It's a great honor to introduce our
next speaker . And this year's
commencement speaker , the 35th Deputy
Secretary of Defense , Doctor Kathleen
Hicks .
Thank you John for the introduction and
good morning everyone . Vice Admiral
Noonan , congratulations on an historic
first year . And thank you for your
exceptional leadership of this academy .
Rear Admiral Ballard . Thank you for
your commitment and service to this
academy and to this outstanding class
and to Rear Admiral Phillips and all
the distinguished guests on stage and
in the audience today . Thank you for
supporting these midshipman since plea
to now and beyond . It's really an
honor for me to be here to celebrate
with all of you as these graduates
transition from midshipman to and
second lieutenants . You know , this
class has accomplished so much already
completing plea year and becoming mid
shipment is a major accomplishment .
But surviving your plea year and your
senior year during a global pandemic
and separated from many of your
classmates brought a whole new level of
challenge , but you didn't just survive ,
you thrived . I'm deeply impressed by
the breadth of your leadership and your
commitment to public service . You are
a midshipman , but you are also EMTS
and volunteer firefighters , tutors and
guide dog trainers , club leaders , and
humanitarian aid workers , all American
athletes and trail blazers . In fact ,
you are the first class to ever have
two female regimental commanders and
you're the first graduating class to
have a female superintendent . And for
the first time in 20 years , the
football team beat Coast Guard and
brought home the Secret's Cup four
years in a row .
So in my book , you are also the
champions . If all of this is a
reflection of your future and I believe
it is your potential is endless and to
all the parents and grandparents ,
aunts and uncles , close friends and
coaches , the kids are all right . In
fact , you can see that they're more
than all right and they're no longer
kids . How proud you should all be of
your graduates . Thank you for all you
have done to support them as they cross
the finish line . But also every step
along the way . And thank thank you for
all you will do to support them in the
future . But most importantly to this
year's graduating class .
Congratulations , you've endured school
exams last week's demanding licensing
exams , tests of your physical strength
and stamina and tests of your will and
your patience . And those are just the
trials and tribulations you faced in
the past three weeks . And I bet you
were thrilled to ring the bell after it
was all over . Not to mention while
other college students might have been
spending their summers vacationing or
taking a breather . Each of your
summers were committed to working and
completing credit hours . So your work
and determination over the past four
years is a particular point of pride
for all of us here today and a well
deserved . Congratulations is in order
to each of you on this major
accomplishment , Kings Point is a
special place to be from . And I know
in these last weeks as midshipman ,
there has been quite a bit of
reflection on that on all you've
overcome to get where you are in this
moment and what you've achieved on how
much you've stretched yourselves and
grown and on the memories that you will
take with you , including those
gorgeous story , Brook sunsets over
Long Island Sound that I've heard so
much about whether you're commissioning
today in the active duty service , Navy
Marine Corps , Army Coast Guard or Air
Force or to serve as a navy reservist .
While you work in the US maritime
industry , all of you will be crucial
in advancing the US military's top
priority of defending this nation . And
while we confront many challenges
around this world , our greatest
challenge is outpacing our strategic
competitors . Take the challenge we
face with the People's Republic of
China , which is the only strategic
competitor to the United States with
the will and increasingly the
capability to remake the international
order that's given so much benefit to
so many for so long . Our goal is to
deter aggression because competition
doesn't mean conflict . And part of
deterrence is making sure our
adversaries understand the costs and
folly of pursuing outright conflict .
As in any competition , our lead is not
guaranteed . We have to earn it
continuously . It is truly all hands on
deck . So America will need her
merchant Mariners as you've learned
here at Kings Point , us , merchant
marines have long played a vital role
in contributing to the defense and
security of our nation from the
enormous sacrifices merchant Mariners
made in world War II when they
experienced the highest casualty rates
of any us service to conflict in Korea
and Vietnam where Mariners brought
between 75 and 95% of us troops and
supplies to those theaters to the first
Gulf War . When your predecessors
delivered over 12 million tons of
vehicles , helicopters , ammunition ,
fuel , cargo and other supplies and
equipment to the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan , which merchant Mariners
under military sealift command
supported by shipping tens of billions
of gallons of fuel and hundreds of
millions of square feet of combat
equipment and supplies enough to fill
thousands of fields like this . One .
Simply put again and again throughout
history . America's merchant Mariners
have delivered and today merchant
Mariners remain an indispensable
component of our national defense
because they continue to deliver to
Europe where more than 70 vessels have
helped bring supplies and equipment to
us , allies and partners after Russia
once again invaded Ukraine and to the
Indo Pacific where multiple strategic
sealift ships provide critical maritime
prepositioning of us , military
supplies and equipment . What so many
of you will do as merchant Mariners
enables our ability to project power
globally to respond to crises and
contingencies on short notice and to
campaign in support of joint operations .
It won't surprise you that we do things
differently than our competitors .
That's a big reason why nations and
people around the world choose the
United States as their foremost ally or
partner . For instance , we don't use
maritime militias in ways that
undermine regional stability ,
international law and countries shared
desire for a free and open Indo Pacific .
We don't seek to invade our neighbors
and we don't plan to use civilian
ferries as camouflage for military
action that would only bring risk to
civilian shipping . But it's not
primarily the equipment or the tactics
that make our military the world's best .
Perhaps the most important advantage we
have over our competitors is you your
talent , your training and the
responsibility we place in you all of
which will serve you . Well , as you
enter a complex world , they will help
you navigate an operating environment
that's challenging , complicated and
contested . But in the face of friction
and fog , I know you . Our newest and
second lieutenants active duty and
reserve will be America's saving grace
just like your predecessors in the US
military . We're confident in our
junior officers ability in your ability
to get the job done , to lead to figure
it out . As you've often heard
throughout your education here , that's
not true of our competitors . So the
responsibility we place on you , that
is a key ingredient in the secret sauce
that makes our military the finest and
fiercest fighting force in the entire
world . And that's why here at the
Merchant Marine Academy , the United
States of America has been investing in
you making you into leaders and we are
all impressed by the results . You
received an education and training that
is second to none and fit for the
challenges you will soon face . You had
the opportunity to forge unbreakable
bonds with all those around you , with
professors , friends and classmates ,
all of whom care deeply about you and
your future and vice versa . And that
is a lifelong gift . I'm sure you
learned very quickly that you could not
get through the demands of student life
here alone . Believe it or not , you
will soon learn that the need for
teammates , the need for your shipmates
might be one of the most valuable
takeaways of your student career , your
military career and your life . Every
graduate here has their own story to
tell about why they chose service a few
days ago , I spoke with some of you
about this . Some told me you decided
to serve because you wanted to continue
the camaraderie that you've already
experienced here at the Academy others
have been called by a sense of
adventure as a class . You've
crisscrossed the seas to hundreds of
ports around the world . Very few
people can say that some of you have
parents , grandparents , older siblings
or friends that preceded you . And
through their stories of service , you
saw yourself and envisioned how the
military could be part of your
narrative too . Others were steered by
an inner compass to be part of
something larger than yourself or you
were inspired to do something that
would challenge you each and every day .
And the military offers all of these
things , adventure a challenge , a
common purpose and so much more ,
whatever your reasons , whatever those
values that drove you here because of
your education and training at Kings
Point , you are ready to put them into
practice . You have survived the rigor
built into your academic program and
you've overcome adversities that no one
could have predicted . And now the
people of the United States are
trusting you to lead . And I can say
this with confidence you have endured
the best test of what is to come . And
the fantastic news is that you have
succeeded . And there's no reason to
believe that streak won't continue ,
that should give you confidence . So
here is my advice to you . You will
have tough calls and have to make the
right choices . You will have
challenges and the only way will be
through , you will rise and fall as a
team . And that means that you will
have to look out for your people ,
those to your left , to your right and
in front and behind you . And you will
need to let them in to look after you .
No matter where you serve in the
military or civilian careers , you will
be part of a unit , ensuring the trust
and safety of that unit is paramount to
maintaining cohesion , connection and
camaraderie . So even as we as a nation ,
put an extraordinary amount of trust in
you to advise and provide counsel , to
use your own discretion to solve
problems and make timely decisions and
to execute . We expect you to earn that
trust . It's not just a privilege . It
comes with responsibility to complete
the mission and take care of your
people . When uniformed leaders take
care of their people , us military
readiness skyrockets and who is
responsible for taking care of their
people , who is a leader , every one of
us who was called to serve in civilian
or military capacities . That's why
Secretary of Defense Austin has made
taking care of our people a top
priority for every leader . Every
service member , the heart of knowing
how to lead and leading well , is
knowing what's right , what's wrong and
acting on it . It's that simple ,
whether you're at sea or ashore ,
whether you're the lowest ranking or
the person in charge . If you see bad
behavior , say something , do something ,
do the right thing . Don't tolerate
hateful speech or hazing or bullying or
sexual harassment , often a precursor
to sexual assault or sexual assault
itself . I know that members of this
class have championed victim advocacy .
You shape policies like through embark
to ensure every Mariner builds a
respectful culture and you've demanded
support to survivors of sexual assault
and other crimes and to hold
perpetrators accountable to help
prevent these crimes from happening in
the first place . You've also demanded
better mental health services and the
recognition that mental health is
health . And I know for a fact that the
formal bond bonds that you have made
and the trust you have built with one
another have been defining aspects of
your experiences here at the academy .
That's no mistake . That's actually a
feature of your education and you will
soon see how far it will take you and
how it's meant to bring out the best in
you . So when crises occur , step up ,
be a leader and take care of your
people . Each of you deserves the
career that you envision and that you
will continue to work hard for . I for
one have been struck by your stories of
grit and determination . Take one of
your fellow midshipmen who on his
second sailing expedition was bitten 14
times by a black widow spider with
venom 15 times stronger than that of a
rattlesnake . He was temporarily
paralyzed from the waist down , he
recovered and today he will be
commissioning active duty Navy and take
another classmate who volunteered his
rare free time in the Academy's T
program and ended up delivering a baby
in the ambulance on the way to the
hospital . These are only two of the
many of your stories of hardship and
courage and sacrifice . So as you step
off this stage today , know that you
are ready and we are ready for you .
And I look forward to seeing all the
ways that you shape the world for the
better . I wish you fair winds and
following seas and nothing but the best
as you pursue your next adventure . So
thank you and congratulations to the
class of 2023 .