CSA's speech at change of responsibility ceremony

By Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Mark A. MilleyMay 4, 2016

Change of responsibility ceremony
Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh administers the oath of office to 39th Chief of Staff of the Army Mark A. Milley, during the United States Army change of responsibility ceremony held at Summerall Field on Fort Myer, Va., Aug. 14, 2015. Gen. Raym... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

It's incredible that I can actually call him Ray now after so many years of Sir and Chief. And for the class of '76, thanks for being here. There's some class of '80 out of Princeton here too. So let's hear you sound off. Oh, wow, that was not very good. Okay, all right.

Hey, just for the record, too, it's 3-to-2 right now, but it's only the second inning. Because I heard that Neller, Richardson and Dunford are showing up shortly and they are all card-carrying members of the Red Sox Nation.

Good morning, and welcome to all distinguished guests, and family and friends, and thank you all for being here and for your unwavering support to the United States Army. The entire Milley family and really the entire Army is deeply honored by your presence. And for the Old Guard, you'll be done here in just a few minutes, so hang in there and we'll be passing your review shortly.

First, I want to start by thanking General Ray Odierno and his gracious wife, Linda, as you had heard, for thirty-nine consecutive years of selfless service in both peace and war to our nation. And for Linda, you have been such an incredible light of leadership to all of us; to not only spouses and families but for those of us in uniform as well. And she's such an incredible example, a positive example, of resilience. She embodies what it really means to be Army Strong to all Army families, to include all of those of us in uniform.

And Chief, you are in fact a giant of a man, but more importantly than being a physical giant, you are a moral giant. You have incredible moral courage, and you've led our Army through difficult times. You've done that with enormous grace and enormous distinction, and your legacy will absolutely live on in the years to come.

And on a personal note, Ray, and I again repeat it sounds pretty cool to call him Ray. I haven't quite figured out Marty yet, or Lloyd. Rod is always Rod. But that will come. But many of you know, it's been a real struggle for Ray over the last couple of weeks, maybe a month or so. It's very difficult for him to give up the reigns of Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Why? Because I'm a Red Sox fan. But my son was born in Manhattan. I lived two years in New York City. And Ray, I want you to know that I have a very special place in my heart for the New York Yankees. And that would be second place.

And to Secretary Carter, I want to especially thank you for your confidence of me to become the thirty-ninth Chief of Staff of America's Army. I've known you for many years now and have seen your leadership in action, and you are exactly the right man to lead the entire defense of the United States into a complex and uncertain future. I commit to you that I and the entire Army will give you 110 percent in everything we do and we will never fail.

And to Secretary McHugh, thank you, as previously noted, for almost six consecutive years as our Army Secretary. And I am keenly aware that I am the last in a long line of Chiefs of Staff that have stood by your side. And I am even more keenly aware that you too are a diehard Yankees fan, at least publicly. But I want you to know, full-well and for the record, that northern New York really was part of the Red Sox Nation. During the times of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it was part of that great Bay State. And I will always, to my grave, keep as a closely guarded secret that you one time admitted to me at Fort Drum, New York, in the closest of privacy, that you are indeed a closeted member of the Red Sox Nation. So the score is really 3-to-2, Chief. But I fully understand that as a former Congressman from northern New York and Upstate, you can never actually admit that, but I thank you nonetheless for your confidence and your support.

And General Dempsey, yes, yet another Yankees fan, an Irishman to boot, though, so he gets some points for that, but thank you for your great leadership, sir, and thank you for being a great Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I look forward to serving with you in the months and years ahead.

For the fellow Service Chiefs, and all fellow Generals and Sergeants Majors, and all the representatives of our partner nations, all distinguished guests, thank you all for being here. Thanks for supporting the Army.

I want to single out Sergeant Major Dailey. I want to thank him on behalf of me, and the entire Army, for being an outstanding noncommissioned officer. And with him today is also Master Sergeant Hank Beck, who was my first sergeant. Both of them, from start-to-finish, represent all that is good about our Army, and they represent the incredible non-commissioned officer corps of this United States Army. So thank you all for coming.

And I am very grateful to see many friends and colleagues and mentors here. Each of you have had a profound impact on my personal and professional life. Many of you flew in from all over the world as high school classmates here, high school hockey coach, the Princeton hockey team is here, flying from Canada, and England and all over the world. None of us did make the pros but a lot of us tried. My college roommates of yesteryear and all of them are really not here to celebrate; they're really here to just confirm that I actually eventually graduated.

And friends from the 10th Mountain, and the 82nd, the 101st, Fort Hood III Corps, fellow company commanders from the 7th Division, and 5th Group, and so many others, thank you all for being here.

And as the chief and others have mentioned, before you are representatives of our Army, the 3rd United States Infantry, the oldest unit in the Army, and what a remarkable job they do every day, every week, week-in, week-out, all year long. And how about one more round of applause for the Old Guard.

And most importantly, I want to thank my family. As the Chief has said, Odierno has said; I guess I'm the Chief now, I don't call him Chief anymore. As Ray has said, our families are our strength, and so it is with me for the last thirty-five years. And both my mother and my father have passed, but they were members of our nation's greatest generation and proudly served in uniform - in World War II with my mother at a hospital in Washington State tending to the wounded from the Pacific - and my father, with the 4th Marine Division, slugging it out in the bloody campaigns and making the assault landings at Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and finally Iwo Jima. Though not here physically, they, like all of us in uniform, all of our parents, have shaped us in ways that will be with all of us forever. Both my brother, Sandy, and my sister, Mary Kay, are here with us today, and I want to publicly thank them for their unwavering support to me, our Army, and our Nation.

And I'm unbelievably lucky to have by my side an incredible woman in Hollyanne. She has been my guiding light, my inner strength that has kept me going through the toughest of times. She has been a constant source of inspiration and love. And like many other Army families, so many Army spouses, she had to be a single parent during multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places, and through countless days and hours of relentless training. She has just completed this past week, 96 hours ago, her thirtieth move, by driving a U-Haul from Fort Bragg to Fort Myer. And that is representative of Army Strong.

And most importantly, she raised our two wonderful children, our daughter, Mary Margaret, and our son, Peter. And I want to thank both of them for their love, their support and their sacrifice throughout so many years, and I am so proud of the both of them, for it is our children, our children are the real reason that we in uniform all serve. Some say it's education, some say it's money, or for a variety of other reasons. No, it's for others. We serve for others. And most importantly, we serve for our children.

And as citizens of these United States, we were granted a gift, the most precious gift of all, the gift of freedom. And that is a very, very, very expensive gift, for it is paid for in the sacrifice and the blood from those who came before us. And it is our responsibility, a responsibility of the living, to pass that gift along and pay it forward to the next generation, to the next group of children.

And today that gift is being paid for all over the world by Soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, and Soldiers of the United States Army, at this moment, great Soldiers, are deployed and engaged in combat operations across the globe. They are simultaneously deterring adversaries and assuring allies, building increased partner capacity and responding to regional challenges, providing humanitarian support and disrupting terrorist networks. Wherever they are, America's Soldiers are displaying courage, commitment and character. They are demonstrating unparalleled competence and agility. And no matter the challenge, no matter how complex the environment, or how dangerous the situation, our Soldiers win.

And just a very short distance from here, just 100 yards or so, there are so many lying in perpetual rest that have given that last full measure of devotion to ensure that we remain free and enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those Soldiers, those sailors, those Marines, those airmen are all forever Soldiers of freedom.

And it is our job now to carry the torch into the future. We are, in fact, the best-equipped, best-trained and best-led Army in the world, and we must stay that way if we want to remain a free people. We will adapt, we will change, and that is a given for our Army. We are an organization that has changed to meet the challenges for over 240 years. And we will change yet again to meet the challenges of the future. But there is no cheap way to change. And more importantly, there is no cheap way to buy freedom. The only thing more expensive than fighting and winning a war is fighting and losing a war. And winning wars is what the United States Army is all about.

There are many who think wars can be won only from great distances, and from space, and from the air and the sea; unfortunately, those views are very, very wrong. War is an act of politics where one side tries to impose its political will on the other, and politics is all about people, and people live on the ground. We may wish it were otherwise, but it is not. Wars are ultimately decided on the ground where people live. And it is on the ground where the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, and the United States Special Operations Forces must never ever fail.

And to succeed in that unforgiving environment of ground combat, we must have forces that have both capacity and capability, both size and skill. They must be manned. They have to be equipped and they better be trained. And they will be well-led. And we must adapt to combat. As America, we have no luxury of a single opponent. We have to be able to fight guerillas and terrorists all the way up through nation state militaries.

If we do not maintain our commitment to remain strong, in the air, on the sea, and yes, on the ground, then we will pay the butcher's bill in blood. And we will forever lose the precious gift of our freedom.

As your Chief of Staff, I will ensure that we remain ready as the world's premier combat force, readiness to fight and win, and ground combat is - and will remain - the United States Army's number one priority. And there will be no other number one. We will always be ready to fight today, and we will always prepare to fight tomorrow.

Thank you, and may God Bless those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and given their tomorrows for our todays.

Army Strong.

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