In his final speech in 1962, Five-Star General of Armies Douglas MacArthur spoke to an assembled audience of cadets, active officers, and senior civilians about the necessity of having a military that was prepared to defend the republic, detached from the politics of the day, and who lived by the credo words “Duty, Honor, Country.” General MacArthur, who served and led in the Army for over 50 years, issued a somber warning that rings true to this day:
These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country. You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the Nation’s destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. 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.
MacArthur was telling the cadets who would soon become officers that their charge was to defend the country, not to be entangled in the debates of the day. He reminded the assembled that soldiers who guard the republic must be something different, but also something very important.
Fast forward to right now: after nearly 30 years of being tinkered with and, in many ways, decimated via politics, the armed forces of the United States are at a crossroads and inflection point. Our uniformed services are teetering towards being incapable of defending the country and becoming something General MacArthur warned against and something the founders never envisioned.
The American military and Department of Defense are in desperate need of new, fresh, clear-eyed, and purposeful leadership that is focused on one thing—the defense of the country. America needs someone to bring both a traditional and dynamic style of leadership to the Pentagon and to the armed forces. Pete Hegseth is that someone.
For the better part of 250 years, the American military was a politically agnostic entity. At times, our military would be filled with draftees, and at other times, it would be filled with small groups of volunteers. During conflicts, the government would call its sons to duty to defend the republic. Those sons would be sent home after the wars and after the peace was secure. […]
— Read More: amgreatness.com
