The U.S. Military Academy at West Point has removed the words “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement, in what some critics say reflects the deepening politicization within the military services under President Biden.
The mission statement until recently included the three words made famous for many Americans in the 1962 farewell address to West Point Cadets by retired Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the storied World War II and Korean War commander who would die just two years later.
The new mission statement, outlined this week by West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve W. Gilland, says instead that West Pointers will be grounded in “Army values,” including loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.
The superintendent sent a letter Monday to “the Long Gray Line” and all academy supporters on the change, noting that the change was approved by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George. “Duty, Honor, Country” remains the service’s official motto.
“Duty, Honor, Country is foundational to the United States Military Academy’s culture and will always remain our motto,” he wrote, adding that the change in the wording of the mission statement was prompted by a requirement to “assess ourselves regularly.”
“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 wrote.
“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 updated statement focuses on mission-essential tasks of building, educating, training and inspiring West Pointers to be Army leaders committed to the service’s values, he added. The letter ended with “Go Army! Duty Honor Country!”
But the change is likely to fan a controversy over the state of the military under President Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whom Republican critics in Congress have accused of imposing “woke” social ideas on the Army and other military services at the expense of patriotic traditions and traditional warfighting values.
Army Col. Terence M. Kelley, an academy spokesman, declined to specify why the three words were taken out of the mission statement, other than to note it was part of an effort at an “evolving” statement. The words “Duty, Honor, Country” have been included in the mission statement since 1998, he said.
“Our mission statement has changed over the past century as our motto has remained constant; change does not have to mean woke politics,” Col. Kelley said in an email.
Mottoes and ideology
The shift in statement was first disclosed by the news outlet Armed Forces Press, quoting information from the MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates, a patriotic group. The society criticized the change as a symptom of a larger problem for the Army and the military as a whole.
“Like in many great institutions in the United States of America, progressive ideology is eroding away at West Point and doing so in a slow but methodical march, co-opting our good intentions through the specter of cultural Marxism,” the group said. “Our adversaries are unscrupulous but sophisticated and very patient.”
Meaghan Mobbs, a West Point graduate and former Army officer, called the new mission statement “a warning sign that should make everyone sit up and take notice.”
The statement is an example of the “watering down of the West Point experience,” said Ms. Mobbs, who has worked with veterans organizations and other non-profits since leaving the military.
“They are saying the quiet part out loud. West Point is losing its comparative advantage,” she said. “The federal service academies must distinguish themselves from the senior military colleges and broader ROTC. I believe this is also indicative of the broader challenges facing recruitment and retention within our military.”
Gen. MacArthur said in his farewell address to West Point cadets two years before his death in 1964 that duty, honor, country should be revered values for the Army‘s future leaders.
“Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be,” he said. “They are your rallying point to build courage when courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.”
“The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase,” Gen. MacArthur said. “Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.”
The MacArthur Society posted briefing slides from a West Point board of visitors meeting March 7, when Gen. Gilland first revealed the plan to revise the mission statement.
The new mission statement is described in the slide as “Army Senior Leader Approved.” It states that the goal is “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 senior leader behind the change was not identified by name.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Joseph Myers, a 1981 West Point graduate, said the change in the mission statement reflects a larger problem of military recruiting and retaining valuable officers.
The problems are the result of emphasizing such policies of diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory, he said.
“No matter how the West Point mission statement is crafted, the real question, issue and problem is retention rates of Academy graduates for a lifetime career of service to the Army,” Col. Myers said. “I think the public expects more and better of their investment.”
The focus on non-military values and policies “is likely seriously impacting retention rates and Army officer career inspiration and aspirations,” he said.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.