 To counter the threat of those who seek to rule by force, we must pay the cost of our own needed military strength, and help to build the security of others. The NATO Defense Treaty pledges us all to the common defense, to regard an attack upon one as an attack upon all. There must be no wavering by us, nor any doubts by others, that America will meet her responsibilities to remain free, secure, and at peace. We've been here for over 70 years, from war two to the Cold War to the present. We've been committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region. We have 51 countries within our area of responsibilities. Our presence proves to our allies and our partners that we're here for the long haul. The mission of US Army Europe is to provide ready combat credible land forces to deter any aggression from any potential adversary here in the European command. So the mission of US Army Europe is vital to what we do here as NATO and US Army Coalition. We do train a lot. We train to fight and train to win, and the reason why we do that is to make sure that we're always ready, mission capable, and we train a lot in allied countries so that way we're all on the same page, we're all able to defend each other and we're all ready to be available at a moment's notice. There's no better way to understand how somebody fights than to actually fight alongside them. So you're not reading about their doctrine, you're actually fighting with them, and obviously it really just broadens your perspective on things other than the United States and other than the United States military, so it's really interesting working with other nations. Our presence here in Europe is important due to the growing volatility of today's international environment. Together, the US and Europe are facing a growing number of threats. Generally, we do not go to war without partners and allies, so building interoperability between our partners and allies is essential to be able to fight and win our nations' wars. I think that what we do in Germany and in broad matters and our missions and how we operate both in exercises and in real world missions has a lasting impact on our relationships with our partners and allies.