Remarks at the Harvard ROTC Commissioning Ceremony 2007

LTC Leo McGonagle, Professor of Military Science at MIT
June 6, 2007

GENERAL OELSTROM, GENERAL DAVENPORT, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, EDUCATORS, ADMINISTRATORS, ADVOCATES FOR HARVARD ROTC, ALUMNI – FRIENDS, MIDSHIPMEN & CADETS, AND MOST OF ALL, FAMILY MEMBERS – THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE WITH US TODAY.

WHEN OFFICER CANDIDATES SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THEIR ACADEMIC AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING REQUIREMENTS AND ARE DEEMED READY TO BECOME AN OFFICER, IT IS CUSTOMARY THAT A COMMISSIONING CEREMONY IS HELD IN THEIR HONOR. THIS CEREMONY MARKS THE TRANSITION FROM OFFICER CANDIDATE TO OFFICER AND SERVES AS A SPECIAL INDUCTION INTO THE MILITARY. THE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN SEATED BEFORE YOU ARE ABOUT TO TAKE AN OATH TO PROTECT AND SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC. THAT OATH WAS ESTABLISHED ON JUNE 1ST, 1789. AS THE UNITED STATES’ FIRST LAW, CONGRESS ENSURED THAT CIVIL AND MILITARY LEADERS WILL PROMISE THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO THE COUNTRY.

THESE 11 COMMISSIONEES HAVE CHOSEN SERVICE OVER SELF AND HAVE DEMONSTRATED A WILLING DESIRE TO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY. MUCH IS EXPECTED OF OUR NATION’S MILITARY OFFICERS, INCLUDING THOSE NEWLY COMMISSIONED, WHO WILL SOON HAVE THE LIVES OF OTHER MEN AND WOMEN IN THEIR OWN HANDS. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT, AS NEWLY COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HAS RECOGNIZED THEM FOR THEIR PATRIOTISM, VALOR, FIDELITY, AND ABILITIES.

AS YOU MAY KNOW, ON MAY 17th OUR PRESIDENT HOSTED A JOINT COMMISSIONING CEREMONY IN THE EAST ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE FOR 58 ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, AND MARINE CADETS FROM ALL 50 STATES, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, GUAM, PUERTO RICO, AMERICAN SAMOA, AND THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS, AND INCLUDING HARVARD’s OWN ERIK SAND. THE PRESIDENT MADE SOME CANDID AND INSIGHTFUL COMMENTS ON MILITARY SERVICE, ON SACRIFICES MADE BY CADETS AND MIDSHIPMEN, AND ON DIVERSITY. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT PEOPLE WERE LISTENING, AND THAT THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE WAS RECEIVED. TO OUR COMMISSIONEES, PRESIDENT BUSH ALSO PROVIDED ADVICE DIRECTLY TO THE THOSE COMMISSIONEES IN ATTENDANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. ALONG WITH ACKNOWLEDGING THE SACRIFICES THAT STUDENTS ENDURED WHILE PARTICIPATING IN ROTC, HE CHALLENGED THE NEW OFFICERS WITH 3 POINTS OF ADVICE THAT I WANT TO PASS ALONG TO YOU. THEY WERE – FIRST, TO BRING HONOR TO THE UNIFORM, SECOND, TO SET HIGH STANDARDS FOR YOURSELF, AND THIRD, TO NOT ASK OF THOSE UNDER YOUR COMMAND ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD NOT ASK OF YOURSELF. HE THEN REMARKED THAT IF THE OFFICERS DID THOSE THINGS, THEIR CAREERS WOULD TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES AND THEIR SERVICE WOULD BE A SOURCE OF PRIDE. THOSE ARE THREE EXCELLENT POINTS TO PLACE INTO YOUR KIT BAGS AS YOU EMBARK UPON YOUR SERVICE. ON BEHALF OF THE TRI-SERVICE ROTC DETACHEMENTS HOSTED BY MIT, WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR DEDICATION, YOUR WORK ETHIC AND WHAT YOU’VE BROUGHT TO OUR PROGRAMS. WE’RE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE AND OF WHAT YOU’VE ACCOMPLISHED. WE’RE VERY PROUD AND GRATIFIED TO KNOW THAT YOU WILL SOON BE OUT THERE LEADING AND CARING FOR OUR NATION’S SON’S AND DAUGHTER’S.

I MENTIONED HARVARD’S MILITARY HISTORY LAST YEAR AND IT’S IMPORTANT, SO I’LL MENTION IT AGAIN.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY HAS A LONG AND PROUD MILITARY HISTORY DATING BACK TO THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WHEN GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON BARRACKED HIS CONTINENTAL ARMY IN HARVARD BUILDINGS. TODAY’S HARVARD REGIMENT TRACES ITS ORIGINS BACK TO THE 20TH MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEER INFANTRY FROM THE CIVIL WAR. DURING WORLD WAR ONE, SIX OF THE US ARMY’S AIR CORPS’ ACES WERE HARVARD GRADUATES. DURING WORLD WAR TWO THE YARD WAS TRANSFORMED INTO THE NAVAL RADIO SCHOOL. TODAY, HARVARD’S TRADITION OF SERVICE TO THE NATION CONTINUES THROUGH THE COMMISSIONEES SEATED BEFORE YOU, WHO, ALONG WITH THEIR PREDECESSORS, ENABLE HARVARD TO HAVE A STAKE IN THE LEADERSHIP OF OUR NATION’S ARMED FORCES.
BEFORE I INTRODUCE OUR GUEST SPEAKER, I’D LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND THANK TWO ARMY CADRE MEMBERS WHO WILL SOON DEPART ROTC AFTER THREE YEARS OF SERVICE HERE – TODAY IS ESSENTIALLY THEIR LAST DUTY DAY WITH US. THEY ARE CAPTAIN ERIC MCKINNEY AND MASTER SERGEANT RAY NUNWEILER. THESE INDIVIDUALS HAVE BEEN MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL COMMISSIONING CEREMONIES HERE AT HARVARD FOR PAST TWO YEARS. TOGETHER THEY FORMED A SYNERGISTIC TEAM THAT PROVIDED FIRST RATE LEADERSHIP, TRAINING, AND MENTORSHIP TO OUR EMERGING LEADER-CADETS. IF I NEEDED SOMETHING DONE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME, I WOULD HAND THE TASK OFF TO EITHER ONE, OR BOTH AND KNOW THAT THE MISSION WOULD BE COMPLETED TO A STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE. THEY ARE REVERED BY OUR CADETS AND HIGHLY RESPECTED BY OUR CADRE. ERIC, THANKS FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE FOR OUR PROGRAM; YOUR MENTORSHIP OF CADETS IS SECOND TO NONE, AND YOU SET THE GOLD STANDARD FOR LIAISON OFFICER OPERATIONS AT HARVARD, WHERE YOU ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROGRAM GROWTH WE’VE WITNESSED HERE IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS. RAY, YOU ARE AN ELITE TRAINER AND HIGHLY EDUCATED WARRIOR, AND I COUNT YOU AMONG THE FINEST NON COMMISSIONED OFFICER’S I’VE EVER SERVED WITH. YOUR COMMONSENSE LEADERSHIP APPROACH AND STYLE WILL BE CARRIED AND EXERCISED BY THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARMY LEADERS, WHO YOU’VE EFFECTIVELY TRAINED FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS. RANGERS LEAD THE WAY! THESE TWO SCHOLAR-WARRIORS, BOTH EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY MEN, CONTINUE TO LEAD BY THEIR PERSONAL EXAMPLE, AS THEY TOO HAVE AGAIN CHOSEN SERVICE OVER SELF, AND WILL MOVE ON TO OTHER ARMY UNITS, WHERE BOTH WILL LIKELY RE-DEPLOY AND LEAD SOLDIERS IN SUPPORT OF ONGOING WORLDWIDE CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS. I ASK EVERYONE TO JOIN ME IN GIVING THESE TWO LEADERS A ROUND OF APPLAUSE.

STEPHEN PETER ROSEN is the Beton Michael Kaneb Professor of National Security and Military Affairs, Director of the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, and Master of Winthrop House. He was the civilian assistant to the Director, Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense; the Director of Political-Military Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council; and a professor in the Strategy Department at the Naval War College. Professor Rosen was a consultant to the President’s Commission on Integrated Long Term Strategy, and to the Gulf War Air Power Survey sponsored by the Secretary of the Air Force. He has published articles on the American theory of limited war, the strategic implications of the AIDS epidemic, strategies for promoting innovation in the American military, and international politics in a multipolar nuclear world in International Security, The Washington Quarterly, Foreign Policy, The Journal of Strategic Studies, Joint Forces Quarterly, and Diplomatic History. Professor Rosen is the author of Winning the Next War: Innovation and the Modern Military, which won the 1992 Furniss Prize for best first book on national security affairs awarded by the Mershon Center at Ohio State University, and of Societies and Military Power: India and its Armies. His most recent book, War and Human Nature, was published by Princeton University Press in 2004. He is currently researching a book on imperial strategy. Professor Rosen was selected Harvard College Professor, an honor that recognizes particularly distinguished contributions to undergraduate teaching, in 2002. He was also the recipient of the prize for excellence in teaching awarded in 2003 by the Alpha and Iota Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE JOIN ME IN WELCOMING PROFESSOR ROSEN.