There is no more fair place on the planet than in the military. We embrace every race, every ethnic group, every religion. We are literally generalists and becoming even more so. It is genuinely a place where an irish immigrant can become the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Thats all ive got for you. Thank you. Gen. Dempsey youre welcome. Before we came here this week, we were all asked to decide on a defining moment that changes into we are to do and who we will eventually become. And i would like to know if you have a defining moment or moments that kind of major the man u are today. Gen. Dempsey well, thats a profound question, young lady. Thank you. Gen. Dempsey a good question actually. You know, a defining moment is tough to pin down, but i will fill you this. For about the first on when i we talked about this often. I went to west point because my mother wanted me to go. I had no interest. The mother wanted me to go. I got there and it let my fire and i got enthusiastic about it. Deanie and i were not sure that we wanted to spend our lives in the military. I said to her, after five years my obligation is over. I get out and i will become whatever. Five years came and i was humming and high and the next thing you know, we were on this slope to 41 years. But what was fascinating was that i got out to about 18 or 19 years or so and i was contemplating leaving a 20th. At 20. And our kids were saying you can i get out. I said, wait a minute, i thought i was the one keeping us in. It had flipped actually. My wife and children had become just as inspired or maybe even more inspired and so here we are. That was part of a conversation as my son was struggling over whether to go to west point or not. He had an up limit to west point as well as to some really incredible rotc opportunities and he went to west point. My son went to west point. My daughter went to west point right after him good and our son went to wake forest on an rotc scholarship here in the finest moment for me was when it became not just my particular passion but our familys passion. General dempsey, what were your goals that you set out to accomplish in the joint of the when you joined the military. What were they. Gen. Dempsey when i started . Well, when you start west point your goal is to survive. , [laughter] its a great question because people ask me now, you know, what do i have to do to become the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. A young lieutenant every once in a while will pop that question. My answer flippantly at first is you shouldnt want to do that. Not because of the job. That is not the right question to be asking at 22 years of age. The right question to be asking yourself is what exactly are you trying to do with your life. And in my case, the reason why the military was such a great fit was that i found i had a passion for building teams and for trying to make the team better than the sum of its parts. So you take as a platoon leader, a 30man in those days, it was all men, but now there is women. That it is a 30man team and you try to make it the best it can be. Not out of some sense of ambition, but because you want to see that team one of those things i one of the things i am proud of is that one of the proteges that have now succeeded behind me, in terms of legacy your legacy is not a piece of equipment or a particular job. It is what you left behind in terms of a commitment that people make to this profession. That has been the goal. It just got a little bigger overtime. I wanted to do the best i could for those 30 men. Now we are trying to figure out how to do the best weekend for 2. 1 million. It is a little daunting on occasion, but it is the same goal. What support systems . You cant have come you cant have kind of a steady, Firm Foundation of work and go home unless that foundation is equally solid. In other words, to accomplish the goals that you set for yourselves in whatever procession profession you choose. And i hope you choose professions, something you can be passionate about. But you have to work equally hard at home to make sure you have a little balance in your life. The first and foremost support system is her family and always been will be your family. In 58 days not that i am counting when i retire, thats it. Those who have been in the military know there is this wonderful ceremony. We pass a flag from one officer to the next. He goes out to the Officers Club at fort myers, virginia, for a reception. We stand there and shake cans. All, everybody is gone. Literally, everybody is gone. You realize, you know, you go from being invited invited to am set to talk to children and go to the white house situation room and appear before congress. When that is done, what you have is your family. You will get invited back if you do well, i suppose. The second thing, in the military, we have two chains of support, the noncommissioned officer for, noncommissioned officer corps, which is fantastic. They are brutally honest. They are the standardbearers. They will tell you you know, they will complement you when you are doing well and they will plant a boot someplace when you are not. And then you have the officers chain of command which is actually challenged or chartered to make sure you keep getting the right jobs. We like to put Junior Officers in a isish and where they can succeed. So those are pretty incredible. Those three pillars the officer chain of command, the noncommissioned officer chain of command, your family, that is your support. And what educational skills do you find, do you find lacking in younger members . Gen. Dempsey thats a fair question, i do want to be judgmental, meaning its not just youngsters who might have particular gaps in the education. Just as i said you have to have balance in your life, you have to have balance in your education. I dont think we should charge down the stem route, that it is all science and mathematics and technology. I dont even know what the e stands for. Engineering. [laughter] nor do i believe that it should just be about the humanities. Special at your age where you especially at your age where you are trying to figure out what interests you and you are trying to build yourself into a wellrounded person athletically or physically spiritually, and intellectually. I am an advocate of casting the net pretty wide. One of the things i heard said about technology is that it makes younger folks kind of a mile wide but only an inch deep. They know a lot about a lot no, a little about a lot here. You will have to be your own judge of that. I would just encourage you to learn for life. You are going to get the mandatory education along the way. That it is what you learn in between that will probably make the biggest difference. I have a little phrase i use with my admirals. Readers are readers because they have to keep learning. I dont care what they read. They could read poetry. They could read foreign policy. They could read humanities whatever it is. I dont care. Business books about management leadership. But theyve got to keep reading because youve just got to keep challenging yourself. As long as that occurs, the gaps filled themselves over time. Do you have any thoughts about that . All the Mathematics Teachers are now gathering at the exit. [laughter] you are in a very high leadership position and should face the challenges along the way. Could you tell us some of what the Biggest Challenges you faced in your career . Gen. Dempsey the biggest challenge in military is always making sure that when we ask young men and women to go someplace to defend our homeland, to promote our National Interest and put themselves in harms way, the biggest challenge is making sure they are ready to it is also the hardest part of the job. The decision to send young men and women into harms way cannot be made without the utmost care and consideration. It doesnt mean we have to be reluctant or reticent to use the military. But when we use it, we have to be confident it will achieve the purpose for which we use it. And inside of that, it is getting them ready, making sure it is not a cliche, but we say often that weve got to be and should be the best trained the best lead, and the best equipped force on the planet at every level. Whether i was a Second Lieutenant or now a fourstar general, it is really about making sure that americas sons and orders sons and daughters who are interested in our care are prepared to do what they can do. Most of the time, they can accomplish that task. On occasion, we dont. And its heartbreaking when we dont. Im back. We have one more question. I have one more. Okay, what department of Defense Systems of support are working for the benefit of military connected children connected children . Gen. Dempsey i may have to phone a friend here. [laughter] deanie the policy and freshman rosemary williams. I know who has it. [inaudible] yes, and family policy. Thats the one. They are definitely connected to the kids. She runs the form and she puts that information here in we in turn give her information or issues to be worked. Gen. Dempsey now, thats the office and shes kind of a person who runs the office, but ill tell you the support group is for military families are the chiefs of staff of the services. And their senior enlisted leaders. Deanie and their spouses. Gen. Dempsey one of the reasons we traveled is interact with counterparts around the world. But when we traveled domestically, my principal purpose is to make sure that we are giving our young air men soldiers, marines, and coast guard members what they need and find out what is going right and, importantly, what is not going right. Then we get back on the airplane and i am trying to fall asleep and she is wearing me out. Yap, yap yap. [laughter] what are we going to do about this or that . But its good. We take the questions weve got and see if we can find answers and we always do because everybody really cares. So it is the chain of command. It is not just cliche. There is a big sign there that says five minutes. [laughter] what if i want six . [laughter] again, i am not here to recruit you, but i would be happy to do so. What we say in the military is that we recruit individuals. We recruit caitlin into the military. We get you as an individual. But then we convince you and your family that it is in your best interest as a family to stay with us. And we do really well with that. It is one office. It is the profession that is the support structure. Ok, we probably have four minutes now. Do you have any questions for us . Gen. Dempsey i probably do. Where did it go . It went from five to two. [laughter] which clock are you on . Greenwich made it greenwich meridian or something . With that two minutes im not going to get to you. What i do want to do is tell you thanks. It is courageous. We do this all the time, so sitting in front of those people, it comes Second Nature to us now. But im sure for you, it is a little bit frightening. Maybe not. Maybe some of you are studying theater or something and you might break out into song, which is what i am going to do right now. Ok, here we go. [laughter] [applause] you have to stand up and line up here with me. This is aerobic so we will get a little blood flowing. I do this every year. And i get invited back so it must be ok. Despite whoever is running that thing, trying to kick me off the stage. I am not leaving until i finish this song. You cant make me. It is a little irish ditty known as the unicorn song. Do you know the motions . You are going to learn the motions. Here is how it goes. Well, there were green alligators and longnecked geese there were Humpty Dumpty camels and chimpanzees [laughter] there were cats and rats and elephants and sure as you are born, the loveliest of all was the unicorn. Ok. A long time ago. A long time ago when the earth was green there were all kinds of animals than you have ever seen they run around free when the earth was being born and the loveliest of all was the unicorn well, there were green alligators and longnecked geese there were humpty back camels and chimpanzees there were cats and rats and elephants and sure as youre born the loveliest of all was the unit well done. Ladies and gentlemen, another round of applause for my chorus. [applause] deanie great jobs. You guys are great. Thanks so much. Gen. Dempsey thanks. I wish you all the best. Thanks very much. Great questions. Okay. Then please welcome back to the stage for special for a special presentation to stage general ben griffin and mary keller. Mary this year since it is your , fifth year, this is a present for deanie for the special artist, a hand blown purple ball for joint. Purple bowl for joint. Deanie thank you. Gen. Dempsey thank you. [applause] the greatest is weak it is to the greatest gifts we get is to see you all together doing what doing. So thanks so much. Deanie thank you. [applause] general griffin general dempsey, general dempsey, before you leave, i want to tell you there were wonderful words for children of any age and adults of any age. I want to thank both of you for your service to this nation and a tremendous job you have done in defense of this nation, in support of the military and again in support of the military Child Coalition education. I know you well and i just want from the bottom of my heart thank is so much, not only what you do for military children in military families, but for the armed forces. Gen. Dempsey thanks. [applause] till we meet again. Announcer the Senate Approved a threemonth extension of federal transportation funding, sending it to president obamas desk with one day to go before it expires. It pushes the debate on highway funding into the fall. Buying time for senators to negotiate on a sixyear highway and mass transit spending which also passed in the senate. House republicans left town, forcing the senate to take up the measure. The session in the senate in session next week. The National Journal reports that, if the vote cutting the money for land parenthood fails next week, as expected, the gop plans to keep bringing the funding measures to the floor. Here is a look at what is ahead on cspan tonight, a hearing on the federal and state respond response to the avian flu outbreak. Lawmakers reviewing claims of retaliation against whistleblowers at the v. A. Health care facilities. Later, joint chiefs of staff general Martin Dempsey speaking to the children of military veterans, giving advice in joining the service. A quick look at the the a the v. A. Hearing. Dr. Catherine mitchell described the problems she encountered at the the a the v. A. In an exchange with senator jack reed. Dr. Mitchell they are evaluated on Performance Measures. The Performance Measures are artificial. You can be an exceptional for susan, drinkable patient care, but like in the er, if you are waiting five or six hours because we dont have the resources, my evaluations were dropped because we did not have the resources. I was not necessarily evaluated on what a good decision i was. Senator reieded so you are drowned get downgraded. Dr. Mitchell you look at the system issue, not the person issue. Many of the problems in the frontline are related to systems. Many of the problems in the upper Level Management are related to people problems in there are truly administrative evil in the v. A. In order to benefit themselves professionally. Announcer just part of a hearing coming up on cspan. We will hear more from doctors on retaliation at the the a the v. A. Coming up on cspan, the voters first for him voters first forum. So far, 14 candidates in the gop field are scheduled to take part. Our live coverage from manhattan for manchester, New Hampshire is available on august third followed by your reaction on phone, facebook and twitter. The u. S. Is in the middle of an outbreak of avian flu. The federal government says it plans to pay farmers for the loss of infected chickens and turkeys and for cleanup. But the centers for Disease Control warned last month that it considers these flu viruses as having the potential of causing severe disease amongst humans. Up next, officials testifying about the response to the outbreak before a house agriculture subcommittee. The hearing is an hour and if the minutes. I would like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee this morning and i appreciate the attendance of our colleagues here on the panel. As we begin our formal review of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza. Or for shirt, the bird flu. As we will hear from our witnesses, this was without a doubt one of the worst if not the worst animal disease outbreak our country has ever raised. More than 220 farms were infected in 21 states, nearly 48 million chickens and turkeys with depopulated, and hundreds of Million Dollars at and spent. The subcommittee has been following these events for some months, and specifically chose to delay uniform oversight until the disease was under control to prevent the attention in the middle of a crisis. As we begin the review, let me state that it is not it is not our intent to be a quarterback in a shape or form rather we want to learn from experience. We want to highlight what was done right by identifying areas where improvement was made where opportunities for further improvement exist, and most importantly figure out where we need to focus as we prepare for another possible outbreak this fall. As we prepare for another possible outbreak this fall. As most observers know, the heat of the summer is primarily responsible for the interruption and disease transmission, but as fall approaches and temperatures begin to drop, we need to be prepared for more cases possibly covering a larger geographical area. A number of issues have arisen that need further discussion, for instance the approval of an effective vaccine is on the horizon. If we utilize this tool we will need to ensure that trade is not disrupted. Questions persist regarding the efficacy of the industrys bio security plans while many forms have exceptional bio security procedures and mechanisms in place, some observers have raised questions regarding the degree to which bio security protocols are being followed. We are certainly aware of some of the resource limitations that delayed depopulation, disposal and disinfection early and as repopulation commences, several members have heard from constituents raising questions related to the challenges that lie ahead. We recognize that preventing further outbreaks is a critical priority. That said, we are mindful of the Financial Burdens producer