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.