A long time ago I took an oath which included these words: I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Watching the Tillman/Lynch hearing had me reflecting on that oath.
I’ve often wondered why Tillman chose to stay enlisted, and be held to that expectation of obedience. Perhaps he felt it was a more authentic experience, maybe he felt that it was best way to serve this country, either way he signed on for some hard duty, foregoing a life of wealth for an infantryman’s burden. His misgivings never kept him from upholding his oath.
Later I wore different rank insignia and swore a different oath, in part: I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic.
It was a difference I found striking, that with authority comes a different obligation, that my first duty was not obedience to others so much as fidelity to ideals.
I remember a grizzled old warrant officer, a Vietnam veteran pilot, telling a new lieutenant, late on a beer-hazed evening, that what I really needed to understand was that there were times when upholding that oath meant saying no to senior officers. He made it clear that to him an officer’s oath carried an obligation to risk the consequences of standing up for the right thing.
I don’t recall anything in the Constitution about lying to try and keep a war popular back home, so I’m not sure where the people involved in the Tillman cover-up found a justification for their behavior, other than political reasons. So I can’t help but be very disappointed that there was no one to say no to the clear violations of the UCMJ, military honor, and decency that made up the lies and propaganda surrounding Tillman’s death by fratricide.
I can’t help but feel that the officers involved in this cover-up have not only violated the UCMJ, but more importantly, dishonored a soldier who believed in the values they were sworn to support.
I also feel that we owe a great debt to the Tillman family, who has insisted that the painful truth be told. They have served their nation far better than the officers involved, men who dishonored their uniforms and the sacrifice of those serving under them.
Perhaps, in the way of this administration, the obligations these officers had sworn to uphold were just something they could no longer recall.