Honor, Courage, Commitment - Will They Survive?

      Speaking to the Brigade of Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy on August 1, 1963, President John F. Kennedy stated: This country owes the greatest debt to our servicemen. In time of war, of course, there is a tremendous enthusiasm and outburst of popular feeling about those who fight and lead our wars, but it is sometimes different in peace. But I can assure the people of this country, from my own personal experience in the last 2 1/2 years, that more than anything, more than anything, the fact that this country is secure and at peace, the fact that dozens of countries allied with us are free and at peace, has been due to the military strength of the United States. And that strength has been directly due to the men who serve in our Armed Forces.   He goes on to say:   I can imagine a no more rewarding career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good...

        Make no mistake, Donald Trump intends to steal the 2024 Presidential election.  He will do this by exploiting the vulnerabilities of a nation-wide electoral system that embodies fifty different, independent state systems; none of which is truly accountable to any other state or to the federal government.  The irony is that this complex system was designed to protect the republic from tyranny, not undermine it as is being done today.          The Constitution of the United States was designed to make a stronger federal union more palatable to states with smaller numbers of citizens and large numbers of slaves.   These states believed that their cultures and prosperity, which, in most cases, were bound up in the institution of slavery, would be overwhelmed by the states that were in the process of industrialization and had rapidly growing populations of free citizens.   If political power were left solely...

        Alliances are important because they promote their members’ diplomatic and military effectiveness.  Diplomatic effectiveness is founded upon establishing a degree of mutual trust necessary to accomplish common goals on the international stage.  Military effectiveness is a measure of the application of military means and ways, to achieve the goal of peace, at least a peace that is beneficial to the victor.  A successful alliance promotes mutual security by solidifying diplomatic relationships and aggregating each member’s military effectiveness into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  These permit the alliance to better use diplomatic and military power in the service of its strategic objectives.       The diplomatic value of alliances was most recently illustrated in the multi-state agreement to exchange NATO-nation citizens, including three Americans, with Russians held by NATO countrie...

      Most service people would hold that their military careers are not about them they are about those they serve:  their country, their fellow citizens, their families, the mission.  This concept is part of the foundation of military ethics.       According to Professor James H. Toner of the Air War College: Military ethics based upon "me-ism" or "egotism" cannot function. Military ethics is about knowing whom and what we owe.  . . . (Service men and women) must understand that they owe a debt of gratitude to their country, families, services, chain of command, and comrades. That is exactly what is meant by "service before self" (in the Air Force), "selfless service" (in the Army), or "commitment" (in the Navy and Marine Corps). Military ethics cannot properly exist without the concept of owing. If we know why we owe what we do, we are able to recognize the obligation, responsibility, and duty which give rise to moral thinking an...

Washington Post Online,  July 18, 2024   https://wapo.st/4fbOiwW

         Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale was a true naval hero.   A naval aviator who was shot down over North Vietnam, he spent 7 and 1/2 years in prison during which he was tortured 15 times, spent four years in solitary confinement and spent two years in leg irons.   Despite these challenges, Stockdale became one of the military commanders of the prisoners of war (POW's), successfully establishing a chain of command, a means of communication and clearly defined goals that were instrumental to maintaining the sanity and moral courage of those under his command.        During his captivity, Stockdale developed and refined his philosophy of living which was founded on the ancient philosophy of stoicism.   In Stockdale's words, the goal of stoicism is not a good society but a good man.   Stockdale spent the remainder of his life after his release teaching military officers "how to be good men".   This was not done ou...