Commencement Speaker Gen. David W. Allvin’s remarks to George Mason’s spring 2026 graduates

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Rector Meese - Mike. Members of the Board of Visitors. President Washington. Provost Vinzé. Faculty, specifically Star Muir-marshal, thank you so very much.

Distinguished guests, friends and family, and most importantly, graduates of George Mason University. Welcome. And I'm so honored to be with you here this morning.

So I know this is going to be a day that you long remember, and a speech that you likely quickly forget. Because I was there 40 years ago this month.

Gen. David W. Allvin, the 23rd Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force and a recently retired four-star general, was this year's Commencement speaker. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

I was sitting in an audience in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the United States Air Force Academy, ready to get my bachelor's degree from the Air Force Academy. And while I don't remember what our commencement speaker said-and by the way, that commencement speaker was then-vice president of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush. That's a good get.

I have no idea what he said. But I remember the day. I remember the emotion. I remember that feeling of collective accomplishment, of individual accomplishment, of climbing a mountain that sometimes seemed pretty doggone steep. It was particularly special for me because that day almost didn't happen for me.

You see, my challenge at the academy was not so much academic. I was able to muddle through the courses okay. Mine was what they referred to as a "conduct and aptitude challenge." So much so-now think about this, graduates-that the Commandant of Cadets wrote a letter to my parents saying he was gravely concerned and was sort of bracing them because he wasn't sure that I had what it took to be an officer in the United States Air Force.

Forty years later, at my retirement ceremony, I read that letter to some amusement. But the fact of the matter was, I almost didn't make it. Now, a year later, pursuing my dreams of becoming a pilot, I was at pilot training, and I was doing pretty well. But there was one particular phase of that program that I stumbled, and team, I stumbled hard.

And in that program, when you fall behind, it is difficult to catch up. So much so that one day I was making my way out to the jet with my helmet in one hand, wearing my G-suit and saying to myself, if I do not pass this ride, I will never don this again. I will not be a pilot, and I'm gonna have to figure out what else to do with my career.

But I became a pilot and eventually became a test pilot and had a lot of successes, but I almost wasn't. My first operational assignment was in Germany, and in the winter of 1988, I decided that I was going to surprise my parents and fly home for Christmas. So I went and I bought a ticket, and that ticket was for Pan Am Flight 103.

Some of you remember, many of you don't. That was the flight that was blown up over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland, in December of 1988. Now, luckily for me, a few days ahead of that, I looked at my ticket, and I saw that I would have a pretty tight turn to be able to clear customs in New York. So I thought maybe I should just go ahead and change my ticket. I contemplated. I went back and forth. In the end, I changed the ticket, obviously. But I almost didn't.

Years later, as a test pilot, I was pursuing my dream and I applied to the astronaut program, and I made it through the Air Force Board, and I was moved on to the NASA Board. And I made it through the first couple of steps. But you know, team, obviously I didn't. I wasn't an astronaut. I could say I almost was an astronaut, but I wasn't. And that changed the arc of my career.

My point in all of these is that your futures will be littered with crises averted. Things that almost happened. Things that didn't happen. I almost got that internship. This almost happened to me. I almost didn't make it. I didn't get into that school. I don't have the job that I thought I was going to have.

All of those things that are almost and could have been and would have been, pick them up, look at them, take the lessons from them, set them aside, and move on.

The world doesn't revolve around what almost happens. It revolves around what is happening. That's why we're here today, team. What is happening is we're celebrating what you have done. You now have a George Mason University education. You. Yes.

Because of the work that you've done, because of the help of your friends, because of the support of your family, because of the wisdom of the faculty and your hard work, you have accomplished this. And some of you, as Dr. Washington pointed out, are first-generation college graduates like myself. And for that now, you will forever be the torchbearer for the rest of the family that follows you, that torchbearer of progress through advanced education. And we're all exceptionally proud of you.

So, now you've done it. Now what do you do? What does that journey look like for you? Where do you go now? I know I could look and I could talk to several of you. And you already have it mapped out. You already know. I know what's next. I know the next 17 steps that I'm going to take. I know where I'm going to go on. I know what I'm going to do. And to you, I would say congratulations on the planning. But don't be so sure. Be flexible. Be flexible.

And there are others of you who maybe, maybe it hasn't come together like you thought it was going to. Maybe the picture is a little bit more opaque than you imagined. Maybe there's a little angst because you don't really have it all figured out. And to you, as Dr. Washington said, don't sweat it would be my advice. Because at this time, when we have unprecedented change and a world that is multiplying in its complexity, frankly, we're all still figuring it out. We all still have this uncertainty.

Now, that collective uncertainty can also be collective opportunity that can unite us in this quest for a better future. And on that quest, I would offer that you have a little bit of an advantage. You see, many of us who have been on this planet quite a long time have a lot of lived experience, and therefore some of us suffer from the malady of the paradox of the present.

Try as we might, it's very difficult to imagine a future that isn't some departure, but a recognizable departure from what we already know. And we measure in how much that departure might be from what we're used to. And in doing so, sometimes we limit ourselves in our imagination of just how far we can go, just how deep we can look.

And I believe with the tools that you've gained and the lack of what I will call the baggage of experience. Now there's good baggage. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot to be learned from wisdom and experience. But where we used to say, like Ronald Reagan said, maybe rather than trust your gut, maybe trust but verify because things are changing fast and you are not as encumbered by that. So you have the opportunity to look farther, to see a broader universe of possibilities than maybe others who have gone before you.

But in order to do that, you've got to be curious. You've got to stay curious. There's a great phrase that was attributed to the poet, author, and essayist Walt Whitman. And there's some controversy as to whether he actually wrote it or he actually said it. But I love this phrase. It says "Be curious, not judgmental." Now, before those of you in the humanities and social sciences department, you know, develop some misplaced admiration of my literary chops, I actually did not get that from divining the readings of Walt Whitman. I actually heard it from Ted Lasso. I see a lot of you did too. But it doesn't matter if the phrase works, it works.

I love it because think of the contrast: Being judgmental. That's the ultimate act of laziness. Sitting back without giving the grace or the respect of understanding the context and judging. Putting you in a box. Putting a label on you. Quickly assessing something. That doesn't get anywhere. There's enough of that going around.

Curiosity, though. Curiosity is the engine for growth. Curiosity about what don't I know? What if? Can I do this? And sometimes if you need guardrails, should I do this? But it's always looking around that next corner and understanding the art of the possible and pursuing it with energy. That's where the discovery happens, and that's where progress happens.

That's where the innovations or real changes happen, when people who are curious and act on that curiosity. So stay curious. And as you take the next steps of your journey, I have one great hope for you, and that hope is whatever path you pursue, you pursue it in service of something good, in service of something consequential, in service of something great.

I've been lucky, absolutely fortunate. I've spent my entire adult life in the service of our nation through the United States Air Force. And while that hasn't made me millions of dollars, it has enriched me in ways I could have never imagined.

In short, rather than just living in historic times, I've been able to participate in history. I mentioned that I was in Germany in my first assignment. Well, that happened to be during the time when the Cold War was ending. I was there on 9 November 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. I was there in Germany, and it was a palpable feeling that there was a seismic shift happening that we didn't totally understand. But it was big. It was good. T

here was this overwhelming feel of positivity, of confidence, of knowing that the days ahead were going to be better. I will remember that for the rest of my life. Some of these images stay with me. One in particular I'll share with you. And believe it or not, it has to do with the German highway system.

You see, the German roads and highways are very, very well taken care of by the German government. And they have to be when you're driving around 120 miles an hour. But they are always very well kept. In the days that followed the fall of the wall, I had noticed occasionally that there were abandoned vehicles on the side of the road going west, and these vehicles were very distinctive that they were small, not very well built. You could tell they were from the Warsaw Pact manufacturing. Those who manufacture in East Germany or some of the other Warsaw Pact countries.

But that was unusual because you didn't really see that. And so I asked a German friend of mine, what's the deal with this? And he said, you know what? When some of the people found out that the borders were opening, that there was this openness and this ability to move freely, they took everything they had, took all the money they had, they jumped in their cars, they started driving west. Fill up with gas. And when the gas ran out and the money went out, they put the cars on the side of the road and they started walking and they started hitchhiking because they weren't sure if this decision was going to be reversed. Is this a fleeting opportunity for us to get out from this yoke of oppression?

And as a young man that struck me. I woke up here every day not even thinking of that as a possibility, that I wouldn't be able to pursue my dreams, that I wouldn't have the freedoms and liberties that I have. It was at that moment I really understood my why, why I was doing what I was going to do in the service of others, in the service of the country.

And in the years that followed, I had opportunities to fly around the world and deliver humanitarian aid and disaster relief to people who are having their worst circumstances you could imagine. And to show them there is a hand to reach out and help you. There is an opportunity for better days ahead.

And when the planes hit the towers on 9-11, I was in command and I saw a squadron, a community, a nation find unsteady footing, totally shocked, and I had the honor to be able to be part of teams who would lead us out of this, who would bring back reassurance to our airmen, to their families, to the communities, to the country that we would find a way out.

And in the years that followed in the deployments overseas, I always knew I was serving with those who had a common cause. I could look to my left and look to my right and know the airmen, soldiers, sailors, Marines, Coast Guard were all pursuing the same thing. They could trust me and I could trust them.

And yes, when I was in command and some of the airmen under me pay the ultimate sacrifice to recognition that while that was their last day of service, their families were about to embark on another chapter that they hadn't anticipated and they didn't raise their right hand for. And that was one of sacrifice, of heartache, of scars that never really heal.

And recognizing that and knowing that that is something to be honored and to renew your commitment to service, to honor that. Team, that's what a purpose-filled life is. The highest of highs and the lowest of lows provided me a richness of texture and a sharpness of contrast that no money, no money could ever give me, no other material wealth could ever provide for me. That was the act of service.

Now, don't get me wrong. Military service isn't the only service. You hear it a lot, though, right? You hear it. Thank you for your service. And when you hear "thank you for your service," you often think about maybe someone saying it to a man or woman in uniform.

But there are so many ways to serve. You can serve your country as a diplomat. You can serve your country protecting the airports. You can serve your community in many ways. You can serve humanity. You can serve, you know, for better life span, health span. You can solve the engineering problems to look at not only what's on the globe, but in outer space and where we're going in the future.

All of these things, it doesn't matter the specific thing you serve, but make sure it's your aim point. It's your North Star. The accolades, the accomplishments, the riches-they'll come along as they will. But if you do that and you pursue that purpose-filled life, you'll be enriched beyond your wildest dreams.

Now, that purpose-filled life is not going to come knocking on your door. You got to go get it. You got to go out there and get it. And now we have too many people who are influencers without credentials, who are experts without expertise, who are judges who haven't developed judgment, and who are critics without accountability.

And at this time, what we need is less of that. And we need people of action. Team, we got critics. We need doers.

There's a great quote by Teddy Roosevelt that I was thinking about maybe peeling a sentence out of, but I think I got to give you the whole quote. And it was a speech that he gave in Paris on the 23rd of April, 1910, called Citizens in a Republic. And this particular excerpt is known as The Man in the Arena.

And he says, it's not the critic that counts, not the man who points out how the stronger man stumbles, or how the doer of each could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who strives valiantly, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood, who errs, who comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcoming.

But he does actually strive to do the deeds. Who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause, who in the end knows at best the triumph of high achievement, and at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Acts of achievement. Moving forward. Real progress. The things you aspire to. They only happen if you step into the arena. As I said, I've been fortunate to watch history change and watch that arena evolve over the past 40 years. But I will tell you, I believe those past 40 years will pale in comparison to the next 40 years.

The world will come rushing at us.

The world will come rushing at you faster than ever. The consequences will be longer-lasting. The stakes will be higher. The challenges will be things that perhaps you can't even conceive of right now. But you've got the tools. You have the tools. And I'll repeat Dr. Washington: You are ready. So as you go forward from this day, I'm a little bit envious, but I would ask that you focus on the things that are, not the things that might have been.

Stay curious. That's where the growth is. Pursue something of service, of something great. That's where your purpose can be found. And above all, have the courage to step into the arena. The world needs you.

So, graduates 2026 for George Mason University. Congratulations, and go get 'em.

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