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University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address - Admiral William H. McRaven — Transcript

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0:00Thank you very
0:03much. Thank
0:06you. Well, thank you, President
0:09Powers, Provost Fenves, deans, members
0:13of the faculty, family, and friends, and
0:14most importantly, the class of 2014. It
0:19is it is indeed an honor for me to be
0:23here tonight. It's been almost 37 years
0:26to the day that I graduated from UT. I
0:29remember a lot of things about that day.
0:32I remember I had a throbbing headache
0:35from a party the night
0:40before. I remember I had a serious
0:43girlfriend who I later
0:45married. That's important to remember,
0:47by the way. And I remember I was getting
0:49commissioned in the Navy that day. But
0:51of all the things I remember, I don't
0:54have a clue who the commencement speaker
0:56was. and I certainly don't remember
0:58anything they said. So, acknowledging
1:00that fact, if I can't make this
1:02commencement speech memorable, I will at
1:04least try to make it
1:06short. So, the university slogan is what
1:10starts here changes the world. Well,
1:11I've got to admit, I kind of like it.
1:13What starts here changes the world.
1:16Tonight, there are almost
1:188,000 students or there are more than
1:208,000 students graduated from UT. So
1:23that great paragon of analytical rigor,
1:26ask.com says that the average American
1:29will meet 10,000 people in their
1:32lifetime. 10,000 people. That's a lot of
1:34folks. But if every one of you changed
1:37the lives of just 10 people and each one
1:41of those people changed the lives of
1:43another 10 people and another 10, then
1:47in five generations, 125 years, the
1:49class of
1:502014 will have changed the lives of
1:53800 million people. 800 million
1:58people. Think about it. Over twice the
2:02population of the United States. Go one
2:03more generation and you can change the
2:06entire population of the world. 8
2:08billion people. If you think it's hard
2:10to change the lives of 10 people, change
2:13their lives forever, you're wrong. I saw
2:16it happen every day in Iraq and
2:17Afghanistan. A young army officer makes
2:20a decision to go left instead of right
2:22down a road in
2:23Baghdad, and the 10 soldiers with him
2:26are saved from a close-in ambush. In
2:29Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, a
2:31non-commission officer from the female
2:33engagement team senses that something
2:35isn't right and directs the infantry
2:38platoon away from a 500 lb IED, saving
2:42the lives of a dozen
2:43soldiers. But if you think about it, not
2:46only were those soldiers saved by the
2:48decisions of one person, but their
2:50children were saved and their children's
2:53children. Generations were saved by one
2:56decision, one person.
2:59But changing the world can happen
3:00anywhere and anyone can do it. So what
3:03starts here can indeed change the world.
3:05But the question
3:06is what will the world look like after
3:09you change it? Well, I'm confident that
3:11it will look much, much better. But if
3:13you'll humor this old sailor for just a
3:15moment, I have a few suggestions that
3:17might help you on your way to a better
3:19world. And while these lessons were
3:21learned during my time in the military,
3:23I can assure you that it matters not
3:26whether you ever served a day in
3:27uniform. It matters not your gender,
3:30your ethnic or religious background,
3:31your orientation, or your social status.
3:34Our struggles in this world are similar,
3:36and the lessons to overcome those
3:38struggles and to move forward changing
3:40ourselves and changing the world around
3:42us will apply equally to all.
3:45I've been a Navy Seal for 36 years, but
3:48it all began when I left UT for basic
3:51SEAL training in Coronado, California.
3:53Basic SEAL training is six months of
3:56long torturous runs in the soft sand,
3:58midnight swims in the cold water off San
4:00Diego, obstacle courses, unending
4:02calisthenics, days without sleep, and
4:04always being cold, wet, and miserable.
4:06It is six months of being constantly
4:09harassed by professionally trained
4:11warriors who seek to find the weak of
4:15mind and body and and eliminate them
4:18from ever becoming a Navy Seal. But the
4:22training also seeks to find those
4:23students who can lead in an environment
4:26of constant stress, chaos, failure, and
4:30hardships. To me, basic SEAL training
4:32was a lifetime of challenges crammed
4:35into six months. So, here are the 10
4:37lessons I learned from basic SEAL
4:39training that hopefully will be of value
4:41to you as you move forward in
4:43life. Every morning in SEAL training, my
4:47instructors, who at the time were all
4:48Vietnam veterans, would show up in my
4:51barracks room, and the first thing
4:53they'd do was inspect my bed. If you did
4:55it right, the corners would be square,
4:57the covers would be pulled tight, the
4:59pillow centered just under the
5:01headboard, and the extra blanket folded
5:03neatly at the foot of the rack. It was a
5:05simple task, mundane at best. But every
5:08morning we were required to make our bed
5:12to perfection. It seemed a little
5:14ridiculous at the time, particularly in
5:15light of the fact that we were aspiring
5:17to be real warriors, tough, battleh
5:20hardened seals. But the wisdom of this
5:22simple act has been proven to me many
5:26times
5:27over. If you make your bed every
5:29morning, you will have accomplished the
5:31first task of the day. It will give you
5:34a small sense of pride and it will
5:36encourage you to do another task and
5:38another and another and by the end of
5:41the day that one task completed will
5:43have turned into many tasks completed.
5:45Making your bed will also reinforce the
5:47fact that the little things in life
5:49matter. If you can't do the little
5:51things right, you'll never be able to do
5:54the big things right. And if by chance
5:56you have a miserable day, you will come
5:59home to a bed that is
6:01made that you
6:03made. And a made bed gives you
6:05encouragement that tomorrow will be
6:07better. So if you want to change the
6:09world, start off by making your
6:13bed. During SEAL training, the
6:16students during training, the students
6:18are all broken down into boat crews.
6:20Each crew is seven students, three on
6:22each side of a small rubber boat and one
6:25coxin to help guide the dinghy. Every
6:27day, your boat crew forms up on the
6:29beach and is instructed to get through
6:31the surf zone and paddle several miles
6:32down the coast. In the winter, the surf
6:35off San Diego can get to be 8 to 10 ft
6:37high. And it is exceedingly difficult to
6:40paddle through the plunging surf unless
6:42everyone digs in. Every paddle must be
6:47synchronized to the stroke count of the
6:48coxin. Everyone must exert equal effort
6:52or the boat will turn against the wave
6:53and be unceremoniously dumped back on
6:55the beach. For the boat to make it to
6:58its
6:59destination, everyone must
7:01paddle. You can't change the world
7:03alone. You will need some help. And to
7:06truly get from your starting point to
7:07your destination takes friends,
7:10colleagues, the goodwill of strangers,
7:13and a strong coxin to guide you. If you
7:15want to change the world, find someone
7:17to help you paddle.
7:19Over a few weeks of difficult training,
7:22my SEAL class, which started with 150
7:24men, was down to just 42. There were now
7:28six boat crews of seven men each. I was
7:31in the boat with the tall guys, but the
7:34best boat crew we had was made up of the
7:36little guys, the Munchkin crew, we
7:38called them. No one was over 5'5.
7:42The Munchkin boat crew had one American
7:45Indian, one African-American, one Polish
7:47American, one Greek American, one
7:49Italian American, and two tough kids
7:51from the Midwest. They out paddled,
7:54outran, and out swam all the other boat
7:56crews. The big men and the other boat
7:58crews would always make goodnatured fun
8:02of the tiny little flippers the Munchins
8:05put on their tiny little feet prior to
8:08every swim.
8:10But somehow these little guys from every
8:12corner of the nation and the world
8:14always had the last laugh, swinging
8:16faster than everyone and reaching the
8:17shore long before the rest of us. Seal
8:20training was a great equalizer. Nothing
8:23mattered but your will to succeed. Not
8:26your color, not your ethnic background,
8:27not your education, not your social
8:29status. If you want to change the world,
8:32measure a person by the size of their
8:34heart, not by the size of their
8:36flippers.
8:38Several times a week, the instructors
8:41would line up the class and do a uniform
8:43inspection. It was exceptionally
8:45thorough. Your hat had to be perfectly
8:47starched, your uniform immaculately
8:49pressed, your belt buckle shiny and void
8:52of any
8:53smudges. But it seemed that no matter
8:55how much effort you put into starching
8:56your hat or pressing your uniform or
8:58polishing your belt buckle, it just
9:00wasn't good enough. The instructors
9:02would find something wrong. For failing
9:05uniform inspection, the student had to
9:07run fully clothed into the surf zone,
9:11then wet from head to toe, roll around
9:13on the beach until every part of your
9:15body was covered with sand. The effect
9:17was known as sugar
9:20cookie. You stayed in the uniform the
9:23rest of the day, cold, wet, and sandy.
9:26There were many a student who just
9:28couldn't accept the fact that all their
9:30efforts were in vain. That no matter how
9:31hard they tried to get the uniform
9:33right, it went
9:35unappreciated. Those students didn't
9:37make it through training. Those students
9:39didn't understand the purpose of the
9:41drill. You were never going to succeed.
9:44You were never going to have a perfect
9:46uniform. The instructors weren't going
9:47to allow it. Sometimes, no matter how
9:50well you prepare or how well you
9:52perform, you still end up as a sugar
9:55cookie. It's just the way life is
9:57sometimes. If you want to change the
10:00world, get over being a sugar cookie and
10:03keep moving
10:04forward. Every day during training, you
10:07were challenged with multiple physical
10:08events, long runs, long swims, obstacle
10:10courses, hours of calisthenics,
10:13something designed to test your metal.
10:15Every event had standards, times you had
10:17to meet. If you failed to meet those
10:19times, those standards, your name was
10:21posted on a list. And at the end of the
10:24day, those on the list were invited to a
10:28circus. A circus was two hours of
10:30additional calisthenics designed to wear
10:32you down, to break your spirit, to force
10:33you to quit. No one wanted a circus. A
10:37circus meant that for that day, you
10:39didn't measure up. A circus meant more
10:41fatigue, and more fatigue meant that the
10:43following day would be more difficult,
10:45and more circuses were likely. But at
10:48some time during SEAL training,
10:50everyone everyone made the circus
10:54list. But an interesting an interesting
10:56thing happened to those who were
10:58constantly on the list. Over time, those
11:01students who did two hours of
11:04extracalisthenics got stronger and
11:06stronger. The pain of the circuses built
11:09inner strength and physical
11:11resiliency. Life is filled with
11:14circuses. You will fail. You will likely
11:17fail often. It will be painful. It will
11:20be discouraging. At times, it will test
11:22you to your very core. But if you don't
11:25if you want to change the world, don't
11:28be afraid of the
11:29circuses. At least twice a week, the
11:31trainees were required to run the
11:33obstacle
11:34course. The obstacle course contained 25
11:36obstacles, including a 10-ft wall, a
11:3930-foot cargo net, a barbwire crawl, to
11:41name a few. But the most challenging
11:43obstacle was the slide for life. It had
11:46a three-level 30-foot tower at one end
11:48and a onele tower at the other. In
11:51between was a 200t long rope. You had to
11:54climb the three tiered tower and once at
11:57the top you grabbed the rope, swung
11:59underneath the rope and pulled yourself
12:02hand overhand until you got to the other
12:04end. The record for the obstacle course
12:06had stood for years when my class began
12:08in 1977. The record seemed unbeatable
12:12until one day a student decided to go
12:14down the slide for life
12:17headirst. Instead of swinging his body
12:19underneath the rope and inching his way
12:21down, he bravely mounted the top of the
12:23rope and thrust himself forward. It was
12:26a dangerous move, seemingly foolish and
12:29fraught with risk. Failure could mean
12:31injury and being dropped from the
12:32course. Without hesitation, the student
12:34slid down the rope perilously fast.
12:37Instead of several minutes, it only took
12:39him half that time. And by the end of
12:41the course, he had broken the
12:44record. If you want to change the world,
12:47sometimes you have to slide down the
12:49obstacles head
12:51first. During the land warfare phase of
12:53training, the students are flown out to
12:55Sanini Island, which lies off the coast
12:57of San Diego. The waters off San Clemeni
12:59are a breeding ground for the great
13:01white sharks. To pass SEAL training,
13:03there are a series of long swims that
13:05must be completed. One is the night
13:07swim. Before the swim, the instructors
13:09joyfully brief the students on all the
13:12species of sharks that inhabit the
13:15waters off San Clemeni. They assure you,
13:18however, that no student has ever been
13:22eaten by a shark, at least not that they
13:25can
13:26remember. But you are also taught that
13:29if a shark begins to circle your
13:31position, stand your ground. Do not swim
13:34away. Do not act
13:37afraid. And if the shark hungry for a
13:40midnight snack darts towards you, then
13:42summons up all your strength and punch
13:44him in the snout and he will turn and
13:47swim
13:48away. There are a lot of sharks in the
13:50world. If you hope to complete the swim,
13:54you will have to deal with them. So if
13:56you want to change the
13:58world, don't back down from the sharks.
14:02As Navy Seals, one of our jobs is to
14:04conduct underwater attacks against enemy
14:06shipping. We practice this technique
14:08extensively during training. The ship
14:11attack mission is where a pair of SEAL
14:12divers is dropped off outside an enemy
14:14harbor and then swims well over two
14:16miles underwater using nothing but a
14:20depth gauge and a compass to get to the
14:22target. During the entire swim, even
14:26well below the surface, there is some
14:28light that comes through. It is
14:31comforting to know that there is open
14:33water above
14:35you. But as you approach the ship, which
14:38is tied to appear, the light begins to
14:40fade. The steel structure of the ship
14:42blocks the moonlight. It blocks the
14:44surrounding street lamps. It blocks all
14:48ambient light. To be successful in your
14:50mission, you have to swim under the ship
14:52and find the keel, the center line, and
14:54the deepest part of the ship. This is
14:56your objective. But the keel is also the
14:59darkest part of the ship, where you
15:01cannot see your hand in front of your
15:02face, where the noise from the ship's
15:04machinery is deafening, and where it
15:07gets to be easily disoriented and you
15:10can fail. Every SEAL knows that under
15:13the keel at that darkest moment of the
15:16mission is a time when you need to be
15:19calm. When you must be calm, when you
15:22must be composed. When all your tactical
15:25skills, your physical power, and your
15:27inner strength must be brought to bear.
15:31If you want to change the world, you
15:33must be your very best in the darkest
15:36moments.
15:38The ninth week of training is referred
15:39to as hell week. It is six days of no
15:42sleep, constant physical and mental
15:44harassment, and one special day at the
15:48mud flats. The mud flats are an area
15:50between San Diego and Tijana where the
15:52run water runs off and creates the
15:54Tijana slooh, a swampy patch of terrain
15:57where the mud will engulf you. It is on
16:00Wednesday of hell week that you paddle
16:02down in the mud flats and spend the next
16:0315 hours trying to survive this freezing
16:06cold, the howling wind, and the
16:08incessant pressure to quit from the
16:11instructors. As the sun began to set
16:13that Wednesday evening, my training
16:15class, having committed some egregious
16:18infraction of the rules, was ordered
16:20into the mud. The mud consumed each man
16:23till there was nothing visible but our
16:26heads. The instructors told us we could
16:29leave the mud if only five men would
16:31quit. Only five men. Just five men and
16:34we could get out of the oppressive
16:36cold. Looking around the mud flat, it
16:38was apparent that some students were
16:39about to give
16:40up. It was still over eight hours till
16:43the sun came up. Eight more hours of
16:46bone chilling cold. The chattering teeth
16:49and the shivering moans of the trainees
16:50were so loud it was hard to hear
16:53anything. And then one voice began to
16:56echo through the
16:58night. One voice raised in
17:01song. The song was terribly out of tune,
17:04but sung with great
17:06enthusiasm. One voice became two, and
17:09two became three, and before long,
17:11everyone in the class was singing. The
17:13instructors threatened us with more time
17:15in the mud if we kept up the singing,
17:16but the singing persisted. And somehow
17:19the mud seemed a little warmer and the
17:22wind a little tamer and the dawn not so
17:25far away. If I have learned anything in
17:28my time traveling the world, it is the
17:31power of hope. The power of one person,
17:34a Washington, a Lincoln, King, Mandela,
17:37and even a young girl from Pakistan,
17:39Malala. One person can change the world
17:43by giving people hope. So if you want to
17:45change the world, start singing when
17:48you're up to your neck and
17:50mud. Finally, in SEAL training, there's
17:52a
17:53bell, a brass bell that hangs in the
17:56center of the compound for all the
17:57students to see. All you have to do to
18:00quit, all you have to do to quit is ring
18:02the bell. Ring the bell and you no
18:06longer have to wake up at 5:00. Ring the
18:08bell and you no longer have to be in the
18:10freezing cold swims. Ring the bell and
18:13you no longer have to do the runs, the
18:15obstacle course, the PT, and you no
18:17longer have to endure the hardships of
18:21training. All you have to do is ring the
18:23bell to get
18:25out. If you want to change the world,
18:28don't ever, ever ring the bell.
18:32To the class of 2014, you are moments
18:34away from graduating, moments away from
18:37beginning your journey through life,
18:39moments away from starting to change the
18:41world for the better. It will not be
18:44easy, but you are the class of 2014, the
18:47class that can affect the lives of 800
18:49million people in the next century.
18:51Start each day with a task completed.
18:53Find someone to help you through life.
18:55Respect everyone. Know that life is not
18:58fair and that you will fail often. But
19:00if you take some risks, step up when the
19:03times are the toughest, face down the
19:05bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and
19:07never ever give up. If you do these
19:09things, the next generation and the
19:12generations that follow will live in a
19:14world far better than the one we have
19:16today. And what started here will indeed
19:19have changed the world for the better.
19:23Thank you very much, Hookham Horns.

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