Duty -- a moral obligation imposed by history, honor

  • Published
  • By Maj. Theodore Richard
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Staff Judge Advocate
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Ten years ago this month I was commissioned as an officer in the world's greatest Air Force. I joined because a sense of duty called me to service, and the Air Force offered challenges unlike any other military branch.

Upon commissioning, I, like every United States military officer, took an oath to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter."

Ten years ago this month is also the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history. Nearly 3,000 victims were killed at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and in a field near Shanksville, Pa.

At the time, knowing an American military response was imminent, I felt helpless because I was in a student status and wanted to be "in the fight."

At the time, I took comfort in the fact that the duties of my office required that I learn my job. Later my duties were primarily to support the warfighters who were departing overseas.

My deployment opportunities would come over the ensuing years -- after I was fully trained to perform both my primary job and to perform in the contingency environment.

Deploying was never easy, but the obligation to well and faithfully discharge the duties of my office always supported me.

The first time I deployed, I missed the birth of my first child, a daughter.

The second time, I needed to explain my deployment to her. She asked why daddy needed to go on a long trip to Afghanistan. Her school friends had told her all about the war.

I did my best to tell her that I had a duty to go. As she was 5 five years old, she didn't immediately understand. Since our conversation, I have been thinking about the concept of duty that is so essential to military service.

Technically, a duty is an obligatory task, conduct, service or function required under specified conditions. Legally, a duty may be imposed by statute, regulation or order.

Yet, to me, my duty to national service is not simply a mandatory task arising out of the law. It is a moral obligation imposed by history and honor. I have always viewed Gen. Douglas MacArthur's three hallowed words - Duty, Honor, Country - as one concept: Duty.

We have a duty to remember the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, just as we have a duty to remember the fallen heroes who have given their lives trying to build a world of liberty and security in the years since that terrible day.

Our duty to remember is important and it is also a call to action. The United States made a sacred promise to be unrelenting until justice is done and the nation is secure.

As military members, we have a duty to defend the United States against all adversaries. We are the guarantors of the nation's independence. We are the ones most responsible for fulfilling the nation's promise to seek justice and security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The architects of the attacks, principally Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, have been killed or captured by the military in the decade since. We remain at work securing Afghanistan. Our duties there are not yet complete.

When I explained to my daughter that I have a duty to go to Afghanistan in order to protect her, to protect other kids like her and to protect the United States, she understood.

As a parent of children too young to remember Sept. 11, and as a member of the United States Air Force, I believe that one of my greatest responsibilities is to impart my sense of duty to the next generation, along with an understanding of accompanying history and honor.