November 13th, 2009

I Retired but My Oath Did Not

us_navy_logo I swore the oath almost 50 years ago when joining the Navy. I did so in good faith even though I didn’t realize the full significance of it at the time. As a career Naval Officer I never found the oath to be a burden upon me, it just seemed to be the right thing to do; and doing otherwise would be unthinkable.

When they gave me my retired ID card I really didn’t think of the oath as being retired too. But, it was at that time, I think, that I started thinking more seriously about the oath than I had ever done before.

I started reading history. The extent to which Constitutional considerations have been the issues most central to our nation’s conflicts fascinates me. Looking into the people and ideas involved in formulating our founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and The Constitution) I see how the creation of The United States of America seemed almost a miraculous process. In trying to grasp a better understanding of how it happened I embarked upon a study of Republican era Rome to see if I could better understand, by comparison how our government developed. I found that good people could have very different points of view regarding the structure that our Constitution ought to eventually take. The debates of the loyal patriots (Federalist and Anti_Federalist) who argued over the fine details and eventually compromised to make the Constitution what it is does much to enlarge my view of the oath.

I am truly saddened by the current state of affairs wherein the Constitution is ignored or threatened with such absolute disregard for what is being lost in the process.

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Posted in All, Testimonials | 4 Comments »

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4 Responses to “I Retired but My Oath Did Not”

1
Curtis Hartwell Says:
November 13th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Welcome aboard. You make us stronger. I have learned a lot since I joined, and we will prevail.
2
Edward Demski Says:
November 14th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Welcome Aboard Sir,
I too retired from the US Navy in Feb of 1995. My OATH has the same Expiration date as shown on my retired military ID (INDEFINITE)!
Best Regards,
Ed Demski
3
Eddie Gilbert Says:
November 16th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Thank you for your suatained and honorable service to our Country.

Thank you for caring enough to find out about the history of our great Nation.

And most of all…

Thank you for being a true Oath Keeper !

Eddie Gilbert
USMC SSgt 70-78
Peace Officer 97-present
4
Kristen Kipp Says:
November 16th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Welcome and thank you very much for your service to our country and for continuing to keep your oath. I am proud to be able to stand side by side with so many of our American Heroes.

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"A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve - is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and including his life.'" – Author Unknown

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Oath of Enlistment

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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; and that 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. So help me God.

Officers Oath

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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 on which I am about to enter. So help me God

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Site Dedication

This site is dedicated to the memory of John William Adams (1925-2006), Marine and Oath Keeper extraordinaire.

John Adams, at the age of 16, lied about his age to join the Marines so he could fight against Imperial Japan in the Pacific. His enlistment date was December 10, 1941, just three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor (see below). As a Marine rifleman, he fought the Japanese from island to island, across the pacific, including at Iwo Jima. We may have good men, but we never had better.

Until his death in 2006, he was a dedicated patriot who still took his oath to defend the Republic deadly serious. May God grant you the courage to do likewise.

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OATH KEEPERS: ORDERS WE WILL NOT OBEY
Click here to read full length version. 1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people. 2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people 3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal. 4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state. 5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty. 6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps. 7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext. 8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control." 9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies. 10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.
Click here to read full length version.

OATH KEEPERS: ORDERS WE WILL NOT OBEY

Click here to read full length version.

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.

2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people

3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control."

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.

10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Click here to read full length version.

Founder Stewart Rhodes

He is a former firearms instructor and former member of Rep. Ron Paul’s DC staff.

Stewart previously wrote the monthly Enemy at the Gates column for S.W.A.T. Magazine

Stewart graduated from Yale Law School in 2004, where his paper “Solving the Puzzle of Enemy Combatant Status” won Yale’s Miller prize for best paper on the Bill of Rights. He assisted teaching U.S. military history at Yale, was a Yale Research Scholar, and is writing a book on the dangers of applying the laws of war to the American people.