Retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told Newsmax on the annual observance of Veterans Day that military values reflect American society.
Kimmitt told Newsmax's "National Report" on Tuesday that, "military values are really American values."
He said those values reflect "trust, honesty, responsibility, looking out for the other guy, putting the other person or persons ahead of you."
"It's just natural, typical American values. The Army doesn't bring American values to America," Kimmitt said. "America brings its values, or what I'd like to believe is its values, to the military. We reflect the society, and we're not different from society. We're not some sort of praetorian guard."
He said the armed forces are a mirror of the public's moral foundation. "We look, smell, and feel like America, and that's the way it should be," he said. "So those are the values, honesty, the old Superman values of truth, justice, and the American way."
"That's really what the military taught me," he said. "That's what my parents taught me. And that's what America has taught us, and that's why we served for so many years."
Kimmitt said his family's six decades of service reflected the changing tides of national sentiment toward the military. "Over the 67 years that my family served the country continuously, it has been a series of ebb and flows," he said.
"Clearly, after World War II, there was a sense of great pride in the military, less so after the Korean War, because it was sort of the quiet war."
"Nobody really knew much about it," he said. "And it didn't impact America the way that World War II had. Even worse, after Vietnam."
He said public respect revived in later years. "It's clear that, after the first Gulf War, that there was a heightened view and a heightened appreciation inside the American society for military service," he said.
Kimmitt said that sense of service should endure. "I just hope it's something that we can continue to maintain, whether it's national service in uniform or some sense of national service outside of uniform," he said. "Americans need to understand, in my personal view, that not only do we have rights, but we have also responsibilities."
"And I think national service is one of those responsibilities that ought to be certainly looked at as perhaps an obligation inside of America," he said. "Doesn't have to be in uniform. It can certainly be done in some other sorts of national service. But we've got to understand that, as Americans, this doesn't come for free."
Kimmitt added that his parents are buried in adjoining plots at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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