 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the U.S. Naval War College graduation ceremony. I am Captain Patrick Key's Dean of Students and will be serving as the MC for today's ceremony. You're welcome to take photographs at any time throughout the ceremony. We have official photographers taken pictures today and you will find those photos posted on our Flickr site found in the back of the program for you to download. At this time, as a courtesy, please put your cell phones on silent or vibrate. Please remain seated for the student procession. Please rise for the arrival of the official party, National Anthem and invocation. The National Anthem will be sung by musician third class, Christiana Villalva from the Navy Band Northeast. Commander David M. Todd Chaplin of the Naval Leadership and Ethics Center will deliver the invocation. Let us pray. Almighty God, we pray your blessing upon these graduates of the Naval War College we gather to honor this afternoon. As this time of study, reflection and critique and refinement comes to a close, we give you thanks for sustaining them through every test, exercise and paper and the perseverance that enabled them to run the course with endurance. As they return to positions of greater authority and even greater responsibility, grant them wisdom in applying the knowledge and skills they have mastered through this course of instruction instilling them a passion to demonstrate creativity and initiative in the face of the complex challenges ahead forging through uncertain times with unwavering conviction. Bless also the faculty and staff that have instructed, challenged and demanded more of these students that they might be fully equipped and ready for the task ahead and for the family and friends who have encouraged and supported them. We give you thanks. Finally, we ask that you would use this ceremony to stir in each of us a renewed desire to engage the challenges that lie ahead and affirm commitment to fulfill our role in serving the cause of security, prosperity and peace for all. Looking forward to the day when your truth, justice and righteousness shall reign. Please be seated. It gives me great pleasure to introduce the members of our official party. Brewer Admiral retired Michael White, Dean, College of Maritime Operational Warfare. Brewer Admiral retired Margaret Klein, Dean, Leadership and Ethics. Professor Walt Wilderman, Dean, College of Distance Education. Professor Tom Calora, Dean, Center for Naval Warfare Studies. Professor Thomas Mangold, Dean of International Programs and Maritime Security Cooperation. Dr. Phil Haun, Dean of Academics. Dr. Lewis Duncan, Provost, United States War College, Naval War College. Dr. Mark Junest, Strategy and Policy Department. And Brewer Admiral Jeffrey A. Harley, the 56th President of the United States Naval War College. Several years ago, we began a tradition at the U.S. Naval War College of allowing the graduating student body to nominate their guest speaker from amongst all the talented professionals at the college. I would now like to ask graduating student major William Yang to introduce your faculty guest speaker. Billy? Good afternoon. Admiral Haunley, Captain Keyes, distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues and all you other people in the stands. It gives me great pleasure to introduce our guest speaker for the 2018 graduating class as none other than the legendary, charismatic and audacious Professor Mark Junest. Professor Junest is an accomplished scholar and civil military advisor. He currently holds a distinction as the Forest Sherman Professor of Public Diplomacy in the Strategy and Policy Department as well as the Area Study Coordinator for the Insurgency and Terrorism Electives Program. Professor Junest first spoke to us during the intro to SNW when we were intellectually bludgeoned by the likes of Carl, Sunza, and Mao. Students were immediately taken back by his uncanny compliment of wit, logic, and common sense. He single-handedly proved lectures could be both entertaining and thought-provoking. But it was the epic lecture on Sammy and the Boys of 1776 that captivated our attention and will continue to do so for the next generation of our classmates. Enduring themes of strategic communications and all of its sub-elements, albeit the message, the messenger, and the audience still resonate with us. Thank you, sir, for carefully crafting your message to us to challenge the status quo and become intrepid inquisitors, for delivering the message with brutal honesty and for truly empathizing with us, the audience, as both the practitioner and scholar in the profession of arms. So without further ado, Professor Mark A. Junest. Good afternoon. Thank you, Will, for that effusive, highly flattering, and yet stunningly accurate introduction. I want to thank Admiral Harley, Provost Lewis Duncan, distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, proud family members, and, most importantly, you students for affording me the honor of speaking at your graduation. Look, being nominated to be graduation speaker is indeed a great honor. But remember, when listening to my assortment of one-liners and intellectual banalities, you only have yourself to blame. So where do I begin? Like your essays, I will meander about for several pages before I actually get to the point. A few years back, I was at a cocktail reception at a civilian university nearby. And after a couple of hours of convivial discourse, one of the professors turned to me and said, this is absolutely true, unlike the rest of my speech. Mark, you seem like a nice enough guy. So why did you join the faculty at the Naval War College? Literally, air quotes, war college. Now, we all know that the use of air quotes is an act of verbal warfare. So my initial reaction was to blurt out something that I joined the faculty to annoy college professors like him. But after my training here, I thought better of it and decided to engage in protracted verbal warfare. So I then told him I joined the Naval War College faculty after coming to ceremonies like this and listening to you all stand and sing your service songs. That's when I decided it would really be fun to teach here. Now, I'm talking about the lyrics, not the way you sing them, believe me. How do you not love lines like the Air Force's bloodthirsty, give them the gun? I mean, you have to go to downtown Chicago to hear that kind of stuff. Seriously, you do. And the Marines were equally aggressive with their, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea. And now I have to admit that I was worried about the Army when I kept singing caissons, keep rolling along. I mean, caissons, seriously. I know you changed the lyrics to the Army Keeps Rolling Along. Sorry, no, a big improvement. But then at the end of the Army song, you give that wonderful, full-froded uah at the end. And that really saved the Army. Really, war cries always get me a bit verklempt. Now, the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard actually has everything you could possibly wish for. Always ready to do, to fight, to die, to sink the foe and save the main. I mean, that's a beautiful combination of warrior and first responder. Last, but certainly and never least, is the Navy song. Sail on to victory and sink their bones to JV Jones. And then, what really got me was through our last night ashore, drink to the foam. So, this conversation continued and my colleague was trying to move away from me as quickly as possible. So I held up my glass of yingling. And I said, it's simple. They had me a drink to the foam. Whatever success I've had at the Naval War College, and by small, I mean infinitesimal success, is because of my students' willingness to play. For example, on the first day of each semester, students are assigned a very challenging mission. I warned them that I am the most juvenile professor that they will encounter at the Naval War College. And believe me, that's a very high bar. Given that fact, their mission is to ensure that we have a great time in the seminar. To accomplish this arduous task, students must play with my teaching partner in me every single week. Or we will literally take our intellectual ball, and we literally bring a ball to the seminar, and go back to our offices. That's their challenge, that's their mission. Okay, so why do I play such a great emphasis on immaturity? I told you we'd take a few pages to get to the thesis statement. Irritating, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Youthful behavior is the key ingredient of an active, curious mind. Think of a baby tiger rolling around with his siblings, rough housing, stalking, and then pouncing on one another, and generally having a great time. What's the purpose of this activity? They're learning to be hunters, but to them it's just play. Show me a grown tiger that still loves to play, and I'll show you a great hunter. Ideas are prey, and should be treated as such. Go ahead, hunt them down, pounce on them, toss them around, devour them. And don't go after just the slow wildebeests in the herd. Attack the fastest and most challenging intellectual prey there is. You may not catch them, but it's the pursuit that really matters. How's that for elongated, tortured metaphor? But there's something to it, at least I hope. If you're not willing to play with ideas, challenge everything and everyone, then you are far too mature to live an intellectually meaningful life. To live the examined life, one cannot take it or yourself too seriously. Because if you do, that's when you begin to worry about the consequences of having different ideas. A true intellectual is an iconoclass, a troublemaker, a renegade, a tiger. At the end of each seminar, my teaching partner and I would go back to the office and the only question we asked was, so who played with us today? That's how each and every student earned their grade in our class. That and the $50 in an envelope. I have long thought that people who treat learning as a somber, serious exercise never excel at challenging conventional precepts and thus never really contribute to our overarching body of knowledge. Take Galileo, for example. What a 16th century goofball. The Earth is obviously the center of the universe. Come on, what else could it be? But Galileo couldn't stop himself from playing with his new toy, the telescope. He based his theory on the solar system on his own careful observations and decided that Copernicus is right. The sun is the center of the universe. Then he took it up a notch and he spoke truth to power and fearlessly challenged the prevailing view. Okay, full disclosure, Galileo was tried by the Inquisition, found vehemently suspect of heresy and spent the rest of his life under House Arrest. It was a nice house, though, and Galileo never stopped playing. In fact, he wrote some of his best treatises during this period of time. Not that he had much else to do. Still, this is a life well lived. If lifetime house arrest isn't your ideal of a career goal, let's try looking at a famous military leader. Admiral Hyman Rickover was literally a nuclear reactor of controversy. He attacked Navy bureaucracy, ignored red type, constantly challenged conventional wisdom, and he achieved what former Secretary of the Navy, Dan Kimball, said, the most important piece of development work in the history of the Navy. Rickover focused on doing his job. He cared little for protocol, tradition, or what other people thought of him so long as he could accomplish the mission. He was an indomitable force, the father of the nuclear Navy, a true intellectual tiger. Success always takes hard work and perseverance, but it requires being captivated and excited about playing with ideas and solving problems. It's falling in love with the world around you, grabbing it by the neck and giving it the intellectual gun. If that isn't fun, you tell me what is. And that's one of the most important lessons that I hope you have learned in your time at the Naval War College. Please, don't get me wrong. We live in dangerous times, and the art and science of national security and strategic studies is exceedingly important. The stakes are enormous. The lives and well-being of our country and the globe are at stake. But only by playing with ideas, by having fun, by subjecting everything to critical analysis, every good book, every great article you read, every great speech, particularly this one, and yes, every military doctrine and strategy. By challenging them, can we ever hope to be intellectual tigers and make a real impact on the world? See you in the intellectual playroom, or maybe under house arrest, whatever comes first. Thank you. For each graduating class, one student is selected for recognition as the President's Honor Graduate. Recipients of this award are chosen based on their outstanding achievement across a spectrum of disciplines, including academic performance, participation in Naval War College activities, participation in civic and community activities, and promotion of armed and government services in the public interest. For the College of Naval Command and Staff, the Honor Graduate for the November 2018 graduating class is Lieutenant Commander Timothy R. Anderson, United States Navy. He was a seminar leader for both S&W and TSDM, in addition to serving as the JMO capstone leader, also assisted with Starship Poseidon and participated in the Community Concert Band. Would you please come up to the stage, Tim? Along with a certificate, he has received an engraved Weems and Plath Compass from the Naval War College Foundation. A Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies or Defense and Strategic Studies as appropriate will now be conferred to the graduates. Will the graduates please rise and remain in place? Radmore Harley, please approach the podium. In National Security and Strategic Studies and Defense and Strategic Studies, they have been thoroughly examined and approved by the faculty. You are vested in me by the Almighty God and the Secretary of the Navy, the accreditation of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I confer upon you all appropriate degrees and diplomas. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting with our applause. The November 2018 graduates of the United States Naval War College. Thank you, Admiral. Graduates, please be seated. Beyond the requirements for graduation, certain individuals have distinguished themselves to academic excellence. For those in the top 5%, they are receiving a diploma with highest distinction. Those in the next 15% will receive a diploma with distinctions. Graduates will now receive their diplomas. Graduates, please proceed to the stage as your name is read. Guests are welcome to come forward to take photographs. Please try to hold your applause until all names have been read. Admiral Harley, Dr. Janes, Dr. Duncan, and Dean Hahn, please rise. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Warfare and their next duty assignment. Lieutenant Colonel William A. Adler, U.S. Army, with high distinction. U.S. Naval War College faculty, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Colonel Steven T. Gerton, Army National Guard, Rhode Island National Guard, Cranston, Rhode Island. Commander Sean Patrick Kiernan, U.S. Navy, submarine forces specific for Harbor Hawaii. Commander Dylan G. Porter, U.S. Navy, VT-7, Meridian, Mississippi. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Command and Staff and their next duty assignment. Lieutenant Commander Timothy R. Anderson, U.S. Navy, with high distinction. U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Gerald E. Armstrong, U.S. Navy, VAW 121, Norfolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Robert Hamer Berkstraesser, U.S. Navy, VP-30, Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Bradley Allen Blanchett, U.S. Navy, USS Pasadena, SSN 752, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Commander Clarence Richard Boswell III, U.S. Navy, VAQ 129, Naval Air Station, Whitby Island, Washington. Major Gary L. Brooks II, U.S. Army, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Georgia. Lieutenant Commander Randall Mark Brown, U.S. Navy, U.S. Pacific Fleet for Harbor Hawaii. Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Browning, U.S. Navy, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Major Andrew C. Carnes, U.S. Army, 316th Calvary Brigade, 129th Infantry Battalion, Fort Benning, Georgia. Lieutenant Commander Charles Edward Chambers, U.S. Navy, United States Special Operations Command, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Timothy Charlie-Bois, U.S. Navy, VFA-122, Naval Air Station, LaMoure, California. Lieutenant Commander Sean T. Glarner, U.S. Navy, Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Lieutenant Commander Nicholas G. Calcas, U.S. Navy, ATASHA Training, Defense Intelligence Agency, Arlington, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Sean P. Carney, U.S. Navy, VP-30, Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Patrick M. Leslie, U.S. Navy, Joint Staff, Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Lieutenant Joseph C. Lewis, U.S. Navy, with High Distinction, Surface Warfare Officer School, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Melissa A. Macklin, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, Op-Nav N2, Washington, D.C. Lieutenant Chun-Chun N. Mears, U.S. Navy, U.S. Seventh Fleet, Yakuza, Japan. Lieutenant Commander Ian Braden, Manili, U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Commander Matthew L. Minns, U.S. Navy, VFA-195, Iwakuni, Japan. Major Peter C. Mueller, U.S. Army, Army Capabilities Integration Center, Futures Command, Fort Eustis, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Jonathan P. Phillips, U.S. Navy, Special Operations Command, Africa, Stuttgart, Germany. Major Robinson H. Kitos, Army National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters, Rhode Island National Guard, Cranston, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Kevin Francis Riley, U.S. Navy, Joint Task Force North, Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico. Lieutenant Commander Peter Charles Schunk, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, Naval Surface and Mine Warfare Development Center, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Commander Stephen A. Shepsky, U.S. Navy, Coastal Riverine Group II, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Kevin Shikama, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Lieutenant Commander Kurt M. Chalkitis, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, 10th Fleet, Fort Meade, Maryland. Major Stephen M. Speicher, U.S. Army, 30 Infantry Division, Fort Steward, Georgia. Lieutenant Commander Hannah Castillo-Starnes, Nurse Corps, U.S. Navy, Naval Hospital, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Daniel J. Brigitte, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, U.S. Navy, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Scott Cameron Wagner, U.S. Navy, VP4, with Beyond Washington. Lieutenant Commander Charles Waltman, U.S. Navy, with Distinction, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Travis E. Wondell, U.S. Navy, HSM 71, Coronado, California. Lieutenant Commander Paul M. Ward, U.S. Navy, U.S. 3rd Fleet, San Diego, California. Major Apollo Wally Williams, U.S. Army, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. And last but not least, Major William Yang, U.S. Army, Division Artillery, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. Admiral Harley will now issue the charge to the graduates. May you join the long line of Naval War College graduates that extend back over 134 years, a history you now share with those who came before. Your dedicated efforts and hard work have helped to refine your war-fighting skills and growth as members of the profession of arms. As each of you return to your positions of great responsibility in government, at headquartered staffs, leading forces in combat, and even to the last full measure of devotion if required, your charge is to think critically, to dare greatly, and to fully utilize your heightened understanding of strategy and the elements of national power. I charge you to remember the camaraderie and the experiences you've shared during your time at this great institution of learning and continue to be the best warfighter that you can be. I charge you to realize your strength through being strong emotionally, physically, and spiritually, to be the disciple leader when you must be, or remember the words of the great philosopher, Cinderella, who tells us to have courage and be kind. I charge you then to have courage and to harness it, to know that your faith is not misplaced, either in God or our great nation. But above all, I charge you to distill the essence of your courage in your profession and in all that you do. General Patton said, "'Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. "'The critical thinking skills you have learned here "'will give you the extra minute you need "'to rise up to the challenges and any fears you might face.'" This charge is really yours then, to go forward now to be the individuals who will determine the strategy and contribute to policy at the highest levels. This is your duty, this is your responsibility, and this is your time. On behalf of the Naval War College faculty and staff, I wish God speed to you all. God bless our great nation, God bless this great college, God bless our gifted faculty, and God bless us, everyone. Thank you. Please rise for the benediction. Let us pray. Eternal Father, as you have graced us with your presence, so send us out with your approbation and peace. Bless us all with the spirit of a scholar warrior, ever seeking a deeper understanding of the forces at play in the field of battle and a more precise way forward in the hour of complexity and crisis. Enable us to maintain a steadfastness of purpose, fidelity worthy of our nation's trust, and self-sacrificial dedication to the high principles of honor, courage, and commitment in defense of justice, freedom, and liberty for all. Grant that we may all remain resolute and faithful in our particular places of responsibility, demonstrating by our every thought, word, and deed the honor, courage, and commitment to which we have been called. Amen. Please remain standing for the departure of the official party.