The following was written by an anonymous March Forward! member who is a 2nd Class Petty Officer onboard a U.S. Navy submarine. March Forward! is an organization of anti-war veterans and active duty service members. To read more statements from March Forward! click here.
The Sailor’s Creed
“I am a United States Sailor.
I will support
and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and I will
obey the orders of those appointed over me.
I represent the fighting spirit of the Navy and those who have gone before me to defend freedom and democracy around the world.
I
proudly serve my country’s Navy combat team with Honor, Courage and
Commitment. I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all.”
As
an active duty, enlisted member of the U.S. Navy, I have had to recite
the Sailor’s Creed, upon receiving the order from my superiors on
numerous occasions. It is custom to stand up and snap to attention with a
sense of pride and patriotism while reciting the Sailor’s Creed.
However I have always found the Creed to be not a source of pride, as
it is for many of my fellow shipmates, but a constant reminder of how
our imperialist polices have not helped build democracy around the
world, but have in fact undermined true democracy wherever and whenever
it was about to take root.
When we say we “defend freedom and
democracy around the world,” as the Creed tries to cement in a young
sailor’s mind, are we referring to U.S. support for democracy in places
like Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, Vietnam, and Iraq, just to name a few
places? Were we defending democracy when the U.S. government attacked
and undermined the popularly-elected Sandinista government? Were we
defending democracy when the CIA overthrew democratically elected
Allende, attempted to assassinate Castro and successfully overthrew
Mosaddegh in Iran? Were we defending democracy when U.S. imperialism
waged war on the majority supported government in Vietnam? The list of
popular, democratically elected governments overthrown by the U.S.
military is quite long.
History shows that U.S. foreign policy is
much less about “supporting democracy” than it is about placing in
power puppet governments that are friendly towards U.S. business
interests. The fact is that the U.S. government only accepts “democracy”
if it obeys the dictates of Washington and Wall Street.
What
happens when the population of another country finally decides that they
are tired of being exploited and enacts democratic reforms to use their
resources and the products of their labor to benefit themselves instead
of some foreign investor’s portfolio? You can count on the U.S. war
machine to rear its ugly head in response. Just look at Iraq, put on the
“terrorism list” the day it nationalized its oil. Whenever a local
population has the “insane” notion that their country’s wealth should
benefit them instead of some Wall Street banker, the U.S. media will
attempt to cast this “terrorist” or “socialist” country as an eternal
threat to U.S. national security.
It is important to note that
all of the so-called enemies that the U.S. identifies pose no real
threat to our collective security. Instead they pose a threat to the
profits of a very small portion of our population, and it happens that
this small minority are the ones responsible for crafting U.S. foreign
policy.
The U.S. Navy, and in fact all branches of the Armed
Forces, do not “promote democracy” in any way whatsoever. The Armed
Forces can better be seen as the apparatus that enforces Wall Street’s
war against oppressed people asserting their independence.
As
much as this short essay identifies the failings of the Sailor’s Creed
to correspond to real U.S. foreign policy, it would be an error not to
mention the factors that do determine U.S. foreign policy. It is well
known, by those who read and understand history, that U.S. foreign
policy is largely determined by the interests of the super-rich here in
the United States. They benefit from these imperialist adventures. It is
the rich who gain from war, while working class people are sent to die
on their behalf.
Protecting United Fruit Company’s interests in
Latin America is not in the interests of the Marine who is sent to kill
or be killed. Occupying numerous countries in the Middle East is in the
interest of companies like Halliburton and Exxon, not the service
member’s interest. This is what U.S. foreign policy is reduced to when
profit runs the show. The super-rich will continue to seek new markets,
and will vigorously defend old markets in the most savage and brutal
manner. They will send the young and poor, against their own class
interest, to die for increased profits. The problem here is systemic,
and the only remedy is true democracy.
I would like to propose a
new “Sailor’s Creed.” A new creed that strips away the layers of
propaganda and myth that has been planted in the minds of many young
sailors. A new creed for a new ethics based on democracy and
brotherhood:
“I am a United States Sailor.
I
will support and defend the United States of America from the Wall
Street bankers, their cronies in Congress, and the brutal system of
exploitation.
I will obey the orders of those appointed
over me only if the U.S. government follows international and national
law. When the U.S. government chooses to disobey international and
national law, so will I choose to disobey the unlawful orders given to
me by my superiors.
I no longer represent the
imperialist spirit of the Navy and Department of Defense nor those who
have gone before me to undermine democracy, drop bombs on innocent
civilians, and fight for corporate interests around the world.
I
am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all, including
those detained and tortured illegally by the U.S military and security
establishment.”
