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Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P26-30)




The shadows //are lengthening for me. //




The twilight is here. //




My days of old //have vanished//tone and tint. //




They have gone //glimmering //




through the dreams //of things that were. //




Their memory //is one //of wondrous beauty//




watered /by tears//




and coaxed /and caressed /by the smiles of yesterday. //




I listen //vainly//




but with thirsty ears//




for the witching melody //of faint bugles //blowing reveille//




of far drums //beating the long roll. //




In my dreams//




I hear again /the crash of guns//the rattle of musketry//




the strange//mournful /mutter of the battlefield. //




But /in the evening of my memory//




always //I come back //to West Point. //




Always //there echoes /and re-echoes: /Duty/HonorCountry. /




Today //marks /my final /roll call /with you//




but I want you to know //that when I cross the river//




my last /conscious thoughts //will be/




of The Corps//and The Corps//and The Corps. //





I bid you /farewell. //




Duty Honor Country - Audio (P22-25)




You are the leaven//




which binds together /the entire fabric /of our national system of defense. //




From your ranks /come the great captains /who hold the nation's destiny in their hands /the moment the war tocsin sounds. //




The Long /Gray Line /has never failed us. //




Were you to do so//




a million ghosts /in olive drab//in brown khaki//in blue and gray//




would rise /from their white crosses /thundering /those magic words: /Duty/Honor/Country. /




This does not mean //that you are war mongers. //




On the contrary//the soldier/above all other people/prays for peace/




for he must suffer and bear /the deepest wounds and scars of war. //




But always in our ears /ring the ominous words /of Platothat wisest of all philosophers: //





"Only the dead /have seen the end of war." //




Duty Honor Country - Audio (P20-21)




Others /will debate /the controversial issues/national and international/which divide men's minds; //




but serene/calm/aloof/you stand /as the Nation's /war-guardian//




as its lifeguard /from the raging tides /of international conflict/




as its gladiator /in the arena of battle. /




For a century and a half/




you have defendedguardedand protected /its hallowed traditions /of liberty and freedom/of right and justice. //




Let civilian voices //argue the merits /or demerits /of our processes of government; //




whether our strength //is being sapped /by deficit financingindulged in too long//




by federal paternalism grown too mighty//




by power groups grown too arrogant//




by politics grown too corrupt//




by crime grown too rampant//




by morals grown too low//




by taxes grown too high//




by extremists /grown too violent; //


 
whether our personal liberties /are as thorough and complete as they should be. //


 
These /great national problems /are not /for your /professional participation /or military solution. //


 
Your guidepost /stands out /like a ten-fold beacon in the night: /Duty/Honor/Country. /


Monday, August 6, 2018

Duty Honor Country - Audio (P19)




And through all this welter //of change and development//




your mission /remains fixed//determined/inviolable: /




it is to win our wars. //




Everything else /in your professional career /is but corollary /to this /vital /dedication. //




All other public purposes//all other public projects//all other public needs/great or small//




will find others /for their accomplishment. //




But you /are the ones /who are trained to fight. //




Yours /is the profession of arms//the will to win//the sure knowledge /that in war /there is no substitute for victory; //




that if you lose//the nation will be destroyed; //




that the very obsession //of your public service /must be: Duty/HonorCountry. /


Duty Honor Country - Audio (P17 - 18)




You now face /a new world //-- a world of change. //




The thrust into outer space /of the satellitespheresand missiles //




mark the beginning of another epoch //in the long /story of mankind. //




In the five /or more /billions of years /the scientists tell us /it has taken to form the earth//




in the three or more billion years of development of the human /race//




there has never been //a more abrupt /or staggering evolution. //




We deal now //not with things of this world alone//




but with the illimitable distances //




and as yet /unfathomed /mysteries of the universe. // We are reaching out //for a new /and boundless frontier. //




We speak in strange terms: //




of harnessing /the cosmic energy; //




of making winds and tides //work for us; //




of creating /unheard //synthetic materials /to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; //




to purify /sea water /for our drink; //




of mining ocean floors //for new fields /of wealth and food; //




of disease preventatives //to expand life into the hundreds of years; //




of controlling the weather //for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold/of rain and shine; /




of space ships /to the moon; //




of the primary target in war//




no longer /limited to the armed forces of an enemy//




but instead to include /his civil populations; //




of ultimate conflict //between a united human race //




and the sinister forces //of some other /planetary galaxy; //





of such /dreams and fantasies /as to make life the most /exciting of all time. //




Duty Honor Country - Audio (P13 - 16)




The code //which those words perpetuate //




embraces /the highest /moral laws /




and will stand the test /of any ethics or philosophies /ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. //




Its requirements //are for the things /that are right//




and its restraints /are from the things /that are wrong. //




The soldier/above all other men//




is required to practice /the greatest act /of religious training /-- sacrifice. //




In battle /and in the face of danger and death//




he discloses those /divine attributes which his Maker gave /when he created man in his own image. //




No physical courage /and no brute instinct //can take the place///




of the Divine /help //which alone //can sustain him. //




However horrible //the incidents of war may be//




the soldier //who is called upon to offer /and to give his life for his country /is the noblest /development /of mankind. //


Duty Honor Country - Audio (P11 - 12)





I do not know //the dignity //of their birth//





but I do know //the glory of their death. //





They died //unquestioning//uncomplaining//





with faith /in their hearts//and on their lips /the hope /that we /would go on /to victory. //





Always/for them: /Duty/Honor/Country; /





always //their blood /and sweat /and tears/as we sought /the way /and the light /and the truth. //





And 20 years after//on the other side of the globe//





again //the filth //of murky foxholes//





the stench /of ghostly trenches//





the slime /of dripping dugouts; /





those /boiling suns of relentless heat/





those torrential rains of devastating storms; //





the loneliness /and utter desolation /of jungle trails; //





the bitterness /of long separation /from those /they loved and cherished; //





the deadly pestilence /of tropical disease; //





the horror /of stricken areas of war; //





their resolute /and determined defense/


  
their swift /and sure attack//





their indomitable purpose//their complete and decisive victory /-- always /victory. /





Always /through the bloody haze /of their last /reverberating shot/





the vision /of gaunt/ghastly men /reverently following /your password /of: Duty/Honor/Country. /


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