Paralyzed midshipman graduates from USNA

Every year there's a couple people who get a diploma sans commission due to medical issues. There was talk for a while of him being able to serve as an intel officer or something but I guess that's not working out which is too bad.

I don't know Kevin well personally (sort of a friend of a friend of a friend connection...I also did the same race as him last year on a different team and ran into him a couple times but that's it), but by all accounts he is a great guy and was a great mid. Before his accident, he had a billet in his company (semi unusual for a 2/C and was scheduled to go on a SEAL cruise that summer.

A couple anecdotes that I think are testaments to his character:

-after he first sort of woke up following his accident, his first words to his parents were along the lines of "Well, I can't go SEALs now but maybe I can still serve in a different capacity or make a difference somewhere else.". His thoughts didn't dwell on self pity, but instead on how he could still continue to serve.

-I ran into one of the guys on his race team over the summer and by then he was already focused on getting back into shape (pull ups from his wheelchair, etc.) as training to do the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall. Sure enough, like two months later (and only 6 months after his accident) he did it.

For the kids going off to 2016, this is the caliber of a lot of the people who you will go to school with. I'm thrilled that Kevin is able to graduate with our class and have absolute confidence that whatever it is he ends up choosing to do, he will be successful.
 
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