 Good afternoon and welcome to the promotion ceremony in honor of Major General Michelle H. Braden camp Our hosts for today's ceremony is the commander United States Cyber Command and Director National Security Agency Chief Central Security Service General Paul M. Nakasone Ladies and gentlemen Please stand for the arrival of the official party and remain standing for the playing of the national anthem Songed by Staff Sergeant David Zabo and for the invocation offered by Chaplain Colonel Larry Davek Oh say can you see By the dawn's early light What so proud at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fight Or the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red bombs bursting at our flag was still though say does that star-spangled-band Ladies and gentlemen Chaplain Colonel Larry Davek Feel free to join me as I pray Father I thank you for the life and leadership of Major General Michelle Braden camp Lord at every echelon she has proven herself as an extraordinary leader of character competence and commitment General Braden camps faithful service has shaped the very fabric of our nation's security Thank you lord And now you have seen fit to promote her to lieutenant general With increased responsibility for our nation's safekeeping Father I ask you to faithfully give her continued wisdom and courage equal to the task And I ask that she remains faithful to you in all of her callings As a spouse as a parent And now as a lieutenant general officer May she be dependent upon you and all that she does And all your almighty name. I pray Amen Please be seated Ladies and gentlemen general Nakasone So before I begin today for The united states army brass quintet for staff sergeants David David Zebo for our chaplain For the protocol officers here at the army in us cybercrime. Please join me in a round of applause director Haynes of Rio principal deputy dixon general rod and jenny fellow general and flag officers Friends of our army friends of the braden camp family I can't tell you how good it is To be back with the united states army here in comney hall Home of the old guard the third us infantry regiment the longest oldest serving active duty in our army And thinking about The ceremonies that have taken place prior To michelle's today You know susan and my born-on date is rapidly getting close to expiring And as we get closer to the end, I think perhaps the more intro or Introspective we become in terms of our own careers The people that we meet along the way the experiences that we've had And I would share with you that the nakasone's have had a front row seat to the braden camps Before there even was the braden camps It was the hermans in the braden camps And having served with them I think susan would echo what I would tell you today is that There is no finer army family in the braden camps. They epitomize Exactly what we're looking in our senior leaders Those that can accomplish hard missions Those that can take care of our soldiers Those that look after their families Those that have that spirit of selfless service And so today as I was thinking about michelle and trevor I was thinking about perhaps The key element that our army I think does so well And that's develop leaders The development of leaders the selection of leaders the advancement of leaders I would tell you that michelle braden camp personifies Our army's success in developing selecting and advancing strong leaders And I think there are three reasons for that First of all she began her career and quickly established that she was going to be Tactically and technically proficient She began in the second infantry division and won a second of my battalion In fact her first assignment overseas. I think provided her the necessary soldier skills That allowed her to have success later on in places like the 82nd airborne division and joint special operations command back in korea Being the assistant chief of staff g2 for the 101st airborne division in combat She epitomizes this idea of ensuring that you know what you do and how you do it and do it well The second thing is is that michelle She treats her work as a profession It's not a job for her. It's a profession. It's a lifelong study. It's this idea of being able to ensure That you never stop learning Whether or not that's on the demilitarized zone whether or not that's at the 704th of my brigade whether or not that's at the director of national intelligence This lifelong quest for learning began early was fostered at spring hill college And certainly has been developed throughout our army career And the final thing I think I would share with you is is that michelle is the type of officer We give our toughest problems to solve Whether or not that's understanding how to deploy your platoon At 1500 feet as you're coming out the door or the not that's on the ground in a foreign country whether or not that's with a series of challenging partners Or whether or not That's with the latest technology We've sent michelle throughout her career to command and lead to be a principal staff officer In units that were looking for her To develop deploy and deliver And she has done just that And so when I thought of those three things I thought how was she able to do that? What is it that's special about her? What is it special about what she's done? That has given her that advantage to rise to the rank of lieutenant general And I think again there are three reasons First of all is her strong unabiding faith in what she's doing And what she needs to do This faith was obviously developed very very early by her mother fostered by her sisters maria and tanya but also Encouraged by her own family The second piece is is that she has an incredible network of friends Wherever you go wherever you see someone that has been in the army particularly has been a paratrooper And you mentioned the words Michelle bradenkamp people will light up. Hey, she's my friend She helped me out. She is an incredible leader And that network of friends Has allowed her to be successful at the tactical operational and strategic levels And then finally It's her family It's her mother. It's her sisters It's her children Gavin and greer And most importantly it's her husband Who has shared Both the responsibilities of being army officer leader but also father provider Mother supporter And so today as our army gets ready to promote michelle bradenkamp I am incredibly pleased because we have developed We have selected and now we're going to advance the next generation of our senior leaders. Thank you very much Major general bradenkamp and family. Please join general nakasone in front of the flags Please remain seated during the publishing of the orders Attention to orders The president of the united states has reposed special trust and confidence in the patriotism Valor fidelity and abilities of michelle h bradenkamp In view of these qualities and her demonstrated potential for increased responsibility She is therefore promoted from major general to lieutenant general by order of the secretary of the army General nakasone will now reaffirm the oath of office to lieutenant general bradenkamp Ladies and gentlemen lieutenant general michelle h bradenkamp. Wow, so good evening everybody This is quite humbling when you look across the room And you look at the number of distinguished guests and friends Amongst us. It's uh, it really does take my breath away so Thank you very much. Um, I am so honored to see so many of you here this evening And so thank you for coming first. I'd like to recognize a number of prominent guests First and foremost the director of national intelligence Honorable hains ma'am. Thank you so much for being here I know I've only been in the seat for a couple of weeks But I absolutely understand how busy you are And I so appreciate you taking some of your personal time to be here for myself and for my family It makes it that much meaningful. So thank you very much Honorable's dixon Left dig casey airs and Gibson. I see you back there ma'am. Thanks for taking the time General mrs. Nakasone susan. I see you there General retired and mrs. Rodriguez general rod always great to see you Ginny Mrs. Mingus Amy I see you out there as well and mrs. McChrystal Annie. Thanks for being here And I heard general McChrystal couldn't make it because he has the Yale Football team, but they could have all fit in this Forum here. So we would have welcomed them with open arms So we're so grateful that you can all join us this evening And I do want to echo what general Nakasone alluded to in terms of recognizing those that have really put together the special event tonight Um, initially we were going to do a very very small ceremony Where we could only accommodate Maybe a handful of folks But my mother could not make it into town Due to engagement and here we are today, right? And so it does require much more of a heavy lift and I know Personally how much work the team puts into making these events happen and I am so grateful So to the MDW and the us cybercom protocol teams as well as my xo Colonel Lightenberg. I don't know where you are there. I see you out there James, thank you very much for really facilitating and being the mastermind of tonight To the army band the quintet. You're absolutely wonderful I've always been able to benefit from your tremendous performances Um, and I know you've got two of us, right? Super big fans But thank you always for what you do as well as to our fantastic, um, choral singer Thank you very much and our narrator old guard always does a fantastic job They are so professional and they truly represent what's best in our army. So thank you And the chaplain day back larry. Um, I did see you Thank you very much for everything that you do for others as a chaplain As a man and as my friend. Thank you very much and it's always great to see you and Kathy General Nakasone Wow Sir, thank you. I know I mentioned it to you earlier, but I really do appreciate you officiating tonight As you all know General Nakasone and Susan will have a change of course Major milestone in in their life next next week and there's also a lot going on in the world today, right? That I'm that is affecting the national security Of our nation and I really do appreciate you sir for for carving out the time and always making time for us No matter what's going on It's not lost on us and we do really appreciate it And I personally want to say thank you for your leadership For investing in me and for genuinely really taking care of not just me but my family over the course of 30 years Yes, I said that 30 years It makes me feel Like I'm really getting up there And about three three decades ago, sir. I know Serving together doing some Pretty amazing collection operations out along the DMZ and it just goes by really fast But I absolutely believe that I've learned from the best and so I appreciate all you've done I do have a number of other mentors out there who provide me great counsel and coaching And I absolutely do have to give some recognition because I would not be here if I did not get a lot of that coaching Some of it was hard knocks, right? But I probably deserved it In terms of learning and growing But general Rodriguez, lieutenant general retired donahue and colonel alstop retired as well Tremendous influential leaders in my life that have taught me so much and it didn't end once I stopped working for you You continue to reach out and help no matter what so thank you very much I really want to go through names But I'm going to hold back on that because I have so many friends and teammates Out there that i'm looking at right now and some of them are joining us virtually as well And many of them have been along the way with us for over 30 years as we've been navigating through the army Some very very tough times Sometimes especially with the multiple combat deployments And I just want you to know how much you mean to trevor and I Just as general nakasone alluded to You know sometimes the best learning and growing you get is from your peers and it's just been absolutely amazing And we are very very fortunate and lucky to have some of the best friends that are out there that are continually supporting us Advising us and just sometimes lending an ear And I just want you all to know how much that truly means to us because we would not be able to continue to serve and be here If it weren't for you, so thank you I do have to give a shout out to the odini team This is my new family. I just entered into the team But honorable hains The odini leaders as well as the dama team. I know dama team you guys are out there, right? I'll give you a shout out I am just so honored to be a part of this team now and I know I'm just arriving on board, but you all actually took the time Out of your schedules to be here tonight and it is very very meaningful because it's very easy to say no and Get back to work, right? So thank you very much And I truly truly look forward to working with each of you and really helping make a difference in being a part of the team So thank you And to my family. Yes, this is my final. Thank you here To my mother and to my sisters and tracy that does include you right my sister Not by blood right but by connection Thank you all for your love and support. They've always been there for us And even when you have to go through those tough times, you know when you have to deploy and unfortunately Uh Leave your your children right for a year and you've got to have that support network of folks that are really going to be able to Make sure that they're in good hands And my family has always been able to do that for us the trust the confidence and the love And again, we wouldn't be able to do this without you. So thank you And this will be a hard one my husband trevor general. Nakasani is spot on He is absolutely the most amazing man. I know I definitely married up with trevor Many of you probably know this but he also has a very very complicated and challenging command Besides being an awesome husband and a wonderful father and a fantastic friend He commands a joint task force national capital region as well as the military district of washington He does it extremely well and I am always learning and in awe of everything that he does But of course i'm a little biased and I will say more importantly He is just absolutely the best husband the best friend and the best confidant and father and i'm just so proud of you trevor and We only have one commander in the house now And that is not me commander And then to our children And you saw them up up in front. They're already virtually towering over me, right but Gavin and greer You know how much daddy and I love you. I know we tell you often But you don't have a choice in this right you don't have a choice in terms of being An army brat or an army kid But you do it so well And you don't complain about it You're so resilient You go with the stride and you're just great kids and you're kind wonderful people And that's all we can ask for And so just know how proud we are of you and how much we love you and thank you Thank you. Thank you for continuing to sacrifice. We love you So I I am closing now and I just uh, I wanted to share A little bit of something I think that is very personal to me that really kind of describes Why I am here and why I am I am still serving I was raised in a military family and I spent a lot of my upbringing growing up abroad And I learned at a very early age as I was growing up how lucky we were Really to be u.s citizens. My mom became a u.s citizen Later in in life when we were in elementary school But we were really appreciative of what we had and the ability to live in a country where we had freedom And we had opportunities And and so my parents taught us really the importance of service Service is a part of our citizenship And so service comes in many ways. It doesn't just come through wearing the uniform and we clearly understood that And so as I was growing up I decided that I would begin my service to the nation um and joining the army And I never intended to make a career of it. Um, and here I am today Um, it really helped put me through school Put me so I could attend college and uh, I absolutely fell in love with it And uh, and I am so so grateful for the opportunities that is provided to me I truly enjoyed the mission Actually, it's kind of nice right to get paid to jump out of airplanes and rappel at a helicopters Maybe back then And and really I truly enjoyed the mission of leading and doing intelligence work But what really inspired me and kept me going and kept me committed and in were the people And uh, and that stands true today and that really is all of you Because you are the people and you have all impacted me and have enabled me and have invested in me and have taught me To really help enabled me to be where I am today I've had the privilege to really work with some tremendous people Throughout my entire career And so I just want to say thank you very much because you are the ones that have Provided me with support opportunities and really the growth To get me to this point today So in closing I am just extremely humbled I'm grateful that I'm entrusted to be able to continue to serve today And I clearly clearly understand the responsibility Of what I have And I'll absolutely do good for others And make it matter each and every day So thank you all for attending It means a lot to uh myself and our entire family that you took the time to be here tonight And I do want to provide an announcement that we are having a very uh Low-key gathering at our quarters. So everybody's invited and it's right around the corner And we'd we'd love to have you so we can actually uh catch up with some some folks one-on-one But thank you very much. I'm honored that you're here Ladies and gentlemen, please join in singing the army song March along sing a song With the army of the free Count the brave count the true Who have fought to victory Proclaim 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 Please join lieutenant general bradenkamp and major general bradenkamp in the receiving line and join them for a reception Immediately following the ceremony at their residence. Thank you for attending and enjoy the rest of your evening