Very core. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the secretary of defense and the honorable jim mattis. [applause] thank you. Thanks very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, general. Hes an old friend of many years and its an absolute delight to be here with you all. I do appreciate being invited to Something Like this. I can we found no place in washington dc today that i feel more at home then here amongst all of you. Acting secretary mccarthy, we first met each other in those very uncertain days after 911 in afghanistan and we served together for many years after that. Thank you for coming back to the colors, sir, its a pleasure to serve with you once again. General millie, we have served together, we know each other over many years, you have the dna of he was you must in your veins and you bleed red white and blue and the army could not be in better hands right now. Sergeant major daily, besides deciding to go out on the Obstacle Course this morning that Army Ten Miler yesterday was just your warmup for this morning. In the truest tradition of army ncos for you lead from upfront and put yourself in difficult circumstances voluntarily, thank you for your leadership as well. After that, i will go down to the recruiting office to sign up for another four years and i guarantee you. [applause] it was also something that to remind us about the priority that secretary mccarthy has made it very clear in his time in office and that is for readiness and we will talk more about that i will be pleased to take questions at the end of this and lets see if i can close the gap i recognize that whatever ranks we wear today or we once wore in this room we are all coequal in our devotion to this wonderful magic experiment that we call america and protecting our people and our constitution. We are coequal in that and that is one thing that the American Forces have always had in their ranks. Its a sense of coequal devotion. Im honored to be here with you today, you hold the line in this world and i want to mention something about the veterans. In my talk to soldiers on the front line that just returned from afghanistan a few days ago the only thing i think they would ever fear is letting down you and the legacy that you bequeathed to them and they know based on what nothing could be worse than what you face in your most difficult days. That builds their confidence and especially for me on a personal level, a thank you to the Vietnam Veterans who stayed in as we heard in the presentation this morning, stayed in the army, rebuilt the army and they were the veterans who raised me in the marine corps and made me the marine i was. To all veterans and especially the Vietnam Veterans, you have my deepest affection for what you have committed to our country. [applause] thank you. Thanks very much. To our medal of honor winner into all of you who been decorated and recognized for valor in combat, i just want to say to you, in great deeds something abides, regardless of which port you earned the respect of your fellow warriors for your example of courage echoes today down through our rings. To our goldstar families who join us here today as general chamberlain of the 20th maine said years after the civil war we paid daily to be worthy of your sacrifice. Thank you. [applause] as your secretary of defense, i am honored to join you and im grateful to serve once again alongside soldiers of the greatest army and the most trusted army on earth. To serve once again among the discipline, ethical, capable, highspirited soldiers whose character i have seen rise to every occasion in the worst possible circumstances. Soldiers who are always at their best when the times are at their worst. Soldiers who general George Washington would be proud of for 242 years now youve set the standard. You are the soldier descendents today of ragged continentals who left buddy footprints at valley forge. You, from lexington to bastogne, to the [inaudible] iteration after generation you have carried our flag in your hearts and the patriots fire in your belly. Its a fire that keeps alive our experiment that we call america and an experiment to determine if the government of the people, by the people, and for the people can long survive. A united army, united in commitment that stands as a model for our fellow citizens of what americans who stand united can do. Our armies ranks today are filled with willing, high quality patriots all volunteers and again, i am very proud to serve with you. The International Situation is the most complex and demanding that i have seen in all my years of service. That is over four decades. In the mid east, tears continue to adduct murder and mayhem despite significant and accelerated losses. One state sponsor of terror in the middle east cannot hide behind its nationstate status while in effect it is actually a destabilizing revolutionary regime. In europe, for the First Time Since world war ii, we have seen National Borders change by the force of arms, as one country proved willing to ignore International Law to exercise the Veto Authority over its neighbors right to make decisions in the economic and Diplomatic Security domains. In the pacific we have seen northwest korean publication threatening regional and even global peace despite universal condemnation by the united nations. This is the reality that bases our department of defense and our likeminded allies and we must have militaries fit for their purpose, but for their times and in these days of emerging challenges. These challenges include new domains of conflict in space and in cyberspace. In ways that involve deniable attacks even on our democratic processes. Your department of defense is adapting because we do not want to be dominant at the same time irrelevant and i offer this problem statement for what must guide our efforts. How do we maintain a safe and Effective Nuclear deterrent so these weapons are never used and are nonproliferation efforts can be recharged. Second, how to maintain a decisive conventional force at the same time is that Nuclear Deterrent. One that will include a space and cyberspace capability to deter war or end it decisively as conflict occurs. Third, we must, at the same time maintain any regular capability so we can fight across the spectrum of conflicts. This is our problem statement, how to maintain a safe and secure Nuclear Deterrent and maintain a decisive conventional force that can also fight irregular warfare. Our department has three lines of effort to address these issues. First, everything we must do must contribute to the increase [inaudible] of our military. We must never lose sight of the fact that we have no godgiven right to victory on the battlefield. Secretary mccarthy and general millie are examining every personnel policy, our training time, or organization in more to ensure they contribute to make us the most lethal, joint force in the world. Even as our Competitive Edge over our foes and adversaries decreases due to budgetary confusion and missed count in the budget test. I am among the majority in this country that believe our nation can afford survival and i want the congress back in the driver seat of budget decisions, not in the spectator seat of automatic cuts. [applause] i have great confidence in the u. S. Congress but i have no confidence in automatic, mathematical budget cuts. Second, we are following the example of the greatest generation coming home from the tragedy of world war ii and who looked around and said what a crummy world. We are part of it, whether or not we like it, and we will do something about it. In that spirit they built alliances and partnerships. In the same spirit today we are strengthening alliances in building new partnerships whether it be nato, the counter Isis Coalition, the 39 nation standing together in afghanistan and expanding friend and partner bonds in the end of pacific region. Secretary of state tillerson defeat Isis Coalition is only one example of what this looks like in practice. Sixtynine nations banded together plus for international organizations, the arab league and nato, the European Union and interpol all working in concert to defeat isis. We also stand with our traditional allies as well as building new coalitions as we Work Together to defend our values into our allies in our room today i have to tell you i had the honor of fighting many times for america. [applause] under deputy secretary of defense shanahan, our new depp tear secretary deputy secretary and full of vigor, under him lies most of the continued effort for number three, and that is the keen direction that he is helping to provide secretary mccarthy and his fellow appointees to rework our Business Practices to gain full benefit from every dollar spent on defense. We are taking aggressive action to reform the way we do business and to gain and to hold the trust of the congress and the American People that we are responsible stewards of the money allocated to us. And that it translates directly, every dollar, into the defense of our country and what we stand for. In all of this, the armys importance is absolutely fundamental. Historian t. R. Fairen bach once wrote you may fly over a nation forever, you may bomb it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life, but if you desire to defend it, if you desire to protect it, if you desire to keep it for civilization, you must do this on the ground the way the roman legions did, by putting your young men in the mud. I would only modify it today by saying by putting your young men and women in the mud. [applause] and this is why, this is why the army is so critical to our nations security. I have, by now, grown rather remote from so many of you who man the ramparts, those of you who have looked past the hot political rhetoric to rally to the flag in the age of our high quality, allvolunteer force. Yet while i no longer have the opportunity to get to know you personally, i do know your character. You could get out of the army and make more money. You could get out of the money and see more of your families. You could do any number of things, but you have the hasnt hasnt the habit of putting others first, of putting your country first. At Antietam Battlefield cemetery, the statue of a lone soldier stands atop a pillar looking out across the graves of his fallen comrades. Hes a private, and he is nicknamed old isaac, and inscribed on the pillar he stands above, quote not for themselves, but for their country. Whether you spend a few years in your youth in the u. S. Army, ladies and gentlemen, or grow gray in the service to our beloved nation and its constitution, rest assured you will always look back on the sacrifices of war, the demands of sergeants and the frustrations of unpredictable deployments as the best years of your young lives. And even those of us denied the opportunity by our ranks to stand physically beside you every day, nonetheless, we join your fellow citizens in humbled awe of your willingness to sign a blank check payable to the American People. A blank check payable with your lives to defend our revolutionary ideas enshrined in our declaration of independence and our constitution putting freedom above all else. Now, if you want to know where i see modern war trending, id just ask that you reread general milleys remarks from a year ago at this very convention. If you want a reminder of wars primitive and unrelenting nature, reread this kind of war. If you want to see why i believe command and feedback must supplement our approach to command and control, read rules of the game by gordon. If you want to know where i come from in terms of strategy, read the future of strategy by colin gray, the midwest nearfault most nearfaultless strategist alive today. And most importantly, when it comes to you willing and magnificent soldiers, those from general George Washington to today carry our hopes on your shoulders, i say that you need only follow the army creed we just all saw on the screen and recited. We need you at the top of your game in body, mind and spirit, physically, i salute generals milley and frosts initiative to toughen the physical standards that they now have underway for the u. S. Army. Im reminded that general schwarzkopf in the years after vietnam served under a korean war veteran when he was a battalion commander, a Brigade Commander who insisted on tougher soldiers knowing what he had faced in the korean war. Mentally, i want you to enhance your warfighting skills, assuming every week in the army is a week to get better at integrating all army and joint efforts to become more tactically cunning. So body and mind must be matched with the spirit, and spiritually, ladies and gentlemen, we need our soldiers to build your own and your comradesinarms resilience to take tests of your character in stride on the most primitive environment on earth. Let me close with a reminder to todays troops through a veterans eyes. I want to go back to world war ii, the greatest generation. Today as we sit here, there is a 91yearold world war ii combat veteran from maine. The veteran is mr. Richard lincoln, and hes now live anything a Veterans Home in maine. He and his three brothers all fought in world war ii, and he is the last surviving one. Mr. Lincoln has a remarkable story. As a 17yearold from a very small town of wayne, maine, a town of less than 1,000 people, and standing just five foot five inches tall, i wondered as i read that, was that the effects of malnutrition during the depression. Mr. Lincoln served as a first scout in the 88th Infantry Division in a battle which was a grueling and historically important Amphibious Assault in the italian campaign, an Amphibious Landing against long odds which permitted the allied capture of rome. He repeatedly risked his life on the front lines to identify enemy artillery battles, regularly enduring enemy fire and never shrinking from enormous dangers. The 88th became the first draftee division to enter a combat zone in world war ii. In 344 days of combat, the 88th Infantry Division lost 2,298 men can killed in action and 9,225 men wounded. The blue devils, as they were called, proved that with rigorous training, sound teamwork, competent leadership and fierce determination, an alldraftee division was more than capable of fighting well against welltrained, wellequipped and battlehardeninged enemy. When the allies liberated rome on june 4th, everyone wanted to be the first into rome, but the alldraftee88th became the first with division to enter the city. Although overshadowed by the normandy invasion two days later, you all know the capture of rome was a significant victory for the allies. For his Heroic Service in that campaign, mr. Lincoln was awarded the bronze star medal. And on june 4th, 1944, the day when he and his fellow soldiers of the 88th Infantry Division entered rome, Richard Lincoln turned 18 years old. Mr. Lincoln was and is today a humble, earnest, selfeffacing man, grateful to be an american. He knows what it felt like to be shot at from very close range every day for months since being a scout was about as close to the front lines as it gets. To this day, he wonders how he is survived when so many comrades did not. He says he thinks it might have been because i was short, which is [laughter] a wise point. I never envied tall men on the battlefield myself. [laughter] but i would tell you, too, that mr. Lincoln is one of those who created the legacy of the american army, the most trusted, the most ethical, the most capable army in the world. One built on physically tough and tactically competent soldiers under ncos and officers at the top of their grim game. From shiloh to the bulge to pork chop hill and the deserts this generation of soldiers face, the army has always stood and delivered. So to all the veterans in the room, you set an uncompromising bar that every one of of us on y today must live up to. We know we will never face something worse that what you maintained your dignity and your honor throughout. So to every veteran in this room, to every mr. Lincoln whos hailed from maine to hawaii, from alaska to puerto rico, thank you for standing by the red, white and blue. And, ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for having me here. May i take your questions. [applause] thanks very much, mr. Secretary. We took the liberty of collecting some questions from our members and others and appreciate you taking time to answer just a few. So the first one is we just saw a program that highlighted how the army expanded and transformed quickly 100 years ago to meet the demands of world war i. What insights from world war i seem most relevant to you as the army faces challenges today . I appreciate the presentation earlier, because whenever you look back at history, you realize that while Technology May change, we really face nothing new under the sun. And we often times come up with good ideas in old books and reading history. I think the message i was thinking as i watched that presentation was the need for readiness. There was a comrade by the name of john who was a younger general once said to me, you know, if you were sitting in my chair and he was in the joint staff in those days in 1810 and you said where are we going the fight in the next ten years, not one of us would have guessed, i think the royal navys going to sail right up that river outside my window and burn this town to the ground. Well, you say thats a long time ago. He says think about 1910. How many would have said that were going to be in europe in the next ten years, and the u. S. Army strung out from forts all across the indianfighting west would never have forecast theyd be wearing gas masks with airplanes dropping bom