Outrage As West Point Drops ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ Motto From Mission Statement

The US Military Academy at West Point has been accused of ‘going woke’ after suddenly removing the iconic motto “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement.

The phrase will be replaced with the words, “Army Values”

Last week, West Point’s superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland announced that the academy would be modifying its mission statement to drop the three-word phrase in favor of “the Army Values,” a reference to a broader set of seven attributes that serve as the Army’s ethos.

The Mail Online reports: In a statement addressed to West Point cadets on Monday Gilland wrote, ‘Our responsibility to produce leaders to fight and win our nation’s wars requires us 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,’ the letter 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.’ 

While the motto was officially introduced in 1998, the phrase was initially featured in a famous speech by Gen. Douglas MacArthur in 1962. 

In the 1962 speech at West Point, Gen. Douglas MacArthur said, ‘The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.’

Gilland also pointed out that West Point’s mission statement has changed nine times in the past.

The academy’s previous mission statement read: ‘To educate, train and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the United States Army.’ 

The MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates slammed the change and called out the decision as ‘progressive ideology’ for eroding tradition.

‘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.’

West Point graduate Meaghan Mobbs called the new mission statement ‘a warning sign that should make everyone sit up and take notice,’ as reported by the Washington Times. 

She said the new phrase is ‘watering down of the West Point experience. 

‘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.’

This comes as Republicans continuously insist that the Biden administration is ‘hellbent’ on politicizing the military. 

The Army is in the middle of a five-year plan to become a ‘model example of diversity, equality and inclusion’, with the blessing of the White House.