As our Douglas Andrews noted last week, the increasingly woke United States Military Academy at West Point has removed the words “Duty, Honor, Country” from its mission statement. The change outraged generations of Patriots who’ve served, including Lieutenant Colonel Allen West (U.S. Army, retired).

Duty — A moral or legal obligation, a responsibility. A task or action that someone is required to perform.

Honor — High respect, great esteem. An adherence to what is right or to a convention standard of conduct.

Country — A Nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.

West said the decision at West Point to remove those words was “confusing” and “confounding.” He also knows that’s a gross understatement.

Why at this time make a determination to remove those words spoken by famed General Douglas MacArthur to West Point Cadets? Ok, I get it–the announcement was that those three words would be replaced by the Army values, which I have known to change in my lifetime. Why at a time when it appears that our military is more centered on cultural Marxist ideological agendas and leftist social policies would a decision be made to add to that perception, a reality?

He continued:

It just appears that those simple three words, “Duty, Honor, Country” are just mere words to some — sadly to senior military leaders, and civilian military leadership. …

The three words, “Duty, Honor, Country” are not just a West Point thing. It is a creed, a way of life… It is a call to action that birthed this Nation before it was even established as a Nation. They are words which should be an integral fabric of our society, God knows we need such.

West argues through the importance of each point before concluding:

We can talk about policy all day long, but without a sense of Duty, Honor, Country policies will fail. It is like a good soup or gravy; it has to have a good base. In signing the Declaration of Independence, those 56 men pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to this grand experiment in self-governance. There are those who dismiss them as old white men, inconsequential, and today, irrelevant. They were virtuous men and America would be better served today by that level of impeccable character, rather than the charlatans and petty usurpers we fawn over these days, called politicians.

The United States Military Academy at West Point made a bad decision. Just like years ago when the US Army decided to change their marketing slogan from “Be All You Can Be” to “Army of One.” And guess what the Army did last year, as recruiting numbers plummeted, they changed back to “Be All You Can Be.” Musical themes and mottos mean nothing without a foundation.

If we are to Live Free, well, we must embrace the three words, Duty, Honor, Country.

Read the whole thing here.