Courage, Honor, and Commitment

We celebrated Veteran's Day yesterday at the hospital.  The annual Veteran's Day Recognition Ceremony is one of my favorite events of the year.  I was honored this year to give the keynote address.  The text of my address follows below: 

My friends and colleagues, I have never been comfortable being called a veteran.  I never served in combat.  And in all of my time in the Navy, I never once set foot on a ship that was more than 100 yards from shore.  But please don’t misunderstand me – I have NEVER been more proud to have served in our nation’s military.  If I am reluctant to call myself a veteran, it is because I place an infinitely greater value on the contributions of those men and women who either put themselves in harm’s way or were willing to do so.  If I am slightly uncomfortable standing before all of you on Veteran’s Day, it is because I gave less to our nation than I received in return.

Our time in the Navy lasted only 9 years – six years on active duty and three years in the Reserves.  It all started at the Naval Reserve Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, where I received my commission and took my oath.  I spent 6 weeks in Newport, Rhode Island between my first and second year of medical school at Officer Indoctrination School (affectionately known as “knife and fork” school – if you don’t believe me, please consider that during my free time there, I became a certified PADI Open Water Scuba Diver and learned how to sail).  During my third year of medical school, I worked in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Naval Hospital San Diego.  I loved it there so much that I spent three additional years there after finishing medical school completing my residency training in pediatrics.  I spent the next three years as a general pediatrician at the Naval Hospital Guam and the Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, with several short stints as a general medical officer and advisor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the island of Kosrae, in the Federated States of Micronesia.    I came to Cincinnati as a Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellow and remained in the Reserves, so it was back to the Naval Reserve Center in Indianapolis for my last 3 years before my honorable discharge.  The highlight of my time in the reserves, aside from working at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, was a medical humanitarian mission trip to El Salvador. 

Aside from all of the great memories that we shared and all of the close friendships we made, my time in the Navy taught me the meaning of duty and service.  I carry in my pocket a coin marked with three words – Courage, Honor, and Commitment – the three Core Values of the United States Navy.  But in actual truth, I do not need a coin to remind me of these words, for they are imprinted in my memory and etched in my heart.  They have remained with me all of these years and will be there until the end of my days.  General Douglas Macarthur once said, in a farewell speech that he gave at West Point shortly before he died, “Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.”  And here I paraphrase – but I will try now.

Courage

The legend of LT John F. Kennedy and PT-109 during World War II is well-known.  Perhaps less well-known is that Senator Kennedy won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for his book, Profiles in Courage.  The book provides 8 examples of Senators throughout history (at least up until 1957) who defied both the opinions of their political party as well as their constituents to do what they thought was right.  In many cases, these Senators were greatly criticized and lost their reputations as a result.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is Courage.  Standing up for what you think is right, even when what you think is right isn’t necessarily what everyone around you thinks is right.  It is a rare thing to see this kind of courage in the political world today. 

Perhaps one exception.  I don’t care whether you were for or against the Affordable Care Act, but for most of Barack Obama’s presidency, the Republicans in the Senate were waiting for the chance to repeal it.  They recently had their chance – the odds were greatly in their favor.  It came down to one final vote.  And Senator John McCain, a former US POW and Navy war hero, cast his vote against the wishes of his party.  While a number of government officials, members of the press, and his constituents praised him for standing up for what he believed in, individuals in his own political party, including the President of the United States, publicly condemned him.  Courage.  Doing what you think is right, even when you may suffer criticism or loss of reputation as a result. 

Honor

When I think of the word, “Honor” I think of men and women like Vice Admiral James Stockdale.  You may remember Admiral Stockdale as the Vice Presidential running mate for Ross Perot during the 1992 Presidential election.  In my opinion, Admiral Stockdale is better remembered for what he did much earlier in his career.  Stockdale’s A-4 Skyhawk was shot down during a combat mission over North Vietnam on September 9, 1965.  He was captured and spent over 7 1/2 years as a Prisoner of War as the senior naval officer at the famous Hanoi Hilton (incidentally, Senator John McCain was also held there).  Stockdale was routinely tortured and denied medical care.  Stockdale created a code of conduct for all of his fellow prisoners (which is still taught today) that established secret communications and rules of engagement while being tortured.  Once, when he was told that he would be paraded in public, he slit his own scalp and face with a razor to purposely disfigure himself so that he would not be used as a tool of propaganda.  Stockdale was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his extraordinary leadership, courage, and honor.  He said of his time as a POW, “I never lost faith in the end of the story, I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”  I will say it again, “I would not trade.”  Honor means doing the right thing, “even if it means dying like a dog when no one’s there to see you do it.” 

Commitment

If you ever get a chance to do so, I highly recommend the movie, “Men of Honor” starring Cuba Gooding, Jr and Robert DeNiro.  The movie tells the story of Master Chief Petty Officer Carl Brashear – the first African American to attend AND GRADUATE from the US Navy Diving and Salvage School.  Now remember that President Harry Truman desegregated the Navy in 1948 – Brashear graduated from Dive School in 1954.  He routinely faced hostile prejudice and overt racism – and on a number of occasions, he received death threats if he tried to finish dive training.  But he persisted, and he graduated.  His career was distinguished, and he eventually rose to the rank of Chief Petty Officer.  In January 1966, while salvaging a nuclear bomb that was lost in the ocean following a mid-air collision between a B52 bomber and KC-135 tanker, Chief Brashear sustained serious injuries to his left leg, which was later amputated.  Despite being an amputee, he returned to full active duty and diving and became the first African American (and the first amputee) to become a US Navy Master Diver.

To say that Master Chief Brashear was committed to the Navy is a vast understatement.  Despite all of the odds against him (prejudice, racism, and even the loss of his leg), he never gave up his dream of becoming a US Navy Master Diver.  Commitment means never, ever giving up.  It means staying true to a cause that is bigger than you.  It means being like Master Chief Carl Brashear.

So.  Courage.  Honor.  Commitment.  If you live by these core values, or really any of the core values of our Armed Forces - no matter what you do in your life, you will be successful.

Before I close, I hope that you will indulge me for a couple of more minutes.  Every year on Veteran’s Day, I read a letter to myself that was written a very long time ago to a Mrs. Bixby.  The contents of the letter perfectly summarize what it means to serve your country – what it means to have courage, honor, and commitment.  The letter reminds me of why we do what we do, so I would like to read it now.  You may have heard it before – there’s actually a famous scene in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” in which General George Marshall reads the same letter:

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.  But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. 

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

Abraham Lincoln.

Thank you for indulging my annual Veteran's Day tradition.  Thank you for allowing me to speak to you all today.  And most of all, thank you for your service.  God bless you all.  And God bless the United States of America.