It has been quite an interesting summer, and the new class is in session now for almost two weeks. Conferences on teaching grand strategy, gaming and conferences over the past few weeks touching questions of how to deal with wicked problems of the future, all on the heels of a pretty interesting Current Strategy Forum in June. The latest issue of the Naval War College Review has just hit the net.
As always, the faculty here is continually recommending things for me to read. The latest was the Isaac Asimov trilogy "Foundation", “Foundation and Empire,” and “The Second Foundation.” Sure, it's science fiction, but what's interesting about the first is that it covers a galactic sweep of time and history, and though written in 1951/52, it has lost none of its relevance.
I was also able to visit USS Freedom in San Diego last week, one of the two LCS ship types in competition. Pretty interesting, and clearly represents a move forward in thinking about ships and technology at sea as well as a new model of manning.....and swapping, crews. Called the 3-2-1, which if I understood correctly, it's 3 crews, on two ships, with one forward deployed. Like it or not, it's spurring new thinking about how we man and maintain our ships. The crews swap every several months, no matter where the ships are.....anyway, the quality and competence of the crew was surely evident. There are always things to worry about under new manning concepts.....but these crews are wringing out the bugs, and were absolutely honest in telling us the pros and cons. It was sure good to get back to the waterfront with all the surface flags in San Diego, even if it was only a couple of days.
I will be revising my President's Reading List and Movie List over the next few weeks. Would appreciate any nominations. Here's the link of the current list.
Today, we had a wonderful ceremony at Dewey Field next to the Naval War College campus.
The resident graduating class included 303 members of the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and civilian government employees, and 120 international students from 68 countries. One thousand forty-two students graduated this spring from the College of Distance Education, after having completed coursework through the Naval War College Program at the Naval Postgraduate School in California, the Fleet Seminar Program at 20 locations throughout the U.S., or the Naval War College's web-enabled and correspondence programs. It was great that 107 of the non-resident students traveled to Newport to participate in the graduation ceremony. In total for this spring, we graduated 1,465 students from all over. Our civilian graduates represented a variety of government agencies from the U.S. Senate to the F.B.I. to the Department of State to the Department of Homeland Security and more.
Depending on the program completed, U.S. students received Joint Professional Military Education credit and either a Naval War College diploma or a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies, accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Graduates from the international programs received a diploma.
It was our pleasure to have the Honorable Richard L. Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State, present the commencement address.
I'll share with you my charge to the students.
"To our Graduates:
In history, all identities that survive have intellectual traditions.
These include religions and nations - the great Army and Navy as much as the church, monarchy, the courts, or legislative bodies. This great Navy has its tradition, too, although it is often hard to see.
Living intellectual traditions do two essential things.
First, they connect past to future through the living present, like a river running through time.
Second, they position identity, both its mythic stories and hopes for things to come, in the context of actual reality.
This can be done only by balancing the deepest truths of one's own identity against the counterpoint of all knowledge.
The Navy's intellectual tradition was not created in the Pentagon or at sea, and it did not come naturally to ship operators or program managers.
It was created here, and it must continually be relearned and extended - for if it is lost we literally risk losing ourselves.
That is why you were here, in the tradition of your forbears -- for 125 years-names such as Luce, Mahan, Fiske, Sims, and Pratt.
Nimitz, King and Halsey, Spruance, Turner and Stockdale.
Now, you must have the confidence to speak truth to power, the strength of character to ask the hard questions, and the energy to tackle the most complex problems you may ever encounter. We hope we have given you the tools, you, who will be the future military leaders of our nation. We are very proud of you, and your efforts here. Please take care of each other as you prepare to scatter to the four corners of the world and carry out the nation's business.
So, on behalf of the United States Naval War College faculty, staff and students you leave behind, we wish you and your families all great success, and we wish you fair winds and following seas. God bless you all."
South Charleston, Ohio -- Memorial Day 2010
I had some folks ask me for a copy of some brief remarks I made in my home area, here in Ohio, at the local Memorial Cay commemoration. It was a beautiful summer day. So here they are:
Good Morning, everyone, it is indeed an honor for me to have been invited to speak to you today, in what is an annual custom here. I really do feel like I'm home, and I thank you for inviting me back home.
You know, the Greeks had such a custom, and here in the U.S. it was started by Maj. Gen. John Logan as "remembrance day" several years following the Civil War.
I have family here in this cemetery, and in the one in Cedarville, down the road. In fact, most people don't know this, but I carry a buckeye in my pocket for good luck, as my dad does, and my grandfather did. I have some family here today, and I'm particularly pleased to see the large number of kids here today. This is an important event for them to participate in. I have very fond childhood memories of attending similar events when I was a kid growing up.
You know, time and the passage of time is a funny thing. Time is NOT an endless resource. In fact, the last time I spoke here was almost ten years ago. 2001, after the U.S.S.Cole bombing but before 9/11. The world is really a different place now. For me, it's a lot of water under the keel.
But a FREE COUNTRY has been handed down to us. This is a sacred trust. You know, Ohio has always done its share in the nation’s conflicts, and now is no exception. In fact, I found out since I began working in Newport at the Naval War College, that Rear Adm. Clarence Williams from Springfield also held this job as President. Adm. EJ King, Rear Adm. Bradley Fiske, Adm. SC Rowan -- were all from Ohio.
What has made this country great?
I'll tell you: it's how we face our trials together; it's our way of life in an open society, our constitution. It's also our people, who have a sense of duty, and would be ashamed to fall below a certain standard of behavior.
The bravest know the meaning of what is sweet in life, and what is terrible -- nevertheless, they go out anyway to meet what is to come.
In 434 BC, the Greek historian Thucydides said that "honor is the only thing that does not grow old -- and the last pleasure in life, is not, as the poet said, making money, but having the respect of one's fellow man."
Writing from Washington, D.C.
Last week in Newport we were privileged to have two individuals in our midst who had seen the beast, quite literally. Fred Cherry and Porter Halyburton, two Vietnam war POW’s.
Frankly, Fred Cherry shouldn’t have ever been a prisoner, because he should be dead. He ejected from his fighter going over mach 1. The ejection alone should have been lethal, but he’s a tough person. He said he was “really going fast” when his aircraft exploded from ground fire. Living in a segregated U.S. armed forces and flying combat missions during the Korean War, then later in Vietnam, the war was the easy part for Fred Cherry. He was the only black pilot in his squadron, and from his description of his experience, I’m very glad to live in 2010, and can be proud of today’s military in this respect.
They kidded around like the two dear old friends they are, having spent 8 months together in the Hanoi Hilton. Both spent over seven years in confinement, much in solitary. Their story is chronicled in
“Two Souls Indivisible,” by James S. Hirsch.
Where do we get such men? It was a privilege for me, and our staff and students to spend some time with them at the Naval War College. Porter Halyburton spent many years teaching in Newport after his Vietnam experience, and so was returning home. After what Fred Cherry experienced during his service to his country, well, he’s welcome in my home anytime. Both exhorted us to do the right thing, and Fred Cherry told us the nation needed our help now, and we owed our best efforts to help the country.
Listening to two veterans who not only had many combat missions under their belts but survived a very trying POW experience as well was, to be honest, an unforgettable experience. I couldn’t think of two people I’d rather spend an afternoon with. It was our honor.
To watch their lecture,
click here.
To listen to a brief excerpt from the book about them,
click here to go the Navy Professional Reading Program.