[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1026-E1027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS BY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PERRY
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HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN
of new york
in the house of representatives
Thursday, June 6, 1996
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, last weekend I had the privilege of again
attending the commencement exercises at the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point, just outside of my own congressional district.
The commencement address this year, delivered by our Secretary of
Defense, the Honorable William Perry, was an especially eloquent review
of the grand traditions which have made our Military Academy the envy
of the world.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to share the Secretary's cognizant and
extremely relevant remarks with our colleagues by inserting them into
the Congressional Record at this point:
Commencement Remarks by Secretary of Defense William Perry, U.S.
Military Academy, West Point
In 1915, a young cadet known for his pranks and football
prowess was graduated from West Point. He was ranked 61st in
his class and was hoping for a respectable career as an Army
officer, perhaps even reaching the lofty rank of colonel.
This cadet never imagined that he would rise to the rank of
General of the Army, lead the largest combined military force
in history, become Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, and
eventually become the President of the United States.
That West Point graduate was, of course, Dwight Eisenhower.
He was one of America's greatest soldiers, but he was equally
famous as a statesman and a leader. You cadets may have some
difficulty relating to Eisenhower as a role model. It is not
likely that any of you will become President, and I hope that
none of you will have to lead our military in a world war.
But as you enter the Army today, you can expect a military
career more diverse and more challenging than Cadet
Eisenhower could ever have imagined in 1915.
I will illustrate my point by describing the careers of a
handful of cadets who were graduated from West Point during
the Vietnam War, and who are now leaders in the US Army. They
were graduated one generation ahead of you. They believe in
and lived out the West Point motto: DUTY (all of them saw
combat in Vietnam)--HONOR (all of them proved their bravery
in Vietnam)--COUNTRY (all of them worked to rebuild the
morale and capability of the Army after Vietnam). Their hard
work and dedication was vindicated in the Army's stunning
victory in Desert Storm, and today they are creating a new
security structure for our Nation in the wake of the Cold
War.
Like Eisenhower, they are building coalitions with nations
all over the globe. Like Eisenhower, they serve as role
models for other military leaders. And like Eisenhower, they
are first of all, warriors and leaders. But they have been
required to be more--they are also warrior-statesmen,
warrior-technologists and warrior-managers. And so will you
be.
Before you toss your hats in the air and depart, let me
tell you about some of those cadets who tossed their hats in
the air 30 years ago. You will be required to deal with many
of the same challenges they dealt with, and you could find no
better role models.
Whatever else is required of you in your Army career, you
will first of all need to be a warrior. And you could find no
better role model than Barry McCaffrey. Barry became one of
America's greatest warriors. He led forces into combat in
Vietnam, where he was grievously wounded. In Desert Storm,
General McCaffrey's 24th Infantry Division led the famous
left hook that caught the Iraqi army by surprise, and led
America to one of its most convincing battlefield victories
ever. He then went to SOUTHCOM at a crucial time and seized
the opportunities presented by the ascendancy of democracy in
our hemisphere. General McCaffery's attributes as a warrior--
guts, brains, and tenacity--are key to success on today's
battlefield. Now he is putting those same skills to work
as a civilian, leading America's war against drugs.
Besides being warriors, many of you will be called on to be
statesmen in the same mold as Eisenhower, Marshall and
MacArthur. You could find no better role model of a warrior-
statesman than Wes Clark. Wes left West Point in 1966 a
Rhodes Scholar. He became a great warrior--but he has also
become a great statesman. General Clark was commanding an
Army division when we brought him to the Pentagon to help
bring an end to the tragedy in Bosnia. He was part of the
diplomatic team that was driving into Sarajevo last August on
the Mt. Igman road when an armored vehicle carrying five of
his colleagues slid off the treacherous road and fell into a
deep ravine. Wes left his vehicle, ran down the ravine and
pulled two survivors from the APC before it exploded. He then
[[Page E1027]]
pulled himself together and went on to Sarajevo to conduct
what proved to be a critical negotiation with President
Izetbegovic. It was the warrior skills that Wes brought to
the diplomatic field that contributed to the cease fire
between the warring parties, and finally to a peace agreement
which was militarily enforceable. Because of the skills of
this warrior-statesman, the killing in Bosnia has stopped and
the threat of a wider war in Europe has been dramatically
reduced. This past week, Wes Clark was nominated by President
Clinton to take over the command of SOUTHCOM just
relinquished by Barry McCaffrey.
During the Cold War, the U.S. had technological
superiority, which allowed us to maintain deterrence with
smaller forces than the Soviet Union. But during Desert
Storm, we had technological dominance, which allowed us to
achieve a stunning victory, quickly and with minimal
casualties. Now that we have experienced dominance we like
it. And we plan to keep it. Some of you will be warrior-
technologists responsible for sustaining that dominance. You
may even end up reporting to Paul Kern, West Point '67, who
is currently my senior military assistant. Paul is what I
mean when I talk about a warrior-technologist. He was an
engineering instructor at West Point. And he was decorated
for combat both in Vietnam and Desert Storm. US News and
World Report called him the only ``ace'' of Desert Storm. His
tanks destroyed more than a dozen Iraqi aircraft that were
trying to take off from Jalibah Airfield to escape the
lightning thrust of the 24th Division's advance. This month,
General Kern will assume the role of warrior-technologist
when he takes command of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort
Hood. Under his leadership, the 4th ID will become the test-
bed for the Army's Force XXI--the battlefield of the future.
The technologies he will test promise to revolutionize how we
fight on the ground and ensure that we remain the world's
dominant land force well into the next century.
Today's Army, while smaller than in the recent past, is
still a corporate giant, so some of you will have to be
warrior-managers during your career. The regular Army,
National Guard and Army Reserves represent a giant personnel
and resource management challenge far greater than that faced
by any of our major industrial corporations. Investing wisely
in people, equipment and training, and balancing scarce
resources requires decisions that will affect the
capabilities of the Army for decades to come. When you leave
here today, you will be officers in an Army guided by a
warrior, Denny Reimer, West Point class of 1962, who is also
a superb manager. In 1990 Denny was the Deputy Chief of Staff
busily planning the post-Cold War drawdown of the Army, when
suddenly Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. In the face of this
drawdown, Denny managed to provide the necessary forces for
Operation Desert Storm, while still maintaining the
quality and readiness of the U.S. Army.
Because of the success of these efforts, the U.S. Army is
rightly recognized as the world's best Army. In fact, armies
all over the globe use the U.S. army as a model. So today,
when you become an officer in the U.S. Army, whether you want
to be or not, you will become a role model. A classic example
of this is Dan Christman, Class of '65, another warrior, who
returns to West Point this summer as the new Superintendent.
Just as General Graves has been a role model for every cadet
that passed through these gates the past five years, so too
will General Christman. Dan Christman is used to being a role
model because for four years he has served as a role model
for soldiers of the new democracies of the old Soviet bloc.
As Military Representative to NATO and on the Joint Staff,
General Christman has been a key architect of our efforts to
help show the militaries of these nations how to operate in a
democracy. He helped to create NATO's Partnership for Peace
program, in which old enemies that used to train to fight
against each other in war, now train together in peace. On
Monday, I will be at the L'viv training range in Ukraine,
along with the Russian, Ukrainian and Polish defense
ministers, participating in a Partnership peacekeeping
exercise. A primary benefit of these exercises is that
officers trained under the old Soviet system are exposed to
American officers and NCOs, and see first hand how a first
class military operates in a democracy.
These multinational training exercises are excellent
training, because anytime you go into combat, you are likely
to be part of a coalition operation, and you will have to
build strong bonds with your foreign counterparts. George
Joulwan, Class of '61, has become an expert at building
strong bonds. It was General Joulwan as SACEUR, the Supreme
Allied Commander of Europe, who put together IFOR--the
multinational coalition that is helping bring peace in
Bosnia. He had to forge an alliance of 16 NATO nations plus
18 others, including nations from the former Warsaw Pact, and
even Russia. I can only imagine what General Eisenhower, the
first SACEUR, would think if he saw a Russian general sitting
with General Joulwan at NATO headquarters reviewing their
operational plan for deployment in Bosnia. I traveled all
over the world--Moscow, Geneva, Brussels, even Kansas--to
negotiate the Russian participation in IFOR with my Russian
counterpart, Pavel Grachev. But it would never have happened
if George Joulwan and General Shevtsov had not been able to
sit down and hammer out a practical military agreement,
warrior to warrior. General Joulwan's ability to put together
this historic coalition will not only give peace a chance to
endure in Bosnia, it will cast a long shadow over the
security in Europe for years to come.
I have talked today about the diverse tasks being performed
every day by officers in the U.S. Army. But whatever you are
called on to do, you will be expected to be a leader--a
leader of the world's best soldiers. Leading the American
force in Bosnia is General Bill Nash, West Point Class of
1968. As commander of the 1st Armored Division, General Nash
will tell you that peacekeeping is a mission that every Army
officer must be prepared for. For decades, the 1st Armored
Division was trained and ready to fend off a Soviet assault
through the Fulda Gap. But in the summer of '95, when a
peacekeeping mission in Bosnia seemed imminent, General Nash
started up the first large-scale peacekeeping training
program in our Army's history. He set up a training range in
Germany which simulated all of the hazards our troops would
face in Bosnia: contending armies, paramilitary forces, bad
roads, mines, black marketers, and even CNN reporters.
Every unit slated to go to Bosnia was sent to train at
that range. The results were stunning. When D-Day arrived,
20,000 troops, their weapons and supplies were moved into
Bosnia. They were confronted with terrible winter weather,
they faced the possibility of armed resistance and the
reality of three million uncharted land mines. They made
this move in record time and with no casualties, and they
inspired respect everywhere they went.
Ten days after General Nash started moving into Bosnia, I
went to Bosnia to visit our troops. General Shalikashvili,
General Joulwan, General Nash and I all went from Croatia
into Bosnia by walking across the pontoon bridge the Army's
combat engineers had just built over the Sava River.
Responsible for its construction was General Pat O'Neal,
who's here today to see his son, Scott, graduate. Building
that bridge turned out to be a problem of epic proportions.
General O'Neal's team ended up having to build the longest
pontoon bridge in history, because Bosnia was experiencing
the worst winter and the worst flooding of the century. As we
neared the middle of the bridge, we met some of the combat
engineers who had built it. They were dirty, cold, and
exhausted--but very proud. One of them, a sergeant first
class, came forward and told us that his enlistment was up,
and that he wanted to reenlist. So, we swore him in for
another 4 years in the U.S. Army, right there in the middle
of the Sava River bridge. After all he had been through--
bitter cold, soaking rains, snow, flooding of biblical
proportions, the danger of land mines--this NCO still wanted
to reenlist. That is an example of ``true grit.'' That is the
sort of soldier you will soon lead.
Well, I have told you today about some of the Army's
leaders who were cadets here just one generation ago. They
are leaving you one hell of a legacy. I have also told you
something about the talent and dedication of our NCO corps.
You can be proud to lead them, and you should follow General
Reimer's guidance about these great NCO's--that is, you
should ``give a damn.'' I think you can sense how proud I am
of the leaders and the NCO's in our Army today. I hope you
share my pride because you are about to become officers in
the best damned Army in the world. And your country is
counting on you to sustain its quality and morale.
All of you have challenging careers to look forward to.
But, as you face the challenges of being a warrior, a
statesman, a technological innovator, a manager, a coalition
builder and a leader, you must never forget that you are more
than an Army officer, more than the sum of your service. You
are also private citizens, members of a community, a family,
an extension of your friends and loved ones. Maintain
perspective, strike a balance in your life, be considerate of
others, reserve a share of your heart for those you care
about and who care about you. They say a soldier fights on
his stomach--but a soldier also fights with his heart. The
hopes and prayers of your families, of all Americans, and of
freedom-loving people everywhere march with you.
In the stairway outside my office at the Pentagon hangs a
favorite painting of mine. In the painting a young serviceman
is praying with his family just prior to his departure on a
foreign deployment. Under the painting is the passage from
Isaiah in which the Lord asks, ``Whom shall I send? And who
will go for us?'' And Isaiah responds, ``Here am I. Send
me.''
At this critical point in our history, your Nation has
asked, ``Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?'' And today
you have answered, ``Here am I. Send me.''
Your Nation is grateful. Your families are thankful. And I
could not be prouder.
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