Secretary of Defense William J. Perry's Commencement Remarks at West Point
Commencement Remarks by
Secretary of Defense William Perry
United States Military Academy, West Point
June 1, 1996
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 believed 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 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 US 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 US Army.
Because of the success of these efforts, the US Army is
rightly recognized as the world's best Army. In fact, armies all
over the globe use the US army as a model. So today, when you
become an officer in the US 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 US 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,
twenty thousand 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
four years in the US 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 NCOs -- that is, you should give a damn. I think
you can sense how proud I am of the leaders and NCOs 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 a 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.
