The United States Military Academy at West Point has removed the words "Duty, Honor, Country" from its mission statement, a move some critics in the defense community said reflected the politicization within the military services under the Biden administration.
According to the Washington Times, the mission statement—adopted by the academy in 1998—included the three words made famous by the legendary World War II and Korean War Gen. Douglas MacArthur during his 1962 farewell address to West Point cadets two years before he died.
"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," MacArthur added. "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."
MacArthur was part of West Point's Class of 1903.
(Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
West Point Superintendent: "Duty, Honor, Country" Stays as Academy Motto
In a message to cadets dated Monday, March 11, West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said that the new mission statement would be grounded in the values of the US Army, including loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
"Our responsibility to produce leaders to fight and win our nation's wars requires us to assess ourselves regularly," he said. "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."
Gen. Gilland further noted that the process received the approval of Army Secretary Christine E. Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George but also stressed that "Duty, Honor, Country" would remain the academy's motto.
"Duty, Honor, Country is foundational to the United States Military Academy's culture and will always remain our motto," Gilland added. "It defines who we are as an institution and as graduates of West Point. These three hallowed words are the hallmark of the cadet experience and bind the Long Gray Line together across our great history."
The "Long Gray Line" he mentioned referred to all cadets and graduates of the academy.
Veterans Criticize Biden's 'Woke' Policies
The change was likely to create a controversy in the American defense and veteran communities over the state of the military under US President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Republicans in Capitol Hill have accused them of imposing "woke" social ideas on the Army and other military services at the expense of patriotic traditions and warfighting values, the Times reported.
Academy spokesman Col. Terence M. Kelley declined to specify why the three words were taken out of the mission statement other than to note that it was part of an effort for an "evolving" statement.
"Our mission statement has changed over the past century as our motto has remained constant; change does not have to mean woke politics," he said in an email statement.
Armed Forces Press first disclosed the shift in a statement, quoting information from the patriotic group MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates. The group criticized the change as a symptom of a larger problem for the US Armed Forces 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."
Meanwhile, West Point alumna and former Army officer Meaghan Mobbs told the Times that the new mission statement was "a warning sign that should make everyone sit up and take notice," as it was an example of the "watering down of the West Point experience."
"They are saying the quiet part out loud. West Point is losing its comparative advantage," she added. "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."
Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. George, said in a statement that the chief of staff "agreed that the [new] mission statement aligned with the actual mission of West Point."
"[Gen. George] did not see the revised mission statement as removing 'Duty, Honor, Country' from the soul of West Point," Butler added. "It still exists as their motto. It is still prominent in the culture of West Point, and that will never change."
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