Passport to Adventure

His MMA ring has taken Lawrence Casselle ’93 to posts around the world.

Never in his wildest dreams did teenager Lawrence Casselle see himself riding in a helicopter over Baghdad with the most powerful woman in the world. But he did.

He never imagined he’d be walking the halls of the White House to brief the president and his administration on national security threats at home and abroad. But he did.

He never thought he’d be running down bad guys in South America and returning the fugitives to America to face the music. But he did.

At 15, Casselle thought he wanted no part of Missouri Military Academy. But he did. The skinny kid from the hood of North Town Las Vegas thought he had life figured out back in 1990. He knew what he wanted to do in life, and it didn’t require a high school diploma. His mother and aunt had other ideas. The next thing Casselle knew, he was in Mexico, Missouri, standing before Col. Charles Stribling III in front of MMA’s Stribling Hall.

“What I would not give right now to know what Col. Stribling was thinking at that very moment,” he told the new graduates at MMA’s 2022 commencement. “Now, I have a pretty good idea of two things he was not thinking. First: ‘I think I found my Delta Company commander in two years.’ Secondly: ‘This kid should come speak at an MMA commencement one day.’”

Going Places — What’s Ahead for the Class of 2022

Following MMA tradition, 100 percent of the members of the graduating Class of 2022 achieved college acceptance. As a class, they have been offered more than $4.1 million in college scholarships. These new MMA graduates will attend schools such as Northwestern University, Syracuse University, The Citadel, University of Missouri, University of Arkansas and more. Six cadets have also chosen to enter U.S. military service.

“You are not going to believe where your MMA ring is going to take you,” Diplomatic Security Service Chief of Staff Lawrence “Kwakou” Casselle ’93 said in his address to the graduates on commencement day. “What you have learned here will serve you long after you have stood your Final Formation.”

MMA honored Cadet Lance Newland from Folsom, California, as valedictorian and presented him with the Academy’s highest scholarship award. Newland plans to attend Syracuse University in the fall. Cadet Rene Garcia Garza from Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, was salutatorian. He plans to attend Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico.

LEFT: Casselle with Secretary Rice in a blackhawk helicopter in Baghdad, Iraq. RIGHT: Casselle leading an excercise with the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force in Baghdad, March 2019.

Now serving as chief of staff to the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, Casselle has spent the three decades since his Academy days in service to his country. He served four years as an Army officer and later as a special agent for the Diplomatic Security Service. He returned to MMA in May as keynote speaker for the Academy’s 133rd commencement. MMA, he says, instilled in him four characteristics that would see him through: discipline, perseverance, diversity and service. ‘“I can’t do it” is not an acceptable answer’ As a cadet, Casselle found opportunities to exercise those newfound traits — playing football and basketball, captaining the varsity track team, winning the school spelling bee two years running and gaining confidence in public speaking through the Dramateers. He rose to the rank of captain and served as Delta Company commander and Battalion S4 his senior year. After graduation, Casselle attended Hampton University in Virginia, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. He served 10 years in the Army as an infantry officer, rising to captain in the 1st Cavalry Division. In 2003 Casselle joined the Diplomatic Security Service, serving stints in the New York field office. In 2006 he was assigned to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s protective detail. His two years with Rice included a tense journey to Baghdad in 2007 so Rice could deliver a private message from President George W. Bush to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. As leader of the advance security team, Casselle’s objective was to move Rice in and out of Baghdad quietly and safely — and return her to Washington “in one piece,” he says. Discarding the option of a motorcade with its risks of roadside bombs, vehicleborne improvised explosive devices and snipers, the team settled on a helicopter transport despite the danger of ISIS air attacks.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to pick up the phone, call Washington, D.C. and tell the special agent in charge: ‘This is a terrible idea and far too dangerous. I can’t do it,’” he told the ’22 graduates. “But you know what? I am an alumnus of Missouri Military Academy, and I learned right here that ‘I can’t do it’ is not an acceptable answer.”

Casselle’s team worked all night alongside the Joint Special Operations Command

Lawrence Casselle ’93

What I learned at MMA was that there is no greater calling in life than service. Service comes in all different ways, both in uniform and as a civilian. America and the world … need both. Remember this: ‘To serve is to lead.’

to figure out where the enemy had reached previous successes and where the team could modify the air routes while adding additional protective measures to carry out the mission. And they did.

“We made it happen,” Casselle says. “I guarantee you, it was the most hair-raising helicopter ride you could imagine, but we accomplished our mission. Secretary Rice was able to conduct diplomacy securely on behalf of the United States.”

‘To serve is to lead’

Casselle’s career path continued its climb in postings around the world — United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Belize. He returned to the United States in 2014 to serve as branch chief for Overseas Protective Operations, moving up two years later to deputy director of counterintelligence for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He served a year on the National Security Council as director for counterterrorism. After earning a master’s degree from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, Casselle assumed his current position as chief of staff for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. Every stop on Casselle’s professional journey has been marked by one constant — his MMA ring. “My MMA ring took me to Hampton University and from there to Fort Benning, Georgia, as America’s newest second lieutenant of infantry,” he says. “My MMA ring took me to Fort Hood, Texas, as an infantry officer in the 1st Calvary Division and to Belize in Central America, where the teams that I led captured close to 40 international fugitives. My MMA ring took me to Baghdad, Iraq, and to the White House, where there is no higher place in America to serve at the seat of global power in the world.” His MMA ring is a reminder of the lifechanging influence the Academy had nearly 30 years ago on a young teen with a defiant attitude.

“MMA taught me a lot things, but what it instilled in me that changed my life was service,” Casselle says. “What I learned at MMA was that there is no greater calling in life than service. Service comes in all different ways, both in uniform and as a civilian. America and the world … need both. Remember this: ‘To serve is to lead.’”

Casselle in the White House.

Membership Has Its Privileges

Lifetime Member — $350

No yearly Alumni Association fees for life

Maroon Lifetime Member — $500

No Alumni Association fees and $25 off a Senior Walk brick

Gold Lifetime Member — $750

Lifetime Member and Maroon Member benefits, Homecoming lunch and alumni company T-shirt fees waived

1889 Lifetime Member — $1,889

Lifetime Member, Maroon Member and Gold Member benefits and 10 percent off QM purchases during Homecoming weekend In addition, alumni referral of cadets corresponds to Alumni Association membership status. If an alumnus refers…

2 cadets — Maroon Lifetime Member 3 cadets — Gold Lifetime Member 4 or more cadets — 1889 Lifetime Member

Any alumnus who makes a cadet referral that results in an enrolled cadet will automatically become a Lifetime Member of the Alumni Association.