if you think it’s hard to change the
lives of ten people change their lives
forever
you’re wrong I saw it happen every day
in Iraq and Afghanistan a young army
officer makes a decision to go left
instead of right down a road in Baghdad
and the ten soldiers with him are saved
from a close-in ambush in Kandahar
province Afghanistan a noncommissioned
officer from the Female Engagement Team
senses that something isn’t right and
directs the infantry platoon away from a
500-pound I Edie saving the lives of a
dozen soldiers but if you think about it
not only were those soldiers say by the
decisions of one person but their
children were saved and their children’s
children generations were saved by one
decision one person but changing the
world can happen anywhere and anyone can
do it so what starts here can indeed
change the world but the question is
what will the world look like after you
change it well I’m confident that it
will look much much better but if you’ll
humor this old sailor for just a moment
I have a few suggestions that may help
you on your way to a better world and
while these lessons were learned during
my time in the military I can assure you
that it matters not whether you ever
serve the day in uniform it matters not
your gender your ethnic or religious
background your orientation or your
social status our struggles in this
world are similar and the lessons to
overcome those struggles and to move
forward changing ourselves and changing
the world around us will apply equally
to all I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36
years but it all began when I left UT
for basic SEAL training in Coronado
California basic SEAL training is six
months a long torturous runs in the soft
sand midnight swims in the cold water
off San Diego obstacle courses unending
calisthenics days without sleep and
always being cold wet and miserable it
is six months of being constantly
harassed by professionally trained
warriors
who seek to find the weak of mind and
body and eliminate them from ever
becoming a Navy SEAL but the training
also seeks to find those students who
can lead in an environment of constant
stress chaos failure and hardships to me
basic SEAL training was a lifetime of
challenges crammed into six months so
here the 10 lessons I learned from basic
SEAL training that hopefully will be of
value to you as you move forward in life
every morning in SEAL training my
instructors who at the time were all
Vietnam veterans would show up in my
barracks room and the first thing they
do is inspect my bed if you did it right
the corners would be square the covers
would be pulled tight the pillows
centered just under the headboard and
the extra blanket folded neatly at the
foot of the rack it was a simple task
mundane at best but every morning we
were required to make our bed to
perfection it seemed a little ridiculous
at the time particularly in light of the
fact that we were aspiring to be real
warriors tough battle-hardened seals but
the wisdom of this simple act has been
proven to me many times over if you make
your bed every morning you will have
accomplished the first task of the day
it will give you a small sense of pride
and it will encourage you to do another
task and another and another and by the
end of the day that one task completed
will have turned into mini task
completed making your bed will also
reinforce the fact that the little
things in life matter if you can’t do
the little things right you’ll never be
able to do the big things right and if
by chance you have a miserable day you
will come home to a bed that is made
that you made and a made bed gives you
encouragement that tomorrow will be
better so if you want to change the
world start off by making your bed
during seal training the students during
training the students are all broken
down into boat crews each crew is seven
students three on each side of a small
rubber boat and one Coxon to help guide
the dinghy every day your boat crew
forms up on the beach and is instructed
to get through the surf zone and paddle
several miles down the coast in the
winter the surf off San Diego can get to
be eight to ten feet high and it is
exceedingly difficult to paddle route
through the plunging surf unless
everyone digs in every paddle must be
synchronized to the stroke count of the
Coxon everyone must exert equal effort
or the boat will turn against the wave
and be unceremoniously dumped back on
the beach for the boat to make it to its
destination
everyone must paddle you can’t change
the world alone you will need some help
and to truly get from your starting
point to your destination takes friends
colleagues the good will of strangers
and a strong Coxon to guide you if you
want to change the world find someone to
help you paddle over a few weeks of
difficult training my seal class which
started with 150 men was down to just 42
there are now six boat crews of seven
men each I was in the boat with the tall
guys but the best boat crew we had was
made up of little guys the Munchkin crew
we called him
no one was over five foot five the bunch
can both crew had one American Indian
one African American one Polish American
one Greek American one Italian American
and two tough kids from the Midwest they
out paddled out ran and out swam all the
other boat crews the big men and the
other boat crews will always make
good-natured fun of the tiny little
flippers the munchkins put on their tiny
little feet prior to every swim but
somehow these little guys from every
corner of the nation in the world always
have the last laugh swimming faster than
everyone and reaching the shore long
before the rest of us
steal training was a great equalizer
nothing mattered but your will to
succeed not your color not your ethnic
background that’s your education that’s
your social status if you want to change
the world
measure a person by the size of their
heart not by the size of their flippers
several times a week the instructors
would line up the class and do a uniform
inspection it was exceptionally thorough
your hat had to be perfectly starched
your uniform immaculately pressed your
belt buckle shiny and void of any
smudges but it seemed that no matter how
much effort you put into starting your
hat or press in your uniform or
polishing your belt buckle it just
wasn’t good enough the instructors would
find something wrong for failing uniform
inspection the student had to run fully
clothed into the surf zone then wet from
head to toe roll around on the beach
until every part of your body was
covered with sand the effect was known
as sugar-cookie you stayed in the
uniform the rest of the day cold wet and
Sandy there were many a student who just
couldn’t accept the fact that all their
efforts were in vain that no matter how
hard they tried to get the uniform right
it went unappreciated those students
didn’t make it through training those
students didn’t understand the purpose
of the drill you were never going to
succeed you were never going to have a
perfect uniform the instructors weren’t
going to allow it sometimes no matter
how well you prepare or how well you
perform you still end up as a sugar
cookie it’s just the way life is
sometimes if you want to change the
world get over being a sugar cookie and
keep moving forward every day during
training you were challenged with
multiple physical events long runs long
swims obstacle courses hours of
calisthenics something designed to test
your mettle every event had standards
times you had to meet if you fail to
meet those times those standards your
name was posted on a list and at the end
of the day those on the list were
invited to
circus a circus was two hours of
additional calisthenics designed to wear
you down to break your spirit to force
you to quit no one wanted a circus a
circus myth that for that day you didn’t
measure up
a circus meant more fatigue and more
fatigue meant that the following day
would be more difficult and more
circuses were likely but at some time
during seal training everyone everyone
made the circus list but an interesting
and interesting thing happened to those
who were constantly on the list over
time those students who did two hours of
extra calisthenics gets stronger and
stronger the pain of the circuses built
inner strength and physical resiliency
life is filled with circuses you will
fail you will likely fail often it will
be painful it will be discouraging at
times it will test you to your very core
but if you don’t if you want to change
the world don’t be afraid of the
circuses at least twice a week the
trainees were required to run the
obstacle course the obstacle course
contained 25 obstacles including the
10-foot wall a 30-foot cargo net a
barbed wire crawl to name a few but the
most challenging obstacle was the slide
for life it had a three-level 30-foot
tower at one end and a one-level tower
at the other in between was a 200-foot
long rope you had to climb the three
tiered Tower and once at the top you
grabbed the Rope swung underneath the
rope and pulled yourself hand over hand
until you got to the other end the
record for the obstacle course had stood
for years from my class began in 1977
the record seemed unbeatable until one
day a student decided to go down the
slide for life headfirst instead of
swinging his body underneath the rope
and inching his way down he bravely
mounted the top of the rope and thrust
himself forward it was a dangerous move
seemingly foolish and fraught with risk
failure could be an injury and being
dropped from the course without
hesitation the students slid down the
Rope perilously fast instead of several
minutes
it only took him half that time and by
the end of the course he had broken the
record if you want to change the world
sometimes you have to slide down the
obstacles headfirst
during the land warfare phase of
training the students are flown out to
San Clemente Island which lies off the
coast of San Diego the waters off San
Clemente are a breeding ground for the
great white sharks to pass seal training
they’re a series of long swims that must
be completed one is the night swim
before the swim the instructors joyfully
brief the students on all the species of
sharks that inhabit the waters off San
Clemente they assure you however that no
student has ever been eaten by a shark
at least not that they can remember but
you were also taught that if a shark
begins to circle your position stand
your ground do not swim away
do not act afraid and if the shark
hungry for a midnight snack darts
towards you then summons up all your
strength and punch him in the snout and
he will turn and swim away there are a
lot of sharks in the world if you hope
to complete the swim you will have to
deal with them so if you want to change
the world don’t back down from the
Sharks as Navy SEAL is one of our jobs
is to conduct underwater attacks against
enemy shipping we practice this
technique extensively during training
the ship attack mission is where a pair
of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an
enemy harbor and then swims well over
two miles underwater using nothing but a
depth gauge and a compass to get to the
target during the entire swim even well
below the surface there is some light
that comes through it is comforting to
know that there is open water above you
but as you approach the ship which is
tied to appear the light begins to fade
the steel structure of the ship blocks
the moonlight it blocks the surrounding
streetlamps it blocks all ambient light
to be successful in your mission you
have to swim under
ship and find the keel the centerline
and the deepest part of the ship this is
your objective but the keel is also the
darkest part of the ship where you
cannot see your hand in front of your
face
where the noise from the ship’s
machinery is deafening and where it gets
to be easily disoriented and you can
fail every SEAL knows that under the
keel at that darkest moment of the
mission is a time when you need to be
calm when you must be calm when you must
be composed when all your tactical
skills your physical power and your
inner strength must be brought to bear
if you want to change the world you must
be your very best in the darkest moments
the ninth week of training is referred
to as hell week it is six days of no
sleep constant physical and mental
harassment and one special day at the
mud flats the mud flats are an area
between San Diego and Tijuana where the
rent water runs off and creates the
Tijuana sloughs a swampy patch of
terrain where the mud will engulf you it
is on Wednesday of Hell week but you
paddle down in the mud flats and spend
the next 15 hours trying to survive this
freezing cold the howling wind and the
incessant pressure to quit from the
instructors as the Sun began to set that
Wednesday evening my training class
having committed some egregious
infraction of the rules was ordered into
the mud the mud consumed each man till
there was nothing visible but our heads
the instructors told us we could leave
the mud if only five men would quit only
5 mins just five men and we could get
out of the oppressive cold looking
around the mud flat it was apparent that
some students were about to give up it
was still over eight hours till the Sun
came up eight more hours of
bone-chilling cold a chattering teeth
and the shivering moans of the trainees
were so loud it was hard to hear
anything and then one voice began to
echo through the night
one voice raised in song the song was
terribly out of ten but sung with great
enthusiasm one voice became two and two
became three and before long everyone in
the class was singing the instructors
threatened us with more time in the mud
if we kept up the singing but the
singing persisted and somehow the mud
seemed a little warmer and the wind a
little tamer and the dawn not so far
away if I have learned anything in my
time traveling the world it is the power
of hope the power of one person a
Washington a Lincoln King Mandela and
even a young girl from Pakistan Malala
one person can change the world by
giving people hope so if you want to
change the world start singing when
you’re up to your neck and mud finally a
seal training there’s a bell a brass
bell that hangs in the center of the
compound for all the students to see all
you have to do quit all you have to do
to quit is ring the bell ring the bell
and you no longer have to wake up at 5
o’clock ring the bell and you no longer
have to be in the freezing cold swims
ring the bell and you no longer have to
do the runs the obstacle course the PT
and you no longer have to endure the
hardships of training all you have to do
is ring the bell to get out if you want
to change the world don’t ever ever ring
the bell to the class of 2014 you are
moments away from graduating moments
away from beginning your journey through
life moments away from starting to
change the world for the better
it will not be easy but you are the
class of 2014 the class that can affect
the lives of 800 million people in the
next century start each day with a task
completed find someone to help you
through life respect everyone know that
life is not fair and that you will fail
often but if you take some risks step up
on the time through the toughest faced
down the bullies lift up the downtrodden
and never ever give up if you do these
things
the next generation and the generations
that follow will live in a world far
better than the one we have today and
what started here will indeed have
changed the world for the better thank
you very much
horns [Applause]
lives of ten people change their lives
forever
you’re wrong I saw it happen every day
in Iraq and Afghanistan a young army
officer makes a decision to go left
instead of right down a road in Baghdad
and the ten soldiers with him are saved
from a close-in ambush in Kandahar
province Afghanistan a noncommissioned
officer from the Female Engagement Team
senses that something isn’t right and
directs the infantry platoon away from a
500-pound I Edie saving the lives of a
dozen soldiers but if you think about it
not only were those soldiers say by the
decisions of one person but their
children were saved and their children’s
children generations were saved by one
decision one person but changing the
world can happen anywhere and anyone can
do it so what starts here can indeed
change the world but the question is
what will the world look like after you
change it well I’m confident that it
will look much much better but if you’ll
humor this old sailor for just a moment
I have a few suggestions that may help
you on your way to a better world and
while these lessons were learned during
my time in the military I can assure you
that it matters not whether you ever
serve the day in uniform it matters not
your gender your ethnic or religious
background your orientation or your
social status our struggles in this
world are similar and the lessons to
overcome those struggles and to move
forward changing ourselves and changing
the world around us will apply equally
to all I’ve been a Navy SEAL for 36
years but it all began when I left UT
for basic SEAL training in Coronado
California basic SEAL training is six
months a long torturous runs in the soft
sand midnight swims in the cold water
off San Diego obstacle courses unending
calisthenics days without sleep and
always being cold wet and miserable it
is six months of being constantly
harassed by professionally trained
warriors
who seek to find the weak of mind and
body and eliminate them from ever
becoming a Navy SEAL but the training
also seeks to find those students who
can lead in an environment of constant
stress chaos failure and hardships to me
basic SEAL training was a lifetime of
challenges crammed into six months so
here the 10 lessons I learned from basic
SEAL training that hopefully will be of
value to you as you move forward in life
every morning in SEAL training my
instructors who at the time were all
Vietnam veterans would show up in my
barracks room and the first thing they
do is inspect my bed if you did it right
the corners would be square the covers
would be pulled tight the pillows
centered just under the headboard and
the extra blanket folded neatly at the
foot of the rack it was a simple task
mundane at best but every morning we
were required to make our bed to
perfection it seemed a little ridiculous
at the time particularly in light of the
fact that we were aspiring to be real
warriors tough battle-hardened seals but
the wisdom of this simple act has been
proven to me many times over if you make
your bed every morning you will have
accomplished the first task of the day
it will give you a small sense of pride
and it will encourage you to do another
task and another and another and by the
end of the day that one task completed
will have turned into mini task
completed making your bed will also
reinforce the fact that the little
things in life matter if you can’t do
the little things right you’ll never be
able to do the big things right and if
by chance you have a miserable day you
will come home to a bed that is made
that you made and a made bed gives you
encouragement that tomorrow will be
better so if you want to change the
world start off by making your bed
during seal training the students during
training the students are all broken
down into boat crews each crew is seven
students three on each side of a small
rubber boat and one Coxon to help guide
the dinghy every day your boat crew
forms up on the beach and is instructed
to get through the surf zone and paddle
several miles down the coast in the
winter the surf off San Diego can get to
be eight to ten feet high and it is
exceedingly difficult to paddle route
through the plunging surf unless
everyone digs in every paddle must be
synchronized to the stroke count of the
Coxon everyone must exert equal effort
or the boat will turn against the wave
and be unceremoniously dumped back on
the beach for the boat to make it to its
destination
everyone must paddle you can’t change
the world alone you will need some help
and to truly get from your starting
point to your destination takes friends
colleagues the good will of strangers
and a strong Coxon to guide you if you
want to change the world find someone to
help you paddle over a few weeks of
difficult training my seal class which
started with 150 men was down to just 42
there are now six boat crews of seven
men each I was in the boat with the tall
guys but the best boat crew we had was
made up of little guys the Munchkin crew
we called him
no one was over five foot five the bunch
can both crew had one American Indian
one African American one Polish American
one Greek American one Italian American
and two tough kids from the Midwest they
out paddled out ran and out swam all the
other boat crews the big men and the
other boat crews will always make
good-natured fun of the tiny little
flippers the munchkins put on their tiny
little feet prior to every swim but
somehow these little guys from every
corner of the nation in the world always
have the last laugh swimming faster than
everyone and reaching the shore long
before the rest of us
steal training was a great equalizer
nothing mattered but your will to
succeed not your color not your ethnic
background that’s your education that’s
your social status if you want to change
the world
measure a person by the size of their
heart not by the size of their flippers
several times a week the instructors
would line up the class and do a uniform
inspection it was exceptionally thorough
your hat had to be perfectly starched
your uniform immaculately pressed your
belt buckle shiny and void of any
smudges but it seemed that no matter how
much effort you put into starting your
hat or press in your uniform or
polishing your belt buckle it just
wasn’t good enough the instructors would
find something wrong for failing uniform
inspection the student had to run fully
clothed into the surf zone then wet from
head to toe roll around on the beach
until every part of your body was
covered with sand the effect was known
as sugar-cookie you stayed in the
uniform the rest of the day cold wet and
Sandy there were many a student who just
couldn’t accept the fact that all their
efforts were in vain that no matter how
hard they tried to get the uniform right
it went unappreciated those students
didn’t make it through training those
students didn’t understand the purpose
of the drill you were never going to
succeed you were never going to have a
perfect uniform the instructors weren’t
going to allow it sometimes no matter
how well you prepare or how well you
perform you still end up as a sugar
cookie it’s just the way life is
sometimes if you want to change the
world get over being a sugar cookie and
keep moving forward every day during
training you were challenged with
multiple physical events long runs long
swims obstacle courses hours of
calisthenics something designed to test
your mettle every event had standards
times you had to meet if you fail to
meet those times those standards your
name was posted on a list and at the end
of the day those on the list were
invited to
circus a circus was two hours of
additional calisthenics designed to wear
you down to break your spirit to force
you to quit no one wanted a circus a
circus myth that for that day you didn’t
measure up
a circus meant more fatigue and more
fatigue meant that the following day
would be more difficult and more
circuses were likely but at some time
during seal training everyone everyone
made the circus list but an interesting
and interesting thing happened to those
who were constantly on the list over
time those students who did two hours of
extra calisthenics gets stronger and
stronger the pain of the circuses built
inner strength and physical resiliency
life is filled with circuses you will
fail you will likely fail often it will
be painful it will be discouraging at
times it will test you to your very core
but if you don’t if you want to change
the world don’t be afraid of the
circuses at least twice a week the
trainees were required to run the
obstacle course the obstacle course
contained 25 obstacles including the
10-foot wall a 30-foot cargo net a
barbed wire crawl to name a few but the
most challenging obstacle was the slide
for life it had a three-level 30-foot
tower at one end and a one-level tower
at the other in between was a 200-foot
long rope you had to climb the three
tiered Tower and once at the top you
grabbed the Rope swung underneath the
rope and pulled yourself hand over hand
until you got to the other end the
record for the obstacle course had stood
for years from my class began in 1977
the record seemed unbeatable until one
day a student decided to go down the
slide for life headfirst instead of
swinging his body underneath the rope
and inching his way down he bravely
mounted the top of the rope and thrust
himself forward it was a dangerous move
seemingly foolish and fraught with risk
failure could be an injury and being
dropped from the course without
hesitation the students slid down the
Rope perilously fast instead of several
minutes
it only took him half that time and by
the end of the course he had broken the
record if you want to change the world
sometimes you have to slide down the
obstacles headfirst
during the land warfare phase of
training the students are flown out to
San Clemente Island which lies off the
coast of San Diego the waters off San
Clemente are a breeding ground for the
great white sharks to pass seal training
they’re a series of long swims that must
be completed one is the night swim
before the swim the instructors joyfully
brief the students on all the species of
sharks that inhabit the waters off San
Clemente they assure you however that no
student has ever been eaten by a shark
at least not that they can remember but
you were also taught that if a shark
begins to circle your position stand
your ground do not swim away
do not act afraid and if the shark
hungry for a midnight snack darts
towards you then summons up all your
strength and punch him in the snout and
he will turn and swim away there are a
lot of sharks in the world if you hope
to complete the swim you will have to
deal with them so if you want to change
the world don’t back down from the
Sharks as Navy SEAL is one of our jobs
is to conduct underwater attacks against
enemy shipping we practice this
technique extensively during training
the ship attack mission is where a pair
of SEAL divers is dropped off outside an
enemy harbor and then swims well over
two miles underwater using nothing but a
depth gauge and a compass to get to the
target during the entire swim even well
below the surface there is some light
that comes through it is comforting to
know that there is open water above you
but as you approach the ship which is
tied to appear the light begins to fade
the steel structure of the ship blocks
the moonlight it blocks the surrounding
streetlamps it blocks all ambient light
to be successful in your mission you
have to swim under
ship and find the keel the centerline
and the deepest part of the ship this is
your objective but the keel is also the
darkest part of the ship where you
cannot see your hand in front of your
face
where the noise from the ship’s
machinery is deafening and where it gets
to be easily disoriented and you can
fail every SEAL knows that under the
keel at that darkest moment of the
mission is a time when you need to be
calm when you must be calm when you must
be composed when all your tactical
skills your physical power and your
inner strength must be brought to bear
if you want to change the world you must
be your very best in the darkest moments
the ninth week of training is referred
to as hell week it is six days of no
sleep constant physical and mental
harassment and one special day at the
mud flats the mud flats are an area
between San Diego and Tijuana where the
rent water runs off and creates the
Tijuana sloughs a swampy patch of
terrain where the mud will engulf you it
is on Wednesday of Hell week but you
paddle down in the mud flats and spend
the next 15 hours trying to survive this
freezing cold the howling wind and the
incessant pressure to quit from the
instructors as the Sun began to set that
Wednesday evening my training class
having committed some egregious
infraction of the rules was ordered into
the mud the mud consumed each man till
there was nothing visible but our heads
the instructors told us we could leave
the mud if only five men would quit only
5 mins just five men and we could get
out of the oppressive cold looking
around the mud flat it was apparent that
some students were about to give up it
was still over eight hours till the Sun
came up eight more hours of
bone-chilling cold a chattering teeth
and the shivering moans of the trainees
were so loud it was hard to hear
anything and then one voice began to
echo through the night
one voice raised in song the song was
terribly out of ten but sung with great
enthusiasm one voice became two and two
became three and before long everyone in
the class was singing the instructors
threatened us with more time in the mud
if we kept up the singing but the
singing persisted and somehow the mud
seemed a little warmer and the wind a
little tamer and the dawn not so far
away if I have learned anything in my
time traveling the world it is the power
of hope the power of one person a
Washington a Lincoln King Mandela and
even a young girl from Pakistan Malala
one person can change the world by
giving people hope so if you want to
change the world start singing when
you’re up to your neck and mud finally a
seal training there’s a bell a brass
bell that hangs in the center of the
compound for all the students to see all
you have to do quit all you have to do
to quit is ring the bell ring the bell
and you no longer have to wake up at 5
o’clock ring the bell and you no longer
have to be in the freezing cold swims
ring the bell and you no longer have to
do the runs the obstacle course the PT
and you no longer have to endure the
hardships of training all you have to do
is ring the bell to get out if you want
to change the world don’t ever ever ring
the bell to the class of 2014 you are
moments away from graduating moments
away from beginning your journey through
life moments away from starting to
change the world for the better
it will not be easy but you are the
class of 2014 the class that can affect
the lives of 800 million people in the
next century start each day with a task
completed find someone to help you
through life respect everyone know that
life is not fair and that you will fail
often but if you take some risks step up
on the time through the toughest faced
down the bullies lift up the downtrodden
and never ever give up if you do these
things
the next generation and the generations
that follow will live in a world far
better than the one we have today and
what started here will indeed have
changed the world for the better thank
you very much
horns [Applause]
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