 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the U.S. Naval War College graduation ceremony. I am Captain Patrick Keyes, the Dean of Students, and will be serving as the MC for today's ceremony. You're welcome to take photographs at any time throughout the ceremony. We have official photographers taking pictures today, and you'll find these photos posted on our Flickr site. At this time, as a courtesy, please put your cell 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. Commander David M. Todd, Chaplain of the Naval Leadership and Ethics Center, will deliver the invocation. Let us pray. Almighty God, we pray your blessing upon these graduates of the Naval War College that we gather to honor this morning. As this time of study, reflection, critique, and refinement comes to a close, we give you thanks for sustaining them through every test, exercise, paper, and the perseverance that enabled them to run the course with endurance. As they return to positions of greater authority and responsibility, along with accountability, grant them wisdom in applying the knowledge and skills they have mastered through this course of instruction, instilling them a passion to demonstrate creativity and initiative in the face of the complex challenges ahead, forging through uncertain times with unwavering conviction. Bless also the faculty and staff that have instructed, challenged, and demanded more of these students that they might be fully equipped and ready for the task ahead, and for the family and friends who have encouraged and supported them. Finally, we pray that you would use this ceremony to stir in each of us a renewed desire to engage the challenges that lie ahead and affirm commitment to fulfill our role in serving the cause of security, prosperity, and peace for all. Looking forward to the day when your truth, justice, and righteousness shall reign forever. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. It gives me great pleasure to introduce the members of our official party, Captain Edmund Hernandez, Chair, Joint Military Operations Department, Dr. Dex Wilson, Strategy and Policy Department, Dr. David Cooper, Chair, National Security Affairs Department, Dr. Tim Schultz, Associate Dean of Academics for Electives and Research, Dr. Phil Hahn, Dean of Academics, Dr. Lewis Duncan, Provost, United States War College, and Rear Admiral Jeffrey A. Harley, the 56th President of the United States Naval War College. Admiral Harley, the stage is yours. Well, welcome and good morning, everyone. And let's just agree if the babies and children cry that it's simply the voice of angels trying to get through and that they're always welcome here. But I'm truly honored and humbled to be here today at this graduation ceremony to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments of our graduates, the Naval War College class of 2017. Our graduates today finish their journey of study, reflection, contemplation, and consideration of strategy and national security on the world stage. The transition from inquisitive student to enlightened professional is soon to be complete. And today we celebrate your experiences and accomplishments throughout this last year. I hope that my words today, in some small way, will allow you to harken back through your time here at your U.S. Naval War College and that those many experiences and memories come together for you like a completed painting worthy of hanging in our hallowed halls. Today, you join a long line of Naval War College graduates that extends back over 132 years. You now share a history with those who dared greatly and you are a new line of leaders that would help better our nation, our services, our joint force, and the world. Your dedicated efforts and hard work help to refine your war-fighting skills and growth as members of the profession of arms. But the support provided to you from our committed faculty and staff should not go unsung. So to the faculty and staff, thank you and bless you for your gift to this generation of leaders. To the family and friends who join us today, thank you for supporting your family members, your friends, and spouses. It's your support during the academic year that contributed to their successes. Your contributions and support are most significant and appreciated and are exemplified in our graduation today. We're thankful also for the support from the Naval War College Foundation as their generosity and grace ensures the continued greatness of this college. Bless you for all that you do. I hope that all of you will consider paying this generosity forward to future generations through support of supporting organizations, whether it be the U.S. Naval Institute or our very own Naval War College Foundation. It's a great way to stay in touch with the college as you pursue lifelong learning. Upon my graduation 20 years ago, I felt a sense of accomplishment and I still do. I remember the sense that I achieved some sort of new critical thinking skill set and a better understanding of naval strategy in regards to global affairs. I have fond memories of my time spent with my classmates to include my international fellows and those from my sister services. And my time spent with them provided lasting relationships that still exist today. I also remember a hint of uncertainty, a small slight trepidation and maybe even a small bit of fear about the road ahead. It's a reflection of the more demanding assignments that potentially awaited me. And many of you may feel the same way and share the same concerns, but you'll now go forward not merely to execute tasks or God keep you to lead others into harm's way when called upon, but rather to think, to think and to help shape the contours of the critical debate, to help assess and clarify the seemingly impossible, to provide the key argument that carries the day, to be the light of the ethical standard for others to emulate, but most importantly to distill the essence of courage in all that you do. For as Mark Twain said, courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of fear. In arm now with this new education, your new critical thinking skill set, you are now better able to resist that fear. You're ready now to muster the essence of courage. Today we graduate 42 students from the College of Naval Command and Staff and 10 students from the College of Naval Warfare. Congratulations to each of you. In essence, this past year of in-residence education has been a gift from our great nation to you and you'll find that time is the greatest gift of all. It's a gift rarely given or provided. This past year of study has no doubt preferred you for the challenges that will provide lasting benefits for our great nation, but you cannot take this gift for granted. I therefore task each of you to be the best warfighter that you can be, but to also utilize your critical thinking skill set not only as it applies operationally, but also emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Our dynamic world demands nothing less. For each passing year the world becomes more dangerous than the last and we need to stay mindful. We need to think about thinking to ensure that our skill sets remain relevant. As stated by Albert Einstein, we cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them and the lessons that you studied and learned at this great institution have encouraged a critical thinking that is the asymmetric advantage of our military forces. But I also task each of you to develop the constructs of peace. The United Nations quotation on the wall of the Dwellden Corridor should speak to us all. Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defenses of peace must be constructed. You attended the world's best war college, but its greatness is not merely a better understanding of war, although that is a significant portion of what we do. This understanding allows critical thinking to ensure conflict is the last resort. As we stand here, a mere century from a world war that was almost automated in its triggered nature, we must reflect on the horrible costs of our work. As our great professor Sally Payne says, given the cost, unpredictability, and irretrievability, wars are important to understand. I task you, therefore, to think and to understand your art and why critical thinking that enables the best advice to our civilian leadership is so important. I know this college has given you this skill and this gift. We must know that our art can never be independent and divorced from the policy of our nation. And our very own Professor Milan Vego tells us, in a concept that was no doubt hammered home in your studies, that to have any lasting value, tactical successes must be achieved as part of a larger and broader framework determined by strategy and policy. You now go forward to be the individuals who will determine that strategy and contribute to that policy. And your journey will take you into the halls of the most powerful decision-making forums of the world. I hope, nay, I know that our great college has prepared you for this journey. A final task in closing, then, is that you must continue to dare greatly. And always remember, as President Theodore Roosevelt said, it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strongman stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds? Who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Congratulations to all of you in the arena for daring greatly. God bless our great college, God bless our great nation, God bless you, and God bless us everyone. Thank you. Thank you, Admiral Harley. For each graduating class, one student is selected for the recognition as the President's Honor Graduate. Recipients of this award are chosen based on their outstanding achievement across a spectrum of disciplines, including academic performance, participation in Naval War College activities, participation in civic and community activities, and promotion of armed and government services in the public interest. For the College of Naval Warfare, the Honor Graduate of the November 2017 graduating class is Captain Seth Burton. Captain Burton, would you please come up on the stage? Captain Burton was his seminar lead for both JMO and S&P along with a Mahan scholar, a CJCS strategy article finalist, and a supporter of Special Olympics, basketball, and volleyball. Along with the certificate he has received an engraved weems and plath compass from the Naval War College Foundation. For the College of Naval Command and Staff, the Honor Graduate for the November 2017 graduating class is Major Ryan Boyleau. Major Boyleau serves as the interagency senior leader during the TSDM FX, earned honorable mention for the George C. Kennedy Writing Award and volunteered for community outreach at the Forrest Avenue School. He also is receiving a certificate and a weems and plath compass from the Naval War College Foundation. We will now give our Honor graduates a few moments to address their fellow graduates and classmates. Thank you, Jethro. And Admiral, thank you. The entire War College team and the Foundation for a truly great year. I want to start off by recognizing my incredible faculty teams, which included Jim Cook, Kate Walsh, Scott McPherson, Greg Groth, Colin Jackson, Joe McGraw, Jamie McGrath, and Jeff Stevens. They led seminars composed of fellow joint scholars, colleagues from the interagency, and more importantly, all of our international fellows from Australia, Morocco, Chile, Lithuania, Canada, Spain, Colombia, Tunisia, and Malaysia. And through the entire year, I get to debate ideas with my fellow Mahan scholars, Derek and Matt, under the mentorship of Nagin Pekai. Now I want to say thanks to the spouses out there who much like my wife, Danette, so graciously dealt with us being home but not really at home on so many occasions. And thanks to my sons, Evan and Erin, over there for being patient while I read and wrote. And there's a special thanks to my son who's watching probably on Facebook, who's stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and he was nice enough to schedule his wedding and a month here at SWAS in the last two months of my school, which complicated the reading and writing just a bit. And finally, I want to get back to what Admiral Harley was saying. I want to say a special thanks to the American public for this tremendous opportunity to learn from history, learn from great thinkers, great professors, and most importantly to benefit from the collective wisdom and experience of my colleagues. With any opportunity, especially one such as this, comes great responsibility. Our first Commander-in-Chief, I think we all know who he is, stated a fundamental principle of self-governance that every citizen who enjoys that protection of a free government owes not only a portion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it. And Thomas Jefferson re-emphasized this by proclaiming when a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself a public property. We as an institution and as individuals hold a special public trust, not only by nature of our profession, but by the special public support to give us this year to think about, as Admiral said, to critically think about the conduct of war and more importantly the quest for a better peace. President Reagan told us that peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the ability to handle conflict through peaceful means. We as Americans cannot mistake peace for the absence of competition or conflict. Our objective should be to constrain that competition to the battleground of ideas, discourse, innovation, and creativity, yielding positive results for mankind while avoiding the pain and suffering associated with violence and armed conflict. Yet as George Washington warned us at the beginning of this great American experiment, if we desire to secure peace, it must be known that at all times we are ready for war. President Reagan echoed this sentiment when he said, of the four wars in my lifetime, none of them have been because the U.S. is too strong. This Naval War College institution contributes daily to the strength and resiliency of the United States and to our efforts to prevent war and to create a better peace. So what are some of the things we learned? There's a long list of them, but I got about five of them. What we learned from Klausowitz, the strategy involves human passions, values, and beliefs, few of which are quantifiable. We learned that in war the result is never final. Sun Tzu, which I've always said Sun Tzu, but Sun Tzu, I've learned here at the War College, taught us that not to prepare is the greatest of crimes, but to be ready for any contingency is the greatest of virtues. All sobieties exemplify strategic error when he argued that war would be quick, ignoring the powerful role of chance and the enemy's vote in the risky affair of war. We dug into the world of deterrence, especially with my Mahan brothers. The Mr. Cleese and Mahan taught us the powerful influence of sea power on foreign relations, economic prosperity, and history. And finally, to the specific point of leadership, Thucydides, Pericles, Artaxerxes, Bismarck, Lincoln, Napoleon, MacArthur, Thatcher, Eisenhower, Rickover, Mal, Moltke, and so many more showed the clear connection between a correction, showed that leadership is the clear nexus that brings together the art and science of warfare to achieve a political objective. I've been challenged this year more than ever to think critically. The key to success is true understanding and not superficial knowledge. As President Reagan once quipped, How do you know a communist? Well, they read Marx and Lenin. How do you know an anti-communist? Well, those are the ones that understand Marx and Lenin. Understanding is paramount. And I think I can unequivocally say on behalf of my graduating classmates that we are better prepared today than we were a year ago to go tackle these big wicked problems that are in today's world and to lead our young men and women who have voluntarily taken on that public trust to serve and sacrifice for their fellow citizens. I'm honored to be a part of this class and this great institution. And as Admiral said, may God bless us, everyone. Thank you. Well, that's a tough act to follow. Hopefully, I'll do well. Admiral Harley, distinguished guests and family members, thank you for attending today. I would also like to extend a special thank you to my wife Tamara and our children, Brenna, Alex, Allison, Kyle, Ryan Jr., and Sophia. My granddaughters, Amelia and Rowan, my in-laws, Dennis and Twyla Patton, and especially my great aunt Norma and Uncle Richard. Most of those folks couldn't be here today but are watching via livestream. I love you all. This past weekend, I walked through these halls to frame my thoughts for this event. And once again, recalled how awestruck I felt on my arrival for the first day of strategy and war. Over my year here, that feeling faded to the back but never really went away. This institution truly is a storied one where, to borrow a phrase from West Point, much of the history it teaches is made by those it taught. The circle continues its path and we exit to enact what we have learned. I am awed by the weight of that history and am eager to see what those who leave today will write for the future. To my fellow students, I am grateful to have interacted with each of you and to know you. The professionalism you exist, you exhibit, is a testament to your services and I am proud to serve alongside you. For the faculty, thank you for your care and your support. I have enjoyed every discussion, every seminar, every brief, and truly every written assignment. And have seen you push each of us to extend beyond our perceived boundaries. Becoming greater than we would otherwise be. Special accolades to John Garifano, Tim Colmer, Rich Schuster, Mike LaPage, Derek Reviron, Kate Walsh, Eric Wright, and to the entire team at the Stockton Center. Kudos as well to the Dean of Students' Office and the Writing Center for their tremendous support. Just over 99 years ago this month, World War I ended and as I walked the campus this weekend, I imagined how it was then. This war college was 34 years old at that time, still relatively new. Since then, technology has advanced and momentous events have rocked the very foundations of our world. Yet the students were likely the same, curious about the past, and ready to face the future, just as we are today. Admiral Luce's intent was to create a place of original research on all questions relating to war and to statesmanship connected with war or the prevention of war. As students, I believe we did learn that study of war. As alumni, I am certain we will endeavor to prevent wars. A Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies, or Defense and Strategic Studies as appropriate will now be conferred to the graduates. Will the graduates please rise and remain in place? Admiral Harley, please approach the podium. I have the honor to present the November graduates of the U.S. Naval War College candidates for the Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies and Defense and Strategic Studies. They have been thoroughly examined and approved by the faculty. By the power vested in me by the Almighty God, the Secretary of the Navy, the accreditation of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I hereby confer upon you the appropriate degrees and diplomas. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting with applause the November 2017 graduates of the United States Naval War College. Thank you, sir. Graduates, please be seated. Beyond the requirements for graduation, certain individuals have distinguished themselves through the academic excellence. For those in the top 5 percent, they are receiving a diploma with highest distinction. Those in the next 15 percent will receive a diploma with distinction. Graduates will now receive their diplomas. Graduates, please proceed to the stage as your name is read. Guests are welcome to come forward to take photographs. Please try to hold your applause until they are in red. Red Moharly, Dr. Duncan, and Dean Hahn, please rise. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Warfare and their next duty assignment. Lieutenant Colonel Derek M. Brannon, United States Marine Corps, Joint Staff, Washington, D.C. Captain Matthew Seth Burton, United States Navy. Submarine Group 10, Kings Bay, Georgia with high distinction. Captain George Dewey Davis III, United States Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Arlington, Virginia. Commander Darren D. DeBoe, United States Navy, Space Security Defense Program, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Commander Trent W. Fingerson, United States Navy, Tactical Training Group, Pacific, San Diego, California with distinction. Lieutenant Commander Adam E. Howell, United States Navy, Joint Staff, Hampton Roads, Suffolk, Virginia. Commander Lena Christine Kamen, United States Navy, H.T.A., Naval Air Station, Whiting Field, Milton, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Robert A. Prince, U.S. Navy, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Arlington, Virginia. Commander Matthew John Sweeney, United States Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Commander Kenneth Able Wallace, United States Navy, National Oceanographic, and Atmospheric Administration, Washington, D.C. Presenting the graduating members of the College of Naval Command and Staff and their next duty assignment. Major Rosemary D. Alvarado, United States Army, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, Watertown, New York. Lieutenant Commander Shane Ross Boby, United States Navy, Personnel Exchange Program, Australia, Sydney, Australia. It's a rough duty. Major Ryan Christopher Boylow, Senior, United States Army, First Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kansas, with High Distinction. Lieutenant Commander Ryan F. Clark, United States Navy, Strike Fighter Wing, Atlantic Detachment, Tindall Air Force Base, Panama City, Florida, with Distinction. Lieutenant Commander Charles Houston Cline, United States Navy, United States Africa Command, Stuttgart, Germany. Lieutenant Commander Christopher Shane Collins, United States Navy, Coastal, Riverine Squadron 8, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander John A. Corky, United States Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Victor Daniel Costello, United States Navy, Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Missile Defense, Shriver Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lieutenant Commander Eric Cote, United States Navy, Sixth Fleet, Naples, Italy. Lieutenant Commander Gregory Cresenzo, United States Navy, Surface Mine Warfare Development Center Detachment, Point Loma, San Diego, California. Lieutenant Commander David P. Diz, United States Navy, VFA-122, LaMore, California, with Distinction. Lieutenant Commander Andrea C. Easton, United States Navy, U.S. Pacific Command, Joint Intelligence Operations Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. Lieutenant Commander Everett Travis Irvin, United States Navy, U.S. Military Liaison Office, Suriname. Lieutenant Commander Joshua Paul Estevan, United States Navy, Sixth Fleet, Naples, Italy. Lieutenant Commander Matthew Kirkland Garcia, United States Navy, NATO Military Committee, Brussels, Belgium, with Distinction. Lieutenant Commander Daniel Mark Govan, United States Navy, Naval Air Station, Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, with Distinction. Lieutenant Commander Christopher Grande, United States Navy, Navy Operational Support Center, Madison, Wisconsin. Lieutenant Commander Jason A. Harrison, Nurse Corps, United States Navy, Navy Medical Center, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Lieutenant Commander Kerry Patrick Hicks, United States Navy, Electronic Attack Wing, Pacific, Oak Harbor, Washington. Lieutenant Commander Timothy Hurley Jr., United States Navy, BFA-122, Lamor, California, with Distinction. Major Matthew Jensen, United States Army, First Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. Lieutenant Commander Kyle J. Johnson, United States Navy, Naval Air Force Reserve Detachment, Washington, D.C. Lieutenant Commander Gregory Allen Langston, United States Navy, HSC-2, Norfolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Louis A. Levine, United States Navy, VP-10, Jacksonville, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Gary A. McConney, Jr., United States Navy, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort Meadon, Maryland. Major Bradford R. Morgan, United States Army, 3-Core, Fort Hood, Texas. Lieutenant Commander Brian Lee Mooseville, United States Navy, Joint Interagency Task Force South, Key West, Florida. Lieutenant Commander Adam Clark Pace, United States Navy, patrolling Reconstance Wing 1 at Sugih, Japan. Lieutenant Commander Stephen R. Petrus, United States Navy, Navy Operational Support Center, Lehigh Valley, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Major Jacob M. Phillips, United States Army, 2nd Calvary Regiment, Vilsack, Germany. Lieutenant Commander Mark K. Poblate, United States Navy, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia. Commander Andrea Marie Ragusa, United States Navy, HM-15, Norfolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Justin Daniel Reeves, United States Navy, Submarine Command Corps, Groton, Connecticut, with high distinction. Lieutenant Jesus Rincone, Jr., United States Navy, Major Officer School, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Noah Diake Sikinger, United States Navy, Carrier Strike Group 3, Bremerton, Washington. Lieutenant Commander Rodrigo Bumbless-Samos, United States Navy, VX-23, Pax River, Maryland, with distinction. Major Tyrone E. Strifell, United States Army, 3rd Brigade, Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Lieutenant Commander Thad D. Tasso, United States Navy, Naval Forces, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia. Lieutenant Commander Brian L. Tishner, United States Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Lieutenant Commander Christopher Philip Turmal, United States Navy. Missile Defense Agency, National Test Facility, Colorado Springs, Colorado, with distinction. Lieutenant Commander Andrew John Valerius, United States Navy, U.S. Naval War College, Halsey Alpha Fellowship Program. Ladies and gentlemen, please join us in a round of applause for our graduates, honorees, and their families. Please rise for the benediction, please. Let us pray. Eternal God, as you have graced us with your presence, so send us out with your approbation and peace. Bless us all with the spirit of a scholar warrior ever seeking a deeper understanding of the forces at play in the field of battle and a more precise way forward in the hour of complexity and crisis. Enable us to maintain a steadfastness of purpose, fidelity worthy of our nation's trust, and self-sacrificial dedication to the high principles of honor, courage, and commitment in defense of justice, freedom, and liberty for all. Kindle within us the spirit of self-sacrificial service that will fuel the development of those we lead and spur them on to excellence. Grant that we may all remain resolute and faithful in our particular places of responsibility, demonstrating by our every thought, word, and deed the honor, courage, and commitment to which we have been called. Amen. Please remain standing for the departure of the official party. This concludes our graduation ceremony. Thank you for joining us this afternoon and safe travels.