I was reading an article by Andrew Selsky of the Associated Press after he interviewed Christopher David, the US Naval Academy graduate and “Navy veteran” who was beaten by #45’s Brownshirts in Portland. Multiple pictures and videos show David just standing there, hands to his side, “like a redwood”. He said that he actually thought that he would be able to talk to them and remind them of their military oath. Sadly, he was wrong. David had to have been a naval officer. You don’t go from the US Naval Academy to active duty as a seaman. From the fact and tone of Selsky’s article, David did not dwell on being a naval officer but did make a point of the military oath, which every one of us who has ever served in the United States military has taken. I was not a military academy graduate, nor was I an officer. In my four years my only citations of any merit were for good conduct, which merely meant that I had kept my nose clean and did my job, and a marksmanship badge. I received an honorable discharge three months after spending 100 days being prepared by the 101st Airborne for Vietnam. The only thing I learned from them was that, if I were to end up in Vietnam, I was fairly certain of coming home in a body bag. I was simply a young man at the height of the Vietnam war trying to survive. Nevertheless, I will still never forget the day that my small class took the oath of office. Like David, I found it a profoundly moving moment. “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:….” Perhaps it was because my Father was a decorated WWII disabled veteran who survive Omaha Beach and Battle of the Bulge before falling to a bomb somewhere in Germany.
Before I finish my story, let me point out that the oath does continue and say that the soldier promises to follow the orders of their appointed officer and the President of the United States. If one looks carefully at the oath, and thinks about what they are saying, there are three distinct sections clearly divided by semicolons: (i) I swear to support and defend the Constitution; (ii) I will bear allegiance to the Constitution; (iii) I will follow the orders of my superiors. To pledge that you will follow the orders of your superiors is important and the President is the Commander-in-Chief. BUT … and this ‘but’ needs to be in big, bold, underlined and italicized letters … this oath does not say that I will support and defend my officer or the President. It says I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in doing so, I’ll follow orders.
This said, let’s continue with my story. My Father wasn’t exactly excited about my joining the Army. He had become a Constitutional expert and was strongly opposed to the war in Vietnam, but he supported me. The one thing that he did impress upon me was that under US military justice no soldier can be made to follow an order that is illegal, immoral or unconstitutional. All of the cadre under whom I served were career officers and Vietnam vets. They also taught me that under US military justice no soldier can be made to follow an order that is illegal, immoral or unconstitutional. This does not put orders up for a vote. They’re still orders to be followed, and if you do feel strongly enough that the orders are illegal, immoral or unconstitutional you are most probably going to face a court martial. The responsibility to refuse such orders obviously becomes more demanding as one goes up in rank. It is hard for an Army private to refuse an order, but a ranking non-commissioned or commissioned officer has a responsibility. It comes with the oath to support and defend the Constitution.
Historically we witness this in the heroic act of Capt. Silus Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer who refused to allow their Company F of the First Colorado to take part in the Sand Creek Massacre carried out by Colonel John Chivington on Nov. 29, 1864 which killed 200 native Americans, mostly women and children. The two officers were tried and exonerated, but their lives were practically destroyed. Nevertheless, they did the right thing. They defended the Constitution.
Totally unknown to historians is the account which my Father related to me many years after World War II when he was finally able to talk about his experience. At one point he had a sergeant who was shooting Germans who had surrendered. The sergeant would walk the prisoner out away from the bivouac and come back alone with the story that they had attempted to escape. My Father, and the other men, refused to join the sergeant in his killing and turned him in. They were not there to injure or kill unarmed people whether civilians or prisoners-of-war.
As a psychotherapist with over twenty-five years working in geriatric psych, I heard many such accounts from Korean and Vietnam veterans. The point is that in the United States one is not expected to carry out illegal, immoral or unconstitutional orders. It takes a tremendous amount of intestinal fortitude to disobey such orders, but it is all about “support and defend the Constitution.” That is what Christopher David was talking about. That is what he was trying to say to #45’s Brownshirts who beat him.
We have entered a full-blown Constitutional crisis. #45 insists that because he says it we must obey it. That just isn’t true. The President is not a king or dictator but an elected official who is supposed to work for the people of the United States. The oath taken by the President says “I do solemly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” To call the Constitution an archaic system that is bad for the country is not fulfilling that oath. (There are at least nine good sources that documented his statement.) To send Brownshirts to forcefully and violently violate the “right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.” (First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.) is not fulfilling that oath.
Christopher David was trying to remind his attackers of their oath of enlistment. He was trying to tell them that their orders, presence and behavior were illegal, immoral and unconstitutional and that they had both the right and responsibility to refuse to carry out those orders. His only failing was that he was so naive as to believe that they cared.
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