 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Naval War College graduation ceremony. I'm Captain John Griffin, the dean of students and will be serving as the emcee for today's ceremony. You're welcome to take photographs at any time throughout the ceremony. We have official photographers taking pictures today and you will find these photos posted on our Flickr site. At this time, as a courtesy, please put your mobile phones on silent or vibrate. Please remain seated for the student procession. Please rise and remain standing for the arrival of the official party, National Anthem and Invocation. The National Anthem will be sung by Naval War College's own Ms. Julie Zekker. Commander Douglas E. Rosander, the Naval War College chaplain, will deliver the invocation. Let us pray. From ancient scripture, an intelligent heart acquires knowledge and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Merciful Lord in heaven, we ask for your presence with us today. Graduation marks a milestone in the life of each one being recognized for their many months of hard work and perseverance. These students have been stretched, challenged and tested. Thank you for their hard work and success. As a result of their time here, may they be better equipped to lead, serving our nation and benefiting others. Thank you for their instructors and mentors, as well as their families and friends who have encouraged them along the way. Now please be with those being recognized today for their achievements and keep them mindful of your presence through the one who saves. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. It gives me great pleasure to introduce some members of our official party. Captain Richard Lebranche, U.S. Navy, Chair, Joint Military Operations Department. Dr. Michael Pavkovic, Chair, Strategy and Policy Department. Dr. Jay Hickey, Director, College of Distance Education. Dr. David Cooper, Chair, National Security Affairs Department. Dr. John Garifano, Dean of Academic Affairs. Dr. Louis Duncan, Provost. Dr. Mark Agenest, Forest Sherman Chair of Public Diplomacy, Strategy and Policy Department, and Co-Director of the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups. And we're Admiral P. Gardner Howe III, President, United States Naval War College. Good day and welcome to all the guests at today's ceremony. Several years ago, we began a tradition at the Naval War College of allowing the graduating student body to nominate their guest speaker. For amongst all the talented professionals at the college. I would like to ask graduating student, Colonel Dennis Sullivan, to introduce your faculty guest speaker. Colonel Sullivan. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure of introducing our guest speaker, Professor Mark Agenest. I was in Professor Agenest's Strategy and Policy Seminar last spring. And like the rest of our graduating students, I enjoyed many of his S&P lectures. Professor Agenest is the Forest Sherman Public or Forest Sherman Professor of Public Diplomacy. And the S&P department is the college's Co-Director of the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups. He earned his PhD from Georgetown University and International Politics. His academic accomplishments are extremely impressive and are listed in your brochure. And he also is a superb example of the high standard that the Naval War Call has achieved for its instructors. To go along with his academic accomplishments, Professor Agenest has also served twice downrange, serving as a senior civilian advisor to key military leaders in Afghanistan. And over the past two years, or correction, over the past year to both the junior and senior class, we have benefited from his Strategy and Policy Lectures. He could insightfully deliver a lecture on Thucydides as well, just as brilliantly as he could when on the Cold War, Vietnam, or the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. His lectures were almost always highly informative and kept his audience fully engaged. His presentations were always memorable. He's the only professor that could deliver a lecture on Kissinger and Detente that many of you may recall, and weave in music from the Bee Gees and pictures of John Travolta. In the seminar room, he was just as brilliant. His insights always brought out key points and challenged students to achieve excellence. Despite his large brain and clear genius in his topics, he was never intimidating or condescending to the students, though we did have to tolerate his Henry Kissinger infatuation. Ladies and gentlemen, Professor Marc Genes. Good afternoon. Thank you, Colonel Sullivan, for that effusive, highly flattering, and studyingly accurate introduction. I'd like to thank Admiral Howe, Dr. Duncan, distinguished guests, esteemed colleagues, proud family members, and most importantly, you students, for affording me the honor of speaking today at your graduation ceremony. Now, I first heard about the possibility of being the graduation speaker when the Dean of Students walked into my office about a month ago and told me that early polls indicated that Professor John Maurer and I were locked in a tight race for the honor. Now, I mainly began to worry. You have to understand Professor Maurer is a Yale-educated Ivy League scholar who's insightful and intellectually engaging lectures and legendary here at the War College. I, on the other hand, graduated from a state university where I majored in beer and coeds. I excelled in only one of those subjects. I'll let you guess which one. I then began breaking down the polling data because as a good political scientist, that's what I do. I desperately searched for a path to electoral victory. Maurer had a wide base of support among the Air Force, the Army, the Coast Guard, international and civilian students who wanted to hear the Churchillian brilliance of Professor Maurer one more time before they left this august institution. But I had my own unique strengths. My lectures were about propaganda. Henry Kissinger, Sam Adams manipulating the press and the masses. I even threw in an occasional bear joke. My electoral base was solid. I had the sailors. The biggest challenge was getting the Marines to learn how to spell Janest. It was a very, very tight race. Once I won, I had to figure out what I was going to say. And in the end, I decided to talk to you about when Brigadier General Randy George, a Navy War College graduate, asked me to come out to Afghanistan to serve as a civilian advisor to the 4th Brigade Combat Team in Jalalabad. I want to tell you this for three reasons. First, you're a captive audience and I never ever lose sight of the fact that you must listen to what I say. Second, more seriously, is education is a shared journey between student and teacher. My career has been centered on sharing my knowledge with students from the standpoint of an academic who spends his time researching in comfortable confines. In 2009 and 2011, I was given the opportunity to conduct my research while walking for a brief period of time in your shoes. I have often said that one of the truly wonderful things about being a professor at the Naval War College is that I learned more from my extraordinary students than they learned from me. Okay, maybe not this much this year. But generally, for most classes, it's very true. Third, for the past year, you've been living what we scholars refer to as the contemplated life. Essentially, my life. Your time has been spent writing essays, reading scholarly books and articles, and engaging in intellectual combat with Sansa, Clausowitz, Mahan, Corbett and the plethora of great minds that you were exposed to over the course of your studies here at the War College. For men and women whose careers have focused on the harsh realities associated with violent operations on the battlefield, or even more terrifying experiences working at the Pentagon, your time at the Naval War College has been a very different type of unique challenge, forced to sit and listen to lectures by geeks like me, whom you used to beat up in grammar school, and you know who you are. We still have the scars from that. But for many of you, this has been as far outside of your comfort zone as was my time in Afghanistan. I know this because I felt the discomfort as I graded your final exams. So what insights can I possibly share with you regarding my relatively brief excursions in Afghanistan? First and foremost, Clausowitz tells us that no degree of academic study can possibly supplant the knowledge acquired from actually experiencing the battlefield. This is certainly true. I had no idea how tough it would be to cope with the grueling 18-hour workdays, the searing 120-degree heat compounded by 80 pounds of protected body armor while living on the ever-present threat of confronting my own mortality. Yet curiously, I was more prepared for this than I actually thought. After all, I had been raised on the mean streets of Newport. I had also read many books. And to top it off, I had even been going to the gym at least twice a week for two months. This body wasn't built on Twinkies alone, you know. But looking back, I should have read the subtle clue given to me at the outset by General George who convinced me to spend my time in the friendly confines of Fob Fenty in Afghanistan. He said, Mark, don't worry. I brought you here for your mind, not your body. Now, I had used that line many times in college with mixed results on it. But I never imagined that one day I would be on the receiving end of it and that he would actually mean it. Despite my intense preparation, I found I was not prepared for life in the talk, the Tactical Operating Center. Upon arrival, I was immediately escorted to my new home away from home, the little blue cell, I mean that spacious workspace that was furnished with two desks, two chairs, and, well, nothing else. I served my time by writing strategic analyses of the U.S. Army's I.O. campaign for regional commandees and then later for the division headquarters in Kandahar. Colonel George would occasionally come into the office and reminisce about his career as an Army officer and how much it was enhanced by his experience in writing essays that I assigned to him on Mahan's views of the importance of naval power. After a few minutes, he would leave locking the door behind him. Muttering something about all the salt water around Jalalabad. Eventually, I began to question whether or not he was happy with that B-plus I gave him. Anyway, I did get an opportunity to venture forth outside the gates to visit the vast array of acronyms that we constructed around Afghanistan, the PRTs, the FOBS, the COPs that have come to symbolize our efforts to provide security and restore hope to the Afghan people. I tagged along on MRAP convoys driving miles of newly paved roads to visit the training and medical facilities that ISAF helped build during my time in Afghanistan. I spoke with children excited about attending classes and schools so new that the paint on the walls was still damp. I was able to get a small glimpse of the scale of sacrifice and remarkable work performed each and every day by troops serving in combat outposts in remote areas of Nuristan, Nangahar, Kunar and Lagman provinces. I was even able to attend a change of command ceremony in Kunar province. It was there that I witnessed a naval officer taking command of a post located in the mountainous region of northeastern Afghanistan only a few kilometers from the border of Pakistan. I never thought that I would hear a naval officer being piped aboard an outpost in the middle of the Hindu Kush. It was an incredible experience. It was to say the least a remarkable educational experience. It has profoundly affected the way that I understand the nature of contemporary counterinsurgency strategy. Now don't get me wrong, many of the theories that I gleaned from books held true but they all painted incomplete portraits of a reality so complex that no one can ever hope to capture more than a fleeting impression. Still my understanding of the human element has grown immensely and that has hopefully made me a better teacher, scholar and man. My respect and admiration for the sacrifices that you, your families make and serving your country deepens each day that I work here. In 2011 I had the opportunity to return to Afghanistan where I worked at division headquarters in Kandahar and it was there that I met a Lieutenant Colonel who had served six out of the last seven years in either Afghanistan or Iraq. The remarkable thing is that this level of service and sacrifice is no longer uncommon. Isaac Newton once said, if I see further it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants. When I say that I stand upon the shoulders of giants I'm not referring to the great scholars that we study here at the War College although my mind has been greatly enhanced by reading their works nor am I talking about my superb colleagues although I have learned more from them than I can ever recount. I'm talking about you and all of the students who came before you whose selfless dedication to a cause greater than yourself is truly breathtaking to behold. And finally, Clausowitz, and you knew this was coming, tells us that to truly understand strategy must augment your practical experiences with the study of history, politics and culture. I hope you have taken full advantage of the opportunity to study these subjects here at the War College. As you leave these gates and return to your lives, driving ships, flying aircraft, running dangerous operations in Afghanistan, the Far East, the Horn of Africa or even worse Washington DC, I am confident that you will be in a position to take what you've learned here and apply it to the complex and wide array of challenges that you will face in the rest of your careers. Indeed, this will be the ultimate test of the value of your time here. Thank you very much and congratulations. Dr. Genest, on behalf of the students, staff and faculty, thank you for your comments and your ongoing contributions and service to our country. For each graduating class, one student is selected for recognition as the President's Honor Graduate. This award is presented to the student who best displays the high standards of academic performance, Naval War College activities, participation in civic and community service and promotion of the military services in the public interest. For the College of Naval Warfare, the honor graduate for the March 2015 graduating class is Colonel Stephen Wolfe. Colonel Wolfe, would you please come up the stage to receive your award. Colonel Wolfe is graduating number one in his College of Naval Warfare class. He was a seminar academic and athletic representative and active in supporting school programs in Jamestown and North Kingstown. He's receiving an engraved Weems and Plath Compass from the Naval War College Foundation and his name will be added to the perpetual plaque of honor graduates. For the College of Naval Command and Staff, the honor graduate for the March 2015 graduating class is Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Shanahan. Lieutenant Commander Shanahan. Lieutenant Commander Shanahan is graduating number one in his College of Naval Command and Staff class. He served as a seminar leader, academic representative and first prize in the 2014 Naval War College Foundation SA Award Competition. He's receiving an engraved Weems and Plath Compass from the Naval War College Foundation as well and his name will be added to the perpetual plaque of honor graduates. We'll now give our honor graduates a few minutes to address their fellow graduates and classmates. Admiral Howe, Dr. Duncan, distinguished guests, family, friends, thank you very much for being here with us today. Over the past several days, I was filling out the last of what was many surveys here at the Naval War College. It took a few minutes to reflect on what I thought made this year successful for me and I came up with three things that I'd like to share with you today. The first is my year at the Naval War College gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my family. As all of you know, we spend a lot of time deployed doing training exercises. Even when you're at home station, you spend a lot of time away from home taking care of your soldiers, your sailors, your airmen, your Marines or the civilians who work with you. I'm very proud of the fact that over the last year I made every single birthday, I made every school event, I made every soccer practice, every soccer game, every football practice and really did a lot with my family. And sometime I'll take off this uniform, it'll be the last time and I'll no longer care about the nuances of operational art. I've forgotten everything I pretended to know about Clausewitz. But I'll still have the memories of the things that my family and I did here this past year and that alone will make the past year very worthwhile. The second thing I'm back to talk about is the opportunity this gave me to make some really great friends. And I'm kind of unusual in that this was the first time I've been to resident professional military education since I was a second lieutenant. And as I talked to a lot of my peers who'd been to one or two resident PME schools, they talked a little bit about what they learned there, but they spent a lot more time and their eyes would light up when they talked about the people they met there. And for the guys out in the Jamestown wrecking crew as it's called by some, I just really want to thank all of you. I got a lot out of the last year, I learned a lot about leadership. I learned a lot about being a better officer. I learned a lot about things that aren't in the curriculum here at the War College. And most importantly, I think I reconnected with that spark that is why I love the professional arms. So to all the friends that I met here, thank you very much. The last thing I'd like to leave you with that made this year special for me was the opportunity to engage intellectually with the professors, the faculty, and my fellow students here at the War College. The professors, I find them all very knowledgeable. They're engaging, they're engaged, and they really helped me understand a lot of very difficult concepts. My fellow students, every time I walked into a seminar, I knew I had to be prepared because someone at that seminar was going to challenge me on my opinions, and I needed to be prepared to defend those opinions and back them up. For the international students, definitely I didn't always agree with what they had to say, but they always brought a different perspective for me and really had me think about the assumptions that I made coming into each seminar. I would like to especially highlight two guys, I don't know if they're here today, that I spent a lot of time with in the Halsey Bravo Advanced Research Group. That's Hank Comratt and Bill Murray. See, Hank's in the back, very recognizable, he's got the only ponytail on a form of naval officer here at the War College. But Hank and Bill, thank you very much for the last year. They spent a lot of time showing me as a marine infantry officer why she cared about Aegis Baseline, NIFCA-CA, and a whole host of other naval acronyms that I didn't even know existed a year ago, and they really showed me that while I thought I knew what was going on in a couple areas of the world, that there was a lot of things I didn't know and I didn't understand, and I got a lot out of my time with them, and thank you very much. To the faculty and the staff here at the Naval War College, I'd like to thank all of you for what was indeed a very rewarding year. To my fellow graduates, congratulations. Best of luck to each of you and your next assignment. Thank you again, and Semper Fi. Good afternoon. Thanks so much to all of you for being part of our graduation ceremony today. It's difficult for me to describe how truly surprised and humbled I am to be standing here. It's been an incredible honor for me just to be a student at such a prestigious institution, and even more so to count myself a classmate of so many immensely talented professionals. I know I speak for all of us in saying that our experience here at Newport is one we will never forget, and I am confident that the lessons we have garnered here will prove invaluable as we embark on the next step in our respective careers. To the War College faculty and staff, thank you for challenging us to think critically and pushing us to express our ideas more clearly and convincingly. Your talent and professionalism has educators of what make the War College second to none, and we are extremely grateful that you have been willing to share some of your knowledge and expertise with us. To our families, and in my case more specifically to my wife, Stephanie, my sons, Finn, Emmett, and Cullen, and to my parents, Mike and Jane, who are here today, thank you for your unyielding support and encouragement. You have made my studies here in Newport not only possible, but a whole lot of fun, and I am eternally grateful to have had so much time with you over the past year. Lastly, to my classmates, my sincerest congratulations. Thank you for sharing your experience, your ideas, and your friendship. It has been an honor to study, learn, and grow with you, and I am more confident now than ever that our nation's security is in very capable hands. I wish you nothing but the best, and look forward to serving with you in the future. Thank you very much. A Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies will now be conferred to the graduates. Will the graduates please rise? Ruma Howie, please approach the podium. Admiral, I have the honor to present the March graduates of the Naval War College candidates for the Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies. They have been thoroughly examined and approved by the faculty. By the power invested in me, by the Secretary of the Navy, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I confer upon you all the appropriate degrees and diplomas in National Security and Strategic Studies. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a round of applause recognizing the March graduates of the U.S. Naval War College. Graduates, please be seated. Beyond the requirements for graduation, certain individuals have distinguished themselves through academic excellence. For those in the top 5%, they receive a diploma with the highest distinction. Those in the next 15% will receive a diploma with distinction. Graduates will now receive their diplomas. Graduates from the College of Naval Warfare, 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. Dr. Admiral Howe, Dr. Duncan, Dr. Janes, Dean Garifano, if you would please rise. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Warfare and their next duty assignment. Lieutenant Colonel James Robert Ahern, U.S. Army Reserve, U.S. Army 3rd Headquarters, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina. Colonel Craig J. Aleah, U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Captain Eugene R. Bailey, U.S. Navy, U.S. Forces, Japan, Yucota, Japan. Colonel Larry Q. Burris, Jr., U.S. Army, with highest distinction. 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Air Assault, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Colonel Dylan Michael Carlson, U.S. Army, with distinction. United States Army, Japan, Camp Zama, Japan. Commander William H. Clinton, U.S. Navy, U.S. 7th Fleet, Yukuska, Japan. Commander Hartwell F. Koch, the 5th, U.S. Navy, Naval Oceanography Special Warfare Center, Coronado, California. Colonel Christopher Grayson Dixon, U.S. Marine Corps, with distinction. Joint Task Force Civil Support, Fort Eustis, Virginia. Colonel Christopher J. Egan, U.S. Army National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters, Connecticut. Connecticut Army National Guard, Hartford, Connecticut. Commander Alfredo T. Fernandez, Jr., Medical Service Corps, U.S. Navy, Naval Branch Health Clinic, Naval Station, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Colonel William C. Gray, U.S. Marine Corps, Headquarters Marine Corps, Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Lieutenant Colonel Charles D. Hausman, U.S. Army National Guard, Joint Forces Headquarters, Missouri National Guard, Jefferson City, Missouri. Commander Bradley S. Hawksworth, U.S. Navy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York. Commander Garrett V. Krauss, U.S. Navy, with distinction. Naval Reserve Forces Command, Norfolk, Virginia. Commander Michelle M. LaPorte, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy. Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition of Washington, D.C. Commander Wayne H. Lee, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy. Reserve Navy Supply Global Logistics Support, San Diego, California. Commander Kevin P. Myers, U.S. Navy, Surface Warfare Officer School in Newport, Rhode Island. Colonel Allen M. Pepin, U.S. Army, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Lieutenant Commander Dmitry D. Randall, U.S. Navy, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Springfield, Virginia. Lieutenant Colonel Michael W. Sharp, U.S. Army, 332nd Military Intelligence Battalion, Cincinnati, Ohio. Commander Monica Washington Stoker, U.S. Navy, Surface Warfare Officer School, Newport, Rhode Island. Colonel Dennis S. Sullivan, U.S. Army, with distinction. C&O Strategic Studies Group, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Michael S. Dracanian, U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Commander Patrick C. Thien, U.S. Navy, Carrier Strike Group 1, San Diego, California. Commander Dennis J. Vigent, U.S. Navy, Op-Nav, Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Michael Wynne, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia. Colonel Stephen M. Wolfe, U.S. Marine Corps, No. 1 in his class, with highest distinction. Headquarters 2MF, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Commander Kenneth B. Wooster, U.S. Navy, VT-2 Cell Res Augmentation Unit, NAS-Pence, CO, Florida. Lieutenant Commander David C. Zinkhan, U.S. Navy, USS Iwo Jima, LHD-7, Jacksonville, Florida. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Command and Staff and their next duty station. Lieutenant Commander Robin Barnett, U.S. Navy, Fleet Cyber Site, Suffolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Guy M. Batchelder, U.S. Navy, Tactical Training Group, Atlantic, Damneck, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Peter Bernard, U.S. Navy, Comm. U.S. Nav-Sent, Manama, Bahrain. Major Joseph Michael Byerly, U.S. Army, with distinction, Fourth Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. Lieutenant Commander Marshall W. Chastain, U.S. Navy, NAS-Sigonella, Sicily. Lieutenant Commander Katrina M. Conley, U.S. Navy, Maritime Staff Operators Corps, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Joseph Creehan, U.S. Navy, VFA-94, NAS-Lemore, California. Lieutenant Commander Jackie Curtis, U.S. Navy, Missile Deficient Agency, National Test Facility, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lieutenant Commander Matthew R. Davis, U.S. Navy, Op-Nav, Arlington, Virginia. Major Casey A. Dean, U.S. Army, CENTCOM, McDeal Air Force Base, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Christopher Denser, U.S. Navy, with distinction, Giada of South, Key West, Florida. Major Jason P. Duffy, U.S. Army, Special Operations Command, Central Tampa, Florida. Lieutenant Commander David Foster Edwards, U.S. Navy, HSM-74, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Juan Figueroa, U.S. Navy, Naval Support Activity, Manama Bahrain. Lieutenant Commander Joshua P. Fuller, U.S. Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Arlington, Virginia, Pentagon. Lieutenant Commander Ryan T. Fullwider, U.S. Navy, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander David A. Gansi, U.S. Navy, VAQ-129, Whidbey Island, Washington. Lieutenant Commander Ann Catherine Gilson, U.S. Navy, VP-30, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant John M. Gleason, U.S. Navy, with highest distinction, HSM-40, Mayport, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Stephen J. Hens, U.S. Navy, U.S. Paycom, Honolulu, Hawaii. Lieutenant Stephen Howard, U.S. Navy, Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Commander Kenneth W. Kelly, U.S. Navy, Military Seal of Command, Far East Detachment, St. Louis, Missouri. Lieutenant Commander Deborah E. King, Civil Engineering Corps, U.S. Navy, Headquarters Joint Force Command, Naples, Italy. Major Randall A. Lenneman, U.S. Army, with distinction, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Georgia. Lieutenant Commander Frank M. Laforte, U.S. Navy, Stratcom, Omaha, Nebraska. Lieutenant Juan Gabriel Luna, U.S. Navy, JSOC, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Lieutenant Commander Kevin P. Lyons, U.S. Navy, with distinction, U.S. Central Command, Tampa, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Joseph L. McGatigan, Jr., U.S. Navy, Surface Warfare Officer School, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Mary R. Mortimer, Nursing Corps, U.S. Navy, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Commander Brian C. Murray, Supply Corps, U.S. Navy, awaiting orders. Lieutenant Commander J. Michael Newhart, II, U.S. Navy, Naval War College, Newport. Lieutenant Commander James B. O'Donovan, U.S. Navy, Op-Nav, Arlington, Virginia. Major Lucas Hosey, Overstreet, U.S. Army, with distinction, NTC Fort Irwin, California. Major Dennis N. Penalt, U.S. Army National Guard, Army National Guard, Cranston, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander James Richard Powers, Jr., U.S. Navy, HSM 78, NAS North Island, Coronado, California. Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Charles Rea, U.S. Navy, Special Operations Command Pacific, Camp Smith, IA Hawaii. Lieutenant Timothy Maurice Reardon, U.S. Navy, Navy Operational Support Center, Baltimore, Maryland. Lieutenant Commander Robert E. Riley, U.S. Navy, U.S. Cybercom, Fort Meade, Maryland. Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Michael Shanahan, U.S. Navy, No. 1 in his class, with highest distinction, Comnev Air Forces Reserve, Norfolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Peter J. Silva, Jr., U.S. Navy, HSM 41, San Diego, California. Major Thomas J. Polzino, U.S. Army, with highest distinction, Fort Stewart, Georgia. Lieutenant Commander Nicholas J. Sylvester, U.S. Navy, U.S. Strategic Command, Omaha, Nebraska. Major Paula D. Taibi, U.S. Marine Corps, Marine Forces Pacific, Camp Smith, Hawaii. Lieutenant Commander Brian Truong, U.S. Navy, with distinction, Helicopter C. Combat Wing Pacific, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey J. Wagner, U.S. Navy, Pekam Jaya, IA Hawaii. Lieutenant Commander Adam P. Walski, U.S. Navy, Naval Support Activity, Panama City, Panama City, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Nathan S. Wimmet, U.S. Navy, a Float Training Group, Pact, Northwest, Everett, Washington. Lieutenant Commander Kazemir M. Wenick, U.S. Navy, Op-Nav, Arlington, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Ronald W. Zynga, U.S. Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. The following students cannot attend today's ceremony. They are Lieutenant Commander Jessica Caldwell, U.S. Navy, with distinction, Captain Mike Hummer, U.S. Navy, with distinction, Lieutenant Commander Stephen A. Healy, U.S. Navy, Lieutenant Commander Thomas Kim, U.S. Navy, Major Jason Tiger, U.S. Marine Corps, with distinction, and Major Scott Orman, U.S. Marine Corps, and Lieutenant Commander Nicholas L. Mullenhower, U.S. Navy. Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in a round of applause for our graduates' honorees and department. Ramelhau will now issue the charge to the graduates. Admiral, if you would, proceed to the podium. The rest of the official party, can you see them? It's now my pleasure to draw these proceedings to a close, but first, a few comments. Dr. Genes, thanks for your thoughtful and entertaining remarks today, and your continued scholarship here at the college. It's an honor for me and I think the rest of your colleagues to share the stage with you today. To the War College faculty and staff, today, we're here again to witness the fruits of your efforts. For over 130 years, you and your predecessors have labored to develop and educate our navies and our nation's leadership. And once again, you have succeeded producing yet another cohort of leaders well prepared for the increasingly complex and challenging security environment we face. Thank you for your continued and dedicated service to the nation. To the families and to the colleagues of the students here today, thanks for joining us. Your presence makes the ceremony more memorable for our graduates, but more than that, it allows us an opportunity to recognize the role you play in the accomplishments that we celebrate today. I think we all know life in the military is a team sport, and y'all's love, your encouragement, your devotion helped our students maintain their balance, the proper balance between mind, body, spirit, the campus and home during their intellectual journey here at Newport. Thanks for your support. Now to the graduates, congratulations on completing your course of studies here at the Naval War College. As you all head back, some to staff, some to operational headquarters, some to operational forces, I'd ask for you to keep three things in mind. First, the gift that you have been given. Second, the responsibility you've incurred as a result of that gift. And third, the profession in which you serve, a couple of comments on each. This year of in-residence education is truly a gift from the nation to you. As you continue to grow in rank and in responsibility, I think you'll find that the most precious commodity you'll come upon is time. And you've just been given a whole year, a whole year to study, to reflect and debate with your colleagues. That is a gift of time to grow intellectually and to prepare for the challenges that await. Do not take this gift for granted. I'd offer the best way to do so. The best way to ensure that you don't take it for granted is for you to very explicitly and consciously acknowledge the responsibility that you've inherited as a result of the gift. And that is the responsibility for you to continue to critically and thoughtfully employ this education as you move forward. As I said, you're all headed back, operational staffs, operational headquarters, operational forces. You will be living in the world of present shock where the strategic horizon gets compressed to just days and weeks. And I would imagine often your daily agenda is going to be set by the headlines of the New York Times and the Washington Post or the emails that pop into your queue that morning. So as you come face to face with the realities of that world, I'd offer you've got a responsibility to remain a strategically minded and critical thinker, to proactively lead with independent creative thought, not reactively survive with comfortable conventional wisdom or lazy thinking. Reflect, think, and lead. And as part of this responsibility that you've inherited, I'd ask that as you do think about your next assignments, you think about paying it forward. And paying it forward with a focus, a deliberate focus on the leadership development of those in your charge. With this educational experience, whether you realize it or not, you have tons to offer in developing the junior leaders across the fleet and across the operating forces of our military. Don't look and don't wait for opportunities to present themselves. I'd ask you to actively make opportunities to engage with those junior officers and our enlisted personnel, share your thoughts and your experiences and your perspectives, shape their habits of mind, shape their thinking skills, and their leadership potential will be a better military for you doing so. Finally, as you depart today, keep in mind the profession in which you serve, the profession of arms. Never forget the trust that the nation has placed in you. Never forget your obligation to uphold that trust in both your professional and your personal lives. And never forget the professional ethic that should be guiding all of your actions at home, in garrison, in the field, and underway. Continue to grow as a steward of the profession. That's it. Good luck, Godspeed, and I wish all of you fair winds, following seas, and I will see you downrange. Congratulations again. Chaplain Rosander will now deliver the benediction. Please stand. Let us pray. Eternal God, these men and women, for these men and women are rigorous and challenging academic years now to close, but their voyage continues. As they go from here, serving on land, sea, or air, here and around the world, may their knowledge, skills, wisdom, and friendships be fully utilized in maintaining and spreading peace and security. Enable them with honor, courage, and commitment in all things, and protect them as they serve. I also ask that you watch over those who serve today in harm's way. Please be near to their loved ones and also to those recovering from the effects of war. And now, Lord, bless these men and women as they go forth to do great things. Thank you for the service they've rendered to our nation. And please be with them and their families as they depart for new destinations and challenges. By your grace. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the departure of the official party. Thank you all for attending today's graduation ceremony. This concludes the ceremony.