{"id":1541831,"date":"2025-06-15T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1541831"},"modified":"2025-06-15T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T15:00:00","slug":"the-heart-behind-the-us-armys-250-years-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/the-heart-behind-the-us-armys-250-years-of-service\/1541831\/","title":{"rendered":"The Heart Behind The US Army\u2019s 250 Years Of Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Heart Behind The US Army\u2019s 250 Years Of Service<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Dustin Bass via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor God\u2019s sake, fire!\u201d<\/strong> A return volley of musket and rifle fire boomed across the Concord River near the North Bridge. \u201cThe shot heard round the world\u201d had just been unleashed upon the 220 British soldiers by the colonial militia and minutemen. The volley sent the British retreating to Concord and then to Lexington, where they had earlier fired upon and dispersed the 70 local militia, killing eight and wounding 10. Their return to Lexington would be the start of a 12-mile scramble back to Boston.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cadets from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in the New York Veterans’ Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, on Nov. 11, 2014. All graduates become 2nd lieutenants in the U.S. Army. Samira Bouaou\/Epoch Times<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout the night of April 18 and the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, word had spread in the Boston area that the British were coming to confiscate or destroy the locals\u2019 gunpowder and materiel in Concord.<\/strong> By the time British soldiers reached the North Bridge, hundreds of militia members were out in force. By the time the British began their retreat back to Boston, thousands descended upon them, firing from behind trees, stone walls, houses, and buildings. What began as an act of suppression by imperial troops turned into a route by a mass of colonial volunteers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the beginning of arguably the greatest military upset in history. Four days later, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress attempted to organize the disjointed militias across several colonies to create the Army of Observation. It was not until June 14 that the 13 colonies agreed to combine their disparate militias into one fighting force: the Continental Army.<\/p>\n

This decision to combine militias marked the beginning of what would become known as the United States Army. <\/strong>Though originating from very humble beginnings, the Army would end the Revolutionary War with quite a first feather in its cap: defeating the British\u2014the most powerful military at the time. To witness its rise from scrappy underdog during the 18th century to becoming a peer of imperial states in the 19th century to becoming the greatest military power the world has ever witnessed by the 20th century is to witness the rise of America itself.<\/p>\n

Indeed, just as neither could have existed without the other, the heart behind their existence was mutual. To understand that mutuality, one must recall the volunteers who arrived in Lexington and Concord and all along the 12-mile strip now known as Battle Road.<\/p>\n

Worth Fighting For<\/h2>\n

Before the start of the American Revolution, the colonies had successfully practiced self-government for 150 years by way of Great Britain\u2019s unofficial policy of salutary neglect. <\/strong>The British Americans had established a way of life in the colonies, and it was believed that, although living 3,000 miles from London, they were represented fairly in Parliament. The colonists\u2014-despite the name and despite the distance from the mother country\u2014believed they were English citizens, and therefore subject to all the rights and privileges thereof. These\u2014though certainly not at the same level as we appreciate today\u2014included freedom of movement, religion, and trade; equality before the law; and political participation.<\/strong> In 1765, when the colonists were informed that Parliament passed the Stamp Act, it began a decade of changing perspectives and, eventually, a change of loyalty.<\/p>\n

This change of loyalty to Parliament, and eventually the monarchy, however, was never directed toward what the colonists believed were rightfully theirs: the rights and privileges of British subjects. <\/strong>The heart behind what led to the commercial boycotts and the political gatherings and pamphleteering of the late 1760s and early 1770s was the same as that which led to their taking up arms in 1775. What had been gained by their ancestors over the past 150 years\u00a0was much too precious to relinquish.<\/p>\n

A 250-Year Legacy<\/h2>\n

Undoubtedly, those who hurried toward Lexington, Concord, and the road to Boston, had their beliefs summarized precisely by Patrick Henry, less than a month before that historic day. He stated, \u201cIs life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!\u201d<\/p>\n

This sense of urgency to protect what Americans have viewed as their most precious commodities<\/strong>\u2014the right to be free in their persons, equality before the law, and the power of consent\u2014has fueled the purpose behind the United States Army for 250 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. Army has long served to protect its people and the core values of this nation. It befriended the French and the Spanish to defeat the British during the Revolution. It sailed with the Navy to humble the Barbary pirates. It fought to fend off the British again during the War of 1812. For nearly a century, it protected settlers against tribal attacks. It defeated the Mexicans and opened the path across the continent. It fought, defeated, and forgave its southern compatriots in the War Between the States. It enforced the Monroe Doctrine by ousting the Spanish from the Western hemisphere. It rescued the world from militarism\u2014twice. It bled and died in the struggle against communism, resulting in the ultimate fall of the Soviet Union. It has pursued terrorists around the globe.<\/p>\n

American and Soviet tanks face off at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, in 1961. Public Domain<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The American conviction that people generally should be free and equal has led the U.S. Army across the continent and across the globe. As with America itself, there have been missteps. In step with its nation\u2019s geostrategic goals, the Army has often followed an idealistic and, at times, wrongheaded approach in the name of freedom and equality, and at times more crudely for reasons of trade and expansion.<\/p>\n

Even in these missteps, this now greatest military power in the world has never been subject to itself, but to the American people. <\/strong>Consider that during its 250 years\u2014a year longer than its nation\u2019s existence\u2014it has never attempted a coup. What nation\u2014powerful or weak\u2014can make such a boast?<\/p>\n

A Promise Kept<\/h2>\n

When it comes to the pride of America, what is more prominent in our minds than the military? And this pride does not simply stem from its incredible victories across two and a half centuries, from Trenton to Baghdad. Or its brilliant soldiers and commanders\u2014certainly far too many to name. Furthermore, a third of our 45 presidents\u2014George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, William H. Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower\u2014served in the Army. The fact that none of those presidents gained the highest political office via a coup only further highlights that aforementioned shared purpose\u00a0between the state and the military. Washington\u2019s resignation from his military position at the end of the Revolutionary War set this high and noble standard.<\/p>\n

Supreme Allied Cmdr. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower at his desk in the Marly headquarters, near Paris. Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Yes, the United States stands for freedom and equality. \u201cAll men are created equal,\u201d wrote our famous statesman, Thomas Jefferson. \u201cThey are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those rights must be defended.<\/strong> The initial disdain the Founders, among them Jefferson, had for standing armies soon melted away. The initial understanding the militia and minutemen volunteers possessed in April 1775, that what they held most dear\u2014the rights and privileges of English subjects\u2014was worth fighting and dying for, matured into the Continental Army on June 14, and became, through thick and thin, the United States Army\u2014the greatest military power on Earth and, since 1973, an all-volunteer army\u2014endeavoring to protect, through great sacrifice, what we hold most dear\u2014the rights and privileges of American citizens.<\/p>\n

Throughout this 250-year existence, side-by-side with its country, has been the motto, a practical statement of faith, that encapsulates the purpose, the heart, behind the Army\u2019s existence: \u201cThis We\u2019ll Defend.\u201d It is the \u201cThis\u201d\u2014freedom, equality, and national sovereignty\u2014that makes such a promise worth keeping.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 06\/15\/2025 – 07:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/heart-behind-us-armys-250-years-service<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Heart Behind The US Army\u2019s 250 Years Of Service Authored by Dustin Bass via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, fire!\u201d A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1541832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1541831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-6t6f","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/image_922821129_0-AmtXJJ.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1541832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}