By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
Laughlin notched a historic first at Friday morning’s graduation of Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training class 21-14.
A few members of the Navy, a few congressmen and a very small handful of enlisted members have spoken at the wing’s graduations through the wing’s 80-year history, but never have all three happened in the same speech.
Congressmen Tony Gonzales, a Republican representing the 23rd Congressional District running along the majority of Texas’s border with Mexico, and a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer, spoke at Friday morning’s graduation.
He also may have set a record for brevity with his 6-minute speech.
Gonzales gave one piece of advice and then gave them a charge, or request of the 23 future Air Force pilots.
He first asked them to listen to their chief master sergeant. “Your enlisted chief is going to lead you in the right direction. They’re going to help you out,” he said.
“The leaders that are most successful have a right hand enlisted leader that is guiding them every step of the way,” he said.
Then he asked the audience for a favor, or request.
“The country is as divided as I’ve ever seen it. There’s a lot of anger and aggression on all sides,” he said.
He told the audience that he wasn’t asking them not to fight for what they believe in, “but it is okay to be friends, to sit down across, to have discussions with people who think absolutely opposite of you, that’s what makes America so powerful and so special that we can be different.”
Don’t ever stop talking to people and interacting with people that think differently than you,” he said, as he closed the 6-minute speech.
Afterward, he gave several awards to top graduates and congratulated each graduate after they received their wings from Col. Craig Prather, 47th Flying Training Wing commander.
The writer can be reached at joelalangton@gmail.com.
