The United States Military Academy — commonly known as West Point — caused an uproar after removing the phrase “Duty, Honor, And Country” from its mission statement, Newsweek reported Thursday.
Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland recommended Monday in a letter that the statement be updated, as well as considerably lengthened.
The new suggested mission statement would be “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”, according to the superintendent’s letter. “Both the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff approved this recommendation,” Gilland added.
The old mission statement, first formally adopted by the Academy in 1998, is still “foundational to the United States Military Academy’s culture and will always remain our motto,” Superintendent Lt. Gen. Gilland assured the public in the letter. (RELATED: Supreme Court Declines To Block West Point’s Race-Based Admissions Program)
The phrase “Duty, Honor, Country” comes from a farewell address that retired Gen. Douglas MacArthur delivered to West Point cadets in 1962, Newsweek noted.
West Point’s mission statement change sparks fury https://t.co/MbMp56KcVg
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) March 14, 2024
The reaction to the change was largely negative.
“Wow! #WestPoint announcing they’ve gone full globalist. Purposely tanking recruitment of young Americans patriots to make room for the illegal mercenaries,” Rachel Campos-Duffy, a Fox News co-host, tweeted.
Wow! #WestPoint announcing they’ve gone full globalist. Purposely tanking recruitment of young Americans patriots to make room for the illegal mercenaries. https://t.co/DhtOTJGA9l
— Rachel Campos-Duffy (@RCamposDuffy) March 14, 2024
“Old and busted motto: ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ New motto: ‘Diversity, Inclusion, Equity,'” another user posted in response to a Tuesday post by the military academy.
Old and busted motto: “Duty, Honor, Country”
New motto: “Diversity, Inclusion, Equity”— Alyz Luke (@alyz_luke) March 13, 2024
“Fire whoever removed your motto. This is why people don’t want to join. Even legacies don’t want to join because it’s not the same, and you’re making it worse. As a retired vet, generations of my family served, and it stops at my children,” wrote another.
Fire whoever removed your motto.
This is why people don’t want to join. Even legacies don’t want to join because it’s not the same, and you’re making it worse. As a retired vet, generations of my family served, and it stops at my children.— AloeWhale (@AloeWhale) March 14, 2024
The MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates, which advocates for “a return to traditional West Point Principles” said in a statement that “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,” according to The Washington Times.
West Point received 12,589 applications to join its class of 2026, a drop of around 10 percent from the previous year. The academy typically accepts around 1,300 cadets per year.