 Hey, hey team, thanks a lot for being here. In case you didn't know, you're director of the Air National Guard, Mike Lohk. This exercise is all because of you. When we brought cargo into this country, we trans-loaded it from C-17s to C-130s to disperse it out. We're actually running inner theater airlift, so all the supplies and everything else need to move around. It's because of an air-tasking order to U.S. Assets. We didn't lose a single cornet, and those are all the fighter movement missions, also C-17 air refueling, because we had it staged from the northeast through Iceland, through the UK, and then on over. The F-35s, bringing in 5th gen and 4th gen assets together. Bring those pieces together in parts. Distributed network. This network is not only distributed around Germany. It's distributed to you safety network, the one that we actually share with our coalition allies, and then actually to Finland, Sweden, UK, all secure, all on a NATO secret backbone. And so what you may or may not be seeing, depending on where you're at, is the ability to disaggregate air power from very different locations, to aggregate it together in an exercise that has a northern complex, a southern complex, and a western complex, or eastern depending on how you look at it. Three times a day. So we're actually doing the cycles and repeating those, and putting a group of fighters, airlifters, because we're integrating fighters and airlifters, 5th gen and 4th gen, okay? Air refueling assets together to deliver air power. You know when CQ Brown, General Brown came over and took over, accelerate, change your lose. Agile combat employment. Air power anytime, anywhere. This is the largest exercise that the Air National Guard will do this summer. I definitely need your feedback on if you like being together as a National Guard to bring air power together, because as we modernize the force, biggest, my number one goal, modernize the aged equipment that's out there into things F-35, F-15EX, N-GAD, what's next, post-block F-16s that are fully modernized, with things like ASA radars, with the self-protection, with the jamming, and then bring newer C-130Js, newer tankers KC-46 on board, and bring Abel to bring that all together. 43 states have participated. 43. That's an amazing Guard Nation story. With that, we're also doing some new concepts with our ground forces, our TACP Enterprise, our STS, Special Tactics Squadron Enterprise, our Rescue Enterprise. We're actually doing ground-enabled air superiority, getting into locations where they have threat systems, and actually pumping those into the link to get targeted by the fighter pilots sitting behind me. Those things don't happen without us coming together in a large group, so I can't say enough thanks, and I mean that. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule. I know if you're in school, hey, thanks for finishing up the semester. The first thing you're doing is not going to Cabo, okay? You're coming over here to Germany. If you're a family man or woman, and your kids are now out of school, you left them at home. You left your spouse at home. You left your loved ones, and you came over here to deliver air power. As you look to the future and what's going on east with Ukraine and Russia, you can tell that if we're ever called to do this, especially defend every inch of NATO, this team will have practiced it. So I do want to thank you for everything that you've done. Also, thank your families. For those drill status guardsmen that are taking time off, okay? When you go back to your employer, talk about the air power you delivered and why it's necessary to train. Don't always show them the nice pictures, you know, with you out there drinking a stein of beer or something. So no kidding. Talk about it. Engage. Engage not only with your local communities, but engage why air power matters for America. It's huge. I take this back into the Pentagon with me and I talk about a transatlantic movement and what we've done. I said, and oh, by the way, it can be trans-pacific. It doesn't matter. Whether it's China or Korea or Iran, it doesn't matter. We're going to continue to deliver air power, and this is the group that's going to do it. So thank you for all you do. I really do appreciate it. All right. Hey, folks, go guard. Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhardtz, okay? Chief staff of the German Luftwaffe. His brainchild, when he took over the position, he said, we need to do two things. One is have an exercise here on Europe that does a transatlantic partnership. Two is we need to make sure that the readiness of our air forces. And three, he was tired of watching the Army run around and defender series ground combat. When he goes, we lead with air power. So Ingo, great partnership. 19. So Senator Mike Diane Friends, I would say, from the guard. I go by Vega. And I'm so thankful that you are here, that we have this exercise. The signal we are sending is really strong. It's NATO signal. And the signal is if you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. And together with the United States, your great country. And that's exactly the signal we are sending in these two weeks to Russia. So at the end, the message is don't mess with us. I'm really grateful that you are here. And I wanted to give everybody of you something, but I can't. So I hope you feel it on our being a host that we are so grateful. And we want to give something back that you made it here to Germany, this strong signal being our strongest partner. And I hope you feel that every day in the air on the ground from our support from our being a host, that you really have the feeling, oh, wow, they want us here. And talking to some of you yesterday and even today, I got I get really the feeling that's that's the point. We still have a week ahead of us. So, yeah, we still have to do some good flying and continuing to send the signal. And your general talked about it. Yeah, it was my idea in 2018. But to be honest, it really didn't kick off the way I liked it. And then general for effort, he was the defense attache in Washington at that time and he connected us and we immediately felt it is the right time to do something like that. So when when your commander kicked in, we made this thing big. And after Putin attacked Ukraine last year in February, it got bigger and bigger. And now it's my people sometimes they don't call it the air defender anymore. They call it good killer. So it really got big. And it's due to your leadership, Mike, you in a person. I met a lot of leaders throughout the world in my military career. But it's it's really, really rare to meet somebody like you, a character being in front of his people, but leading from inside and you made this all possible. So I want to give you something and normally we exchange points and all the other stuff. But I have something that is really, really on the way of patience. It is the highest medal of the German armed forces. We call it the honor course of the armed forces in gold. So that is our highest medal, which you can get as a military person and you will deserve it. So I will read it down. I have to read it down in German. That's formal stuff. And if it is all okay with you, please go to attention. This is actually not my word. It is, it is for all of us collectively. In our national guard. So thank you. Thanks. Thanks for all you do. Keep up the great work. And like I said, go guard.