This title is from ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home,’ a song for Union soldiers who did their duty during the Civil War, earning the praise, gratitude and esteem of their communities. Men who deserved a laurel wreath, an ancient symbol of victory.

The same could be said for soldiers like those in this image of hungry, freezing men of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge in the terrible winter of 1778, when their determination for independence was desperately important. It helped the new United States hold out till war aid against mighty Britain began to arrive from France and Spain.

Members of America’s armed forces in 2026 should bear this legacy and standards of courage in mind. Probably none of Washington’s Continentals ever got an actual laurel wreath, but America’s survival to become a flourishing republic – far from perfect, but free from Kings – was the greatest memorial to their valiant resolution.

I am distressed that it feels necessary to point out that our military’s ultimate loyalty is supposed to be to the Constitution – and to nothing, and no one else. But at this moment, doing so seems vital, as our politics are driven by vicious men who typically show loyalty to nothing but their own interests and egos. Worse, who believe that intimidation and force make them natural rulers, rather than agents of barbarism.

Will our servicemen and women recall, and rise to, this legacy of Valley Forge? Or might they ‘just follow orders’ to fire upon, and enslave their fellow citizens, rather than be taunted as ‘suckers and losers’ if they hesitate?  Would they help install a king in all but name, after their forebears gallantly expelled George III from his American colonies, because most of their people wanted to be citizens, not ‘subjects?’

Will they adhere to their oaths? Their nominal superiors not only ignore their own, but pursue self-involved, primal dominance, and scoff that morality is for weak fools.

Our approaching Midterm elections may show whether American military personnel, of any rank, believe that today, honor and patriotism can be discarded so as to be one of the self-identified ‘winners’ to whom, bluntly, Might makes right. Whatever shortcomings there were and are in American self-government, they must surely be worse if people utterly unsuited to rule competently gain unconstrained power.

The rebels at Valley Forge had no certainty they would prevail; only faith and hope. And they knew if they lost, British law said they could be disemboweled, drawn and quartered, and beheaded as traitors.

Do American military men and women today have such stalwart commitment to liberty? Will they obey the Constitution, rather than would-be despots who might use armed force to subvert it? Do they deserve a laurel wreath for loyalty, as ‘Johnny,’ or the soldiers shown here, did?  

They should consider all this before being confronted with a need to decide where their ultimate loyalty lies. And they should ask, before putting their careers, reputations and maybe their very lives on the line, if they can trust the ones demanding they do so, to reciprocate any sacrifice they make.

To go by their record, those asking them to betray their oath and heritage might abandon them once they serve their purpose. It seems a risky bet to reject a noble legacy to put faith in people who have acted as if they see anyone who helps them as expendable tools. Or as suckers and losers for not acting exclusively in self-interest.

Let alone, a gullible wish to march home with pride, rather than shame.