Good Morning.

It is a great honor to join you as part of this ceremony.  Today we will commission four extremely talented young men from the finest university in the Nation and they will be entering the most respected institution in the country.  And, not only that, as I read your backgrounds, they are very impressive indeed.  I noticed that one of you is from Massachusetts and the other three are from out of state.  So, if my math is correct, that means we should have three new life-long Red Sox fans.  We from the Red Sox nation welcome all, even Yankee Fans!

Thank you President Faust for taking time out of your busy schedule to be here today.  Your presence makes a strong statement of support for those who have chosen to serve their country during a time of war.

I would also like to offer special thanks to the professors and ROTC instructors who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in teaching and training these cadets to prepare them for life’s challenges and their future military service.  Although I know all of you have outstanding individual achievements in your own right, there must be a tremendous sense of satisfaction and pride in watching your students go off and make significant contributions both in life and in the service of our country as I know these four wonderful cadets we commission today most certainly will.

To the parents who are here, thanks for not only providing good genes and deposits to your sons’ credit cards but also for instilling in them a strong sense of values and purpose which inspired them to volunteer to serve their country.

Before I move on to the cadets we will commission today, I would like to recognize the Veterans in the audience, especially the Vietnam Veterans.  Our Soldiers enjoy tremendous support from the American people.  They cannot walk through an airport, a shopping mall or into a restaurant without someone thanking them for their service.  So, to those who never received a thank you –let me offer you one today.  Thank you for your service. 

For those of you who we will commission today, it may not seem it right now, but today will be a defining event in your life.  I say that because someday, somewhere, when you are sitting around with your children and grandchildren, someone is going to ask you what you did after our country was attacked, what you did during the war…and you are going proudly pop your chest out and tell them that you served your country, you served your country in the Army, you served your country in the Navy.  And, no matter where you go or what you do, no one will ever be able to take that away from you.

The road to today’s commissioning has not been easy.  It required many days of getting up early to do physical training, weekend field exercises, summer training, maybe missing some parties or perhaps adding an extra mile to your run so that you could max the PT test.  Know that you have chosen a noble path of service.  Though different from many of your peers, it is one that is compensated with respect and not material wealth.  When it gets really tough or you hear that your classmates are making a lot more money than you are, remember that no one ever walks up to a hedge fund manager in the airport and thanks him for his service.  (No offense intended to the hedge fund managers in the crowd.)

And, in closing, this past Thursday, I had the honor of hosting four surviving members of Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division at the Pentagon.  Their story was made famous in the HBO series, “Band of Brothers.”  These men were your age when they parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, fought fiercely across Europe and rushed to Bastogne to save the day and preserve the freedoms we cherish today.  They have been referred to as the greatest generation and rightly so.  As they reach the twilight of their lives, they were very interested in your generation and what the young men and women of today were like. I told them that despite ten years of war, your generation has never quit, has never accepted defeat, and has never left a fallen comrade.  I told them to sleep well at night because talented young people like you are continuing to volunteer to serve and defend this great country of ours. 

So as you graduate and head out for assignments around the world, possibly going into harm’s way, we know that the Nation is in good hands and you should know we are very proud of you. 

God bless you and the United States of America.