as general odierno and i have talked often on my multiple trips to afghanistan with him, hundreds of thousands of you have laced up those combat boots and walked across those barren deserts and snow-capped mountains where 24 members of this graduating class have already served. [applause] cadet ben ordiway served in iraq during some of the darkest days of that war. applause when his first sergeant recommended that he apply for west point, he spent two weeks studying for the sat at fob caldwell, hopped on a roundtrip flight to baghdad to take the exam. i'd call that an unusual testing environment. [laughter] very few applicants have to solve math problems and write essays while taking incoming mortar fire. [laughter] indeed, the challenges these wars present to young warriors are perhaps the most daunting in our nation's history because in addition to fighting for your country, your predecessors and you will be asked to do so much more. you are asked to take on tasks once reserved only for those with years of seniority and take on responsibilities far beyond the base or the battlefiel

i know this is true of john and ray odierno and heidi shu and the whole team over there. i'm now out of my previous job it was a big priority of mine and my successor, frank kendall, i know will be working especially with the army to improve their tradecraft in acquisition and also to put together their portfolio of investment for the future, and this is a big change for the army. i said before, the army has -- is making the most difficult and largest transition of all the services just because they've been really up to here in iraq and afghanistan now for ten years, and so in acquisition and in everything else, how they define their mission, how they train their people, how they organize and so forth, odierno and mccue are, you know, taking a really fundamental look at all of that, and secretary panetta and i have wanted to make sure they had the time and the strategic patience from us to make the changes that they need to, and it will take some time just because of the magnitude of it, but it will be reflected in acquisition as well and it really needs to be because the

while it wraps up its mission this is iraq and afghanistan, the army's top general, ray odierno is here on "cbs this morning." this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by dove hair care. frizz free cream serum nourishes and conditions, keeping hair smooth shiny and free from flyaways. new dove style + care frizz free cream serum. better style through better care. new dove style + care frizz free cream serum. ♪ abracadabra. new hershey's milk chocolate with almonds in pieces. your favorites, in pieces. so ditch the brown bag for something better. like our bacon ranch quesadillas or big mouth burger bites, served with soup or salad, and fries. starting at just 6 bucks, at chili's. it's time to live wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged. because vitamin d3 helps bones absorb calcium, caltrate's double the d. it now has more than any other brand to he

so the initial reduction of 72,000 to our army is happening, but with sequestration general odierno has testified that we would be facing an additional 100,000 reduction in our army if we allowed sequestration to go forward. with 50% of that reduction coming from the guard and reserve, and i think this is an issue that governors aren't aware of fully yet, although elected officials at all levels in this country are becoming aware of it. in fact, the council of mayors recently issued a resolution on the effects of sequestration urging congress to come to an agreement on it. think about it, 100,000, 50,000 from the guard and reserve and the function that our guard and reserve play, we couldn't have fought in iraq or afghanistan without the guard or reserve, and they also play a very important homeland function for our security as well as responding to natural disasters for our governors. now, let's talk about the marine corps. under the initial reductions that are likely to happen, the marine corps is going to be reduced at this point by 20,000. if sequestration goes forward the marine co

i've also served alongside our heroic military commanders, including generals petraeus, odierno and austin. this is only because of the leadership of these individuals, the more than 1 million american whose served there including nearly 4,500 who paid the ultimate price. like too many americans i have lost friends in iraq. if confirmed, i will do everything in my power, using all the tools of our foreign poems to build a lasting partnership with iraq worthy of their memory and sacrifice. i believe such a partnership is possible and, however, we are not there. there is so much the u.s. must do to mitigate risks of back-sliding and increased risks for consolidating the risks we've seen since the worst periods of the war. iraq is slowly emerging from decades of war isolation and dictatorship. more recently faced now with american help a sectarian war that left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced. the violence threatened to reduce citizens to the basic and sectarian identities. this is felt acutely in the political process. for the first time in iraq's modern history politics is the

volunteer force and it's produced leaders like general david petraeus and others of his quality car ray odiernoo many that are really outstanding leaders, and most of them got their beginning in trial by fire guess where, in vietnam. so i know that there are many of my old friends here today, tonight and there are many that have served their country with honor and distinction. i'm always honored to be in the company of those of you that have come in and it inspires me to try to do the right thing and stand up for the men and women that are serving. and i will recommend my book, this book to my colleagues in the senate because all of us can never learn enough about leadership. congratulations. thank you all for being here. god bless. [applause] >> i have six pages of notes, which i'm not going to use. >> good evening everyone. thank you for coming. as i look around the room, i see people from my high school class to the united states senate and everything in between that have crossed my path over the years and have inspired me and encouraged me along the way. so i think you for being here and i

this lineup we have coming up, arianna huffington, peter orszag and general ray odierno.wider awake. only the beautyrest recharge sleep system combines the comfort of aircool memory foam layered on top of beautyrest pocketed coils to promote proper sleeping posture all night long. the revolutionary recharge sleep system... from beautyrest. it's you, fully charged. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> andrea mitchell, we can't let you go before asking who you're going to have on at 1:00 this afternoon. >> willie geist, thank you. i'll be in philadelphia. we'll have ed rendell and sister simone, the nun leading the challenge against the vatican over whether or not the nuns in america are feminists. radical feminists. >> another good -- >> i'm all in. >> andrea mitchell reports 1:0

american people are shown to not want major cuts to the defense department, given that you have ray odiernore talking about this and how bad it is going to be, what do you do when you have an intransigent congress? >> we have to try to work closely with congress to try to push through a comprehensive deal on the budget. we shouldn't be at this point right now facing the prospect of sequestration. this is too important not just for the us mills tri but the entire federal budget. the secretary has made clear we need to have a national conversation and an honest and genuine one about the entire budget and we need to continue to work hard to talk to congress and talk to the american people about what the effects of the cuts will be. we're prepared to do our fair share. we're already taking nearly $500 billion off the top over the next ten years. we can't afford another five to $600 billion. that is the problem. we need to get through this. >> i mentioned the defense secretary yesterday who was making that appeal to lawmakers for help. let me play a little clip of what he had to say. >> it was d

his brother raul just as we remember all of those around the world who suffered and died under the odiernos of dictators in cambodia under the mayor in iran under the ayatollah and saddam hussein under bosnia and the brutal genocide in darfur. as we've said many times before, the cuban people are no less deserving of america's support in the millions in prison and forgotten in the soviet gulags what their families to die for nothing more than a single expression of dissent. i am compelled to ask again today as i have before here why is there such an obvious double standard when it comes to cuba where they so different from the gulags of the old soviet union. why are they willing to tighten the sanctions against iran that loosen them when it comes to an equally oppressive regime inside of cuba. when it comes to cuba why are we so willing to throw up our hands and say it's time to forget? it is not time to forget. we can never forget those that have suffered and died at the hands of dictators, not in iran, not in cuba, not anywhere. it is clear the repression in cuba continues unabated, not

but with sequestration, general odierno has testified that we would be facing an additional 100,000 production in our army if we allow sequestration to go forward, with 50% debt reduction coming from the guard and reserve. i think this is an issue that governors are not aware of fully at, although elected officials are becoming aware of it. the council of mayor's recently issued a resolution on the effects of sequestration, urging congress to come to an agreement on it. but think about this. 100,000, 50,000 from the guard and reserve, and the function that are guard and reserve played, we could not have fought in iraq or afghanistan without the guard or reserve, and they also play a very important homeland function for our security as well as responding to natural disasters for our governors. now let's talk about the marine corps. under the initial reductions that are likely happen, the marine corps is going to be reduced at this point by 20,000. if sequestration goes forward, the marine corps will face, according to the assistant commandant, an additional 18,000 in reduction in our marine cor