In the oath of enlistment, why do we swear to defend the Constitution and not the country or its citizens?

I appreciate your input gentleman! I am sad, that when we enlisted talk about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, there is almost no understanding of what it is we swore an oath to. I've spent years, after service, getting to know the history, the framers, the intent of the framers, the strife even the framers had among themselves. It appears our officer corps is more familiar with everything the Constitution encompasses. Don't mind me asking, but *is* the officer corps taught our own Constitution or is it something that is assumed to be known?

I should add to my comment: While under contract to our various branches...

SSgt (Join to see) - Generally, officers have at least some college and you might expect them to know more. However, in recent years education has been replaced with indoctrination and what college grads "know" is largely some Progressive opinion. During the time of the Vietnam War, there were many college grads among the enlisted ranks. My AIT squad included a graduate of MIT (engineering), one from Harvard (economics), one from Texas (a frat boy with a degree in fun and womanizing - taught me to cheat at cards), one from Philly with a business degree and two parents who were bridge masters (taught me the game), and myself with a degree in law. Of course, many of us went to OCS and became officers, but I met others in the enlisted ranks who had at least some college.

I got my childhood education during the mid-sixties through the late seventies. Looking back, I see the slow removal of the relevant educational points - even then. Today, most of our students don't even get any sort of grounding in our own system. I believe that is criminal.

I too was an enlisted with at least 4 years in college though no formal BS/BA degree. However, very little was taught in any college class I took. In fact, several classes that were required (general credits) don't even exist anymore.

Succinct and accurate.