West Point Removes “Duty, Honor, Country” from its Mission Statement
Another in a continuing series of body blows to our nation’s military and the service academies in particular.
In what will come as a surprise to almost nobody, the United States Military Academy has deleted the time-honored phrase “Duty, Honor, Country” from its official Mission Statement.
From Fox News: West Point military academy drops ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ from mission statement:
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has made the decision to remove the “Duty, Honor, Country” motto from its mission statement.
In a letter sent to students and supporters, Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said the phrase, which was first added to the mission statement in 1998, would be replaced with the words, “Army Values.”
“Our responsibility to produce leaders to fight and win our nation’s wars requires us to assess ourselves regularly,” Gilland wrote in a letter to cadets and supporters on Monday. “Thus, over the past year and a half, working with leaders from across West Point and external stakeholders, we reviewed our vision, mission, and strategy to serve this purpose.”
He continued: “As a result of this assessment, we recommended the following mission statement to our senior Army leadership: ‘To build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation.’”
The official West Point Press Release is here: West Point Mission Statement Update.
Personally, this wouldn’t bother me a whole lot if it wasn’t another in a continuing series of body blows to our nation’s military and the service academies in particular. I’ve always thought “mission statements” were a weak excuse to shore up mediocre leadership, so I don’t really pay attention to them a whole lot, but look at what else is going on:
- Biden’s Gaza Floating Port Plan Generating Concern Among Military Professionals
- Military Experts Blame Biden Admin’s DEI Agenda for Our Shrinking Armed Forces
- In Latest Blow to U.S. Military Readiness, Biden Administration Set to Spend Nearly $270 Million on DEI
- USS Boxer Unable to Get Underway after Two-Year $200 Million Overhaul, Symptom of Military Readiness Problems
- Navy Drag Queen Recruiters – Definitive Evidence that the Military has Lost Its Way
I could go on and on and on, but you get the idea. This is the latest retreat from a military totally focused on locating, targeting, and destroying the enemy in defense of this great country, to a military now focused on the latest LGBTQI+ nonsense, DEI/CRT madness, or anything except military readiness.
Don’t forget that the last universities expressly using race in admissions, and fighting like hell to keep it that way, are the service academies.
You ought to do your self a favor, if you never have, and listen to General Douglas MacArthur’s 1962 speech to the cadets at West Point shortly before his death explaining the meaning of Duty, Honor, Country:
In any case, we are not the only ones disturbed by West Point’s latest. Users on X were not impressed, either:
This is outrageous! ~ ~ West Point removes ‘Duty, Honor, Country‘ from its Mission Statement, dissapointing but not shocking. https://t.co/rpblsrqQFO pic.twitter.com/xwT2sH0rmB
— Mary (@matjendav4) March 14, 2024
West Point Removes the Words ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ From Its Mission Statement
They wonder why they can’t reach their recruitment goals?
— TheTexasOne (@TexasRepublic71) March 14, 2024
West Point USMA has removed its mission statement “Duty, Honor, Country.”
My dad graduated from WP. If he were alive today, this would certainly be insulting to him. pic.twitter.com/dWJg0jOesS
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) March 14, 2024
West Point drops Duty, Honor, Country from Mission Statement. Says it does not align with Army Values. Nothing aligns more than that statement with Army Values. Stop the wokeness in The American Military before it’s too late.
— 🇺🇸Disabled Veteran Constitutional Conservative (@SGT_Oz) March 13, 2024
Of course they did! I mean why wouldn’t they in the current climate of this administrations failures? #WestPoint there no longer is duty and honor and certainly no country anymore! #joebidenDESTROYSAmerica pic.twitter.com/BRXkXNXym2
— Erin (@ErinSpksLoudr) March 14, 2024
This is really unfathomable. The United States Military Academy over at West Point has submitted to the Wokeness.
Just imagine what the cadets will be like once they get their full commission after graduation.
Absolutely Disgraceful. pic.twitter.com/Caz4afrBeW
— 🇺🇲 Silent Silas 🇺🇲 (@RagingKuJo1222) March 13, 2024
There are hundreds more just like this on X. None in support that I could find.
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Comments
Trump should campaign on this, pointing out what the Democrats are trying to do to the country, and promising to correct the issue on Day One if he is elected.
We’ve seen lately what “army values” are, and we’re not interested.
Who is this “we”?
“Army values” are anything they are defined to be, as redefined at any moment. Instead of being enumerated, objective virtues, it’s now “whatever the assholes at the top want today.”
The seven ‘Army Values’ are enumerated and have been for some time:
Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity and Personal Courage.
That doesn’t change the short sighted nature of this change. IMO it is a deliberate provocation towards what some on the left view as a ‘troubling military caste’ of families with a multi generational tradition of service.
In an strange way, we should give them credit for being honest. Under Biden, they represent neither duty, nor honor, nor country.
Yes, he needs to point out that the Communists have indeed taken over without firing a shot (yet).
I am 100% opposed to this change, but the fact is that West Point’s motto has changed 9 times in the past 100 years. You would think that the U.S. Army could agree on something and not need to change it ever 10 years.
Looking for a Blood Flag that the Dems will have each new recruit pledge DEI to the Party.
“Blutfahne”
I am no prognosticator of future events but will be surprised if President Trump 2.0 survives his entire term.
History has warned us of the current state of the Union.
That is one reason why his VP ick has to be a lot better than Kamala Harris. Given that IMO Biden would almost certainly not last out a second term, this should be an important campaign issue.
I am not referring to age, but of stance instead.
I would not put it past the eastern menace to civilization.
Fecklessness, Dishonor, Cosmopolitanism, those three shallow words describe you sniveling quislings.
If you can look at all of this and not come to the conclusion that it is a planned and concerted attempt to weaken our Military, well then you are probably a leftis zombie.
I feel sorry for americans serving in biden’s woke military.
Is anybody surprised that recruitment has gone off cliff. smh
My daughter and SIL are active duty. They are appalled at what is happening and counting the days to retirement putting in the bare minimum required to get there
“counting the days to retirement putting in the bare minimum required to get there”
Now, there’s a perfect description of our communist government employees, soldier and civilian alike.
When your life is on the line you would understand what I meant. Go away, troll. Mom has some cheesy poofs for you
New motto: “For Globo-Homo: Diversity! Equity! Inclusion!“
Diversity, Trannies and Hair braids!
Seriously: Who ARE these people?
Without duty, honor, and country, what remains? You have no duty to your oath, you have no honor to serve your nation. Ultimately, you have no country.
The days of McArthur, Patton, Nimitz, Doolittle, and the like are long gone. And this nation is diminished because of the fecklessness of our “leadership”.
Disgust doesn’t cover it.
Sadly, I think they are paving the way for the U.S. Military to be used internally to enforce Woke Values. The Leftist want to be able to round up those deplorable, MAGA, rural, violent terrorists to send them off to the “re-education” camps as part of the Lefts desire to violently remove their opposition and reduce the population to support their “environmental” concerns. The Military will be the people that do it because they have F-15s and nukes.
Did a scuba dive in Hawaii….. the instructor was former Navy officer…… one of his off the cuff bitches was that civilians had “assault weapons”. OK… Hawaii…. but he represents an “us versus them” moment rather than “us for them”. Now In Haiti , as with all other areas of the world, US bureaucrats will be saved but not civilians. Civies are on their own.
“Army Values”…whose army…whose values?
I have the perfect slogan for the modern Westpoint:
Apathy, Dishonor, Selfishness
I fully agree that “duty, Honor And Country ” should absolutely remain as part of the West Point motto.
That being said, McCarther was one of worst military generals in the history of the US.
He should have been fired immediately after the Dec 8th fiasco in the Phillipines – 6 – 8 hours after pearl harbor, he allowed the Japs to destroy his entire airforce on the ground.
Wasted tremendous time demanding the invasion of the phillipines, delaying Iwo and okinawa by months allowing japan to reinforce those islands.
mangled retreat down the corrigidor
Insisting on pelilu with zero military value,
numerous other military blunders in new guineia ,
numerous other military blunders in korea.
accepting bribe from phillipine president,
watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zHDEI-s9ME&t=2434s
Sorry – I cant typo
its McArthur –
aka dugout doug
not McCarther ( my apologies)
Can’t type and don’t know history either.
I challenge you on that. Ego…. yes. Finally out of control… enough.
In WWI, McArthur would go “over the top” with his men…. they had rifles…he a quirt. On one recon sortie, he was beyond the wire with them…. he was the only one to survive. In WWII, his planning resulted in the lowest casualty rates. He successfully brought Japan into the present.
He was ordered to leave Corregidor. All that is remembered now is the fall from grace.
Great men have faults. His caught up with him.
Alaska – it was mcarthur’s retreat from manilla that was the fiasco, not his escape / departure from corregidor, abandoning supplies even with plenty of time.
His fall from grace started with his sitting on his butt in the hours after pearl harbor allowing his entire airforce to be destroyed on the ground.
I will grant you that his administration of post ww2 japan was good, though, the manner in which it was achieved was in large part due to the damage that was done starting in march 1945 thus rendering the japanese population to change their culture. In other words, mcarthur post ww2 success likely could have been accomplished by several others.
Do you regard the collapse of British held territories at the same time in the same manner.? How about Repulse and Prince of Wales? Japan was a juggernaut at that time beyond the scope of appreciation by the West.
Alaska – I dont have an opinion on the repulse and the prince of wales, since I have studied that sinking in enough detail to develop an educated opinion. That sinking was 3 days into the pacific war and I dont think any one on the allied side grasped the shift from sea power to air power, and there fore were caught flat footed.
Same lack of knowledge on the surrender of singapore, though my understanding was Perchevil (spelling error) possibly surrendered too early. Again I havent formed an opinion on either.
Singapore didn’t really have any chance. They had always assumed any attack would come from the harbor, so the guns were trained on that. Apparently it never occurred to anyone that attackers might land on the north shore of the island and march over the mountain to attack the city from the north. The guns could be reaimed, but with the Japanese coming over the top of the mountain they had nothing to aim at; the mountain was in the way. By the time they were in view it was too late to shoot at them.
milhouse – i agree with your assessment of singapore, with the only caveat as to whether he surrendered too early with the second caveat in that I have not studied the history in sufficient detail to have an informed opinion
In Singapore modern aircraft and better leaders might have made a difference. Unfortunately many of leaders sent to Singapore were not the best and brightest, many were arguably sent b/c they could do less damage there than in Europe. A not insubstantial number may have also been suspected of support for fascism and it was easier to shift the scions of the aristocracy and the powerful families to Singapore ‘out of the way’.
Yes, and Halsey should have been ousted after the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Yet, these men were fallible humans.
Have you ever made a mistake you regret? I certainly have…many, many times.
Given the circumstances Halsey and MacArthur faced, if you were in their shoes would you have done anything differently?
History is a harsh judge.
I only partially agree with you on Halsey, Yes halsey made mistakes in leyte gulf and the typhoon. did the rise to the level that he should have been relieved? maybe maybe not. I happen to be a nimitz, spruance and halsey fan.
early 1942, when he received $500,000 from the Philippine government during the siege of Corregidor and Bataan.
Isabel Rosario Cooper was a mix race Filipina who was a mistress of General Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur, who was around 30 years older than Cooper was stationed in the Philippines from 1922 to 1925 and, again, in 1929 to 1930.
Note that puts macarthur at age 42-45 and 49-50
The girl friend would have been 13-15 and 19-20 – thats near pedophilia age range
Fortunately, Taffey 3 held the fort at a level that spooked the Japanese. Nimitz and Spruance were not considered amongst the top admirals at the beginning of the war but they were at the end! Yamamoto lost to better “gamblers” than him.
It’s been replaced with “Doodie, Shame, C*nty”, with a side-dish of Treason.
According to West Point, the phrase “duty, honor, country,” was added to the mission statement in 1998 – a mission statement that has been changed 9 times over the last century.
That means the phrase has been around for only 26 of the 222 years (11.7%) West Point has been in existence.
How did West Point ever manage to train leaders like Lee, Grant, Pershing, the “Class the Stars Fell On,” Abrahms, Schwarzkopf, MacArthur, etc., without “duty, honor, country” being in the mission statement?
As the press release states, “Duty, Honor, Country” will remain the motto of the US Military Academy at West Point as it is critical to “Army Values” within the new mission statement.
Finally, the “Character Development Strategy” at the USMA contains many statements such as this:
“Duty, Honor, Country” is being not removed from the core values at West Point.
Thank You. While I’m not getting too worked up over this the timing is suspicious and the new motto is silly.
The motto of the USMA is not changing. The mission statement is.
From the press release:
It seems clear that “Duty, Honor, Country” is not going anywhere in the culture of West Point, and is integral to what the new mission statement is combining under the term “Army Values.”
Here’s the press release which explains the change to the mission statement more fully:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/usma-media/pdfs/ABOUT/Public%20Affairs/Press%20Releases/mission1.png
If the phrase is only around since 1998 in the mission statement… then why did McArthur build a speech around something that wasn’t “around” in the 1960’s?
There is a very bad smell coming from the top. Who exactly are the “external stakeholders” and others that Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland refers to in his letter, as “we”? Let’s give credit where it is due. Who do we thank for this forward-thinking leadership?
Stakeholders is a meaningless buzz word that allows feckless “leaders” to cater to whatever they feel like. But dropping the explicit words, “Duty, Honor, Country” is understandable from leftists who have no honor, who see duty solely as expanding their own power, and who hate their country.
Anyone care to give a ballpark estimate of how many man-hours were spent on rewriting the damned mission statement?
Just passed a Humvee on I-26 that is over on the shoulder, hood up and three soldiers in fatigues sitting in the grass, playing on the phone.
I have no confidence in our national security and the 2A will be our only means of survival as free men.
So what you’re saying is that today’s Army is going to need combat zone support not from the USO, but from AAA?
As we lament this I cannot help but wonder–it was added in 1998– what did it say before that year?
Because I cannot feel outrage at a thing removed that was so recently added.
The school was founded in 1802, what held the place of ‘duty,, honor, country for the near two hundred years before 1998 and why was THAT altered?
The USMA at West Point has a summary of the changes in the mission statement over the years.
The mission statement has changed 9 times in the past century or so.
Prior to 1998, when “duty, honor, country” was added to the mission statement, the statement read:
To educate and train the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate shall have the attributes essential to professional growth throughout a career as an officer of the Regular Army and to inspire each to a lifetime of service to the Nation.
That mission statement was implemented in 1992. Prior to that, a previous version of the mission statement ran from 1987 – 1992. The change in 1998 only added the phrase throughout a career to the 1987 version.
The 1998 change was restoring a reference to a career in the Army, an idea that had been de-emphasized in previous mission statements.
You can see the changes throughout the history here:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/usma-media/pdfs/ABOUT/Public%20Affairs/Press%20Releases/mission_2.jpg
Thank you for taking the time to do some research and post this information. It is quite helpful!
You’re welcome.
I work on a military base and experience officers (even 2nd Lieutenants) and they wouldn’t stand for eliminating “duty, honor, country” from the motto and core values. It is too important to them. It is part of who they are.
This just seems like a case where people are conflating a change in the “mission statement” with a change in the values at the USMA.
Take care.
I give West Point a huge amount of credit. If you no longer believe in “duty, honor, country”, then it is good to take it out of your mission statement.
Leftists turning West Point into a Cultural Marxist Seminary,
When the weasels set out to destroy an institution they always refer to its “stakeholders.” Would that they are someday nailed to a stake and burnt to a crisp.
F*** Gen. Gilland and the Hussein he rode in on!
When Trump is elected he can fire all the Officers involved, clean out The Pentagon and change the motto to “America First”
Disappointing, but not surprising.
New new motto:
Are we not men?
We are Devo.
Are we not men?
D E V O.
Quick! Jerk those knees!
Duty, Honor, and Country was added in 1998.
Until that time THEY WERE NOT IN THE MISSION STATEMENT.
Were the officers turned out prior to 1998 commies? Leftists? Unpatriotic?
It has been my experience that when statements of patriotism or loyalty or truth have to be enforced by diktat, governmental or otherwise, the reason for it is usually a lack of those things being practiced by those demanding the enforcement.
The woke military wonders why they aren’t meeting recruitment goals……and the beat goes on…..Let’s Go Brandon!!