The Oath of Office

Sustaining the Combat Capability of America’s Air Force

The Oath of Office: The Last Word

Integrity - Service - Excellence

Oath of Office Lesson objective: Comprehend the significance

of the oath of office and commissioning 2

Oath of Office Samples of behavior: 1. In your own words, state the meaning of the oath of office 2. Summarize the significance of commissioning 3

Overview • Oath Of Office • Meaning Of Commission • Service • Sacrifice • Responsibility • Fun

• Oath Controversy

Eddie Rickenbacker Douglas MacArthur Colin Powell Curtis LeMay

Ulysses S. Grant

Benjamin O. Davis Chuck Yeager

Hoyt Vandenburg

Norman Schwartzkopf

Lance P. Sijan Steven Bennett

Hilliard Willbanks

Joseph Loring William Jones

Oath Background • Hippocratic Oath • Military Oaths date back to ancient Rome • 1st Congress on 1 June 1789 created a law regulating the time and manner of administering certain oaths • Basically for civil/military officials to support the Constitution • Implemented the requirement in Article 6 of the Constitution (…bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution.) • 1st officer oath: I do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

• 29 Sept 1789 – Enlisted oath created

• Many variations in the military oath (Revolutionary War, Civil War, post Civil War, post WWII) • Big Picture: call to a higher power, a statement to perform to the best of one’s abilities, honor, consequences of not keeping one’s word 7

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

The Oath I, (state your full name), having been appointed a second lieutenant, in the United States Air Force, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter, so help me God.

What Does the Commission Mean?

• • • •

Service Sacrifice Responsibility Fun

Service • Country

• Self • Peers

• Family

We in the military do what we do--fight, prepare to launch nuclear weapons, and prepare to kill if need be--to defend our Constitution and the ideals of democracy, so that our friends and peers can lead their lives in freedom.

Sacrifice • Life • Freedom • Family

Responsibility • The Mission

• Superiors • Subordinates

• Yourself

Fun • Jobs • Assignments

• Friends / family

Oath of Office to Core Values

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Oath of Office

Core Values Air Force

Navy/Marine Corps

Army

I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Service Before Self

Courage

Selfless Service Personal Courage Loyalty

I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion.

Integrity First

Honor

Integrity

I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter.

Excellence in All We Do

Commitment

Duty Respect

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Oath Controversy • •

Is the Oath of Office biased? What do you think is the most controversial line in the oath? What might it be violating (in a religious context)? •

Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment • What is this? • Arguments for a Violation: • Arguments against a Violation:

•

Inconsistent with Presidential Oath of Office • “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” • Arguments for a Violation: • Arguments against a Violation:

•

Violates the last line of Article VI • Arguments for a Violation: • Arguments against a Violation:

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Freedom Is Not Free I Watched A Flag Pass By One Day, It Fluttered In The Breeze. A Young Airman Saluted It, And Then He Stood At Ease. I Thought How Many Men Like Him, Had Fallen Through The Years. How Many Died On Foreign Soil, How Many Mother’s Tears. How Many Pilot’s Planes Shot Down, How Many Died At Sea. How Many Foxholes Were Soldiers Graves, No, Freedom Is Not Free. I Heard The Sound Of Taps One Night,

When Everything Was Still. I Listened To The Bugler Play, And Felt A Sudden Chill. I Wondered Just How Many Times, That Taps Had Meant “Amen.” When A Flag Had Covered A Coffin, Of A Brother Or A Friend. I Thought Of All The Children, Of Mothers And The Wives, Of Fathers, Sons And Husbands, With Interrupted Lives. I Thought About A Graveyard, At The Bottom Of The Sea. Of Unmarked Graves At Arlington, No, Freedom Is Not Free.

Sources 1. The Military Oath of Office, Colonel Orwyn Sampson, USAF Academy Journal of Professional Military Ethics, September 1981. 2. AFP 190-13, The Armed Forces Officer, Armed Forces Information Service, Department of Defense, 1988. 3. Niel Misholov’s Vietnam War Medal of Honor Web page (http://www.mishalov.com/citations.html). 4. The Oath of Office, Lt Col Keskel, Air & Space Power Journal, Winter 2002

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Summary • Oath Of Office • Meaning Of Commission • • • •

Service Sacrifice Responsibility Fun

• Poem