For over 220 years, instructors at the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) at West Point have drilled the institution’s motto of “Duty, Honor, Country” into the brains of their charges. A new decision by West Point administrators to shorten the USMA mission statement in place since 1998 has drawn hostile fire from pundits, politicians, academy grads and veterans.
According to the New York Post, USMA Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland said the specific words “Duty, Honor Country” would be replaced with the words, “Army Values” in a letter issued to cadets and supporters on Monday.
Gilland said the language change came from the results of an effort to review the vision, mission and strategy of West Point.
The new mission statement reads, “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.”
“Duty, Honor, Country is foundational to the United States Military Academy’s culture and will always remain our motto,” Gilland’s letter said. “It defines who we are as an institution and as graduates of West Point,” he said. “These three hallowed words are the hallmark of the cadet experience and bind the Long Gray Line together across our great history.”
While the wording might not seem to be a dramatic shift to the casual observer, West Point is an institution where traditions have significant meaning for cadets and USMA graduates, many of whom are in the top ranks of the military, government and industry.
The backlash did not take long.
The Associated Press reported that Rachel Campos-Duffy, co-host of the Fox network’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that West Point has gone “full globalist” and is “Purposely tanking recruitment of young Americans patriots to make room for the illegal mercenaries.”
X user Political Viking posted, “West Point Removes ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ from Its Mission Statement. The saddest part is that we shouldn’t be surprised. At West Point, a cadet can get a degree in Diversity and Inclusion studies.”
Conservative podcaster Derek O’Shea said the change is unnecessary and only designed to weaken the language used to promote patriotism and define the institution.
