Commander's UT roots 'change the world'

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A University of Texas at Austin ad campaign boasts " what starts here changes the world ."

And if that boast needs any proof, Rear Adm. Bill McRaven can provide it. The 1977 UT graduate who was in the Navy ROTC program commanded the mission that killed the world's most notorious terrorist.

A few months before accepting the most important and crucial mission of his career, McRaven spoke with current Navy ROTC members candidates and staff at the University of Texas. His message resonated.

“He said if you take assignments you are passionate about, you will have success and keep going,” ROTC Capt. Dan Dixon said of McRaven's visit in November.

For the ROTC members who sit in the same position as McRaven did 34 years ago when he was earning his journalism degree, the words he spoke to them now echo louder.

“He talked about it being a job, then a profession, but then it became a passion for him,” said Dixon.

McRaven was honored that weekend before the Texas-Oklahoma State football game and took part in the coin toss. On Sunday, McRaven was the commander for the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.

But conducting the country’s most vital military operations was not always the plan for McRaven.

“He said he didn’t have huge ambitions as a student but learned as he went along,” said Dixon. “He did not know what he was getting into.”

Now he has been nominated to receive a fourth star and head the Special Operations Command.

And as he told current students. It is not a job, but a passion.

“That passion was grown here at UT,” said Dixon.