Do Your Duty in All Things

“Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less.”

Robert E. Lee

Nearly twenty-five years ago as a young major attending the Army Command and General Staff College, I wrote a paper titled “Duty: Understanding the Most Sublime Military Virtue.”  There was at that time a fairly extensive debate about how many “virtues” defined our profession and which among them was most important.  I suggested then—and continue to believe now—that Duty was among our most important virtues. 

 In posing the question of whether “Duty is Dead” we renew a frequent and healthy debate about what we mean by Duty.  Certainly the proposition that “Duty is Dead” suggests that some question the continued relevance of Lee’s “most sublime” virtue.  From time to time throughout my career I’ve found it helpful to reexamine the documents that unite us and bind us in determining what words retain significance in defining our profession. 

Our Army defines Duty as “fulfilling one’s obligations…the legal and moral obligation to do what should be done without being told.”  We have several obligations as members of the American military profession, the most important of which are found in the officer’s Oath of Office.  In taking the Oath, we swear to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”   

In swearing an Oath to the Constitution, military professionals agree to place the defense of the United States above their personal welfare.  Moreover, in swearing to “support the Constitution,” we also commit to the spirit of the Constitution—an exhortation to contribute to “a more perfect union.”  Thus, military professionals commit to more than simply getting the job done; we obligate ourselves to personal excellence.  Title X of the U.S. Code adds to the obligations outlined in the Constitution, charging the Army and its members with “supporting the national policies.”

Members of our Armed Forces must ‘do their duty in all things.’  We defend our Nation, support the constitutionally-elected government, remain dedicated to professional excellence, and place these obligations ahead of our own welfare.  There are tensions among these profound obligations of Duty, and coupled with the strains of ten years of conflict some may ask “Is Duty Dead?”  It is helpful to consider the continuity of our profession in navigating through and beyond current challenges. 

American military professionals have wrestled with the tension among Duty’s competing obligations for more than 230 years.  In times of peace, when defending our Nation can seem a remote possibility, military professionals have dedicated themselves to pursuing professional excellence and preparing themselves for future conflicts.  When conflict arises, military professionals shift their focus to defending our Nation and supporting the duly-constituted government.

An unbroken record of sacrifice and courage testifies that the members of our profession have collectively ‘done their duty in all things.’  On August 5, 1864 Seaman James Avery, a 39 year old Scotsman, left the safety of his ship, the U.S.S. Metacomet, braved intense enemy fire, and aided in the rescue of ten crewmen from the U.S. monitor Tecumseh at the Battle of Mobile Bay.  More than 140 years later, Sergeant First Class William Tomlin, an Army Infantryman from Angier, North Carolina, led counterattacks, coordinated indirect fire, and rallied reinforcements near the town of Chakak, Afghanistan to turn an otherwise dire situation into a victory.  Seaman Avery and Sergeant First Class Tomlin’s unflinching performance of their duty—defending our Nation and supporting its policies—are only two of the countless examples that assure us of the primacy of Duty from our past through to the present.  Like them, we cannot do more than our Duty, and we must never wish to do less.

I offer a final thought about the need to reflect periodically on our understanding of the virtue of Duty.  In taking the Oath of Office, we assert that we “take this obligation freely.”  Service in our Armed Forces is wholly voluntary, as is the commitment to “to do what should be done.” Our understanding of Duty and the reality of the sacrifices made in the fulfillment of that virtue are what animate our service and give it real meaning.  These experiences transform what would otherwise be servitude into a free exchange.  This free exchange is why Duty is not only alive and well but remains the sublimest word in our professional language.           

by General Martin E. Dempsey
37^th Chief of Staff of the United States Army.