{"id":23560,"date":"2013-07-03T01:13:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T04:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=23560"},"modified":"2016-11-26T01:20:37","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T04:20:37","slug":"dod-articles-highlight-military-oath-sort-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/03\/dod-articles-highlight-military-oath-sort-of\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD Articles Highlight Military Oath, Sort of"},"content":{"rendered":"

A half-dozen US Marine Corps press releases (1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>, 4<\/a>, 5<\/a>, 6<\/a>) recently highlighted a group promotion ceremony in which these Marines “reaffirm[ed]” their oaths before they deployed.\u00a0 All of the articles were identical except for the person, which is common for “hometown news releases,” or articles written primarily for use by local newspapers in a servicemember’s hometown.<\/p>\n

What made the framing text interesting was its repetition of the oath of office…or, at least, most<\/em> of it [ellipsis original]:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cI…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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter,\u201d said 1st Lt. Taylor Bates…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Except that isn’t the oath, at least, not\u00a0all<\/em> of it.\u00a0 As the official Marine Corps website notes<\/a>, it ends this way [emphasis added]:<\/p>\n

…and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s true, of course, that “so help me God” is optional, as is “swearing.”\u00a0 In a group setting, where multiple officers are reciting the oath, the superior officer normally recites the entire<\/em> oath, and if any choose not to say “so help me God,” they can do so.\u00a0 So it seems odd that the Corporal who wrote the article specifically chose to leave out just those last few words.<\/p>\n

It’s almost as if the military is hypersensitive to any association with God, even in the official oath.<\/p>\n

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