Monday, December 3, 2018

Retired Vice Admiral Speaks to LUCOM Medical Students

Mon, 03 Dec 2018Asa Keimig | LUCOM Marketing

Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine-Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (AMOPS) hosted Vice Admiral David J. Venlet, Ret., on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at the Center for Medical and Health Sciences.

Vice Admiral Venlet is a retired 3-star Admiral, former navy fighter pilot and test pilot. He served as the Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command before finishing his career as the Program Executive Officer for F-35 Lightning II Program. He spoke to Liberty medical students about his life in the military, how he incorporated his faith throughout the entirety of his service in the United States Navy and he stressed the importance of keeping a firm grasp on fundamentals, reality, and transparency.

“As a Christian and as a believer, I reflect on those traits and want to make certain they have root in my life and my faith in God,” said Vice Admiral Venlet. “I think we are to keep a firm grasp on the fundamentals that Jesus gave us.”

He stressed the importance of having a foundation for your belief system and encouraged the students to be ethical in their personal and professional lives. “To be an effective leader, you need to have a firm grasp on your fundamentals,” he said.

Venlet also discussed difficult decisions that he had to make throughout his career and the strict timeframes though it was his faith that he held firm too. “God gives us opportunities in preparation for other opportunities that we might not know of. You’re going to be in difficult places, but you have to consider what God wants you to do,” he said.

He encouraged student-doctors to integrate their faith in the workplace by promoting transparency, modeling it and demonstrating it.

“I’m a checklist kind of guy, I like to measure how I’m doing. You’re going to want to measure how you’re doing. But there’s one thing that’s frustrating and that’s I can’t measure what I’m doing for Christ and I don’t believe I should be measuring,” he said. “God is using all of us. In my imperfection, I don’t know any moment or scenario where I could say that I knew what God was doing or doing through me, but He’s doing it on our good days and bad days.”