>> and now, members of the first post-9/11 u.s. naval graduating class talk about their experience serving in iraq and afghanistan. this event held on september 11, 2012 is hosted by the navy memorial here in washington d.c. it's just under an hour. [applause]

the mac thanks to all my classmates and coeditors and mentors who helped make this possible. in february to the night vision this book. everything is happening for me as an active-duty salt and afghanistan in kandahar. i was working for general nick nicholson, doing cool things is a swell stansell are now, supporting my country. maybe i should do a book. really, compared to ben wagner? really, compared to jacob sabe? and f-18 pilot to saved the stryker battalion. well, made cbs colleague, jason jackson. the story of this book were exceptional and i that i will ask us present at 2002 it could connect the stories come from personalities together to weave together a book that could define this decade through

leadership ones. so i called carol andersen. carol andersen wasserstein richard in a helicopter accident. i called her on the phone as i did all the mothers who go for the book who lost their sons and i said carol, i would like to type you about richard. >> are you selling t-shirts quite >> no, ma'am, i'm from the naval academy and i have an important project like to talk to you about. i don't want to cut to the naval academy. she was actually torn at the time. she was suffering about her son said she had reached out to buy the academy family and we can do better. i said ma'am, we're writing about to honor richard. our classmate. over a hundred books to make him 30 make third roommate to would like to hear your voice. do it for richard, do for those who served. a few weeks ago, after we sold out our first printing at the

naval institute press, i received an e-mail from her. my name is carol andersen and i received my "in the shadow of greatness" late afternoon and just finished reading it. i was that much of the night and couldn't put it down. in the acknowledgments section, it talks about those leaders of the class of 2002 who advocated the project when others were skeptic. i was a skeptic. i wasn't sure how the book would turn out. i wrote the book more for myself and richard because they needed to heal. i also wondered how good would actually be. recently come with e-mail came out about the release date and asked me spread the word, i did. as my duty e-mailed all a new and told them about the book, but he said although it was called a must-read by tom brokaw, i hadn't read them myself and couldn't endorse it. i had no idea what was to come. i do now and look forward to reading the other stories.

the courage not just a battle, but the next step, your academy days and beyond and the failures that make us stronger. she and i worked for two years on her story. it is gripping and it will make you emotional when you think about how another answers the door when they find out she's lost her son. when i called rocky checker to write, and navy football player, linebacker type. he wasn't sure how he was going to find his voice either, but since we were class agent can be made, i said rocky, you are a casualty evacuation pilot. he saved over 150 marines, soldiers, iraqis and three deployments. you honor jan harris, another academy graduate was killed was killed was killed we wrote this

book to give a podium to people who are too humble to we wrote this book to give a podium to people who are too humble to speak about service, who do their job video up nobly and don't have a bestseller and don't go out into "the new york times" and reuters story. they are too proud and too prideful. so i cajoled rocky. as they had this vision of weavings joins together, i knew i wanted universal principle, battlefield will it become a feeling the pressure of combat. and they are in this book, but i also wanted universal as should be a diplomacy that we saw from 9/11 to now 2012. here's something from rocky story. i experienced several close calls while flying during first deployment in iraq here we received multi-rpg attack, smaller fire and while flying our final approach under pressure for the mass casualty call from combat outpost romani. the first rpg shot directly in front of us in on final approach past 10 to 15 feet above the

rotors. another fire from behind as on the left side of the aircraft. rpg's and smaller buyers were shot at our aircraft numerous times in several occasions to damage. i distinctly remember evacuating a navy seal in the second employment in 2006. the very same zone of her body. he was the first seal killed in action in iraq. one of his fellow schemata mummified a boy picked him up, he had a severe gunshot wound to the head and face, but was alive during the transit. he succumbed to his injuries after he dropped them off and it became quite clear early on but no one listened but no one listened, not even listened, not even a seal. i'm very proud of rocky story in the other 32 stories in this book. there are 16 seals who graduated from the navy academy class of 2002. we provide officers into a diverse skill set. how many seals do you think wrote for our book?

zero. one was my roommate come in a cube or as seal team on the ménage the civilian world. he was my best friend. i knew he could find these great stories that people buy the book. not one of the 16 day. after three years of saying they could write honestly, saying they could grab the pseudonym are right for them if they didn't have the pros, there was too much integrity for the silent service. so as we climbed the ranks, approaching no easy day, a book that maybe doesn't follow all the rules or embrace opera bracing, we hope you buy our book, too. we hope you realize that ours is a no easy decade, a story of leadership and lessons from a diverse group of missionaries and think you can take from the war zone to the boardroom. i want to talk about our title,

"in the shadow of greatness." i want to talk about the great people who endorsed this book. as you notice, we had david gergen on the cover. he's a leader at the harvard kennedy school of government and we we are pleased as a former naval officer that he would support our book. this one doesn't work forward with knock your socks off. we had general allen, the senior leader of our joint mission in afghanistan, admiral locklear, the senior naval officer for other regions in asia. we also had admiral malik, former chairman of the joint chiefs who sent it to classmate, john, and his other son graduated in 03 misleading sailors today. he wrote his connection to the cause. this nonprofit book, this humble book that is good for the country. and then mr. brokaw. for nine at the e-mailed his assistant. i tried really hard and i pushed and pushed, but i don't quite.

and the final weeks, he submitted his blurb that has changed this book. i have some bad news. there is more security around tom brokaw and admiral mullen. [laughter] sewer with the next greatest generation? as the lead author of this project, i would say we are prepared for greatness. we served in unique ways. with blood and lost classmates and ship me and subordinates and seniors on the battlefield or you see that in this book. but when you deploy for your country in that way, it changes the way you want to serve at home. so how did the world war ii generation to? they made the ultimate sacrifice. they came home and with the engine of progress for this nation for the latter part of a century. we, the 2.5 million veterans who are coming home in the years to come are prepared for good things, for great things, to lead our country in uniform and now, and you'll see four of those crazed tories and the latter part of our book.

and in closing, the greatest generation of the 20 century lived through the great depression and bought a two front war. our generation was called to feed a faceless enemy and return to a country in economic turmoil. we aspire to be the next greatest generation, showing humility and respect for those who came before us. if we were to emerge in the shadow of our grandparents could we must persist in virtuous leadership on every battlefield and every boardroom, from baghdad to washing 10 and from kabul to silicon valley. our amendment is resolute, our nation's best lie ahead. thank you. [applause] and i mentioned before i'm the class president in 2002.

a health plan tailgaters in the fiscal duties and reduce some interesting things. we write books. but in august 2009, i got a phone call from a classmate that one of my classmates was killed. captain matt freeman. his mother is here with us today. she wrote for the story. one of those authors that i worked with overtime. we are honored to have you, ma'am. this event is a tribute to not and were grateful for your words and thank you. [applause] >> 9/11, 2001. four days earlier is attending the naval academy's parents weekend of the class of 2002. this is matthew's chance to proudly show off his naval academy before graduating in the spring. for me, the day began and

mathews aerospace engineering class as my husband, gary, naval academy class of 76 as the guest speaker for the professor who taught him 26 years earlier. matthew beamed with pride as his father spoke. later that day, and i said, mom, i want to show you some pain. he slipped away from other activities that took me bancroft talk on the dormitories on the shipment. we walked to the great doors and into the rotunda. he let me straightahead and a the marble stairs to memorial hall, a ceremonial room used for special occasions. i smiled as i remember three years earlier as he looked at me with a frightened glance, holding his hand up as his father saw him into the navy. i did the root resounded with other parents doing the same thing. that day, the day i was with

matthew, the room was hatched as he led me through the hall, past a sign asking for quiet and respect. i looked around the room filled with plaques describing unimaginable courage, ancient flag slowed the model, paintings depict the hard-fought battles and carved into the wall. he moved me to the back of the room below it flagged as i don't give a ship was a large black and a little glass case. he looked at me and said mom, these are the real heroes. these are the ones who died in combat for our safety, for our freedom, for our country. i looked at that case and saw so many names from vietnam in the world wars and i thank god that day we were in peacetime. after showing me some others oracle markers, matthew and i left the hall and joined a family for a wonderful weekend of activities designed for the

families to see the accomplishments of their mid-shipments. four days later, i stood in the eighth grade classroom at tearfully watched the second plane crash into the world trade center. i need a piece i was thankful for was over. our world had changed forever. matthew called me after the pentagon was hit your aunt, he said, i'm on duty and were lucky not bancroft hall in getting out weapons. we may be a target. don't expect to hear from you or a while. this class of 2002 with transition immediately to a war that for the first time started on our soil. little did i know that my time with matthew in memorial hall was the foreshadowing of antiseizure. the day his name is listed, but under the new title, war on terror. matthew was chosen for marine aviation went through many

trials and hardships before finally joining his first squadron in japan. there he became engaged the girl he loved since high school and was on top of the world. an extra troop in afghanistan and the summer of two dozen nine, matthew volunteered to help out. he absolutely found his niche with those very. he took the first of july to visit the family is secretly married to reset. july 10 was the last time i saw him. he arrived in afghanistan the end of july and wrote these final words in his journal august 2nd. mom, dad, i can never repay you for all you have done for me. you made it to the man i am today. i hope that i've made you proud. that has always been my goal. i love you both so much. so the girls i love them and could be a proud her older brother. i've always tried to be an honorable man and i truly believe in what we are doing

here. i'm doing this for my family so they need not fear. my countries that can be a beacon of light for the entire world, the men around me because no one could ask for a more a best companies in the men of the u.s. armed forces. finally, i do this for myself that i might note the measure itself and in the end, not be found wanting. i believe it is my duty to fight and having done all i can to simply stand against this and all the evil works upon this earth. he called me august at incentive people are so nice and the kids are so cute, mom. it rather have pens and paper than food and water. can you get a fundraiser going to school starts? two days later is talking to my student about starting a fundraiser when the marines walked down the hall to tommy matthew had been killed in a sniper attack while saving others. from the book comment "in the

shadow of greatness," written as if matthew were telling the story everything then out a base camp and out towards an area where we knew there would be danger. recent intel had reported that 80 taliban had been in the vicinity. now more than 10 minutes into our patrol, shots rang out. my team does not include the enemy position in a madhouse. i climbed atop the roof until the man holding an rgb during my defense. i was visually acquire really out of the to call it air support when i was hit. everything went black. that day, my world went black, too. my daughters came home to care for their broken parent, my oldest return to washington state for his fifth tour aboard struggled to take care of their four -month-old son. my youngest daughter left her beloved naval academy to take care of her grieving mother

father during months of brokenness, sacrificing her education. the people of richmond, georgia and surrounding areas welcomed matthew home with tears, flags and salutes. the streets are lined for 17 miles from the airport to the church. local choirs joined to sing at his memorial service as a method in church that helped raise him. knowing matthew had been an eagle scout and a local boy scout by collecting pens and paper and sent them to matthew's unit in afghanistan. a dear friend, jim bunn who is involved in media had a vision and the matthew freeman project again. he dedicated much time and energy to produce a short film that launched the project on memorial day 2010. since then, with the help of so many volunteers, he can't name them all, the project has spent over seven tons of school supplies to soldiers are buried for humanitarian efforts in afghanistan. matthew small town of richmond hill, now a city of savanna and

our great army bases at fort stewart and hunter army airfield in savanna air guard to help me heal by supporting the matthew freeman project under it all veterans day 5-k run for peace. last night i dedicated a memorial in our town, the captain matthew freeman project proudly announced a new scholarship we will be starting for the siblings of the fall and in combat. these are the forgotten mourners to often sacrifice, on their education to comfort family or deal with their own grief. after 11 years of work, very few people know about the families. these are parents, siblings, thousands of children to survive the death of their loved ones. as a mother of a fallen marine, were all ready for this war to end to bring a one's home. i encourage y'all to learn learn more about helping goldstar families. i humbly request a media report

about military's humanitarian efforts in war-torn country. our men and women are working for peace, not war. this generation of grandchildren, of the greatest generation they live in the shadow of the greatest generation, but this cogeneration had carried for 11 years straight with no draft. there's been little media attention to their hard-working sacrifice. military wives and husbands, grand parents is children working hard to keep the fathers and mothers who have kept the enemy away from our country alive to their children. these military families have sacrificed sharing the joys of family life so the rest of us can feel safe. my son-in-law is currently on his eighth deployment. my daughter is in special operations are my heroes. here is part of their everyday. although my name is listed as writing a chapter in this book, i cannot take all the credit.

i was still so broken at a time of disaster at the rate the difficulty expressing myself. isn't that for my husband, gary, mathews went to reset comments high school sweetheart to work with them on the student council and his naval academy friend, matthew stories would not have been without their input and i deeply think them for their input. this book, "in the shadow of greatness" will help america to better understand the sacrifice and the love of country and the courage of the brave men and women in the families of the greatest literary source in the world. freedom isn't free. god bless our military family and god bless america. [applause]

>> thank you, lisa, thank you, mrs. freeman. war brings us our own weakness, but to the challenges we face over the past 10 years of war, we also got stronger. and the seth lynn, my classmate he was a proud marine, a scholar from print to have gone on to do amazing things here in our nation. he's going to share this was to do and am grateful his nation to the book and his contribution. [applause] >> thanks, josh. as josh said, i am seth lynn, director of the second service

for gw university and our mission is to train veterans, some of the folks who have contributed to this incredible book to continue serving in public office. and it grew out of a nonprofit i started a few years ago called veterans campaign. my chapters about starting veterans campaign and we are now housed at the gw university and the 21st my boss, mark kennedy, direct your oven management. [applause] mark spent six years in congress representing minnesota and his son is easy reading he was going to fly f-18s. he didn't go to the naval academy. probably wouldn't hold that against him, but he did go to notre dame. [laughter] i'm still smarting from the german we took a couple weeks ago, but we'll get over that. i also want to thank josh for

following up with me constantly and making sure i submitted to this phenomenal book. josh came to one of our training is a couple years ago after leaving the navy he might run and i'm going to take full credit when josh's present. if you don't think josh could be president one day come you haven't been paying attention. the thank you, josh. i'll start by reading the first two paragraphs of the chapter is amended to "in the shadow of greatness." to ask that time i remember we had to zigzag around the serpent team, a set of cement barriers staggered to prevent someone from driving straight into the camp at high speed. the teams of famous battles were etched on the cement barriers so whenever my marines and i exited the camp, we received a fresher in marine corps history and a reminder of legacy of those who've gone before us. this year vehicles on the first barrier marked tripoli, barbary pirate and the next barrier the philippines, boxer rebellion

umbrella would. another one letter twaddle canal come at iwo jima, the next one marked crews on, and sean and chosen reservoir. the following marked caisson, pyongyang kuwait city. the next to last one marked beirut, kuwait, somalia. the final barrier to the needs of the marine corps' most recent battles, nazarbayev, baghdad and falluja. as we exited the wire, suddenly the battle being stopped and we became part of history ourselves. no strange to think that just 11 years ago last night we all went to bed usefully without any notion the following morning we were going to be thrown, ready or not into what became the longest war in american history. it's hard now for me to imagine words like falluja and now soraya and had beat the without having some sort of an emotional

response. is hard to remember what was like to think about a day like september 11th with all the emotions it brings out. but it's also equally difficult to remember all my classmates and what we were all like for this great bird before placed on our shoulders, worst in us to grow faster than any us imagined we'd have to. our country's response to 9/11 really brought up the best and many of us end of the sort of a silver lining around the crowd of just as they are in the weeks after the world trade center disappeared. when i first realized this of all places while i'm watching "the daily show" about a week after 9/11. you remained remember jon stewart said this attack on it happened. it's not a dream, but the aftermath, the recovery is a dream realized and that's martin luther king's dream. whatever barriers we put up our god. even if this is voluntary, any fool can blow something up, but

to see these guys come in these firefighters, policemen and people all over the country, literally with buckets rebuilding, that's extort barry and that's why we party one. now 11 years later, we can look at our nation and say it's as divided as it's been in recent memory and maybe we have to concede that some of that unity we experience was, as jon stewart said, just temporary. and that sometimes makes it even more discouraging to watch the spectacle that are national, political system often becomes. but my chapter in "in the shadow of greatness" explains why haven't lost hope. that's because i spent the years surrounding nine elevenths run by people who continue to live that dream and set their differences aside and put themselves in harms way and unfailingly do with their country asked of them.

and the same people inspired me to start this nonprofit to help more people like them become elected officials. over the last decade, is to watch politicians argue over who's responsible for causing our nations problems, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have an billie dunn but america's ask him even when it meant enormous personal sacrifice. for example, my classmate keri ross kept himself in the closet until done acetone was lifted, so he could continue putting himself in harm's way and continue serving his country. we just heard about my classmate, matt freeman. i learned about my status on facebook, which is obviously not the ideal way to find out one of your princess cut, but it allowed me to go to this page and see what people were saying about them at the time, which is incredibly cathartic. remember looking up what he had written before he was killed.

he obviously put a post up that someone interpreted as disagreeing with one of president obama's policies and it started one of these arguments you see going on facebook all the time when someone says that ain't this and they go back and forth in and commenting you say please shut up. and that's sad inspiring, don't fight on my page. i disagree with some political decisions, but he is my commander-in-chief and i support them in all military decisions. to my knowledge, that was the last post my friend matt wrote on facebook. in our last two national elections, we've watched our country registering complete dissatisfaction with the status quo, throwing them out, throwing them out again. ..

regenerate that americans trust congress less than any other institution in the u. s, they told our men and women in uniform in the highest confidence. if you read this book about my classmates you begin to understand why. is e-book's title "in the shadow of greatness," because my generation was lucky enough to learn from the example of the generations of veterans who went before us. if we live up to their example

our service to our country will happen to continue after we returned home from the battlefield of the middle east and with that i am going to close the final two paragraphs of my chapter. it is true that to whom much is given much is expected. as the iraq and afghanistan generation returns home and takes the reins of leadership i reminded that the battle names of its own barriers, we have the examples of patriots like george washington, teddy roosevelt, dwight eisenhower, john f. kennedy, who became the most esteemed readers after returning from war. we can look to senators ted stevens who fought world war ii together and representing opposite parties maintained a lifelong friendship. we can look at john mccain, bob kerrey, chuck hegel, john kerry who faced enormous challenges on returning home, took the lead in

normalizing relationships with vietnam and helping to heal a wounded nation. it is our responsibility to uphold the legacy of those who have gone before us as we in keeping with the mission of the united states naval academy assume the highest responsibility of command and citizenship and government. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are going to make a quick transition to the front of the room to set up for the q&a by showing a brief video. q the video. we have been having some technical difficulties today. ladies and gentlemen, this video

is called action. we encourage you to buy the book and joined the cause. thank you very much. >> our lives changed. we are prepared to serve in uniform but not sure how. responding to our nation's call, in harm's way, in the air, on the ground. >> we share stories of the last ten years of war when we were in uniform and the plane struck the tower's lean to our service changed and what we're trying to do is document service. >> 100, you will be amazed at the stories. ben wagner serving in harm's way. >> the last female fighter pilots in iraq, to be a sniper on christmas day in iraq.

something truly 1-of-a-kind. not only do we have stories on the battlefield, you will also read stories from mothers who lost their sons like andrew torres and richard anderson. >> the american people who want to know more about those who served after 911. >> over the last few months, we received amazing stories of thousands of people and how they can do more. >> it is a campaign from now until saturday, all the proceeds go to these amazing veteran organizations. is a are the ones doing heavy lifting, helping transition from uniforms in civilian life, families of the fallen, those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in days and years to come.

>> we want to give you a chance to do that. click on the link below. this book is 100% non-profit. all the proceeds go to military veterans that they will get double their profits. >> support all the organizations making the country strong. thanks for everything you do for our country. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much for sticking with us this evening. it is an extended happy hour. i like the panel to go ahead and

have a seat. for those who have not been introduced i want to take a moment to introduce one of the co editors of the book and john ines. all right, what we would like to do is take your questions and answers. i want to take one moment. i did not clear this with josh. i would like to recommend chris stahl, our editor who created these videos. if you could help me give him a round of applause. [applause] >> there are so many people who stepped up in the last year to make this project happen and we can't saying the mall but we are happy you are here to join us. if we don't have volunteers to ask questions i will call people out who i know are here. okay.

one more thing. we have eight great organizations we partnered with. we would like those partners to stand and be recognized. please rise. thank you so much. these guys actually do the heavy lifting. we try to share stories in the book and highlight the way these wonderful groups are helping veterans. we wrote the book but they do it every single day. i would like to see some hands. we should have microphones. there we go. >> i have a question from the naval academy. on september 11th we were allegedly attacked for islamists reasons and the war on terror is

an islamist war but i noticed as far as naval expansion in the past 11 years there has been more from the people's republic of china with a string of pearls strategy going to the indian ocean and pakistan, the most important city you never heard of because the chinese have a listening post with ships going in and out of the strait of hormuz and relationships with iran and sudan. i think you all know the human rights records of those countries and how they make war on their neighbors and the china daily newspaper which you can get outside is propaganda for the people's republic of china. i think the chinese ideas which you may have studied at the naval academy, in the next few years with our lower number of ships and sequestration an extension to china's power, how

would you less manage military resources around the world? >> thank you for the softball question. admiral mullen when he was at the graduation -- chief of naval operations told us truth to power. as a junior officer not to follow on ethical lawyers, not to do anything to slow the constitution, keep that in your heart first. the question you're talking about is way above our pay grade. [applause] >> there are very important issues that we could discuss but for this purpose, for this book, our timeless lessons of leadership, hopefully we act with integrity and ability for

our country. [applause] [inaudible] [inaudible question] >> hopefully that sheds some credit on the naval academy english department because i was an english major. we mobilized a lot of active duty and prior active duty military to do the book. if there is any literary merit,

that does speak well of our program. we did also bring in a lot of hired help, friends who are professional editors. the organization of the chapters you see is not what we started with. we started with a topical organization looking more like a bridge of -- book of her to approach with different leadership aspects and also different fields of specialization and over time we got a lot of entries on one group and not so many on the other and had to reorganize and we can coming back to the drawing board saying what are the themes here? at the end there is obviously a theme of leadership. that is current throughout all the stories. there's a theme of casting a very positive and hopeful vision for the future of the country in light of the leadership we have in our generation. so what tells the story the

best? we wanted to tell the story chronologically so we started grouping according to experiences that enable academy, reflections on things at the naval academy as they blended into combat experience and ended up in the book with some of the experiences that classmates moved on to the civilian prospector. >> just to let people know your son was a contributor to the book. he crossed into army so he is probably serving. next question? in front? >> i am honored to be here. i have a question that may hit close to the bun. when the theme is sacrifice, how

does it strike these soldiers who are sacrificing so much to think about how folks back home may be are not sacrificing. is that troublesome? [laughter] >> i was looking for somebody to answer that question. >> it is difficult. everyone of us signed up to serve for a particular purpose. you would like to walk into a cvs or a 711 and c five military veterans buying a pack of cigarettes but that is not the reality of america. what is the reality? the folks that have served are very passionate about what they do. the folks that have served would tell everyone that they know to

serve. they will make their families proud. they will make everyone they went to iceland and prevented -- elementary school with crowd and encourage others to serve. the beauty of this all volunteer force is everybody is there that wants to be. everybody is there for a purpose. everyone is there to accomplish a mission. the folks back our classmate seth was talking about that get out of uniform want to continue serving in some capacity whether that is congress or local governments or running for school board, we are taught to serve our country and will continue to do so. while it does not necessarily make us all happy when you see folks the crying america, when you see folks talking about peace movements that don't exist when the folks in uniform are the ones fighting for peace much more than the folks burning american flags in the streets,

it doesn't make you feel good but what should make you feel that is stories of folks in this book and stories of all veterans who served after 911. [applause] >> next question. [inaudible] >> can you tell us if they are going to be available so that we can read those stories also? >> we have a lot of submissions -- can you hear me? we have 63 available, 33 are in the book, 30 are already available or will be available very soon. the web site will be punished also. the fifteenth at the end of the week to a kindle version and that will be for sale. our objective was to be included

in the project and get as many people involved as possible. we have submissions that ran the gamut from not very polished to finished to too long. so we did what we could and the rest of it we will promote. >> one second. there we go. >> yes, please. >> really loud. [laughter] >> i am curious about your title. growing up and visiting my grandfather, his farm in south dakota and my grandfather's

ministry hearing about their stories of world war ii. can you talk about that, where the title came from, your father or uncle grandfather? >> this will be my last answer but this is something i am passionate about because i submitted the title and they bought into it. i was equally inspired by my grandfather's book, one in the pacific and one in italy. they cast a huge shadow. the greatest generation and all the veterans after them cast a big shadow for any who apply to a service academy or join the military, we were doing that because we were inspired to do that. we fell in love with america at an early age and wanted to do something. one of the difficult things is growing up in the 90s, we had

generation x and millennials on the rise and, this bad vibes we had to break out of, climb out from under the shadow of greatness. we went to the naval academy of aspiring to do great things, to achieve great things, sustain the greatness of america. it gets me fired up when we talk about american exceptionalism. i look at my classmates who wrote this book and achieved these things and america is exceptional. my kids are exceptional. i have four of them here. we wanted to write a book called the next greatest generation which some people are saying about this generation but we didn't want to say that because we wanted to approach the theme humbly and say we want to be the next janice -- greatest generation. we aspire to that but let's not say that about ourselves. we are in the shadow of greatness, the greatness of our

country, the greatness of our veterans. we aspire to cast our own shadow, to inspire our children. that is throughout the introduction and every chapter has that theme. [applause] >> thank you, elizabeth. elizabeth is my neighbor and yesterday when i was coming out of the capitol hill club, i met dodge who graciously gave me his calling card and i am used to getting those from people who are running for office but i must say i have been deeply touched. when i looked at the card the first thing i did was ask my

youngest grandson could he come with me tonight and one of the staff people is here. here is my point. we must not forget. that is urgent for so many aspects of american culture. the best way to do this is to very judiciously and legislatively incorporate into the public school system that receives 9% of its budget from the federal government that we have some strings to pull. i am a christian lobbyist at the capitol. i have been there for 30 years doing this representing churches and this is a moral matter, a matter of the destiny and very existentialism my heart and thank you for getting -- feeling good to do that. there is that and also the shift. i watched the film and that ship needs to have an ability and a

budget that will go not just to new york but down the coast and may be up as far as delaware can get -- what do you call that thing in the front? the knows? i am not an 80 person wore engineer. we need to go to the west coast to help the folks in l.a. and san francisco and seattle to understand this. that can all be done. it has a permanent purpose, a major attraction when spring break comes and kids come from the eighth grade. i will make that decision and will be talking to you since you are my neighbor in terms of this coming fall, ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus.

>> thank whils people to do

great things how looking beyond patriot, i know you and i will be working with that but could you share with others what the expectation is? >> thanks to the navy memorial nab institute and co-sponsors, is launching a weak campaign that will transition to a fall campaign which will talk to transition into a decade of honor and remembrances to this decade to. and capture diverse experiences. it is not one person's career, the most powerful thing, the

most critical moments of the past ten years of the front lines. the aggressive book tour to go to universities and high schools throughout the country. and share this message. all of you here on behalf of us and advocates for this book. tonight, this week through our web site. that is our plan. this book is non-profit and it is ambitious. [applause] >> what judge means is please go home and send it on to all of your friends. one more question? >> steve smith, navy 79.

i will say how proud i am of my daughter and all the women who followed in the footsteps of the naval academy. [applause] >> where does the math friedman foundation go? >> we have an educational theme, in war-torn countries. we have people who have started to ask about some of the areas. we hope to be able to get into other countries as we expand. we just started two years ago and requests are starting to come in from individuals but we also have large shipments that go to our humanitarian warehouses, each one of them is packed with information about the project and where it came from. i have wonderful pictures of

principles in the schools, saying somehow we would like to meet this woman because we thank her for these for our children. most of it has been local. our biggest launch went into golfport high school where she was stationed, my daughter-in-law. my husband and i have been vice president of the student council and student council would like to do this and she said i have boxes all over my condo and they had two tons of school supplies they collected in two weeks. and we have an opportunity where you can come to us and sign up as a volunteer so we can get boxes immediately out if we are

low on supplies. there is opportunity that way to do collections and work with spirit of america which is a marine base organization and pickup large shipments to the humanitarian warehouse. if we get to the point i would love to see that we don't need that part we are branching into the scholarship various and trying to helping educational fields in the community. [applause] >> thank you for your comments. as we discussed this week, one thing we want to do is we are all here to remember, to take a moment and pause and moving forward with this book, a book about how to take this leadership and these lessons we have learned and impact the nation in wonderful ways in the

future. what we would love you to do is join us for signing times and thank you for your questions. we could not have done this without your support and i thank my mom for flying in today. thanks to everyone joining us today and see you outside. >> every weekend booktv offers 48 hours of programming focused on nonfiction authors and books. watch it here on c-span2. >> the targets of the drug war are the wrong targets was the lesson for me as a journalist. i think what enforcement on all levels is out there to serve and help us and the ones i have met on all levels in the course of research for this book were generally good people. some don't realize it is just a job and they're spending taxpayer money but nonetheless people trying to do their job. the problem is law enforcement, we need to turn up the taps,

nine million domestic dollars the going towards enforcement's. $1 trillion in tax dollars. not news to anybody in this room but the wider american mainstream is waking up. i live in a place in new mexico where the cowboy hats and ladies in the post office saying barack obama was born in libya. when they ask what my book is about and i tell them it is and economic social analysis of why the end of the drug war was good for america, without fail the response is the tragedy in mexico and when is the drug war going to end? is not dangerous, when we going to stop -- left-wing or right-wing and televangelist. the truth is black and white. dangerous for me as a journalist with a few decades of experience, too much of a cheerleader about this particular issue. people are going to