defense secretary general lloyd austin reeves reporters on gaza and the russian ukraine were, commentsn protecting civilians in gaza, and recruitment challenges with the military. this is just under 15 minutes. >> think secretary -- the secretary will give brief remarks. sec. austin: good afternoon, everybody. thanks for joining us on this trip and for local media, really appreciate you joining us this afternoon as well. it has been quite a day. as you saw her earlier, i had the upper unity to deliver the commencement address at south carolina state. it is always exciting to see young graduates get a chance to be recognized for four years of hard work. in some cases there are probably those who work to more than four years, and it is important to see the proud parents in the stands, so that was a real special event, as is every graduation. today, this afternoon what we are going to do is take a look at some of the elements of our recruiting process. i will begin this afternoon's activities by talking to a number of noncommissioned officers, and those noncommissioned officers work in th