Petraeus Speaks to ROTC Grads

General David H. Petraeus, chief of U.S. military operations in much of the Eastern Hemisphere, including the Middle East, lauded the importance of “individual leaders” in a speech at the ROTC Commissioning Ceremony in Tercentenary Theatre yesterday.

After beginning his speech on a comedic note, Petraeus encouraged “what must be the smartest new members of our military” to make use of the leadership skills they had developed through their training. He also implored them to follow “five critical admonitions”: “lead by example,” “be humble,” “don’t hesitate to make decisions,” “be a team player and a team builder,” and “don’t take yourself too seriously, but do take your work seriously.”

Petraeus—whose remarks were part of a ceremony following the commissioning of four seniors into the Army and three into the Marine Corps—was hailed as a “soldier scholar” by University President Drew G. Faust, who spoke before Petraeus.

Faust also gave the moniker to the seven newly-commissioned officers and one graduate student to be commissioned in the fall, telling them that as such, their role is to “never let the military or society forget the big picture.”

Class of 1959 speaker Darnell M. Whitt ’59 also described Petraeus as a “soldier scholar,” adding that Faust is similar to Petraeus in that she is “a scholar who has written a lot about soldiers.”

Faust prefaced her comments with the announcement that Harvard will join the GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Education Program next fall, which will provide substantial financial assistance for up to 150 military veterans to attend Harvard College, the Extension School, or one of Harvard’s graduate schools. The tuition assistance provided by Harvard will be matched by the federal government.

ROTC has not been welcome at Harvard since 1969, when it was expelled from campus following student demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Currently, Harvard students who participate in ROTC train at MIT.

Unlike last year, when Faust criticized the military’s policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell”—which bars openly gay people from service and has been cited in recent years as the reason ROTC remains off campus—Faust did not comment on the controversial policy yesterday.

But Whitt did touch on the current absence of ROTC on campus and the reasons behind it, recalling his 1959 Harvard ROTC class of 121 students. He encouraged both Harvard and Congress to seek a compromise on the issue.

“I hope the current issues of military matters at Harvard will be resolved and there will be a close connection between Harvard and those in uniform,” Whitt said.

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.