placid Lassie.

Amongst us were some civilians, but it was mainly prior military service paratroopers. There were retired officers and enlisted men and women, bound by something unique, being American Airborne troops.

There was one topic that did come up for discussion, as there were some West Point graduates in attendance.

Recently, the United States Military Academy at West Point decided to strike the words “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement.

This decision was quite confusing, and confounding, as many were asking, why?

Why at this time make a determination to remove those words spoken by famed General Douglas MacArthur to West Point Cadets?

Ok, I get it–the announcement was that those three words would be replaced by the Army values, which I have known to change in my lifetime.

Why at a time when it appears that our military is more centered on cultural Marxist ideological agendas and leftist social policies would a decision be made to add to that perception, a reality?

As we spoke to each other on the flight line rigging up to jump and just BSing after jumps, we all admitted that if you are explaining, you are losing the argument.

It just appears that those simple three words, “Duty, Honor, Country” are just mere words to some–sadly to senior military leaders, and civilian military leadership.

It is kind of like that Superman movie when the lead character said, “Truth, Justice, and all that stuff.” Back in 2021, DC Comics officially changed Superman’s mission statement from “Truth, Justice, and the American way” to “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow”…sounds rather subjective to me.

The three words, “Duty, Honor, Country” are not just a West Point thing. It is a creed, a way of life that drove young men 80 years ago to board the same C-47 aircraft that I boarded.

It is a call to action that birthed this Nation before it was even established as a Nation. They are words which should be an integral fabric of our society, God knows we need such.

We all have a duty. Matter of fact, it was Benjamin Franklin who asserted, “It’s a Republic, if you can keep it,” meaning us, the citizens of these United States of America, a constitutional republic.

However, what happens when an ideological agenda that is the antithesis of our governing principles guides people, to include those who swore an oath to our Constitution?

What happens is that duty is redefined as what is necessary to advance a certain agenda…fundamental transformation.

The Second Amendment is very clear in its verbiage that we the militia, everyday citizens, have a very specific duty. The security of a free State is dependent upon our being “well-regulated,” meaning trained.

Yet, we hear more and more about disarming legal, law abiding Americans, meaning preventing them from their specified constitutional duty.

Do not get me wrong, if you are an American and wish not to honor that duty, that is your choice. But I will be damned if you prevent me from honoring my duty.

Or how about Honor?

Where is the honor in Americans, and Members of our Congress, standing in support of an Islamic terrorist organization that killed our fellow Americans, and still holds them hostage.

Will the decision to remove honor from the West Point mission statement mean that Cadets will not be expelled for violations of the Honor Code, will the code be altered, adjusted to current societal norms?

I have had many discussions with citizens who quip that America no longer has honorable men and women serving in elected office.

I respond to them asking, how did they get elected? If we do not carry ourselves in an honorable manner, demanding respect and esteem and realize our duty as the “consent of the governed” then we get the government that we deserve.

Lastly, Country.

There are those who do not believe we are a sovereign Country, with a border. Therefore, they do not believe they have a moral obligation, constitutional duty, to protect our borders.

There are those who do not have high respect and great esteem for our Republic, nor the safety and security of its citizens.

Eighty years ago, young American men deployed across the globe to defend freedom and liberty. They were not seeking personal advance, lands, territory. Matter of fact, all that was asked for was portions of ground upon which they could be buried, in the soil that collected their blood.

I find it quite disconcerting that we have more unknown illegal immigrants in our Country than we have active duty military.

We can talk about policy all day long, but without a sense of Duty, Honor, Country policies will fail. It is like a good soup or gravy; it has to have a good base.

In signing the Declaration of Independence, those 56 men pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to this grand experiment in self-governance.

There are those who dismiss them as old white men, inconsequential, and today, irrelevant. They were virtuous men and America would be better served today by that level of impeccable character, rather than the charlatans and petty usurpers we fawn over these days, called politicians.

The United States Military Academy at West Point made a bad decision.

Just like years ago when the US Army decided to change their marketing slogan from “Be All You Can Be” to “Army of One.” And guess what the Army did last year, as recruiting numbers plummeted, they changed back to “Be All You Can Be.” Musical themes and mottos mean nothing without a foundation.

If we are to Live Free, well, we must embrace the three words, Duty, Honor, Country.

These are the words we still embrace at the American Constitutional Rights Union’s Committee to Support and Defend.

Furthermore, we must not allow those who see these words as meaningless to rule and lord over us.

Steadfast and Loyal.

First published on Town Hall