Good evening, and thank you so much, Ed (Maj Gen Tonini), for that very kind introduction.
You know, you applauded too soon . . . . You ought to wait ‘til the end, to see if it’s deserved!
Elected representatives . . . Appointed officials of the Kentucky Cabinet and elsewhere . . . Mr. Pryor . . . Sheriff Aubrey . . . Active Duty, National Guard, Reserve and Retired Commanders and Senior Military Staff . . . Representatives of this dinner’s wonderful Sponsor Organizations . . . Men and Women of all Services, National Guard and Reserves . . . Ladies and Gentlemen.
By the way, folks, Kentucky has a terrific Adjutant General--other than the fact that I’ve got to teach him to use 50-cent words . . . and other than the fact that he’s made me work for my dinner tonight.
And I want you all to know right from the start that one of the most important missions I have in my current command is to support him and your Governor when they request federal military assistance.
And we will do that the right way, supporting Kentucky with Kentuckians in the lead.
I also want to tell you what a treat it is for me--a sailor who spent his life at sea and near the coast--to be in this job, to be able to fly across the country, to visit states, and to reacquaint myself with the notion that this is a country of sovereign states.
And what better place to be in a sovereign state than Kentucky!
I want to thank our Master of Ceremonies and Committee Chairman, Colonel Steve Bullard--what a terrific host he’s been all night--not only up here at the podium, but elsewhere.
Current and past members of the Louisville Armed Forces Committee, especially the seven hard-working core members of the Committee who put this together tonight. . . and your many corporate, organizational and individual dinner sponsors . . . thank you for the kind invitation to join you on this, the 92nd anniversary of this wonderful and famous event. I am really honored to be here.
To our Wounded Warriors . . . It’s truly humbling to be among you who have given so much while wearing the cloth of our nation.
You are a shining light that reflects the triumph of both the human spirit and just plain hard work and grit--to overcome what many would think are insurmountable odds.
You did not let us down, we will not let you down.
To the many people in this room who have served in combat…to the active duty, Guard, Reserve and ROTC winners we’ll honor tonight . . . I simply say that I am pleased, honored, and inspired just to be with you.
I didn’t come here just for the mint juleps and the wonderful bourbon . . . I came here to be with you.
Indeed, it’s great to be back in The Bluegrass State . . . a state that has produced over 100 people who were later elected governors of other states . . . a state where Mother’s Day was invented, right down the road in Henderson . . . bet you didn’t know that . . . .
It’s also great to make my first real visit to Louisville . . . the Derby City, home of both the largest annual fireworks display in the nation and the largest annual Beatles Festival in the world . . . and a city where the most frequently sung song in our country . . . and which long ago ceased being my favorite song . . . Happy Birthday . . . was composed in 1893.
It’s also a pleasure to be in this gorgeous modern edition of the historic Galt House Hotel.
Kentucky is a state that has a proud military heritage--and isn’t shy about it…which is why you and I are honoring our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guard members, ROTC cadets, and community partners at this wonderful dinner.
Kentuckians have always served our country. They’ve done it well, and many have given the last full measure of devotion.
When America gets in a fight, people who were born or once lived in Kentucky are going to show up . . .
Take Daniel Boone, for example, who said, “All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife.” I think he might have that order backwards?
And there was George Rogers Clark, the founder of this city . . .
Jim Bowie, of fighting knife and Alamo fame . . .
Kit Carson--the namesake of Fort Carson, not far from my headquarters in Colorado Springs . . .
“Old Rough and Ready” President Zachary Taylor . . .
And Frank Sousley, who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima . . .
More recently, Admiral William Crowe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . . . and Navy Hospitalman First Class Adam Kinney, to whom we’re going to make a very special presentation tonight for his personal courage.
I won’t tell you now what’s in the citations that will be read about Adam, but I will tell you a couple things about him that are not in those citations: . . .
. . . First Class Petty Officer Kinney, in the United States Navy, has a Juris Doctorate degree, and is a licensed attorney who, if you need any, can give you some legal counsel along with medical care!
. . . He’s been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.
. . . For his medical service in combat, supporting Marines, he’s earned the Angels of the Battlefield Award . . . and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
. . . And shortly after my remarks, you’re going to hear a lot more about this fantastic sailor!
In these modern days, as throughout our history, Kentuckians have given more than their share to national security, including both the away game and the home game, the latter of which is my job.
And I don’t just mean Kentuckians in uniform. The American people, including the civilians in this room, are supporting our troops like never before.
And we can’t forget our wonderful first-responders: the police officers, the firemen, and the medical folks who support our communities every single day.
Now, I can’t resist bragging just a bit about some of the Kentucky military folks represented here tonight.
The Bluegrass National Guard recently shifted from spring flood relief operations into National Level Exercise 2011--which as Ed said we just finished this week--in which we at USNORTHCOM were heavily engaged, and which played-out a major earthquake in our heartland.
In a state where more than half of the counties have declared states of emergency because of flooding just in the past few weeks, I know this must have put a lot of strain on everyone in the Guard here.
But when things get tough, the Bluegrass National Guard steps up.
I’ll give you a few examples that relate directly to my job here in the homeland as Commander of U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for homeland defense and Defense support of civil authorities:
First, I offer special congratulations to Louisville’s 123rd Airlift Wing for its “Excellent” Operational Readiness Inspection rating in last year’s first-ever Air Force ORI using a homeland defense & security scenario.
I was able to personally observe this unit in action earlier this week--although it was in Missouri--rehearsing the aeromedical evacuation mission during this national level exercise, and they did a superb job.
Second, since early 2009 the Kentucky Army Guard’s 63rd Theater Aviation Brigade in Frankfurt has been doing a superb job as the Army Aviation Component of our nation’s military ability to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear incident in our homeland.
They’ve been right in the middle of it, with a very heavy schedule of exercises throughout 2009, 2010 and this year.
Now, if so much training and exercising seems like a lot of effort to be ready for a hopefully-unlikely event, I commend to you the words of a Kentucky-born rail-splitter named Abraham Lincoln, who said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first two sharpening the axe.”
All that work means readiness to save lives here in our own home towns if a serious incident happens, as it recently did in Japan.
And whatever happens, I am confident that the Kentucky National Guard will be a strong pillar of our national response.
One of the key players in that response will be BG Joe Richie, the commander of your state Joint Task Force HQ . . .
. . . whom we expect would be deputized as a Dual-Status Commander to command federal forces in the event we are required to support your state, with two chains of command: one up through through Ed to your Governor, and one through me to the President.
What a concept--it’s a great concept--in which the most qualified officer--one who understands his state but is also well trained and supported in how the federal response would work--is positioned to command both state and federal troops when the people of Kentucky need military support.
So you can see, when I come to Kentucky, I feel that I’m among close and key mission partners--who know a thing or two about homeland security and homeland defense.
But, in addition to protecting our homeland and your state, Kentucky is also a major player in the away game.
Today, from the Kentucky Air Guard alone, you have people deployed in 8 different nations.
The same 123rd Wing I mentioned a moment ago just finished a 120-day rotation at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan . . . where their contribution to a large increase in airdrops there has helped minimize requirements for our ground troopers to travel over land routes infested with improvised explosive devices set down by the Taliban--the same kind of devices that injured Petty Officer Kinney.
Your team saved a lot of lives doing this as well as they did.
Night airdrops . . . in rough mountainous terrain . . . in the middle of brutal winter weather in Afghanistan . . . when our troops way out in isolated mountain valleys really needed the supplies brought down out of the clouds by these courageous Kentucky airmen.
The Kentucky Army and Air Guards have been very heavily involved in both Afghanistan and Iraq for a long time, including 64 people now conducting your state’s third joint Agri-Business Development Team mission in Afghanistan.
And since 1991, the Kentucky National Guard has mobilized for deployment almost 14,000 personnel--an astounding 162% of the force . . . and you have almost 20% of the force mobilized right now.
And it goes on . . . soon, about 2,200 of your Army Guard soldiers will depart for Iraq, in what will be the largest single deployment of the Kentucky National Guard since World War II.
Your Bluegrass Guard’s State Partnership Program with the nation of Ecuador is one of many little-known but high-leverage uses of the National Guard for our nation. It’s a wonderful program, and we should make it bigger.
Ft Campbell, right down the highway here in Kentucky, is home to some of the most-deployed units in the U.S. Army . . . we know the 101st Airborne just got home . . . central to our national efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere.
And just two weeks ago, Ft Campbell was visited by President Obama, who thanked soldiers and others--and their families, because this is a family business--for their extraordinary service over the past 10 years, and especially recently.
Of course, the famous Ft Knox is right here near Louisville. And its 3rd Brigade Combat Team--the “Duke Brigade” of the 1st Infantry Division--is deployed right now in eastern Afghanistan.
They are in the thick of it tonight as we enjoy this wonderful evening.
I also understand that this famous old armor training base that guards our gold also hosts a Marine Corps Reserve Tank Company that has deployed to combat--and was in fact supported by Petty Officer Kinney.
And I know that you are also home to hundreds of Navy Reservists, managed by the Navy Operations Support Center right here in Louisville . . . and I can’t overlook the impressive work of the Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley, based here in Louisville.
Many thousands of Kentuckians, including many in this room, have answered the call . . . deploying to places around the world . . . standing in the front lines of defense for over 300 million Americans.
Your National Guardsmen, Reservists, and the active duty military folks stationed in Kentucky are ready to go . . . or are defending us right now.
They serve the mission of protecting our great nation, this state, and our families . . . and we’re proud of them all.
And now we . . . whose forefathers risked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to establish a new nation conceived in liberty . . . find ourselves, still a young nation but so seasoned in a world where change happens faster than ever before . . . driving into a very challenging future in which we all, including these young men and women in our Armed Forces, will play a key role.
We’re looking through a glass darkly, but America will continue to lead . . . we cannot avoid it in a world that grows more tightly linked every day . . . . We can either shape the world, or we can let it shape us.
And we still remain the last best hope of mankind, a place to which everyone wants to come and no one wants to leave.
Yet we are confronted by a host of threats.
Foremost among these are violent extremists . . . used to be Osama bin Laden, but no more.
These extremists are currently the only thing out there with both the intent and the capability to harm us, but whose movement will eventually collapse of its own internal contradictions, I assure you.
We’ll also find ourselves challenged by newly-powerful nation-states, anxious to compete for power and influence in a changing world.
We’ll face growing pressure from nations that are trapped by history, culture, climate or lack of resources.
We’ll be faced by smaller rogue states who seek access to weapons of mass destruction that they believe will provide protection for their oppressive governments.
We’ll face various forms of regional instability, including a great deal of uncertainty over an Arab spring that seems to be headed for a long, hot summer.
We’ll face transnational criminal organizations that threaten our partner and friend Mexico, and other nations in our hemisphere--and that are having such a corrosive impact in our own cities.
We’ll face individuals and nations that seek to penetrate our computer networks, with the potential for great harm to the virtual and physical infrastructure on which we have grown so dependent.
And, of course, there’s always Mother Nature, who seems to generate an almost endless parade of natural disasters we cannot prevent, but only mitigate, such as right here and right now along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
And, of course, we’ll have increasing dependence on what we call “flow security” . . . namely, the free movement of commerce. You see this right now in Kentucky, as your automobile plants have been impacted by parts shortages generated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
It will take a forward-looking military, one willing to embrace change, if we are to successfully face these challenges.
For the next few years, we could be doing so at an interesting time for our nation economically, to say the least.
All of us Americans will likely have to pull together and sacrifice a bit to for us to ensure a healthy future for our great nation.
In my business, we’re going to have to become more efficient. We’ll have to take risks and make tough choices. Good people, like those in this room, will have to step forward to do this work.
Nobody ever promised us that protecting and building this great nation was going to be easy.
But I have no doubt that we the people will prevail over any challenge . . . . We always have, and we are a resilient nation, blessed with a free and creative people and a rich and fertile land, such as right here in Kentucky.
When times are tough, Kentuckians stand up and do the right thing . . . they always have, they are as I speak, and they always will . . . and that makes me so proud to be standing here among you.
Again, it’s an honor for me to have been invited to join you tonight at this very special and historic dinner in a fabulously-beautiful city.
On this Armed Forces night, let’s give thanks for the wonderful men and women who have defended, are defending, and will defend this beautiful country in which we are so privileged to live: those who let freedom ring in our land of the free.
Thank you. God Bless Kentucky, and God Bless America.