 Good afternoon and welcome to the promotion ceremony in honor of Major General Carl H. Gingrich. Our host for today's ceremony is the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Randy A. George. Please stand for the singing of the National Anthem by Staff Sergeant Caitlin Withers from the United States Army Chorus and the invocation delivered by Chaplain Jack Stummy. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so prallous gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. Gracious God, today is a great day and we give you thanks for it, as we are reminded each day of your faithfulness and mercies. Lord, we have come together on this joyous occasion to celebrate the promotion of Major General Gingrich, and we are grateful for his faithful service to our nation and its values over many years. I acknowledge your word in Psalm 75, which reminds us that promotion comes from the Lord, and so as Major General Gingrich takes on this new rank and responsibility, I ask that you, who gives promotion, would also liberally give him a renewed and even greater depth of wisdom and discernment. May he find continued joy in service, and during challenging times may he know that as the Good Shepherd you walk with him on point. Thank you for his family who have stood with him, his spouse Lori and their children, Andre and Conor and his wife Jessica, who have had part in this day. Thank you also for many family members, friends and mentors who have stood with him and his family and encouraged them on their army journey. Father in Heaven, I close by asking for your hand of power and endless grace now to uphold our formations wherever they may be, as well as their families who support them. Let them know that you are always with them also. I pray all these things in your most holy name. Amen. Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, General George. Okay, good afternoon everybody. Great to see everyone here and apologize that we're a few minutes late, but one thing it did remind me of in the Secretary, Sergeant Major of the Army and myself were today at a dignified transfer at Dover, and it just reminded us, and we were talking about this a little bit on the way back, just about how important our jobs are and really at every level and that everything that we do here, you know, the consequence of what we do and how it's going to impact people all the way down to the foxhole. So we're all really happy, Carl, to see you get promoted today to three-star because you're one of those kind of leaders that I know is going to make a big difference. So this has been many, many months and coming, and I know that's a really scary picture up there. I can't even imagine showing up in the G8 and seeing that. If I was a brand new major, so anybody out there think we should have Carl retake that picture? So he's going to have to do that anyway here when we pin another star on him. So Secretary Under, Secretary Whitley, all of our Army teammates that are here, a bunch of old friends that are back, a little bit of an old G8 reunion. I'm looking around that are here, but it's great to have you all here today. And before we talk about Carl, I want to talk a little bit about his family. I think everybody in here knows that if you're in the military, in the Army, it's a family journey. Many moves and time away. So first, to Laurie. And they met at Fiddler's Green at Fort Knox and for any armor, old armor out there. So I actually went to the armor advanced course and the one thing I knew about Fiddler's Green while it was really popular is because it was the only place that served alcohol in Hardin County. Is that not true when you were there? But met at Fort Knox and Laurie's been an elementary school teacher for 30 years and really all over the world. In Germany, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, and then a couple of times here. So you've done some certifications in multiple states. She's not only taught and maintained her own career, but I think most importantly what you've done to raise two wonderful kids who I got to meet here earlier and in Connor and in Aubrey. So I want to thank you, Laurie, for all you've done to be the glue inside your family, for taking care of everybody and raising those two wonderful kids that I'm going to talk about next. Connor, your son, 29, he's here. Raise your hand there, Connor, so everybody knows his wife, Jessica, coming here from Louisville, Kentucky. He's in a manager in an accounting department, works for GE Appliances, and Jessica is a transplant care coordinator and registered nurse. Aubrey, raise your hand, Aubrey. All right. 21, she's a junior at University of Kentucky, and I will say Connor is also a wildcat. Graduated from University of Kentucky and is doing very well in her studies and is studying clinical leadership and management. In her boyfriend, I'm going to ask him to stand up who's in Air Force ROTC, but I just talked about him, about what a great opportunity the Army has. So I wanted you all to see him. I was very impressed by him, and you can tell him why he should maybe come over to the Army. So everybody here. But again, Laurie, two wonderful kids, both of you, and I think that's often our greatest legacy, and it's great to have you here back in the Army fold. Also here from Kentucky are Tommy and Carolyn, that's Laurie's parents that are down here. And I want to thank you for your love and support to Carl and Laurie through the many years and many moves. And I was going to ask the question, you know, Carl got his graduate degree from Louisville. Can we even talk about the Louisville Cardinals? No. All right. Okay. And Carl, I know your parents are unfortunately no longer with us and you just lost your mom just this past fall. And I know that that's painful and I know she'd be very proud of you and all that you've done and to Laurie. And again, what you've done as a family. Okay, a couple others that I want to recognize from New Jersey. I think your sister Laura and her husband Jimmy are down there met them coming in. Nieces, Elena, husband Mike and their children, even in Walla and Wyatt right there and behind Caitlin and husband Brandt. I know they're down there. Brandt introduced him as himself as Caitlin's husband. So and I mentioned Laurie's career in education. I think we have some of your fellow teachers where they all at from Great Falls. Thank you for being here. And I would say it's probably too early in elementary school to start recruiting, but maybe you can plant the seed a little bit for us while you're at it. So I'm going to we're going to talk about Carl for a few minutes. Got his got an ROTC scholarship and like a lot of us and a lot of people in the military wanted money for college with came in came in to the to the army went to Temple University got a degree in civil engineering and commissioned as an armor officer. He almost left after his first assignment because he missed Desert Storm and then some that wonderful lady in the red dress to his right told him that was not a good idea. So Laurie, thank you for keeping him around transferred from armor armor to to be an Orsa and I will say it's one of our most has been one of our most demanding technical fields and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that, but Carl has excelled at every step of the way and when I start talking about this and some of the people that he's met along the way you'll see that and he has clearly established himself as a subject matter expert and also a great leader and whether that's been serving in the J8 or a G5 section or a PEO team and I can speak for experience whenever I had an Orsa and I think this is what makes Army Orsa's great we throw them on almost any kind of unit anywhere and expect fabulous things out of them and that's almost always what we get. I will also say that we you don't often as a major get to testify in front of Congress and Carl got to do that as a major for the base realignment commission. Do you remember those great days Carl? So I can congratulate you I'm glad that you got to do that and you beat me by several years, but it's just truly impressive what you've done throughout your career and I think you've been setting really blazing the trail as an Orsa so there's a little bit of an argument on whether Carl is the first Orsa to get promoted to three star and so I thought I would settle that we did a little bit of research and General Maddox used to be the G8 and he was a dual track officer and was not an Orsa so Carl congratulations on being the first three star Orsa in our army. Okay very easy for me and I always try to sum up really amazing people in just a couple of ways and I thought of three things for Carl and Carl and I've spent a lot of time together here over the last year and a half. He's in in the office a lot for my favorite topics that the underloves as well called DMAGs and DWCs and and all of these meetings but I have met few other people in my 35 years who lead by example when it comes to absolutely mastering topics and being an absolute expert and I have I'm going to read something here in a few minutes met very few people like Carl almost a savant with the way he can talk about almost any topic that our army is facing whether it's logistics space signal you name it and Carl and I know that comes from a lot of study as well you're very smart but I know you put a lot of hard work in you also have a gift for explaining very complex things in a very simple way which is also something that's very hard to do and very few people can do that and then you match that with what is also very hard and that is having the personal courage to often tell people what they don't want to hear which I think is invaluable for our army invaluable for our military and really good for any organization but it takes a special person to be able to do that and then you would think in that that that would be a pretty high priced or high paced and hard environment to work in but I've always been amazed at the team that you have and that you had in PAE and how much everybody enjoyed being on your team and being around you so thank you for also being a phenomenal leader so we've reached out we got a couple of couple of shout outs and smaller print so I'm going to put on my glasses here first to first from Lieutenant General retired Jim Pascaret and I'm a big fan of it's all good stuff Carl it's all Carl starting to look Carl was starting to look around a little bit getting fidgeting in his seat and again I have great respect for everybody who's who sent this in but from from Jim first I'm so happy the army saw fit to select Carl for appointment to Lieutenant General as the Army G8 he is the total package a world-class analyst can explain the complex in terms to senior leaders that resonate and assist their decision-making a fantastic leader stands his ground for the army and joint meetings exceptionally well steady under pressure great family man and most importantly a Philadelphia Eagles fan I guess you guys text back and forth got a little thing going during the Eagles game I wrote Carl a note when his confirmation was announced that he will be the best G8 that has ever sat in that seat and he's been acquiring the experience and skill set for the job for close to 30 years as an Orsa from Lieutenant General retired Bob Lennox also a former boss and many of us in here know no Bob Lennox Carl is a brilliant guy in his brain power but also in how he treats and deals with people at Lieutenant General Ganey's promotion you noted how Sean had a gift for getting things done in the Pentagon Carl is like that and more he was adept when I first met him I was a deputy G3 a major general and he was in PAE as a Lieutenant Colonel and I knew immediately that he could outsmart and outmaneuver anyone in the room but he did it in a way that didn't make you feel that you were a dope in fact it made you realize that you had to up your game to keep up with him he made everyone around him better and from major general retired John Howerton who we both know good man former deputy is John here anywhere hello John good to see you General Gingrich is an amazing officer and professional he has a deep level of understanding of his team and their jobs he expected the same from each person do your job first and foremost army was his priority and he took the entirety of the PAE need to deliver for the SEC army and the chief and he trusted each of us to help the army be successful he did his part two with incredible courage and many times he did it at his own peril at pegs or commands money and programs are unbelievably emotional topics that's pretty true pretty emotional especially if you don't get what you want or didn't get what you want the year prior or in some cases less or none at all he had many uncomfortable conversations with members of the secretary and our staff as well as OSD ACOM commanders co-com commanders etc from a personal standpoint I couldn't have asked for a better boss to work for in my last job in the army he is someone I would consider a friend and from general Laurie Robinson who's now the commandant of serving as our commandant of cadets also a former deputy this one's pretty good too Carl General Gingrich is the most knowledgeable officer I know in the army uniquely he not only has a wide breadth of knowledge in every army program we have he has a matching depth of knowledge in each one as well as this milled up in PA&E people would ask me if he was field artillery signal or logistics officer before becoming an orsa because the way he could talk in great detail about hypersonic weapons migration to the cloud and depot maintenance all in a single meeting my answer was always no but I wouldn't want to be on the other side of a debate with him on any of those topics and that's how that's what you would face too right there I could not think of a more qualified officer to serve as the army g8 he cares about doing the right thing for our people their families our units their equipment and our army and I try every day to emulate his leadership in both my words and my action and I can't think of better compliments to have from your fellow geos Carl so we are excited to pin this third star on you and have you leading our g8 team and really helping our army get better and all the way back to the beginning we got a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to rolling up my sleeves with you and start to make some of that change so let's pin on that third star with the gingrich family please join general george and major general gingrich in front of the flags please remain seated during the publishing of the orders attention to orders the president of the united states has proposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism valor fidelities and abilities of carl age gingrich in view of these qualities and his demonstrated potential for increased responsibility he is therefore promoted from major general to lieutenant general by order of the secretary of the army replacing the ring jacket is major general gingrich spouse lori and his son connor along with his daughter in law jessica replacing the epaulets are his daughter albury and his mother in law carolin and father-in-law thomas replacing the rank on his garrison cap is his sister laura thank you gingrich family general george will now present the promotion certificate to lieutenant general gingrich general george will now reaffirm the oath to lieutenant general gingrich thank you general george ladies and gentlemen lieutenant general carl h gingrich okay i've had a little while to think about what i was going to say today had to get that out of the way early i also heard they're towing cars outside because you're parked in the wrong spot but i'll leave that up to you to figure out here in about a half hour um let me start by thanking some critical people who made this event possible today the unsung heroes uh thank you to the protocol office our narrator my new personal soloist staff sergeant withers she doesn't know that i told her about that earlier um she came in uh during the g eight hallway party as part of a chorus and they are top notch they are the best of the best and when she did a solo and the other people who are you know just incredibly talented when they're sitting there going as was i she became my personal soloist thank you staff sardin withers chaplain that yep thank you chaplain thank you for your kind words appreciate it the entire g eight team especially colonel ryan morgan who actually isn't here because his daughter had a dance recital and that's exactly where he needs to be but he was very integral here thank you for making this a first great event for and a special day for my family chief thank you for hosting today really do appreciate your kind words um and i think you're carrying over the faith that chief mcconnell had when he first advanced me into this position secretary war move madam secretary i love working for you i love working for the entire team uh honorable camarillo uh former secretary great working for you too secretary but i think we got a great leadership team in place right now dusa uh been a good wingman good leader so far i look forward to partnering with you even more in the future to move the army forward in the direction that we need to uh some other vip's here it's like the who's who thank you for fellow our staff eric thanks for coming really appreciate your leadership in g eight all that you did for the team hidey rob uh thanks for being here let's see this like a who's who lieutenant general retired swan is here uh pascaret uh donahue for mike i was hoping he was going to make it or halvorson may not have made it uh general spore uh is here major joe uh general joel tyler and his wife stacey and then john howerton is here uh as well kind of a personal hero of mine so john thank you for coming out mike and slinda altimer as old j8 reunion came uh departed retired life for a little bit down here uh to come enjoy the traffic once again justin um is here friend of the family and uh probably my littlest friend here bow um you know as well as some of the elementary school teachers from uh great falls elementary chief i am working well left okay this is a recruiting event okay just straight up i'm starting early um to try and get that out so um many of friends i see here cape uh we may not see eye to eye all the time but we are always professional and you are great teammates right just great teammates thanks mike brandina uh and some other distinguished guests um i've had uh like i said i've had quite a bit of time uh to think about what i was going to say but um first off this is very humbling uh i hate i i hate sitting there listening to people talk about me i'd rather talk about the team and have people talk about other people this is very humbling i am humbled that god has delivered us to this place a place i never imagined in my wildest dreams growing up inner city youth in philadelphia uh i am well aware of the amount of talented officers that we have in the united states army especially in the general ranks who are equally deserving for this equally deserving uh incapable and i owe it to them every day to bring my very best and do my very best for the army and that's what you're gonna get chief madam secretary every day second i am honored uh and excited to be allowed to continue to serve because that's what this is all about um i get to continue to do what i love for a little while longer with the ability to affect greater change using my rank for good finally this event has little to do with me and has everything to do with you seated here in the hall uh the old adage that it takes a village well for this kid probably takes a large city suburbs lots of people had a hand in this uh i take very little credit other than to be the recipient of that uh love and mentorship um first for me always is family they're what makes me what drives me what grounds me and what means most to me i love the army but i love them even more without them i would not be standing here today my mom and dad are no longer with us um my mom passed away on halloween of this past year and i was hoping we were going to get this done in time for her uh to see it unfortunately no but i know my mom and dad uh as well as my brother kenny uh are in heaven smiling down today my mom and dad their loving guidance set me on the path that got me here today um and i like i said i know they're watching over my wife lori my rider died i could have said a couple other things but we you know i just said my rider died uh we're coming up on 33 years of marriage i hope i did the math right if not you may not see me later on this evening she remains my best friend confidant supporter and critic while supporting me and our family she has managed to teach just about everywhere we were stationed as the chief said but it's not just teaching in georgia it's teaching in hindsville georgia just outside of fort stewart it's teaching in montgomery alabama you know not huntsville uh and as well as here in fairfax county she deserves the attention today more so than anybody um because having a career and being a military spouse is incredibly difficult but it doesn't stop there as the chief said she is um the principal uh reason that we have produced two incredible children who i cannot be more proud of connor and aubrey are plotting their own course in life they're going their own direction and we support them every day and they're doing so with character compassion and resilience something you don't find in society these days connor married up we now have jessica my favorite daughter-in-law as a member of family and aubrey's boyfriend luke is here and we are working him hard again we work both in the elementary schools as well as in the colleges and universities my in-laws tommy and caroline also known as swede around the gingrich house we had camp swede as the kids were growing up they're here today and frankly there are no words uh that i can say would capture the level of thankfulness i have for them in supporting our family as they have over the years they have been there for every move promotion crisis and celebration lori and i could not have done it without them period i almost killed swede one time when we were trying to change the carpet out in one of our houses i thought i'd killed her that day so we've cut back since then so thank you for always being there for us my sisters robin and laura robins also here uh she made the trek down be careful they're from philly okay they're just telling you straight up laura and her husband jimmy have been longtime members of my fan club and now their daughters are part and parcel elaine and katlyn as well as their husbands uh and then their children even and why i think why it's outside he's a little too formal for him um so he needed a little bit of time out but thank you for being here thanks for all your support all right let's see um you are shaped by many people throughout your career um and rather than try to name them all a lot of them are here i'd like to call out a small sample from such a large population i started in the blackhorse regiment the 11th armored cavalry regiment just so happens that today's the anniversary of the blackhorse regiment so alans there we go there we have a couple of them out there uh i started there uh in germany and i was raised by non-commissioned officers every promotion i've ever had since i was a lieutenant i thanked master sergeant retired truman pain he was my platoon sergeant i was a platoon leader for 22 months that man probably taught me more about leadership than anybody else in my career he's probably running a farm somewhere in north carolina off the grid because he was old school um but i tell you that man shaped me more than anything else uh than anybody else barry tankers lee larry levasser one of our master gunners he's actually here today representing my first assignment thank you larry other non-commissioned officers like dick morgan who are no longer with us in turn they were led by great officers who shaped a young immature lieutenant guy swan has invested a lot of time and effort in me and i really appreciate it he's probably been into more of my promotions than just about anybody else and i appreciate the support chris carns chris franchek jim miller is here was in howitzer battery uh back in first the 11th uh mike hartmeyer jeff holey just you know some true leaders who who made me who i am today and i'm very thankful as i progressed through my career i was blessed to have numerous mentors to assist in my development resulting in who i am today leaders such as general nakasone who just retired and changed out today i'd work for that man in a heartbeat just an incredible leader uh lieutenant generals lennox halverson speaks barkley for mike great civilians like gary martin i don't think gary made it here today but he was the peo at c3t and that man is just incredible i aspire to be as good a person as he is personal hero of mine friends are also a key ingredient in success you know surround yourself with good friends right just as you say to your kids as you're a parent uh there are too many to name today but a few have an outsized influence on me uh jim and bliz pascaret even though jim did cheat on the marathon i'll tell you about that tonight i was hoping the chief was going to bring it up because i was going to slam dunk it right here but uh i'll hold that story for later but yeah he cheated in the philadelphia marathon um you knew i was going to get you back one day mike and slender altimer uh john ferrari personal friend cedric wins is here uh from vmi cedric thank you for being here really do appreciate it um bob felon west pedia i saw you west uh eric brown and his lovely wife deb jone ashock deb not his wife deb catherine i know i know your name uh keith hawk vic harman kevin mcconnell all personal friends uh i i do want to take a minute you know chief since you identified me as the first three star orsa this goes all the way back to opms 21 uh is when we came up with you can be a functional area or you can be a basic branch so i went to the majors board and i had to fill out a career field designator thing i was going to school at night at the university loval while also being a small group instructor at uh fort nox i wasn't sure whether i wanted to be an armor officer liked what i was doing at school went over to combat developments uh at the armor center to work on the medium brigade combat team also known today as the striker uh so i worked there as my first assignment i filled it out said i would hey i want to be an orsa so i was promoted to major and i became an orsa and i've been single tracked in orsa for 24 almost 25 years um and what's interesting to me is kind of as you lead uh orces as you lead organizations like pa and e um you know your message is resonating when they actually you know start to reflect you and your personality uh and the culture and so they had a very small going away potluck for me um about a week ago two weeks ago and in pa and e and this is resident with all uh f a 49's uh we had a couple sayings down there like not everybody gets a trophy right um everybody wants to be a gangster until it's time to do gangster stuff see under's favorite whenever he needed to have gangster stuff done he called pa and e right so essentially no quarter asked no quarter given down in pa and e it was full on you're right uh it was a contact sport down there so they said sir we have a very special going away gift for you and we hope you really like it and this is what they presented me with a autographed picture of tommy tubberville my work there is done p enjoy keep your keep your arms up all the time okay keep your guard up at all time because that is a rowdy bunch uh listen i'm proud to have led the orsa community uh i am proud to continue to lead the orsa community and i look forward to doing that uh i pledge to make the most of this opportunity and effort to create future opportunities for each and every orsa that are out there i am plowing the ground for you uh and my success is hopefully to pull you along with me uh and i hope to do that uh here for a couple of years our army is going to need our skill sets as the chief talked about just straight up uh they need them more and more every day and we're going to deliver all of us together finally to the gate team let's go right let's go uh our role is critical in the continuous transformation of our army through the fielding of critical war fighting capabilities and capacities i am honored to lead you and i look forward to the journey we will take together thank you all again for coming out and celebrating with us this is about you this is not about me thank you so much uh and thank you from my family um lauri and i have a ton of food i think we have too much she thinks we have too little i need your help i listen i need your help all you're going to do is sit in traffic uh trust me uh we live in 212 our link uh 212 arlington avenue just right around on the other side of the parade field please come over and join us um so that we can continue this celebration and i can thank each of you personally for everything that you have done for me for my family uh that allowed us to get here today thank you very much i really appreciate thank you general gingrich ladies and gentlemen please remain standing and join in the singing of the army song led by staff sergeant withers the word to the army song can be found in the back of your program march along sing our song with the army of the free count the brave count the true who have fought to victor first to fight for the right and to build the nation's might and the army goes rolling along proud of all we have done fighting till the battle's won and the army goes rolling along then it's hi hi hey the army's on its way it's out and sure always know that the army goes rolling along ladies and gentlemen this concludes today's ceremony you are invited to congratulate lieutenant general gingrich and his family in the receiving line thank you for attending and enjoy the rest of your day