 Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I'm Commander Jessica Witte, Director of Officer Development School. On behalf of the Commanding Officer, Officer Training Command Newport, welcome to the graduation ceremony for Officer Development School Class 22050, consisting of 115 officers. Military guests in uniform, this will be a covered ceremony. The order of events for this morning's ceremony are as follows. Momentarily, Captain Everett Alcorn, United States Navy, Commanding Officer of Officer Training Command, and Rear Admiral Bruce Gillingham, Surgeon General of the Navy, will arrive. The guests and class will rise for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the playing of the national anthem and the invocation. Captain Alcorn and Rear Admiral Gillingham will then address the graduating class. Following their remarks, Captain Alcorn will distribute the class awards. Following the award presentation, the graduates will symbolize the completion of their training by returning their company guide-on to their class chief petty officers. Following the award presentation and the class will reaffirm the oath of office, the class will remain standing for the playing of the service songs and the final dismissal. Please rise for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the national anthem and invocation. Officer Training Command Newport arriving. Navy Medicine arriving. Ladies and gentlemen, our national anthem. Eternal Father, we come before you thankful for this day. We can gather together to celebrate the completion of Officer of Development School. For five weeks, they drank from the fountain of instruction passed along by their dedicated class officers and RDCs. They spent long hours drilling, doing physical exercise and learning about what it means to be a naval officer. They spent time building friendships that for some will last a lifetime. May the knowledge and experiences they've gained here positively impact those they will serve in the fleet. We recognize the sacrifice and dedication they've given in choosing to serve our country. New adventures await them, guide each of them as they navigate through the challenges of a PCS move and ultimately to their new commands. I pray oh God that their lives be guided by your light in our Navy values of integrity, accountability, honor, courage and commitment. Keep each of them and their families in their loving care and protection throughout the coming days and forever. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, Captain Everett Alcorn, commanding officer of Officer Training Command. Distinguished visitors, Officer Training Command staff, family and friends joining us today, and shipmates of Officer Development School class 22050. Good morning. It is an absolute honor for me to have this opportunity to welcome this class into the most prestigious, challenging and rewarding careers of our nation, that of naval officer. Today, we will bear witness as class 22050 renews a solemn promise to our nation, reaffirming their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States as professional naval officers. For the families and friends joining us, I want to both thank you and commend you for the performance of your sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. Your love, support, personal standards have produced the quality individuals seated here. Ones who not only chose vacations to help their fellow human being, but who chose a path of service to their fellow citizens, I can think of no finer group to go forth in the fleet than the officers seated here today. They could not have gotten here to this point without the careful guidance and support of family. On behalf of a Navy and a grateful nation, please accept my most sincere thank you and well done to the class. I'm proud of you. All that you've accomplished while you're here, as you depart for schools and duty stations, know that you're about to be placed in a position to lead and mentor what are truly one of our valuable national assets, the enlisted men and women of the U.S. Navy. Those that volunteer to serve our precious national resource, you must always treat them as such. The foundations you have laid here at ODS are solid. It is now up to you to build upon this as you enter the naval service. I'm very impressed with the efforts you've expended over the last several weeks. I want to thank you for all that you've done and will do in the service of this great nation of ours. It is my pleasure and distinct honor to welcome you to the wardroom as professional naval officers in the world's finest Navy. It is my privilege this morning to introduce you to our guest speaker, we're Admiral Bruce Gillingham, Surgeon General of the Navy, Chief Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. Admiral Gillingham is a native of San Diego and a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed a surgical internship in orthopedic residency at Naval Medical Center, San Diego. He's also completed subspecialty training as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the hospital for sick children in Toronto, Canada. He's qualified as an undersea and diving medical officer. He served various positions throughout Navy Medicine to include director of pediatric orthopedic and scoliosis surgery, associate orthopedic residency program director, director of surgical services. While assigned to Naval Medical Center, San Diego is instrumental in establishing the Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care Center. Operationally he served aboard the USNS Mercy, Staff Orthopedic Surgeon and director of surgical services. He deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the battalion chief of professional services forward for the first force service support group and officer in charge of the service will shock trauma platoon, achieving 98% combat casualty survival rate while providing echelon to surgical care. Gillingham served as the deputy chief bureau of medicine and surgery readiness and health service commander Navy Medicine West commander Navy Naval Medical Center San Diego deputy commander Naval Medical Center Portsmouth commanding officer of Naval Hospital Jacksonville Florida a specific fleet surgeon and fleet surgeon and director of health services of the US fleet forces. He's a diplomat of the American board of orthopedic surgery, a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Orthopedic Association and a member of the pediatric orthopedic Society of North America American College of Physician Executives Society of Military Orthopedic Surgeons and Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. Additionally he's published over 30 scientific articles and book chapters in November of 2019. Admiral Gillingham became the 39th Surgeon General of the Navy. His leadership is essential to continued success of the world's greatest Navy and we're truly fortunate to have him with us here today to share his thoughts. Ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming our guest of honor today we're Admiral Bruce Gillingham. I don't know about you but when I listen to that biography it makes me sound really old but it's a it's a pleasure to to be with you here today and Captain Elkhorn thank you so much for that kind introduction graduates of officer development school class 22050 are you motivated all right no I mean are you really motivated to finish the ODS and join the world's finest Navy excellent well let me start also by thanking our distinguished guests colleagues staff members future Navy leaders family and friends as Captain Elkhorn pointed out we all know that the journey to become a commissioned officer was not something that today's graduates accomplished on their own so I'd ask you to join me in recognizing those family members and friends in attendance today as well as your instructors who have supported you in achieving this most important milestone I welcome you all to this special occasion it's a true rite of passage that officially marks the entry of 115 of our country's best and brightest into the Navy officer Corps graduates you're joining the less than one percent of all Americans who have stepped forward to don our nation's uniform and actively defend our freedoms whether you serve for one tour or make a Navy the Navy a career you'll always be able to say that you actively embrace the opportunity to serve our nation and a cause greater than yourself and for that I salute you and I challenge you to make your time in uniform count as you begin this journey I'd like to share some hard one insights from my crew in the hope that they'll be of value to you first always remember that mission one for every sailor and marine active and reserve uniform and civilian is the operational readiness of today's naval force whether you're specially is serving as a jag chaplain engineer nuke intel officer supply officer pao information warfare specialist war nurse physician or part of the medical service corps this is your mission your curriculum has included the fundamentals of leadership and I emphasize the word fundamental because leadership is a perishable skill one that you must continuously practice and refine and you must have the humility to understand that you will never master all of its nuances you will occasionally relearn hard one lessons and you must always strive to be a better leader tomorrow than you are today the good news is that with time and effort you will become a better leader and the lessons you learn will become hardwired into your being and you will make our sailors our marines and our naval forces even stronger to me leadership is what separates a military officer from your civilian contemporaries from day one it's your first assignment you'll be responsible for others and for their well-being and with the majority of today's graduates heading into navy medicine I want to take a few moments to talk about our four p's our people platforms performance and the power we deliver collectively we have no higher priority than protecting the health of those entrusted to our care and navy medicines priorities are direct clear and relevant we provide well-trained people such as yourself working as expeditionary medical experts on optimized platforms operating as cohesive teams demonstrating high reliability performance to project medical power and support of naval superiority this is why we uniquely are in uniform that is your mission and while the four p's is an easy phrase to remember it's more important that you understand it's important that you understand the orders deliberate and that they outline our priorities and describe our priority missions so let's take a closer look at the four each of the four p's people this is the first p because people are our most valuable asset and the key to our future success one of the key leadership lessons I want to make today is that while an individual can make a difference only a team can make a miracle your aptitude intelligence and hard work have prepared you to make a positive difference as a u.s. naval officer but you will be most successful if you learn how to build and lead effective teams as the navy prepares to conduct distributed maritime operations against a very capable adversary we will have to adapt our technique tactics techniques and procedures to prevail in an area of the world where the distances will be great and our ability to dominate the battle space will be challenged to this end we're making significant advancements to deliver new capabilities and platforms upon which we operate this includes adapting our forward surgical system which has been used successfully with the marines and bringing that to the shipboard environment to include our submarine we're also developing an ambulance ship to assist an at sea personnel recovery provide a float damage control surgery and be a vital link to our hospital ships mercy and comfort this will also require that we establish our own program for enroute care training corpsmen and nurses to fly with casualties over potentially very long distances we also know that our amazingly capable hospital ships are getting old and we're in the process of looking at the options for modernizing them we're also taking a close look at our land-based roll three hospital the expeditionary medical facility to make it more mobile and flexible recognizing their significant work to do on developing and refining these capabilities is why platforms is the second p the third p is performance simply put our performance is measured by our support to our war fighters we strive to emulate the attention to detail of our submarine force who have operated naval reactor nuclear reactors rather aboard their submarines without a significant mishap since the 1950s for the complex choreography naval aviation crews demonstrate on aircraft carrier flight decks or the teamwork and preparation of the navy seals who believe that amateurs train until they get it right while professionals train until they can't get it wrong to provide the support that our line colleagues deserve we can never be content with our performance high reliability organizations thrive on and expect rapid cycle feedback this requires that we have the courage to face the brutal facts when we fall short and this is what cno has in mind with his get real get better campaign we are at best we are at our best as teams in which every member is given the opportunity and courage to operate at the top of their skill sets it's enormously powerful to be treated as an equal even though it is clear that you are not I vividly remember the confidence I gained as a surgical resident when a staff surgeon treated me as a colleague and an equal care uh equal partner in the care of our patients all of those you work with will strive to meet that expectation if you establish it when we combine these three elements extremely well trained people operating on cutting edge platforms demo demonstrating high reliability performance we create the fourth p of power projecting medical power and support of our navy and marine corps war fighters ensures that they are ready to dominate their battle space and when they are engaged in a high end fight that we will provide them with the maximum possible survivability their optimized performance and survivability is our contribution to their ability to produce lethality and defense of our nation and central to the ability to project medical powers leadership we need thoughtful leaders who build inclusive teams that are empowered to take action and hold themselves accountable for their outcomes as they continuously strive to make each other better all of us in this room must fundamentally embrace this responsibility you have to own it you can delegate but you still fundamentally responsible and accountable building high performance teams requires a keen understanding of people their motivations and their strengths also requires listening as dr william oslo one of our medical demigods and a founder of john's hopkins hospital once said when referring to the art of medicine listen to your patient he is telling you the diagnosis by listening more leaders can identify specific barriers that constrain performance and impede mission accomplishment as you begin your careers as a naval officer you have enormous resources at your disposal use them to unleash your potential but more importantly the potential of those you lead remember an individual can make a difference but only a team can make a miracle and this is especially true in our navy congratulations graduates and best wishes for personal and professional success as you lead our navy into the future god bless you and god bless america thank you cat melchor and rabbal gillingham at the conclusion of each ods class several students are recognized by their fellow classmates as well as the otcn staff for outstanding achievement during the five week course of instruction lieutenant jason moore front and center the honor student award is presented to the officer who best demonstrates an overall excellence in the areas of academics physical fitness and military bearing consistently setting the example for his or her peers throughout the many challenges faced at officer training command the honor student award goes to lieutenant jason moore ensign lance handby front and center the alfred award is given to the officer who achieves the highest military grade derived from personnel inspections room inspections and general military bearing this award is named for the continental sloop of war the alfred commissioned in 1775 the alfred served as the flagship for native road islander comodore e sec hopkins serving as a role model of navy pride and professionalism maintaining the highest military standards and providing an inspiration to all the alfred award goes to ensign lance handby ensign nathan page front and center the captain george towns and smith leadership award is presented to the officer who personifies the highest standards of personal example good leadership practices and moral responsibility officers were nominated by their peers and selected by the officer training command newport staff the captain george towns and smith leadership award goes to ensign nathan page ensign kasey jamison front and center the eddy award is named for lieutenant thomas eddy united states navy it recognizes the highest achievement in academic and military performance lieutenant thomas eddy who immigrated from scotland and settled in road island was awarded the navy cross and the medal of honor for his courageous efforts as a diver during the salvage of submarines ss4 and ss 51 off the coast of massachusetts he was a member of the southeastern new england chapter of retired naval officers at the time of his death in 1974 in recognition for this accomplishment in addition to the certificate of achievement the military officers association of america has also provided a three year membership to the eddy award winner ensign kasey jamison for the past five weeks the company guide on has been a symbol of spirit dedication and teamwork and unity identity to symbolize the fact that these officers seated before you have completed their training they will return the guide on to their class chief petty officers senior chief aviation electricians mate hubbard gravelly and chief information systems technicians submarines cruise the position of attention ladies and gentlemen the commanding officer of officer training command would like to present to you your newly reaffirmed naval officers ladies and gentlemen please rise for the playing of the service songs and the final dismissal to zero five zero upon graduation from officer development school you are ordered to detach and report to your duty stations where you will assume your duties and responsibilities by order of captain everett alcorn united states navy commanding officer officer training command newport ladies and gentlemen this concludes our ceremony on behalf of the commanding officer officer training command thank you for attending today's graduation please stay safe stay healthy thank you