PEPE TAKES AN OATH:
inspired by the Class of 2019 speech by Mike Pence:
You have committed yourself to service and excellence.
Over the last 4 years, You have proven yourself.
Like the President likes to say.. BEST OF THE BEST.
As a sign of the gratitude for the many years of service that you will render to America,
your Commander-in-Chief has given me the authority to hereby absolve all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses effective immediately.
It really is deeply humbling for me to stand before you today,
And see this sight and to be in this historic place…
see, my life didn’t take me into the uniform of the United States, but I AM a son of a soldier.
As i stand before you today, I can’t help but think James O. Hamby is looking down from glory and is FINALLY IMPRESSED, so thank you for the honor.
I was raised in a household of excellence. DUTY. HONOR. COUNTRY.
Those words are now imbedded in my heart.
This is a class full of AMAZING AMERICANS…
Like the young cadet from Georgia who is graduating today, in addition to his degree in Nuclear engineering, he became the first cadet to ever recieve 4 consecutive individual mens’ boxing championships…join me in recognizing Carlan Ivey for all he has accomplished.
You all know these cadets are emblematic of all of you.
I want to acknowledge the historic milestones you are marking today.
The class of 2019 is the most diverse class in the HISTORY of the United States Military Academy,..
Those milestones include, today you are graduating the 1000th Jewish cadet, the 5000’s female cadets, including the highest number of hispanic graduates… and the highest number of African American women cadets in the history of the United States Military Academy.
So for what you have accomplished and for who you are,
congratulations class of 2019…
YOU DID IT!
And of course, today we also celebrate and pause to remember 3 men of honor, who couldn’t be with us… who stepped forward to serve their country, they did not live to see this moment.
So to their families we will say, THE UNITED STATES ARMY AND AMERICA WILL NEVER FORGET AND NEVER FAIL TO HONOR THE SERVICE OF THOMAS SURDYKE, PETER ZHU,AND BRANDON JACKSON.
And class of 2019, you know you didn’t get here on your own.
Your professor’s poured themselves into your life, and long before you got to this campus, it was your families, they believed you could get here. They believed in (you) even before you believed in yourselves…
And when they pin those bars on your shoulders I know it is going to be one of the proudest days of their lives.
So before we go one step further, will you stand up, get on your feet,
look to the left and the right and behind you and catch the eye of the moms and dads and sisters and brothers and APPRECIATE all they have done to get you to this moment…