GOP Rep. Banks demands answers on West Point removing 'Duty, Honor, Country' from mission statement

Anti-Woke Caucus Chairman Jim Banks, R-Ind., demanded answers from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, on why it dropped "Duty, Honor, Country," from its mission statement.

Banks sent a letter Monday to U.S. Military Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, asking why the saying was removed. 

"The updated mission statement replaced that phrase with 'Army Values,' which include loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. Notably missing from this list is Country," the letter first obtained by the New York Post reads. 

Earlier this month, West Point announced an update to their mission statement and changed it from "Duty, Honor, Country" to "Army Values."

West Point has reportedly said "Country" is "reflected" in the word "loyalty," but Banks said he still had concerns about it. 

"I understand that 'Duty, Honor, Country' remains the motto of West Point and read your explanation that Country is 'reflected' in loyalty, but I do not understand the decision to remove Country from USMA’s mission statement," Banks also wrote in the letter.

“In his famed 1962 speech to the cadets of the USMA, General Douglas MacArthur warned that ‘unbelievers will say they are but words’ and that ‘[e]very pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker … will try to downgrade them,’” Banks’ letter reads. “I’m afraid this decision reflects that very prediction.”

In his letter Banks requested answers on the change by the end of the month.