 Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What's so proud Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in prayer. Almighty God, our eternal Father, we've gathered here this morning to officially welcome our newest officers into the world of Pippa and Pentagon family. We do not take lightly the tasks given to these officers who are committed to protecting and serving our soldiers, DOD civilians and contractors in the Pentagon. Lord, grant them discernment so they can know what is wrong when it's hard to tell. Give them a deep understanding of the situations and the people they are dealing with, know lies and truth, and be able to fulfill their duties with wisdom and integrity. Finally, dear God, please continue to watch over them and keep them all in your safety, surround them with a hedge of protection day and night so that no harm would come to them physically and emotionally. We pray this in your most holy name, Amen. Please be seated. Good morning again, I'm Lieutenant Will Smith with the Operations Division and I will be your master's ceremony for today. It is my pleasure to now introduce our official party, the Director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, Mr. Chris Bargery, the Chief of Staff, Mr. Corey Walton, and Deputy Chief, Ron Wilkins. We give a special welcome to our leadership this morning, the Deputy Director of Administration and Management, Mr. Sajiu Amid, our Deputy Director, Mr. Louis Ratchford, and the Executive Director Vali Verdejo. We also extend a special welcome to the Executive Director for Security Integration and Technology, Dr. James Day, and finally our Chief of Staff, Mr. Corey Walton. On May 3rd, in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks against the Pentagon in subsequent anthrax incidents, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz, established the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. Since its creation, PFPA has expanded its law enforcement mission to provide force protection against a full spectrum of potential threats. Our duties include law enforcement, crisis prevention, counterintelligence, anti-terrorism, operational security, and surveillance. Under the direction of Mr. Bargery, the agency stands as one of the nation's premier federal law enforcement organizations, with our motto being Protecting Those Who Protect Our Nation. We will now open this event with an address from our director, Mr. Bargery. Good morning. Thanks, Lieutenant. Hey, first of all, I want to say a big thank you to Sergeant Breck for the National Anthem. He's an outstanding leader, a terrific police officer, Sergeant, and also a heck of a singer and a great patriot. We really appreciate Anthony gracing us with that this morning as he often does. I also want to thank Chaplain Lee here to watch over all the people in our agency and we take that very seriously and we thank him for that. Thank you guys. Just give him a quick clap. A quick round of applause. Thanks also to the staff that put this together and we'll see if we get through this thing with no hiccups today. But you know what? Here's the thing, if we do have a hiccup, it's okay because really today is about family. It is about honoring our police officers and welcoming new people into our Pentagon Force Protection Agency family. So as said when I was introduced, I'm Chris Badger. I'm honored to be the fifth director of this agency. We're a young agency still growing, still evolving, constantly evolving and changing and still growing into everything our country needs us to be and the Defense Department needs us to do in our bold and quite noble mission. We're really proud to serve. And I want to welcome specifically Mr. Sajil Ahmed. Mr. Ahmed, thank you for being here this morning, sir. We're so honored to have you with us. You are part of our family and you're our boss. And so we're super proud to have you here anytime, every time. And I want to say a special thank you to our new police officers who are coming into our ranks today. We'll swear an oath to serve their nation, many of them again. I would dare say most of them again won't be the first time for most of you guys. And a special welcome to their families who are here with us today. You're part of our family now. That'll be a theme through today's events. And I think you've got a walk around the Pentagon. It's a long walk depending on how you attack it. But here's the truth about it all. Hopefully you're happy to be here. But the truth is it's your house. We're just taking care of it for you. And I just want to do a quick show of hands with the visitors who are here today. For the visitors who have been here, anyone been in this building before? So you're really just coming back? So I don't see hands so I'll take it everybody's first time pretty much? Well hopefully you won't be a stranger. Very welcome here. So we have a serious mission and we're usually quite a serious crowd. We probably give that off whether we want to or not. Just in the way we conduct business sort of the way we purport ourselves. But today again it's about celebration. So don't be afraid to yell. Don't be afraid to clap. If a youngster gets up and runs around or yells out or does something that's cool. That's just fine. Don't worry about it. And if they start getting out of your side or something don't worry. A lot of police officers here to block the exit. Everything's going to turn out okay. Yeah cheers and take photos. There will be a portion of your police officer the person you're here to support is going to come down front and will be recognized and there will be a photo. And then if you want to come up and take a photo with your police officer you're quite welcome to do that. Don't be shy. Today I'll talk about three things that we're here to celebrate. One is the achievement of these police officers. The other one is your achievement in getting to this point to serve your nation. We are here to honor you and speak to that achievement. The other one is our nation and our nation and the people who serve it who we are as a nation and last but not least again back to that theme of family. We will talk about what it is to be part of this family. It's not an easy road to be a police officer. And frankly those of us who do those of us in this agency, our agency is made up of much more than police officers. We have quite a broad assortment and a diverse group of professionals that make up our agency to do our job much of which is to support you to support the police officer on the front line. For all of us it's not a job, it's calling. It's more. And you guys know that or you wouldn't have stepped into this. I have thoroughly reviewed your backgrounds and your resumes understand your training and what you've been through in your training and I know a little bit about how each one of you got here and I know that you didn't step into this without knowledge of what you were getting yourself into. It's a calling. Thank you for serving your country in this way whether you're in the military or you're in the police and in this case you're in the Department of Defense so you're very close to being in the military or the police again you are in service to your nation and thank you. There are a lot of things you could be serving. You could be serving a business you could be serving money you could just be serving yourself or some other cost but you have chosen this cost to serve all the people every person. Those who like you those who may not those who agree with you those who may not. We serve them all equally and that's the path you've taken in service to your nation and frankly that'll come out in the oath and in the creed that we speak to for your job not many people have those things thank you for doing that. It's quite an achievement and you are a select group, a talented group we're proud to bring you on board and we celebrate our nation the people of our nation and you can look around this room and see that but we all know this we're a diverse group we come from many backgrounds, many places many different experiences that's what makes us who we are and frankly we're we come in and these diverse groups get unified we're unified into one community that again this agency is very proud to serve that the Department of Defense is very proud to serve and our police force represents that as does our agency and that's what makes us who we are. This room is also as might be pointed out later it's probably full of people who serve their country in different ways or serving right now and we thank you as well last but not least we want to celebrate this family and we're adding new members to our family today this is a solemn and a solemn occasion but at the same time this is a great day to celebrate and a great thing to celebrate new family coming into this group we welcome you and again we welcome the family members you're part of our family now and we make the point to you today these gentlemen they're going to need you more than ever now be in support to them stay close we all of us people in uniform people with a badge who sometimes when they put that on seem very distant they need that human interaction they need a group they need a family and be advised you're that and support them and support us I can tell you that the leaders of the Pentagon police pride themselves on making sure we have the best trained, led and equipped force in the Department of Defense that is not a boast it is purely fact and you can know that day and night the entire agency will be thinking about the needs and the capabilities of your police officer to get their job done to be physically and mentally prepared and to be well cared for that is definitely first and foremost with us so families welcome we're glad to welcome you in as part of us and now we move on to the next phase which is actually getting ready to swear these officers in we've got to a couple of steps to get to that point and bring in you on board and again I encourage everyone to celebrate with us today don't be shy come forward, be seen, be heard and have a good time while you're here in the Hall of Heroes thank you thank you Mr. Bargery as an agency we recognize the importance of challenging our officers to be the best during their training all recruits are evaluated on professional appearance and bearing responsibility and accountability leadership, initiative communication skills technical and tactical weapons proficiency the training is both challenging and competitive the Directors Award is presented to the graduate who demonstrates high performance in leadership and law enforcement skills during this challenging training evolution at this time I invite Mr. Corey Walton and I ask Officer Rod Regas to please join him the Directors Leadership Award is presented to Officer Gabriel Rod Regas who during agency specific basic training exhibited impressive leadership skill and teamwork his performance was outstanding and indicative of the characteristics we seek at all Pentagon police officers he was nominated by his peers and selected by the training division as the top graduate signed Chris Bargery Director Pentagon Force Protection Agency thank you Mr. Walton and Officer Rod Regas the floor is yours Good morning everyone I would like to extend class 2324 as deep as gratitude to the many people within the Pentagon Force Protection Agency that help make today's graduation as profound as it is I especially want to thank our leadership and senior staff namely Mr. Bargery Mr. Rajford Mr. Verdejo Dr. Day, Chief Kuse Mr. Walton has given us the utmost support for our classmates since day one I also like to thank the recruiters and the training staff for their professionalism expertise critiques and guidance behind the scenes our instructors put a tremendous amount of work to ensure not only our success but they must keep up with the mission that continuously evolves the challenges of PFPA training missions thank you for all your hard work and the enormous role and making today possible I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful support all of us have received from our families friends and loved ones I think it's safe to say that not only have we sacrificed a lot in our journey but our families have sacrificed the most for us to have our dreams become reality and we do not take a second for granted so all of you who travel to join us today to our loved ones watching from above and to those who couldn't make it on behalf of the class and from the bottom of our hearts we thank you and we love you I'm greatly humbled and honored standing here before you as our class distinguished graduate however standing here today would have been possible without my newest family members my classmates thank you guys for allowing me to be a class leader and thank you for the support you have given me I've been blessed to be a class leader to every situation that has been thrown at us from the beginning five of us were fortunate enough to start FLETC three weeks ahead of class 2402 the journey we embarked upon at the start of this program took dedication and made us work hard academically, physically and mentally it also embodied us to the values that we define in law enforcement officers loyalty, courage integrity and professionalism we overcame all the information given to us in each class and learned to apply them during our practical trainings once we successfully completed FLETC we arrived to ASBT adding four great more individuals to the family I'm grateful for each one of you bringing something valuable to the team and for bonding the way we have may we carry the lessons learned here with humility and a profound understanding of the impact that our decisions have on the lives of those we serve we have put in the hard work and dedication to get to where we are today we have all persevered through being miles away from our loved ones and have managed to make it through all our training I want to thank each of my classmates for making not only this journey and experience a memorable one but for the honor and privilege of being a class leader each one of you have all the leadership qualities it takes in this profession each of you have put in the commitment and have kept in the fight by pushing through I'm proud of all your accomplishments I pray that God blesses each one of you and your loved ones and may he bring you home safe every single day this graduation is not the end this is just the beginning of the wonderful bonds we have formed congratulations once again and may your careers be filled with success and may you always find the strength and courage to always do what is right to all of our PFPA teammates and family and guests I thank you for the honor and the privilege of speaking on behalf of myself and the fellow graduates of class 23-24 thank you Officer Rodriguez congratulations once again the officer's creed will now be recited by Sergeant Kyle Bush I'm a Pentagon police officer I hold allegiance to my country devotion to duty and personal integrity above all I will wear my badge with dignity and restraint I will promote by example high standards of conduct appearance, courtesy and performance I will perform my duties in a firm, courteous and impartial manner irrespective of a person's color religion, national origin or gender I have sworn an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and it is my duty to protect and serve the employees of the Department of Defense and all within the area of my responsibility all right now we're coming to the fun part of it once again a reminder to all the families we're going to be bringing the director up here in a minute we'll be presenting the credentials to our new officers and our new family please come up take pictures now let the director have his picture with his officer first then you guys can come up get your pictures with them if you would choose to and once again do not feel shy about filling up the row down here all right so at this time we will now present the credentials to the new officers graduates please take your places Mr. Barger would you please join me on stage Officer Gabriel Rodriguez Officer Rodriguez hails from Bronx New York where he holds an Associate's Degree in Criminal Justice from State University Westchester College Rodriguez brings to the agency eight years of law enforcement experience from the New York City Department of Corrections and the Federal Reserve of New York he received the Fletzy Expert Marksmanship Award and he is the Director's Leadership Award recipient Officer Nicholas Dern Officer Dern hails from Pennsylvania where he holds an Associate's Degree in Emergency Management from the Community College of the Air Force and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the California University of Pennsylvania Officer Dern brings to the agency nine years of military service with the United States Air Force as both as an intelligence and command and control specialist and currently serves in the Virginia Air National Guard and holds the rank of Staff Sergeant Yeah, you guys will be able to slide back in here and take your own photos too at the end we're not going to push you out of the building or anything like that Officer Ian Douglas Officer Douglas hails from South Orange New Jersey where he holds a Bachelor's of Art Degree in Communications from University Hackettstown, New Jersey Additionally, he brings more than four years of military service for the United States Army Currently, he serves in the Maryland National Guard Air Defense Artillery and holds the rank of Sergeant He has also achieved the Army Achievement Medal and was received the Flessy Expert Sharpshooter Award Officer Jabri Gill Officer Gill hails from San Antonio, Texas and he has previously served three years as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington DC and the last five years with the National Guard Bureau Headquarters, Officer Gill served five years also in the United States Army in the Medical Logistics field and achieved the rank of Specialist Officer Paolo Gonzalez Officer Gonzalez hails from Hollywood, Florida and prior to joining the PFPA he worked five years with the Transportation Security Agency as a Transportation Security Officer He also brings over five years of military experience from the United States Navy and earned the rank of Petty Officer Second Class Officer Armando Maldonado Armando hails from Syracuse, New York and he brings over nine years of military experience from the United States Air Force Security Forces where he earned the rank of Staff Sergeant Officer Maldonado has previously law enforcement experience with the United States Marshal Service and as the Department of Energy Security Police Officer Officer Sean Maloney Officer Maloney hails from West Babylon, New York and prior to joining the PFPA he served six years as a member of the New York City Police Department He has served 18 years with the United States Naval Reserves as a Master at Arms and he has rose to the rank of Petty Officer First Class Officer Maloney received the FLETC Academic and Expert Marksmanship Awards Officer Miguel Santiago Poban Officer Santiago Poban hails from Guanica, Puerto Rico He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico He is currently working on his Master's Degree in Homeland Security from the American Military University He brings over four years of military service from the United States Marine Corps where he rose to the rank of Corporal He received the FLETC Fitness and Expert Sharp Shooter Awards Officer Mark Walter Officer Walter hails from Falling Waters, West Virginia He holds a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice from the American Military University Officer Walter brings five years of military service from the United States Marine Corps where he was with the Military Police Additionally, he currently served with the West Virginia Air National Guard with their security forces Prior to joining the PFPA he worked three years as a Security Officer for the FBI's ROC and finally Sergeant Anthony Vitalis Sergeant Vitalis hails from Waldorf, Maryland where he holds a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix Prior to joining the PFPA he served 12 years with the Department of Army Civilian Police rising to the rank of Lieutenant Finally, Sergeant Vitalis brings to the agency four years of additional service with the United States Navy where he served with distinction Congratulations to all. Thank you, Director Recruiting and preparing these men and women for the mission of protecting those who protect our nation is not a task we take lightly I invite our recruiters and trainers to stand and be recognized at this time Thank you for your commitment to produce this outstanding class of officers They are the direct result of your dedication and efforts Although this agency was officially established in 2002, it is built upon a very long and firm foundation of defense traditions For this reason, we choose to recognize those who have helped support and defend that foundation We have family members and guests with us today who have served in the military and in law enforcement We now invite all audience members who are military law enforcement veterans to please stand and be recognized Officers, take your positions for the oath of office Deputy Chief Wilkins, the floor is yours Raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I agree with you Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies born and domestic against all enemies born and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I take this obligation freely that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that it will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. Ladies and gentlemen, let me be the first to introduce our newest Pentagon police officers. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. This now concludes today's ceremony. Please rise for the departure of the official party followed by our new Pentagon police officers. Go. There will be a receiving line in the back where you could have they will accept everybody back in the back and then for the family members if you'd like to come back on stage and continue to take photographs before you take your tour of the building that is also authorized. Thank you for attending today's ceremony.