This post is not about writing... just something I thought should be said.


“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice so help me God.

In October, 1966 I swore that oath when I enlisted in the Army.
I took it seriously then.
I still do.
And because I still do, I must point out that although it required me to obey the orders of the President and my officers during my enlistment, nowhere does it say that my obligation to the Constitution ended when I was discharged.
No, that oath is forever.
Simply put, it means that when I raised my right hand and swore, before God, that I would support and defend the Constitution I committed myself to honor that oath until my dying breath.
That’s why I was so saddened to see a mob of men and women bent on overthrowing the government of the United States storm the Capitol last week. It was disgraceful, it was unpatriotic, and it was criminal.
What saddened me even more is the fact that there were many veterans in that unruly mob who once swore the same oath I did. Apparently, it didn’t mean the same thing to them that it meant to me.
Elected officials and cops swear similar oaths. It was infuriating, therefore, to discover that there were elected officials and police officers from other cities in the mob that was hell bent on bringing down the government. Apparently, the oath they took did not mean very much to them.
What was even more infuriating is the fact that this gang of thugs who rampaged through the halls of Congress claimed to be patriots.
They are not patriots.
Make no mistake about that.
They carried Confederate flags into the very heart of the Union.
Is that what being a patriot means these days?
They wore shirts extolling twisted Nazi ideals.
Is that what passes for patriotism today?
The answer to both those questions is simple.
No, it does not.
In the end, it comes down to this: Those that never swore the oath disgraced themselves, their families, and all Americans who served and are serving honorably in the armed forces of these United States.
And those that once swore the oath forever dishonored themselves by forsaking it.
Why?
Because an oath is forever.