"When you actually walk amongst Columbia and you talk about the accident and you talk about the lessons learned and how you can do the best job you can do to help prevent this from ever happening again, that's very powerful, " Ciannilli said.

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And the bonds that you've built and the lessons that you've learned on that field and in your "four years by the Bay" have prepared you to join and lead the finest fighting force in the history of the world.

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The international humanitarian community has learned important lessons from the tsunami -- and you should too.

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So, as you are involved in innovation and with entrepreneurs, apply some of the lessons learned from raising your kids, if you have.

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Document this step so the lessons learned and the safeguards setup can always go beyond you.

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"You want to leverage the lessons that we've learned and the capabilities in command and control and sensor management that we've learned in ballistic missiles and apply that to cruise missiles rather than building a separate system, " he said.

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