On the fateful day of February 9, 2001, Commander Scott Waddle’s life was forever changed.  He gave the order to perform an emergency surface maneuver that inadvertently caused the nine-thousand ton submarine USS Greeneville to collide with the Ehime Maru, a 500 ton Japanese fishing vessel, off the coast of Hawaii.  Nine people onboard the Ehime Maru were killed in the incident.
    Against the advice of his attorney and the Navy’s direction, Waddle took responsibility for the accident, which was originally investigated by John Arthur Hammerschmidt of Harrison for the National Transportation Safety Board.  Later, the Navy took over the investigation and Waddle was honorably discharged in October 2001 from the Navy and retired from active duty as a Commander.
    Commander Waddle’s compelling story about the tragic ordeal and the choices that followed will be the subject of his presentation Monday, April 25 at North Arkansas College in the John Paul Hammerschmidt Lecture Series.  His talk, “Failure is not Final,” is a lesson about integrity, faith and resilience.  The lecture is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Center of the JPH Business and Conference Center on Northark’s South Campus. The event is free and open to the public.
    An inspirational leader with uncompromising ethical standards, Waddle graduated at the top of his class at Annapolis.  With 20 years of experience in the construction, maintenance and operation of nuclear-powered submarines, in 1998 he was handpicked from a highly competitive field of 250 naval officers to command the improved Los Angeles class Fast Attack nuclear submarine USS Greeneville and a 140-man crew.
    This will be the 12th presentation in the JPH Lecture Series.  Commander Waddle follows astronaut Dr. Jerry Linenger, Sherpa mountain guide Jamling Tenzing Norgay, CIA officers Tony and Jonna Mendez, internationally syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer, former North Vietnam prisoner of war Colonel Edward L. Hubbard, 1972 Olympic 800-meter-run champion Dave Wottle, FDNY Chief Richard "Pitch" Picciotto, Harrison native and music therapy specialist Dr. Frederick (Ted) Tims, Savant Syndrome expert Dr. Darold Treffert, retired Wal-Mart senior vice-chairman Don Soderquist, and “Homeless to Harvard” heroine Liz Murray as a speaker in the series.