Bigdog1987
10-Year Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2010
- Messages
- 392
My mom and I read this together today. Very good speech for anyone to read. Thought I would post it up here for anyone who missed it.
As Prepared for Delivery—
Hello everyone, and thank you for that wonderful welcome. I want to thank Lieutenant General Huntoon for that very kind introduction, as well as Secretary of the Army John McHugh, the Class of 1961 bar presenters, all of our distinguished guests, and all of the parents, families, and friends who are joining us tonight. And of course, I want to say thank you for inviting me here to the United States Military Academy.
This is my first visit to West Point and I am truly humbled to speak to you tonight on an evening that’s so special for all of you, for this Academy, and for this country. As I look around at the cadets in this room, it is very clear to me that you all reflect everything we hope to see in ourselves and our country – firmness of character and strength of heart, a strong body and a ferocious mind, a devotion to country and to family.
And I know that this weekend is the product of 47 months of extraordinary effort and endurance from R-Day to your last exam during TEE-week. For all of you, I know this has been a magnificent journey, a journey full of academic and athletic victories, a journey that has taken you across the country and around the world.
You’ve learned new skills and immersed yourself in new cultures, which will serve you well on today’s battlefields. You’ve also created a Bionic Foot, an Exoskeleton, and other robotics and cyber defense projects that will help troops in the field. In the area of sports, your football team had its first winning season in 14 years and its first bowl victory in 25. Your women’s rugby team just brought home the national championship last weekend. And with your help, West Point earned its first victory in the Sandhurst Competition in 18 years.
But along with all of your successes, your journey has also been filled with plenty of challenges. You learned that crawling face-first through the mud and enduring a long, cold winter aren’t just metaphors. You’ve learned just how little sleep you need to survive and how much coffee you can stomach to stay awake. You’ve crammed facts into your brain until you thought it would burst – and then you crammed in even more.
That’s the beauty of West Point. It’s a place where you learn that your greatest achievements will never come easily, and they will never be achieved alone.
You learn that duty, honor, and country are not simply words, but guideposts. They dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.
And you learn that there are times when we must stand up to defend our way of life, when we must live out your class motto, “For Freedom We Fight.”
We live in such times today.
You knew this from the moment you signed up. You knew that coming to this Academy meant that you would likely be placed in dangerous situations on unknown soil. Yet you came anyway.
You have seen cadets from the classes ahead of you pack their bags for Afghanistan or Iraq, and many of you have already served there yourselves. You hear updates not only from headlines and newsfeeds, but from emails and cell phone calls from friends. And yes, you’ve visited wounded friends, you’ve heard the bugle’s call each time a graduate of this academy has fallen in our wars. Yet you stayed anyway.
Each of you has taken a journey here that is uniquely your own, but follows in the great tradition of West Point. And tonight, you are on the cusp of taking your rightful place in that long, gray line.
Now, this journey is a testament not just to you as individuals, but also to the families that surround you, because your journey began long before you got that first military haircut and put on white-over-grey. Without your families, you never would have had the strength to tackle Beast Barracks while your peers were enjoying a final, carefree summer before college. Your families were the ones you called for a shoulder to lean on or a kick in the pants. They’ve been there for you for every moment of triumph and every moment of challenge. Their unending love and support provide the very foundation that allows you to stand strong today.
And that’s what I really want to talk with you about tonight. I want to talk about what family can and will mean for you as leaders of our Army and of our nation.
Now, I grew up like many of you did. My family lived on the South Side of Chicago on the top floor of a two-family home. We didn’t have much money, but we had more than enough of what mattered. We had the unwavering love and support of family. We had a community that looked after us.
And we had parents who showed us by example that if we worked hard enough, if we kept ourselves grounded and held fast to certain core values, then we could be anything that we dreamed of.
My dad was diagnosed with MS when he was in his early 30s, and as he grew older, he grew weaker and sicker. But I remember how he still went to work every day. I remember how he’d drag himself out to play in the park with me and my brother. And he was a role model in our community. Just by being himself, he showed me what it means to be a parent, a citizen, a leader.
And I know that each of you has your own family stories that shape you. Cadet Russ Burgin was inspired by his father, too. He saw how his dad went through chemo and radiation treatments, but never complained, never felt sorry for himself, and continued to work full-time to provide for his family. Today, his dad is cancer free, and Cadet Burgin is here at West Point, the best place he could imagine to live out the values that his father demonstrated every day.
Then we have Cadet Woo Do, who is a first-generation American. Growing up, he’d accompany his grandfather on doctor visits as a translator, and that’s how he developed his passion for medicine – a passion that will take him to Harvard Medical School next year.
And so many of you come from military backgrounds, like Cadets Christina Veney and Megan Snook, who each have multiple family members that graduated from this Academy.
And Cadet Erin Anthony can trace her family’s military history to the 1600s.
But Cadets, no matter how you’ve grown up, no matter how you define family, all of you have someone in your life who believed in you and pushed you. You had someone who taught you the values and lessons that will sustain you when times get tough or you’re unsure of what’s ahead. Some of those people are here with you tonight.
So, to the parents: I can only imagine the joy you’ll feel tomorrow when you see your sons and daughters in their officer’s uniforms for the first time. I can only imagine the pride that comes from knowing that your kids are the kind of kids that everyone dreams of raising.
But as a parent, I can also imagine what else might be on your mind tonight. All of you read the news. All of you understand what your children have signed up for. You know what their next assignment is, and in the back of your mind, you’re wondering where the assignments after that might take them.
Those concerns are only natural. And it is a testament to your strength, your patriotism and your unconditional love that you have proudly supported these cadets every step of the way.
And cadets, I want you to know that these people will always be there for you.
As I’ve seen in my own life and heard from troops all across this world, your family will be your rock, whether they’re right next to you or across an ocean.
And soon, many of you will be building families of your own. Very soon, for some of you. I hear that, in addition to all the graduation preparations, many of you are planning weddings as well. So congratulations to all of you as you prepare for the big day.
And no matter where your career takes you, your families will be there right alongside you.
Because our force is a force of families.