At Quantico Middle/High School’s 2013 Junior ROTC Marine Corps Birthday Ceremony, Brig. Gen. Frank Kelley, commanding general of Marine Corps Systems Command, told the students their education is about the future of the Marine Corps.

“You’ll be a student the rest of your life,” he said, noting that as many of them become Marines and rise through the ranks, they will continually build their educations, whether at the Command and Staff College or the Staff Noncommissioned Officer Academy or any other professional military education programs, because the Corps values educated Marines.

“The way you become a good student, by the way, is you have great teachers,” he added. “You will come back here as a brigadier general, and you will thank those teachers.”

Accompanied at the podium by Jeremiah, a senior and commanding officer of the school’s Marine Corps Junior ROTC battalion, Kelley predicted the young commander’s future, which he said would take him from the Naval Academy to graduating first in his class at The Basic School, building a career as a combat engineer, attending Marine Corps University and, ultimately, becoming a lieutenant general.

“That’s a pretty fabulous career, isn’t it?” he asked.

Kelley also complimented the students’ comportment at away games and other trips off base. “The way you represent this school, this base, our Corps, I can’t tell you how proud I am,” he said, adding that the students should likewise be proud of their Marine parents.

If he could go back in time 30 years, he said, “I’d do it all over again. And that’s the future that you have in front of you.”

Commenting on the event’s junior ROTC sword detail, color guard and singing of the national anthem, Kelley said, “I hope we at Systems Command can do as well [at their Marine Corps Ball] Saturday night.”

— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com