our roads on a daily basis -- our routes on a daily basis. >> march 19th, i was embedded with the unit of the 10th mountain division, the army in logar province, afghanistan. we were on a mission to visit the village, which is right of sight of a major u.s.-based in logar. despite being close to the base, is a borderline town. had some flooding problems that the bank on a coalition -- they blamed on coalition

construction. has some residents that are not too friendly to the u.s.-led alliance. the 10th mountain lions had the idea to go into the village and take a long afghan and jordanian troops and use the afghans and jordanians, because they are muslim, to drop in on the village mosque. they need new rugs or loudspeakers, and the coalition can pay for those things as a gesture to the village to try to win them back to the coalition's side. on march 19, we drove into the town in a convoy. got out of the vehicles right outside of town and walked through the town, ending the jordanians and the afghans in each of several mosques as we passed by. there was some indication early on that things were not right in the village.

the village has always been borderline, but that day, it was particularly irritated at the coalition presence. not uncommon for kids to throw rocks at coalition patrols. the rocks were a barrage. one american, sitting in his vehicle, was struck and the face by iraq and was bleeding. -- by a rock and was bleeding. the patrol leader was furious. came racing back towards the vehicle, checked on the guy, and found the village elder and yelled at him and said, we are here to help. your people are hurting my people. you have got to cut it out. and the elder is like, what can i do? kids are being kids. so jimenez and the elder duked it our and made peace, and we continued with the patrol.

we did not have any reason to fear that the problems would escalate beyond a few throwing rocks. the 10th mountain division has a route clearence patrols that all up and down the road on a regular basis and check for i.e.d's. the road in and out had been checked recently, and there were no known i.e.d's. that afternoon, we left the village and probably got about 50 yards outside the village. we were passing by and abandon motorcycle when a bomb exploded underneath the vehicle i was in. there were seven people, including myself. of the seven, five were hurt enough to be evacuated by helicopter.

myself and emetic were sitting in the back. and we were mostly unhurt. although concussions are always a possibility and hard to detect in the short term. >> rae you all right -- are you all right? >> any helmets? >> [groaning] >> you ok? >> i'm good. >> my goodness. >> [groaning] >> any guys hurt up front? >> what's wrong? >> my leg. >> shit. >> any medic, this is -- over.

>> we need to get the fuck out of here. do not open. >> help! >> what's wrong with you? >> oh, my ankle is killing me. oh, my goodness. my ankle. i'm good. you good? >> you're good. >> my ankle. my kevlar is missing.

damn, my kevlar is missing. >> don't worry about it. >> so the -- in the aftermath of the blast, the army evacuated five of the people and i stayed behind with the patrol as they cleaned up the damage, investigated the blast site, and alderden we we left the village -- ultimately, we left the village as villagers watched us like some kind of spectator sport. the bomb that struck the truck i was in could have been any of a number of varieties of i.e.d's that extremist groups use in logar province. there are bombs made of all the explosive, old military grade military and mortar shells. there are bombs made of fertilizer. there are different kinds of trigger mechanism. there are radio controlled blasts. there are blessed triggered by pressure.

-- a pressure plate. some are even triggered by an infrared beam across the road. this is probably a pressure plate, because those are easiest to detect. you can use an old style metal detector to detect them. it was not detected, it could be a fertilizer pact by plastic or wood. i say that because the bomb struck the front of the first vehicle in the convoy. piecing together the details, it seems the bomb had been there for a while. when we entered the village, somebody tipped off the taliban or they were watching -- it could then another extremist group, but likely the taliban. while we were having rocks

thrown at us, the taliban stole motorcycle or was willing to give up his own, raise up to where the bomb was, activated, left the bite behind and -- the bike behind and ran. then only have to wait while we drove out of town and road right over the track. the vehicle i was in saved our lives. a mine- resistant truck. the standard vehicle for any u.s. patrol in iraq and afghanistan. it is a tall, heavily armored vehicle with an angled body. the army began buying tens of thousands of these things at about $1 million a piece after

i.e.d. casualties spite in iraq. today, iraq is not so much the problem, but after so many years when afghanistan did not have any i.e.d's, they are now the major killer of troops in afghanistan. around half of americans killed or injured are victims of i.e.d's/ the there are 1300 i.e.d's discovered every month. that does not count the ones no one sees. tens of thousands of every year. some are very hard to detect. killing hundreds of american troops per year. there would be many more if we

were not spending billions of dollars on these trucks. but as it stands, even the survivors suffer long-term consequences, besides the trauma injuries. and brain injuries are huge problem now. i read something like 25,000 american troops have been concussed and suffered brain injuries in afghanistan, and most of those are since the i.e.d. scourge picked up over the last three years. they are the major reason why the coalition cannot fully control even provinces close to kabul where they have the most troops. extreme difficulty causes the i.e.d threat to get between two points in afghanistan. to do with any safety at all, although there is no perfect guarantee, requires the route clearance patrols, which

suffered their own casualties. who is clearing the route for them? there's also an overhead surveillance before the patrol and sometimes during the patrol, including aircraft that cannot detect i.e.d's or jam the signals that detonate i.e.d's, using radio interference. whenever there is a blessed, you have to call in a disposal team or forensic team. when there are more explosives presence or when there are craters or bomb debris. i.e.d's have the effect of limiting where patrols can go, making movement that are possible extremely risky and exacting a high price for every mile.

and slowing everyone down, because every i.e.d. ends up be an hour's long process of recovering the casualties, dragging the vehicle of the crater and investigating the blast site to determine what happened and who was responsible. it goes on and on and on to the point where the war in afghanistan is an i.e.d centric site. most of what soldiers do it is an attempted countermeasures. what is left after you clear out the i.e.d. site is just a few people with a few days and months to spend trying to change attitudes in afghanistan and reform the country.

>> freelance video journalist david axe was embedded with the u.s. army in march and april. his fourth trip. he is a regular contributor to the washington times. you can watch this program on our web site if you go to c- span.org and click on video library. site david axe in the search box. >> memorial day on "washington will go live to the white house tomorrow morning at 10 eastern for that announcement. after his remarks, he will head to arlington national cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. then he will proceed to the

nearby amphitheater where he will deliver his annual memorial day address. you can see the president's comments live monday morning at 10:50 a.m. tomorrow, more commencement addresses. we begin with actor denzel washington at 3:00 p.m. the speech from supreme court justice sonia sotomayor as she attended the graduation ceremony at the university of south carolina in columbia. commencement addresses memorial day, starting at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. next, a discussion with general james amos on the future of the marine corps, including their mission in afghanistan, and data operations against libya, and the military share of the federal budget. this is about an hour and 20 minutes.

>> good morning, everyone. it is a big treat and pleasure for me today to welcome the marine corps commandant amos to brookings. peter singer and i would like to welcome you all. we have an opportunity to hear from a, not on a number of issues that i know this crowd needs no briefing on their importance. everything from the status of marine corps modernization efforts to the status of the war in afghanistan, to help various budget exercises may be going at pentagon to the extent we can talk about those today. i want to begin just briefly with the word of appreciation for the general. i was very fortunate to be with him and his team recently in afghanistan, watching him in his outgoing sergeant major interact

with their reigns. it was inspirational to watch how these two applauded and supported and boosted the morale of the marines and i know it went in both directions, because they were incredible to watch in the field. i just wanted to make that brief observation. really i wanted to welcome you to brookings and look forward to the conversation, and maybe ask everyone else to join me at around of applause. [applause] of course there are some big issues, but we can start with afghanistan. if you could give your assessment of how you see things going based on the trip and all the things you are following here in washington and so forth. >> we had a great trip. we were on the ground for about five days. we were in the helmand province,

a little bit out west, but we did our best to try to see as many as 20,000 marines and sailors a possibly could. this is almost my fourth you are going in and out of afghanistan. i have watched it change over those four years. i have watched areas that were extremely dangerous and under heavy taliban control, to the places where you and i got out and did not have body armor on and work out shaking hands with folks. i have watched it change. my sense is that there is reason for optimism. i want to avoid the sense of winning or losing. i witnessed that on just things

i have seen. the district governors, mayors in america, courageous men stepping up and rebuilding their towns and setting up marketplaces in getting children in school. i just talked to some folks this morning about children going to school and little girls going to school. this is a nation that did not buy you education for their girls, and yet we have gone in and out of schools now and seen those beautiful young afghan children, the girls with their resplendent dresses on it, going to school. i am encouraged by that and by the market's opening up, and probably even more so, just the leadership that you and i saw, at everything from the provincial governor all the way down to those district governors we have seen.

we have talked about the taliban and their spring offensive. if they do return, they are going to see a completely different helmand then when they left last fall. so i am encouraged. i think there is -- -- reason for encouragement. i am encouraged, and i will tell you that i am convinced that we have the right formula. we are taking care of the people, helping set up the government's and moving along those lines. >> let me ask about how your marines are doing. they are working very hard. i just mentioned that i had the great good fortune and pleasure of seeing how they rallied to the efforts of what we are all asking of them as a nation.

it is inspiring, but it also has to be tough. your own experience in combat was largely in iraq. that was eight years ago when you first went in. we have been at this war for a decade. as carlson cannot reminded marines when he talked to them about how they created their own legacy, it has to be tough on people. it is incredible how often when you ask folks in the field how many are on their second arthur deployment, and almost everyone raised their hand. i remember you posing that question. how are your marines holding up and how much longer can we ask this of them? are there any measures we need to take now to adjust the burden we are placing on them because it is potentially getting to be too much? >> you have -- i can just before the marines. for us, we are always asking how

it is morale? what is the reality? sometimes you get accused of not being in touch with what is really happening out there down at the youngster level. i don't think that is the case, number one. we have the active duty young marine, and in some cases you have the old marines. and then you have their families. so you really have to differ communities -- you have two different communities that we pay very close attention to. the counterinsurgency peace is separate. let me talk about the young marines first. it is almost counterintuitive, and you saw that with -- their morale is extremely high. i am always hesitant to say that in public because people say i

am not generally plugged in. actually, i think i am. i think our commanders are and our generals and colonels are. rale is very, very high. the kids like doing what they are doing. we just pulled a battalion out of the northeastern part of afghanistan and they rotated home about a month and a half ago. they bought from october until about march of been one area that was a really dangerous area for the helmand province. they had a lot of casualties, both wounded and arranged that we lost. and yet, you could be with these kids -- we were there at christmas time with them, and we had just missed them when you and i got there. i think it is who we recruit and

how we train them, and the expectation of a legacy. most of them are on their second or third, and some are on their fifth, six, or seven deployment. their morale is high. they like doing what they are doing. not every reader comes in and says i like it so much to want to reenlist, but i will tell you our reenlistment rates are off the page. if you want to be a marine today, and you walk into a recruiter's office in georgia or someplace across our great country, it will be seven months before we can send you to boot camp. the other thing that is a litmus test is, these young men that the men, young men and women come in and they want to be in the infantry.

yet the infantry is kind of the currency of that war. it is the 18, 19, 20-year-old young man and young woman. so morale is high. they are willing to return with their brothers and sisters again and again. the other thing is, they feel good about it. we often do not see that they feel good about it written in the papers back home, but they feel good about doing what they are doing. they feel like they are making a difference. the second community is the family. we spent a lot of money and put a lot of effort. we recognize as the family goes, so goes the marine. we have leading family programs , trying to take care of them

and provide them with information and take care of their needs, understanding the psychological strain on families as their husband or spouse goes through their second and third deployment. i personally feel the strain on the families of more than i do on the marines. >> that need follow up on one policy question regarding this issue. the only question i will pose about july 2011 and what it means for the brought down. do for the drawdown. about four years ago, a different generation of joint chiefs was concerned about the surge in iraq. it was an ongoing subject and discussion with general petraeus when he was commanding, and some of the joint chiefs of staff said you are saying there are multiple considerations that

have to go into the drawing down phorcys this summer, but -- drawn down forces. >> there is no doubt in my mind about it. i think you saw this by some of the questions that came up. when we met with the marines, we always open it up to questions, any questions they have. we often have questions about are we going to be able to complete what we have started here? that was a typical question that came out of the youngsters. are we going to be able to finish what we have started? are we going to be able to ensure that the iraqi -- the afghan army is now trained up and in position along with the afghan national police or the afghan police to be able to sustain the area and keep the

taliban now and allow the culture in that community to seek a sense of normalcy again? that is their concern. it is not a matter of can we sustain it. i am not really worried about that. >> the budget is the other main area i want to discuss with you prior to opening it up to the crowd. i did want to ask about libya, at least in passing. you have experience in italy and in nato, and we went through naples on our trip and not some great things. you also had experience with the operation in coasts of both --in kosovo in which we tried to use airpower. it reminds us of a long time horizon that can be involved in some of these things. you are a marine corps aviator.

you also know what air power can and cannot do. i wonder if you have any guidelines for us about how we should think about the libyan campaign now. is this the sort of thing that you feel good about, or as the united states we will have to do more to help our allies? we have to consider escalating in some form, or is patience the virtue and if we just stick with that we will be okay? >> something important for all of us to remember, when it the world's attention had changed from tunisia to egypt and then kind of in between in libya, different pockets rose up and wanted to move quickly. other folks wanted to be very cautious and moved very slowly. my sense is we have got it about right.

one of the things we've talked about -- we talk about when we talk to our young lieutenants is, when you are dealing at a national diplomacy level, things are not always crystal clear like they are in the classroom. in the classroom you have a problem and the professor pretty much knows what the two or three best solutions are. when you are dealing on the national stage and around the world on the international stage, it is not always clear what the next best move is. i think the united states handle this just about right. we are a member of nato and a teammate of them. i think nato stepped up, and even though everybody says they would not have done it this way, when you step back and look at

it, we probably handled it just about right. >> i want to ask a couple of questions about the budget. after spending a 14-hour day in helmand province out in the sun giving the speeches and having town hall meetings, general amistad to get up at about 1:00 a.m. to do a video teleconference because of the pressing demand of the ongoing budget. i am certain that this is notyou probably can't tell us everything that we want to know, but what can you tell us about the nature of the ongoing exercise? this is the $400 billion number that was outlined in the speech. is this a number that you think is subject to reconsideration as the chiefs and the others talk about what this would mean for the size and strength of the military? >> i cannot talk about whether

-- i do not know. the greater signal was, the nation -- the nation is working its way through some serious fiscal struggles right now. and everyone has to be part of the solution. the secretary has been strident. a year ago, we worked through $100 billion worth of efficiency. we found a large amount to recapitalize some of the equipment, with some of the near-term expenses. we actually spend that money efficiently. i do not know precisely where this is going, but the

department has the message. it just understands, there are no numbers within the department, and there is no marine corps. at this time, the secretary -- if the nation is going to draw down their military and reduce the department of defense, let's talk about this momentarily as we look at the strategy. what is this that america wants? i think that we had a good run on this, but qdr 20-10 was from

a couple of years ago and the landscape has changed. what is it that the nation needs? the department of defense. what does the nation need. based on that i have all of these things, how did they do this? and who has the capability? you have your list of a dozen major things, this is what the military should be for the nation -- should be doing for the nation. i look at this, this is off the coast of libya.

you have the disaster that took place, and all of these things, i have this nexus of budget reality. this is where i am paying close attention. i do not think that we will be able to do everything that everyone wants in the future. what does the nation want? and who can provide this? what services can be provided and what are we going to pay for. what can we not do? because we cannot afford this?

this is so important. this is the important part because if we say that this is important, and we want the department to do this, these things to this degree, and then we lay this on top of fiscal reality, and we say that we can only do this much, we will no longer be able to do this. and whenever we do the real operations around the world, there is always a risk with every single thing that happens. there are pieces of rest. and they have to ask yourself the question, i can ignore this or is there a way to mitigate this? is there a hedge, or something

that i can do when this happens. i will be okay because i am mitigating best. speak, coming here to and we're going here for just a second. this is what we do. we are the nation's insurance policy. we are the hedge against the risk and we may not be able to do everything that we like. those elements of risk, can we mitigate this? >> i would like ask you about modernization efforts. we know that this is an ongoing major concern for you, this was

getting big headlines. you have the fighting vehicle. you have a big burden shepherding this, and you have the people who know a lot about this, and maybe you could explain a little bit about how this fits into your strategy. and then there is the aircraft that is doing so well in afghanistan. and i might correct in asking about this. the only important modernization items, and what gives them this unique capability, with the systems that are there, how do you see these programs going forward.

>> if you go back to the mission of the marine corps, to be deployed and always ready, there are a couple of things implied in this. you are able to respond today, to today's crisis. you do not have to say you'll be there in a few days. they will put this on their plans and they will fly up there. this term is for us, it caught about four or five years ago. but this is the way that we think. you can put this underneath helicopters -- and this kind of

thing to get off of the ships. everything that we have spoken about, all these programs fit into that nature of the marine corps. this was struggling, and we told people -- this is a program and the airplanes are flying, and we said, this will give us the ability to carry twice as much, three times as far. this is on the ninth deployment, the sixth combat deployment, and we flew around.

i expect that if this pilot, if they were running from the libyans, they did not have to wait longer on the ground. when the ship was notified he went down in libya, it was 90 minutes instead of four hours. the b-22 gives us a greate rrange and payload.

they delivered and you can get out of landing zones safely. even with a publicized start, this just passed 127 flight hours. we can deploy it around the world, anywhere. it just became too expensive. i watched this for 26 months. i watched it for the 24 months. i came to the conclusion that we just could not afford this. it does not mean we do not need the capabilities. america needs the capability to be of short, you have to be able to come to the surface with

the marines. people get stuck on that, and not know if we will do forcible operations again. when the marines surrounded the town in iraq of fallujah, we were on the edges of that town. this is now a different place and no one can tell me the last time you saw this in newspaper. how could a superpower put six battalions of marines -- this is a modern investment, and we

want them to come out of the shore -- out of the ship and go to shore, and i want to the fighting vehicle. you have a new maneuver out on the ocean. the nation has 22 ships, i am talking about 11 carriers, like what was launched off of. if we do not have this -- right

now we are flying the carriers. they will run out of service life about 20-24. without the ability of a fifth generation airplane, we will have 11 capital ships, and i think that -- this transcends the marine corps, and this is more important to the united states of america. >> you believe this program is doing better? >> i do. we say, this is it. we reclaim ownership of the program. and we use the public statement. you look at the program

manager, and they understand the rules. it also like bill russell from the boston celtics. there is nothing happening on this program, for this model. i have a set of metrics and so watching this every single day. you cannot put a pound of weight on that airplane that i do not know about. we were making business decisions at the headquarters, and one last thing, congress does not give the programming money. i take this responsibility very seriously. this is ahead of schedule, 47% ahead of all of the flights, three or four major things have been designed. and i am optimistic. >> a few more quick questions

on the budget. on the issue of military pay, the pensions and the entitlements, it was interesting with the speech on tuesday, the last major policy speech of this great, respective secretary of defense. they did not give a speech for the history books about this, about the islamic extremism, he came down -- as this valedictory set of issues this is the most that you could say about the budget review. it was striking, and they said that we would have to rethink the military retirement system.

this is the premium structure. we would believe and support the idea, and which to echo his thoughts, that we all begin to approach $400 billion. we have the compensation, -- >> i have seen the budget cycle going up and down, on the 10- year cycle. i am problem more concern now that i ever have been before. the service chiefs, all of us, this has our attention. we are at war.

we have 20,000 marines on the ground in afghanistan. the army has more and the air force does as well. we have this friction that is building, and we are currently heavily engaged in some important parts of the world. the vision is that the budget will go down. this has caught our attention. and during the last public address a major speech, the major talked about this. we're trying to figure out how to be more efficient, before returning the marine corps back to its roots, with the department of defense. part of this -- you cannot just come from the programs. you cannot say we will cancel

all of these programs. five years or 10 years from now, we will be at the next part of the world history, we will be dealing with decades old equipment, and this cannot just come from programs. we are paying about 60% of the budget of the marine corps. this is about 60%. 25% ghost operations and maintenance. i am down below 20%, for the new equipment. and to put the money out for research and development. the personnel peace that the bill has to become, this is a sensitive topic.

and this is another place of friction. we do this when we have these forces engaged, and we ask a lot of them. and this is a volunteer force. this is a balance and we do not know -- we are taking a look at the entitlements, but i think we ought to look at this. what did i sign up for and what was this when i joined. when you enter this arena, it is time for a healthy looked at where all the money is going. this is increasing. the entitlements are increasing as well as the personnel costs. there was a person who testified in march or april about this, and we supported the idea of

adding this $5 -- $5 per month addition to the cost. this was not for people who were truly retired. if you spent 20 years in the marine corps -- all that we asked was to raise the premium. but this has not happened yet. i was trying to say that this was modest. how far, what will we end up with? i cannot tell you. i am sensitive to that but you can look at this. >> this may be the hardest one to answer. is there a range of marine corps strength numbers that have

to be considered as options? you have a plan with the marine corps should look like, and you worked very hard on this and you hope that this would be a plan to stick with. but every service has to look into their course structure, and is there a range of numbers that you can tell is under active consideration for the active duty? what's this really is not. we spent all last fall, when secretary gates told the marine corps, i was just out to become, not. he told them -- he gave this to me and told me to shepherd this.

build a force that builds this in 2006 and 2007, to help with the turnaround times. build a force that meets the demands of the department of defense. i want for you to focus on what we call the center of the military operations. the daily crisis response stuff. i am not talking about humanitarian assistance. the range of military operations at the center. willdoesn't mean that you go to some major war. build a force that is designed

for this but have the capability to do this. and we spent four months at this. we put the best minds to this, and there was a lot of analysis behind this, to build a force that will come down to 186,000. this is a more capable marine corps even though this is a smaller number. there are a host of things -- i am very comfortable that this number -- the secretary said not to do this until we got out of afghanistan. but we have a plan, and we would say, that was then, this is now. the truth of the matter is it a lot of effort into this thing, and you can show just about anybody the value of this force.

we have to start down the path and see where we are going. >> please identify yourself and then pose a question. >> thank you for joining us. i want to go back to that question was asked, when he talked about the experience of watching them go through the debt spiral, when they got too expensive to meet their needs. what are some of the lessons that you drew from this experience? and how you apply these lessons

to this program, and secondly, to the potential replacement? how do we apply this and how are you parsing this. some of them can be applied, and we learned the lesson, but this does not apply in terms of these programs? >> i am in my eighth month of this job. i have learned a lot of lessons. i've learned that lesson. that is in here. quickly, here is my sense of this thing. i will just talk about the acquisition.

they may take me to task, but over the years -- as we take the acquisition cycle, and we have people certified and we laid out programs, and milestones, we have changed this a number of times. we put more scrutiny on this, the acquisition cycle has been pushed out. this has been extended to mitigate risk. we do a lot of things sequentially in these cycles. if i anticipate that this has to be done, we will arrive at the place we have a product that is acceptable, and we can move on. my personal feeling is that we made the acquisition process too difficult.

the second piece is a lesson learned on this, i think that the services have abdicated their responsibility to the acquisition community as it relates to bring in new equipment. earlier, i said congress does not give this program. he does not give them the money. they expect for them to be good stewards. they say i am not worthy or qualified. you can do this and tell me how i am doing. then we turn back, how did this happen? this is around $80 million per vehicle.

the program cost of to $13 billion. how did this happen? i think the service teams need to reclaim ownership of these programs. we have to have oversight. they have the development programs. there are trade-offs, and the costs become reality.

if you want this vehicle to go 15 knots, it will cost this much more. you can save -- i am just making this up. you can save a significant amount. 15 is what i want. go away and tell me how much this costs. we have a systematic approach to using the best engineering minds across this nation. we know how much that this will cost. we can tell you precisely how big the motor will have to be, and this is a function of space and size, with the amphibious vehicle. we will tell you precisely how much the guns will cost if you

want different caliber. we are working very faithfully on this. guess who's making those decisions. sitting across the table with the engineers, we can actually build the vehicle. and we know how much that this will cost. and we have these test articles. this was in 2011.

you will tell me, this is what the acquisition people said. we were going to cancel this, one of my premier 3-star generals. they said that we will go for an alternative. i want it take the heaviest thing in my office and through this. how will they apply? let's get a realistic idea of what this will cost. we did this in one year.

this saved untold amount of lives. but maybe not quite. this was a rudimentary thing. this will be a little bit more sophisticated. you can take the lessons learned, to push the acquisition cycle so that we can actually come up with a product that is affordable. the longer that this takes, the more expensive that this becomes. we are coming into this a little bit late. this was about 1998 or 1999. this is farther down the road. we are talking about the requirements on there. we are looking at that right

now. this is a lesson learned in you can accelerate the time line on this. we will reclaim the ownership for the major productions. i think that we can do a whole lot better. >> let's go back six rose. >> do you have a reaction going to the proposals? >> i do have a couple of things to say and i think that they are favorable. there is the plan of the nation, and high levels agreed

to in 2006. this was on okinawa, this was fortunate in my life as a marine. coach aircraft route 36. >> the airfield -- this has been encroached. they have encroached all around the airfield, and now i think it is in the best interest of the marine corps, and the

nation, and in japan to find another location. we completely support this. there is a great amount of land that is to the south. you have to start going out, and then the agreement is to give the land back. we have logistics' facilities there and some areas down and the plan is to give this back to the people of okinawa, as soon as we reasonably can. i support the movement of the airfield. this is in our best interest to do this. the word is this capability go? that is what the nation is

working on right now at the senior level. >> going further back -- >> good morning, gentlemen. i am here it with an international relations course, and i just wanted to know -- >> can speak up a little bit? >> i find this interesting, many of the media outlets said that a drawn strike is what killed him. and we first found out from the aviation community, this was going specifically with the marine corps shadow, for afghanistan and other conflicts. >> i did not focus on this very much. i am just a marine. i see the role of marine aviation --

>> >> this is a shot of a technical system. -- technical system. >> i think that this is interesting, when we crossed the border in 2003 -- we have 435 airplanes. and about 60 of those were the pioneer. i have limited experience at the systems, and i quickly fell in love with them. i think all the service -- the nation has come to understand the real value of the system. the pioneer was replaced with a shadow, which is an army program. this is very effective and we have them on the ground.

we had two squadrons and we now have -- we have almost four squadrons of these things, and now we are doubling up the size of the capabilities in the marine corps. i can see down the road, or the capabilities of these systems are growing almost exponentially. the ability to move information around the battlefield, to be able to relay the information in real time to forces on the ground, with these conditions -- i can see a time in the future or we will have medical evacuation's -- and we can

deliver logistic supplies around the battlefield, especially at 2:00 in the morning when it gets dark and scary. this just flies out to deliver ammunition and water, and food. i think there is a huge future in this, and i am not threatened by this at all. there will be the requirement have somebody with a brain making decisions on things on the ground. i am a big fan of this. >> is it -- this is not meant to be a critique of this program. but this program had about 2500 airplanes when this had become much more effective in general. and he spoke about the cargo

responsibilities, not related to this mission. is it possible that the services can be asked to rethink this number? is there a case where we have too many of these tactical airplanes? >> we are doing a lot more with them. and i think that there is a piece of the future with the unmanned system. i cannot tell you how much right now. is this 2500 -300 systems? right now, we are about to take the fifth one at the end of this month. it is too premature to say that we have to get this plan into production. and also, technology is going to advance. i think that this is the

decision that has to be made right now. this decision will be delayed with 10 years as much. this takes a long time. we will be building airplanes and delivering them. i do not think that this a decision that we can make right now, because the capabilities will increase significantly. i think we have to stay where we are and get the airplane is built, and see where we go with the technology in the future. >> in the seventh row? >> i am here at the university of southern california. he talked about a reason for optimism, increasing the infrastructure and the government leadership and education.

i was wondering if you could shed some light on the potential challenges we see in afghanistan. and these reasons for optimism that you listed earlier and why they may have a snowballing effect. there offsetting these issues. >> first of all, i think the education peace, this is critical, especially in a country like afghanistan. this has 85% of literacy rate. we do not have an 85% literacy rate. i think it is critical for security, critical for any organization is becoming more mature, for a country like afghanistan. i am very optimistic and

hopeful that the education -- this is key to what is going on. there is an effort to train the 85% who are police and soldiers, mechanics, teaching them language up to the first grade. i am very optimistic about this. this is an important part of the future of the country. i feel that i am not answering your question. >> do you want to follow this clarification? or did he answer this very well? >> i guess if you can talk about the potential challenges we're facing in afghanistan, and why education and important things like that would offset those challenges? >> i will tell you, we're just going to go to the fundamental

counterinsurgency, helping good people take back their country. this is a fundamental block with what is happening. first of all, there has to be the will of the people. it is not a wholesale change, but the will that they would like to have peace. that they would like to have some of the most fundamental things we take for granted. if you move around washington, d.c., i have freedom of movement. i am not going to be threatened. in that country, some of the most basic freedoms of being able to take their goods out of your small garden that you go and put them in the market and sell them -- that is significant. can you imagine that in the united states of america, things we take so much for granted? that is what they want. they want to put their children in school.

the key to this is strong leadership. it is a tribal system. the tribal chiefs have a lot to say. it is even different than it was in iraq. the elders have an awful lot to say about what is important to that town, that village. i will tell you while we were there -- one of the tribal chiefs said -- and i am not going to tell you where it is. this is the unanimous across afghanistan. i do not want you to walk out of here and say this does not count any more. but one of the trouble areas in rural afghanistan said, "i don't care about electricity.

i would like to have fresh water and i would like to be able to take stuff my villagers' grow to a market and sell it does all that is pretty sycophant. that is pretty visceral. -- that is pretty significant. that is pretty visceral. i think a strong local government with responsible leaders and an ability to provide security -- that is a credible police force. it is honest. it has the best interest of the local community at heart and an incredible military. should something happen, they will step in and reinforce, or stepping in and do the bidding of the nation. that is pretty simple. to me, that is the fundamental basics of counterinsurgency.

that is what is important for afghanistan. i will tell you what. from what i saw, and i think michael can speak from -- for himself, there are those leaders there. they are in the villages. they are in a number of villages. and marja. imagine that. a year ago, marja was on the lips of everyone in this room. and now, for the most part, unless you are visiting with us you probably cannot remember the last headline you saw in a newspaper here in washington, d.c. that had the name marja on it, and get a year ago it was on the tips of our tongue. there have been a series of

governors and police chiefs and an army, and they are doing an incredible job. if we can help train them to do that, the united states can ease out and they can't build schools and they can build wells and that kind of stuff. one last point on this thing. forgive me for this. what is it they really want? one of the district governors of was with at christmas time, and he is a great courageous man -- he said, "i would like to have my market opened again. i would like to have freshwater." there is this pretty nasty looking, very shallow creek with water that probably nobody in this room would break out of.

he said, "i would like to have some kind of medical care. i do not necessarily have to have a pediatrician or a forensic surgeon, but i would like to have some medical care, because i just put two of my women in the back of a pickup truck that were about eight months in 29 days pregnant, and they were having problems with their pregnancy. i put them in a pickup truck to drive to a hospital, and they died en route." it is pretty visceral. that is what those villages want. >> i will say two briefings. you told it very well, in terms of what has been accomplished and what is still to be done. two encouraging factoids or statistics that some people may be interested to hear. as you all know, governments at

the civilian level in afghanistan have had a challenge. i was encouraged to say that in the last 12 or 15 months, the number of afghans populating the government positions have roughly doubled, from 30% to 60% of the requirement. it was encouraging. another thing that has been said publicly before is the governors in afghanistan are now able to travel by road. previously, they would go by helicopter because they were afraid of encountering a roadside bomb or taliban checkpoint. now the governors are moving by road. that is one indication of headway. obviously, still a long ways to go. let us go here, and then the back of the room. >> my name is in the garden.

-- andy gordon. my concern is that some of the cost is outweighing the need. what is your perspective and how is the marine corps vital to securing those interests? >> truly, i am not qualified to answer, as to whether the cost of human capital and money out way -- outweigh. that is for the senior leadership of our country to answer. we paid a pretty healthy price in iraq. i think if you use iraq as a model, which lost 851 -- do not move your head that way.

we lost 851 marines killed in action in iraq. that is a pretty healthy price. as you look at iraq right now, i keep going back and say one was the last time somebody saw something in the paper about valuta -- faluja or any of those places that were in the headlines of our daily newspapers? he asked the question, "is it worth it?" there has been a lot of heartfelt time there. the answer for me absolutely is yes. i can transition that to afghanistan. that is why i say i am very encouraged. i am. i look at these young marines and they want to finish the job. i do not mean finish the job in

a bad way, like a vengeance way. i mean a good way. when you have a 19-year-old marine who is excited because a guy just opened up a bakery in marja and is now serving that wonderful flatbread, and that guy had gotten run out two years earlier by the tell ben, and that young guy is excited about that -- that is what i mean by finish the mission. they want to train the afghan army and the afghan national police. they want to finish the mission. i cannot answer about your initial question. i just want to give you a sense for what the marines are feeling. jason has the gold tie and is standing near the door. >> thanks for the directions.

over the last few months, there has been an increase in representatives in agencies of the government. however, there have been other reports that some of the civilians are not able to get out to the field because of security concerns. specifically in the southwest, can you look at the impact of civilian surges to civilian operations? >> we do not look at things the same, the department of defense, as we did prior to 9/11. i suspect many of our agency partners do not view things the same way. who would have thought that we would actually be hiring people in the civilian agencies now? part of the contract, when you sign on, is that you can go to

some of these places around the world. some of these places are, at times, very dangerous. so we have changed. my sense is that we are absolutely it headed in the right direction. we spent some time during the evening with the provisional team, which is headed up by a man doing a terrific job. his staff is coming together. the state department is fleshing that out. there are others that need to be part of that, and they are coming in. is the vector had been in the right direction? yes. -- heading in the right direction? yes. part of this learning process is

will have to hire people on the front and it who have the will -- have the skill sets who are able to do some of the hard things our nation will expect of our civilian part of the solution. the other thing is not only is it heading in the right direction, but it has to head in the right direction. it is imperative. one of the other lessons -- it sounds like a bumper sticker, but it really is the truth. we are in it together. we have no business thinking we are going to go someplace all by ourselves, flying a marine corps flag, playing "from the mountains of montezuma" and

staked our claim. i would be in support of some interagency effort someplace else around the world where we are supporting them and providing the ability to do the nation's bidding. we are all in this together. it is not where it should be, but it is having the right direction and i am encouraged. >> the young woman with the red hair. >> good morning, general amos. a few months ago, the secretary was talking about reorganizing the department of the navy holon capability lines instead of program lines. some of the ones you mentioned seemed to have a lot to do with what the marine corps is doing. he started recently by establishing peolcs. i wonder if any of the marine corps acquisition programs look like that are going to be rolled up in that effort and

reorganized under different acquisition structures, or if you see that affecting the way the marines do business. another question i had for you -- do you see the marine corps taking an interest in u class in the future? >> it is which programs have come under the strategy. the u class particularly was hush hush. >> do you see the marine corps looking at modifying it in ways where it could be other than a carrier? >> the first part had to do with a new acquisition from work -- framework. framework.