 On your final departure from the college, please accept my sincere appreciation for your 44 years of devoted service to our Navy and Nation. The U.S. Naval War College held this quarterly awards ceremony Wednesday, recognizing a few of its finest faculty and staff members. Among those was Shirley Fernandez, an events and protocol coordinator who received a standing ovation for her 44 years of service to the college. It means a lot. I should have brought tissues because I didn't realize when everybody stood up. On June 30th, she will officially retire, although she's not quite ready to call a quits just yet. For the month of July, I'm taking the whole month off, but I have a lot to do at the house. But when I come back, I'm going to come back part-time to work at the foundation store a couple of days a week. Why anyone would return to their place of employment post-retirement was best, summed up by Paul St. Lawrence, a faculty member who retired from the College of Distance Education in September. It's been great, great team, great people, it's probably the best place anybody can have to work. St. Lawrence, awarded professor emeritus during the ceremony, had this to say about his Naval War College experience. Best part is teaching the students and just learning from them actually, especially probably in the last 10, 15 years, the experience the folks from the field of bringing into the war colleges is tremendous. The same holds true for the quality of the colleges enlisted sailors. Sailors like Petty Officer First Class Gary Fries, awarded sailor of the year for notorious service as war gaming technician, leading Petty Officer, and assistant command fitness leader for the college. The sailor of the quarter that I was selected for to be nominated for Saturday was the first time I had won any quarterly or yearly awards, so it's a very big honor to be nominated, let alone to win, so it's nice to feel like the people around you recognize what you do and appreciate that. That recognition and appreciation is what the award ceremony is all about. It's a motivational event, it's a team building event, and most importantly, just gives the honor and recognition to our teammates that have just done a wonderful job for us. For photos and a complete list of this quarter's awardees, visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com forward slash Naval War College. Coming from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, I'm Dan Marciniak.