Navy veteran asks about character

To the editor:

Honor. Commitment. Courage.

Those three words were the core principles of the United States Navy, of which I served in for 21.5 years.

Honor is not only standing up for but doing the right thing always. It’s not only telling the truth but living the truth, admitting when you have done wrong. You don’t lie.

Commitment is about staying true to God, family and country, completing the mission, saving your ship and shipmates. You don’t quit when things get tough. You don’t leave others high and dry. You don’t leave others holding the bag. Stay the course.

Courage is about having inner strength to face the enemy. It’s that strength that is needed to share and live the truth, doing that which is not only required but that which is right. Following the bombing of my ship, the USS Cole (DDG-67), there have been incidences of individuals claiming to have been on board the Cole when it was bombed. We in the military call this “stolen valor.” Here in Jay County, we call it a plan ole lie, because that’s what it is.

Now, for any individual in the military to claim they retired at a rank they did not attain is stolen valor.

For an individual in the military to claim they fired a weapon in combat and were never in combat, that is stolen valor.

For an individual in the military to claim they deployed to a certain area of the world and were never deployed to that area, that is stolen valor.

Those three words — honor, commitment and courage — all add up to say one thing about a person, and that one thing is character.

I’m an American. I’m an American military veteran and I just have to ask, how’s your character?

Cliff Moser

Portland