we are hiring. at the cia. [laughter] there have been 150 applicants for every slot. you never know. it reminded me of the story of a young school boys who had to get a report on julius caesar. julius caesar was raised a long time ago, he told his classmates. he won a lot of battles. he was a great general. he gave a long speech. they killed him. [laughter] i will try to avoid his date today. -- fate today. it is an honor to be here today. i was invited to speak here last year.

shortly after i accepted, i went to a routine meeting at the white house and came out with a new job when president obama asked me to take the reins in afghanistan. i still had some oath of honoring the commitment. as the winter turns to spring, the tempo indicated that it would not allow a trip stateside. i am grateful for the re- extension of the invitation to me. you have had a great influence on the students. [applause] under your leadership, dickinson's academic leadership has thrived.

[applause] you have reinvigorated the role for dickinson to provide useful knowledge for building a democracy. you have made that goal as a driver for active citizenship for dickinson graduate in the 21st century. thank you for your enthusiasm and your obvious love of this exceptional institution. well done. [applause] mr. president, i have learned that you are planning to retire next year.

i do intelligence. [laughter] such knowledge is clearly another intelligence success. i am living proof that one can find meaningful work after retirement. after 37 years in the army, i retired and had the privilege of taking a wonderful entry- level job at the central intelligence agency. it is the most intellectually stimulating job in the world. i wish you a your wife continued success, intellectual stimulation, and fulfillment in your future pursuits whatever they may be, knowing that whatever organization that ends up with you will be a lucky and fortunate organization. thank you, professor stewart. when you hear one of those introductions, i have to confess, i wish my parents had been here to hear those kind

words. my crusty old sea captain father would have been skeptical, but would have enjoyed your introduction nonetheless. my dear old mother would have believed every word of it. when the word got around at the cia that i was going to address this graduation ceremony, i heard from a number of dickinson alumni, several singled out your influence on their choice to choose service. thank you very much for all you have done to inspire and kindle the desire to study international affairs. [applause] i know that some of you are

waiting for me to confirm or deny the report in the book that the old potato chip factory, now an annex at south college, was ever used by the cia. i can neither confirm nor deny. i can report that once the building was reclaimed by dickinson, certain activities such as kidnapping the mermaid, fell off dramatically. it is also a privilege to be here today in the company of a distinguished group of honorary degree recipients.

john adams, whom we still honor when the earth needs a lawyer. and npr's distinguished correspondent, nina totenberg. each of them exemplifies dickinson's tradition of academic service, which extends from the classroom and into a lifetime. please join me in recognizing them again. [applause] i would be remiss if i did not always at my recognition the proud parents and devoted

friends and families and significant others of the students who are here today. i understand what the parents are feeling right now because holly and i sat where you are now and watched our daughter graduate from dickinson, a moment filled with pride, but also tinged with sadness as we reflected on how quickly our little girl had grown up. i am also familiar with the hope that parents here will have that withdrawals from the national bank of mom and dad will soon come to an end. i hate to break the news to you. based on personal experience, the atm does not close just because the need for to which it has stopped. based on the parents of the students who will receive their diplomas today, let's give them

a round of applause. [applause] be here among so many who are about to embark on their careers reminds me of the story i heard recently in washington. a midlevel federal executive was frustrated after being passed over for promotion year after year. he began to suspect that his modest intellect was holding him back. he decided to visit a brain transplant center with the hope of raising his iq. he was accepted by the director of the center. he said, i am a working man and i understand this procedure can be expensive. the price is a function of which type of brain you select.

an ounce of a lawyer's brain costs $12,000. he said, i would be a bureaucratic ninja, slicing and dicing my way through torts and courts. he said, are there any other options. dickinson college students' brains. they run at $17,000 an ounce. he said, with that kind of intellectual power, i could solve complex global problems, speak a dozen languages and find ways to balance the budget and cure diseases worldwide, and then i would take a break

from my morning cup of coffee and think some more. absolutely, the director responded with enthusiasm. here is one more match to consider. generals' brains. they are priced at $100,000 per ounce. he said, i could combine the audacity of george s. patton which george washington, commanding the heights of the general service pay scale. but why do you charge $100,000 for an ounce of a general's brain when the others are priced so much more reasonably? the director responded, do you have any idea how many generals it takes to get 1 ounce of brains? [laughter] [applause] you noticed, i did not say

anything about retired generals' brains. thanks for laughing. when you reach this stage of life, you are only as good as the material they give you. the graduates today can be confident that they will not need to visit a brain transplant center. the education your receipt here and the values of global engagement and at the citizenship will serve you very well indeed. ours is a time with no shortage of pressing issues. our country and our world need thoughtful, dedicated, talented people like you to find solutions to stubborn problems. we need many of you to choose careers in public service and other arenas in which you can

make a real difference in the life of our country and the life of your countries in the case of those abroad. you might suspect that someone who's spent his entire adult life in uniform would think of public service as only something of the military. i have seen that progress can only be achieved by selfless individuals working across a wide range of disciplines. there are a few challenges that can be resolved with only a single approach. solution is required the effort of many. it is the character, spirit, and quality of service that counts. as the former cia director, bob gates, once observed, each person in public service has his or her own story and motives.

if you scratch deeply enough, you will find that those who serve our romantics and idealists and optimists. we believe we can make a difference, we can improve the lives of others, we can better the future of this country and the world. i agree wholeheartedly with secretary gates' sentiment. in dickinson's publish service program and its participation in the the enhancement program, among many others here, those

values have been put into action. i would like to take a moment to point out the selfless service of one dickinson a graduate, my wife, holly. she followed her husband through 24 moves in 37 years with overseas absences during five combat commands. all of this with considerable challenge. during which, she applied the strength and skills she gained here at dickinson to hold everything together for our family as one moves led to another. the small army post where i was stationed in those years did not lend themselves to the

career she had prepared for. she committed herself to civil service and she was the first lady of two army installations, one of which we deployed from in the beginning of the effort in iraq in 2003. in the past 8 years, with our children grown, she has drawn on her experience as an advocate. service to family and to country has defined her life. i count my blessings frequently to have accepted a blind date with her 38 years or so ago. [applause] it is no surprise to me that a number of cia officers are dickinson alums. the school's role as a bulwark of liberty is much like the cia

itself. whether you follow in the footsteps of soldiers, diplomat, intelligence officers, health-care professionals, legal advocates, political figures, titans of industry or citizen volunteers, there are countless ways to serve the public good and numerous issues that stand to benefit from the principles and values that are at the core of a dickinson education. service, by its nature, is hard work. i ask you to recall the vision

in teddy roosevelt's assertion. the best prize that life has to offer is to work hard at whatever there is worth doing. it will ensure that you remained faithful to the values of your beloved alma mater. there will be days where you feel overwhelmed by what you see as a seemingly insurmountable task. never let those moments of frustration deter you. rather, rely on the strength you learned here. i was the newly appointed commander in iraq overseen forces and implementing the most important surge, the sourge of ideas -- surge of ideas.

there were more than 200 attacks per day at the height of the violence. i would get strength from recalling general grant's words. he was sitting under a tree late at night. his men had sustained losses under an attack. general sherman sat down next to him in the rain. sherman could hear the cries of the wounded around them. he led a moment passed before saying a word. well, he observed, we have had the devil's own day. yep, he replied. lick'em tomorrow.

our soldiers embody those qualities during the tough, long days of the surge. those qualities continue to be their hallmark as we carry out missions against resilient enemies in the most challenging conditions. our troopers have helped us learn that there are few things of value that can be learned through any other course than through hard work. even hard work is only productive if it is informed by study of the lessons of others and by one's own experience. i encourage you to be a voracious reader and always thirst for more knowledge and understanding.

to again draw on the words of teddy roosevelt, "it is not the critic that counts. not a demand that points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of the deeds could have done better. the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marked by dust and sweat and blood, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself a worthy cause. and to know that if he fails, at least he fails enduring greatness of his way shall never be with those cold and timid souls who do not know victory or defeat." each of you graduating today is about to enter an arena.

for some, including those who have served in the rotc program, it may be arguably the most unforgiving arena -- helping to fight our nation's wars as leaders of our most precious resources -- sons and daughters in uniform. you should know that we look forward to your leadership of men and women as they undertake critical missions. or, it might be in our nation's intelligence community as one of our creative science and technology officers, all, in one way or another, at the pointy end of the spear, fighting against terrorism. but the arena is big and the needs are many. those of you who will now turn to serving our nation or world in civilian capacities, whatever the pursuit, you, too, will very-much be in the arena.

we look forward to your accomplishments as you take your newly-earned diploma and begin to work to find creative solutions to the challenges at home and abroad, helping our country down the path to further economic recovery and to preserve our freedoms. this morning is an occasion on which we say, "well done and congratulations for all that you've accomplished here in the course of earning the coveted diploma you will receive in a few moments." all of us here are celebrating the occasion and confident that the wonderful education you received, the great experiences that you had and the superb leadership skills you have gained in this institution will stand you in very good stead as the mark on the endeavors in life before you. may god bless your efforts as you grapple with the challenges

of your time and work hard at what we all hope to be work that is truly worth doing. good luck. godspeed go red devils. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> and now more from this year's graduates of mount st. mary's university. it is located 70 miles outside of washington. >> tell us your name and your hometown.

>> i am from south africa. >> what did you think of today's commencement? >> i am very grateful. it went over very well. thank you. >> what did you study? >> economics. and international politics. >> what are your plans? >> getting my master's in international economics relations. >> where will you work? >> at the department of commerce. >> what, ultimately, would you like to do? >> of like to be an international economist -- i would like to be an international economist. >> my name is the julia. i'm from pennsylvania.

>> what did you study? >> i studied biology and german. >> during your for -- tell us about that. >> i become a second lieutenant this friday. >> how did your time prepare you to go into the military? >> my faith is so key for military members. how prepared the leadership- wise. my professors taught me to have an eye towards how i could better serve the world. through their teaching me, i will be better prepared. >> what did you think of the commencement? >> it was beautiful. so beautiful. there were great. absolutely excellent. >> what would you take away from what they said? >> one thing? i cannot take one thing. they were just incredible.

everybody has so much to offer us. they try to help us along our journey. >> thank you for talking to us. >> thank you. >> people want to be free from want and the state struggle for survival. this is not what stirs the human soul or bridges the seemingly unbridgeable cultural divide. that is the burning desire for liberty. given the choice between tierney and freedom, people will choose freedom. people on the best for their children and they want cut their creativity and hard work to be rewarded. they want the freedom to speak their minds, to choose those who will lead them, and the right to faith.e their o >> what these videos online at the c-span video library. >> annual morally -- memorial

rally today. it was for vietnam veterans approvin. this year, it celebrates its 25th anniversary. here is an look at some of the members as they rode through the nation's capital. [horns honking]

[applause] [horns honking and cheering]

>> tomorrow,