since 9/11, come on up here. come up here. [ applause ] well done. thanks. [ applause ] those are the individuals and the others in here and so many more that you've led and represented and served with who have truly made that video a

true video and brought to life that statement when the nation needed you, you responded to the call. colonel williams, thanks very much for the kind introduction. overly kind. i must say that the response to such generous words typically has to be to note that i wish my dear departed parents had been here to hear them. my father would have enjoyed them. my dear old mother might have actually believed them. well, i'm truly humbled by the award i received today, and i'll have a bit more to say about that. but before doing so, i do want to thank colonel williams, i do want to thank general davis and i do want to salute them and all of your leadership for years of military service. these two alone account for well over a half century in uniform for our country, and i want to salute as well their tremendous leadership of the reserve officers association. indeed, i salute not only them

but the rest of the leadership of roa for recognizing citizens and soldiers who advance the cause of our nation's security and who very much embody the qualities of service and leadership exemplified by one of the association's key founders, and that would be, of course, general john "blackjack" pershing. it is a pleasure to see in the audience so many whom i have served on the battlefield in the past decade. a mix of former and current reservists, members of rotc over there, i hope you're getting credit for this for a class. they who will, of course, lead the next generation of reservi t reservists and i salute all of you for your selfless dedication an service to our country. i also thank the association for taking on an issue of interest in my household, particular interest, ensuring that a number of programs for our military families are well supported. as some of you may know, my

wife, holly, is an assistant director of the consumer financial protection bureau, and she is helping to lead the fight against financial rip-offs that target our troopers and their families. [ applause ] thanks. i will note that that was an applause line. to her, that is. but as all of you know, bullets and ieds make no distinction downrange between those of the reserve and active components of our military, and neither do predatory lenders. so holly and i are very pleased that you're pushing this issue and she asks that i convey a well done, a bravo zulu to you on it. speaking of reservists up front, i wanted to share with you a story from a recently declassified operation that took place, that for the press has been unreported until today. during this particular operation, one of our best

reserve units was deployed to perform a sensitive mission on a desert island where they had to hire some local inhabitants as scouts and translators. it turned out, however, that the locals were cannibals, so the commander, whose roa membership was current, no small point for the front row here, made a point of speaking to them before the contract was finalized. you're part of our team now, he told the cannibals. we'll pay you well for your service and we'll allow you to eat any of our rations, but please, he said, please don't eat any of our troopers. well, they responded reassuringly and promised not to eat any of the unit's soldiers and then shook hands with the commander and went to work. everything was going smoothly until about four weeks later when the commander called the

cannibals together for a meeting. you're all working hard, he said, an i'm very pleased with your performance. however, one of our sergeants has stdisappeared. do any of you know what happened to him? they all shook their heads and professed to have no idea of the missing sergeant's whereabouts. after the commander left, however, the leader of the cannibals turned ot others and asked sternly, which one of you idiots ate the sergeant? they all hung their heads until finalally one of them meekly put his hand in the air and said i did. you fool, the head cannibal shouted. for four weeks we've been eating lieutenants, captains and even majors, and no one noted anything! and then you had to go and eat a sergeant. now, when i was in uniform, i used to note that i didn't say anything about eating generals.

i'm sure their absence would have been noted instantly. by their aid only. well, thanks for laughing. you know the deal. when you reach my station in life, you're only as good as the material they give you. well, it is, again, an enormous honor to receive the minuteman hall of fame award. in truth, i've received a few awards in recent years, but it's certainly rare to be inducted into a hall of fame. noting, of course, the fine line between fame and infamy and i'm glad that at least for today i've avoided achieving the latter. i would quickly add, however, that i owe this honor to the men and women in uniform with whom i was privileged to serve, along with the cia officers and diplomats who served shoulder to shoulder with our troopers all in helping to safeguard our nation and particularly, of

course, over the course of the last decade. thanks to the exceptional skill and selfless valor of those who answer our country's call. active duty and reserve components, uniformed and civilian. we achieved hard-fought progress in iraq. we arrested and reversed the taliban's momentum in many areas of afghanistan. and we achieved successes in other fronts in the war against al qaeda and its affiliates. none of this was easy. we often used to say in fact that it is all hard all the time. but it was done. and it is again on behalf of those with whom i've been privileged to serve since 9/11 that i accept this award today. as i thought about my remarks today, i thought i might share some of the especially memorable moments in my career over the

past decade in particular, in which i had the honor of soldiering alongside reserve officers and those they have led. for our reserve components have played an absolutely essential role, of course, in iraq and continue to do so in afghanistan and in fact in many other locations in my old areas of responsibility and elsewhere around the world. indeed, in those countries, without our citizen soldiers, our armed forces simply could not fully carry out america's global commitments to keep our nation secure. four years ago, almost to the day, it was on 18 january, i had the great privilege on the 100th anniversary of the u.s. army reserves to reenlist 100 reservists. i was the commander in iraq at the time and it was a true honor to use that occasion to thank all of our great citizen

soldiers for their considerable contributions, particularly as we were still engaged in the so-called surge there in iraq. i was joined for the occasion by the commander of the army reserve, the great lieutenant general jack stoltz, a minuteman hall of famer himself, who observed that those fine men and women were part of the most professional, most competent, best trained, most dedicated reserve force we've ever had, close quote. i certainly agreed with his assessment then and i still do very much today. indeed, the success of the surge in iraq was due in no small part to the impressive skill and character of our reserve components, whose personnel played a critical role at a critical moment in the campaign. many in this room today and thousands and thousands more in your organization were part of that critical endeavor. indeed, not just part of it, but leaders in it.

as was noted during the introduction, during my final years in uniform, i had the privilege of holding six straight general officer commands, five of which were in combat. i repeatedly saw reservists in all branches of the military bring warrior and civilian skills to the fight. that combination has, of course, been particularly effective and particularly important in the complex environments we've been facing in the past decade. as all here know, in addition to the traditional demands of the battlefield, iraq and afghanistan often required our troopers to be more than just warriors, to be diplomats, builders, trainers, advisers, service providers, economic developers and mediators, to name just a few of their roles. citizen soldiers have performed these diverse tasks in particularly impressive fashion.

and in so doing, they have demonstrated the unique edge, the unique quality that reservists bring to every military endeavor. indeed, far from playing a supporting role to active component elements, our reserve components have been integral in the execution of each of our missions. one especially notable case with which i'm very familiar is from 2004 when it was clear that we needed to form and train a new iraqi army and iraqi police forces and to do so quickly. no small task in light of the challenges in iraq at that time or the fact that those elements had been disestablished less than a year earlier. now, some of you may recall i had only been home a brief period of time after commanding the 101st airborne division in the first year in iraq when i was asked to return to lead the effort to train and equip the

iraqi security forces. this was a particularly daunting task, one that we occasionally described as attempting to build the world's largest aircraft while in flight, while it's being designed an while it's being shot at. and we also had to develop our own organization, which we named the multi national security transition command iraq or mnsti for short to perform this enormous mission. there was no existing unit or headquarters identified to serve as the foundation for this effort, so we turned to the 98th division institutional training and its more than 3,000 reservists based in the northeastern united states. as we worked to establish mnstki in the fall of 2004, we were

augustmented by close to a thousand members to advise and mentor the units of three iraqi combat divisions and a number of other elements. one of the advantages of having the 98th do the work is previously our effort had been staffed by individual personnel from various u.s. services and units with different rotation policies. we didn't have continuity, to put it mildly. building an army from scratch required gaining the trust of the iraqis and then mentoring and coaching them on how to conduct actual operations. the reservists' skill in training others combined with the uninterrupted opportunity to form personal connections made a considerable difference. now, for many of our reservists, it was the first time they had been activated. for most, their first overseas assignme assignment, but they quickly drew on their experience

training american soldiers and rose to the challenge of working with soldiers from different cultures, different religious sects and varying degrees of literacy. the members of the 98th adapted quickly to the job and steadily improved the training and equipping programs on which subsequent reserve divisions and active component units would build. they can be justly proud of their accomplishments, as can those who followed them. just out of curiosity, are there any from the 98th or the follow-on units who helped with the train and equip mission in iraq? thanks to you for what you did in a very nonstandard, challenging environment and mission and for what was accomplished. in another case early last year in afghanistan, corporate eric dehart, a reservist from wisconsin and an engineer by trade, came up with a truly life-saving solution to reduce the ability of the taliban to place explosives in the drainage

culverts under road beds. dehart developed a cone made of steel bars that would fit a variety of openings allowing water and debris to pass but not the implacement of ieds. he spent more than 50 hours of his own time cutting and welding to perfect his prototype and even wrote a field manual on how to install it. it was an immediate success. in fact units of the great 101st airborne division quickly adopted the device, placing more than 30 through kandahar province alone as soon as it was available. the dehart device has since spread to other units throughout afghanistan, and they are to this day building similar devices in a variety of shapes. corporal dehart has returned home to his wife and daughter, but he can be very proud that he made a lasting difference and prevented untold numbers of

deaths and injuries through his initiative and expertise. in truth, the selfless heroism of our nation's citizen soldiers inspires all of us. each reservist makes a difference. collectively, they are doing the hard work our country requires, as your video made clear. and we owe them and their families and their communities at home our deepest gratitude. another reservist i remember particularly well is master sergeant juanita milligan, whose courage and selfless service i had the privilege of recognizing by awarding her a medal at the truman foundation in 2006. a mother of three in the u.s. army reserves, she had served our nation for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles in transportation and personnel units. she was gravely wounded in her second deployment to iraq in early 2004 when an improvised

explosive device blasted into her humvee. seeing the bomb a split second before it went off, she jumped across the vehicle to try to pull her gunner down and inside. he was okay. however, she sustained severe injuries, including shrapnel throughout her body, the loss of part of her right arm and a femur broken in three places. master sergeant milligan's subsequent recovery was truly inspirational, as she endured countless surgeries, four hours of therapy each day and the pain that accompanied her efforts to regain the use of her right hand. she was finally able to stand for the first time just before thanksgiving the year after being wounded. and despite all of her challenges, despite the injuries and pain, she was described by

one who knew her at walter reed as the most upbeat person i know. master sergeant milligan defines the selfless dedication of our citizen soldiers. a mother, twice answered the call to military duty, leaving behind family, friends and community. in truth, she is not just a member of what tom brokaw has termed the new greatest generation, she exemplifies it and she is a leader in it. her service, especially the character of her service, has been truly inspirational. our reserve components have, in short, clearly distinguished themselves in a variety of calm pat and support roles in the decade since 9/11. some 385,000 members of our reserve components in fact served in iraq or afghanistan

during that time and over 30,000 continue to serve on deployment in those theaters, contributing their valuable skills, experience and expertise. indeed, since 1990, reserve component members from various brampl branches of the military have mobilized and deployed in support of every american military operation, including not just combat operations, but peacekeeping and humanitarian missions as well. in fact reserve component elements continue to serve in more than 70 countries, demonstrating that our citizen soldiers are not only a strategic reserve, but a key component of our operational forces. in fact, some military roles central to our nation's defense are conducted solely by reserve units. tasks such as weather reconnaissance, aerial spraying,

biological detection companies, civil affairs commands, railway units are among them, and there are many others. now, we've all heard about the military realignments under way, and i'm confident that our reserve components will be duly recognized for the high value they bring to the overall structure. indeed there has never been a greater need for the skills they uniquely provide. as the u.s. marine corps commandant recently stated, in some ways they are more effective at counterinsurgency than a regular ba tul 81. noting they bring a breadth and depth of skill sets that can be leveraged. these include firsthand experience in law enforcement, various trades, medical care,

agriculture, community leadership and business skills, all of which can at times be more effective than traditional weaponry. security kwacooperations tasks other missions are also often ideally suited for reserve units and we should note that those increasingly important tasks are of a broad scope and high skill level that allow much of the training to be conducted prior to mobilization, shortening the total activation time and lengthening the time a unit can be deployed. i'm sure that such factors were carefully considered during the recent formulation of the new department of defense strategy and budget as they clearly reflect hugely important roles for our reserve components in the years ahead. well, before i conclude, i want to thank you again for honoring me with this award. and to note again that i accept

it only in as much as i'm able to do so on behalf of the soldiers and civilians i was privileged to lead over the past decade and whose hard work and selfless dedication have served our nation so well. this award testifies to their sacrifices, to your sacrifices and to those of their families and loved ones. it is in truth their award far more than it is mine. i would add further that in receiving this honor, i feel very privileged to join the company of those who have received it before, including, for example, general may, general stults and general pace. beyond that and of the most importance i salute all the members of your organization and all those that you an your fellow members lead in serving

causes larger than self. individuals who have taken their place in a long line of patriots that extends back to those who founded our great republic. president george washington, the epitome of a citizen soldier, once captured eloquently the feeling of those who serve our nation. i was, he reflected, summoned by my country, whose voice i could never hear but with venoration and love. and so it has been my great privilege this morning to accept the honor of being inducted into the minuteman hall of fame on behalf of all those who likewise have been summoned by our country, whose voice we can never hear but with veneration and love as well. thank you very much. [ applause ]

>> thank you. thank you. i just want to say to general petraeus -- director petraeus that this sounds like a cliche, sir, but it's honestly not. we are so honored that you would take the time to be here today and thank you so much for your remarks. we wish you the best, sir. >> thank you. thank you all very much. [ applause ] >> wow. and there's more to come. we have fantastic speakers to come yet. before we get down to business,

i would like to take a moment to recognize a few people in the audience. and in the interest of time, i'm going to not ask you to stand, but we do want to recognize you. seated up front here is roa's past national presidents in their red coats, most of them. in addition to our past -- [ applause ] in addition to our past presidents, i would like to thank the executive committee for their hard work and dedication in support of our association. we thank all of our department presidents and national councilmembers who are here in attendance. we also have mrs. kathy luke, the president of the roa league and the roal past presidents and current leadership. we especially appreciate our reserves chief and some of them are with us. i would like to thank our industry stars, partners,

exhibiters an other distinguished guests who are here this morning. finally, i would like to ask all of our future leaders participating in our junior officer professional development seminar and our rotc program to please stand and be recognized. would you all stand, please. [ applause ] thank you so much for being here today. almost three months ago, roa had the foresight to hire an innovator, businessman and marine as our executive director. major general drew davis has a long history with the united states marine corps, serving for 38 years in positions ranging from infant relieutenant to major general. general davis was the director of marine corps public affairs at the pentagon from 2001 to 2003. there he led the development of

the embedding program for front line journalists in the afghanistan and iran conflicts. i know you remember when that started. afterwards davis commanded u.s. marine corps forces europe and africa from 2005 to 2007. and then the marine corps mobilization command until his retirement in 2008. general davis also has eight years previous experience as the executive director and president of the american press institute, also a membership-based institute. please join me in welcoming our exciting new executive director, major general drew davis. [ applause ] >> thank you for the introduction. first, all of these sessions from this point forward, we

would like to have as an interaction with all of you. and on your seats you see cards that we invite you to fill out with your questions for each of the speakers. we will have our staff collect those cards and as the speaker is done with prepared remarks, we'll deliver your questions on your behalf to each speaker. the first of whom is the administrator of nasa. the honorable charles bolden, who told me to be very brief, but i'm not going to be. he said all he wanted in his introduction was that he was married to jackie and had three grandchildren. he's a graduate of the united states naval academy, he was commissioned second lieutenant in the marine corps, completed his flight training in 1970 and became a naval aviator. he flew more than 100 combat missions in north and south vietnam, laos and cambodia and

received the distinguished flying cross. he then transitioned to become a test pilot where he tested a variety of ground attack aircraft until his selection as an astronaut candidate in 1980. becoming an astronaut, he traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. his flights included deployment of the hubble space telescope and the first joint u.s./russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of the crew. he came back down to earth and returned to the marine corps in 1997 and served as commanding general of the third marine aircraft wing from 2000 to 2002, retiring from the marine corps in 2003. he was inducted into the u.s. astronaut hall of fame in