Bigger Than You: A Lifetime of Public Service
General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. F92
Bigger Than You: A Lifetime of Public Service
When Joseph Dunford, Jr. signed up for an initial two-year obligation as an active duty Marine, he didn’t have an inkling that his commitment would turn into 42 years of active duty and an extraordinary career of service in the United States military and government.
At the pinnacle of his career, General Joseph Dunford, Jr. was 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest ranking military officer and principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council (October 2015 - September 2019). He also served as 39th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Recently, Dunford returned to campus to speak with students about Fletcher’s multidisciplinary approach and how it shaped his decision-making at the highest levels. In looking back on his time at Fletcher, where he earned an MA in International Affairs, Dunford noted how broad exposure combined with Fletcher’s signature multidisciplinary approach was “a reflection of real life.”
“If training is what to do and education is how to think, I don’t know how an experience at someplace like Fletcher can’t be useful to a senior leader who is, at the end of the day, paid to think about problems for which there is no checklist with a solution on it,” he said.
“I tell people in four years as the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, I never dealt with a military problem at the strategic level,” he added. “I dealt with strategic problems that had a military dimension. Anyone who says a multidisciplinary education is not important has never actually had to solve problems at the strategic level and sit with a diverse team representing multiple agencies and say: This is the problem we have to solve, how do we do it?”
In his view, the sacrifices associated with a lifetime of public service are many, but the rewards are even greater. “This idea of being a part of something bigger than yourself means having an impact that an individual could never have. In government, or more broadly in public service, the impact typically far exceeds what any individual could hope to accomplish on their own. You really are part of something bigger.”
https://fletcher.tufts.edu/news-events/news/be-part-something-bigger-yourself