Navy SEAL Author’s Books Inspire Students to Stand for Pledge Again

Clear Facts

• More than half the students in a Mississippi classroom were refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance until their substitute teacher introduced them to books by former Navy SEAL Jack Carr
• After reading Carr’s novels featuring themes of service, sacrifice and patriotism, students not only began standing but started encouraging their classmates to do the same
• The transformation occurred at Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi, where substitute teacher Kelly McGinnis witnessed the change firsthand

A Mississippi substitute teacher approached bestselling author and former Navy SEAL Jack Carr during a book tour stop in Franklin, Tennessee, with a remarkable story about how literature restored patriotism in his classroom.

Kelly McGinnis, who teaches at Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi, told Carr that more than half his students were remaining seated during the daily Pledge of Allegiance. When he asked them why, many struggled to articulate their reasons.

“Very few would speak up,” McGinnis said.

“Quite a few said their parents had served [in the military], and they had [other] family members who had served, but they just felt like the way the country was at this time — they didn’t agree with some of the politics and policies.”

Rather than accepting this decline in patriotic expression, McGinnis took action. He introduced his students to Carr’s thriller novels, which weave themes of service, sacrifice and love of country throughout their narratives.

“It seemed like his message was one of patriotism and the sacrifices that people, not only in the military but average citizens, were making for the common good,” McGinnis explained.

The results were striking. As students engaged with Carr’s books, the classroom atmosphere transformed.

“Not only were a lot more of the kids standing [for the Pledge of Allegiance], they were encouraging others to stand,” McGinnis said.

“A lot of the kids were coming around to saying, ‘I really don’t know why I wasn’t standing.'”

Carr, who served 20 years as a Navy SEAL sniper and military leader, said the story stood out among countless reader interactions during his career as an author.

“This one was different,” Carr said.

“It really made an impact.”

The author emphasized that the transformation came not from lectures or mandates, but from students choosing to read instead of scroll through their phones.

“The books, and the students sitting down with those books and reading instead of scrolling, made an impact,” Carr noted.

“If you pick up a book and put down that phone, it’s going to be a better life. I guarantee it.”

Both Carr and McGinnis believe America’s 250th anniversary this year may be prompting young people to reconsider their relationship with their country’s history and the sacrifices made by previous generations.

“Maybe, even subliminally, they think, ‘Oh, 250 years of this experiment called America, and all this sacrifice that let me be here today in this classroom and have options available to me as I go [from] high school and possibly [on to] college or a trade school — whatever I’m gonna do as I move forward,’ it’s essentially, ‘Hey, I won the lotto by being born in the United States of America,'” Carr reflected.

“And maybe hearing that over and over again this year — and you don’t hear it every year — it’s natural, I think, to reflect on those 250 years in this case, and maybe just have a little more awareness than usual ahead of the Fourth of July.”

McGinnis agreed, saying the 250th anniversary is gaining momentum as Independence Day approaches. The milestone offers Americans an opportunity to appreciate the generations whose sacrifices built the nation.

“It’s good for the country to take a breath, look back, reflect and appreciate those sacrifices,” Carr said.

Carr is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Terminal List” and host of the “Danger Close Podcast.” Last year his nonfiction book, “Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror,” written with co-author James Scott, was published.

As a former Navy SEAL Task Unit commander and sniper with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, Carr led special operations teams in multiple leadership roles. He is married and is the father of three children.

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