 Good morning everyone. Good morning JD Thurman. I'm Jack Stoltz. I will be your emcee for today. I missed it last year due to the tangle in Orlando where all the flights got canceled and they said we'll get you there by Tuesday night and I said that's not gonna work so Ray Carpenter filled in for me. This year Ray is not here and I personally counseled him because I said what's more important coming to AUSA or going to Cancun with your family. So when you see him you can counsel him also. But no it's great to be here. Some have commented I've got a little fuzz around my face. This is COVID. Okay when my wife and I were locked up by ourselves in our house because of COVID I said I'm not cutting my hair I'm not shaving and so about a year later I said it's time to come out. I'm gonna cut my hair and shave and she said can you leave a little bit around the mouth. So I did it for her. It's not for me I'm not trying to make a statement. I'd like at first to call on our chaplain Brigadier General retired Bob Pascowski to come up and give our blessing. Let's pray together loving God you're always with us every minute of every day we ask you to touch our hearts to fill your presence here among us this morning. Thanks for calling us together here this morning this early morning to celebrate the work and service and achievements of our guard and reserve their soldiers the families the civilians that support them and their employers as well. What a great way to kick off this a USA event with this breakfast. May we enjoy this time of fellowship together to renew old friendships and to make new ones. We pray that our time together is most productive and enjoyable. Bless and protect all of our citizen warriors and those who love them whether they are on or off duty in training especially on duty and deployed to places near and far away and in harm's way. Help us all to do our best help us all to open our hearts to you so that we can build up your kingdom of peace. Amen. Thank you chaplain as I mentioned I'll be your host today for the Robert Moorhead Garden Reserve Breakfast. Breakfast is an opportunity for us to hear from the leadership of the garden reserve forces and the force com commander. And it's also a special time for us to recognize soldiers and civilians for special achievements as well as a USA chapters their leaders and members for excellence. This breakfast is named in honor of Major General Robert G. Moorhead. He was the Major General in the rank in the Indiana National Guard served as the 38th Division Commander served as Deputy Commander for US Training Doctrine Command and was the volunteer and served as President and CEO of a USA. So a long storied career with a USA. Now let me introduce some of our special guests that we have here with us tonight or to this morning. I'm still on nighttime. General Dan Hockinson Chief of the National Guard Bureau. Thanks for being here and I can tell you and John Jensen I especially appreciate you living in Florida with what we're watching down there and the heroics of National Guard is doing in Florida. General Andrew Papas our guest speaker who I will introduce later. Mr. Mario Diaz a Deputy Undersecretary of the Army Lieutenant General John A. Jensen Director of Army National Guard and Command Sergeant Major John Reigns Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard Lieutenant General Jody Daniels Chief of the Army Reserve Command Sergeant Major Andrew Lombardo and Command Sergeant Andrew Lombardo Command Sergeant Major of the Army Reserve and my old friend and battle buddy Chief Warren Ulster 5 Pat Nelligan Command Chief Warren Ulster Brigadier General Jack Haley Vice President membership and meetings for a USA and our annual meeting chair. Lieutenant Lieutenant General Thomas Todd United States Army Futures Command Lieutenant General Mike Howard European Command Lieutenant General Donna Martin the US Army Inspector General Lieutenant General Kevin Vereen Chief of Staff G9 Lieutenant General AC Roper Deputy Commander Northern Command good to see AC Lieutenant General Andrew Rowling US Army Europe in Africa Lieutenant General Richard Kaufman Army Futures Command Lieutenant General Joe Anderson US Army retired and our old friend Lieutenant General Guy Swan US Army retired and a senior fellow at AUSA good to see you guy on behalf of General Brown in AUSA let me thank our nationals partner sponsor for their support of today's forum our sponsor is light fighter systems LLC light fighter is a family owned VA certified service disabled veterans business all three owners are Army combat veterans Vietnam and Iraq light fighter is the leading provider of lightweight backpackable shelter systems light fighter asked that you stop at their booth which is 8341 this week to see their new stealth thermal management shelter technologies of course you won't be able to see them because they're stealth all light fighter products are made in America light fighter is represented by their president Colonel retired rich Cochise his wife Kay along with his company CEO Mike Cochise also we're honored to have an attendance this morning a room full of special guests and senior members of the Army leadership we would like to highlight the recipients of the 2022 McLean and Ruddell rudder medals Major General Jill Kay Ferris and Command Sergeant Major Arthur Lee US Army retired we have a number of our AUSA board members region presidents and seniors fellows present with us this morning now I'd like to for the following outstanding soldiers to stand and be recognized as they are introduced now we'll tell you up front some of these I did not have who they were what units and everything so I'm just going to introduce them the Army National Guard best squad please stand where you guys from all over okay that's why I didn't say a unit okay the Army Reserve best squad Sergeant First Class Mark W. Mercer Army Reserve career counselor of the year Sergeant First Class Giovanna Avila Army Reserve recruiter of the year and Staff Sergeant Lauren A. Pope Army Reserve Drill Sergeant of the Year my final intro to you this morning is our AUSA staff who worked with the reserve components in their priorities and actions Lieutenant Lieutenant Colonel retired Mark Wolf the Deputy Director of Army National Guard and Reserve Affairs for AUSA and assisting Mark is a familiar face an old friend who agreed to come back and help out the former Assistant Director for National Guard Affairs Colonel retired Stan Crow now enjoy your breakfast you can talk all you want I'm gonna go to sit down and then I'll be back up here in a few minutes to continue the program thank you we're gonna go ahead and continue with our program you can continue to eat drink coffee do whatever you want to do but at this time I'm gonna call Lieutenant Colonel retired Stan Crow to come up and we can proceed with some of our award ceremony hi everybody I'm Colonel retired Stan Crow I was on the other side out there with you all for many years and the AUSA staff and I really congratulate Lieutenant Colonel Mark Wolf for the great job he does and the portion of the agenda we have today there's a gentleman in here Bill Beislinger who did this portion of the program for many years and I want to salute him because he's done great it is a joy to be with you all with the Army of the reserve component of the Army with the Army National Guard and Army Reserve folks many of you are friends of mine and this is the first major event kicking off the annual meeting and with the reserve component so it's a really big deal I would like to go ahead into the portion of the script with the Kerwin awards when US Army Forces Command was established in 1973 it was charged with the readiness of all Army units in the United States Army the first commander of that organization General Walter T. Kerwin Jr. dedicated himself to the task of preparing all Army elements in recognition of his great contribution to the reserve components the three associations represented here AUSA the National Guard Association of the United States Army United States and the Reserve Officers Association jointly established the Walter T. Kerwin Jr. readiness award and this is to recognize annually the outstanding Army National Guard and Army Reserve unit for that year the selection process is difficult the chief of the National Guard Bureau who is here General Wilkinson selects the Army National Guard unit and the commanding general of the United States Army Reserve Command selects the Army Reserve unit it is presented to the unit with the highest level of readiness in its respective component to be considered each unit must have rated have been rated as having superior performance in eight specific areas as well as meeting other criteria at this time with General Popis and Lieutenant General Stoltz please join me on the stage over here you have the Kerwin awards the the word includes the inscription today combat ready reserve forces are more important to our nation's security than they have ever been in our history Walter T. Kerwin Jr. and while he was alive he attended this ceremony I was with him on several of them and he took great pride in this award given the broad competition every member of the winning unit can take great justifiable pride in his or her contribution to the Army's readiness with Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Griffin and Command Sergeant Major Lindsay Jackson come up to the stage to accept the award for the 203rd military intelligence battalion the citation the citation reads the moment the citation reads the Walter T. Kerwin Jr. readiness award for the Army's most outstanding reserve unit the Walter T. Kerwin Jr. readiness award for the Army's most outstanding reserve unit is presented to the 203rd military intelligence battalion gunpowder Maryland of the U.S. Army Reserve the 203rd military intelligence battalion epitomized the military intelligence readiness commands motto of always engaged throughout the year 2021 by conducting high level training for the United States military only tech int operations course the 203rd my battalion provided operational technical intelligence activities and expeditionary deployment operations certifying over 50 soldiers foreign partners and interagency personnel during the year 2021 the 203rd my battalion is a high achieving unit whose actions speak volumes they are one of the Army reserves finest this unit's performance reflects great credit upon themselves the United States Army reserve and the United States Army and it's her birthday today would Lieutenant Colonel Aaron combs come up to the stage to accept the award for the 2nd Squadron 107th Cavalry yeah and we have the state Sergeant Command Sergeant Major coming up the Walter T. Kerwin Jr. readiness award for the outstanding Army National Guard unit is the 2nd Squadron 107th Cavalry regiment of the Ohio Army National Guard the 2nd Squadron 107th Cavalry distinguished itself by achieving the highest standards in training in readiness as well as demonstrated excellence in operational planning execution of training and maintaining high readiness standards the 2nd Squadron 107th Cavalry's overall combat readiness and the unit's performance with with respect to all other Army National Guard units in personnel strength weapons qualification unit manning skill level qualification retention drill attendance and supply operations were second to none finally the squadron provided outstanding support to communities throughout the state of Ohio mobilized in support of the National Capital Region and achieved resounding success during JRTC Rotation 21-08 the 2nd Squadron 107th Cavalry is currently mobilized in support of Operation Inherent Resolve their service reflects great credit upon themselves the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team the Ohio Army National Guard and the United States Army let me make sure I didn't leave somebody out okay at this time I'd like to invite Lieutenant General John Jensen the director of the Army National Guard to come to the podium and give us a few remarks about his feelings about the National Guard and where they are and let me reiterate before John gets up here if you were in Florida like I was the last few weeks you saw National Guard soldiers not from just Florida I think there were National Guard soldiers from 15 other states deployed across Florida doing rescue bringing food bringing water you name it so thanks John thanks Jack I appreciate that good morning everyone thanks for joining us this morning Jack it's great to have you back the best thing I can say about you is you're no Ray Carpenter but none of us are but it's great to be back together after two years of disruption for this event if you remember two years ago we didn't conduct a USA and then last year we didn't do the full breakfast and we were limited on how many people could come to this event it's just great to see everybody back here together and a rich Kay and Mike thanks so much for the Lightfighter team for sponsoring this event and just being great great partners yeah general Hockinson good morning thanks for joining us general Pappas is always it's great to have the force com commander here you joined us at at Nagas and it's great to have have you here as part of this event to and to all the distinguished visitors good morning first off again congratulations to the soldiers and leaders of the 203rd military intelligence battalion of the Army reserve and second squadron 107th Cav of the Ohio Army National Guard and I don't know if you caught general Stoltz's last part of that award as the Walter T Kerwin award winner for the Army Guard we decided to deploy the Cav squadron they're currently at Fort Bliss so congratulations for that on their way to Operation Inherit Resolve but I but I really know the the tremendous amount of commitment it takes to get to this level of recognition and so to both organizations congratulations and well done I'd also like to note that you know as we were introduced this morning we have the Army National Guard best squad team that was here and the Army Reserve best squad team why are they here why are they in town unlike the rest of us they actually earned the right to come to a USA they they've they've finished in the top four United States Army's inaugural best squad competition so yeah absolutely I think just a tremendous statement about about the commitment of our reserve component soldiers across the Army reserve reserve and the Army National Guard and Jody Jody it's great to see you again good morning great to share the the stage with you again this year and a little plug for additional reserve component activity events this week later today 1500 to 1600 my command Sergeant Major CSM John Reigns will lead a breakout session with four other Army Guard Sergeant Majors and Command Sergeant Majors tomorrow is a busy day the Chief of the Army Reserve has her seminar at 08 I follow with the Army Guard Seminar at 1030 both of those events are in room 145 we close out tomorrow session again with the Guard and the Reserve reception at 1700 CSM Lombardo I believe you have a session on Wednesday morning then at at 08 30 so we'd like to really see everybody attend those events and learn a little bit more about what your Army Reserve and Army National Guard are doing and you know every time we come together in a form like that I think we should be reminded again of all all of our soldiers that are currently deployed overseas and here in the United States and for the Army National Guard as of yesterday morning that included 36,620 soldiers 12,600 soldiers mobilized in a title 32 or state active duty status supporting missions as diverse as post-hurricane relief operations in Puerto Rico and Florida wildfire missions in New Mexico and migrant support in escort in three states to all the people impacted by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian our prayers are with you as you continue to recover from these devastating and tragic events in a federal status we have almost 24,000 soldiers mobilized across the globe to include Gitmo, OIR, OSS, K4, Horn of Africa, JTMG, you southwest border and national capital region I ads just to just to name a couple of our missions and we're so proud of these soldiers as they continue to meet the call of their of their nation and their army across the globe but this week at AUSA we're going to be we're going to be focused on the future the theme for AUSA 2022 is building the Army of 2030 and I know it's no surprise to the senior leaders in this room that the Army is currently in transition we are moving into the future as rapidly as our imagination our processes and our budgets can support we know that we have to transition from our army of just a couple years ago because the strategic environment across the globe has changed our mission hasn't changed we're still required to deploy fight and win our nation's wars as part of the joint force wherever and against whomever our national leadership determines this is a daunting task but this has been the Army's task since our founding and a Cedar senior leaders we know that transitions are always risky and potentially dangerous that is why we spend so much time when transitioning units in theater to minimize this risk transitions bring friction as well we have to be aware of this risk and work to reduce it when identified our ongoing transition to the army of 2030 and then to the army of 2040 is no different our nation demands that we get this right we must get this right and so I think there's two from my perspective there are two items that I believe that are incredibly important to getting this transition right first off our continued focus on and commitment to our soldiers as the critical enabler of our success the army's first and foremost of people-centric organization our primary focus is on organizations of people and not organizations of equipment again no surprise anyone here but we are in a we are recruiting in a very challenging environment and a very challenging time right now it will take everyone's focus and effort to overcome this challenge in the army National Guard we're focused on reconnecting to the young men and young women of America propensity to serve starts with connection it is our responsibility to connect with the America and our communities we will meet that challenge if 75% of today's young adults know little to nothing about our army then it's our responsibility to fix this we will get out and reconnect with America being positioned in over 2200 communities across America gives us that advantage and requires us to lead the charge in turning our recruiting results around sure there are multiple enablers to this effort recruiting bonuses marketing and so on but success will be determined by our physical presence and our ability to connect because we are in the people business secondly during this transition we have to remain a united army a total army there are different there are difficult decisions to be made into the future about our army and what our nation can afford army leaders across the force have to remain together and move the total army forward teamwork and collaboration are essential during our army's transition no one has all the answers but through collaboration throughout the force we can come up with the best solution to the problems ahead of us so as we march forward towards the army of 20 30 and 24 20 40 I say let's march along together so I'm sure I've used up my a lot of time this morning I'd like to thank everybody again for attending today's breakfast have a tremendous conference this week and I'll see everybody in the hallways in the seminars and of course on the floor with our great and industry partners thanks everybody for attending thank you at this time I'd like to invite the chief army reserve commanding general army reserve command lieutenant general Jody Daniels to come up and make some remarks morning everyone so thank you general stalls it's always great to see one of our classic cars back in back in business here out to advocate for us general Hockinson general poppas John it's great to see you fellow general officers command chief warrant officers command sergeants major distinguished guests fellow soldiers and supporters of the US Army it is as John said really great to be back here in person with all of you fine folks and it's really be able to a great privilege to be able to talk about some of those awesome things that all of our soldiers units and the components are doing all for our nation a big thanks to a USA and light fighter for helping us come together this morning and as John mentioned there's lots of activities this week garden reserve so we hope to see you all at all those different events so this time last year the army reserve was really trying to get back in person training but over the past training year we've run into some challenges particularly with the resurgence of the covid Omicron variant but that didn't stop us from meeting our gift map requirements we had over 12 thousand soldiers headed to 25 countries around the globe this past year plus all those who returned from those assignments nor did it stop us from getting back to large-scale training events such as global medic cstx's and every ctc rotation and warfighter exercise not to mention more than 100 army reserve units and nearly 5,000 soldiers participated in extra cross exercises across the globe how many people can say that their dual pursuits took them to romania to korea or morocco it's pretty cool but what also happened across the past two plus years is that we've atrophied and how we do training management battle assemblies have become focused on getting all of our admin chores done and then those chores kept us away from training so in april i published a paper was called changing culture moving from metrics to readiness and i met with all the leadership teams we talked about how to reinvigorate training tough realistic training done safely step away from the stoplight charts re-energized training training management maintenance management focus on metal tasks division and brigade leaders they must help train battalion and company teams leaders must have presence whether it's physical or through clear commanders intent and spot checking this is as john mentioned you know connectedness we've got to be connected and i believe that by putting this emphasis on tough realistic training done safely we will make great strides towards our recruiting and retention goals when our soldiers as something relevant meaningful purposeful exciting to talk about on monday when they go back to class or to the office then we're on the right path for example the national guard second squadron 107th cavalry our own 203rd mi battalion have obvious accomplishments that they can share when they go back to work as do certain first-class mercer set certain first-class avia and sassard and pope not to mention both of our best squad congratulations all of you for being among the army's best but it's not enough to share those accomplishments and those stories here those of us already know that these folks are awesome we need every soldier to have experiences that they are proud to share and i ask that everyone here help by telling those stories sharing those experiences so that many others get excited about the prospect of serving this year we're also taking a hard look at what capabilities should the army grow in the army reserve out in order to support the army of 2030 and 2040 while we've been an abler heavy since 1993 the arm reserve force also has tremendous civilian skills and we want to leverage both to give our soldiers dual pursuits we're interested in your thoughts and welcome conversation on this topic during a panel session tomorrow so in summary the army the top army reserve priorities for the next year are to grow every soldier through tough realistic training done safely grow the force through stories told to the american public by our soldiers about their purposeful experiences and to design the army reserve force for 2030 and 2040 you can help us with all these efforts through your support your ideas and by enlightening the rest of the american population as to the rewards of being a member of the total army team shaping the force of the future takes both military and community leaders so we're asking for your support and encouraging our communities cities campuses congressional districts and our employers located therein to see themselves as partners in national security not only for sharing their best talent with us but encouraging their employees to also serve thanks for your time and your support ready now shaping tomorrow it's now my distinct privilege to present the commander of the forces command in port bragg north carolina the largest army command and he can tell you how many soldiers and how many families he's responsible for but it includes the army reserve forces is complete conclude includes oversight of the National Guard training and readiness and it includes all active-beauty forces in the continental u.s. general Andrew pop popus he's a Wisconsin native I just found out a 1988 graduate of West Point spent his early years down the street in third infantry regiment as the 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper interspersed with tours as a foreign-area officer in Greece and on the joint staff 2006 he deployed to Iraq while in command of the 82nd Airborne's 573 Cav squadron later he deployed three times to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division while commanding its first bct as the divisions dcg for operations and finally in 2018 as a 101st division commander general popus also served several senior tours in the Pentagon most recently as the j3 and director of the joint staff this past summer he returned to Fort Bragg and assumed command of force com and is dedicated to ensure the training and readiness of our 740,000 soldiers across the army's three components he is a true American hero but more importantly he is a soldier soldier that's what he cares about so general popus please come and address Jack thank you for that introduction and thank you for inviting me here today and Mike for you and light fighter thanks for the opportunity to be here I truly appreciate it but I gotta admit I didn't know that cancun was one of the options for this yeah you learn something every day hey and for the best squad I see they walked out though that we didn't know what unit they're from the damn sure same share the same barber who's good to see him man what a privilege to be here and it is great to see the West Point cadets that are here you talk about future leaders for tomorrow and a little sort of that in a moment but last night you know we're doing this kickoff breakfast no better place to be but with that last night you know you have the 10 mile on Sunday you have to get a little dehydrated good run good way to start the the long week and then come that night usually throughout the day on Sunday you you've got all the different units that get together you know we have the gathering of the Eagles last night so a hundred some old 101st people the reserves Jody's my neighbor and you see this just cross flow of people and though it said it was from 430 to 1830 about 20 30 22 30 last night looked at Jody and and you always get a good non-commissioned officer SR major reigns this morning I said you know this this kickoff breakfast is a great idea but it might be a better idea to do a kickoff lunch maybe get everybody loves a ranger sleep plan but the last thing I'll say when I look at the West Point cadets here there's one of the nine commission officers is up there so our Murdoch she's the E4 attack NCO she came in and we'd serve together two different tourists Afghanistan and she came in and she had her phone she goes hey you know general poppins she goes look there's a picture of you and I was a cadet she goes you stab hair and I looked at her I'm not Benjamin Buttons I wasn't born 50 man but it was it was good to see her and it just brought back and see you guys here today it is a good reflection youth and I'm glad you're seeing how the enterprise operates you're gonna come in you're gonna show your leadership but as you see and continue to grow don't worry you will lose your hair it happens but the ability to lead at echelon continuing forward but coming here today as I said it's especially exciting for me so I'm going on my 35th year 35th year in the army and in that time I've never been to a USA completely for everything a few years back in the joint staff I grabbed my 11 year old son at the time so seven years ago and took him here to grab trinkets and he was excited but I never hit any of the actual forums and you know I was either preparing to deploy deploying or fighting you know the less than direct combat operations while in the Pentagon so coming here today coming here today is an absolute privilege and spending the week here but I've got to learn a curve this year but I'm looking forward to being part of all the action I want to go out there I want to be hitting all the exhibits on the floor I'm looking forward to hearing the panels as they take as move forward and I saw I heard you know Mike are you out there my car they called his name I was looking he's recently tired but he's out of you calm but I had to check he's not in uniform I didn't know if he'd grown a beard like Jack or grew his hair long had a look for a ponytail but it when we're talking about warfighting Indo paycom Europe the peninsula these panels are absolutely imperative and it's going to provide us all great insights and then also the ceremonies that take place honoring the key individuals and I think it's appropriate that we started by honoring the garden reserves most ready formations yeah I just like to have another round of applause for the 203rd and the second of the 107 I think it's important especially with the Cav Troop as we build readiness we have to use that readiness and be able to deploy it forward you know our chief the chief says it we fight where we're told and we win where you fight so we have to have that level of readiness and the readiness of those two units it demonstrates it's the kind that allows soldiers to fight and deliver the unique capabilities of war in the garden the reserve we all know that levels of readiness it just doesn't happen by accident anybody that's been in the field it's had to have a goal to get to have the deployment on the horizon knows what it takes it takes leadership it takes very hard work most importantly and that's on the part of their NCOs and the first line leaders looking at the cadets and look at the sergeants out there being personally engaged with the soldiers Jody talked about that engaged leadership but it's also that the high standards and the mission focus it starts at the top and it's through these units command teams and it's all the way up to the senior leaders you heard it from John Jensen over there it's our major and with Jody leadership makes a difference and I look at all the tags and the reserve commanders we look to you to drive that readiness and hold everybody to that high standard it's a solemn duty leaders set the conditions for readiness that's our job so I want to publicly thank Jody I want to thank John Dan Hockinson general Hockinson who I've been able to serve with on the joint staff and watch what a great ambassador for everybody driving readiness and a true gentleman for another strong year of leadership of our garden reserve soldiers who are necessary for our nation's defense I got to John and Jody I've known for a long time through capstone and all Jody they've made this morning speeches an easy one to give because not only because of the readiness they've built across their formations but also because they've already said everything that needs to be said about their soldiers achievements their value and the priorities for 2023 and beyond and even though the Army's first fiscal year in 20 years without a direct combat deployment the demand has been extremely high the combatant commanders have requirements across this world and you see the demand the request for forces continuing to build and the reserve component soldiers they continue to mobilize and serve overseas just the other week I was over in Germany and I got to meet with some of while I was there then up in graph and it's great their presence alone is galvanizing the alliances of NATO I also saw that element that was out there and they're training the Ukrainian soldiers they're creating them how to fight the 105 out there training training how to do maintenance how to sustain how to lead what mission command that 2014 forward our reserve forces guard forces built it was great to see and you talk about an attentive audience those Ukrainians had just come out of combat they knew what they were learning was going to be applied the moment they went back there's no r&r back to the front line very attentive very focused and very personal to them that's just one theater just one there's many more of their peers are working hard to secure us interest across the globe that includes right here on the home front so the guard soldiers found into floods in Florida we've already seen all the commitment continuing down in floor today and all throughout the southeast so thank you for that commitment taken care of Americans here at home but as both John and Jody alluded to we're also racing to meet another demand on the total army while it's not a requirement that appears in the gift map and we know that gift map is that's your annual alaclation the sect death signs that's that's your orders for the next year or current command command request for forces coming in the current window of opportunity to transform our army to fight and win the next war is nonetheless driving the way we expend our precious resources of training time and personnel the garden reserve will continue to have a very important role in all these efforts the river the reserve components combined 506,000 soldiers factoring to every major army decision about resources it's about readiness and about modernization and that's because it's like the two of the second one oh seven scab squadron you provide value operational capacity that we have to have like the second of the second of the third MI battalion it's a unique strategic depth and in each one of these having sat in the tank I'll give a compliment to general Hockinson guard equities are champion they're highlighted and every decision is fully informed so thanks Dan for being able to provide that for the group writ large and it's the capacity in the depth was clear to me long before I took command of force comm this past July so that's right I see you that's 90 days my 90 day assessments do next week so I'm finishing that off but as I worked my way through this first 90 day assessment of all the units readiness and the challenges I gained a much greater and clearer appreciation for the garden reserves their training priorities the enduring impacts from COVID and as Jody put it the potential to reimagine the balance between the AC and the RC capabilities of head of our next large-scale combat operation commitments and it's imperative we have to come in with rigor and understanding to balance the army properly so we can fight and win that next fight and I'm excited to continue and engage with you and the teams throughout this week at a USA but even more importantly I'm going to continue to engage the TPUs and the M. Day soldiers in the field and in your AOs wherever I have that possibility to help continue to inform and I'll admit up front when I looked at the garden reserve I had a better understanding of the guard but not so much reserve and Jody's been educating me because whenever we deployed for each one of those whether it's brigade command through division commander even as a squadron commander whenever you get a formation in combat it's already C1 it's ready it's been trained and you can use that what I never had an appreciation for is what it takes to develop and create that level of readiness and it is hard work as I projected through my own misunderstanding you know an active duty component it is much harder in compo 2 and compo 3 and I appreciate Jody taking me under wing and continuing to teach me but when I do and the more I learn I predict interested in the garden reserve interest continued progress along those four lines of effort that I know John and Jody are already familiar with and they're using their own engagements with their force first we have got to win our soldiers trust and keep ready cohesive teams together throughout culminating missions and this all relates to what I talked about earlier about leadership personal engagement I talk about engaged leadership that trust and I know every other PhD or the Sam's grads say you can't put a quantifier in front of leadership I did engage leadership that's that personal engagement because whether your duty days are five days a week seven days a week or two days a month engaged leaders are the ones that start today they're present they're visible it's face-to-face and it's with their people and as I say it starts at 0 6 30 but tune leaders are out there squad leaders are there they're seeing the soldiers in their squad as they look down that's not the time for dental appointments or anything that's when you build that team starting at 6 30 you've heard me say this before and that's when you know the personal issues that a soldier has because you have that discussion at the team leader level the squad leader tunes are a tune leader that's that core fundamental element that wins the first fight and we got to keep them together and we can't get to a level of C1 you come out of a culminating event at jr to see an NTC and you're ready and we high-five and we move people out that erodes the trust we got to keep them together through deployments going forward I'll say it's like football and though I'm a Packers fan they messed up yesterday and I'll hold back on the profanity but you don't go through the preseason get to that apex ready for the season on the first day I say yep time's coming you trade everybody away as you get into the main season you build that team you train you rehearse and then you execute that's what we have to do the core element is the human dimension and we got to maintain that it doesn't just make our team stronger and help prevent the harmful behavior that we've got to eradicate from our force it builds the readiness for our next priority which is winning the first fight again the army is a human endeavor and it's all about winning that first fight and if and when that first fight comes it'll like to be in large-scale combat operation large-scale combat operations that's different than the past 20 years a continuous conflict of what we've watched that we've been a part of it's gonna be harder it's gonna come faster and it's gonna be one hell of a lot more lethal than what we've experienced and for that we know that we're gonna need to maintain true proficiency at that squad at the crew at the team at the platoon level but we also have to elevate our capability you have to elevate it moving up the echelon and set to conditions and synchronize war-fighting functions at the battalion level and above you've got to have the ability to be able to be predictive identify transitions setting the conditions for that first element also a good formation a good young element can run through an obstacle team leader squally platoon leader they see it they take it and they move to the next one if you got a good higher headquarters with the experience you've been predictive you know where that obstacle is gonna be you've got the capability and resources and all the war fighting functions you reduce that so that that squad platoon can just move forward without engaging it and then you know where the next one comes over time that's what higher headquarters have to do we haven't trained that as well as we've done we're good but we've got to be great because the division is gonna be the unit of action in the future not the brigade in a large-scale combat operations if we can't set conditions from the theater to the court to the division to the brigade all the way down we're gonna suffer when the first soldier initiates fire we've got to get to that level and for that I'm also looking at the sustainers how many loggies are out there excellent I love you and here's why because we talk about winning that fight we can't win at the point of contact if we don't have the formation that can get to the fight or maintain it in the fight and we've seen that I just saw in the last couple NTC rotations 87 tanks in a in an armor brigade and when you're down to 20 of them you're not going to be successful that's maintaining that's being predictive of getting the maintainers on the tank and on what they're doing you got to have the resources if you're gonna win the fight we also have to conserve and invest resources we talk about the first fight as we win for the future fight temporal nature our pacing threats China we look at it today if you're combat commander but for leaders in the room we have to look at it in five years 10 years 50 years in order to get there the army's gonna have to talk a lot about what to do of the next few days here at a USA what those resources need to be because we're transforming we have to we're becoming more data driven we're coming more efficient and we're gonna rely on the garden reserve to give us that strategic discipline in modernizing the total army through the right time horizons committing these four maces the second 107th so we can rotate elements off to go through modernization retrain and commit for the next fight because at the end of the day and this is only our fourth and final line of effort the only way that we can win is a balanced total army we have to be and we're gonna do this by investing in the multi-compo interoperability if we can't communicate we don't have the same equipment you're not going to be effective we're gonna be prioritizing training and new equipment for units forecasted for the title 10 mobilizations second one of 7th is a great example of that and by getting the right capabilities both immediately available in active force but then also with an arms reach of the garden reserves for a protracted let's go fight it will not be a quick win it'll take time and resources and everybody from all three compos to be committed to that fight and to be ready for that fight in order to dominate so that's where force comm is going those are my four priorities I'm putting out I just gave you a little pre-read of my 90-day assessment and we've got to win the trust we've got to win the first fight we've got to win the future fight we have to win as a total army and we didn't try to be subtle about the running theme between lines of effort winning matters winning matters it's why we serve and it's what our fellow Americans rightly expect and deserve of our army it's also what we expect of ourselves and we should it feels good to be part of winning team everybody wants to be a champion we all know the feeling when you and your fellow soldiers they trust each other built over time experience you train you don't train till you get it right one time in high five you train over and over again till you can't get it wrong when you're dreaming about it look at my cadets right there is about their team leaders over and over again I told you this starts with leadership and strong non-commissioned officers they truly are the backbone but also takes hard work and I know anything about the guard in the reserve hard works in your blood it has to be so if anyone has the capacity the discipline and the ability to commit to yet another hard yet rewarding year of service it's the garden reserve soldiers who are working are they going to school full-time taking care of their families full-time representing our army values full-time and staying trained and ready full-time even only when you're wearing the uniform tends to be for only 39 or so days a year same standards exacted same standards expected full-time we call it a part-time job it's not it's a full-time commitment I want to thank each and every one of you for serving alongside and supporting our total army we're lying on you to make the most of this year's a USA discussions they do matter they do inform and they give that perspective that only you have from your personal experiences and we need your help to recruit and to build the strongest most ready and modern total force army possible today I've got nothing but the depth of respect for each and every one of you and for your compost we fought alongside each other literally for years in combat and there's a trust that's built and we have to continue to build upon that trust thank you freedoms guardian general poppins thank you so much for your remarks but thank you even more for your leadership both now and the future we know our soldiers are going to be in good hands when you've got leaders like this leading the way for them on behalf of a USA we do have a little gift for you I don't know if you play cards or not but this is a deck of cards but this is a special deck of cards I actually haven't seen them because it's still wrapped but from what I was told every face card is a Medal of Honor winner so enjoy these and thank you again thanks to each of the associations for joining us this morning we appreciate what you've done as you look after soldiers their families and their priorities and I do mean that with a heavy heart it's not just about a soldier a soldier can't be a soldier without a family so we have to look after their families so for all of you out there that are involved with family support family programs other types of things to support our family so that our soldiers can do what they do thank you again thank you to our sponsor light fighter which is represented by rich coaches K and Mike I'm proud to say our membership in the USA has grown over 270,000 members so we're growing as an organization and why is that important it's important you can ask Guy Swan over here because he knows is because when we talk to Congress about what our soldiers need what our service needs in terms of budget in terms of equipment in terms of training it's just not one person saying I need this it's over 270,000 people people saying we need this and oh by the way we vote so the more we grow the stronger we get the more support we can get for our soldiers and their families I'd like to encourage you if you're not already a member to join we have several new flexible membership options to try to make it easy and affordable so stopped by the AUSA pavilion those wishing to attend the opening ceremony for the annual meeting you're invited to do so it's always a big event a chance to hear from the secretary of the army a chance to hear from the chief staff of the army as well as a good entertaining show usually for the opening the annual meeting badges you are wearing will allow you inside the ballroom and allow you to tour the exhibits when they open later today also this is not part of the script but I would encourage you if you haven't already planned so get downstairs and see the exhibits it is always eye-opening to me I'm 70 years old so so I lose track of things and everything but I get down there and I go holy cow when did they develop this and why didn't I have this I could have used it so get down there see some old friends but also see what's new and on the horizon if you do not have a badge yet please stop by a registration center in the convention center to pick them up the ceremony the opening ceremony begins over in the convention center at 930 so get over there in plenty of time because you got to get up the escalator and everything again thanks to everyone for attending as was mentioned this is really the first time we've actually been able to get back together as a group and have breakfast and celebrate and it's wonderful to see everybody here your attendance here signifies how much you support our army so thanks for being here and enjoy the rest of the week with a USA thank you