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HARVARD YARD, 26 May 2010 -- Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers, former Senator Paul Kirk '60 and Harvard President Drew Faust spoke at the annual ROTC Commissioning Ceremony in Harvard Yard.
LTC Timothy Hall, Visiting Professor of Military Science at MIT and leader of the Army ROTC program for Harvard students, who led the ceremony, pointed out in his remarks the presence of Major (ret) Charles DePriest '77 MD, and lauded him for his role in re-starting the ROTC option for Harvard students. LTC Hall noted the centuries of military tradition at Harvard, including Harvard's 17 Medal of Honor recipients. He also noted that "Harvard is continuing its heritage of producing warrior scholars. Just this year, two recent ROTC graduates were recognized for outstanding scholarship, one as a Rhodes Scholar, and one as a Gates Millenium Scholar."
President Faust spoke of the importance of the graduates to the military. She quoted Gen. David Petraeus, who noted recently that "The most important surge in Iraq was not the surge of forces; rather it was the surge of ideas that guided the employment of our forces in Iraq" and the way to bring about such a surge is to "encourage young leaders to think for themselves, to improvise, to exercise initiative, and to challenge the conventional wisdom". She noted "that sounds to me a lot like what we have tried to teach you in 4 years at Harvard". She called upon the graduates to "help reinforce the long tradition of ties between Harvard and the military, as we share hopes that changing circumstances will soon enable us to further strengthen those bonds".
Michael G. Vickers, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities, told the new officers that "all of you will endure trying times" and "your courage will be as important as your intellect, and humility will become your greatest asset as you will soon be expected to lead". He advised "listen to your NCOs and veteran service members ... great officers listen and learn in order to lead".
Former Senator Paul Kirk '60, a graduate of Harvard ROTC, told the graduates "always remember this truth - whatever your level of academic distinction, as newly commissioned officers and ensigns, today you have learned your place in the front ranks of the most honored graduates of the Harvard College class of 2010 ... you are setting an honorable example for your classmates and for your generation".
Pictured below are the graduates. Receiving commissions as Army Second Lieutenants were (beginning on the left) David F. Boswell, Josue Guerra, Sarah A. Harvey and Karl J. Kmiecik, as well as cadet Alex Prado who will be commissioned this summer. Receiving Navy commissions were Ensign Joshua D. Foote, Second Lieutenant Tayla Havice, Ensigns Michael B. Kaehler, Christi E. Morrissey and Katherine E. O'Donnell, Second Lieutenant Shawna L. Sinnott and Ensign Oliva Volkoff.
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Previous Harvard ROTC Commissioning Ceremonies: 2002
2003 2004
2005 2006
2007 2008
2009
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