00:00Not too bad, how we doing?
00:30I hear they call you guys the freedom fighters, is that right?
00:36Damn right.
00:37I'll tell you this, I've seen a lot of beautiful things, I don't know, this might be the most
00:42beautiful sight I've ever seen, right here.
00:45What an honor it is to be here, it's a long flight to get out here.
00:52You guys know that, but it is an honor, I've got a cap back, I've got to put this on.
00:58Does that look good?
01:05What a beautiful looking ship you've got.
01:08Even more beautiful looking men and women out here, and our Japanese partners as well,
01:12it's great to see you.
01:14Thank you for taking a moment, and in a moment you're going to see our commander in chief,
01:18who I know is thrilled to see all of you.
01:22I can't help but think, you know, George Washington, the ultimate freedom fighter, the ship's named
01:27after him, he's the first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of all of our countrymen.
01:32And when we think of 250 years of our country, we're coming up on 250 years, everybody likes
01:37to think 1776, but of course, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Army are all 250 years old,
01:45dating back to 1775, right?
01:49We talk about 1776, and rightfully so, the Declaration of Independence, the amazing moment,
01:55we launched this American experiment, but it doesn't start without 1775.
02:03Without Americans willing to pick up, well, then it was a musket, we didn't quite have
02:08aircraft carriers, a musket willing to stand their ground and believe in something greater
02:14than themselves, to fight for freedom.
02:16And when I look out into your eyes, all those eyes way back there past the press, just get
02:24them out of the way, when I see all those eyes back there, I see the very same eyes of those
02:32men and women from 1775, who were young, hungry, principled, gritty, tough, and willing to fight
02:43for the man and the woman on the right and the left, for deep principles and convictions
02:50that you still stand for today.
02:53What President Trump's doing is pretty simple, but it's revolutionary.
02:57He's reminding the country and our adversaries that we're going to put America first.
03:02How about that?
03:08Now that doesn't mean America alone.
03:11We have our allies like we do here in Japan, incredible allies, where we have 55,000 American
03:16troops and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them, but part of being strong is putting America
03:21and Americans first.
03:24It also means, on that banner, peace through strength.
03:28It means reestablishing deterrence.
03:30When you've lost it, it's important to reestablish it, and President Trump has done that from
03:35the Houthis and opening up our shipping lanes.
03:37When you just give away shipping lanes to pirates, that creates problems.
03:43He showed up and said no more.
03:45Or Iran's pursuit of a nuclear bomb, and he said, how about we send B-2s, 37 hours, over
03:50to take care of that, to ensure that they don't have a nuclear bomb.
03:54Or how about defending our own shores, zero people crossing our border right now, because
04:00for too long we had an invasion of folks, and we don't know who they are and where they're
04:03coming from, crossing our borders, poisoning our communities with drugs.
04:08I would not want to be in a drug boat in the Caribbean right now.
04:13It's about time we defend our own homeland.
04:18And we will do that.
04:19So it's America first, it's peace through strength, but it's also common sense.
04:26You hear it and you see it all the time, I have the great pleasure of watching President
04:29Trump on a daily basis, in private meetings and meeting with foreign leaders as we're planning.
04:34And the application of common sense, as you know, is not all that common in Washington,
04:39D.C.
04:40Well, when you apply it, it makes sense, and you get things done.
04:45And one of those things we're doing at the Department of War, welcome to the War Department,
04:57is we're applying common sense, we're getting back to basics.
04:59It's actually, again, not that complicated.
05:02We're going to ensure that we train, that we're equipped, that we hold people accountable,
05:07that we maintain discipline, that we focus on lethality and readiness and warfighting.
05:13All the types of things that you signed up to do.
05:16Now for too long, in a previous administration or iterations of administrations, there was
05:24a phrase, it's the dumbest phrase in military history, and that phrase is, our diversity is
05:29our strength.
05:31You see, I look out at this crowd, and I see a lot of diverse faces.
05:35A lot of faces, black, brown, white, and otherwise, from small towns, from big cities, rich, poor.
05:43I don't know you, and you don't know me, but I don't look at you and see who you are based
05:47on the color of your skin.
05:50I look at you as a fellow American who bleeds red.
05:54Our strength is not our diversity.
05:56Our strength is our common purpose.
05:59Our strength is our unity.
06:01Our strength is our mission.
06:03Our strength is our oath to the Constitution that we will defend each other.
06:08That's our strength.
06:09That's what the world sees.
06:10That's what I saw inside my platoon.
06:12That's what I see across this beautiful ship.
06:16incredible Americans, the real 1%.
06:20Forget about the elites and the 1% of Hollywood and Wall Street and all that.
06:25The real 1% are the Americans who are willing to put the uniform on and fight for something
06:31greater than themselves in the prime of their life.
06:34Everything else, yet here you are serving your country.
06:38Here you are away from your country, away from your family, away from your community, serving
06:44your nation.
06:45We owe you to get back to basics to allow you to do your job.
06:51And the response of America and young Americans has been incredible.
06:57Recruiting, as President Trump said a year ago, they couldn't get anybody to sign up.
07:02Now we can't push enough people through basic training because of the excitement of young
07:07Americans who want to do exactly what you're doing.
07:12Be proud of what you're doing.
07:15Stand up straight.
07:16You are, when I see those eyes, I see the eyes of American deterrence.
07:21You are reestablishing the peace through strength that was lost.
07:25It's not the machines.
07:26It's not the ships.
07:27It's not the planes.
07:28It's the great Americans who stand their ground every single day.
07:36I look out at a lot of you, man, I see some young faces.
07:40I see eyes that look a lot like my oldest son who's 15.
07:45And let me tell you, if he made the same decision you made at that age, man, I'd be proud.
07:50I don't know if he ever will.
07:51I don't know if he's got the guts to do it.
07:53Maybe.
07:54Don't tell him.
07:56I think he does.
07:57But I see the best of America here, and I'm proud.
08:00We are proud at the Department of War to serve you.
08:03Our job is to have your back.
08:06And that's something President Trump asked me to tell the troops everywhere we go.
08:10That's all I ever wanted when I was a young platoon leader, is to know that my leader,
08:14my company commander, my battalion commander, my brigade commander, division commander, you
08:19name it, squad leader, would have my back when we do difficult, dangerous things in the
08:25dead of night where you can make mistakes, and it's life or death.
08:30President Trump, I watch it every day, he has your back.
08:35At the Department of War, we have your back.
08:39And so we came all this way to reestablish those alliances, make sure adversaries understand
08:45how strong we are, and that we can project power on beautiful platforms like this.
08:50But I came out to encourage you and thank you and recognize to the American people everywhere
08:55what a special role you play in this 250 years of the American experiment.
08:59We're not here without men and women like you.
09:03And if we produce men and women like you, we have 250 more years of this great country and
09:08of this great alliance.
09:10That's our job is to pass it to the next generation.
09:12Man, look at those stars and stripes right there.
09:15That's what it's all about.
09:17That's what we're defending.
09:19Those freedoms and those Americans back home who cherish that peace and that prosperity
09:23and those basic freedoms.
09:25That's what we defend.
09:26That's what makes America so different.
09:29We don't fight because we hate what's in front of us.
09:32We fight because we love what's behind us.
09:35We love the freedoms that we cherish, and you're the reason we have them.
09:39So thank you for everything you do.
09:44God bless you.
09:45Call your parents and thank them, will you?
09:48They instilled in you the values to do something big, to do something special, to test yourself.
09:56And for that I'm grateful.
09:58God bless you.
09:59God bless the USS George Washington, and God bless our great republic.
10:02Thank you very much.
10:03Before we conclude here, we get a chance to do a reenlistment.
10:30Let me tell you this, I don't know the stats of all the services.
10:35I don't.
10:36But all I know is in the first week of October, the Marine Corps met its reenlistment in the
10:42first week for all of the entire year.
10:45Oh, we got some Marines out there, loud, huh?
10:51All of the other services will soon meet those same goals.
10:55And as a leader, reenlistment, I think, is the ultimate validation that we continue to
11:02be committed and we appreciate the leadership inside those ranks.
11:05So it's a testament to the leadership here and hopefully the tone that we're setting.
11:09So join us as we get a chance of giving the oath of enlistment to this fine crowd.
11:19You are on the right side.
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