“I actually got the telegram from West Point on June 29th, 1970 that said simply: Congratulations, you are appointed to the West Point class of 1974. Be here at 08:00 on the 1st of July. Now frankly, I didn't really want to go, but I decided to give it a try for the summer anyway at the request of my mother.”

— Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a commencement address to the 2012 graduates of his alma mater, John S. Burke Catholic High School, at West Point on June 9.

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