I won't
be there today when West Point graduates toss their hats in the air, but I was
there several years ago to see the pomp and celebration of four years of
accomplishment for the young men and women of West Point. I have also lectured
at the Air Force Academy and was impressed with the collective as well as the
individual dedication of the cadets and instructors.
All of
the service academies graduations engender a spectacular ceremony that wells
with emotion and precipitates deep patriotic pride and a foreboding bellicose
prognostication.
Pride
because these new spirits of the American dream have spent hard physical and
mental hours over the last four years to honor their dream of an education and
of service and commitment to the everlasting ideals of America. The bellicose
possibilities exist because many of these men and women West Point graduates
will be heading into harms way. It is their destiny determined by the times.
When we
send our men and women into battle we think of them as warriors, as skilled
fighters, as cohesive units trained to win. They are that and so much more for
no matter where they are the dichotomy of trained soldier and the tenderness of
human nature abounds.
I have
seen pictures from the AP and from Reuters that shows American soldiers at their
best. I’ve seen a soldier on patrol, weapon at the ready, kneeling for a moment
to pet a kitten. I’ve seen a soldier teaching a little Arab boy to slap a five.
A smile on all their faces is a lasting victory. I’ve seen a soldier, maybe a
father himself, sitting on the ground cradling a wounded child in his arms.
You can
have the best technology to fight a war, but you also must have the best of
heart to win one.
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