General Charlie Flynn urges #MiddletownRI High Schoolers to work hard and surround themselves with good people for the best chance in the world.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Sheley at (401) 842-6543 or msheley@middletownri.com 
VIEWS FROM THE TOP
MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (OCTOBER 18, 2023) – When Charlie Flynn was at Middletown High in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he admitted to being very average.
Average grades, average at sports, average at basically everything.
Speaking Wednesday in the cafeteria of the Valley Road school, the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Pacific Force told the crowd of sophomores and juniors he was just like them and completely unsure of what the future held.
“I didn’t know what my path was when I was sitting in this very cafeteria 40 plus years ago,” said the 59-year-old Flynn, now one of the highest ranking people in the United State armed forces, the four stars on his shoulders glinting in from the overhead lighting. “No idea that I was going to spend nearly 40 years…in the Army, being a four star general, commanding the largest theater in the US Army out in the Pacific.”
Based on his experiences across the globe, Flynn said he’s found the key to getting where you want was straightforward. Hard work is vital. So is surrounding yourself with good people who have your best intentions at heart and don’t always tell you what you might want to hear.
“You need to succeed, but you also need to fail,” Flynn said. “Failing doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It just means you made a mistake. Now if you make a mistake and you don’t learn from the mistake and you continue to make mistakes, that’s probably not helpful. But if you make a mistake and learn from it and you try the best you can to avoid those in the future, that’s helpful.”
Principal Donna Sweet said the mid-morning speaking engagement came about quickly. John Ceglarski, head of the Middletown Athletic Boosters, reached out and said his friend Flynn was going to be in town and wanted to see if she was interested in having him speak.
Asking around about Flynn, Sweet jumped at the chance, saying she guaranteed Middletown High was the only school in Rhode Island to have a four-star general address students in an open forum this year.
“He’s led an incredible life and his message that he was ‘Just like them’ is so important to hear,” Sweet said. “To succeed in life, you don’t need to be the best student or the best athlete or musician. You do need to show up and try.”
Moving easily through the audience holding a wireless microphone, Flynn said the building was “comfortably” familiar even though he graduated Middletown High in 1981.
A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Flynn said he went into the Army during college because there wasn’t a Navy ROTC program at the state college in Kingston.
Since then, he’s been fortunate to see a good part of the world through his career in the Army. This has included time in India, Japan, Indonesia and beyond. He said he’s seen combat time in both Afghanistan and Iraq. To check out a complete bio of Flynn’s military career, visit https://mdl.town/Flynn online.
Currently, he and his family live in Hawaii. Because of the commitments of his job, Flynn said he’s able to get back to Middletown where he still has family once every two years or so.
During a question and answer period, Ceglarski said the one place where Flynn really stood out in high school was as a surfer, something his high-ranking buddy still enjoys today.
That news sent a ripple through the crowd and sparked several inquires about his favorite breaks and surfing spots locally — and internationally.
Flynn moved seamlessly between that talk and urging students to consider a career in service, whether it was working for the Town of Middletown, as an educator, a police officer, the medical field, the military or beyond. Towards the end of his presentation, he asked for a show of hands about how many students were in military families, with a sizable number going up.
“Whatever path you choose and you decide to go — do something, put yourself into it,” Flynn said. “Make yourself do it and find your path. Think about the journey it could become because it would take you places that you never imagined.”
Afterward, Ceglarski said nothing Flynn has accomplished ever surprised him. Noting Town Council President Paul Rodrigues and Councilman Dennis Turano were also members of the Class of 1981, Ceglarski said the entire group was filled with proud Middletowners who’ve gone on to do great things.
“Charlie has always been a leader,” Ceglarski said. “Whether it was here at the high school, when we were lifeguards at Second Beach, at URI or elsewhere, he’s always had that ability and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
One of the students who raised their hand was sophomore AJ Harpel, who moved to Middletown a couple months ago. AJ’s dad Aaron is in the Navy, just like his grandfather before him and it’s a career he’s considering too. And nothing Flynn said discouraged him from that possibility.
“I really enjoyed hearing his story,” AJ said. “My whole family is Navy. My grandpa worked on aircraft carriers, my dad (Aaron) did and I believe in service just like all of them."
As for Flynn’s message about being anything you want if you set your mind to it, AJ had one word to describe it — “empowering.”
“Knowing you don’t have to be the best student or athlete in the school to have a great teacher or role model influence us is an amazing message,” AJ said. “That’s what I got from General Flynn. If you have a good work ethic and a good mindset, you can make it happen. It may not be the thing you’re thinking of right now, but in the future, it is possible.”
That’s why Flynn said he asked to speak to students, to try to make a positive difference.
“You can’t get through life by yourself,” Flynn said. “You need others around you. You need coaches, you need teachers, you need family, you need friends. You need mentors and people to look up to and see in them something that you don’t see in yourself. That’s hard when you’re 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, heck it’s hard when you’re in your early 20s or in your 30s.”
And to show how being interested in the world around them makes a bigger difference than anyone could ever image.
“One of the greatest attributes that I find for senior leaders is intellectual curiosity,” Flynn said. “My intellectual curiosity started in this high school and I still have that today.”
Document Link: https://www.middletownri.com/DocumentCenter/View/9640/NYCU-Flynn