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USU celebrates 2010 commencement

Marine Gen. James Amos, the 31st assistant commandant of the United States Marine Corps, addressed the more than 200 physicians, advanced practice nurses and scientists who became alumni during commencement of the USU on Saturday, May 15. In a ceremony steeped in military and academic traditions, friends and family also gathered to celebrate with the USU graduating class of 2010 at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall.

An active supporter of military medicine, General Amos has praised the efforts of uniformed medical professionals serving at duty stations around the world. He has witnessed their valuable work during multiple deployments and his visits to injured service members.

"Your role as caregivers in our military health system demonstrates your commitment to serve, no matter the degree you are receiving," said General Amos before he imparted his personal thoughts on the USU graduates. "That commitment includes a willingness and ability to take on what I consider to be an almost biblical responsibility."

Reflecting on when his mother passed away following complications from colon cancer surgery, General Amos said that there was "an absence of a sense of responsibility or accountability on behalf of her caregivers when they missed signs that something was wrong."

"Providing exceptional clinical medicine is only part of your responsibility," said General Amos. "You are a sense of hope for our service members and their families. You will be there to hold the hand of a Marine who lost an arm and a leg in combat… or to spend time with his family as an injured gunny lays in a hospital bed in Germany before being returned to Walter Reed for recovery and rehabilitation. You will commit to the Sailor and to his family that you will do everything you can to return him in better condition than he is that day, so he can speak on behalf of all injured service members about the recovery process, the quality of military health care and the critical role you, as caregivers, serve in our military. And as a leader, you will ensure that mistakes like the one that took my mother don't occur in our military health system."

Shortly after the last student crossed the stage to accept their diploma and the 162 graduates of the School of Medicine recited the Hippocratic Oath and their Oath of Office, the new physicians completed their transition and joined their graduate nursing colleagues as uniformed officers in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service.