(trumpet fanfare)
- [Announcer] Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my privilege
to introduce your head table,
for the 2017 Dwight D Eisenhower Luncheon.
(upbeat music)
Sergeant Major Robert Morgan.
Acting Command Sergeant Major, Army National Guard.
(applause)
Command Sergeant Major Christopher Kepner.
Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief
of the National Guard Bureau.
(applause)
Chaplain Brigadier General Thomas Solhjem.
Deputy Chief of Chaplains, United States Army.
(applause)
Major General Michael Howard.
Commanding General, United States Army
Military District of Washington.
(applause)
Lieutenant General Timothy Kadavy.
Director Army National Guard.
(applause)
Lieutenant General Charles Lucky.
Chief Army Reserve, Commanding General
United States Army Reserve Command.
(applause)
Sergeant Major of the Army, Daniel Dailey.
(applause)
General Gustav Perna.
Commanding General, United States Army Material Command.
(applause)
General Robert Brown.
Commanding General, United States Army Pacific.
(applause)
General Robert Abrams.
United States Army Forces Command.
(applause)
General David Perkins.
Commanding General, United States Army,
Training and Doctrine Command.
(applause)
General James C McConville.
Vice Chief of Staff of the Army.
(applause)
General Joseph Lengyel.
Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
(applause)
The Honorable Ryan D McCarthy.
Acting Secretary of the Army.
(applause)
Phoebe Novakovic.
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.
- Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the 2017
Dwight D Eisenhower Luncheon.
I invite Chaplain Solhjem to come invoke a blessing
and then please remain standing for our national anthem.
- Ladies and Gentlemen please join me in prayer.
Almighty God we come into your presence,
acknowledging that it is you who has sustained us
in both peace and war.
We ask that you incline our hearts with love and affection
towards our fellow citizens, and particular those
whom have served in our military.
Give us, in the words of the infamous statesman
and leader 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.
Fill our hearts with a warrior spirit
as we seek to protect and defend our nation
in these uncertain and perilous times.
Instill in all of our leaders the values and virtues
recognized today, and may our army continue to act and serve
in a way that garners the trust and confidence
of our republic.
Now and always we give you thanks for the privilege
of being called an American soldier, guardians of freedom
and the American way of life.
In your holy name I pray, Amen.
♫ Oh say can you see
♫ By the dawn's early light
♫ Once so proudly we hail
♫ That 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
♫ Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
♫ O'er the land of the free
♫ And the home of the brave
(applause)
- Yeah I don't know about you.
That's my very favorite song in the whole world.
Thank you, the Army Band and Chorus, thank you.
(applause)
And to the loan voice in the wilderness,
you're just flat wrong this year.
All right Ladies and Gentlemen enjoy your lunch,
we'll be back with more soon, thank you.
Okay Ladies and Gentlemen, again, good afternoon.
Good afternoon, please continue to enjoy
your delicious lunch.
How about a great round of applause
and thanks to this great staff here
at the convention center, thanks.
(applause)
We are again very very pleased, all of us pleased,
that you've joined us here for the 2017
General Dwight D Eisenhower Luncheon,
building on this theme, building readiness.
America's army from the Great War to multi-domain battle.
It is, this annual meeting is America's premier
land power exhibition and symposium.
It's made that premier status because of you
so thank you all very very much.
Let me welcome a couple of very special guests
that have joined us for today's luncheon.
First.
Medal of Honor recipient, Master Sergeant Leroy Petry.
Sergeant Petry, where are you?
(applause)
I'm trying to find him.
Somebody wave, he's here some place.
You can usually find Sergeant Petry,
'cause he's usually got his dog Tommy with him.
So if you see him wandering the halls,
please take an opportunity and say thanks to a great soldier
and a great hero, a great patriot.
We are also honored today to have several former
Secretaries of the Army joining us.
Secretaries Caldera, McHugh, Fanning and, most recently,
Secretary Speer, thank you all very very much.
A round of applause for our great civilian leaders.
(applause)
The former Deputy Secretary of Defense,
the Honorable Rudy de Leon.
That's right, come on.
(applause)
We have former Chiefs of Staff for the Army
joining us today.
General Vuono, General Sullivan, General Reimer
and General Shinseki.
Thank you gentlemen for your long service to our army.
(applause)
Former Sergeants Major of the Army, Jack Tilley,
Ray Chandler and Ken Preston.
Thank you all for your great service.
(applause)
Sergeant Major Tilley, his normal quiet and reserved self.
He doesn't like applause actually.
He really likes hooah, so can we give Sergeant Major Tilley
a big hooah.
- [All] Hooah!
- Is that better Sergeant Major?
You okay now?
All right you can have your dessert.
Lots and lots of other distinguished guests here.
This is a great opportunity and we're gonna recognize
excellence for soldiers and non-commissioned officers
and they achieve that excellence because of the example
of the senior non-commissioned officer leadership
of the United States Army.
May I ask all Sergeants Major and Command Sergeants Major
to please rise, let us thank you for your long service.
(applause)
There's a lot of excellence in this room tonight,
or this afternoon.
Let me ask those soldiers, non-commissioned officers,
who have been recognized at home station
or through various competition, as the outstanding
non-commissioned officer, outstanding soldier
for your various units, organizations, bases and commands,
please let us thank you for your great accomplishments.
All those of who have achieved that status, come on,
there you go.
(applause)
As with the opening ceremony, we're honored to have
so many of our allies and partners represented
at this luncheon.
Your presence here signifies the strong bonds that exist
between the United States Army and our partners.
May I ask our international partners,
please rise and let us thank you
for being here with us today.
(applause)
As General Milley reminds us constantly,
this is a team effort and it's an international team effort.
We're honored to have you here.
This luncheon is traditionally an opportunity
for the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Staff
and the Sergeant Major of the Army,
to recognize army-wide excellence, and so may I invite
Secretary McCarthy, General Milley,
and Sergeant Major of the Army Dailey to the stage please
for the awards presentations.
- [Announcer] Would the recipient of the
Stephen Ailes, Ralph Haines Junior Award
please come to the stage.
The Stephen Ailes, Ralph Haines 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 Headquarters US Army Training
and Doctrine Command competition, for this coveted award.
The 2017 Army Drill Sergeant of the Year
is Staff Sergeant Chad Hickey, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
(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 non-commissioned 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 US Army Training
and Doctrine Command competition for this coveted award.
The 2017 Advanced Individual Training Platoon Sergeant
of the Year, is Staff Sergeant Bryan Ivery,
Defense Language Institute,
Presidio of Monterey, California.
(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.
And he 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 high standards for today's army recruiters.
The non-commissioned officer selected as the top
Army recruiters for 2017.
The United States Army Recruiter of the Year
is Staff Sergeant Christopher Geber,
Chicago Recruiting Battalion, Illinois.
(applause)
The United States Army National Guard Recruiter of the Year
is Staff Sergeant Brian Campagna,
California Recruiting Command, Simi Valley, California.
(applause)
The United States Army Reserve Recruiter of the Year.
Sergeant First Class Richard Barcus.
Healthcare Recruiting Command, Sacramento, California.
Would the recipients of the Retention in Excellence Award
please come to the stage.
The Excellence and 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 non-commissioned 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 non-commissioned officer selected as
the top Army Careers Counselors for 2017.
The Active Army Career Counselor of the Year
is Sergeant First Class Gwen Van Etten,
United States Army Special Operations Command,
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
(applause)
The Army Reserve Component Career Counselor of the Year
is Sergeant First Class Matthew Wienczkowski.
Forces Command, National Guard Bureau, Vienna, Virginia.
(applause)
The United States Army Reserve Career Counselor of the Year
is Sergeant First Class Robert Jones.
7th Battalion, Army Reserve Careers Division,
Seattle, Washington.
(applause)
Ladies and Gentlemen please join me in a round of applause
for all of our outstanding non-commissioned officers.
(applause)
Now Ladies and Gentlemen please direct your attention
to the screens for a short video,
highlighting soldiers across our army.
(upbeat music)
- [Man] Our arms must be mighty.
Ready for instant action.
So that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk
his own destruction.
(repeated gunfire)
- [Man] In the 100 years since World War I,
your army has been the world's most powerful.
Effective and ready to fight land force.
And the American soldier has stood as our nation's
most visible and enduring symbol of strength
in an era of persistent and ever-evolving conflict.
- [Man] Each and everyone wearing the uniform today
of an American soldier, is carrying on the legacy
of the soldiers that came before you.
You truly are helping make the world a safer place today.
^And as the Chief of Staff of the Army,
^the priority I'm gonna focus on is readiness.
^And the second priority I'll focus on
^is the future force of the army.
^That is the army of the 20, 25, 2030, 2040 timeframe.
^- [Man] To meet today's challenges,
^while looking ahead to those in the future,
^your army must be manned, trained, equipped,
and ready to provide our nation a full range of options
for the defense of our national security interests,
at home and around the world.
And we must always put in the forefront
our number one asset.
The American soldier.
- [Man] You are our hero.
But you are all our heroes.
Thanks for your heroism.
Thanks for your humanity.
Thanks for who you are.
You represent all that it is good in the American soldier
and our way of life.
(applause)
- That may be a voice that might be somewhat
familiar to you, on that video.
And we'll soon hear from the 39th Chief of Staff
of the Army.
Chief, though, I was thinking as we were standing there.
It struck me that the temperature's a little bit cool
in this room.
So I thought I'd put on a jacket,
just to kind of get through your speech.
(laughing)
What do you think?
All I can say is we're still in it and he's not.
(laughing)
Ladies and gentlemen, the 39th Chief of Staff
of the United States Army, General Mark Milley.
(applause)
- Nice.
I'll keep that.
I'm gonna keep that hat.
I have something I want to do with that later.
(laughing)
So Carter Ham is in fact retired.
And look at, my wife said last year's speech was
an hour and 18 minutes long.
And she said whatever I do don't tell any jokes up front
so I will not talk about the Red Sox
and I don't expect any jokes about the Red Sox.
We're done.
It's over Secretary McHugh.
I don't wanna hear about it.
And I don't wanna hear from anybody from New York or Chicago
in this crowd, but go Cubs.
Hey look at, thank you General Ham
and thanks for that great introduction
with the Cleveland Indians, I really appreciate that.
But I really do, and everyone here does
appreciate your leadership, for AUSA
and all the tireless work that you and the team do
in support of our army, and actually to put on this event
which is quite large and quite complex.
So how about let's give it up for General Ham and AUSA.
(applause)
And, you know, we have Secretary McCarthy here.
Everyone knows that he is from Chicago, he is a Cubs fan,
Blackhawks fan, Bears fan, and all of that.
So we're gonna forgive him that,
but he's a long-time friend of mine.
I've known him for quite a while, for over a decade now.
A graduate of VMI, came in as an infantry officer.
Served in the Ranger regiment.
Significant amounts of combat early in the war years.
Good time up on the Hill, working as a staffer.
Did some time in industry, and obviously he worked
very closely with Secretary Gates,
and he has exquisite knowledge of the Department of Defense.
We are very very blessed and lucky to have him today
as our Acting Secretary of the Army and, in my view,
he's the right man at the right time in the right place
and I know he's a man who's committed to our army.
He's here for the right reasons.
He is my sixth secretary in 24 months.
But I also know this one's here for the long-haul.
So Secretary McCarthy thanks, thanks for your service
and thanks for coming back and answering the call
to the colors.
(applause)
And look at this, a boatload of distinguished people in here
in fact everyone here is distinguished.
And I want to acknowledge all of you but I won't.
So consider that all due protocol is hereby acknowledged
at this time.
But there are a few that I do wanna single out.
First I wanna single out the members of Congress
and the staffers that are here,
we had breakfast with them this morning.
You know we're a representative democracy
and the United States Army cannot survive long
without the support of the United States Congress
so thanks for what you do up on the Hill
and I would just ask you one thing,
would you please pass a budget.
(applause)
As you heard Carter Ham say, there's several former
Secretaries of the Army here.
Many former Chiefs of Staff,
former Sergeant Majors of the Army,
and a room full of veterans.
I just want you to know that today's army appreciates
your leadership over many many years
and that we will continue in the footsteps
that you put before us, and we know full well
that we stand on the shoulders of your accomplishments
and we promise and commit to you
that we will not let you down.
To our industry partners, and there are many
in the room today.
I wanna thank all of you for your continued support
to the war fight.
You know seven decades ago, when General Eisenhower,
the namesake of this luncheon,
was leading our forces in Europe against Nazi Germany,
companies like the three generals, General Motors,
General Dynamics, and General Electric.
Companies like Ford and Chrysler, Boeing, Lockheed,
Springfield Armory, Coal, US Steel, and many others,
turned auto plants into tank factories and truck factories,
and rolled mountains of munitions off of
civilian assembly lines.
We built a ship a day and turned out 300,000 aircraft
and 62,000 tanks, in a little less than four years.
In a very short time we transformed America's army
from a hollow shell of only 200,000 soldiers in the 1930s,
to an eight million soldier, fully equipped,
91 division global force, that defeated multiple enemies
in nine theaters of war simultaneously.
American industry became the arsenal of democracy.
Freedom forged for not only the United States
but it also provided two thirds of all equipment used
by our allies.
Industry is routinely criticized by many,
including General Eisenhower, in his own day,
and myself today, but we all recognize that we could not be
the most powerful military in the world
without the support of the American worker.
Armies do not go to war, nations go to war.
And the army, navy, air force and marines
are built upon the foundation of a great economy
and a powerful industrial base.
So thank you for being here today
and thank you also for your great support
over so many years.
(applause)
You know the army does not fight alone.
We fight as part of, a key part of the joint force
with our brothers and sisters in the navy, marines,
and air force, and many of them are here.
You heard one earlier as the loan voice,
the canary in the mineshaft.
Where are you there Navy?
All right, he's quiet now so that's good.
Just 'cause you couldn't meet the standards of the army,
that's okay.
(laughing)
But we do accept you, so.
But in addition to our joint force
and our brothers and sisters in arms
in the American military, there are 71 nations represented
in the room today, and when our nation goes to war
we go with our allies and partners.
And we are much stronger as a result.
And thanks also, and I'd ask you always keep them
in your memory and prayers and thoughts every day,
because while we're here in this ballroom,
and while we are here in DC, we have 182,000 soldiers
committed to supporting combatant commander requirements
in 140 countries around the world,
manning the parapets of freedom frontier.
And we are all proud of the over 35,000 soldiers
from the total force who have helped fellow citizens
with hurricane recovery efforts,
to the people of Texas, Louisiana, Florida,
the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico,
who are fighting desperately to get back on their feet.
And we should all reflect on the tremendous effort
of the police, the EMT's, the doctors, the nurses,
and the common citizens, who responded not only
to the natural disasters of hurricanes,
but to the senseless mass murder in Las Vegas last week.
Our people, the American people,
pull together in difficult times, and our first responders
are the first line of defense in all of our communities.
They all deserve our total respect and support.
(applause)
And Mass Sergeant Petry thank you.
Thank you for being here and representing a group of people
who have earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.
You represent, in my view, and I've know you
for quite some time now, all that is good
in the American soldier.
I wanna thank you personally, on behalf of everyone
in this room and an entire nation,
for your sacrifice and your courage and your commitment.
Thanks again and I appreciate your efforts.
(applause)
You know, on 7 October 2001,
United States military forces entered
the country of Afghanistan.
And since then we have been at war against terrorists
around the world.
That fight is not over, as we are reminded this past week,
when we lost seven soldiers.
Five in combat, and two in training for combat.
And today we are all deeply humbled by the presence of
the Gold Star mother of Captain Torre Mallard,
who belonged to the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment,
and was killed in action in March 2008, in Iraq.
To you and all the Gold Star families that you represent,
we in uniform today, we vow to never forget
and to always honor the sacrifice made
by your guardians of freedom.
Thank you so much for being here today.
(applause)
Two years ago when I became the Chief of Staff
and I did my first one of these, and then again last year,
I've emphasized readiness, combat readiness,
as our number one priority, and that hasn't changed
and it's not going to change.
Over the last 12 months the need for readiness, in my view,
has only become more apparent and more urgent.
Last year I talked about the changing character of war
and the future battlefield environment.
That description of our future combat environment
remains valid today, and it actually may be accelerating.
This afternoon I'll give you an update on what we've done
to be more lethal and more ready,
and on our modernization priorities,
to ensure that we achieve the readiness of the future.
But first, let's review why readiness is number one.
Why is it that we must be ready?
Well, you don't have to have access
to top secret intelligence.
All you have to do is pick up the newspaper
or watch the news.
As we've been saying for some time now,
the global order of the last seven decades,
since the end of World War II, is under increasing stress
and the world is becoming more complex, more unstable,
and more dangerous, as our nation faces
many security challenges around the globe.
These challenges have been a long time in coming
and are likely to get more difficult before they get better.
In Europe, the adversary we face
has increased its capabilities through modernization efforts
and demonstrated their aggressive actions
over the last decade.
We can avoid open conflict in Europe
only if we remain and maintain a robust, combat capable
deterrent posture, to prevent any further aggression.
In Asia we clearly see a rising power
that is rapidly modernization their military
in pursuit of their national aspiration to become
the dominant regional power and a global co-equal
of the United States.
In both regions, both Asia and Europe,
our adversaries have been studying our strengths
and our vulnerabilities and are developing capabilities
to exploit those vulnerabilities.
They've steadily eroded our competitive advantage
and are rapidly closing the capability gap
that we have long enjoyed.
Both are clearly challenging us
in the gray zones of competition,
just below the level of war.
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
General Dunford, has characterized one as the most
significant threat in terms of overall capability
and the other as likely to become the greatest threat
to the United States within a decade.
If we are to maintain our security as a nation
we must reverse these trends in the coming years
or we will be witness, in fact we will usher in,
we will be enablers, to a much different
and more insecure world, for the American people.
In the Middle East we see another state
attempting to become the regional hegemon,
seeking to overturn the existing regional political order,
by using asymmetric means in a variety of areas
to undertake, undermine, key US interests.
Continued vigilance in this area and continued strength
will be necessary to protect our interest
and support our friends and partners.
In the same region of the Middle East,
and indeed throughout the world, we also continue to face
a long-term fight against the long reach of terrorists.
A fight that has deep historical and systemic causes,
and will require our continued commitment
to ensure our nation is protected.
Our strategic approach, and this fight is sound.
We will work by, with, and through our regional partners,
to assist them in establishing stability.
We have made significant progress, steadily ripping apart
the so-called ISIS caliphate in both Iraq and Syria,
places like Mosul, Raqqa, and the Euphrates River Valley.
We continue to battle Al-Qaeda, ISIS
and all of their affiliates, wherever we find them,
and we have reinforced our effort in Afghanistan,
where multiple terrorist groups operate
along the Afghan back border.
But it is on the Korean peninsula where, in my view,
we find the most dangerous near-term threat
to the United States, and the world today.
It is no secret that North Korea is rapidly developing
inter-continental ballistic missiles,
with nuclear weapons that can strike
the Continental United States,
which could result in the deaths of millions of Americans.
North Korea has always been aggressive with their rhetoric
and their threat of conventional action,
but now they are becoming a threat
that combines devastating capability
with a declaratory intent to use that capability
against our allies and our homeland.
If history has ever told us anything
do not ignore their words,
when their words are combined with capability.
Hardly a week goes by when North Korea
does not threaten their neighbors, or the United States,
with nuclear attack.
For the United States,
as SecDef Mattis said, just yesterday,
it is clear we seek a peaceful, diplomatic solution,
and our State Department is our main effort,
working closely with our friends in South Korea, Japan,
and others like Russia and China,
and many many other countries.
In fact, the entire international community,
through nine United Nations resolutions,
has condemned North Korea's actions, and no one wants a war.
All recognize that a war on the Korean peninsula
would be a tragedy on a huge scale,
with intense levels of violence in dense urban areas,
enormous damage to infrastructure,
and economic effects felt worldwide.
And most importantly, there would be significant loss
of human life.
A level of war on a scale that few in the world today
have ever seen.
However, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Dunford said it best in recent testimony.
He said that a war on the Korean peninsula
is no longer unimaginable.
What is unimaginable is a nuclear strike
on a US or allied city.
No one in this room knows with certainty
how this situation will play out and someone in this room
will be making the critical decisions.
But you can be sure that decisions will be made,
one way or the other, because of the rapid pace
of North Korea's ICBM and nuclear weapons development.
I'm not in the business of predictions.
We, the United States Army are in the business of readiness.
And Secretary Mattis, just yesterday,
very clearly tasked the United States Army, to be ready.
His words were carefully chosen.
So our number one task, bar none, remains readiness.
Readiness for what, it's readiness for war.
Readiness for the intense combat of ground operations,
of any type, anywhere in the world.
That is our task, and I can tell you that it has
never been more important, than it is today.
A century ago we ended World War I
in a state of unreadiness.
In World War II we again entered in a state of unreadiness
and we paid dearly in the early years of that conflict.
And it was not by accident that Secretary Mattis
reminded us yesterday, to re-read T R Fehrenbach's book,
This Kind of War, which is a study of the unpreparedness
as we entered the Korean War in the summer of 1950.
Unreadiness results in paying the butcher's bill
in the blood of American soldiers,
but being combat ready, on the other hand,
deters enemies, it keeps the peace.
And in the event of conflict,
combat readiness provides the capability
to end the war quickly, on our terms,
in the shortest amount of time,
and with the least amount of friendly casualties.
So as soldiers, as America's sentinels of freedom,
we will pray for peace everyday,
but at the same time, the United States Army
will prepare for war.
And that is exactly what we are doing.
Over the last few years, as we deployed fewer units
to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere,
the army has arrested the readiness decline
we were experiencing, because of the great work done
across the force, by Force Com, AMC, TRADOC,
our overseas component commands,
and tremendous support from Congress.
We've shifted mindsets from ARFORGEN
to sustainable readiness, in order to get our army ready
for high-intensity conflict.
We're eliminating unnecessary training
across all echelons, which will cut the number of
required tasks, and give time back to commanders
to focus on the preparation for combat.
We have increased the quality and quantity
of our combat training center rotations
for the total army.
We've grown the total army in just the last year
by 28,000, to strengthen our formations.
AMC and it's great logisticians across the force
have increased our sustainment readiness
by getting our pre-position stocks of munitions
and equipment around the globe, ready to support the fight.
We're divesting material we don't need
to focus limited resources on what we do need.
We're increasing the flow of repair parts
to get to our vehicle fleets, and bring them up
to full combat readiness.
We're also making some force structure changes
to increase readiness.
You've heard from Secretary Mattis
that the Department of Defense will pursue
our national security objectives
by strengthening alliances and attracting new partners.
We will work by, with and through,
allied and partner forces, on a variety of missions.
So our army is establishing six security force
assistance brigades, or SFABs as they're called,
which will increase the readiness
of our conventional brigades, by relieving them of
the advisory duties that happen so often,
provide the basis to rapidly expand the army, if needed,
and most importantly they'll provide highly-trained,
hand-picked group of advisers, for that critical mission
of training foreign forces
in conventional light infantry operations.
We're also increasing readiness
through heel to toe rotations.
Providing a higher degree of operational
and strategic flexibility, and tactical skill
to our combatant commanders.
We've done all of these things to increase readiness,
to increase the lethality of our force today.
And we are more prepared today,
and better army for our efforts, but we are not there yet,
and we must continue to lean into the readiness
with a laser focus sense of urgency,
like we've never had before.
But for commanders, all of the commanders out there
in the force, do not wait, do not wait on orders
and printed new regulations and new manuals.
Do not wait on force structure changes.
You and you alone are responsible for the readiness
of your unit.
You know what to do.
Your mission is to focus solely on what is essential
for increasing the lethality of your unit,
for the unforgiven crucible of ground combat.
Put simply, I want you to get ready,
for what might come, and do not do any tasks
that do not directly contribute to increasing
the combat readiness of your unit.
You know, over time, our competitive advantage has eroded.
Our overmatch is being challenged in all domains.
In our current system, institutional organization,
our processes, are no longer adequate
to the task of modernization for an army of the future.
So while commanders will prepare our force for today,
we the institution must prepare our force for tomorrow.
And we are at an inflection point in history
as we must reform how we modernize our army.
The roles, responsibilities, structures, organizations.
We have to address future readiness, all across the board.
And our institution that deals with modernization
was fundamentally created four decades ago.
Secretary McCarthy announced yesterday
and again this morning,
and we'll discuss in some detail tomorrow
a series of fundamental changes that we will embrace,
we in uniform will embrace totally,
and we will implement quickly, in order to prepare
for the future.
He has approved the concept of a new modernization
of futures command, to consolidate the processes
that inform and deliver army capabilities
and put them all under one roof.
This is a significant change that will unfold
over the next year, and we will move quickly
because time is not on our side.
The new command will be formed from existing structure
and will combined elements of army futures,
concept development, requirements and acquisition to ensure
we remain the pre-eminent ground fighting force
well into the future.
Faster results will be obtained through
significant streamlining of processes,
as we shift to a so calm like model,
a buy, try, decide and acquire.
Rather than the current industrial age linear model
that takes years to establish requirements,
decades to test, and it may take a long long time
to go from idea to delivery.
Our army's task in combat is to win
and we win by being on the offense
with the defense only a temporary condition
of set conditions in order to resume the offense.
So each acquisition will be oriented
to offensive combined arms maneuver,
in a dynamic, highly-threatening,
dense, urban combat environment,
against a very capable enemy.
And we win as part of a joint and combined force
with our coalition partners.
So intra-operability will be a key component
of everything we will procure.
And we win on the offense
with our joint and coalition partners,
by mastering the basic fundamentals of land warfare,
of shoot, move, communicate, protect, and sustain.
The American way of war ceases and retains the initiative,
by massing fires, massing precision fires, in all domains.
The American way of war moves rapidly
to gain positions of tactical, operational
and strategic advantage.
We maintain situational awareness
of the enemy and ourselves, with robust command and control
and communication systems that are effective on the move
in highly complex operations.
We maintain momentum by ensuring our own survivability
with protective formations from enemy direct
and indirect fires, air and missile strikes,
cyber and electronic attack.
And all of that is sustained by responsive
world-class logistics,
fought by the world's toughest soldiers
and led by the most adaptive, aggressive,
and independent battlefield leaders
any army has ever produced.
These fundamentals of the American way of war,
they underpin everything we do.
They underpin our readiness today
and they underpin our increasing lethality
and readiness of the force for tomorrow.
So moving forward, we will focus
our modernization priorities on six systems
tied to winning and fighting the American way of war,
based on the mastering of the fundamentals.
First, we're investing heavily in long-range
precision fires.
Land power without overwhelming fires
from artillery and joint systems will never succeed
in high-intensity ground combat,
so we're gonna rapidly modernize army rocket
and tube artillery, but this will not be the artillery
of yesteryear, this will be an artillery
with a capability to strike, with land-based precision fires
at very extended ranges, that our enemies will never expect.
Well beyond what we have now.
Second and third, we will move, both by ground and air
and we will increase our capability to move and engage
in close combat, for the next generation family of
combat vehicles and our future vertical lift.
New tanks, new infantry vehicles, wheeled vehicles,
rotary wing aircraft, a new class of vehicles
that are going to leverage new technologies
and firepower mobility, armor materials,
active protective systems, lighter weight,
new forms of power generation beyond carbon-based fuels,
and importantly, robotics, that will enable commanders
to conduct decisive operations at greater speeds
than before, over more extended ranges,
and in complex terrain.
Our improved capability to shoot and move
will be networked into the joint system
through our communications and information capability
that will allow us to see both the enemy
and ourselves better, and most importantly,
it will enable us to execute mission command on the move
in a fluid and high threat environment.
This system will be expeditionary, mobile and hardened,
to survive in an active electronic warfare environment
and it will leverage emerging technologies
of artificial intelligence and machine learning,
to achieve significant increases in speed and effectiveness
of decision making in targeting.
Fifth, and none of the above will matter
unless you have this fifth priority.
It won't matter if you are dead.
So the fifth priority is to protect our force
from enemy indirect fires or air and missile attack
and we will reform our entire battlefield
air and missile defense capability
over the coming years, which has so tragically atrophied
over the last decade, all for understandable reasons.
And lastly, our success rests upon our soldiers
engaged in close combat, and we intend to
significantly increase investments and rapidly increasing
individual and collective soldier lethality.
Our next generation individual and squad combat weapon
will come in with a 10X improvement
over any existing current system in the world,
and that will be critical.
But we also wanna improve body armor, individual sensors,
small unit radios, load-bearing ecto skeletal systems
in order to improve soldier endurance and much much more.
But new equipment is only one component
and it's insufficient for a future battlefield.
Training is the key.
Hard rigorous, realistic, repetitive training.
That is the ultimate form of taking care of
an American soldier, and the only way to do that
is through repetition in combat-like conditions.
Repetitive practice and the right conditions
builds the skills and intuition
that each of our leaders will need
to make thousands of decisions in actual combat.
So we want to replicate that.
We want our leaders, at all levels, at all echelons,
to make thousands of simulated combat tactical decisions
against a thinking and adaptive enemy
in order to gain confidence and skill
and learn from their mistakes.
We will always emphasize live fires and exercises
against a world class OPFOR
at our combat training centers, which have been upgraded
to reflect the real stress of actual combat in all domains.
And we will begin work on a large scale
urban combat center as well.
But live fire, or live force on force training,
that is expensive, and it doesn't provide
nearly enough repetitions for developing high levels
of soldier and leader skill needed in future battle.
Every day units must train on their individual
and collective combat skills, so we will do this
by radically improving our synthetic training environment.
We currently do simulations for air force and navy pilots
and for our own helicopter pilots.
Even some of our tank crews and we have limited simulations
for individuals and squads.
But tens of millions of dollars are spent and invested
in training simulation for an F35 pilot
before they are ever allowed to come near
a fifth generation fighter.
Well, we have fifth generation fighters
in our squads and platoons, and they are actually fighting
every day, so we must do the same thing for them.
Any soldier that engages in close quarters combat
deserves the same investment for anyone that's flying
at 30,000 feet.
There's no reason that we do not do that.
The technology already exists.
Every line company in the army can have
multiple simulators to train under varied combat conditions
so the units and soldiers practice war-fighting skills
literally every day.
The technology exists now, in order to conduct
realistic training in any terrain,
in all of the urban areas of the world,
with any scenario against any enemy.
Anything that commander deems necessary.
That is possible today.
And it's through iteration and intense realistic training
of the body and the mind, that our soldiers will prevail
and survive on a future battlefield.
We just need at our level to focus our resources
and provide them the opportunity.
So these are our modernization priorities.
Long-range precision fires.
New ground vehicles in vertical lift fleets.
The network air and missile defense.
And soldier lethality.
And we, all of us, are in this together.
The army, the Joint Force, members of Congress,
allies, partners and industry.
The world is moving fast and we must both be ready
to fight tonight, and we must modernize quickly,
to increase our lethality and regain
our competitive advantage, against the emerging threats
of the future.
If we adapt to the changing character of war
and we embrace the institutional changes
we need to implement, then we will continue to be
the most lethal fighting force in the world
for the next seven decades and beyond.
If we do not, then we will lose the next war.
Preparation for war is very expensive.
And we recognize that.
But preparation, preparation for war,
is much cheaper than fighting a war,
and the only thing more expensive than fighting a war
is fighting and losing a war.
Our nation can afford survival
and our army can maintain the peace
by being prepared for war.
So let me close with a little commentary on why we fight.
You know, 242 years ago our nation was founded on an idea.
And it was contained in our Declaration of Independence
and in our Constitution.
That idea was novel for its time
and it's been challenged ever since.
And prior to our founding in 1776,
people throughout history were born and lived and died
without ever having a say in how or who governed them
and most of the peoples of the world could never rise
above the conditions of their birth.
But with the United States came an idea.
An idea that was very powerful.
An idea that shook the foundations of aristocracies
and dictatorships.
An idea that was and still is feared
by totalitarian and authoritarian leaders around the world
and it is an idea that is absolutely hated by terrorists.
It is an idea that you and I in uniform swore an oath to
when we put on the cloth of our nation.
We swore to protect and defend that idea
in our Constitution, even at the cost of our life.
Even at the cost of our limbs,
Mass Sergeant Petry lost it.
No matter what, no matter what the cost,
we swore to protect and defend that idea
in this Constitution.
And it's an idea for which millions of Americans before us
have given their last full measure of devotion.
So what is that idea?
It's simple really.
All it says is, that here in America,
we will have a government of the people, by the people
and for the people.
And it says that all of the people,
regardless of whether you're male or female.
It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight
or anything in between, it doesn't matter if you are
black or white or Asian or Indian,
or any other ethnic group.
It doesn't matter what your country of origin is,
or the spelling of your last name.
It does not matter if you are Catholic or Protestant,
Muslim or Jew, and it doesn't matter
if you don't believe at all.
It does not matter if you're rich or poor,
common or famous.
In this country, in these United States,
under those colors of red, white and blue,
in this country all Americans are created free and equal
and we will rise or fall based on our merit,
and we will be judged by the content of our character
not the color of our skin.
That is the core organizing principle
of the United States of America, and that is why we fight.
And we.
(applause)
But we can never get comfortable with it.
We all need to remember that we as Americans,
we only have a lease on liberty.
We do not have a deed to it.
So each generation has to be prepared to fight,
in order to preserve that idea
and pass it on to the next generation.
And our enemies, no matter where they are on this Earth,
they need to know that the United States Army
will bear any burden and meet any hardship
to ensure that this experiment in liberty,
that we call America, shall not perish from this Earth.
Thank you, and Army Strong.
(applause)
Hey I don't know if anyone told you
but Carter gave me a gift.
(laughing)
Adios!
- Thanks Chief.
Thanks all of you,
for that very very powerful message.
We stand with you.
And we stand ready to do our part
to support America's armies and the soldiers
that defend our country.
Thank you for your leadership.
Thank you for the inspiration that you give us.
That you for your powerful example
that you set for each of us, and selfless service.
But thank you most Chief for choosing to be a soldier.
Thank you.
(applause)
Ladies and Gentlemen this concludes
the 2017 Dwight D Eisenhower Luncheon.
We'll see you back here at 7.30 this evening
for a free concert.
Enjoy the rest of the afternoon.