military members, small children, grandparents. this is what we see here every year at section 60. in a couple of hours president trump will be laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. we will see if he pays his respects down here. it has already been for me an emotional morning. a friend of mine is off in the distance visiting a battle buddy that fell in the war zone. he comes every year to visit him. we will leave him to his privacy. another couple, a gold star mom and dad came up to me a short time ago to say good morning and this is a couple that we have seen here every year. i said to them, remind me what year did we first meet. we met a short time after their son fell on the battlefield. and the mother said to me it has
it also stiffens our resolve. that kind of a threat to the american people by a regime like this is not acceptable. shepard: that from the broadcast last night. president trump said rex tillerson is working with james mattis and the military to make sure the united states is ready for anything. he also said he will continue to pursue diplomacy. our national security correspondent jennifer griffin is at the pentagon. jennifer? it s rare for the secretary of state to give it is-down interviews to the press. he s done so twice in the last few weeks. rich edson had one. secretary of state tillerson and jim mattis are united when it comes to increasing north korea to get rid of their nuclear weapons. mattis describes tillerson as his battle buddy. the two are very close in this administration. we re not using a carrot to convince them. we re using large sticks. that s what they need to understand.
criticism of the congresswoman for making public this conversation, he s in an odd position though. he is no longer a general. chief of staff for an administration and president of that administration, of this country that brought this into the conversation by using conversations with gold star families to attack former presidents. yeah. anderson. what i would say, couple of things first. i consider john kelly a friend and comrade and battle buddy. we served together for 15 months in iraq, had quite a few exchanges in that period of time, i hope he feels same about me. we often talked about both of us having two sons in the military. wife and i had two sons and daughter-in-law who served nine tours in combat. i can t imagine the knock on the door was like for him and his wife. attended the funeral and been
congresswoman for making public this conversation. he is in opposition, though, because he is no longer general. he s now the choef of staff for an administration and it s the president of that administration, the president of this country who actually brought this into the conversation by using conversations with gold star families to attack former presidents. yeah, anderson, what i d say i want to say a couple things fist. i consider john kelly a friend and a comrade and a battle buddy. we served together for sa months in iraq. we had quite a few exchange during that period of time. i hope he feels the same way about me. and we often talked about both of us having two sons in the military. my wife and i have two sonds and a daughter-in-law who served a total of nine tours in combat. i can t imagine what the knock on the door was like for him and his wife. my wife and i attended his son s funeral at arlington. i ve been to section 61 and 60 multiple times as well.
veterans and our active duty and one of the organizations i support is david faherty s first troops foundation. we came up with a thing operation warrior call, no more someone taking a pledge, hey, i will reach out to one of my buddies to check on their welfare. if they need any help or guidance i will do the best i can to help them. as well as having the courage to reach out to my buddies if i need help. and what it is, it s a chance to be honest with each other. a chance to reach out and check on your battle buddy. keep that continuity and keep that comradery we always love. we talk about 22 suicides a day. it is closer to 30. it is something that we have the resources to help them but the resources are for people that call in or walk into one of these facilities and there is nothing that really reaches out.