The Priority This Veterans Day
On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering, "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
It was, and he was, politically incorrect for a man from Missouri, descended from slave owners and growing up alongside Jim Crow laws. President Truman himself held a low opinion of African Americans (and Jews)-yet as President of the United States, he did what he said the Constitution required; he integrated the armed forces. There was a backlash, but by the time of the Korean War integration was a fact. In the years since, the United States Armed Forces have rightly been considered as well-integrated an organization as exists in this country.
Why is that the case and why bring it up on Veterans Day? Because just as American service personnel should not be wrongly segregated, they should not be artificially "diversified." Soldiers swear no allegiance to the president or any political party; they take an oath to defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It is the defense of our national principles that make American soldiers a force for good in the world.
Duty, honor, country Honor, Courage and Commitment To fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace Semper Fidelis (Happy 234th Birthday, Marines) Semper Paratus
Those who have protected our country and our allies from the beginning of our existence have been the embodiment of those principles-from Trenton and Saratoga to Resaca de la Palma; from Antietam, Manassas and Gettysburg to Santiago and Manila; from Scapa Flow, Sechault and Belleau Woods to Anzio, Normandy and the Bulge; from Inchon to Pusan to Khe Sanh to Kafji; in Fallujah and in Mazar-i Sharif. Race, religion and national origin have never been impediments to heroism and fidelity to the United States.
Today, American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines fight in Iraq and Afghanistan (and alongside Pakistan), but the enemy is not Iraqis, Afghans or Pakistanis. The enemy is a violent, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, anti-American ideological drumbeat against the tolerance, freedom and individual civil liberties for which the United States and our allies stand. The drumbeat has adherents in many places among many people. To the extent that it is web-based, the adherents of the ideology we fight can be disconnected from the lands in which we fight.
They can be here. They can be in uniform.
If the first obligation of our government is to secure and protect the people, the corollary is that those who serve in our armed forces should know their superiors put their needs as a united fighting force first-not diversity, not women's rights, not gay rights, not any subset of American political thought. American solders can look like anyone and pray like anyone and be from anywhere-but they cannot have an allegiance ahead of the oath they take to the Constitution.
It is a difficult job-but no more so than to lead or be led into battle. The Service Chiefs and the Commander in Chief can have no higher priority on behalf of the troops this Veterans Day.
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