00:00Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to visit our troops fighting in Operation Epic Fury.
00:07We were in the ground, or on the ground, excuse me, in CENTCOM on Saturday for about half the day.
00:13For reasons of operational security, so those troops are not targeted, the places and bases will not be named.
00:23Suffice it to say, the trip was an honor.
00:27I had a chance to bear witness, and I witnessed the best of America.
00:33I witnessed warriors, a brotherhood of men and women, warriors all, active duty guard and reserve,
00:42united in their love for each other, their shared purpose, and their commitment to the mission.
00:48I witnessed sheer competency.
00:50I watched a private first class confidently calling out an enemy missile trajectory to a room full of officers.
00:58Everyone focused. The room was locked in.
01:01Two enemy missiles successfully shot down.
01:05I spoke to Air Force and Navy pilots on the flight line, who every day both deliver bombs deep into
01:12Iran,
01:12but also shoot down drones defending their base.
01:17Many had just returned from the skies of Iran and Tehran.
01:22I put on a headset and spoke to one crew in the cockpit, locked and loaded each and every day.
01:30I witnessed ingenuity, American ingenuity.
01:34I met the young Army officer who figured out how to neutralize maneuvering enemy missiles, saving countless lives.
01:40His commander confirmed that the whoops and cheers erupted in the Tactical Operations Center when his new approach was first
01:47successful.
01:49I met the Air Force intel analyst who refines target packages faster than the enemy can adapt.
01:55I actually gave him my card and told him to keep me posted on the ground truth.
02:02I did the same with his boss, a colonel with a heart the size of Texas and a beautiful deployment
02:11mustache to match.
02:14I witnessed lethality.
02:17I met a junior airman as the sun was going down and a chill was setting on the tarmac,
02:22who, when asked what they needed, she simply looked up at me with a sly smile on her face and
02:31said,
02:31More bombs, sir, and bigger bombs.
02:36We will happily oblige her.
02:39I met the Army targeting team who found and sunk the pride and joy of the Iranian Navy,
02:45their fighting position plastered with images of sunken enemy ships.
02:49And I witnessed urgency.
02:52Right when we landed, another C-17 landed just minutes after us.
02:57And within 30 seconds of the aircraft coming to a full stop,
03:01a team on the ground pulled up and the cargo was being uploaded.
03:05Wartime speed.
03:07To a man and to a woman, on the ground, in the air, on the flight line, and in the
03:13talk,
03:14I heard, we want everything faster.
03:18Higher op tempo.
03:21Wartime speed.
03:23The feeling was the exact opposite of the rotational units year after year in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
03:29that we're so familiar with.
03:31In those wars, it was always about the next rotation, never knowing when the mission would end or exactly what
03:37the mission was, year after year.
03:40Not with epic fury.
03:43I witnessed urgency to finish the job, urgency to achieve mission success, not looking at the next rotation, only moving
03:51as fast as possible to win.
03:54I got a chance to troop the line, to witness firsthand what we already know is true.
04:01Spoke to all ranks and all services, none of whom knew we were coming.
04:04It was not rehearsed or scripted.
04:06Sometimes we just wandered.
04:07What I witnessed was motivation.
04:11It was sheer mission focus.
04:13It was the American warrior unleashed.
04:18It was the kind of warfighting American spirit that comes with a clear mission against a determined enemy.
04:25A crew chief we flew with summed it up nicely.
04:28He said, it's been a busy few weeks, sir.
04:31Tough stuff.
04:32But I'm so honored to be called up.
04:34This fight is long overdue.
04:36We need to address it for our kids.
04:39We cannot pass the buck.
04:41Please thank the president from us.
04:45I heard that time and time again.
04:48I asked each young American, what do you need?
04:51And nobody said better equipment.
04:53Nobody said more comfortable living conditions.
04:56Nobody said send me home.
04:58Well, of course, eventually we want all those things.
05:01They do too.
05:02But what those Americans said to me, young and old, officer and NCO, male and female, black and white, was
05:11let's finish the mission.
05:14Get us even more bombs, bigger bombs, more targets.
05:17Let us finish this.
05:20In fact, Admiral Cooper noted this morning that the three Air Force captains shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire early
05:27in the fight weeks ago.
05:29They never left the theater.
05:31All dropped bombs over Tehran last night.
05:37These men and women live the Iranian threat every day, incoming missiles and drones, and know what a world looks
05:43like, what the world would look like if Iran had the most dangerous weapons in the world, a nuclear weapon.
05:50As President Trump has said time and time again for years, and in this administration, Iran cannot have a nuclear
05:55bomb, and they won't.
05:57These troops, they want to finish this fight for their kids and their grandkids.
06:01This is about history.
06:04This is about legacy.
06:06Success matters.
06:07And because of this president and these Americans, we're closer than ever before to winning.
06:15President Trump is doing what no other president had the guts to do.
06:20Previous presidents were all talk.
06:23He's all action.
06:25On the battlefield, because of the latitude the president has given us, American firepower is only increasing.
06:34Iran's decreasing.
06:36We have more and more options, and they have less.
06:39Just one month in, only one month, we set the terms.
06:45The upcoming days will be decisive.
06:47Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it.
06:52Yes, they will still shoot some missiles, but we will shoot them down.
06:57Of note, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran.
07:04They will go underground, but we will find them.
07:08We recently destroyed another one of their command bunkers.
07:12Leaders forced to flee.
07:14No water, no power, no oxygen, no command and control.
07:17Their faith in their caves, diminishing.
07:22The latest intel is clear out of CENTCOM.
07:25Our strikes are damaging the morale of the Iranian military, leading to widespread desertions, key personnel shortages, and causing frustrations
07:33amongst senior leaders.
07:36Just last night, we had 200 dynamic strikes alone.
07:41Dynamic strike is a strike where a pilot leaves, and during their flight, they get a new target set based
07:47on real-time intel given to them.
07:49A new launcher, a new location, a new troop formation.
07:53A dynamic target is one that changes while you're in the air because of improved intelligence.
07:57200 dynamic strikes alone, in addition to the pre-plant targets.
08:02The video the president posted last night of Esfahan, an ammo depot struck by U.S. bombers.
08:09You see, you don't get to see many of those videos because, as a reminder, Iran has still shut off
08:15the Internet to 99.9% of its population.
08:20But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal.
08:24President Trump doesn't bluff, and he does not back down.
08:27You can ask Khomeini about that.
08:30The new Iranian regime should know that by now.
08:33This new regime, because regime change has occurred, should be wiser than the last.
08:41President Trump will make a deal.
08:43He is willing.
08:44And the terms of the deal are known to them.
08:47If Iran is not willing, then the United States War Department will continue with even more intensity.
08:56Standing here this morning, in this briefing room, in my mind's eye, I'm actually looking out at the groups I
09:02met this weekend.
09:04The pilots, the logisticians, the intel analysts, the targeters, the sustainers, the flight crews, the air defenders, the base security,
09:15those maintainers who we walked up at sunset with the chill in the air on the flight line.
09:23May God watch over all of them, each day and each night.
09:29May his almighty and eternal arms of providence stretch over them and protect them and bring them peace.
09:37In the name of Jesus Christ, and amen.
09:41Mr. Chairman, over to you.
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