 Columbia National Guard, Brigadier General Leland D. Blanchard II, Commanding General Land Component Command, Colonel Cody J. Strong. The company provides critical special skills that serve as force multipliers to commanders. You are right at the tip of the spear when it comes to putting that, collecting that intelligence and providing it to commanders who make real-world decisions. You could make the argument that linguists are very hard to find in some places in our country, but not in D.C. We are one of the most diverse cities in the United States, if not the world. And it's that diversity that will allow us to find the individuals to serve in this unit, to serve our nation, and provide the Army with the capability it needs for its wartime mission. I have no doubt in my mind events like this don't happen every day in the Army. It is a rare occasion when a state, a territory, or a district activates a unit, so this really is an auspicious day. I would say this is an historic activation that's coming in an historic month, year really, for the brigade. So we are celebrating this year our 35th anniversary as a brigade. Really, we are the oldest brigade in the Army National Guard and you are now part of that heritage. Massachusetts to the District of Columbia. Attention to orders. Symbolic gesture of the formal assignment of command, Brigadier General Blanchard passes the colors to Colonel Deaton, commander, 74th troop command, and senior commander to Delta Company. Colonel Deaton passes the colors to the subordinate commander, First Lieutenant John Ibrahim. The passing of the unit colors from the senior commander to the subordinate commander signifies the passing of his trust and also the responsibility for the unit and its soldiers. Lieutenant Ibrahim will now activate the unit. The colors are now passed from the incoming commander to the detachment First Sergeant signifying the confidence that the commander places in the non-commissioned officer corps and represents the First Sergeant's allegiance to his commander. Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you the newest unit in the District of Columbia National Guard, Delta Company 223rd Military Intelligence Battalion. What that really means is that the organization now is truly on a glide path to whatever happens in the future. To the soldiers of Delta Company, you are the next generation of a long, long line of excellence. There is no greater honor than to lead soldiers of your character. I'm proud of every single one of you, but I charge you all with maintaining our most valuable resource, our people. So the activation of Delta Company within the DC National Guard creates a wealth of opportunities for recruiting. Prospective recruits can now pursue careers as intelligence professionals, such as being a 35-mic human intelligence collector and to be a linguist. Officers can join as all-source intelligence officers as 35 alphas. So we can sort of cast a wider net on prospective recruits that align with our mission and values. So our federal mission is to conduct interrogation, source operation, screening, and liaison and provide linguistic support for all Army echelons. The threat landscape is changing. It's evolving. The need for intelligence support grows as the threat grows. So our need to stay ahead of that and more importantly for the DC National Guard to stay ahead of that involves employing intelligence capabilities.