Remarks of Admiral Robert F. Willard, USN
Vice Chief of Naval Operations at Seminar XXI’s Anniversary Banquet
September 12, 2005
National Press Club
Washington, D.C.
When I returned from command of the aircraft carrier, USS
Abraham Lincoln, I was a
recently selected flag officer, still wearing Captain’s rank. The opportunity
to apply for Seminar
XXI came up, and a very close friend of mine and I both jumped at the chance
and submitted our
applications. He was on his way to J-5 on the Joint Staff, a policy job, and
I was on my way to J-3
on the Joint Staff in an operations billet. My background up to that point
had been entirely in
operations, either flying or commanding ships.
I was not selected! So, I appealed and appealed, and I think I picked up
a slot that someone
couldn’t make. I was barely through the door and was thrilled to be part
of all this. And like a
wine, the Seminar has only improved with age.
From that operations billet on the Joint Staff, I spent two years traveling
to and from Moscow,
and I had the opportunity to engage in an agreement with the Russians on ballistic
missile launch
information sharing, which ultimately led to the first Clinton–Putin
Summit. In that experience,
I had many opportunities to stand with the Russians and talk about the fracturing
of the Soviet
Union…expressly the issues we had discussed in Seminar XXI.
When I left the Joint Staff and went to the 7th Fleet as a Battle Group Commander
and then as
Commander, 7th Fleet, I found myself operating out of Japan, well engaged with
the Japanese,
Koreans, Russians, Chinese, Taiwanese, Philippinos, Thais, Malaysians, Indonesians,
Singaporeans,
and Indians. In those travels, we discussed many of the tensions that exist
in Northeast and
Southeast Asia and in the Indian Ocean. In many ways, we discussed those issues
precisely as we
had discussed ethnic and religious and cultural tensions in Seminar XXI.
I owe a great deal to this experience. And I would encourage those of you
who are about to
experience it for the first time to divest yourselves of your day jobs, and
when you have an opportunity to come to an event like this, be there. Head
to Airlie House and enjoy a long
weekend, and don’t be engaged in work and don’t be late — and
always be there, intellectually,
because the payoff is priceless.
You need to challenge the issues, challenge the speakers, and challenge what
is written. Accept
what you like and extract from Seminar XXI exactly what you need.
And, as Bob Art said in his introductory remarks regarding Kant, “Experience
without theory
is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.” Through
the Seminar, you
will find yourselves equipped with the theory. It is then up to you to seek
the opportunities to
apply it.
This experience was priceless, and I’ll never forget it. So Happy Birthday,
Seminar XXI, and thank
you very much. It’s nice to be back.
Admiral Robert F. Willard, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, US Navy
Seminar XXI, Class of 1998–1999
