Mr. Chairman, the joint chiefs, generals,
admirals, commanders, officers, senior enlisted, NCOs, enlisted and every member
of our American military, good morning.
Good morning and welcome to the War Department because the era of the Department
of Defense is over. You see, the motto of my first platoon was those who long
for peace must prepare for war. This is, of course, not a new idea. This crowd
knows that.
The origin dates to fourth century Rome and has been repeated ever since,
including by our first commander in chief, George Washington, the first leader
of the War Department. It captures a simple yet profound truth. To ensure peace,
we must prepare for war.
From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of
War is this: warfighting, preparing for war and preparing to win, unrelenting
and uncompromising in that pursuit not because we want war, no one here wants
war, but it's because we love peace. We love peace for our fellow citizens. They
deserve peace, and they rightfully expect us to deliver.
Our number one job, of course, is to be strong so that we can prevent war in the
first place. The president talks about it all the time. It's called peace
through strength. And as history teaches us, the only people who actually
deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war to defend it.
That's why pacifism is so naive and dangerous. It ignores human nature and it
ignores human history. Either you protect your people and your sovereignty or
you will be subservient to something or someone. It's a truth as old as time.
And since waging war is so costly in blood and treasure, we owe our republic a
military that will win any war we choose or any war that is thrust upon us.
Should our enemies choose foolishly to challenge us, they will be crushed by the
violence, precision and ferocity of the War Department. In other words, to our
enemies, FAFO.
If necessary, our troops can translate that for you.
Another way to put it is peace through strength brought to you by the warrior
ethos, and we are restoring both. As President Trump has said, and he's right,
we have the strongest, most powerful, most lethal and most prepared military on
the planet. That is true, full stop. Nobody can touch us. It's not even close.
This is true largely because of the historic investments that he made in his
first term, and we will continue in this term. But it's also true because of the
leaders in this room and the incredible troops that you all lead. But the world,
and as the chairman mentioned, our enemies get a vote. You feel it. I feel it.
This is a moment of urgency, mounting urgency. Enemies gather. Threats grow.
There is no time for games. We must be prepared. If we're going to prevent and
avoid war, we must prepare now. We are the strength part of peace through
strength, and either we're ready to win or we are not.
You see, this urgent moment of course requires more troops, more munitions, more
drones, more Patriots, more submarines, more B-21 bombers. It requires more
innovation, more AI in everything and ahead of the curve, more cyber effects,
more counter UAS, more space, more speed.
America is the strongest, but we need to get stronger and quickly. The time is
now and the cause is urgent. The moment requires restoring and refocusing our
defense industrial base, our shipbuilding industry and onshoring all critical
components. It requires, as President Trump has done, getting our allies and
partners to step up and share the burden.
America cannot do everything. The free world requires allies with real hard
power, real military leadership and real military capabilities. The War
Department is tackling and prioritizing all of these things, and I'll be giving
a speech next month that'll showcase the speed, innovation and generational
acquisition reforms we are undertaking urgently. Likewise, the nature of the
threats we face in our hemisphere and in deterring China is another speech for
another day coming soon.
This speech today -- as I drink my coffee, this speech today is about people and
it's about culture. The topic today is about the nature of ourselves, because no
plan, no program, no reform, no formation will ultimately succeed unless we have
the right people and the right culture at the War Department.
If I've learned one core lesson in my eight months in this job, it's that
personnel is policy. Personnel is policy. The best way to take care of troops is
to give them good leaders committed to the warfighting culture of the
department, not perfect leaders, good leaders, competent, qualified,
professional, agile, aggressive, innovative, risk-taking, apolitical, faithful
to their oath and to the Constitution.
Eugene Sledge in his World War II memoir wrote, "War is brutish, inglorious, and
a terrible waste. Combat leaves an indelible mark on those who are forced to
endure it. The only redeeming factors are my comrades' incredible bravery and
their devotion to each other."
In combat, there are thousands of variables, as I learned in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and as so many of you did in so many more places. Leaders can only
control about three of them. You control how well you're trained, mostly how
well you're equipped, and the last variable is how well you lead. After that,
you're on your own.
Our warfighters are entitled to be led by the best and most capable leaders.
That is who we need you all to be. Even then, in combat, even if you do
everything right, you may still lose people because the enemy always gets a
vote. We have a sacred duty to ensure that our warriors are led by the most
capable and qualified combat leaders. This is one thing you and I can control,
and we owe it to the force to deliver.
For too long, we have simply not done that. The military has been forced by
foolish and reckless politicians to focus on the wrong things. In many ways,
this speech is about fixing decades of decay, some of it obvious, some of it
hidden, or as the chairman has put it, we are clearing out the debris, removing
the distractions, clearing the way for leaders to be leaders. You might say
we're ending the war on warriors. I heard someone wrote a book about that.
For too long, we've promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons,
based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts.
We've pretended that combat arms and non-combat arms are the same thing. We've
weeded out so-called toxic leaders under the guise of double blind psychology
assessments, promoting risk averse go along to get along conformists instead.
You name it, the department did it.
Foolish and reckless political leaders set the wrong compass heading and we lost
our way. We became the woke department. But not anymore. Right now, I'm looking
out at a sea of Americans who made a choice when they were young men and young
women to do something most Americans will not, to serve something greater than
yourself, to fight for God and country, for freedom and the Constitution.
You made a choice to serve when others did not, and I commend you. You are truly
the best of America. But this does not mean, and this goes for all of us, that
our path to this auditorium on this day was a straight line, or that the
conditions of the formations we lead are where we want them to be. You love your
country and we love this uniform, which is why we must do better.
We just have to be honest. We have to say with our mouths what we see with our
eyes, to just tell it like it is in plain English, to point out the obvious
things right in front of us. That's what leaders must do. We cannot go another
day without directly addressing the plank in our own eye, without addressing the
problems in our own commands and in our own formations.
This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social
justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected
our department, to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices,
dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction
or gender delusions. No more debris.
As I've said before and will say again, we are done with that shit. I've made it
my mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less
lethal. That said, the War Department requires the next step.
Underneath the woke garbage is a deeper problem and a more important problem
that we are fixing and fixing fast. Common sense is back at the White House, so
making the necessary changes is actually pretty straightforward. President Trump
expects it. And the litmus test for these changes is pretty simple.
Would I want my eldest son, who is 15 years old, eventually joining the types of
formations that we are currently wielding? If in any way the answer to that is
no, or even yes but, then we're doing something wrong, because my son is no more
important than any other American citizen who dons the cloth of our nation. He
is no more important than your son, all precious souls made in the image and
likeness of God.
Every parent deserves to know that their son or their daughter that joins our
ranks is entering exactly the kind of unit that the secretary of war would want
his son to join. Think of it as the Golden Rule test. Jesus said do unto others
that which you would have done unto yourself. It's the ultimate simplifying test
of truth.
The new War Department golden rule is this: do unto your unit as you would have
done unto your own child's unit. Would you want him serving with fat or unfit or
under trained troops or alongside people who can't meet basic standards, or in a
unit where standards were lowered so certain types of troops could make it in,
in a unit where leaders were promoted for reasons other than merit, performance
and warfighting? The answer is not just no, it's hell no.
This means at the War Department first and foremost we must restore a ruthless,
dispassionate and common sense application of standards. I don't want my son
serving alongside troops who are out of shape or in combat unit with females who
can't meet the same combat arms physical standards as men, or troops who are not
fully proficient on their assigned weapons platform or task or under a leader
who was the first but not the best. Standards must be uniform, gender neutral
and high. If not, they're not standards. They're just suggestions, suggestions
that get our sons and daughters killed.
When it comes to combat arms units, and there are many different stripes across
our joint force, the era of politically correct, overly sensitive, don't hurt
anyone's feelings leadership ends right now. At every level, either you can meet
the standard, either you can do the job, either you are disciplined, fit and
trained, or you are out.
And that's why today at my direction -- and this is the first of ten Department
of War directives that are arriving at your commands as we speak and in your
inbox. Today, at my direction, each service will ensure that every requirement
for every combat MOS, for every designated combat arms position returns to the
highest male standard only. Because this job is life or death. Standards must be
met. And not just met. At every level, we should seek to exceed the standard, to
push the envelope, to compete. It's common sense and core to who we are and what
we do. It should be in our DNA.
Today, at my direction, we are also adding a combat field test for combat arms
units that must be executable in any environment at any time and with combat
equipment. These tests, they'll look familiar. They'll resemble the Army Expert
Physical Fitness Assessment or the Marine Corps Combat Fitness Test. I'm also
directing that warfighters in combat jobs execute their service fitness test at
a gender-neutral age normed male standard scored above 70 percent.
It all starts with physical fitness and appearance. If the secretary of war can
do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force. Frankly, it's tiring
to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops.
Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the
halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world.
It's a bad look. It is bad, and it's not who we are.
So, whether you're an airborne Ranger or a chairborne Ranger, a brand new
private or a four star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards
and pass your PT test. And as the chairman said, yes, there is no PT test. But
today, at my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is
required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight
requirements twice a year every year of service.
Also today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to
do PT every duty day. It should be common sense, and most units do that already,
but we're codifying it. And we're not talking, like, hot yoga and stretching,
real hard PT and as -- either as a unit or as an individual.
At every level, from the Joint Chiefs to everyone in this room to the youngest
private, leaders set the standard. And so many of you do this already, active,
guard and reserve. This also means grooming standards. No more beards, long
hair, superficial individual expression. We're going to cut our hair, shave our
beards, and adhere to standards.
Because it's like the broken windows theory in policing. It's like you let the
small stuff go, the big stuff eventually goes, so you have to address the small
stuff. This is on duty, in the field and in the rear. If you want a beard, you
can join Special Forces. If not, then shave.
We don't have a military full of Nordic pagans. But unfortunately, we have had
leaders who either refuse to call BS and enforce standards, or leaders who felt
like they were not allowed to enforce standards. Both are unacceptable. And
that's why today, at my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over.
No more beardos. The era of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.
Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical standards for combat
positions, cannot pass a PT test or don't want to shave and look professional,
it's time for a new position or a new profession.
I sincerely appreciate the proactive efforts the secretaries have already taken
in some of those areas -- service secretaries. And these directives are intended
to simply accelerate those efforts. On the topic of standards, allow me a few
words to talk about toxic leaders.
Upholding and demanding high standards is not toxic. Enforcing high standards,
not toxic leadership. Leading warfighters toward the goals of high,
gender-neutral and uncompromising standards in order to forge a cohesive,
formidable and lethal Department of War is not toxic. It is our duty consistent
with our constitutional oath.
Real toxic leadership is endangering subordinates with low standards. Real toxic
leadership is promoting people based on immutable characteristics or quotas
instead of based on merit. Real toxic leadership is promoting destructive
ideologies that are an anathema to the Constitution and the laws of nature and
nature's God, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence.
The definition of toxic has been turned upside down, and we're correcting that.
That's why today, at my direction we're undertaking a full review of the
department's definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing, to
empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second
guessing.
Of course, you can't do, like, nasty bullying and hazing. We're talking about
words like bullying and hazing and toxic. They've been weaponized and
bastardized inside our formations, undercutting commanders and NCOs. No more.
Setting, achieving and maintaining high standards is what you all do. And if
that makes me toxic, then so be it.
Second, today, at our direction, we're ensuring that every service, every unit,
every schoolhouse and every form of professional military education conduct an
immediate review of their standards. Now, we've done this in many places
already, but today it goes across the entire Department of War.
Any place where tried and true physical standards were altered, especially since
2015 when combat arms standards were changed to ensure females could qualify,
must be returned to their original standard. Other standards have been
manipulated to hit racial quotas as well, which is just as unacceptable. This
too must end; merit only. The President talks about it all the time,
merit-based.
Here are two basic frameworks I urge you to pursue in this process, standards I
call -- my staff's heard all about them, the 1990 test and the E-6 test. The
1990 test is simple. What were the military standards in 1990? And if they have
changed, tell me why. Was it a necessary change based on the evolving landscape
of combat, or was the change due to a softening, weakening or gender-based
pursuit of other priorities? 1990 seems to be as good a place to start as any.
And the E-6 test. Ask yourself does what you're doing make the leadership,
accountability and lethality efforts of an E-6 or, frankly, an O-3, does it make
it easier or more complicated? Does the change empower staff sergeants, petty
officers and tech sergeants to get back to basics? The answer should be a
resounding yes. The E-6 test or O-3 test clarifies a lot, and it clarifies
quickly.
Because war does not care if you're a man or a woman. Neither does the enemy,
nor does the weight of your rucksack, the size of an artillery round or the body
weight of a casualty on the battlefield who must be carried. This -- and I want
to be very clear about this. This is not about preventing women from serving. We
very much value the impact of female troops. Our female officers and NCOs are
the absolute best in the world.
But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat,
those physical standards must be high and gender-neutral. If women can make it,
excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some
combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result. So be
it. It will also mean that weak men won't qualify because we're not playing
games. This is combat. This is life or death.
As we all know, this is you versus an enemy hell bent on killing you. To be an
effective lethal fighting force, you must trust that the warrior alongside you
in battle is capable, truly physically capable of doing what is necessary under
fire. You know this is the only standard you would want for your kids and for
your grandkids. Apply the War Department Golden Rule, the 1990 test and the E-6
test, and it's really hard to go wrong.
Third, we are attacking and ending the walking on eggshells and zero defect
command culture. A risk averse culture means officers execute not to lose
instead of to win. A risk averse culture means NCOs are not empowered to enforce
standards. Commanders and NCOs don't take necessary risks or make tough
adjustments for fear of rocking the boat or making mistakes.
A blemish free record is what peacetime leaders covet the most, which is the
worst of all incentives. You, we as senior leaders, need to end the poisonous
culture of risk aversion and empower our NCOs at all levels to enforce
standards. Truth be told, for the most part we don't need new standards. We just
need to reestablish a culture where enforcing standards is possible.
And that's why today, at my direction, I'm issuing new policies that will
overhaul the IG, EO and MEO processes. I call it the no more walking on
eggshells policy. We are liberating commanders and NCOs. We are liberating you.
We are overhauling an inspector general process, the IG, that has been
weaponized, putting complainers, ideologues and poor performers in the driver's
seat.
We're doing the same with the equal opportunity and military equal opportunity
policies, the EO and MEO, at our department. No more frivolous complaints. No
more anonymous complaints. No more repeat complainants. No more smearing
reputations. No more endless waiting. No more legal limbo. No more sidetracking
careers. No more walking on eggshells.
Of course, being a racist has been illegal in our formation since 1948. The same
goes for sexual harassment. Both are wrong and illegal. Those kinds of
infractions will be ruthlessly enforced. But telling someone to shave or get a
haircut or to get in shape or to fix their uniform or to show up on time, to
work hard, that's exactly the kind of discrimination we want.
We are not civilians. You are not civilians. You are set apart for a distinct
purpose. So, we as a department need to stop acting and thinking like civilians
and get back to basics and put the power back in the hands of commanders and
NCOs, commanders and NCOs who make life and death decisions, commanders and NCOs
who enforce standards and ensure readiness, commanders and NCOs who in this War
Department have to look in the mirror and have to pass the Golden Rule test, my
kids, your kids, America's sons and daughters.
So, I urge you all here today and those watching, take this guidance and run
with it. The core of this speech is the ten directives we're announcing today.
They were written for you, for Army leadership, for Navy leadership, for Marine
Corps leadership, for Air Force leadership, Space Force leadership.
These directives are designed to take the monkey off your back and put you, the
leadership, back in the driver's seat. Move out with urgency because we have
your back. I have your back, and the commander in chief has your back.
And when we give you this guidance, we know mistakes will be made. It's the
nature of leadership. But you should not pay for earnest mistakes for your
entire career. And that's why today, at my direction, we're making changes to
the retention of adverse information on personnel records that will allow
leaders with forgivable earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by
those infractions in perpetuity.
People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire
career. Otherwise, we only try not to make mistakes, and that's not the business
we're in. We need risk takers and aggressive leaders and a culture that supports
you.
Fourth, at the War Department, promotions across the joint force will be based
on one thing: merit; colorblind, gender-neutral, merit based. The entire
promotion process, including evaluations of warfighting capabilities, is being
thoroughly reexamined. We've already done a lot in this area, but more changes
are coming soon.
We'll promote top performing officers and NCOs faster and get rid of poor
performers more quickly. Evaluations, education and field exercises will become
real evaluations, not box checks, for every one of us at every level. These same
reforms happened before World War II as well. General George Marshall and
Secretary of War Henry Stimson did the same thing, and we won a world war
because of it.
As it happens, when he started the job, Chairman Caine gave me a frame and a
photo to hang in my office. A matching frame and photo hangs in his. It's a
photo of Marshall and Stimson preparing for World War II. Those two leaders
famously kept the door open between their offices for the entirety of the war.
They worked together, civilian and uniform, every single day. Chairman Caine and
I do the same. There is no daylight between us. Our doors are always open. Our
job together is to ensure our military is led by the very best ready to answer
the nation's call.
Fifth, as you have seen and the media has obsessed over, I have fired a number
of senior officers since taking over, the previous chairman, other members of
the Joint Chiefs, combatant commanders and other commanders. The rationale, for
me, has been straightforward. It's nearly impossible to change a culture with
the same people who helped create or even benefited from that culture, even if
that culture was created by a previous president and previous secretary.
My approach has been simple. When in doubt, assess the situation, follow your
gut and, if it's the best for the military, make a change. We all serve at the
pleasure of the President every single day. But in many ways, it's not their
fault. It's not your fault. As foolish and reckless as the woke department was,
those officers were following elected political leadership.
An entire generation of generals and admirals were told that they must parrot
the insane fallacy that "our diversity is our strength." Of course, we know our
unity is our strength. They had to put out dizzying DEI and LGBTQI+ statements.
They were told females and males are the same thing, or that males who think
they're females is totally normal.
They were told that we need a green fleet and electric tanks. They were told to
kick out Americans who refused an emergency vaccine. They followed civilian
policies set by foolish and reckless political leaders. Our job, my job, has
been to determine which leaders simply did what they must to answer the
prerogatives of civilian leadership and which leaders are truly invested in the
woke department and therefore incapable of embracing the War Department and
executing new lawful orders.
That's it. It's that simple. So, for the past eight months, we've gotten a good
look under the hood of our officer corps. We've done our best to thoroughly
assess the human terrain. We've had to make trade-offs and some difficult
decisions. It's more of an art than science. We have been and will continue to
be judicious but also expeditious.
The new compass heading is clear. Out with the Chiarellis, the McKenzies and the
Milleys, and in with the Stockdales, the Schwarzkopfs and the Pattons. More
leadership changes will be made, of that I'm certain, not because we want to but
because we must. Once again, this is life and death. The sooner we have the
right people, the sooner we can advance the right policies. Personnel is policy.
But I look out at this group and I see great Americans, leaders who have given
decades to our great republic at great sacrifice to yourselves and to your
families. But if the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then
you should do the honorable thing and resign. We would thank you for your
service.
But I suspect, I know, the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These
words make your hearts full. You love the War Department because you love what
you do, the profession of arms. You are hereby liberated to be an apolitical,
hard charging, no nonsense constitutional leader that you joined the military to
be.
We need you locked in on the M, not the D, the E or the I, not the DEI or the
DIE of DIME. By that I mean the M, military, of the instruments of national
power. We have entire departments across the government dedicated to diplomatic,
informational and economic lines of effort. We do the M. Nobody else does. And
our GOFOs need to master it in every domain, in every scenario, no more
distractions, no more political ideologies, no more debris.
Now, of course, we're going to disagree at times. We would not be Americans if
we didn't. Being a leader in a large organization like ours means having frank
conversations and differences of opinion. You will win some arguments and you
will lose some arguments. But when civilian leaders issue lawful orders, we
execute. We are professionals in the profession of arms. Our entire
constitutional system is predicated upon this understanding.
Now, it seems like a small thing, but it's not. This includes as well the
behavior of our troops online. To that end, I want to thank and recognize the
services for their new proactive social media policies. Use them. Anonymous
online or keyboard complaining is not worthy of a warrior. It's cowardice
masquerading as conscience. Anonymous unit level social media pages that trash
commanders, demoralize troops and undermine unit cohesion must not be tolerated.
Again, 0-3s, E-6s.
Sixth, we must train and we must maintain. Any moment that we are not training
on our mission or maintaining our equipment is a moment we are less prepared for
preventing or winning the next war. That is why today, at my direction, we are
drastically reducing the ridiculous amount of mandatory training that
individuals and units must execute.
We've already ended the most egregious. Now we're giving you back real time;
less PowerPoint briefings and fewer online courses, more time in the motor pool
and more time on the range. Our job is to make sure you have the money,
equipment, weapons and parts to train and maintain, and then you take it from
there.
You all know this because it's common sense. The tougher and the higher the
standards in our units, the higher the retention rates in those units. Warriors
want to be challenged. Troops want to be tested. When you don't train and you
don't maintain, you demoralize. And that's when our best people decide to take
their talents to the civilian world.
The leaders who created the woke department have already driven out too many
hard chargers. We reverse that trend right now. There is no world in which high
intensity war exists without pain, agony and human tragedy. We are in a
dangerous line of work. You are in a dangerous line of work. We may lose good
people, but let no warrior cry out from the grave "if only I had been properly
trained."
We will not lose warfighters because we failed to train or equip them or
resource them. Shame on us if we do. Train like your warriors lives depend on
it, because they do. To that point, basic training is being restored to what it
should be, scary, tough and disciplined. We're empowering drill sergeants to
instill healthy fear in new recruits, ensuring that future warfighters are
forged.
Yes, they can shark attack, they can toss bunks, they can swear, and yes, they
can put their hands on recruits. This does not mean they can be reckless or
violate the law, but they can use tried and true methods to motivate new
recruits, to make them the warriors they need to be. Back to basics at basic as
well.
Of course, and you know this, basic training is not where mission readiness
should end. The nature of the evolving threat environment demands that everyone
in every job must be ready to join the fight if needed. A core credo of the
Marine Corps is every Marine a rifleman.
It means that everyone, regardless of MOS, is proficient enough to engage an
enemy threat at sea, in the air or in a so-called rear area. We need to ensure
that every member of our uniformed military maintains baseline proficiency in
basic combat skills, especially because the next war, like the last, will likely
not have a rear area.
Finally, as President Trump rightly pointed out when he changed the department
name, the United States has not won a major theater war since the name was
changed to the Department of Defense in 1947. One conflict stands out in stark
contrast, the Gulf War. Why? Well, there's a number of reasons, but it was a
limited mission with overwhelming force and a clear end state.
But why did we execute and win the Gulf War the way we did in 1991? There's two
overwhelming reasons. One was President Ronald Reagan's military buildup gave an
overwhelming advantage, and two, military and Pentagon leadership had previous
formative battlefield experiences. The men who led this department during the
Gulf War were mostly combat veterans of the Vietnam War. They said never again
to mission creep or nebulous end states.
The same holds true today. Our civilian and military leadership is chock full of
veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who say never again to nation building and
nebulous end states. This clear eyed view all the way to the White House,
combined with President Trump's military buildup, postures us for future
victories if, and we will, and when we embrace the War Department.
And we must. We are preparing every day. We have to be prepared for war, not for
defense. We're training warriors, not defenders. We fight wars to win, not to
defend. Defense is something you do all the time. It's inherently reactionary
and can lead to overuse, overreach and mission creep. War is something you do
sparingly on our own terms and with clear aims. We fight to win. We unleash
overwhelming and punishing violence on the enemy.
We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our
warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country.
No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common
sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.
That's all I ever wanted as a platoon leader. And it's all my E-6 squad leaders
ever wanted, back to that E-6 rule. We let our leaders fight their formations
and then we have their back. It's very simple yet incredibly powerful.
A few months ago, I was at the White House when President Trump announced his
liberation day for America's trade policy. It was a landmark day. Well, today is
another liberation day, the liberation of America's warriors, in name, in deed
and in authorities. You kill people and break things for a living. You are not
politically correct and don't necessarily belong always in polite society.
We are not an army of one. We are a joint force of millions of selfless
Americans. We are warriors. We are purpose built not for fair weather, blue
skies or calm seas. We were built to load up in the back of helicopters, five
tons, or Zodiacs in the dead of night, in fair weather or foul to go to
dangerous places to find those who would do our nation harm and deliver justice
on behalf of the American people in close and brutal combat if necessary.
You are different. We fight not because we hate what's in front of us. We fight
because we love what's behind us. You see, the Ivy League faculty lounges will
never understand us. And that's okay, because they could never do what you do.
The media will mischaracterize us. And that's okay, because deep down they know
the reason they can do what they do is you. In this profession, you feel
comfortable inside the violence so that our citizens can live peacefully.
Lethality is our calling card and victory our only acceptable end state.
In closing, a few weeks ago at our monthly Pentagon Christian prayer service I
recited a commander's prayer. It's a simple yet meaningful prayer for wisdom for
commanders and leaders. I encourage you to look it up if you've never seen it.
But the prayer, it ends like this. And most of all, Lord, please keep my
soldiers safe, lead them, guide them, protect them, watch over them. And as you
gave all of yourself for me, help me give all of myself for them. And amen.
I've prayed this prayer many times since I've had the privilege of being your
Secretary, and I will continue to pray this prayer for each of you as you
command and lead our nation's finest. Go forth and do good things, hard things.
President Trump has your back and so do I, and you'll hear from him shortly.
Move out and draw fire, because we are the War Department. Godspeed.
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