{"id":14294,"date":"2019-02-05T17:05:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T23:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/?p=14294"},"modified":"2021-04-22T12:12:42","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T17:12:42","slug":"gen-gray-honored-at-general-h-m-smith-dinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/14294\/gen-gray-honored-at-general-h-m-smith-dinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Gray honored at General H.M. Smith Dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Though they are living in complicated times, Gen Alfred \u201cAl\u201d Gray Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps during the Gulf War (Aug. 2, 1990 \u2013 Feb. 28, 1991), reminded the Marine Military Academy Corps of Cadets that they are the hope of the nation at the General H.M. Smith Dinner April 7.<br><br>\u201cYou\u2019re going to be the young leaders of our nation, and you better do well,\u201d Gen Gray said. \u201cThe responsibilities that will be placed on your shoulders upon graduation are probably, in my humble opinion, greater than any time in our history.\u201d<br><br>Sporting a camouflage dinner jacket, Gen Gray told the audience the young people of America are capable of being good leaders.<br><br>\u201cI think they\u2019re smart, they\u2019re quick \u2026 and they ask a lot of questions \u2014 and we all know how good they are with technology,\u201d he said. \u201cI think in the long run they\u2019re going to come through for us. They always have, and they always will.\u201d<br><br>The retired general also reminded the cadets of the most important trait of a strong leader.<br><br>\u201cEverything you\u2019ll ever achieve will be done with people. So doesn\u2019t it make common sense to take care of people? That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Take care of the people, and they\u2019ll care of you,\u201d Gen Gray said.<br><br>After his speech, Gen Gray was presented with the MMA Iwo Jima Leadership Award, an annual award bestowed upon an extraordinary individual who exemplifies the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment.<br><br>Gen Gray served 41 years in the Marine Corps when he retired in July 30, 1991, with his last four as 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps. As a reminder that the primary role of every Marine is a rifleman, Gen Gray had his official photograph taken in his camouflage utility uniform, the only Commandant in Marine Corps history to have done so.<br><br>Gen Gray was both a Korean War and Vietnam War veteran. He holds 27 awards, including the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.<br><br>This distinguished leader currently serves as the chancellor of MMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/mmaharlingen\/albums\/72157664622172424\">Click to see the photos of the General H.M. Smith Dinner.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"648\" height=\"488\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gengray_2016.jpg\" alt=\"General Alfred Gray\" class=\"wp-image-14295\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gengray_2016.jpg 648w, https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/gengray_2016-300x226.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Though they are living in complicated times, Gen Alfred \u201cAl\u201d Gray Jr., Commandant of the Marine Corps during the Gulf War (Aug. 2, 1990 \u2013 Feb. 28, 1991), reminded the Marine Military Academy Corps of Cadets that they are the hope of the nation at the General H.M. Smith Dinner April 7. \u201cYou\u2019re going to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14294"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14508,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14294\/revisions\/14508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mma-tx.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}