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REMEMBRANCE - This Veterans Day, I came across a LinkedIn post by an adult ministries pastor that stayed with me. It read in part:
“Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
—#BookOfCommonPrayer #VeteransDay
It is a prayer of protection and courage, a prayer for strength in the face of peril. But I found myself adding something more, an amendment that speaks to the heart of what service should mean in a moral democracy:
“Instill in them moral clarity to abide by the Constitution, to uphold the laws that safeguard international order and peace, and to use force only as a last resort for protection and defense. May they act with wisdom, honor, and integrity, guided always by justice and compassion; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The amendment may seem small, but it carries enormous weight. Every soldier’s oath is not only to serve and protect, but to uphold the Constitution and obey the law, always. There are no exceptions.
As General George C. Marshall once emphasized,
“The United States abides by the laws of war. Its armed forces … are expected to comply with the laws of war, in the spirit and the letter. … Respect for the reign of law, as that term is understood in the United States, is expected to follow the flag wherever it goes.”
Marshall’s words remind us that law and morality are not separate from military service, they are its foundation. History offers stark warnings of what happens when soldiers fail to uphold this duty: the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, the Haditha killings in Iraq, the No Gun Ri massacre in Korea, and the abuses at Abu Ghraib. Each atrocity stands as a testament to what can occur when conscience yields to blind obedience.
I carry this lesson personally. My father is a veteran. He served in Vietnam, and he would be the first to say that what he saw and did there was profoundly unfair and unjust. At 81, he still wrestles with the ghosts of that war. But he channels his experiences into promoting love, compassion, understanding, and tolerance through organizations like Veterans for Peace. His military service does not define him. He neither denigrates those who serve nor glorifies the military; he views it with a healthy skepticism, informed by the harsh realities he witnessed. His story reminds me that courage and conscience are not abstract, they are lived, wrestled-with realities that follow soldiers long after they leave the battlefield.
Today, those lessons feel newly urgent. Military-style units and law enforcement trained in the tactics of war are increasingly deployed on American streets. Armored vehicles, military-grade weapons, and paramilitary operations are used against civilians, at protests, in neighborhoods, and along the southern border. Reports of raids on migrants and refugees, carried out with the precision of combat missions, raise the same moral questions that have haunted generations of veterans: When does defense become domination? When does duty betray justice?
Moral courage is essential. Soldiers and law enforcement alike wield extraordinary power, but that power carries responsibility. The Constitution is not optional. International law is not optional. The use of force must always be the last resort, reserved for protection and defense, never cruelty or conquest.
Veterans Day is the right moment to honor those who have served, but it’s also a moment to reflect on the moral dimensions of service. True courage is inseparable from conscience. True strength is inseparable from lawfulness. And true service to the nation is inseparable from the unwavering commitment to uphold the principles that make it just and free.
As we pray for our armed forces, may we also challenge them—and ourselves—to live with the moral clarity, courage, and integrity that our Constitution, our laws, and our shared humanity demand.
(George Cassidy Payne is a journalist, poet, and essayist who writes on politics, culture, and social justice. He is a 988 Suicide Prevention Counselor, nonprofit creative strategist, and adjunct philosophy instructor. His work explores the intersection of ethics, community, and contemporary social issues.) The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily of CityWatchLA.com.
