- [Event Host] Ladies and gentlemen,
it is my privilege to introduce your head table
for the 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Luncheon.
(patriotic music)
Command Sergeant Major James P. Wills,
Interim Command Sergeant Major United States Army Reserve.
(drum roll)
(applause)
(patriotic music)
Command Sergeant Major Christopher P. Kepner,
Command Sergeant Major Army National Guard.
(applause)
Chaplain Brigadier General Thomas Solhjem,
Deputy Chief of Chaplains, United States Army.
(applause)
Lieutenant General Timothy Kadavy,
Director, Army National Guard.
(applause)
Lieutenant General Charles Luckey,
Chief Army Reserve Commanding General,
United States Army Reserve Command.
(applause)
Sergeant Major of the Army Daniel Dailey.
(applause)
General Gustave Perna,
Commanding General, United States Army Materiel Command.
(applause)
General Robert Brown,
Commanding General, United States Army Pacific.
(applause)
General Robert A. Brooks,
United States Army Forces Command.
(applause)
General David Perkins, Commanding General,
United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.
(applause)
General Vincent Brooks,
Commander, United Nations Command,
Combined Forces Command,
United States Forces Korea.
(applause)
The Honorable Patrick Murphy,
Under Secretary of the Army.
(applause)
The Honorable Eric Fanning,
Secretary of the Army.
(applause)
Nicholas Chabraja,
Chairman, Association of the United States
Army Council of Trustees.
(applause)
General Carter Ham,
United States Army Retired,
President and Chief Executive Officer,
Association of the United States Army.
(applause)
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our honored guest
and keynote speaker, Chief of Staff of the United States
Army General Mark Milley.
(applause)
Ladies and gentlemen,
the Eisenhower Luncheon honored guests.
(applause)
- Well, we're sorting out
some seating arrangements, which we're allowed to do.
Thank you all very, very much,
and welcome to the 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Luncheon
honoring our Chief of Staff.
Let me invite Chaplain Solhjem up to offer our invocation.
Chaplain, where are you?
There you are.
- Thank you, sir.
Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to join me
in a word of prayer.
Almighty God, we come into your presence,
thankful for our precious freedoms,
acknowledging that it is you
who has sustained us in both war and peace.
May you strengthen the relationships and partnerships
with AUSA that make our Army ready today,
and prepared for the future.
Give us, in the words of General Eisenhower,
the power to discern clearly, right from wrong,
and allow our words and actions
to be governed by you and by the laws of this great land.
Bless those special recipients today
that we recognize here,
these Noncommissioned Oficers
who have extinguished and distinguished themselves
in their service to our great nation,
for their achievements.
Fill our hearts with the awesome warrior spirit
as we seek to protect and defend our nation
in these uncertain and perilous times.
Keep the lamp of liberty burning bright
and our nation strong.
It is in your holy and mighty name I pray.
Amen.
♫ Oh, say can you see
♫ By the dawn's early light
♫ What so proudly we hailed
♫ At the twilight's last gleaming
♫ Whose broad stripes and bright stars
♫ Through the perilous fight
♫ O'er the ramparts we watched
♫ Were so gallantly streaming
♫ And the rockets' red glare
♫ The bombs bursting in air
♫ Gave proof through the night
♫ That our flag was still there
♫ O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
♫ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave
- Please be seated.
This is the Army,
so we have more to do than we have time to do it.
So I'm going to ask those of you in uniform,
and those of you who used to serve in uniform,
remember when you ate your dinner really fast
in basic training?
All right.
So, we're going to ask you
to expeditiously move through your salad.
We'll get the main course served promptly.
And then we'll proceed to the awards.
Enjoy your lunch, please.
Ladies and gentlemen, if I may,
ladies and gentlemen, again,
welcome to the 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Luncheon.
We have a great program in store for us today.
We're going to juggle the schedule a little bit,
and we're going to ask General Milley
and Sergeant Major of the Army Dailey to come forward,
and we'll do the awards presentations,
then followed by General Milley's remarks.
I will take this opportunity, so as to save a bit of time,
just to thank all the senior leaders who are here.
Secretary Fanning is here.
Secretary Caldera, former Secretary of the Army, is here.
Several former Chiefs of Staff,
General Reimer, General Sullivan,
General Vuono, General Shinseki.
And thank you all very much for attending.
Sergeants Major of the Army Chandler Preston
and Sergeant Major of the Army Tilley are here as well,
and we're deeply honored by your presence in this meeting.
So I thank you all for attending.
I saw Major Tilley's applauding himself.
We're very happy.
(laughter)
We're very, very happy for that.
He's allowed to do that.
He is absolutely allowed to do that as we move forward.
There are many, many other distinguished guests
in the audience today.
If you'll allow me to fall back on the tradition
that I learned at United States Africa Command,
and simply say, "All protocol observed,"
rather than spending the next 45 minutes
introducing all of the dignitaries who are here.
I would make one comment to General Milley
as he prepares to take the stage
and present the awards and make his comments.
It was this day, Chief, October 4th in 1948,
when the Cleveland Indians defeated the Boston Red Sox 8-0,
the American League Championship Series.
That's right!
(applause and cheers)
- Integrity is an Army value,
and you should never lie, Mr. President.
- (Laughs) Well, thanks.
Sergeant of the Army and General Milley,
thanks very much, and the stage is yours.
Thanks.
- [General Milley] Okay, we got 'em coming up?
- [Sergeant] Yep.
- [General Milley] All right. - [Sergeant] Put that down?
- [General Milley] Yeah.
I'm not announcing.
Who's my announcer?
This is very organized, coordinated, well-rehearsed.
(laughter)
Supposed to have an announcer for these guys.
- [Sergeant] I guess the announcer will be me, then.
- [General Milley] I think the announcer's about to become
Sergeant Major of the Army.
(laughter)
Here you go, Ranger.
(laughter)
- So, ladies and gentlemen, what we're going to do
is recognize our great soldiers.
The other day, we recognized the best warriors
in the Awards Luncheon for the Sergeant Majors of the Army,
with the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.
Today, we're going to recognize
those soldiers that built our Army and maintain our Army.
And we'll start off with our Recruiters of the Year.
Please come forward.
- [Event Announcer] Would the recipient
of the Stephen Ailes Award please come to the stage.
The Stephen Ailes Award is presented annually
by the Department of the Army
to the outstanding Drill Sergeant of the United States Army.
This year, outstanding Drill Sergeants
representing United States Army Training Centers
competed in a Headquarters U.S. Army
Training Doctrine & Command competition
for this coveted award.
The 2016 Army Drill Sergeant of the Year
is Sergeant 1st Class Martin Delaney III,
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
(cheers and applause)
- [General Milley] There you go, now do that again.
Now look at the cameras, and give a big, fake smile.
There you go.
Perfect.
- [Sergeant] Good job, Delaney.
- [General Milley] I'm glad we found you.
- [Event Announcer] Would the recipient
of the Ralph E. Haines Jr. Award please come to the stage.
The Ralph E. Haines Jr. Award
is given annually by the Department of the Army,
to the United States Reserve Drill Sergeant of the Year.
Outstanding Drill Sergeants
representing United States Army Reserve Training Divisions
and separate Brigades competed in a
Headquarters U.S. Army Training & Doctrine Command
competition for this coveted award.
The 2016 Reserve Drill Sergeant of the Year
is Sergeant Ryan Moldovan, 98th Reserve Training Division.
(applause)
Would the recipient of the
Finnis D. McCleery Award please come to the stage.
The Finnis D. McCleery Award is presented each year
to the Noncommissioned Officer selected as the very best
Advanced Individual Training Platoon Sergeant of the Year.
Outstanding advanced Individual Training Platoon Sergeants
representing United States Army Training Centers
competed in a Headquarters U.S. Army
Training & Doctrine Command competition
for this coveted award.
The 2016 Advanced Individual Training Platoon
Sergeant of the Year is Staff Sergeant Brandon Laspe,
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
(applause)
Would the recipients of the
General Maxwell Thurman Recruiting Excellence Award
please come to the stage.
The General Maxwell Thurman Recruiting Excellence Award
is given each year to the Active Duty Army National Guard
and Army Reserve Recruiters of the Year.
During General Thurman's tenure
as Commander of the US Army Recruiting Command,
he significantly improved the quality of Army enlistees,
and helped create the professional Army of today.
He also played a key role in fostering the public's
positive perceptions of America's Army
and its great soldiers.
His influence left a mark on Army recruiting,
and set a high standard for today's Army Recruiters.
The Noncommissioned Officers selected as
the Top Army Recruiters for 2016,
the United States Army Recruiter of the Year,
is Staff Sergeant Kenneth Heimsoth,
Greater Kansas City Recruiting Command.
(applause)
The United States Army National Guard
Recruiting & Retention NCO of the Year
is Staff Sergeant Amadou Traore, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(applause)
And the United States Army Reserve Recruiter of the Year,
Staff Sergeant Jesse R. Meyers, Quincy, Illinois.
(applause)
Would the recipients of the Retention in Excellence Award
please come to the stage.
The Excellence in Retention Award is given each year
to the Active and Reserve Component
Career Counselors of the Year.
Retaining the very best soldiers
is critical to the Army's mission
of growing and developing leaders for the future.
Career Counselors support Army Commanders
by identifying and counseling Soldiers
and Noncommissioned Officers of their value to the force,
and potential to serve
in positions of increased responsibility
in today's and tomorrow's complex world.
The Nonocommissioned Officers selected as
the Top Army Career Counselors for 2016.
United States Army Career Counselor of the Year,
Sergeant 1st Class Woody L. Woodside,
59th Signal Battalion,
Joint Base, Elmendorf, Richardson, Alaska.
(applause)
The United States Army Reserve Component
Career Counselor of the Year
is Sergeant 1st Class Barbara Grimm,
United States Army Reserve Joint Base,
Elmendorf, Richardson, Alaska.
(applause)
Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a big round of applause
for all of our outstanding Noncommissioned Officers.
(applause)
(cheers and applause)
- Okay, I get it.
Now it's my turn, I guess.
I was taking my hand and arm signals from Carter Ham,
so I'm gonna fold your book,
and you'll never find this page again, Carter.
(laughter)
So there you go.
Wow, this is a great crowd.
The first thing is, I wanna know who said, "Go Navy!"
over there to my left, and your right.
(laughter)
Can you identify yourself, please,
and subject yourself
to various forms of maltreatment up here?
Where's he at, where's he at?
- [Audience Member] Here!
- Where's that Navy, whoah, whoah!
Arrest that man!
(laughter)
Call security!
(laughter)
No, I'm actually Joint, 'cause my mom was in the Navy
and back in the day.
But let me first say thank you,
thanks to General Ham and all of you for being here,
but thanks to General Ham,
and I've known him for many, many years.
I worked for him when he was the DDRO,
the J33 on the Joint Staff.
I was a Colonel.
And later when he was J3 as well,
and there were other guys at the CNO.
Johnny Richardson was there with me,
and others like Dan Allyn
as the Vice Chiefs of Staff was there, and so many others.
And we absolutely loved coming in at 4:30 in the morning
and going home at 22:00 at night,
working for General Ham.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience,
working seven days a week.
(laughter)
and as the motto of the team was,
led by General Ham,
was, "Row well and live."
(laughter)
That was great.
Yeah, very positive climate, it was awesome.
(laughter)
No, actually, General Ham
was an incredibly great guy to work for.
And really, he's the representation
of what it means to be a soldier's soldier.
And thanks also to the Association of the United States Army
for providing yet again, every year, year in and year out,
a great venue to showcase America's Army
to the American people, and indeed, to the world.
And I want to particularly thank Secretary of the Army
Eric Fanning for being with us today.
As his first AUSA Conference as the Secretary of the Army,
and I want to take a moment
to just tell everyone here how proud, how very proud, I am.
As the Chief of Staff of the Army,
Eric Fanning is my wingman.
I've gotten to know him well.
And he's a man of tremendous talent.
He knows Washington D.C., he knows the Pentagon,
he knows the Hill.
He knows the White House.
But more than his skills at the Pentagon or in D.C.,
is his character.
And this is a man of immense personal courage
and incredible integrity.
So, Secretary Fanning, thank you,
and we are all so proud to have you
as our Secretary of the Army.
(applause)
And I want also to thank Secretary Murphy,
a long-distance cousin from the Philadelphia Murphys,
as opposed to the Boston Murphys,
but I want to thank you as well for your leadership
and unwavering support to the soldiers and their families.
And we as an Army are very, very lucky
to have both Secretary Fanning and Secretary Murphy
as our most senior civilian leaders.
So, thanks, Secretary Murphy,
thanks, Secretary Fanning, for your great leadership,
both of you.
(applause)
There you are.
I was looking around for you.
And I'm really glad to see everyone here,
and in fact, considering the quality
and the length of my remarks from last year,
I'm surprised anybody actually came back.
I noticed my Vice, Dan Allyn, already left.
He said, "I can't stand it.
"Just email me the text,
"I'll read it later."
(laughter)
we're practicing multi-domain battle
on a digital battledfield right now, between he and I.
And I was really glad, we got about 2,000 people here today,
or two or 3,000 in the room,
but I was really glad to shake
all 30,000 of your hands last night.
That was fun.
(laughter)
That was just awesome.
So, we have a lot of VIPs here today.
Former Secretaries of the Army,
an entire table of former Chiefs of Staff
that graded me out on every moment that I speak.
Lots of current and former Four-Stars,
who I ask to stay awake.
And Sergeant Majors of the Army, who I know will stay awake,
and all of the Sergeant Majors that are here.
But one group I would like to point out,
and I'd like to have them stand and be recognized,
is our Medal of Honor recipients and their families.
Lieutenant General Foley is here,
and Master Sergeant Leroy Petry's here,
and Mrs. Miller, the mother of Medal Honor Recipient
Staff Sergeant Robert James Miller, if you could each stand,
just to be recognized.
Thank you.
(applause)
And I must say that General Foley gets double kudos,
because he's from Boston,
and he's a charter member of the Red Sox Nation,
and Master Sergeant Petry wanted to be from Boston,
so, well done.
(laughter)
Hey, we've got a variety of joint and international allies
and partners here, and by the count that was given to me,
there's at least 54 different nations
represented in this room today.
Along with not only the Navy, but the Air Force,
the United States Marine Corps and the Coast Guard.
And our Army is only one part of a collective effort.
And we do not fight alone.
We've always fought alongside our brothers and our sisters
in the Navy, the Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard,
and with all of our allies and friends.
We, after all, deploy on Navy ships and Air Force planes.
And it's close air support
from either Navy or Air Force Air,
their fighters and their bombers.
That is always the first call that we in the Army make,
when we make contact with the enemy.
We, the United States Army,
we are truly blessed to have
the absolute greatest Navy and Air Force
that the world has ever known.
And when the bullets start flying,
it's the Navy and the Air Force
that are the Army's best friend.
And in my personal experience,
and in every history book I've ever read,
neither the Navy nor the Air Force
have ever failed the Army.
So thank you to all of our teammates
and our Joint and Allied Forces.
(applause)
But my main purpose today is actually to find a lawyer.
(laughter)
To find a lawyer to free Tom Brady.
(laughter)
Last weekend was devastating.
Shut out, no points on the scoreboard,
'cause Tom was lounging around on the Riviera.
It was killin' me.
And I know I got some New Yorkers out there
who are proud of that.
(cheering and laughter)
But to all of those New Yorkers,
I can only say at least one thing.
Where are the Yankees?
'Cause the Red Sox are on a roll.
(laughter)
Hey, look, and I do want
to talk to you about some serious stuff today.
I wanna talk to you about our future.
I'm gonna review, for a few minutes,
our current situation and our current readiness,
but then I want to delve into the future,
and lay out what I think we're facing in the years ahead.
But before we do that,
I'd like to go ahead and roll a short video clip.
It's about, I don't know, two or three minutes.
So I'd ask you to just pay attention to the screen.
So go ahead and roll the film.
- [General Milley] We deployed 60,000 soldiers
to combat this year alone, fighting ISIS and the Taliban,
and many other radical terrorist groups.
We've rapidly responded to a variety of exercises in Asia,
Europe, Central and South America, Africa,
to assure our partners and friends
while we deter our adversaries.
(dramatic music)
(rapid gunfire)
(cannons firing)
(tanks firing)
- [Male Commentator] This mission, in my view,
has one common thread. And that thread is readiness.
- [Video Narrator] Freedom is not free.
It takes sacrifices.
It takes lives.
And most of all, it takes training and readiness
by the United States Military.
- It's important because we never know
when we'll be called to actually do this
in real-life situations.
(dramatic music)
- You do the tasks, knock it out.
- [Female Commentator] We will, and must,
find the best robotics, the newest technologies,
and ensure that the best logistics
and transportation methods are available to our soldiers,
so they always have the advantage on the battlefield.
- [Male Commentator] We are providing you
with the best equipment possible.
I can tell you that.
(explosion booms)
(dramatic music)
- [Video Narrator] In the future,
we have to continue to recruit and retain
the very best talent from future generations.
(slow music)
- [Male Officer] There's nothing we enjoy more
than coming out in the fields,
where we learn more than anything
we could possibly learn in the Pentagon.
But I want them to know
how much their leadership appreciates want they're doing.
- [Male Commentator] You're doing with your lives,
the noblest thing that you can do,
which is to protect our people
and make a better world for our children.
- The Army's come a long way
when it comes to family support for our military,
and I'm very proud of what they're doing
today for the families.
- Understand that there are people out there
that care about you, you know,
and really want to look out for you.
And make sure you connect with those people
who want to be there for you.
- [Male Commentator] So as we look to the future,
it's incumbent that we maintain our capabilities
and our capacity as a militant.
- [General Milley] We will all look back, after victory,
and remember who participated in the fight.
- So we're sending a message.
You target Americans, you will have no safe haven.
We will find you, and we will defend our nation.
- [Male Interviewee] All Americans are created
equal and fair in this country,
and I'm willing to die for it, and so are you.
(applause)
- So that's your Army.
187,000 soldiers in 140 countries today.
There's not a lot of Tom Bradys or NFL players
that could do half of what our soldiers do,
and on this team, we actually stand for the national anthem.
(applause)
So a year ago, I stood before you
and said that the number-one priority for Army
is readiness for war,
and that remains true today.
The global security environment remains volatile,
uncertain, complex, and it demands high readiness.
Resurgent, revisionist, and unstable states
and radical terrorist organizations
continue to pose challenges to international order,
and undermine peace and stability.
We have made progress.
We've made progress in the fight to destroy ISIS,
that's clear.
We've made progress in halting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
But the broader security environment
still remains unsettled.
The strategic resolve of our nation, the United States,
is being challenged,
and our alliances tested in ways we haven't faced
in many, many decades.
In this environment,
the United States Army remains
the world's premier armed forces,
the foundation of America's Joint Force,
and the Army is part of the Joint Force,
along with our allies and partners,
must be ready to win, must be ready to fight tonight.
And readiness remains our number-one priority.
But we simultaneously have to build
the right force for the future.
We're always taking care of our soldiers
and their families and the great Army civilians,
as they all remain our most valuable asset.
But I want to be clear.
I want to be unambiguous.
I wanna be clear to those
who try to oppose the United States.
I wanna be clear to those who wish to do us harm.
I wanna be clear to those around the world
who want to destroy our way of life
and that of our allies and friends.
The United States Military, despite all our challenges,
despite our OPTEMPO, despite everything we've been doing,
will stop you, and we will beat you
harder than you've ever been beaten before.
Make no mistake about that.
And the United States Army,
(applause)
And the United States Army
is America's combat force of decision,
and when the political leadership
of the United State decides to deploy its Army,
and when we show up on your turf,
and you know the game's for real,
and the stakes are for keeps.
And the other thing you know is you're gonna lose.
You will lose to the American Army.
Make no mistake about it.
We can now, and we will remain in the future,
remain the capability to rapidly deploy.
And we will destroy any enemy, anywhere, anytime.
So I stand here today and I caution the enemies of America
who doubt or misread our capability.
Many enemies have grossly underestimated
the United States and its people in the past.
They've underestimated our national resolve.
They've underestimated our capability, our skill,
and our combat power.
And each made a fatal choice,
which ended with their enrollment in the dustbin of history.
The same will be true with any enemy
that makes that mistake today or tomorrow.
But while we are ready now,
and will remain so in the future,
we are also facing tough strategic choices.
And we are being increasingly challenged
with very capable potential adversaries,
clearly acting in opposition of our interests.
It's our aim to deter war.
But if deterrence fails, we as an Army, we as a nation,
must be prepared to fight.
And the pain of preparation
is always less than the pain of regret.
Never forget that deterrence is expensive.
And the only thing more expensive than maintaining capable,
ready forces is actually fighting a war.
And the only thing more expensive
than fighting and winning a war
is fighting and losing a war.
And our job as an Army,
our contract with the American people and the people's Army,
we make this contract with all American citizens,
that we, the United States Military,
we, the United States Army, will never lose a war.
And yes, as Secretary Fanning said just yesterday,
you have to pay for it.
And the cost of victory, it's very expensive.
It costs a lot of money, a lot of treasure,
and a lot of blood.
So we find ourselves in a difficult place.
Our readiness to fight a war against the high-end,
near-peer adversary has eroded in the last 15 years,
as we fought and continue to fight against terrorists
and guerrillas in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.
We were highly successful in ripping apart Saddam's army
in 1991, ejecting him from Kuwait.
We shattered his army again in 2003.
Similarly, we destroyed the Taliban
and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in very short order.
But we had difficulty consolidating gains
and adapting to a counter-insurgency fight.
We eventually made the necessary changes.
The Army mortgaged our future.
We mortgaged our future readiness, our modernization,
in order to adapt and sustain
the fights in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We reduced the size of our forces significantly
since the end of the Cold War
and the so-called Peace Dividend,
and we significantly reduced our Army modernization budget
by over 75% in the last decade,
and 30% in the last three to four years alone.
While we focused on the CT and the COIN fight,
other countries, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea
went to school on us.
They closely watched how we fought in '91 and '03.
They studied our doctrine, our tactics, our equipment,
our organization, our training, and our leadership.
And in turn, they revised their own doctrines,
and they are rapidly modernizing their military today
to avoid our strengths,
in the hopes of defeating us at some point in the future.
Recently, a senior Russian official,
Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko,
he said, "The established world order
"is undergoing a foundational shake-up,
"with the Crimea, Ukraine, and Brexit."
He went on to call for the dismantling of NATO
and the European Union, and he said,
"Russia can now fight a conventional war in Europe and win.
"Russia is the only country
"that will remain relevant forever.
"Any other country is dispensable,
"and that includes the United States.
"We are endgame now."
He said that all, just 30 days ago.
Bluster, hubris, vibrato?
Or does he mean what he says?
Does he believe it?
And more importantly,
do the leaders in the Kremlin believe it?
Well, history tells us to be careful.
It's always wise to believe
foreign leaders' declaratory policy,
as most nations tend to
telegraph their strategic intentions.
So we've taken a number of steps over the last year
to increase our readiness in the total Army.
Our regular Army, our Guard, and our Reserve,
we've increased the number of
ECTs going through high-end,
full-spectrum war fighting rotations
at the Combat Training Centers at Polk and at the NTC.
Going through these rotations are Guard Brigades,
and we're about to double that for the National Guard,
to four annually.
And these additional rotations
are improving readiness throughout the Army,
current readiness, but also improving our future readiness,
by creating a pool of leaders
that are now developing multiple rotations,
hitting the slat over and over again,
in the most challenging training environment
against a world-class OPFOR that realistically portrays
the current projected threat environment.
We've also initiated our regular Army and National Guard
Associated Units pilot program,
which is strengthening the bonds
between the Active and National Guard components,
increasing the readiness of the total Army.
And we are seriously considering
increasing the number of annual training days
for selected National Guard Units,
so they will be able to more rapidly deploy
in the event of conflict.
We've also significantly increased
our combined Arms Live-Fire programs,
both at Home Station, Combat Training Centers.
And we've also increased
the frequency of our MAC and Armored Gunneries,
improved our artillery skills
to deliver mass, timely and accurate indirect fires.
We've re-energized our forcible entry
airborne and air assault capabilities,
and renewed our rapid-deployment capability
with increased emergency deployment readiness exercises
both in Conus and overseas.
In short, our readiness is steadily improving
across the entire formation of the United States Army.
But our progress is slow, and it's going take consistent,
predictable funding and much more time and effort
to reach the levels we need to
in order to provide our political leadership
capable options that adequately reduce current risk
to both mission and force.
And we are also planning to field-train,
advise, and assist brigades and multi-domain task forces
in our force structure
in order to sustain our efforts to defeat terrorists
by, with, and through regional partners,
and free up conventional brigade combat teams
to regain much needed training time
to hone their skills at the higher end of warfare.
Another critical effort
to improve readiness is our acquisition reform,
being led by Secretary Fanning.
This is a top priority for us.
We must do better.
We can do better.
We must exploit our science and technology
to create options and have an acquisition task system
that's up to the task, an acquisition system
that can deliver on time and on budget.
We cannot afford acquisition failures.
We cannot afford systems that are late to need,
and we must not send tomorrow's soldiers into harm's way
with yesterday's equipment.
As Secretary Fanning discussed yesterday,
many of the initiatives we are putting in place,
like the revised Army requirements process
and the Army Rapid Capabilities Office,
are just but two examples.
In the near term, our equipment modernization strategy
will continue to focus on critical capability areas
like lethality protection, the Mission Command Network,
integrated air and missile defense
rotary wing and ground mobility,
emerging threats and a rapid development of our offensive
and defensive cyber capabilities
as part of a Joint Force-wide effort.
In the near term, the Army will continue to invest
in incremental improvements,
with the highest operational return on existing systems,
and build new systems only by exception.
So readiness for combat, readiness to fight tonight,
remains our number-one priority.
But the future is actually going to come.
The future is gonna be here pretty soon,
and sooner than many of us may like.
So, we must look over to Hill.
We must look past the challenge and demands of the present,
and ensure that our future Army is equally ready
to fight and win.
We must work now to anticipate the broad nature
of the challenges we face, the threats we will confront,
and the options we will need to present to our leadership.
Which future force decisions must we make in our own time,
and which can we defer to those leaders that follow us?
Over the past year, led by TRADOC,
we have dedicated significant time and resources
to thinking about drivers of change,
and the future operational environment.
How warfare is changing and how we must adapt our doctrine,
our organizations, equipment, training,
and leader development.
We must also take a huge humility pill here.
Eat a little humble pie,
and recognize that the future is not really knowable
in any kind of detail
and frankly, we're not gonna get it right.
But as the great British historian Michael Howard said,
"You don't have to get it right.
"You just have to get it less wrong than your enemy."
And it's my belief that here we are,
on the cusp of a fundamental change
in the character of warfare, and specifically
ground warfare.
The nature of warfare is not going to change.
It's immutable.
It's still a political act, war is,
a decision by humans to impose their political will
on their opponent by the use of violence.
War will still be characterized by chance,
fog, and friction, and will always be a dynamic interaction
of competing human wills.
And its cause will likely still adhere
to Thesidyses's famous analysis
of fear, pride, and interest.
But the character of war, how wars are fought,
where wars are fought, with what weapons and technologies,
organizations and doctrines,
in short, the ways and means of war, is, in my view,
about to undergo fundamental,
profound, and significant change.
That change will not happen on a certain day
or even in a year.
In fact, we're undergoing that change right now
as we sit here.
And we've been in the midst of it for some time.
That change is evolutionary, not revolutionary,
but it is no less profound.
And I suspect that the organizations and weapons
and doctrines of land armies between 2025 and 2050,
in that quarter-century period of time,
will be fundamentally different from what we see today,
and we'll likely have in the few years ahead.
Think of the difference between the smooth-bore musket
and the rifle, or the rifle and the machine gun.
The difference between muscle power of foot soldiers
and horse cavalry, and the machine power of tanks,
trucks and airplanes.
Think of the shift from guidons and flags and drums,
to the telegraph, telephone and radio.
Think of observations of the limits of the human eye,
to the introduction of the radar,
the shift from sail to steel and steam,
the shift from dumb bombs to smart bombs.
A soldier of 1865 could not imagine a soldier of 1918,
even less so a GI of 1945 or a grunt of 1965.
That was pure science fiction to the Yank or Johnny Reb.
Rapid change, however, has become increasingly compressed,
especially in the last 150 years.
And I would submit to you that those of us today
will find it difficult to recognize the battlefield of 2035,
let alone 2050.
It is that kind of profound shift,
that shift from 1865 to 1918, or even to 1945,
that I am talking about, that is ongoing right now.
And it is the result of a series of geopolitical, economic,
societal, and technological change,
some of long duration and some relatively recent,
that is driving this change.
But I believe we are definitely going to see it.
And history offers some caution here.
In all of the past cases of significant change
in the character of war, the elements were all present
prior to the war, but few, if any,
ever realized the significance.
And the armies that did see the change
and adapt accordingly usually prevailed,
at least at the beginnings of wars.
All the elements of World War I were visible
in the Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War,
the Boar War, the Russo-Japanese War.
But very few understood their profound impact
in the summer of 1914, as Europe slid over the abyss
into a devastating world war,
the consequences of which we still feel today.
A few years after the War to End All Wars,
all the technologies of armor, mechanization,
wheeled vehicles, airplanes and radio,
they were all available to all the great powers
in the 1920s and '30s.
But only Germany, only Germany
combined them in a concept of war
in a way that led to incredible battlefield success
from 1939 to 1942, when their opponents rebounded
and realized the mass of industrial might,
and adjusted their doctrines, organizations and equipment
under the pressure of war,
to eventually destroy the Nazi Reich.
In the failure to see,
the failure to connect those dots pre-World War I,
the failure to see and the failure to connect those dots
in the 1920s and '30s, cost a hundred million lives,
a huge amount of blood,
and years and years of human suffering.
It is our task, the task of you and I, the task of us,
both civilian and military, to do better.
To see the trends, and to get the future
less wrong than our enemies.
So what do we think is shaping that future,
out to about 2050?
Unfortunately, war between nation states, in my view,
is very unlikely to remain relegated to the history books.
Although constrained by a variety of factors
such as the incredible financial cost and human cost of war,
the incredible lethality of modern weapons,
various international regimes and organizations
designed and dedicated to keep the peace,
it is my firm belief, and I hope I'm wrong,
but I believe that war is not yet purged
from the inventory of human behavior.
Although there is clearly a diffusion of power
in the international system,
with the rise of various non-state actors,
a nation state is still the fundamental,
and most important element,
in the international system,
as it has been since the Treaty of Westphaila in 1648.
And each nation state is still considered sovereign,
although those boundaries are clearly under pressure.
Most importantly, there is no single higher power
in the international system, with the legitimacy,
authority, and power to enforce the global order
as most functioning nation states
routinely do within their own boundaries.
Their is clearly growing instability,
as many countries are proving fragile,
and certainly do not control the widespread use
of organized violence within their own borders.
But it's also clear that the nation state remains
the basic actor in the system, and is likely to remain so
to at least 2050.
And the most important, core national interest of any state
is to survive.
Survive, in a system of international anarchy.
Survive, in a system with no higher order.
And absent a higher authority, each nation
must dedicate itself to secure itself.
And because there is no higher authority,
and because security is the primal interest of each state,
conflict between nation states is virtually guaranteed
at some point.
There's been some huge geopolitical shifts in history.
The Fall of Rome in 476, the rise of Western Europe
in the 1500s.
The rise of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.
The dominance of the United States
in the immediate post-World War II era.
The collapse of Soviet Russia.
And today, today we are in the middle of yet another
major geopolitical change.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall,
the U.S. essentially was the unchallenged global,
military, political, and economic power.
And we were experiencing what some have labeled
a unipolar moment.
That is changing, and changing fast.
The United States has a significant challenge
in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
In Europe, we see a revantist Russia,
which modernized their military
in pursuit of aggressive foreign policy in Georgia,
Crimea, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
In Asia, we are in the third decade
of the biggest global economic shift in five centuries,
with the world economic center of gravity
moving from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific,
and resulting in a rapidly rising China
as a great power with a revisionist foreign policy
backed up with an increasingly capable military.
Also, in Asia, we are faced with a rogue North Korea
that is rapidly increasing their missile and deliverable
nuclear weapons capabilities.
In the Middle East and parts of Africa,
we see instability from terrorism in many places,
and likely to continue as a very concept of the nation state
comes under intense pressure.
While we also still see a revolutionary Iran,
carrying out various maligned activities
to assert its regional dominance.
In short, the global order since the end of World War II,
and for sure since the end of the Cold War,
is under significant stress in areas of vital interest
to the United States of America.
And we know from history that unipolar and bipolar
international systems tend to be very stable.
But we also know that multipolar systems
are inherently prone to competition, confrontation,
instability, and state-on-state wars.
We are entering that multipolar future, and in fact,
we've probably been in it for a few years.
The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper,
in his now-famous Litany of Doom testimony, said that,
"Unpredictable instability is the new normal.
"We are seeing the highest rate of instability
"since at least 1992.
"And that Russia sees itself in direction confrontation
"with the West, that China continues its robust
"military modernization program,
"directly aimed at what they consider to be U.S. strengths,
"with training exercises unprecedented
"in scope, scale and complexity."
And then he concludes that in his 50 years,
"50 years in the intelligence business,
"I cannot recall a more diverse array
"of challenges and crises that we confront as we do today."
John Brennan, the Head of the CIA, echoed similar comments
as well as many respected civilian foreign policy
and security analysts.
"In addition to the international order undergoing
"significant stress and fundamental change,
"we are witnessing significant demographic change,
"with mass migrations for both security and economic
"reasons, as people flee war-torn regions to survive,
"while others move from resource- or job-scarce areas
"in search of a better life."
For whatever reason, the bottom line is that
massive amounts of people, in unprecedented numbers,
are moving from one country or one region to another,
which is amplifying destabilizing effects.
One of the most militarily significant mass migrations
is the movement of people to cities,
which has really been going on for well over a century.
75% of Americans lived in rural areas 100 years ago,
while today, that number is completely inversed,
with almost 70% of Americans living in urban areas.
Globally, we are witnessing urbanization on a massive scale.
In 1950, only two cities, New York and Tokyo,
had populations of over 10 million people.
Today, there are 38, and it's projected by 2050,
there will likely be over 50 megacities
of over 10 million inhabitants,
with 70% of the world's estimated 8 billion people
living in urban areas.
If war is politics by other means,
and politics is all about people and power,
then future wars are almost certainly going to be fought
mostly in cities, which has significant
implications for the military.
Climate change is yet another, likely significant
driver of future instability, and has been
long in development.
We know that the seas are rising.
We know that now,
and most of the world population
lives near the water's edge.
There is also significant impact on various resources,
not the least of which are
the basic elements of human life, i.e. food and water.
We are witnessing the disappearance of freshwater lakes
and rivers in many parts of the globe, like Lake Chad,
for example, projected to disappear by mid-century.
With it goes a major water source for Central Africa,
which is already in turmoil for many other reasons.
The possibility of devastating effects of resource conflicts
in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia,
is very, very real.
Lastly, the maturity of various technologies
that either exist today,
or are in advanced stages of development,
when combined, are likely to change
that very character of war, just all by themselves.
Information technology exploded in the mid- to late 1800s,
and has been on an upward curve for the last century
and a half.
Today's Internet, iPhones, Big Data,
and soon-to-be Internet of Things, are either here,
or just over the horizon, and it has become cheap
to the point where there are way more
Internetted communication devices today
than there are people.
In just a few years, it's expected
there'll be 50 billion Internet-connected devices,
in a world of 6 to 7 billion people.
The ubiquitous effect is that almost no matter where you go
in the world today, it's observable from some device.
The ability to surveil, to see, to communicate,
is levels never before seen in human history.
Almost everyone and everything is a potential ISR platform,
capable of transmitting real-time information,
that if properly analyzed, can be useful intelligence
which can significantly help, or seriously hinder,
military decision-making and operations.
And the proliferation of information technologies
is rapidly diffusing power once held by nation states,
and potentially accelerates instability,
as witnessed during the Arab Spring.
And with the advances of information technology,
we are now seeing an entire new domain of warfare
in the form of cyber.
This is an area of truly dramatic change,
with very significant military implications.
Serious cyber capability is, right now,
being developed and employed by major nation states,
and it is entirely possible to inflict widespread damage
on an opposing country's economy or military
solely through the use of cyber tools.
We see this in our daily lives now,
with hackers and cybercrime and impostors and the like.
But that is a relatively minor nuisance,
compared to the resources of an advanced nation state
like Russia, China, or even North Korea and Iran
can bring to bear.
The predecessor of cyber is, of course,
electronic wafare.
And electronic warfare capabilities have been advanced
rapidly over the last 20 years.
And they have reached unprecedented levels
that can significantly degrade or shut down
friendly communication networks.
We're also seeing the rapid development of robotics,
especially in the commercial sector.
Many analysts are projecting a significant impact
on future jobs and potential elimination
of entire job categories
in areas like transportation and service industries.
Some predict an entire overhaul
in the type of work humans will do in the future,
and expect robots to be pervasive
in our everyday life within just a decade.
Of course, we already use robots in the military,
in a limited way, with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,
as most commonly known.
But the scope of robots in military operations
is not yet widespread, and that is likely to change
in the very near future, as unmanned fighter bombers,
unmanned surface and subsurface naval vessels come online,
and we are likely, very likely,
to see the increased use of robots in ground operations
as the technology matures.
In fact, my Russian counterpart has publicly set
an objective that one-third of the Russian military
will be robots by 2020.
That's in four years.
He may not actually achieve that goal,
but his intent and his direction is clear.
We are also in the midst of major change
in lethality and the proliferation of precision munitions
to most nations in varying degrees of quality and quantity.
Lethality against fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft
has also advanced significantly in the last two decades,
so air space can be denied,
even to the most sophisticated and expensive aircraft.
Land and sea launched ballistic missiles have proliferated
throughout the world, and land-air or sea-launch
cruise missiles have done the same
to deny either the maritime or air domains.
What was once the exclusive province
of the United States Military is now available
to most nation states
with the money and will to acquire them.
There are wide variety of technologies
developing in synthetic fuels, 3D manufacturing,
medicine, human engineering and enhancement,
all of which will likely have
significant military implications as well.
And finally, finally, there is
the mother of all technologies, artificial intelligence,
where machines are actually developing
the capacity to learn and to reason.
There's lots of ethical and moral issues
associated with these technologies,
and especially in their applications to warfare,
but there's no doubt in my mind that
the combination of geopolitical, societal,
natural, economic, and technological change
is rapidly converging in time and space,
and will likely result in the most
significant and profound change in the character of war
we have ever witnessed throughout all of recorded history.
And whatever overmatch we enjoyed militarily
for the last 70 years, is closing quickly,
and the United States will be, in fact we already are,
challenged in every domain of warfare, space,
cyber, maritime, air, and course land.
So what are the logical implications, and what must we do,
to prevail as an army and in future combat?
First thing, is to understand the basic, likely outlines
of that future world.
Although we cannot determine the exact environment
we will have in 2030 or '40 or '50 or beyond,
we can, with rigorous analysis,
determine what the world is likely to look like
in its broad outlines.
There will surely be lots of surprises
along the way to the future.
But we can get the basics about right,
develop the forces and the weapons
and the equipment that we need to protect our great nation.
And then we have to place the big bets,
the big bets in research and development,
in science and technology,
while simultaneously conducting legitimate and genuine
experiments with our forced designs and our doctrine.
And this mean, to us, the Army,
that every assumption we hold, every claim,
every assertion, every single one of them,
must be challenged.
War, war tends to slaughter the sacred cows of tradition,
of consensus, of groupthink, and myopia.
The next war will be no different.
Those of us, or those nation states,
that stubbornly cling to the past will lose.
They will lose that war, and they will lose it in a big way.
We should think of nothing in the past as sacred,
except the concept of victory.
The structure and organization of our Army,
both operational and institutional,
may change drastically,
and we must be open-minded to that change.
We may not have divisions, or Corps, or tanks, or Bradleys.
We don't know yet.
But we are on a serious and deliberate campaign
of learning to figure it out, and I can tell you
we need to figure it out pretty fast.
And it's better for us
to slaughter our sacred cows ourselves,
rather than lose a war because we are too high-bound
to think the unthinkable.
At this point, we can say a few things we've learned,
over the last year of study that we've done intensely,
about future high-end war between nation states
or great powers.
In the first, not surprisingly,
is that we'll be highly lethal, very highly lethal,
unlike anything our Army has experienced
at least since World War II.
With sensors everywhere, the probability of being seen
is very high, and as always, if you can be seen,
you will be hit and you will be hit fast,
with precision or dumb munitions.
But either way, you'll be dead.
So that means, just to survive, our formations,
whatever the wire diagram looks like,
will likely have to be small.
They will have to move constantly.
They will have to integrate and desegregate rapidly.
They will have to employ every known technique
of cover and concealment.
In a future battlefield,
if you stay in one place for longer than two or three hours,
you'll be dead.
That obviously places demands on human endurance,
on equipment.
But I can guarantee you, the days of victory base,
the days of Bogrun,
or other static locations for comfort or
command and control, will not exist on a future battlefield
against a high-end threat.
That fact requires a significant change
in our current methods of thinking, training, and fighting.
Additionally, the battlefield will be highly complex,
almost certainly in dense urban areas,
against an elusive, ambiguous enemy
that combines terrorism and guerrilla warfare alongside
conventional capabilities
mixed with large civilian populations.
Our Army, for the last 241 years,
for two and half centuries,
has fought mostly in rural areas, rolling plains,
and open deserts.
Yes, we were in Bagdhad, we were in Whay, we are in Occam.
But for the most part, it was rural areas,
rolling plains, or open deserts.
In the future, we're gonna have to
optimize ourselves for urban combat.
That fact, and I believe it to be a fact,
has huge implications on intelligence collection,
vehicle and weapons design and development,
logistics, communication systems, and mission command.
Can tanks elevate their guns to near-vertical?
Can UAVs fly down alleyways?
Can radios communicate through multi-story buildings?
How do we develop intelligence inside underground areas
of a city?
How do units and people move and maneuver?
How do you do target discrimination and identify
friend from foe, from non-combatant?
All of that, and more, will be extraordinarily difficult.
Army operations in complex, densely-populated urban terrain
is the toughest and bloodiest form of combat,
and it will become the norm, not the exception,
in the future.
The battlefield will also be nonlinear.
Compartments and units will have non-contiguous
battle space, with significant geographical separation
between friendly forces.
This type of battlefield will place a very high premium
on independent, relatively small formations,
that are highly lethal and linked
to very long-range precision fires.
Our formations will come under enemy fixed-wing,
rotary-wing, UAV, and missile attack on a routine basis.
Dominance of the air by the United States Air Force, which
the Army has enjoyed since the Normandy Landings in 1944,
will no longer be a luxury that we can assume
in the next war.
That means our units are gonna have to be combined arms,
multi-domain-capable.
We will still have to fight and destroy
land-based enemy units and seized terrain.
But the Army, yes, the Army, we're going to sink ships.
And we're definitely going to have
to dominate the air space above our units,
from hostile air or missile attack.
This is gonna require sophisticated air defense
capabilities that are not currently in our unit inventories.
In fact, just this morning, a few hours ago,
we began to roll out our multi-domain battle concept,
where all of our Army will maneuver
in all of the domains to gain temporal advantage,
enable the Joint Force freedom of action,
to seize the initiative.
And we will employ our great mobility.
We will employ our advantage in fires, both long-range
and close.
And we will conduct cross-domain fires, and land forces
will, both horizontally and vertically,
integrate all of the Joint Force in all of the domains.
And it will be armies that will be central
to winning future wars.
Because the enemy NI Access and area denial capabilities,
and their development over the last decade,
land-based forces now are gonna have to penetrate
tight areas in order to facilitate air and naval Forces.
This is the exact opposite of what we have done
for the last 70 years,
where air and naval forces have enabled ground forces.
To do that, we're gonna have to develop ground capabilities
that can see and shoot at very long range,
far in excess of what is available today.
The sustainment challenges will be significant.
Life will almost certainly be extremely austere,
water, chow, ammo, fuel, maintenance, and medical support
will be about all that we should plan for.
Pizza Huts, fast food, mail, showers,
and any other comfort items should not be expected
on this battlefield, at least not as a matter of routine.
And our lines of communication will, for sure,
be contested and probably denied.
Being surrounded will become the norm, routine,
the life of a unit in combat.
In short, learning to be comfortable
with being seriously miserable
every single minute of every day
will have to become a way of life for an Army
on the battlefield that I see coming.
The ability of units to product and purify their own water
and locally-manufacture their own spare parts
with 3D printing may become a necessity.
And if the lines of communication can be opened,
then resupply convoys will likely be autonomous robots,
or remotely-controlled convoys,
because they will be the only acceptable risk method
of supply that we can get to forward troops.
Our strategic lines of communication,
and ports of embarkation and debarkation
will absolutely be challenged.
We will have to fight just to get to the fight,
and we will have to rediscover the art of port openings
under pressure, at scale, and relearn the skills
of strategic sea and air rapid deployment to introduce
combat power before the strategic ports are closed.
And Mission Command, Mission Command will be
one of our toughest challenges.
Crises will unfold rapidly, compressing decision cycles
and response times.
Ambiguous actors, intense information wars, and cutting-edge
technologies are going to confuse situational understanding.
Information overload is gonna be a problem
for every echelon, and separating the wheat from the chaff
will place a premium on information management systems.
The sheer volume and speed of conflicting information
which can easily bring decision-making to a screeching halt,
and of course, that will only be a problem
if the electronic systems even work.
Our Army, in fact, our Military,
and that of our adversaries, are highly dependent
on reliable, secure electronic systems,
not only for communication but for fires, navigation,
and other functions.
There's a high probability, a certainty really,
that anything electronic will come under cyber or EW attack,
and that we will be operating routinely in a
partially- or significantly-degraded environment.
That means we must invest in hardening our systems,
and equally important, training on the techniques
of operating with limited electronics.
That will be a shocker for all of us,
but it will be a reality.
We might actually have to read a paper map again,
and learn how to use a lensatic compass.
More significantly, we will have to seriously
train and prepare ourselves for decentralized,
independent operations based on Mission Command,
to execute the higher command as visualization and intent,
without ever having actual contact
with our higher headquarters, for extended periods of time.
Imagine not being able to talk to the Pentagon
or the White House.
That will be reality.
This method will have to become a reality
in everything we do, a basic M.O., a basic modus operandi,
and not just a buzzword in briefings and classrooms.
And that brings me to people,
our most valuable asset and arguably our most significant
asymmetric advantage inherent in the American Military
in the United States Army, for we come from a society
of improvisers, a society of tinkerers, innovators,
problem-solvers, techno-savvy at an early age,
and independence of action comes natural to all Americans.
Self-starting initiative, disdain of boundaries and rules,
nonlinear critical thinking and aggressive will to win,
coupled with an eternal optimism to overcome all obstacles
to achieve the objective, all of that is hard-wired
in the national DNA of an American soldier.
Our leader development programs, Officer and NCO
schooling and training and individual soldier training,
is gonna have to amp up in order to leverage
the already-present, inherent qualities
in all of our soldiers, from Private to General.
In the absence of supervision, the willingness
to disobey specific orders to achieve the intended purpose,
the willingness to take risk, to meet the intent,
the acceptance of failure in practice,
in order to learn from experimentation,
these are all going to have to be elevated
in the Pantheon of leader traits.
And finally, there is character.
On a non-contiguous, nonlinear battlefield
with little higher command supervision,
and maximum decentralization, we must, we have to,
develop leaders who have incredible character
under intense pressure.
Leaders who can be trusted to do the right thing
when no one is watching except the enemy and the news media.
Leaders who make the right moral and ethical choice
in the most emotionally-charged environment humans
can ever face, the environment of ground combat.
And those leaders will not only be responsible
and empowered, but they will be accountable
for both their results they achieve
and the values they hold.
So in short, the next 25 years are not gonna be like
the last 10, and they're not gonna be like the last 25.
The accumulating challenges we face
in the changing character of war
is unlike anything our current force has ever experienced
in intensity or lethality.
So we are developing those capabilities
while sustaining our CT and POINT capabilities.
And our potential adversaries are already moving out,
so we really have no choice.
It's a tall order, for sure, to operationalize
and execute multi-domain, trans-regional battle,
to project power into contested theatres,
to project power into all domains,
to fight inside denied territory,
to fight in urban areas that are highly populated,
with all of its complexities,
and to survive and win in an intensely lethal
and distributed battlefield,
and to create leaders and soldiers that can prevail.
Tough, yes, but impossible?
Absolutely not.
We are the United States Army,
and we don't shrink from tall orders.
We're the United States Army, and our enemies
need to know that these colors don't run from tough fights.
We will adapt, and we will evolve our current force,
but in the end, we will win.
That much, I can tell our enemies
that they can take it to the bank.
And I am not speaking only to our Army,
for our Army does not win wars on its own.
Nations, not armies, go to war.
So we need the support of industry,
we need the support of our civil leaders,
we need the support of Congress.
We cannot do this alone.
We have our allies, we have our Joint Partners.
But we've got to have the entire nation.
In the last year, we focused on current readiness
and applied time and money to building it,
and it's improving, and will remain our top priority.
And now, we have to define and build the Army of the future.
And we're heading in the right direction on both fronts.
The process that we develop to think critically
and deliberately is working.
And it's guiding our investments and decisions.
But our nation expects us to be ready, and to win,
so we're going to have to get this less wrong
than whoever opposes us.
And we're gonna have to do that in order to pass
to the next generation the gifts of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness
that have been so granted to us.
You know, 100 years of relative peace
separated the Napoleonic Wars from the abyss of Word War I,
when nations and empires marched off to their destruction,
blind, blind to changes in war that existed
before the battle was ever joined.
We are now over 70 years since the last great power war.
That was the most destructive war in human history,
a war that both my parents fought in.
A noted Classics historian recently wrote
that he sees an increase in nationalism
and regional arms races, unresolved territorial claims,
ethnic and sectarian disputes
and a return to 18th Century balance of power politics
with spheres of influence.
And he concluded that there's a light breeze in the air,
and it may turn into a storm.
And he concluded at the end of his essay,
"that a hard rain is about to fall."
So let us, here, now, and in the present,
let us commit to not march into that abyss
blind to the changes.
Let us, for once, for once, in our own history,
not be unprepared for the next first battle.
Let us have the vision to change,
and to prevent the war from happening in the first place.
But if it does happen, let us create an Army
that will prevail on that battlefield,
in the unforgiving environment of combat.
The leaders of tomorrow, the leaders of that Army,
are the Sergeants and the Lieutenants of today.
They will be the Command Sergeant Majors and the Colonels
and the Generals of this Army of the future,
and representative of these great young and women
are two of our very best,
Army Specialist 24-year-old Robert Miller,
of the 25th Infantry Division,
and 21-year-old Specialist Trey Castor,
from 175 Rangers, who placed 1st and 2nd
in this year's Best Warrior Competition.
They represent all, all that is good about our Army,
and they give us hope for a better future.
So I ask both of them to come up on stage with me,
and I ask you to rise and join with me
as we promote both of them to the rank of Sergeant
and get them on the road to our future.
(applause)
All right, Attention to Orders.
Published Orders.
- Attention to Orders.
Headquarters Department of the Army
has reposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism,
valor, fidelity, and abilities
of Specialist Robert D. Miller
and Specialist Trey L. Castor.
In view of these qualities,
they demonstrate a potential for increased responsibility
and are promoted to Sergeant
with date of rank 4 October 2016.
(applause)
- [Officer On Far Left] Let's give
one more big round of applause.
(applause)
- [General Milley] Here you go.
Wrong one?
(laughter)
- [Officer On Far Left] We'll just change your nameplate.
(laughter)
- [Unidentified Officer] All right, awesome!
- All right, thank you very much.
We're gonna turn the microphone over to Colonel Ham
because I know we're late,
but I haven't been to a meeting
that I've been at that I have ever been on time,
so there you go.
(applause)
- Thanks very much, Chief.
I see General Cody is here,
and I'm reminded of an occasion several years ago
when General Cody was Vice Chief of Staff,
and I was a One-Star, as General Milley related.
And General Cody would bring us together periodically,
and he asked me one day, he says,
"Who's that Colonel you got working for you, Willie?
"You know, Willie, he's got some potential."
I think you got some potential, Chief.
I think you're doing okay.
You've laid out a tough challenge for near-term raiders,
and for raiders of the future.
This Army is ready for that challenge,
because this is an Army like no other.
And it's led by the extraordinary leaders
that are growing in our ranks today.
And if we invest in them,
this Army will meet the challenges that you have laid out,
and I pledge to you, and to all here,
that this Association, your Association,
will be with you every step of the way
as we continue in our mission
to be a voice for the Army and support for soldiers.
Thank you all very, very much.
We'll see you on the exhibit floor.
(applause)
- [Event Host] Ladies and gentlemen,
this concludes our luncheon.
Please remain in your seats
until the head table has cleared the room.