During the speech, McCain told the midshipmen that the friendship was "one of the great honors of my life." But then McCain noted that he doesn't like to dwell on the differences between them, such as the fact that Larson was "destined for greatness." McCain said he preferred to think about a night during their last year at the academy, during which Larson was serving in a leadership capacity and McCain was "as usual, engaged in the kind of officially prohibited activity that (Larson) was expected to report."