BALTIMORE (Feb. 19, 2010) - Major General Nick Justice challenged a group of several hundred engineering students to take the next step on the path to exciting, valuable and meaningful lives by coming to work for Army as civilians engineering battlefield solutions for Soldiers.
Justice, Commander of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, addressed the crowd at this year's Black Engineer of the Year Award Conference. He led a recruiting contingent made up of engineers, senior leaders and personnel specialists brought together from the command's numerous locations throughout the country.
"You chose a very challenging and a very rewarding career path," Justice said. "You made that decision and you are on that path. The question of what you were going to study was about four years of your life. You're about to make a decision about how you'll spend the next 40 years of your life.
"I want to ask you some questions about that decision. Do you want to have a life that is filled with excitement' Do want to have a life that is valuable to others' Do you want to have a life that is meaningful'" he asked.
"Then you better make the choice of your future carefully, with the guidance of people you trust, because if you make the wrong decision you'll spend 40 years in the wrong career."
Justice talked about the challenges and rewards of his own 40-year career to illustrate the rewards of working as an engineer for the U.S. Army.
"I want to talk to you about rewards that are not necessarily about making $5 more than somebody else. What's great about engineering is that you get to solve problems. What better time in our history than right now to be an engineer' What better organization than the U.S. Army to solve problems for' That's what we do at RDECOM, we solve problems for Soldiers," Justice said.
"We are the greatest country in the world, and we are the greatest Army in the history of the world. But we will always be challenged. So I'm asking you not only to take that challenging and rewarding job, but to serve to your nation, your family your community, to be someone in this country that chooses to make a difference. Not just for yourself. You've already done that. I'm asking you to make a difference for your country."
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