 Force, Afghanistan, for the time period between the spring of 2009 and 2010, the 28,000 men and women, sailors and marines who served in this unit during that time period, during that crucial time period, have richly earned this award. And it goes on there, battle standard, next to another presidential unit citation earned in 2003 in Iraq and also with citations from the Pacific in World War II, from Korea, from Vietnam. The skill, the professionalism, the devotion, the heroics of this unit cannot be overstated and neither can their accomplishments. So again, I'm honored to be here and I'm happy to take any questions. Gilbert Bays with ABC. Right now this award obviously for 2009 through 2010, but just look last week, we're dealing with another crisis in the Middle East and the Arab world. Your thoughts about what's happened recently and the role of these marines will probably have to play in the future? Well as I said at the beginning of my talk, we're standing here in front of a flag that's flying at half mass because of the losses that we did suffer. And our job in the military and with the marines, the Navy or any of the other services is to have whatever assets the president needs for whatever response that he decides is necessary. We've sent a Marine FAS team, a fleet assistant security team to Libya already and marines as these marines are always ready to respond to whatever tasking the president decides to give them. Sir, Moss's AD News Channel 12, these marines not only struck at the heart of the Taliban insurgency but they did much more than that. They did. As I hope I conveyed, they were great warriors and did strike at the heart of the Taliban insurgency but they also built schools. They trained the Afghan forces. They employed female engagement teams, key leader engagement. So they left not only a safer place but a place governed by the rule of law, a place where people can feel safe, a place where when I've gone to Helmand province, to places like Marjah, you can walk to the market now, you see kids playing everywhere, you see people going to the market, buying things, a very safe environment and it's all because of the skill and the courage of this unit. Sir, Katie Ruffner, News 14, Carolina, you spoke also not only of the sacrifices of these individual service members but also of their families and their support systems. Can you speak just to how important that is for each individual person? We literally wouldn't have a United States military, United States Marine Corps or a Navy without the support of family and I think oftentimes family members back home have a harder job than their loved ones who are deployed forward. As I said, they get up every day, go to work, take care of children, take care of loved ones, go to school, do the things you have to do to make sure that things continue to work here at home all the while hoping, praying, waiting for their Marine or their sailor or whoever else to come home to them safely and their contribution cannot be overstated. There's a saying that you enlist an individual, you re-enlist a family and I think that the Marine Corps and the Navy have done an amazing job in reaching out to these families but the families are the ones who deserve the credit for their steadfastness and their devotion. And back to the unrest in the Middle East going on right now, I know we already sent about 50 Marines to Libya and we're going to Yemen it sounds like, I just got word that we're going to Yemen as well and now there is some new news out of Tunisia. What do you want to say to the families who are here, who are supporting them right now? Well, our Marines and in this case, particularly our fast teams, deployed all around the world and this is what they do, this is where they go, this is their job and to the families not just of those Marines but the families of all Marines and all Sailors and all members of our Armed Forces. Thank you from a very grateful nation for the courage and steadfastness of supporting your loved one. It's a sacrifice because fewer than 1% of America wears the uniform of America and the family members are the one group of people who absolutely understand just how much sacrifice that means and just how much that service means. These Marines obviously performed outstandingly in combat against the Taliban but one of the missions has to be winning the hearts and minds of the Arab people. How much has this film that's caused the unrest set back that effort? Well, I'm going to focus on the Marines here and they did as I said in my talk an amazing job of engaging the population of protecting innocent people of making sure that children were safe and as I said you can now walk to the market in places like Nawa and Marjah, Sengen, which were terrific battlefields which were the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan and now the security situation is terrific and our Marines and our Sailors and our Soldiers, our Airmen, our Coast Guard and whoever we call upon will always be there always be ready for whatever task is at hand always be ready to answer the call when the nation needs them just as these Marines have done. Certainly Americans all over the country have had their eyes glued to their televisions with the recent attack on the US Embassy. May we get your personal reaction when this news first broke? Like every American, when there's an attack on America, wherever it is and in this job one of the things that maybe the hardest thing I do is write condolence letters to family members of Marines and Sailors who have been killed in action to their wives, their husbands, their children, their mothers, their fathers and your heart just goes out. The other thing though is there's never an excuse for this type of violence and the United States will always make sure that people who do this to our citizens are brought to justice.