Late in the evening of May 1st, the news story broke about the Navy SEAL team from Red Squadron, and Night Stalkers from the Army Airborne, delivering a blow to al-Qaeda and OBL for their heinous crime of September 11, 2001. The death of OBL was celebrated throughout our country, particularly at our military academies. With the breaking news, cadet upper classmen of West Point flooded out from their barracks to the assembly areas to celebrate, which consisted of cheers, singing, flag waving and throwing green glow sticks in the air. The celebration grew in number and momentum, moving from the assembly areas outside the barracks to the apron in front of Washington Hall. The throng of cadets eventually migrated to the homes of the Dean and Superintendent, chanting in unison as they stood on the front lawns to solicit speeches marking the occasion. The following is an impromptu speech given to the cadets by Lt. General David Huntoon, Superintendent of West Point. It was transcribed from a cadet's video, which is posted on YouTube by TheWestPointChannel.

"Ok, hey, just a couple things here. The first thing is, I'm glad to see you out here tonight. I love your spirit" (followed by cadet cheers). "Now the second thing I want to say is, I want to put what we just heard in the media, in a little context. That, we should be gathering tonight, not to celebrate the death of someone, but to celebrate the life of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines" (followed by cadet cheers). "For the past 10 years, the United States Armed Forces, and lots of others who have served overseas in the campaigns of both Iraq and Afghanistan, have borne a tremendous burden. They have demonstrated each and every day, the values of the United States Army and the values of West Point" (followed by cadet cheers). "Those young men and women, who all of you, at some point, are going to be privileged to lead, are the ones we should be thinking about tonight. They're the ones who we should be celebrating, and they're the ones we can never forget."

"Let me just tell you something that happened today that will put things in bigger context. Not too many hours ago, I was in Harriman, New York, down in Central Valley. We were doing a memorial service to name a road after Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, our first female graduate of West Point to be killed in Iraq several years ago. She was a magnificent leader of character. Each year she lettered on the track team, she did all kinds of great things here at West Point. She was the brigade Sergeant Major. She was a great young example of the kind of selfless service and sacrifice that we have in our armed forces, in every service, from every source of commissioning; and who have been taking up the burden of the nation for the past decade."

Kevin Zander on right

"So tonight, put your focus where it belongs, in remembering that kind of sacrifice. And think about the great privilege that all of you, all of you will have; some very soon, some in a couple of months, and some in a couple years. Leading the great young men and women of the armed forces of the United States, many of whom will continue to be in harm's way when it becomes your turn to lead them. That's the message of tonight: That the fight goes on. That we can never forget, that our ability to gather in a wonderful place like West Point, on a beautiful evening like tonight, is underwritten by the tremendous courage, competence, compassion of those great young men and women who are serving around the world tonight for our freedom. So, go out and enjoy this moment, but do it for the right reasons, and that is, to remember the sacrifice of our troops. The troops you will be privileged to command very, very soon. I am proud of all of you and I am equally proud of the sacrifice of the armed forces of the United States" (followed by cadet chants, cheers and a 10 second moment of silence for all those who have died protecting our freedom).

Thank you Lt. General Huntoon, for putting it in perspective. (A. Zander, VP Smallbore)