The title is a phrase from the oath of office that each coauthor has taken multiple times during our military careers. Most American citizens don’t think a lot about the domestic part of that oath even though we have had reminders throughout our history from Benedict Arnold to Timothy McVeigh who represent this portion of our oath. Sometimes the enemy isn’t someone but something.

I believe this to be the case in our national security apparatus currently and I think true self-sacrifice is being overshadowed by the need to act on short-term ___ in order to maintain long-term security and stability. More specifically, I believe our LTG H.R. McMaster has made some short term sacrifices, including spinning stories for the administration, with the long term objective of keeping his job and maintaining the ability to influence and direct what little strategy comes out of this administration. He is not alone. Scores of individuals have been pressing on through silliness and self-absorbed behavior to continue serving the nation. This is a true dilemma of integrity that not many of us have to face on this grand a scale, but I believe we all face from time to time in our lives. This is when we find out what really matters to us and what we are willing to sacrifice personally for the benefit of others.