LEXINGTON, Va., Nov. 3, 2025 — Virginia Military Institute’s 16^th annual Leadership and Ethics Conference hosted by the Center for Leadership and Ethics (CLE) was held Oct. 26-28 on post. This year’s theme was “Leading With Integrity,” an extension of the CLE’s academic year theme of “American Values.”

The. Conference hosted nearly 190 participants, made up of students and staff members from many colleges, universities, and military academies from across the nation including, Christopher Newport University, East Tennessee State University, Hampden-Sydney College, Norwich University, Texas A&M University, The Citadel, U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, as well as VMI. Additionally, the Ludovika University of Public Service in Hungary, the Military University of Land Forces in Poland, and the Philippine Military Academy in the Philippines sent delegations.

The conference opened in Marshall Hall with pageantry as the VMI color guard marched in carrying the flags as the Herald Trumpets played “The Star-Spangled Banner” in four-part harmony. Col. Dave Gray, executive director of the CLE, welcomed the assembly and affirmed that leading with integrity is quintessential to the American experience, which began from the time of the Revolution with George Washington. “In the 18^th century, integrity was linked to sacred, personal honor. That means being very trustworthy, candid with your peers, and of sound moral principle. Throughout his life, despite setbacks that he may have had, Washington gained that reputation both here in Virginia and among the other colonies, and so he was appointed as the commanding general of the Continental Army.” A second example Gray offered as someone who led with integrity is VMI’s most famous graduate, Gen. George C. Marshall, VMI Class of 1901. “Because Marshall was a selfless man, a man of integrity, a man of duty, and had served his country well, Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed him as Chief of Staff of the Army during World War II.”

Central to the conference’s programming were small group discussions, interactive activities, and speakers focusing on personal ethics, honor, integrity, principled leadership, as well as the cultivation of moral courage. One activity involved role-playing a fictional scenario—but one the participants may truly face one day while serving in the military, state department, or FBI—of a hostage crisis set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Divided into groups, the students heard from four expert panelists who gave points to consider from their own perspectives. The groups had to make a recommendation to resolve the crisis using morally justifiable solutions while considering the short- and long-term effects.

The first guest speaker of the conference was retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap Jr., executive director of the Duke University Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security; and author of the award-winning essay, “The Origins of the Military Coup of 2012,” published in 1992. During his talk titled, “Becoming a Leader with Integrity: Lessons We Keep Learning,” Dunlap shared that the nature of the nation’s adversaries is now quite different than other times in history. “They don’t share our values and they don’t believe the law applies to them.” As examples he cited Hamas and drug smugglers. “We have to worry about nation states as well. China and Russia have been replete with activities that challenge the idea of integrity in leadership and honor in war. How can we address that in practical terms?” To answer his question, Dunlap offered several ideas to the future military leaders. “Actions must be thoroughly thought through from different perspectives. Think strategically. Control your emotions and those of your troops. Words matter. Be innovative. Have working knowledge of technology. Demonstrate commitment and resolve. Hold yourself accountable. Aim to be respected, if not popular. Learn from your experiences. Find a mentor or mentors. Embrace feedback. Don’t expect vindication for doing the right thing. Have moral courage. And be a lifelong learner.”

That afternoon, conference attendees heard the powerful story of a victim of an actual hostage crisis. Moran Stella Yanai, an Israeli jewelry designer, was held hostage in Gaza by Hamas terrorists for 54 days after she was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. The moderated interview was led by Gray who posed questions to Yanai, who answered them with courage and candor, emphasizing her personal experiences, not her political viewpoints. Yanai began by confessing she struggled in a life without meaning until she was 36 years old. “But one morning, a voice in my head told me there must be a different way, and from that point, I went on a journey to discover who I am as a person. Right before October 7, I finally became my best friend. I wanted to help people. I was the most inspired, and at the best point physically and mentally.” Yanai was scheduled to sell her jewelry at the Nova festival, but that morning had second thoughts about leaving her home. Being a religious person, she didn’t usually work on Fridays and Saturdays. “Now I can say it was God’s plan. I was supposed to be there, but I was very stressed. I kept thinking of ways to go back home, but was obligated to stay till the end.” But at 6 a.m. when she saw the beautiful sunrise, Yanai was grateful she stayed the entire night. “Everybody was happy.” By 6:29, the happiness ended when rockets started flying.

“I served in the army and I know how to recognize all the sounds. I heard rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. I had severe panic attacks one after another, and couldn’t really act.” Her friend insisted they run to the car and drive as fast as possible, but driving proved impossible among all the people screaming and being massacred. Abandoning the car, they ran for hours, struggling to survive. Finally, Yanai hid in a tree, where she was found by terrorists who pulled her down. “A terrorist dragged me from that tree, then realized I was wearing a lot of jewelry. He ripped it all off, and almost cut off my fingers. He inadvertently carved the first letter of God’s name on my left hand.” Her scar still remains.

She was crammed into a car with 10 terrorists, convinced they planned to drive her to a makeshift gallows to hang her, but was spared from death that day. “I was counting the miracles that happened to me that day, because I was saved so many times from death. I kept thinking there must be a reason I was surviving.”

Eventually Yanai was taken to a house where she was held with another hostage, an 18-year-old girl. She gave thanks to God for the young woman, because it gave her a purpose. “Since I had to protect her, I also had to protect myself.” Later, the terrorist brought in the girl’s mother, which added one more person for Yanai to care for. Her faith in God and her commitment to the other women is what sustained her. “That was the first time in my life that I was proud of myself, that I knew I was doing everything I could to survive.”

On the 49^th day of captivity, Yanai was told she would be released along with her two companions. Though the mother and daughter were released, Yanai was brought back to the house. It wasn’t until she actually saw the Red Cross Jeep on the 54^th day, that she knew she had been rescued.

Yanai emphasized that she does not harbor ill will, but seeks peace and reconciliation. The audience who had remained silent throughout her heart-wrenching narrative, erupted into an enthusiastic standing ovation when she concluded.

The second day of the conference opened with M. Alejandra Parra-Orlandoni, the Caroline Dawn Wortham ’12 Leadership Speaker. Parra-Orlandoni is the chief operating officer of Pasteur Labs, a simulation intelligence startup, and founder of Spirare Tech. She is a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, where her work focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) policy. She holds degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Harvard Law School. She shared with the audience about the ethical responsibilities of developing and working with AI. She first discussed the difference between adaptation and innovation. “When I think of adaptation, I think of stepping into a different situation, and figuring out how you can still succeed. It might require changing one thing here, one thing there. When I think about innovation, I think of a situation where you step into the unknown. There is no charted territory. An example she offered of innovation was when she worked for Facebook. “A lot of the technologies that we were building hadn’t existed for general use. We were sometimes unsure if the new technology was ready to be released. We would agonize over a new product. We’d look at it from all angles.” She stressed that integrity is crucial when assessing new technology.

Another concept Parra-Orlandoni examined in her talk, was friction. “Most digital technology is built with this notion of reducing friction, to make everything as easy as possible for the user. Maybe though, sometimes having friction is important.” As illustration, she shared that she injured her back years ago and had to undergo hours of physical therapy and discomfort at the gym to restore her strength. “Because of doing that hard, uncomfortable work, today if my dog pulls me and I fall, instead of reinjuring my back, I’m okay. That kind of friction in our lives, those difficult things are what forge who we are.” She also cited incidents of people using AI chatbots—software applications designed to have textual or spoken conversations—that resulted in suicide or attempted suicide. “The chatbots, because they are always trying to make the user feel good and remove all friction, just kept encouraging these poor people who were crying out for help. But instead of a product that pushed back and said, ‘Hey, maybe it’s time to stop using me and reach out for help from a human,’ they just kept encouraging these users to keep going down this path of self-harm.”

Parra-Orlandoni concluded by sharing a recent study performed at MIT recently regarding brain activity when using ChatGPT, an AI chatbot. “The experiment was set up such that people had to write a report. One group didn’t use ChatGPT at all. A second group used ChatGPT entirely, and a third group started without ChatGPT, but used it at the end to check their work or improve it. What the study found that the group that didn’t use ChatGPT at all had a lot of brain activity. The group who used ChatGPT entirely, didn’t really learn anything about what they were asked to study, and their brain activity was low. And the third group, who started without ChatGPT then added it at the end, had the highest amount of brain activity. AI is a good tool to use, but we still need to learn the old fashioned way, analog style.”

The keynote and concluding speaker of the conference was the H.B. Johnson Jr., 1926 Distinguished Lecture Speaker, retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Travis Mills of the 82^nd Airborne Division, who spoke in Cameron Hall to the entire Corps of Cadets, guests of the conference, and members of the community. Mills was critically injured by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Afghanistan during on his third tour of duty in 2012, losing portions of both legs and both arms. He is one of only five servicemen from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive quadruple amputee injuries.

Mills opened his talk with self-deprecating humor to put his audience at ease. “I think jokes really do help to disarm the situation. Knee-slap if you got them. I don’t, but if you do, by all means, feel free.” After the laughter subsided, Mills’ tone turned serious, though still sprinkled with good-natured humor, as he shared his story of being critically injured and his long road to recovery. “On April 10, we strapped our gear on like normal, and we went out on patrol. We had a minesweeper out front who swept the ground, not once, but twice. He told us it was clear. I took my backpack off and put it on the ground. When it hit the ground, it landed on top of a bomb. When that bomb went off, it tore my right arm and right leg off instantly. My right side was completely gone and never found. My left leg was broken at the bone, and muscle and tendon held it on. My left arm was blown off at the wrist, but I could still use my thumb, index, and middle finger. Within seconds, my medic, Dan Bateson, was on my right arm, putting tourniquets on as fast as he could. I looked at Dan and said, ‘Hey, you’re not going to save me. There are two other guys calling for a medic. Go save my guys.’ It wasn’t that I wanted to die, but I’ve seen guys die from less injury. I thought there was no way they would be able to save me. Dan just ignored me and kept working on me.”

When the doctor finally reached Mills, he had to drive a sternum IV in his chest. Mills refused to scream out in pain or show any fear. He didn’t want that to be the last memory his men had of him.

Within 10 minutes they had him on a helicopter and flew him to the Kandahar Airfield hospital where nine doctors and seven nurses worked on him for 14 hours. Two nurses took turns pumping air into his lungs for nine hours. They ran out of blood in the blood bank, so they had to do an emergency call over the entire airfield for A positive and universal blood while the doctors and nurses who were compatible were taking blood from their own veins as they operated. When surgery was over, Mills was a triple amputee. Two days later, the doctors realized Mills’ remaining arm had necrotized, and had to cut it off as well.

Later he was flown to a hospital in Germany, where he came out of medical sedation for the first time. The first person he saw was his brother-in-law, Josh, an Army medic. After being assured that his other soldiers were okay, Mills ask Josh if he was paralyzed. Josh told him no. “I said, ‘don’t lie to me, I can’t feel my fingers and toes.’ Josh said, ‘you're not paralyzed, Travis. You don’t have them anymore, they’re gone.’”

Mills struggled with his new reality. Questions swirled through his mind like, “Does God hate me?” “What did I do wrong like to deserve this?” “Can I still be a husband and a father?”

Josh insisted Mills call his wife and parents. Not ready for the hard conversations, he kept his calls brief. Before hanging up with his mother, she said, “Hey Travis, happy birthday.” It was his 25^th birthday.

He arrived at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, April 17. It was there where he was able to see his wife, Kelsey, and baby daughter, Chloe. After the initial affectionate greetings, Mills broke down and said to Kelsey, “You don't have to do this. This is not what you signed up for. Take whatever we have, it’s yours.” Without hesitation, Kelsey told him, “No, we’re going to get through this together.”

Having Kelsey by his side gave Mills motivation to overcome his obstacles and to keep a positive attitude. Mills worked hard with his physical and occupational therapy, and learned to use his new prosthetic legs and arm in record time. He amazed all his medical providers at the speed of his recovery, his optimism, and his encouragement to other patients going through similar challenges.

Mills is author of two books: “Tough as They Come,” a New York Times bestseller; and “Bounce Back: 12 Warrior Principles to Reclaim and Recalibrate Your Life.” Mills is also featured in the award-winning documentary, “Travis: A Soldier’s Story.” He and Kelsey founded the Travis Mills Foundation, a nonprofit formed to benefit and assist post-9/11 veterans who have been injured in active duty or as a result of their military service. He owns several businesses including the White Duck Pub in Winthrop, Maine. He travels the nation and shares his inspirational message to “Never give up. Never quit.”

Maximus Ankrah ’26, a VMI cadet who attended the conference, stated the collaboration of all the senior military colleges and academies is what he enjoyed most. “Meeting dedicated young leaders from all parts of our nation motivates me to serve this country.”

Kristopher Ruth ’26, also from VMI, agreed, “The experience provided a unique opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from diverse perspectives, and deepen my understanding of what leading with integrity truly means.”

Next year’s Leadership Conference will be held Oct. 26-27, 2026, with an announcement of the theme and title coming in the spring. To stay informed, visit the conference website and join the mailing list.

Marianne Hause
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE