U.S Navy orders all Sailors to re-swear oath to combat extremism

Title 10 U.S. Code Section 502 contains the oath of enlistment, the military oath made by members of the United States armed forces stating:

“I _____, 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.”

This past weekend, the U.S. Navy ordered all of its personnel to retake this oath by April 2nd as part of a Department of Defense stand down on extremism. You might recall President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called for the 60-day stand-down on February 3rd, although at that point, the exact details of the training during the stand down were still being determined.

Now we’re finding out.

The Navy is the first branch to publicly announce its plan to fulfill the DoD-wide extremism stand down.

In an administrative message on Sunday, Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr gave details of his plan saying, “Extremist behaviors and conduct, even if from only a small percentage of our force, violate our Core Values, are detrimental to good order and discipline, reduce warfighting readiness and degrade the toughness, trust and connectedness we are building in our Sailors and teams through our Culture of Excellence.”

“The intent of this stand-down is to ensure service members and civilian personnel clearly understand the damaging effects of extremism and begin developing more effective, sustainable ways to eliminate the corrosive impacts extremist activity can have on our Force.”

“Commanders have the discretion to tailor discussions with their personnel as appropriate, but at a minimum the stand down will include a group re-administration and reaffirmation of the oath of
office/oath of enlistment.”

It will also include a discussion of “Actions that betray the oath” touching on “prohibited activities, UCMJ direction on extremist activities, review of political activity and social media dos and donts.”

In case you’re wondering what precipitated all of this, it was (of course) the protest in the Capitol on January 6th.

Investigators have found that military veterans made up a disproportionate number of those charged in the Capitol riot. NPR reports that according to a review of military records, social media accounts, court documents and news reports, at least 27 of the 140 people charged, or nearly 20 percent, have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military. That compares to only about seven percent of adult Americans who are military veterans.

So clearly, there’s a problem with “extremism” in the ranks.

According to a video posted on Facebook by Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr. “Extremism consists of promoting supremacist causes, and discrimination against others based on their race, creed, color, sex, religion, sexual preference or national origin. Likewise, it also includes advocating for violence against the government and elected leaders.”

“In addition to engaging with offensive posts on social media, activities that also support extremism are demonstrating, rallying, fundraising, recruiting or training on behalf of organizations that espouse extremist beliefs.”

“Just by posting, retweeting, or liking an offensive post on social media — you could be participating in extremism.”

“You may not personally know any shipmates with extremist beliefs, but I assure you that those forces of darkness are among us.”

Well, okay, now you know the danger we face.

And let’s just be honest, whether you’re in the military or not, you’ve been warned.