00:00For half a decade, this building allowed bureaucratic caution, or maybe politics, to stand in the way of proper recognition.
00:10Today, on this milestone anniversary, we declare that those days are over.
00:15True national readiness and our core strategic mission to achieve peace through strength do not begin simply with weapons systems
00:23or budgets.
00:24It starts with the sacred trust between the War Department and the warriors we send into harm's way.
00:35Peace through strength means our adversaries, yes, they fear our resolve, but they cannot fear our resolve if our own
00:43warfighters, if our own Marines, do not trust that the Department will stand by them in the hour of their
00:50greatest need.
00:51And today, at least in part, we restore that trust.
