Not look at you unless you bribe them so you end up paying more. One of my first memories as a child was holding the hand of a dying man. And my grandmother crying saying that nothing more we could do for him. Just help him die. I can still feel his hand getting cold and stiff in my hand. And i remember thinking, how quickly it happened. If rs and the look of death in his eyes is still haunting me. All you needed was a simple surgery, which here in america is an outpatient surgery. There, he wasnt worth saving because he was too old and he in his 60s. The communists also hated excellence. And success. They wanted everyone to be equally poor, because it was easier to control people that way. And what they were doing they are taking away peoples dignity. Because the message was, well, youre not good enough to take care of yourself. I have to do it for you. But here to the younger generation, i would like emphasize the fact that nobody in this world can take care of you better than yourself. You have the power to not give it away to anybody, no mater matter what they promise you. One of the dreams i had when all was lost we felt even forgotten by god at times, was i had a picture of the american flag. The symbol of freedom. So i would take it out and stair at it and dream of america and what it is like to be free. To eat a hamburger or cheese cake or to walk in central park. I got caught in class and the teacher came trying to take the flag way from me. I did not surrender it. In spite of all the pressures and threats, i was ready to die. Because life had no meaning without freedom. But i couldnt afford to lose the hope. And thats all i had. The hope that some day the americans are going to come and blow us up. Blow up every brick every stone, every board until there was nothing left standing. You see, i was a part of such a corrupt and evil system that i felt even i wasnt worth saving. And given americans anything for exchange for freedom. All of the gold in the mountains, all of the oil in southern romania. Life and heart. It is really important for you to hear and be aware of your government, keep an eye on them, no matter who is out there. And keep them responsibility. It is not easy for me to put myself out there and share my pain with you, but i feel it is really important. Because when youre out there and you are in the country and you have the power, i want you to think of me and learn from other countries mistakes and do not try to socialist communist. I have heard that, even here in america, we can have a better communist or socialist. It is like saying, you can have a better cancer. Its evil. Please dont even try it. You will save your receive a lot of pain and heartache. Theres another thing i need to set the record straight about. Vietnam. Weve heard so many times that vietnam was in vein that american soldiers died for nothing. That we had no business being there. With every move americans made in vietnam, we behind the iron curtain felt the soviet grip lose its strength and it gave us time to breath and stay alive. Because you kept them busy in vietnam. They lost track of us. And theres no more evil empire thanks to you. As a little girl i didnt dream of prince charming coming on a white horse to carry me off to his castle. I knew i needed more than that. I needed an american fighter pilot. That would come on a fighter jet. Blow up everything. And carry me off to america. And the luckiest woman alive to have found him. And honored to spend the rest of my life with him, loving him and taking care of him. [ applause ] by the time i came to america, i was numb. I wasnt dead but i have never really been alive either. Thats what oppression does to you. Slowly kills your spirit first. Only after that it takes away your life. It is like living with a plastic bag over your head. You cant see and you can hardly breath. But what makes it worse is the fact that you hear somewhere far away, you know wonderful land called america, there is better. We spent the night in new york and i was overwhelmed by all of the wonderful things i saw. Fancy cars. Clothes. And the shoes. I havent seen a diamond until i came to america. The sky scrapers, all shiny grand. Steel. Marble. And the food. And i had nothing. We came with a bag of clothes. Not a penny in our pocket. And didnt speak english. Yet, we were not bitter one bit. We were proud to be a small part of a country that could have and make such wondrous things. And all those things were a promise that some day we can have all that. We can have it all. And i do now. You are light years ahead of me because you are born here. You can have you can do a lot more than i could even dream of. You took us in when we were outcast in our own country. You taught us the meaning of new words like kindness and happiness. And joy. And theres one more thing i would like to mention. For the younger generation. When you run the country. Can you please put an end to celebrating diversity. Instead of focussing on what separates us focus on what brings us together as one. I have to tell you immigrants come to america to be free. To get away from government. To live the american dream. If we wanted to celebrate diversity, we could have stayed where we were. Thank you for listening to that. And now, i would like to put a face to the oppressed all over the world. And say a thank you. Thank you for everything youve done. I know in your darkest moments you are wondering if it was all worth it. It is worth it. And i want to say oh, yes, it makes a big difference. The worlds a better place because americans are in it. Americans are the best. Because they are the only ones who fight for other peoples froe dom. People who have tshthey dont even know. And they w will never meet. And they never ask for anything in exchange. Maybe just a little place to bury their dead. So thank you for everything. Be proud. Do not listen to what the is talking about. Because america is loved all over the place. But millions of oppressed people who are hoping that some day youre going to go rescue them next. So thank you for everything youve done youre doing and you will be doing. Not only for our country but for the world. It makes all the difference in the world. God bless you and god bless america. [ applause ] thank you very much mariana for your remarks. So steve thank you, too. They are a great team arent they . They really are. Lets give a round of applause. [ applause ] weve got about five minutes until the next session. So lets take a question or two, okay . Sure. Okay. Yes, i do have a question for awesome presentation by both of you. But for general ritchie. You spoke about a very beautiful concept, loyalty. And over yesterday and today, we hear stories, beautiful stories about how our great servicemen dont let their fellow servicemen down. They are always there. So that loyalty is very, very touching. But i was just wondering if you could Say Something about trust. I dont know if you would categorize trust as being the same as loyalty. How that played into it. Is this a part of it . Certainly trust has to do with integrity. And integrity underlined everything that we do. If our word is no good, what else is there . There is nothing else. So all of those great qualities, loyalty, team work discipline responsibility. Its all tied together by integrity. And those who are here from a lot of the Great Schools and universities, you understand that well because you live by a code. A code of honor. Which is basically a code of integrity. We have to count on each other. We depend on each other. Not only to accomplish the mission, but to live or die. My son is an air force pj, which is the air force version of the seals. I dont know how they do it but im sure glad they do. Particularly as someone who flew Fighter Airplanes we knew that when and if we went down, that they would make every effort, tle they would make every effort, take every risk to come and get us. It is a matter of our code, a matter of our honor the matter of our team work our discipline, and all tied together by trust and integrity. And of course, its what makes our nation, as mariana said, the greatest on earth. Churchill said america is great because she is good. Shes good. Which means integrity and trust. He said when she ceases to be good, we will cease to be great. Jim, its amazing that we finished on time. But i think time is just about up, isnt it . One more question. All right. Thank you. Here are a few of the comments we have reseptemberly received on the 114th congress. My comment is nothing is going to change in washington, d. C. As the previous caller said theres too much corruption. Some of these senators been there too long. Its time for them to go. Give the younger ones a chance. New ideas. This countrys on the wrong path. We not going to get anywhere as long as these senators stay in that same position. John mccain and them, theyve been down there. Lindh lindsey graham. Same old thing. Time for change. People are working too hard in this country. Have to work two an and three jobs to take care of their family and still not getting anywhere. Something has to give. Im look at the overall conversations that you guys have been having for the last three to four months. And congress, the government is so huge, what can tle do when they go in there today . I tell you, they can be like the leaders that she should have been. The leaders i was raised around. The men that liked around in the communities that they lived in and said these are our children. These are our young men. And these are our daughters. What can we do in the realistic way, to make this a better place to live. I would have anyone that will yield power and wisdom in front of the faces of us have to work and pay for it, guys, you know we are living a pretty good life here. Lets take what you got the opportunity do and do something right and quit playing games with, you know what you think you will value in life that you have to give away one day. My question to the 114th congress that is going to do nothing for the american people. I cant understand how is it that congressmen become good people until they get elected. When they go to washington, the lies propaganda, and it just seems disturbing to me that it seems like everything president obama does is wrong and it is sad to me buzz im a pastor. And i heard these people come upon your colleague just came on and said he was a christian. Jesus said that if you do this to the least of them you have also done it to me. And continue to let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call us at 2026263400. Email us at comments at cspan. Org. Or send us a tweet. Join the cspan conversation. Follow uslike us on facebook, join us on twitter. Speaking about military leadership and responsibilities,. Responsibilities. Morning, everyone. I am from Penn State University mid class shipman im here, honored to introduce to you, current commander general of the marine corps recruiting command. He was 1981 graduate of the franklin and martial college in lancaster, pennsylvania. He was then commission of Second Lieutenant through the artillery command. During his time under the car he obtained his masters in military studies and he now has three kids one boy and two girls, all graduated from virginia tech. And also a native new jersyan. Without further ado, here is marine corps Major General mark a. Relax. Can everyone here me . Sorry, my microphone doesnt work very well. Go homies. I have a l clear mandate from the president to keep us on time. So that signal forget it. Dont have time for a signal. So we will talk briefly, first of all as i look across this room, and i see a lost uniforms. Cadets, mid shipmen. Elder pc. Scholarship winners. Shipmen. Elder pc. Scholarship winners. Congratulations. Congratulations for making a close. Congratulations for making a decision that service is something that you wanted to pursue. And your service that you chose was that in uniform. It is annardus four years. We expect a lot from you. Then you take your place with us in the United States military. For those of you that i see, maybe a little bit older, who have done your service in the past, i just want to thank you for making that decision. For serving as honorably as you have and for setting establishing a legacy for all of us. Im a marine. And in two days, three days, excuse me, is november 10th. That is the birthday of the United States marine corps. It is our anniversary. 239 years of history. Built upon the shoulders of young men and women heros, who have done everything that their nation has asked them throughout the decades, throughout the generations, in war and in peace. And so we will gather and we will cut a cake. Matter of fact i got to rundown to quanico and cut a cake today. That cake is not just flour and sugar and water, it is blood and sweat and sacrifice. For those of that you were here yesterday, i took a lock at the program, what an amazing three days that the American Veteran center set up for you. Ock at the program, what an amazing three days that the American Veteran center set up for you. K at the program, what an amazing three days that the American Veteran center set up for you. Yesterday you met and listened to young men and women who early in their lives made the decision to stand up. To serve. To count. And no matter what that individual choice was, no matter where they came from and no matter what service they joined they found themselves in very tough positions. And i think as you all saw, they paid can you not hear me back there . Not at all. You cant hear me back there . I apologize. They paid a tremendous price for their service. I think what you saw in every one of those individuals is that they are not satisfied to be characterized by their hardship. They live to be counted upon for their deeds. And their actions their leadership, their commitment is the thing that you witnessed yesterday and heard in their testimony to you as they talked about what happened to them, how they recovered, and now what are they doing to count. What are they doing to stand up and be the leaders that they were in uniform and how they will be for the rest of their lives. Now today, today is more about history. And what a tremendous, what a tremendous schedule today. Well talk about the Tuskegee Airmen. You will have men who served their country, a country that was not so sure exactly what position they held in our country. But they chose to stand up. And they represent other groups, such as the marine. The soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Team that fought so heroically in italy and were made up of japanese citizens whose families sat in determent camp that the government decided they should be during war. Members of the infantry regimen, constituted mostly out of puerto rico, who fought so bravely in their time. And the american code talkers. The native americans who did so much and came off of the reservations to serve a country marine corps, who quite frankly had little interest in who they were and what they were until their nation needed them in the most dire times we had ever experienced. So the gentleman from the Tuskegee Airmen will set an example of courage and service that is rare in our history. Not unusual because so many, when the nation needed them, they came forward. Then you fast forward to some of our great heroes. Sergeant first class melvin morris, medal of honor winner. A personal hero of mine harvey barney. Barney, as we know him, is an artillery man. Im an artillery man. Hes a marine. Im a marine. He took over an Infantry Company and fought well enough to win an award in combat. And the day will go on. And you will talk about the second world war. You will talk to veterans from the korean war, vietnam war, et cetera. So today is a day that lines up very nicely with what happened yesterday when you talked to our heros from the latest wars in afghanistan and in iraq. One of the things they asked me to talk about is a little bit about leadership. As a marine, i think those interested in the marine corps with are all about leadership. But the marine corps doesnt hold a patent on leadership. You see leadership across the country. You see leadership in the schools. We see in in all of our service. All of you that are in uniform, one sort of uniform or another decided you wanted to pursue a career in the United States military. You have service and sacrifice demanded from leaders. Leading is a fairly simple fundamental process. It is influencing people or a unit in such a way as to accomplish the mission. Its that easy. And it is really that hard. The things you have learned in school, the processes that they tried to teach you are just a very thin veneer on what leading your soldier sailors marines and air men in your future. Ywj you have spent time now working hard to develop skills, to understand what it is to be a servant leader. Understand it is important know thousand follow first before you can be expected to lead well later. Leadership is about sacrifice about commitment about laying yourself open to your people and giving them all that you can. When youre a junior leader, you are closest to your marine soldier sailor or airman. Youre with them everyday. You see the good, the bad and the ugly. You are under the microscope of expectation and responsibility everyday. As you progress and change, you will find that your leadership style, what it is that you have to do o to motivate a particular individual Unit Organization must be then modified. As you become more senior. So as we the services, bring you in and we begin to teach you those skills that we believe are necessary for to you flourish in our respective organizations we need you to Pay Attention as you move forward. We need you to be open. We need you to be active enthusiastic. In the marine Corps Officers eat last. Which means theres times where you dont eat at all. If somebody cant ride, the officer walks. Thats who we are, thats what we do. Our marines are important to us, as are the soldiers sailors, airmen and coast guardsmen led in their particular service. Leadership is about sacrifice. How much you are willing to give of yourself to ensure that your individuals, i say this over and over again, sailor soldiers airmen and coast guardsmen, make them successful. Yesterday at this time, i was in the u. S. Virgin island. St. Thomas. Not a bad gig. I was there for about 16 hours. Which sun fortunately kind of the way we roll. I command the recruiting enterprise. Ive got 5300 people across the country who go out and find young men and women who are interested in the marine corps. Officers officer candidates, midshipmen cadets such as yourselves, rotc how many of you are on marine corps rotc scholarship . Okay, youre mine. But the fact is, thats what my guys do. So yesterday what was i doing . Yesterday i was sitting in the u. S. Virgin island, st. Thomas visiting sergeant sib ill. Of the 1500 marines and civilians that i have in my command, i have one sergeant who sits in a very small office in st. Thomas. And he is the marine corps recruiting force in the u. S. Virgin island. Myself sergeant major, his recruiter and, went to visit him. Five against one. The fact is that marine is leading everyday. He is representing his corps to the people of the u. S. Virj ij islands. Enlisting set citizens as matter of fact, i was in san juans and i i was at the meps center, and one of his applicants, came up, at attention, introduced himself as mr. Arch bald, told me what it was he wanted to do and how his testing was going. Later on when i got to the Virgin Islands i said, hey, i met mr. Arch bald, he is doing well. Sir, he is a good kid. He is smart. This is his family situation. This is how he does in school. I had to help him in his math. Im not good in math, so i todayhad to study before i could help him with his math. Thats leadership. Thats connecting with an individual, knowing what a person is, what is his background, what are his stressors, what makes him tick. And then doing everything you can to make him successful. So mr. Arch bald will be a marine because sergeant civil one, got a mission. But also, he is a committed leader. And as a laetder he is all by himself. He sits around about a quarter million people. He is marine. He is in my uniform. He is squared away. He is known by leaders of that community as the marine. He has taken the responsibility and mission and embodied it, committed to it, and is making it happen everyday. My job ooze aas a leader was, to stop by, see him, listen to him listen to his problems see what i can do to make it a little bit easier for him and then to get out of his way. And thats leading in a very large, very high level. His Commanding Officer who comes to see him every month spends a little bit more time. First time the commanding general las been in the Virgin Island in about six years. It aint an easy trip. But the fact is, every once in a while, you got go and show that leadership. You have to show that presence. His commander is there more often. He is closer to sergeant civil. Leadership manifests itself in a lot of different ways. Your biggest challenge as youngsters, and i can say that because i have 34 years in the service, you got three or four years in college. But you youngsters have challenges ahead of you in that youve got learn you are going from the warm embrace your university to the cold reality of your service, whether you go to the basic school for the marine corps, you go to your Branch Training in the army you go to sorry, i dont know what air force does. Air power air power. You forgot space power. Get that right there, young man. But the thing is, that you are soon going to get away from that warm embrace of your university. Youre soon going to get into the reality of what it is and you have made a commitment. When you accepted my scholarship, when you got accepted by your academy you made a commitment. You made a commitment to a kid who was not even out of middle school. And now he is in recruit training and soon he is going to end up in a unit that if youre lucky, youll get to be in charge of. And when you arrive in that unit, you have open responsibility for that individual. Not only for him. But if he is married for his wife. And if hes got kids, for his children. And it is not a legal responsibility. It is a moral responsibility. It is a moral imperative. You have to be prepared for that responsibility. You have to put that ahead of anything you want. Your interests are secondary. Because you wear a cloth. You will put on those gold bars. And you will be in charge. And you will have responsibility s that in certain cases will be shocking to you. At a certain point you may have to point to one of the 42 that you love and send them forward naked. And they may get hurt. And they may get killed. And you have o to point out the next 39 exactly which one is going to go forward. Thats a seriousness of the commitment that you have taken. But i got to congratulate you. Its a great ride. It is the ultimate commitment that you will make in your life other than the fact, other than the commitment you make to your spouse. But i tell you, when you get up out of your bed at 2 00 in the morning for the first time because one of your marines called and you are going to see him, he will be pissed. Mine was. I promised them i would keep on schedule. I want it thank you all very much. Thank you for your commit tomt service. Thank you those of you who have served and done so well for our nation. Thank you to the American Veteran center. 32 years straight for doing Something Like this. It is phenomenal. I wish you all the best. Happy veterans day. Happy marine corps birthday. Hoorah, sem per fi. More now from this conference honoring military veterans former marine corps kmen dant p. X. Kelley. This is an hour. We thank the military memorial. Now i bring you general p. X. Kelley. Put that old cane away. Ine away. Ne away. E away. Away. Its tough getting old, let me tell you. But what happened was, a few years back i had a really bad case of sciatica. So i went to the Naval Hospital aechb and saw the doctor and he took an mri. And he said, thats the worst god damn back ive ever seen in my life. What the hell have you been doing with yourself . I said, well i jumped out of an airplane a couple hundred times. Im not sure that happened. But then a few other things i did. I said im not asking you for that, doctor. For god sakes, what can you do to fix it. He said, im not sure we can. I said, can we try. So i said, ill cut a deal with you. He said whats that, general. I said i do not want to be down on the second deck with all of the admirals recuperating. I want to be up on the fifth deck with the young kids coming back from overseas and the orthopedic ward. Probably one of the best decisions i ever made. They worked me like a tiger. Never having a four star general to work before they pushed me down the halls. Pushed me up the streets. They did everything to make me better. But the one thing they did, which i really appreciated, was they made me a cain. Now this is a special cain. There is only one like it in the world, and thats the one that kids in the orthopedic ward at bethesda made for p. X. Kelley. And i treasure it. So anyhow. Lets get down to business. I understand we have some of the dwight d. Eisenhower people here today. Is that correct . Are they here . They were supposed to be. Let me get my all people like me have to have notes so we know what the hell were talking about. So let me get my notes out first and then i can sort of make some common sense. See if i can get them organized, im not sure i can. So speak a little bit from the cuff. The day that i became kmen dant, Ronald Wilson reagan, officiated in washington, d. C. It was one of the most memorable days of my entire life. And as time went on i became, believe it or not, very close to the president. Very close in a number of ways. But that particular night i remember so well because as the bare tone that we have for some of you have wlo have been there the bare tone singing god bless america. And i was sitting next to president reagan. He said, wow. After that, im not sure if i can make it. I said thank you, mr. President. I am the first speaker. And he said, well well see about that. So then as the night progressed, he gave me my first order. And i still have the memory of that order. And let me share it with you. Because it kind of brought out a lot of the things which later meld into what i think are very close reputation, not reputation, but friendship that i had with Ronald Wilson reagan. Probably number one because he and i had a common love and that was common love of horse. So believe it or not, at his suggestion, the park police who you know have a mounted corps, park police here in washington, and i went through the 400hour equestrian course. Now, at one broken leg and one broken rib later, i fully graduated. But it was trouble. So to brag for a moment that at the International Horse show in washington Ronald Reagan had me ride his favorite horse jim crack. And jim crack was a big tall 163 thoroughbred, black as the ace of spades. I was in my dress blues. I took license with the uniform. Big tall black boots and spurs and all of that those quick things. I have a picture to prove this, by the way. Then i had i had a blue ribbon. And i have a picture at home with that blue ribbon. This shows you the kind of relationship i had with our president. With that first night, he said, during night, he said kind of hard with the light coming back in your face. He gave me my first order. And he said, general, i want a message sent to our corps to every member of your corps. On behalf of allamericans, i wanted tlem to cant read the darn thing. Message sent to the memory of the corps. To every member of your corps in dress blues, in camouflage uniform. Tell them we are proud. Tell them we are grateful. Tell me we stand behind them and tell them they are the greatest. Those were the first words that Ronald Reagan gave me to the night of my appointment. Let me start with some of the other things i want to talk about. Probably mentioned or not mentioned, my father was an army major. He died in world war ii. And i have vivid memories. Because i, as a 14yearold boy sat at the hospital in denver, colorado. I whats given a watch, ring, casket, and set of towards escort my mother, who was with us, and my two sisters from his place of death to a resting place in boston, massachusetts. Now if there are any bostonians here, let me tell you that if you go out through the the Stoney Brooke reservation in boston, you will find a magnificent park. An Athletic Field with all of the facilities. And that was dedicated to my father. Dedicated by the legislature of a Great American named thomas p. Tip oneill, who dedicated that when i was a 14yearold boy. So ive got a lot of great mexries. The light back here is lousy. Talking about world war ii a book i highly recommend for you is one by frank sharely. I dont know if youre heard of him in world war ii. But he wrote a book on what happened on the first of november when he had an attack by the japanese at pearl harbor. In that book he has a forward by somebody who you do know now. And thats general p. X. Kelley. So i highly recommend it, of course. But not necessarily the forward but the book. But the forward is interesting because what he did first his son worked with me he asked me to give him my observations of a young 14yearold boy when he heard that the japanese had attacked pearl harbor. So what it is, is the vent he used of the boy, a small boy and what he thought of world war ii. And what he saw of the things that happened. I became as an example an air raid boy, believe it or not, at 15 years old. I had to go around to all of the local houses in our area and have them pull down their shades at night so the japanese or germans couldnt see the views during afternoon or evening. These are the crazy things that we not crazy but we did. Weer to down all of the medal fences in the city build ships. Of those other things, truly had a fashioning of food. Rationing of gas lone. Rationing of all sorts of other commodities. So it was an all hand revolution. And very, very tough period of time, i might add. I was in a very tough school in boston. I dont know if youve ever heard of Public Latin School. But Public Latin School in boston is the Oldest Public High School in america. 1635 it was founded. Harvard university was founded in 1636. As a Continuation School for Public Latin School. And so what school i was in the at time because i was helping my mother and two sisters i today leave because the demands of that school, learning latin french and greek at the same time, by the way. The demands of that school was so intense that to help me mother when my sisters i today move over to english high school. Which was fine with me. Thats where i graduated. Now as i became a student atville nova. Ville nova college. And i was on scholarship. But let me tell you about that scholarship. It was kind of comical. My mother was the one who favored education. She had been a teacher. And she always insisted that her children go at least through college. So because of the war and all those things that happened, the chances of my going to college were very slim. First of all, we didnt have the money. But secondly, it was slim. The competition, the war was on. But then one time when the g. I. Bill was signed, it became apparent that you could go to college if you served in the military and for equal time you got equal time in college. So my mother thought that was a good idea. So i went down to the recruiting officer in washington, d. C. And my friend and i we both felt it was on a memorial day weekend, very important. We didnt have computers, very important. It was on memorial day weekend. Friday afternoon Paul Xavier Kelley put him hand up and became a United States marine. To be picked up later and moved later. Went down cape cod with my good friend and we add littleadd little bit of a good weekend celebrating our enlistment into the marine corps. Then the next weekend my sister was waiting pour me, and she screamed meat. Where have you been . I said, none of your damn business. She said, none of my business. Listen dummy you have just been the recipient of a full fouryear scholarship to wishing books room and board to any Catholic College in america. And i said oh, bleep[ bleep ]. I said, i just signed up in the marine corps. So lets a fast forward. It is now monday. Paul xavier keltikangasjarvinenlykeltikangasjarvinen kelley is sitting on the front steps of the recruit office. I said i want to talk to the recruiting officer. He said explain your business. I tried. So i went to the recruiting office. No computers p. So my record was still there in the recruiting office. So i said i explained my problem. And he sat me down and said, young man, im going to give you some advice. He said, go to college. He said thats the best advice. But when you do, i have one favor. He said i ask that you would please, please take a look at the marine corps procurement officer procurement opportunities that might be there and see if one of them fits your desire. Fast forward. I did. P the day i left i became kmen dant. The next day i sat in the kmen dants desk and i wrote a letter. And i wrote a letter to that recruiting officer. And i said, you have no reason to remember me but i have a lot of reasons to remember you. I told him the story. About how he as one individual changed my entire life by making me a special case. And i think thats then i invited me to be the guest of honor in a parade. He came down. Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen, that is one of the proddest moments of my life. My message is simply this, there are all sorts of opportunities for times. But sometimes when a young boy has be a pro lem, listen to him. Listen to him. I addhad a theory as a marine Corps Officer that i wanted to talk, and i did, most occasions. I wanted to talk to every to two enlisted men at least once a di. I would say, how you doing. And we would sit and chat. Just to find out how they were doing. So back to business. It became quite obvious that for some reason the marine corps may not have wanted me. To say that i had served tours in the army. The navy. The air force. And then certainly, i served a very very pleasant very unpleasant tour because of the physical demands with the Royal Marines in england. And during that tour i became the recipient of a coveted green berets and became a green berets. I also commanded for the first time in the history of the Royal Marines, commanded a royal marine unit in singapore, borno and ma layo which was an unusual trek for a young marine from the United States. So to the point im making is, theres no limitations. Things i did in my life, in many cases, life threatening. Jumping out of airplanes. Bubbling out of submerged submarines. Things that were really dangerous and life threatening. But they were things that were valuable to keep the process going. I commanded a force Reconnaissance Company for two years. And believe me, jumped out of a lot of planes. Some of you may have never heard of the fulton sky hook system. Anybody here heard of that . Somebody is shaking their head. It is actually designed by a relatives son i believe or grandson, of robert fulton. And what it was, was, when you had a downed pilot a friendly aircraft came over, dropped the big bundle of rope twine whatever. And it had in there a parachute. An parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. Nan parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. Oan parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. Tan parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. An parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. An parachute, but a balloon. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. So you inflated the balloon. And you hook had it on. And it hooked it on to you. It went up several hundred feet. Then the airplane came, and it had a hook that snapped. When it hit the line, it snapped and pulled you off the ground 200 feet. Then there were two people in the airplane that put the loin on a winch and they wheeled you in. Not very life enhancing, but nonetheless, i did that. Which is kind of crazy because the next individual was a Navy Corpsman and unfortunately the line sheered and he dropped 250 feet. And there was no bouncing. So then with the army, i had i taught i was one of the senior instructors. One of my junior instructors at the time was a young major in the army named collin powell. He and i became very, very close friends. That was a wonderful tour. The navy tour for those of you who are interested and may want to go any offy was interesting. I was extremely disappointed. I did not want to go in the navy. At the time. By i got a set of orders to a heavy cruiser. Brand new heavy cruiser. Uss salem. First cruise. Boston naval shipyard. I walked down the pier and looked down at this big beautiful ship. Mores more guns on it than you have ever seen in your life. I went aboard and it was one of the most pleasant tours i have ever had. Very seriously. In the end i became a qualifying Surface Warfare officeman. We were a six fleet command in the mediterranean. We add hardship tour in france. Which was very hard. Near nice. And that was our home port. Then we would go to venice once under a while. But then we had a very sad occurrence which happened. Some people will remember. A huge earthquake in greece. We were the first ship to arrive to help the poor people suffering from the earthquake. It was a disaster. So in fact the first night i was on the ground in a sleeping bag and we had tremors come up right at me and i ended up five feet in the ground. And and we brought in protective gear for the sick and lame and not the lame and lazy but for the injured and older people. And we put them in tents. We took very good care of them. But one morning when i woke up the tents were not gone but they were now occupied by the police. The police had thrown the poor people out of the tents and had gone in themselves. So i had a cook named noonsio kasso from rhode island. And then nonsio i told casio get those police out of that tent. So Lance Corporal went over and got the tent, the people out of the tent. But then he was the cook. Sew set up a chow line. People would walk through and as the police came through, pardon my english now, he said to them, there you are, you [ bleep ]. Well they thought that was a term of endeerment. And so from then on, everybody was calling everybody hi [ bleep ], hi [ bleep ]. But the most humorous thing of all was as we left, and we took all of the small boats going back to the salem, all of the people, hundreds of people hundreds on the quay saying goodbye and yelling [ bleep ]. Bleep. So i often wondered from the future generations what happens. So anyhow. That is what the navy was absolutely delightful. The tour with the air force was at the college. Acollege. Rcollege. Icollege. Rcollege. College. Wcollege. Acollege. Rcollege. College