lot of things about that day I remember I had a throbbing headache from a party

the night before I remember I had a serious girlfriend who I later married

that's important to remember by the way and I remember I was getting

commissioned in the Navy that day but of all the things I remember I don't have a

clue who the commencement speaker was and I certainly don't remember anything

they said so acknowledging that fact if I can't make this commencement speech

memorable I won't least try to make it short so

the university slogan is what starts here changes the world well I've got to

admit I kind of like it what starts here changes the world tonight there are

almost 8,000 students or there more than 8,000 students graduated from UT

so that great paragon of analytical rigor ask.com says that the average

American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime 10,000 people that's a

lot of folks but if every one of you changed the lives of just ten people and

each one of those people change the lives of another 10 people and another

10 then in five generations 125 years the class of 2014 will have changed the

lives of 800 million people 800 million people think about it

over twice the population of the United States go one more generation and you

can change the entire population of the world eight billion people 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 served a 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 which 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 made

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 but 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 coxswain 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 were 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 Munchkin boat 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

had the last laugh sewing faster than everyone and reaching

the shore long before the rest of us SEAL training was a great equalizer

nothing mattered but your will to succeed not your color not your ethnic

background not your education not 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 freshen 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 gonna 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 failed 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 a 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 got 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 contain 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 when

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 it 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 you 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 sealed 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 street lamps it blocks all ambient light

to be successful in your mission you have to swim under the 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 called 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