Why the military should educate its members about the Constitution Chris Dalton February 10 National Guard Master Sgt. George Roachs holds up a pamphlet of the U.S. Constitution on Jan. 17, 2021, in Washington. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Every American service member takes an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The oath is not to the country, the government, or the flag. It is to the Constitution. But precious few service members truly know what that oath means because the military makes no effort to teach it. I speak from experience: I served in the Marine Corps for nine years, after which I attended law school, where it took only a few weeks before I had learned infinitely more about the Constitution than I learned during my nine years defending it.