Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Honor should not be a virtue assigned only to military

The big news that took a bit of heat away from our executive branch, and its problems with the oil spill, was the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. I certainly agree that the general did the right and honorable thing in resigning.

Earlier this week, just prior to McChrystal’s meeting with our president, a headline on one of the letters to the editor said, “McChrystal must do the honorable thing: Retire.” This turned out to be prophetic and accurate.

As a former Army officer, I am both honored and proud to have been part of a “band of brothers” whose code included the words honor and integrity.

For whatever reason, and rightfully so, most Americans expect a military man who messes up to do the honorable thing and resign.

Since the oath of office for the military and civilians is the same, the questions that arise in my old mind are: Should these expectations be limited only to our military members, and should we Americans not expect our civilian leadership to do the “honorable thing” when they mess up?

Rhetorical questions? Probably so, as I doubt anything will change.

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