we have chairman ron allen, president ed thomas, chairman ned norris, president don arnolarnol arnold, and david gibb, and joined by tribal lead ears cross t -- leaders across the country. among our federal partners, of course, we have the esteemed hon honorable, and representative tom cole, assistant secretary, larry ekelhawk, and loretta toole, and yvette rubido from ihs and aaron klein from treasury. we also have our native organizations partners, ernie stephens, chairman, rick west, from the housing council, finally, native voice one and many tribal and public radio stations across the country for airing today's address and bringing the state of indian nations to hundreds of thousand of people in indian country and beyond. this year we have asked an american indian service member to begin the event. it is my honor to introduce and welcome lieutenant colonel t.j. huntinghorse of the marine corps, a u.s. navy judge advocate at the pentagon. lieutenant colonel huntinghorse has participated in deployments in iraq and afghanistan. please join me in thanking him for his continued servic