 Good morning, and thank you for joining us for an AFN Iwakuni and Power 1575 special event Joining me today is the 36th Commodant of the Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford and the 18th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Sergeant Major Ronald Green Now first we invited members of the local Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni community to send us some questions to ask both of you and One of the most basic ones was what brings you both to MCAS Iwakuni today? I'll just start Sergeant House I mean the number one thing that Sergeant Major Green and I wanted to do was was come by and tell the Marines that Iwakuni How proud we are of what they're doing and just to thank them for what they're doing now a hot-button topic amongst Some Marines is the tattoo policy a young Marine here on Iwakuni would like to know if you have considered changing the policy We did get that question starting house a few minutes ago as well in the theater some Marines asked and There has not been a Process to review the policy right now But but later this month the Sergeant Major and some of the senior enlisted leaders are going to look at it Now let's Sergeant Major Green talk about that We're going to take a look at it on the 31st of March and the 1st of April the most senior sergeant major in the Marine Corps The force level will come together. We've heard you you are you are eyes and ears We're your voice we're going to come together take a look at the policy take a look at you know as a common sense What's best for the Marine Corps? I'll put it like this We're the Marine Corps America expects, you know great things out of Marines We absolutely have to do the things that are right that make us combat effective and combat ready Whatever that is We're going to make that decision and give that advice to the common up based on His intent and how he leaves the Marine Corps and he talked about that in the theater today This question is from one of our family readiness officers on base She'd like to know how are you going to ensure that family readiness stays a priority with all of the current budget cuts? Some are concerned that with less money family readiness programs shouldn't be a priority Okay, we first of all we are going through some difficult fiscal times And so we've got to tighten our belt in a couple of areas, but I will tell you this More than 50% of our Marines are married We know that family readiness is critical for us to be a combat ready organization It's inextricably linked to being combat ready having high level of family readiness And so my my my goal is we will maintain high level of family readiness We may have to trim the budget We may have to do it a different way than we did it in the past But we're still going to do it and we're still going to make sure that our families are Kept in the information loop and that they're supported and that they have access to all the services that they that they require In order to be ready and so we'll continue to do that And I don't think we ought to have concerns that we won't be focused on family readiness. We certainly will The next question is with all of this talk about Marines potentially going back to Iraq What would the potential role of Marines in Iraq be? Yeah, we actually have Marines on the ground today in Iraq from both one mef and two mef And their role is to help develop the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces In the Marines case, we're helping train the Iraqi 7th division, which is out out of Al Anbar In our province at Ellis out air base where many of our Marines have served in the past and my expectation is that We'll continue to do that training. The other thing we have is we've got typically a fixed wing squadron It happens to be Harriers right now rotating it out of Bahrain and that squadron is providing Support for the strikes that are going to take place against ISIS in both Iraq and Syria and then the other critical mission We're performing is for security of the embassy in Baghdad and for other key facilities inside of inside of the region The previous Commandant's policy was to refocus the Marines as a quick reaction force by slimming us down and repositioning us Will that continue to be your priority? My priority is to is to make sure that the core answers What's expected of the core to start major spoke about the 82nd Congress in? 1952 where they designated the United States Marine Corps as the nation's force of readiness the force that's most ready when the nation is Least ready and we're going to be prepared to respond to crisis on a day-to-day basis And we're also going to be prepared to respond to a larger contingency with our units that may not be for deployed But may be training back at home station So what my focus is is to make sure that we meet the expectations of the American people You know when the American people have a crisis they expect us to respond to today's crisis today And and that's exactly what we'll continue to do Here's a question from a young Marine and Marine Wing Sports Squadron 171 in Recent years Marines have deployed for me wakuni to be a part of operations in Royal Australian Air Force Base Tyndall and in the marine detachments in Darwin, Australia When can we expect to have Marines on a permanent base in Australia? We have a thousand Marines right now that rotate into Australia for six months at a time during a dry season So they'll start their deployment in in late May or late April this year And that's a that's an annual that's an annual event now for deployment during a dry season that force started as a As a pure infantry force, it's now got aviation capability as well And it will grow eventually to a 2,500 marine force and a Marine Air Ground Task Force down there So we won't have a permanent base, but we will be on a base a shared base with Australian forces And we will have a consistent rotational presence in Australia Our next question comes from a marine spouse As a marine spouse, she would like to hear how both of your spouses held to support you in your careers My wife has supported me and my kids all the way through my career I mean if you think about the spouse whether male or female our job the common I was just talking about to be most ready when the nation's least ready So that means we must be ready today not tomorrow So when I when I talk to Marines, I'll talk about the three types of readiness personal readiness family readiness and unit readiness And all three of them must have their synergy the common I talked to you about the stool with the three legs The spouse is a one leg. That's the family readiness portion of it And I'm saying that we're gonna dedicate the monies the resources to us to our families The spouses we couldn't do it without we absolutely could not do it without them and knowing that the Marine Corps 50% plus have spouses. They're married today I'm like when the common on and I came in that month that number was much smaller and The spell I mean my wife always dedicated always there for me Know the challenges that we have when I was selected, you know to be the Sergeant Major Marine Corps She was all in all in never a doubt. I talked to her You know about how before I knew I was coming, you know to to talk about you know being the Sergeant Major Marine Corps She was the one actually, you know in my corner said hey, you know what? You need to go forward The Marine Corps is calling you to come up there and if you're selected we're gonna put our best foot forward She didn't say I put my best foot forward. She said I'll be behind you. They'll be behind you 100% So she's always been there for me and she'll always be I'll always remember that and always be there for her It's a team. This is the Marine Corps Yeah, we my wife and I've been married over 30 years raised three children in the Marine Corps And I just tell you it's as simple as this every decision I've made to stay in the Marine Corps After the time I've been married there's been a decision that my wife supported in other words I could not have stayed in Marine I couldn't have spent the time and the dedication it takes to be a Marine leader Without the support of my wife and her willingness to endure the sacrifices the frequent moves and the separation and all those kinds of things and so When you serve when you serve in the United States Marine Corps and you have a family you have a spouse You know the whole family serves to a certain extent and so I would just say her willingness to do all that is what's Allowed me to stay in the Marine Corps Finally the last question I have is the most basic is or anything you gentlemen would like to say to the Marine Corps station Iwakuni its Marines its sailors or its civilians. I just like that. I'm proud You know the comment on that are of all the Marines in Iwakuni all the Marines cost the Marine Corps We're here in Iwakuni. We absolutely proud of everything you're doing in your core and for the country couldn't be more proud Thanks. Yeah, I just echoed the sergeant major's comments. I mean that's again. Why did we come here? We came to say thanks. We are extraordinarily proud of the Marines here at Iwakuni Do the anchor point frankly of our presence here in the Pacific? they send a loud and clear message to all of our allies in the region that the United States Marines are here and And they should something happen They'll be in a position to respond and I also think they send a loud and clear message to any potential adversaries in the region As well that the United States Marines are here. So we get paid to be relevant. We are we get paid to be ready We are and we get paid to be professional and that's certainly what I've seen here this morning Iwakuni is is Marines who are professional proud and frankly make the sergeant major not proud So thanks sergeant house in the coming on now. We thank all the spouses out there and the dependents that serve along with us You know, we enlist Marines. We really miss families. So thanks very much. Thank you for stopping by Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and AFN Iwakuni Thank you for talking with us and thank you to all the listeners for listening in You