Oh yeah....

The video below is a ITB Graduation Speech by LTC Randolph C. White Jr. As Blackfive says it will be the best 12 minutes and 11 seconds you will spend online.





Here is the text.

Here is my favorite part: (forgive the caps, that is how it was typed) (emphasis mine)

THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST ARE NOT NECESSARILY ON CAMPUS OR IN THE CORPORATE BOARDROOM RIGHT NOW. THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST ARE YOU MEN! …YOU OUT THERE ON THE PARADE FIELD. DON'T EVER THINK THAT THE KIDS RUNNING AROUND ON SOME COLLEGE CAMPUSES PROTESTING AND WHINING HAVE ANYTHING ON YOU. YOU ARE PRIVILEGED TO HAVE THE ONE ADVANTAGE THAT ALL COVET... YOU WILL KNOW MANY OF LIFES TRUTHS – YOU'LL KNOW ABOUT THE GOINGS ON IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, DJIBOUTI, THE PHILIPPINES, THE BALKANS AND MANY OTHER PLACES. YOU WON'T HAVE TO GUESS OR BASE AN OPINION ON SOME BESPECTACLED SO CALLED EXPERT, OR HOLLYWOOD “PROFESSIONAL PRETENDER” WHO DEFINES DANGER AS CROSSING THE STREET, LEAVING CAMPUS, OR HAVING A DECAF LATTE INSTEAD OF A REGULAR. YOUR HEAD WILL NOT BE FILLED WITH THE EMPTY THEORY OF THE OLD PATHETIC SLACKERS WHO TEACH ON MANY CAMPUSES... THE ONES WHO RAN TO CANADA, OR HID OUT IN EUROPE, WHILE MANY OF THE VETS WITH US HERE TODAY PUT IT ALL ON THE LINE IN A PLACE CALLED VIETNAM. THE SNIDE ARROGANT CROWD WHO SPEND THE DAY BLAMING AMERICA FOR EVERY WRONG IN THE WORLD BEFORE GOING HOME TO SLEEP AT NIGHT UNDER THE BLANKET OF FREEDOM PROVIDED BY BETTER MEN! ...BETTER MEN SUCH AS YOU STANDING ON THE GRADUATION FIELD.

YOU'LL SEE THE SMILES OF IRAQI'S HAVING THE CHANCE TO VOTE, OR TO MAKE A SIMPLE CHOICE, OF AFGHANI CHILDREN RECEIVING 21 ST CENTURY MEDICAL CARE OR GOING TO SCHOOL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES. YOU'LL SEE MORE IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS THAN MANY WILL IN A LIFETIME, AND BECAUSE OF THIS YOU WILL KNOW SOME OF LIFE'S HARD TRUTHS AND SOME OF ITS PUREST DEVOTIONS. YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO GUESS.

and this:

I FOR ONE WILL NEVER...EVER... APOLOGIZE FOR BEING AN AMERICAN AND DON'T YOU EVER FEEL THAT YOU HAVE TO. WE'RE NOT PERFECT BUT I CAN THINK OF NO PLACE BETTER. WE DIDN'T BECOME THE GREAT COUNTRY THAT WE ARE BY ACCIDENT....WE EARNED IT! ---- AND WHILE WE WERE AT IT--- WE KEPT AND CONTINUE TO KEEP A LARGE PORTION OF THE WORLD FREE. AMERICAN BLOOD AND SACRIFICE IS THE INDISPUTABLE PART OF THE WORLD EQUATION. MORE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE TRYING TO COME TO OUR SHORES THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY. WE REMAIN THE BEACON OF HOPE FOR MANY, AND GOD WILLING IT WILL ALWAYS BE SO. WE'RE NUMBER 1...DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR IT – BE DAMN PROUD OF IT!