On Veterans Day, remember our military serves Constitution, not political goals

[Jilly_in_VA]

Sean Mullin

When I graduated from West Point in 1997, I took the same oath every American military officer takes to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It's not an oath to a political party. It's an oath to defend the Constitution.

As a cadet, my field of study was constitutional law, and I came to understand that oath not as a formality but as a sacred promise. The Constitution isn’t just some historical symbol we salute; it’s the living contract that holds our democracy together.

That oath is the firewall between democracy and militarism. It ensures that our soldiers serve the people ‒ all of them ‒ not the ambitions of any single faction. It’s what makes the United States military the most respected institution in American life, and the envy of dysfunctional democracies around the world.

I’ve seen that principle tested. As an officer in the New York Army National Guard, I was a first responder after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I served as the officer in charge of the soldiers stationed at Ground Zero.

My troops came from every political background imaginable, yet politics never entered the conversation. The mission was clear. The stakes were high. The service was shared.

That unity of purpose ‒ service above ideology ‒ is what separates a republic from a regime.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2025/11/11/veterans-day-military-serves-constitution-country/87196091007/?tbref=hp

That last sentence says it all.