 Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the arrival of the official party, honors for Admiral Rogers, and remain standing for our National Anthem and invocation. The National Anthem will be sung by musician first class Daniel Smith, Navy Band Northeast. Please join him in singing the National Anthem. At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we so gallantly Commander Douglas E. Rosander, Naval War College Chaplain. Let us pray. God in heaven, as we gather this day, we come from many nations, many services, and many backgrounds. With anticipation and expectation, we now begin a course of study and pray that it will provide not only personal satisfaction and professional expertise, but also enhance national and international peace and security. Thank you for those who have brought us to this point in our careers so that we may continue our growth. Thank you for families, friends, teachers, mentors, and leaders. And Lord, please watch over those who serve today in harm's way and be near to their families and loved ones who await their safe return. Now please bless this occasion and continue your care and watch over each person and their loved ones. Amen. Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, on the stage this morning are Dr. Tim Garrell, Deputy Director College of Distance Education, Captain Richard Lebranche, Chair, Joint Military Operations Department, Dr. Michael Pavkovic, Chair, Strategy and Policy Department, Dr. David Cooper, Chair, National Security Affairs Department, Professor Tom Calora, Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, Professor Thomas Mangold, Dean of the International Programs and Maritime Security Cooperation, Ruer Admiral Retired Jamie Kelly, Dean of the College of Operational and Strategic Leadership, Dr. Tim Schultz, Acting Dean of Academic Affairs, Dr. Louis Duncan, Provost, United States Naval War College, Admiral Michael S. Rogers, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Director, National Security Agency, Chief Central Security, Ruer Admiral P. Gardner Howe III, President of the United States Naval War College. Will the senior class, members of the Naval Command College and College of Naval Warfare, please rise. Captain Derek Westman, Director of the Naval Command College will present the 47 nations represented in our Naval Command College. The nations representing the Naval Command College class of 2016 are Algeria, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. They will be joined in class by members of our College of Naval Warfare, which includes students from the United States Air Force, Air National Guard, Army, Army National Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and civilians representing the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Senior Leadership Development Program, Department of State, Defense Contract Management Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Special Operations Command, U.S. Maritime Administration, Department of Homeland Security. Please be seated. Will the intermediate class members of the Naval Staff College and College of Naval Command and Staff please rise? Captain Mark Turner, Director of Naval Staff College, will present the 53 nations represented in our Naval Staff College. The nations representing Naval Staff College Class 2016 are Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Columbia, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Tomei and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, United States and Vietnam. They will be joined in class by members of our College of Naval Command and Staff which includes students from the United States Air Force, Air National Guard, Army, Army National Guard, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy and civilians representing the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Defense Contract Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Marshall Service, Department of Energy, Department of State, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, U.S. Special Operations Command. Please be seated. On October 6, 1884, Secretary of the Navy, William E. Chandler signed General Order 325, which began by stating, A college is hereby established for an advanced course of professional study for naval officers to be known as the Naval War College. The principal building on Coaster's Harbor Island, Newport, Rhode Island, will be assigned to its use and is hereby transferred with the surrounding structures and the grounds immediately adjacent to the custody and control of the Bureau of Navigation for that purpose. The college will be under the immediate charge of an officer of the Navy, not below the grade of commander to be known as the President of the Naval War College. He will be assisted in the performance of his duties by a faculty. A course of instruction embracing the higher branches of professional study will be arranged by a board consisting of all members of the faculty and including the President, who will be the presiding officer of the board. The course of instruction will be open to all officers above the grade of naval cadet. Commodore Stephen B. Luce has been assigned to duty as President of the college. It's been 131 years since that order established in the Naval War College was issued. In that time, the college has adhered remarkably to the basic mission and core values envisioned. Here to share with you a brief history of the Naval War College is Professor Stanley Carpenter, Naval War College Command Historian. The Naval War College owes its creation to the vision and persistence of one man, Stephen B. Luce. Almost a century and a half ago, Lieutenant Luce was assigned to the Naval Academy faculty. There he realized that his branch of the service was not providing training or education in key professional areas. The Naval Academy had no text for seamanship, so Luce wrote it, and it stood as the U.S. Navy's standard for 40 years. As he rose in rank and widened his experience to the command of seven different ships in peace and in war under sail and under steam, Stephen Luce saw other inadequacies in the Navy's professional preparation for its officers and men. As a commander of a fleet division, he saw that there was neither a procedure to exercise naval tactics nor a unit assigned to examine experimental tactical ideas, so he created both. At the same time, he saw that there was no preparatory training for enlisted recruits, and he established the U.S. Navy's first recruit training station in Newport on Coasters Harbor Island in 1883. Then when he rose to rear admiral and commander of the Navy's North Atlantic Squadron, the most senior active-duty billet, Luce turned to implement a long-standing goal. Since his combat service in the 1860s, he had realized that there was no place in the Navy to study the most important and the central issue for a professional officer in the armed forces, war. His age, like ours, was a time of rapidly changing technology. Then as now, the main focus of professional life was on technology and science, on metallurgy, on applications of electricity, on the chemistry and physics of weapons, and a host of related matters. Luce fully recognized and appreciated the importance of all these matters as fundamental to success in modern warfare. But he saw more clearly than others that these were only the means for success in solving a broader problem that most officers ignored, the issue of war itself. As Luce repeatedly pointed out, war is the central issue around which the professional of arms exists, and there was then no existing institution where a naval officer could study it. Thus, Stephen Luce persuaded a reluctant Navy department to establish a Naval War College in October 1884, making the name of the institution into a constant daily reminder to students and faculty as to the purpose and focus of its work. In creating the college's first faculty and curriculum, Luce established the approach that has been repeatedly renewed, refined, and reaffirmed over more than a century in seeking to understand war in its broadest dimensions. It is a major area of study, but one that few undertake then or now, and it requires original research and new thinking to understand how wars begin how wars are fought, how wars end, and how wars can be prevented. The highest aspects of this professional subject involve understanding governmental management, finance, decision making, logistics, campaign planning and tactics, international relations, and grand strategy. The analytical tools for such study lay in approaches with which most naval officers of his time were unfamiliar. The social sciences with politics, history, management, and international law, as well as understanding the roles of other services and their approaches to war. To the study of these matters, Luce added a new tool for broad analysis, war gaming. Then in its infancy, Luce foresaw that the college's game boards could become the key tool that linked the broad analysis of political military issues with the burgeoning developments of current and future naval technologies. So he empowered Lieutenant William McCarty Little to innovate and develop this area. With Luce's concept for the college's focus, the Naval War College began to make a wide range of contributions that has earned it a widespread reputation during the more than a century and a quarter that is followed. The student body gradually widened. Soon the college had its first students in the Navy, officers from Sweden in 1894 and Denmark in 1895. Most famously of all that, the college's contributions, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's lectures on naval history provided the basis that created an understanding of naval strategy. Eventually published in book form, Mahan influenced naval thinking around the globe. Captain Charles Stockton published the first attempt to create a code of international law for naval operations. And within a decade, he became the focus for international discussions and a basis for the modern law of naval warfare. Meanwhile, the college was making other contributions. Officers here played a key part in creating the country's first contingency plans for war, some of which were used in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Also, in the early years of the 20th century, Naval War College was the principal engine behind the creation of operational naval doctrine and the innovation of an operational staff to support flag officers at sea. In addition, the college was the wellspring for the long-term movement that eventually led to the creation of a chief of naval operations in 1915 to advise government leaders and give the Navy professional uniform leadership. Following the First World War, Naval War College students and faculty who looked critically at naval operations and in the light of the arms limitations treaties began to think innovatively about the future operational use for submarines, aircraft, and amphibious forces. Continuing through the 1930s, they made significant contributions to the development of war-planned orange that was used in World War II. As Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz later recalled, the Naval War College had examined so many different possible scenarios and possible courses of actions for a war in the Pacific that he and his colleagues were surprised only by Japan's employment of kamikaze aircraft. Admiral Raymond Spruitz, the victor of the Battle of Midway, returned to the Naval War College for his fourth tour of duty here in 1946 and established the college's direction as it entered the Cold War era. During that period, much thought was devoted to issues of nuclear weapons and multi-national cooperation. More recently, the college contributed substantially to some of the thinking behind the maritime strategy of the 1980s and the conduct of the Gulf War in 1990-91, as it did in helping to create the maritime strategy for the 21st century in 2007 and the updated revision in 2014. As entering students here at the Naval War College today, you now become part of this heritage. It is a heritage that stands as a personal challenge to each and every one of us, both to those of you who are coming to the college today for the first time and to those of us who have spent decades here. In 1903, Admiral Luce returned to the college and addressed the student body much as we are doing today. His words in 1903 ring as true today as they did more than a century ago. But rather than me tell you this, I believe I see Admiral Luce approaching now himself. Mr. President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to speak to you today and one that I highly appreciate. If you would permit me, I would like to say something about the aims and objects of this college. Although called a college, this institution differs from all other seats of learning. A moment's consideration will show why this must be so. As its name implies, the principal object of the college is the study of the science and art of war. Now, war is a very large and comprehensive subject and it would be the height of presumption on the part of the college that we want to take to teach officers of mature years any branch, whatever, of their profession, even the most elementary. All that the college can do, all that it professes to do is to invite officers to come to it and to offer them every facility pursuing the study of the highest branches of their profession. Faculty and class alike occupy the same plane without distinction of age, rank, or assumption of superior attainments. All are pursuing one and the same end, the advancement of their profession. We speak habitually of the science and art of war. As a science, it recognizes certain general principles which are just as applicable today as they were in the time of the great Athenian Admiral Themistocles. A strict adherence to those principles has not always ensured victory. It is true. But a violation of them, either through ignorance or neglect, has almost invariably led to defeat. Military writers have been careful to warn us that although war in its most extended sense may be called science, yet it is not an exact science. As an art, war is governed by rules which vary from age to age. Art, it has been well said, may be learned, but it cannot be taught. This is particularly true of the art of war. It cannot be taught, accepting insofar as one may teach oneself, and it is to offer every officer the opportunity of teaching himself that the college doors are open. That war is the best school of war is one of those dangerous and delusive sayings that contain just enough truth to secure currency. He who waits for war to learn his profession often acquired his knowledge at a frightful cost of human life. Change, continual unremitting change is the law of the universe. Stagnation means atrophy and death. It is not enough for us to keep abreast of the times. This college must be in the very front rank an advanced guard of progress. To obtain some perception however dim of the future we must study the past. This teaches us that the civilization we now enjoy was brought about by war. The proud position we as a nation now occupy was rendered possible only by wars and future problems in the destiny of man will be worked out through the instrumentality of the sword. There is no escaping it. We are no apologists for war. Heaven forbid. We simply regard it from a common sense point of view as one of the many evils flesh is heir to. War is a dreadful skirt we all admit. It is a relic of barbarism. We admit everything that can be said against war but after all has been said. No student of history however superficial can deny that through that same dreadful scourge ultimate good has been brought about. It has been so in the past and as far as human discernment can go it must be so in the future. However war may in certain instances be averted but mark this well. It can be averted in one way and in one way only and that way is to be fully prepared for it. That is the meaning of this college. It is an instrumentality for the prevention of war by being prepared for it. To be prepared for war is the role of the naval strategist. To be in the right place at the right time and with adequate force means success by check mating your adversary in the first few moves. Campaigns have been won without firing a shot simply by skillful strategic movements. It is the business of this college to study all the various problems of war as they may affect this country. Now it is quite unnecessary to explain to such an audience as I have the honor of addressing that the college itself has no power whatever to act nor authority to formulate naval policy. Its aim is simply to invite officers to meet together to discuss questions pertaining to the highest branches of their profession and to enable each one according to his own inclinations to prepare himself for the highest and most responsible duties that can devolve upon a naval officer. But one thing must be borne in mind. At the firing of the first gun proclaiming war the so-called inspiration of genius may be trusted only when it is the result of long and careful study and reflection. If attendance here will serve in any degree to broaden an officer's views extend his mental horizon on national and international question and give him a just appreciation of the great variety and extent of the requirements of his profession well then this college will not have existed in vain. Thank you and good luck. Ladies and gentlemen the 55th president of the United States Naval War College Brewer Admiral P. Garner Howe III. This is a quiet crowd. Good morning everyone. Admiral Rogers, Provost Admiral Barrera, Admiral Verma, Admiral Weisskopf distinguished guest faculty and students of the Naval War College class of 2016. Greetings and welcome today to the convocation ceremony. It is not easy to stand up here after in the shadow of one of the greatest naval leaders that the U.S. Navy has ever had but I'm going to give it my best shot. To begin what I'd like to do is just acknowledge again I think the exceptional performance of Commander Ty Limeran, United States Navy Reserve who created Admiral Luce for us today. So he's off stage but he can hear us again if you'll please join me in just appreciation for his rendition. So welcome to the convocation ceremony of the oldest institution of its kind across the globe. One which I'd argue is not just the oldest but also the most prestigious and the most professionally relevant. The term convocation is defined as quote a ceremonial assembly of members of a college or university unquote and we here at the Naval War College follow this time honored academic tradition for an important reason. This ceremony serves as public recognition of the shared intellectual journey that we are about to begin together. Now each of us have arrived at this point by very different paths. The cut and color of the various uniforms and suits that are in the audience today provides evidence of the many military services the agencies and the nations that comprise our unique college. We take pride in the fact that the military, cultural, religious and ethnic diversity of this gathering is unmatched on almost any campus in the United States and yet from such diversity will arise today one entity a company of professionals with a common goal and a common purpose specifically to develop as leaders in the service of our nation. So in my capacity as the president of the United States Naval War College it is my honor and my duty to declare the 2015-2016 academic year officially in session. Now we're gathered here along the shores of the historic Narragansett Bay home and the birthplace of the United States Navy. It is a place of endless opportunities and endless rewards and I can state with certainty that the year of study that you'll begin today will be a watershed event in your personal and your professional life. While you will not be billed for tuition or books or supplies at this college you will be asked to contribute your most precious commodity and that is your time and your intellectual energy. Today's ceremony begins our academic year and provides us all, students and faculty with the opportunity to reaffirm the task at hand that is the intellectual component of your development as a leader a leader ready to lead in a Navy military at war should such circumstances arise. We are not here to produce the next generation of academic scholars or researchers we fully acknowledge we need scholars and researchers to do so and we have world-class faculty to do so but we should never be confused about our primary mission and that is to develop you intellectually as leaders that are capable of leading in a complex operational environment professional war fighters who will work hard to prevent war but are prepared for it if it comes. The main engine of this intellectual development is our world-class faculty they will uphold the highest standards of academic rigor and they are committed to providing the very best possible learning environment for you. They will provide guidance and mentorship as each of you engage with our widely praised and often emulated curriculum of strategy and policy, national security affairs, joint military operations and electives. They will set conditions for success in this intellectual journey but the rest is up to you. I'd like to offer two additional challenges for you to consider, for you to address over the course of your study here. First, I challenge you to refine in your own mind or define, if you have not already, what it means to be a professional, what makes a profession stand apart from other organizations, what it means to be a member of the profession of arms. Clarify in your own mind the nature and the sources of our professional military ethic and of your own personal ethic. Determine how closely they align and if they don't, understand where they don't and why and what are the implications. And we'll talk a bit more about professionalism later today. Find that challenge you to use this time to improve your readiness as a leader, not just in Garrison but as a leader in crisis, in conflict and in combat. Now my own personal experience indicates that while training got me ready for the tactical employment as a junior officer, it's only reflection that will get you ready for operational employment at more senior levels of responsibility. Building ethical frameworks and the mental resiliency to lead effectively in ambiguous situations, to lead effectively despite personnel losses and damages. You will not get that through training but rather you can get it through reading and thinking deeply about such experiences and others and sharing these reflections with your professional colleagues. Now I didn't do this in my war college experience. Don't make the same mistake I did. So whether you are a student, a spouse or a family member, I encourage you to embrace the opportunity to get all you can from your year here at this historic Naval War College in this wonderful city and in this beautiful part of the United States. I'm sure you will join the legions of those who have preceded you and eventually look back with great fondness on your memories and your time here in Newport. So to the students, congratulations again. I, the staff and the faculty look forward to setting on this intellectual journey with you. So now it's my distinct privilege to publicly recognize one of our most distinguished graduates. This is the 20th time that we have presented the college's Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award since it was established to recognize the accomplishments of special graduates who built upon their Naval War College experience and went on to assume positions of senior leadership and national prominence. These alumni serve as inspirational role models for you, our current students and for future students. It was first presented in 1996 to our distinguished graduate alumnus General John M. Shalikashvili, who was then serving as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Your program includes a list of the others that were so honored over the years. This year's award goes to Admiral Mike Rogers. As you can see from his complete biography in your program, he's won numerous awards for both operational expertise and academic scholarship. He's a native of Chicago who earned his commission through the Auburn University ROTC program, 1981. Originally designated a surface warfare officer, he was selected for re-designation to Cryptology Now Information Warfare in 1986. And over the course of his career, he has excelled afloat and ashore in operational and in staff assignments. After becoming a flag officer in 2007, Admiral Rogers served as the director of intelligence for both the Joint Chiefs of Staff and for the United States Pacific Command, and most recently served as commander U.S. Fleet Cyber and 10th Fleet. He assumed his present duties as commander U.S. Cyber Command and director National Security Agency Chief Central Security Service in March 2014. In addition to being a skilled operator, he's also a distinguished scholar. He's an honor graduate of the National War College and a graduate with highest distinction from the Naval War College's own College of Distance Education back in 1992. He's a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar 21 fellow, a Harvard Senior Executive in National Security Alumnus and holds a master of science degree in national security strategy. His professional and personal achievements clearly serve as an inspiration to all Naval War College students past, present, and future. Sir, if you'll join me, center stage. Admiral Howe will now present the Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award for 2015 to Admiral Michael S. Rogers. The President, U.S. Naval War College takes pleasure in presenting this certificate to Admiral Michael S. Rogers, in recognition of his exceptional service to the nation, the Department of Defense, and to the U.S. Naval War College. He's hereby designated as the year 2015 recipient of the Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award. This award recognizes the recipient's unparalleled dedication to duty, unwavering sense of personal and professional integrity, and his insatiable intellectual curiosity. These traits, which formed the bedrock upon which the U.S. Naval War College was established over a century ago, have been instrumental in enabling this Distinguished Graduate to set a standard of excellence which all future graduates should strive to achieve. Presented this 17th day of August, 2015, signed V. Gardner Howe III, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, President, U.S. Naval War College. Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Come on, loosen up. It's a great day. This is the start of 10 months that, for many of you, you will find to be something that will change your career and change your life. Before I get started, I add my respects and greetings to the many seniors previously recognized by the President. I thank you all for being here today. If you are a spouse and is here today, will you raise your hand? If you're a spouse? The reason I ask you to do that, I want to start out by thanking you because your spouse wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you. It doesn't matter what nationality you represent here today. Every one of us knows that if we have donned the cloth of our respective nation, we have chosen a path that demands much. It demands much of ourselves, but perhaps hardest of all. It demands so much more from those who love us the most in our lives, our spouses and our children. And so for the spouses who are here today, I simply say thank you for what you put up with every day. If you are an international student, will you raise your hand? I want to thank you for your willingness to leave your homes, to leave your parent nation, to come to a place for many of you that you will find is very different. To speak, to spend a year immersed in a language that for many of you are native tongue, I thank you for your willingness to do that. Your nation has made a significant investment in you and we here, all of us in this convocation, will be the lucky beneficiary of that investment over the course of the next 10 months. I want to also start by saying thanks to you for the journey that has brought you to where you are in your professional and personal lives. And to thank you for your willingness to share that with this broader group over the course of the next 10 months. This 10 months is a laboratory in many ways. It will bring you together with a group of world class academics. It will bring you together with nations that span the globe. It will bring you together with multiple services. It will bring you together with both active and reserve individuals within that uniform structure. It will expose you to individuals from across governments. This is a great laboratory to learn. And you will get from it exactly what you put into it. I found this in my own professional life to really be a seminal event. I did it by distance education. But the thought was the same. And for me, I found this truly to be a professionally changing time in the 34 years that I have spent in uniform to date. I found this an event that challenged me that made me think beyond my own comfort level. I started this in what would be the junior class straight out of three years of sea duty as a first warfare officer, Grenada, Beirut, El Salvador. I mean, I thought I was pretty hot stuff rolling off that first sea tour. I thought I could have driven that. I was on a 9-63 when they were new. And quite frankly, I thought I could have driven that thing through the eye of a needle. There was no combat systems problem on that ship I couldn't deal with. And I had a lot of confidence. And yet, when I came as a lieutenant to this environment, I thought to myself, Rodgers, you have got to get your head on. Because it's a whole lot more than just being a good operator. Training teaches us to do. Education teaches us to think. Training is about the how and the what. Education, the focus of your next 10 months, is about the why. And to ask yourself, why is the world the way it is? Why is it that drives and shapes this environment that we all operate in? And how do I exist and deal as a maritime professional, if you are a maritime professional, a professional in whatever service or career you're in, about how do I live and work in a world of amazing ambiguity? As you become more senior, the journey increasingly is about two things. Dealing with risk and dealing with ambiguity. And now I find myself as a four-star senior in the United States Navy and in the Department of Defense of the U.S. structure. And every day I think back to the lessons I learned through the Naval War College about how do I think about risk and how do I think about ambiguity and how do I use that to drive ahead in the two mission sets that I'm responsible for? Cyber and Signals Intelligence. And I have never forgotten that time in Newport at the college here. And I've never forgotten the value that it gave me. Now for many of you, the next 10 months will offer amazing opportunity, there's amazing challenges. But I ask you to keep two things in mind based on my experience so you take it for what it's worth. The first is remember this journey and our profession is a marathon, it is not a sprint. So do not forget that this 10 months is also an opportunity for you to recharge yourself. For many of you you will be rolling off very demanding operational tours you will have been away from your families for extended periods. This is an opportunity for you to recharge so you can sustain this pace and you can run through the tape all the way at the end of the race however long that race is. You need to think about how you sustain yourself physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and how you keep that family unit together because you have got to invest time in all those things and you have to do it in a world where seemingly there's never enough time to do everything you want to do and everything you feel you need to do. So do not feel guilty about getting some time with your family about getting some good PT and about sustaining yourself because trust me we're going to get more than our money's worth out of you over the course of this journey. I don't think there's any doubt in anybody's mind about that. The second thing I always thought was even as you're trying to recharge yourself step back from your comfort zone and from what you know and ask yourself what can you learn. I consciously during my time thought to myself so I know this merit time and the surface stuff but man there's a whole lot more out there that I need to get smarter about and I consciously thought to myself what are the opportunities for me to learn whether it's the electives you opt to take whether it's how you spend your time this is all about learning and let there be no doubt in your mind I'll speak to the Americans in the audience particularly those in the United States Navy we aren't doing this and you're not here because we want you to have a nice 10 months in Newport. You're here because we view this as a strategic investment for the future of our service and our nation and there is an expectation for each and every one of you about how you will both gain insights during the next 10 months and how you will then employ them in the course of your career. There is an expectation let there be no doubt about that but it's a great opportunity. I would also remind you we are blessed to have over 65 countries represented they are our guests and I remind all of us who are here as Americans in our society be good hosts reach out to your foreign counterparts get to know them and understand them ask about their families their cultures their societies the journey that has brought them to this time in this place if the events of the last 15 years in the post 9-11 environment have taught us anything it is that no nation even one like the United States with amazing economic strength military strength political stature in the world around us no one nation and no one nation is going to be able to by itself work its way through this incredibly complex and diverse problem sets that we are dealing with in the world around us today we are not going to kill ourselves we are not going to kill our way out of this we got to think our way through these problem sets we got to ask ourselves so what do we need to do to get to those end states that interest us and that at its heart is an intellectual process that starts with thought and that's really what this 10 months is all about I congratulate each and every one of you for the journey that has brought you here as I said you are not here by chance make the most of your time during this 10 months then realize you'll get out of it what you put into it but you have been put in an amazing laboratory there is more experience more knowledge more expertise and a broader set of perspectives from societies that span the globe from multiple races ethnicities religions there is so much to learn here because as you gain more seniority as you do this longer and I would argue that's not unique to the United States but as you do this longer and longer you will find that this laboratory that you are in here in Newport increasingly is the nature of the world that you will be dealing with and living in every day in your professional life so Newport in this 10 months really represent an amazing opportunity and you also have to acknowledge that we are doing it you are doing it in a great place Newport is an amazing city a long maritime history by American standards very short compared to many of the nations represented here we are a relatively young nation approaching 240 years but you are here in an area where it all started for us as a nation where our original 13 colonies began Newport Rhode Island being one of the original 13 so an amazing history here I urge you to get out and about and see it and with that I look forward to seeing where the journey in life both professionally and personally will take many of you I am sure there will be times we will run across each other and I hope you will say hey I went to Newport and was a war college graduate just like you sir because I would love to hear about the journey and how you found the experience but thank you very much for the service that has brought you here one last thought I would share with you and it took me a long time to learn this lesson and it really came home to me when I was at the war college and then later on in my career when I went to the national war college it doesn't take a uniform to serve I take great pride as I am sure to do the majority of you here who are uniformed individuals it took me a long time to realize that service comes in many forms and you don't have to wear a uniform to serve something bigger than yourself and many of the people you are going to meet every few months every bit is dedicated every bit is professional every bit is motivated and have sacrificed in their professional and personalized every bit as much as you have and yet they don't do it wearing a uniform they do it serving the nations working in the government in other ways don't underestimate what they bring to the table and what you can learn from them they have an amazing perspective and they look at problems sometimes a little differently in a way that really can provide valuable insight with that I wish you only the best in the journey of life wherever it takes you I thank you for your service that has brought you here again to the spouses as I started I just can't thank you enough we put you through so much and you are the power that keeps us going it took me a long time in my career to remember that frankly I was one of these type A hard ass guys who just couldn't get enough of work it was like a drug to me I just loved it the hours the time away the time forward the time at sea couldn't ever get enough of it and I tended to take my family for granted thank God I have a strong partner I will celebrate my 30th anniversary in a couple of months my wife finally said to me when I was a captain Michael your children and I love you very much but if you keep up this path when it's all over you're going to be alone because we can't live like this it took me a long time to really stop and think about that so I would urge all of you don't make the mistake that I did for a long long time thank God I've got a wife who is very dedicated speaks your mind and really brought me up short so thank you all very very much thank you Emma Rogers thank you again for your remarks today and your ongoing service to our country ladies and gentlemen in the moment you've been waiting for we will now sing together the service songs or him of our nation's armed forces we sing these songs based not on the seniority of the service but upon the population of each service here at the war college the words for each song can be found in the back of your program we ask that each military and civilian service member veterans and family members please stand as their service song is sung please remain standing until the completion of all service songs well Captain Andy Norris senior Coast Guard advisor and all Coast Guard veterans staff faculty and students please rise alright belt it out Coast Guard well Colonel Paul Muller senior Marine Corps advisor and all Marine Corps veteran staff faculty and students please rise well Paul Murphy senior Air Force advisor and all Air Force veteran staff faculty and students please rise Colonel Thomas Goss senior Army advisor and all Army veteran staff faculty and students please rise well Admiral Rogers Admiral Howe and all Navy veteran staff faculty and students please rise ladies and gentlemen please rise rise or remain standing for the benediction. Let us pray. Lord of heaven and earth, for these men and women, a new voyage is now underway as they start a rigorous and challenging academic year. In the days and months ahead, I ask for each person present here, for faculty, staff and student, that you grant them clarity of thought and expression as they wrestle with new ideas and difficult concepts. For the students and their families, may this be a year of new friendships and unique opportunities. In the midst of readings, examinations, papers, seminars and discussions, help us to remember that what we learn here will influence not only our own lives, but will also help safeguard liberty, peace and freedom around the globe. Please grant wisdom and strength this day and every day through the one who saves. Amen. Please remain standing for the departure of the official party.