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Credit to Minot teachers

Gary Kramlich II

Burke, Md.

Next week, I complete my 19th year of public education at the U.S. Army War College. Rather than being a culminating event in military education and strategic thought, I instead move on with a wider sense of what I have yet to learn. Moreover, as I head into the final chapter of my military career, I leave the War College with a deeper appreciation of what providence – rather than personal talent – has made possible. It is the first 12 years of my education in Minot that has made all the difference.

I am fortunate to have grown up in a vibrant, exciting community in North Dakota. This fortune gifted me with challenging but caring teachers of the Minot Public School District who stressed that opportunity exposes itself only after diligent study and steadfast work. Without their dedication and professionalism, I would not have possessed and practiced the courage that comes through setting and moving beyond personal goals in the pursuit of excellence.

It started in Longfellow Elementary, where Stella Harper, Kesi Anderson, Cheryl Iverson, Kathy Riesgard Steig, Mike Littler and others established the environment to try, fail, and try again. Their standards were clear, and they were the greatest fans and most passionate mentors a child could want. They commanded respect and they demanded accountability, and for this, I am eternally grateful. Above all, it was Kathy Steig who introduced me to the idea of the U.S. Service Academies. Her wisdom and foresight in showing a boy of 11 years the opportunities beyond the neighborhood and city have set the course for a global journey. I am and shall remain forever in her debt for the greatest sixth-grade education ever.

After Longfellow, it was Erik Ramstad Junior High that focused my sights on the pursuit of science, engineering, and public service. It was Lynn Carlson’s energetic curiosity of the quantitative world, Bonnie Barryman’s capture of America’s vibrant democracy, Cordell Bugbee’s command of a cacophonous band room, and Barry Holman’s insistence on moral and physical fortitude that cleared the confusion of adolescence. Without their efforts and steadfast structure, I would surely have flickered, faltered and stalled. Ramstad was and I am sure is today in its brilliant new facility, a world-class institution.

It was Minot High, however, that propelled me on a path to academic pursuits. It was Betty Neff and Joe Ringen who taught me the life-long enjoyment of literature and reading. It was Ken Disher who showed me the elegance and universal truth of mathematics. It was Gail Aubrey who opened my world to the Spanish language that would lead to meeting my wife from Spain. It was Mike Kelly who opened the power of science to understand and control the world around us. Dave Jensen, Ron Wineteer and Alan Alvstad introduced the beauty of the arts and humanities and demonstrated through their passion and energy how to reach creative excellence. Bob Sundberg, Darry Gleave, Mike Johnson and again Ken Disher showed and taught that intestinal fortitude was the cornerstone of physical achievement. Of all my time as a student before or since, it is the four years at Minot High School I believe has made all other things in my life possible or enjoyable.

Since leaving Minot, I earned a degree in environmental engineering, one in operations research, and now one in strategic public policy. I have dedicated my life to the study of war, its causes and its humane resolution to preserve the best of civilization. I have earned the Army Ranger Tab, wings for Parachute and Air Assault skills, and the Expert Infantryman’s Badge. I have led men into and home from combat deployments, and I have witnessed and added value to meetings of national and international significance. None of this would have been remotely possible without the knowledge passed to me by the teachers of the Minot Public Schools. To them, I express my deepest gratitude.

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