I’m an avid reader on just about anything related to the tactical environment, so it should be no surprise to anyone that I love magazines like S.W.A.T. While sitting in the lobby of a Veterans Administration hospital recently, I opened up my copy and started reading to pass the time. On page 36 the title “Oath Keepers: Defending The Constitution” caught my eye.

The author is a gentleman named Stewart Rhodes, and he’s the founder of a non-partisan organization of service men and women, law enforcement officers, emergency personnel, veterans, and other concerned citizens dedicated to protecting and defending the constitution of the United States.

As a strict constitutionalist and conservative, I’m all for supporting any grassroots efforts such as this. I took my oath in 1989 long before I ever went to the police academy, attended law school, or graduated from a military academy. As a young 17 year old private, with my right hand raised, I pledged the following oath to our country, to my family, to my friends, and to other Americans:

“I, James L. Clark, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

I’ve since taken that oath, and similar versions in other capacities, that all make me duty bound for the rest of my life to defend our nation against all enemies-foreign and domestic. Many who take that oath think there’s an expiration date-there isn’t. To learn more about Oath Keepers, make sure you check out their website and ask how you can get involved.

Check out Oath Keepers website now.

James L. Clark is a former soldier who served in combat arms and with special operations; he is an accomplished author, speaker, and educator who holds scores of certifications, graduated from a police academy, attended law school, earned an MBA, and is the only American to have graduated with a Masters of Science in Global Security with a focus on US Homeland Security from the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, at the Royal Military College of Science. He’s currently a professional instructor with more than two decades of experience teaching combatatives, firearms, field medicine, and a variety of other topics related to the tactical, operational, and strategic environments. He’s served all over the world in and out of uniform in the real world boots on the ground, and regularly shares that experience with thousands of people each year.