JD Lock
Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Retired), MS, PMP, LSSMBB
USMA Distinguished Graduate
West Point, NY
25 May 2004
The Distinguished Graduate Award (DGA) is to be given to graduates of the United States Military Academy whose character, distinguished service, and stature draw wholesome comparison to the qualities for which West Point strives, in keeping with its motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.”
In 2003, I had the pleasure of drafting and submitting COL Puckett's nomination, seconded and sponsored by my USMA 1982 classmates, to be a 2004 Association of Graduates (AOG) Distinguished Graduate.
In the end, not only was the nomination accepted and awarded, the experience of drafting the nomination enticed me to expand on that effort and 'take it out for a spin' to see if I could secure a Medal of Honor upgrade of the COL's Korean Conflict Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) - the first of two DSCs. This initiative would ultimately lead to 'mission accomplished' (in a non - George W way) 18 years later on 21 May 2021 with a White House Medal of Honor ceremony.
I would be remise if I were not to note that neither the AOG DG nomination nor the pursuit of the MoH upgrade were original thoughts of The Ranger, himself, and, in reality, 'intervention' efforts had to periodically be made to convince him to allow me to pursue.