“I’m often asked why someone with a penchant for philosophy and an academic life joins the Marine Corps. Why, some ask, does a scribe lower the pen to pick up the sword?” So begins this stirring and thought-provoking address by Lt. Col. Scott McDonald, USMC, to attendees at Objectivist Summer Conference 2015 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The more fundamental question, McDonald states, is: “What motivates an individual in a largely free society — one which is by and large free of coercion — to volunteer to accept some limits on his freedom and put his life at risk. Why, in short, does a free man fight?”

(Disclaimer: Lt. Col. McDonald’s opinions are his own, and there is no endorsement implied by the Department of Defense, the Department of the Navy or the United States Marine Corps.)

The video is available here.

Registration is still open for OCON 2017 in Pittsburgh, June 10 – 15.