 Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the JBSA Open House here at Historic Fort Sam Houston. We are so glad that you're joining us. Here's how this ceremony is going to work. Our Buffalo soldiers are going to present the colors. We're going to all sing the national anthem, which will be followed by an invocation by our chaplain. And then our base commander, Brigadier General Dirk Driggers, will come forward, give some remarks, and then we will introduce our Fiesta Ambassadors. So don't worry, it's not going to be too long, but it should be really cool. And with that, let's get started. Buffalo soldiers, please present the colors. And you see life, what so proud, whose broad stripes and bright stars JBSA Fort Sam Houston, so that we could enjoy. These grounds hold much heritage. There is much history all around. As far back as 1845, and we come here today to honor and devote ourselves to carry this forward with both dignity and vigilance. We thank you for the men and women who caught this vision months ago, who paid the price and time and treasure to make today available to so many. And Lord, we especially thank you for this beautiful Texas weather, reminding us that there are few, if any, better places that we could ever want to be. Be with all those who are still recovering from the recent storms. And now one last thing we would ask that you grant all of our participants today a safe and enjoyable day. And grant an added measure of meaning and purpose to the lives and souls of those who will be working the event that we can live joyfully and worry-free. Amen. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present our JBSA and 502nd Air Base Wing Commander, Brigadier General Russ Dirk Triggers. Hey, how's everybody doing? All right, we're going to try this out and see if everybody's kind of in the spirit. Viva! Okay, it feels early in the morning with that response. Viva! All right, there we go. Thank you very much. Hey, thank you all for coming out today. This is going to be a great event. We wanted to really be able to take the time to open up the installation to be able to bring the community here and show a little bit more about what the military is about. We have static displays. We've got recruiting. We've got tours through the Historic Quadrangle and the Medcom Museum. We've got an opportunity to really be able to open up what goes on inside this installation to our public and be able to welcome them with open arms to be part of something that's amazing. One thing I want to say thank you to the chaplain. I'd also like to have a round of applause for the National Anthem. Wasn't that awesome? I don't know about you, but that gives me chills. And I can tell you right now that as you look around and you see all the members that are in uniform and then you see all the folks that may not be in an overt military uniform but they're wearing polo shirts that signify they're part of the organization and we've got some incognito people too hiding out that are part of this. I guarantee you they also all got chills listening to the National Anthem. That's part of the fabric of being part of this military is that we are here to defend that flag and what it stands for and we're proud to do it. It means something to us every single day and we come in as a volunteer force to do this and we want to be able to open this up to the community because we want to make sure we want people to understand that that is something that's noble and it's right and it's amazing to serve this great nation. So we want to bring the community to us. And so we're really thankful that hopefully throughout the rest of the day we'll see more and more of our community pour out here to take part and see what we do. Now as we go through Fiesta we also get out into the community. We also try and get out and showcase who we are and what we do to demystify the military a little bit to make it to make them understand you've got a whole bunch of dedicated people here that are they're right ready to support ready to defend. And the one way we do that is with our 2023 JBSA military ambassadors. I want to bring them up on the stage. Come on up guys. So this program has been around for quite some time. The idea is that these people that are jingling behind me with all their Fiesta medals are incredibly active. They're doing 5, 10 events every single day. Going out to schools, going out to churches, going out to hospitals, going out to all the Fiesta events and they're showcasing our America's military. And what I want to do is give them a chance to talk a little bit about themselves and show the amazing humans that I have behind me that are out there showcasing our military. So I'm going to start with the U.S. Army. Hey, good afternoon everybody. I'm Sergeant First Class Mario Matamotos, the third. I'm originally from El Paso, Texas. I'm a 60th Quebec pharmacy specialist currently assigned to Banshee. Quebec's right there. Who is our major? And I've been here for a little bit under a year. And I'm super proud to be a part of everything at Viva Fiesta. Viva! Good afternoon everyone. I'm a specialist Isabella Garcia. I'm a 35-prepare or cryptologic linguist stationed at the 717th Military Intelligence Battalion. I was born and raised in Hubbard, Texas. And I've been at San Antonio for a year tomorrow. I'm super, super excited to be a part of Fiesta this year and to see all the festivities. So Viva Fiesta! Viva! Hey, good afternoon everyone. I'm Sergeant Ashton Leach. I'm a Spanish linguist with Company H here in San Antonio. I've been here for just over two years now. I've been in the Marine Corps for seven years. Just like they said, thank you guys very much for having us. Semper Fidelis and Viva Fiesta. Viva! Good afternoon everyone. I'm Corporal Sky Fortune. I'm also with Company H Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion as a Spanish linguist. I've been in San Antonio for almost four years now. And I'm honestly just super excited and stoked and honored to represent the Marine Corps this year for Fiesta. Viva! Viva! Alright, good afternoon everybody. I'm Hospital Corpsman 1st Class, Joseph Bice. I'm an instructor here on Fort Sam Houston with the Medical Laboratory Technician Program. Very excited to be a part of Fiesta. This is an amazing event, amazing thing throughout the city. So I'm very happy to be Harvard. Viva! Viva! Good afternoon everybody. I'm Petty Officer 1st Class, Jesse Soto. I've been in the Navy for 13 years. Currently I work as an instructor for the Master of Arms Law Enforcement Specialist School at Naval Technical Training Center Lackland. I'm very honored to be a part of this program this year and we thank you all for your support. Viva Fiesta! Good afternoon everyone. I'm Technical Sergeant Vicente Velasquez. I am currently assigned to the 688 Cyber Wing on JVSA Lackland. Yes sir, yes sir. Representing the World's Greatest Air Force. So, super excited like my colleagues said to be part of Fiesta to be representing the World's Greatest Air Force. And it's good to see your pretty faces today. Viva Fiesta! Viva! Good afternoon everyone. My name is Kayla Serrano, Staff Sergeant with the United States Air Force. Currently stationed at Lackland Air Force Base representing the 802nd Security Forces Squadron. So, shout out to my Legion family. I'm super excited to be representing the Air Force at Fiesta being a native San Antonio. So, I'm excited to see everybody downtown at the later events. Viva Fiesta! Viva! Good afternoon everybody. I am Petty Officer 1st Class, Andrea Parker. I'm with the United States Coast Guard. I'm currently stationed at the Cryptologic Unit here in San Antonio. I have been in the military for about 15 years now. And I actually grew up in Lano, Texas. So, I was able to attend a lot of the Fiesta events. I'm just really excited for us to be able to share our time with y'all. And Viva Fiesta! Viva! Good afternoon. My name is Petty Officer 6th Class, Staff Sergeant with the United States Air Force. I'm currently in the Coast Guard kitchen unit in Texas here in San Antonio. I'm super excited and humbled to be able to represent the Coast Guard here in Fiesta. Viva Fiesta! Viva! Alright, let's have a round of applause. Well, they go jiggling off the stage. Now, they are headed directly to another event. So, another round of applause please. They're crossing. So, I urge y'all to take advantage of everything we have to offer today from this amazing array of food trucks to the music entertainment that we're going to have, 323rd Army Band, Fort Sam's Own, the Air Force Band to the West. We've got Frankie Ballard here and Joey Anderson. We have amazing musical talents that are going to be entertaining us throughout the day. Figure out where the tours are to take you around historic Fort Sam Houston, to get you to the Quadrangle, to get you to the A-Bed Museum. Eat some static displays. Eat some more food. Eat some more food and have a great time. Viva!