The United States Military Academy at West Point announced that they would drop the words “Duty, Honor, Country” in the school mission statement and replace them with “Army Values.”

Lieutenant General Steven Gilland, the superintendent of West Point, said in a letter that even as “Duty, Honor, Country” will always “remain our motto,” the mission statement would be updated after the school “reviewed our vision, mission, and strategy” with “leaders from across West Point and external stakeholders.” The amendment to the mission statement was approved by Army Secretary Christine Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff General Randy George.

The mission statement on the West Point website now says that the historic school exists “to build, educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets to be commissioned leaders of character committed to the Army Values and ready for a lifetime of service to the Army and Nation.”

The “Army Values” presently include the attributes “Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.” Gilland said the previous West Point mission statement was adopted in 1998 and that the statement has been amended nine times in the past century.

Critics of the change nevertheless asserted that the move fits within a pattern of wokeness from top military brass in recent years. The MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates, an organization of alumni seeking to fight critical race theory, diversity efforts, loss of merit-driven values, and other phenomena which “threaten the effectiveness and readiness” of the school, said in a statement that the “Army Values” are a lower standard than “Duty, Honor, Country.”

“Like in many great institutions in the United States of America, progressive ideology is eroding away at West Point and doing so in a slow but methodical march, co-opting our good intentions through the specter of cultural Marxism,” the organization remarked in their release. “Our adversaries are unscrupulous but sophisticated and very patient.”

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on the day of his inauguration meant to advance “racial equity and support for underserved communities throughout the federal government.” The Defense Department released a statement two years ago in response to the order noting that the military community is “proudly diverse.” The document highlighted efforts to address “extremism in the ranks” and restore “open service for transgender service members.”