Recent events during the past week brings tears to my eyes because I now have a different perspective about American history.  Our freedom today and our military leadership that has protected our freedoms since 1863 partly originates from the lessons learned about the different leadership styles of those confederate generals like Lee, Longstreet, and Stonewall Jackson.    I share in this post two videos to help Americans see through the lens of reflection and growth of a changing mindset.

This summer I had the privileged of attending a Diamond Six Leadership trip back to Washington, D. C. and take an extensive leadership course to study the generals of the civil war which includes both Union and Confederate officer leadership styles.  In March of this year I was informed by my school principal that I was nominated to attend this summer trip.  I felt in a  strange place because the group primarily had administrative personnel with whom I previously had little exposure to.  This six day trip to Gettysburg forever changes my personal opinion about the Civil War, Gettysburg, Lincoln, and the Confederate Generals who happen to be graduates of West Point. As part of the preparations for this trip we were required to read the book "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara.

We stayed in Carlisle, Pennsylvania a short distance from the sacred battlegrounds of Gettysburg. We studied the leadership styles of Chamberlain, Lee, Longstreet, and Buford. Along the battlefield are statues that tell a story about the battle that is a rich learning experience and no one in my opinion should destroy or take down the statues to remind us of the men who died to make America a great nation.  On the final day of the Gettysburg tour I was honored to be chosen as the one to read the Gettysburg Address before my peers and the school district superintendent at the same location that President Lincoln gave his address back in 1963 about four months after the Battle of Gettysburg.  It was an honor that I will never forget.  The following video was taken on July 12, 2017 at the cemetery in Gettysburg.

Navy Blue and Gold - Synopsis - Reference Wikipedia  

After each is accepted for admission to Navy, three midshipmen, Dick Gates, Roger Ash and "Truck" Cross, become roommates. Dick is the scion of a wealthy family, Roger a former star football player for another university, and Truck a sailor appointed from the fleet. With a common love of football, all three go out for the plebe squad. Dick is tricked into committing a rules violation by a disreputable upperclassman with a penchant for hazing and is severely paddled. Even though hazing is forbidden by regulations, Roger decides to get even on his own terms. Despite his egotism, his classmates as well as the upperclassmen respect him when he challenges the abuser to a boxing match and wins it.

As upperclassmen, the roommates become varsity players. Dick is undersized but makes the team as a kicker, while Truck becomes a star center. Roger has come to Navy only for the publicity value of playing for the school and makes no effort during a game against a lesser opponent. When varsity coach Tommy Milton benches him for being a "slacker," he goes AWOL. Truck and Dick also go AWOL and find him drunk in a bar. Caught by Milton trying to get Roger back to barracks, the academy's former football coach, Captain "Skinny" Dawes, covers for them with an adroit adherence to the academy's honor system.

Truck faces dismissal from the academy for not using his true name upon enrollment, revealed when he defends the sullied reputation of his father, a disgraced navy ship's captain, during a class discussion. Previously dismissive of academy traditions, Roger "prays" at the statue of Tecumseh for Truck's exoneration, overheard by Captain Dawes. Truck is dismissed but reinstated when the superintendent grants him clemency based on Truck's dedication to the navy and his father, who has been restored to duty with his record cleared. Truck arrives at the stadium in time to help his roommates win the Army-Navy game.  At the traditional ceremony celebrating Navy's victory, Roger demonstrates his new-found devotion to the academy by giving up his place of honor to Captain Dawes.

There were no black midshipman at Annapolis in 1937.

Racial discrimination ends at the conclusion of the Color Parade in June of 1976.  Gender barriers fall as well as women are now entering the United States Naval Academy in the summer of 1976.  Additional changes would have to unfold to adapt the Academy traditions to the customs and requirements for women.  One of those rules for uniforms would require that each female would have to carry her Navy purse at all times.  Females were also called midshipman because unlike the other service academies "Midshipman " is a rank in the Navy. This video shows the same old guy over 50 years old who would run us into the ground!  Brings back old memories.