 Welcome to the Retirement Ceremony in which Major General Jason Q. Bohm and Inspector John the Marine Corps were retired from the United States Marine Corps after 34 years of honorable and faithful service. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the invocation given by Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Shlinds, United States Air Force Reserve, and remain standing for the national anthem in honors to Major General Bowers and Major General Bohm. I invite you to join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we gather this morning to celebrate the retirement of Major General Jason Bohm and to recognize the role he and his family have played in the defense of our nation. Yesterday was Easter, and Christians celebrated Jesus rising from the dead to offer new life. May the timing of this retirement be anchored in that hope, for though the end of a career can feel like a death of sorts, may it also bring a resurrection and a new beginning for Jason and Sonia. As General Bohm looks back on 34 years of service, may you fill him with memories of missions accomplished and the Marines he led and loved, from Somalia to Haiti, from the hills of West Virginia to work on Capitol Hill, from Iraq to Bahrain, from Portugal to Quantico, for command at every level. May you look upon the work he has done, and the way he has done it with favor. As he takes off his uniform for the final time, may you remind him of who he is underneath it, without stars on his shoulder or an ego globe and anger at his neck. Remind him of his dignity, worth, and value as a Son of God, a position from which he will never retire or be reassigned. As we prepare to return this man to Sonia, Ashley, Ethan, and Emily, with gratitude for their sacrifice as well, I ask, would you fill them with an overwhelming sense of hope and expectation, because the God who has seen them through the challenges of the past promises a new life and a future to all those who trust in him. I ask this now, in the name of Christ, my Lord. Amen. Commandant of the Marine Corps, from the President of the United States, Certificate of Appreciation, for service in the armed forces of the United States of America, Major General Jason Q. Baum, United States Marine Corps, I extend my personal gratitude and a sincere appreciation of a grateful nation to you for your patriotic service to our country. Your bravery and dedication in our armed forces helped protect your fellow Americans during a critical moment in our history and contributed to a world of greater security and growing prosperity. Your devotion to duty, honor, and country in keeping with the long traditions of the finest military in the world embodied the American ideal of selfless service. Our nation owes you an incredible debt. Your commitment and the example you set will inspire future generations to serve with pride and to keep our country secure. If you represent the best of our nation, and I join our fellow Americans in saluting your honorable service, I wish you happiness and success in your next chapter, signed by the Honorable J.R. Biden, Commander-in-Chief. A message from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, for General Baum. Jason, you have been a gift to our Corps. We are all better offer of serving alongside you. Trisha and I wish you and Sonia the very best in retirement. Again, all I can say is thank you. Semper Fidelis, E.M. Smith. At this time, Major General Baum will receive a flag as a token of appreciation for faithful and honorable service to a grateful nation. In honor of Major General Baum's 34 years of dedicated service to this country and passion as a historian, this flag was flown over the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial and subsequently flown by the Washington Crossing Historic Park over the graves of the Continental Army soldiers who perished during the December 1776 encampment at the Thompson-Neely House and surrounding properties in the township. The park manager, Mr. Mike Couser, and the museum curator, Ms. Kimberly McCarty, thank you for your service and convey their best wishes for a long and fruitful retirement. Certificate of appreciation. The Commandant of the Marine Corps takes pleasure in presenting the certificate to Sonia M. Baum. A grateful appreciation of your unselfish, faithful, and devoted support of your husband's military career. Your continuous encouragement and understanding helped to make possible Jason's last contribution to the Marine Corps. We fully realized that your perseverance and understanding were not provided without hardship and sacrifice during his tours of duty. Signed Eric M. Smith, General U.S. Marine Corps Commandant of the Marine Corps. It is my pleasure to introduce our retiring officer for today's ceremony, Major General William J. Bowers. Well good morning Lieutenant General Beerman, Lieutenant General Anderson, Lieutenant General Martin, General Officers, Marines, Friends, Families of the Bone Family. Thank you all for coming out for this very special occasion to honor the service of a truly remarkable American family and a battle buddy. I've had the great blessing to be best friends with for the past 34 years. You know Jason's left us with a book called From the Cold War to ISIL that talks about his achievements and what life has been like growing up in the Marine Corps. And all of us have been a part of this journey with him. What I'd like to do is just provide about 15 minutes of context for everything this Marine and his family have done for our for our Corps and our country over the past 33 years. And as we see with Jason, we're not talking about what Jason's done but more importantly who he is, like the chaplain said in the prayer. I think we see three themes emerge in everything Jason's done. Courage, every type of courage, physical, moral, mental, spiritual, selflessness puts his family, his fellow Marines, the mission everyone else first put himself and faithfulness. Faithfulness to God, the country, the Corps, his Marines, his friends. We're going to see these throughout the past 34 years and what's truly been a remarkable journey. And me and my Fox company TBS made snow because we were there from the start of it. It really starts back in June 1990. Bowman Bowers were put together as TBS roommates. And, you know, I think Jason had got there a little early to be. They made Jason the Fox company first sergeant. So Jason was in charges. We're all forming and storming there. Jason is responsible for keeping accountability and getting us through the first week of processing and forming. And I had the great fortune to be first platoon, a platoon sergeant. So we're roommates there and I'm hoping I'm going to get some slack from my TBS roommate as I report all present and see other people running into the back of the formation. And I knew right away where I said, hey Billy, gotta get the numbers, gotta be accurate, man. Because I think Barry was you in. We're going to join the formation. And then, you know, we started TBS together. And remember our first week, this was the gray era, right? It's all about FMFM1 warfighting. So we had all read it. We were having these platoon discussions about warfighting. It's just all the rage. And then that weekend, they popped a surprise test on us. And it was about a 20 page packet on the Battle of Austerlitz. And it was written by Dr. David Chandler. And I'm like, yeah, this is great. David Chandler was one of my professors at VMI. So all the VMI guys like, hey, we took this, we're going to do just fine. And then I had 10 surprise, 10 questions, write an essay and answer each one of these. Jason had never had Dr. Chandler. But what about a third of the company failed the test? A bunch of us had to retake it. There was one lieutenant who scored a near perfect score and none of the SBCs had ever seen that before. He got like a 98.5. And it wasn't me who had Dr. Chandler at VMI. It was Jason. Right out of the gates. First weekend at TBS, Jason aces the maneuver warfare test. And we're like, well, the truth is he just never looked back. And all of us who were blessed to be friends with Jason, right, were just made better by just being around him. So we're going through TBS. And then we're taking some, you know, some of us are thinking we're still going to compete with this guy. And I'm trying to, and then we get the land nav. Land nav is the great humbling experience of TBS. And a bunch of us bolo it. So we got to start showing up for a medial land nav on Saturday morning. And who's also showing up with us to get better at? Jason, Jason, you got 100 on this. No, I just want to get better at. I just love him. Jason, well, hey, can you help me? Because I gotta be here. Some of us back there, Jason helps us. But then as Jason starts coming, remember he was coming every Saturday, you know, JJ, all the other guys, like everyone starts coming. And we were herds turds and they had third squad which was up there, right, first platoon. Then you start seeing Matt Cooper and JJ, all of us. And like first platoon, like half of our platoon is going out here doing them because you just want to get good at it. And that's really what Jason does. He makes everyone around him better. All of us got better by being friends with Jason. Of course, he finished number one at TBS helping. None of us were even close, right? He, you know, Lex and the infantry officer goes to IOC and this is when Desert Storm is going on. And Jason disappointed that he missed it. A lot of us lieutenants were disappointed that we missed it. But not to worry. There's plenty of work for Jason to do out there. He gets out there, joins third battalion-length Marines, deployed to Okinawa, almost right away with third platoon. I remember seeing Jason and Sonia. They got married at TBS. I saw them before going over to Hawaii. They had a little park there in Carlsbad. And Jason was off. And Sonia was a Marine wife right from the start in the fleet alone out there in California, figuring out how to make it work and how to take care of the spouses of Jason's Marines. Jason comes back from a second successful deployment to Okinawa. And then this is the early 90s Operation Restore Hope. Jason gets commanded 81s platoon. The 81s were an unruly bunch in 39 at the time to figure does anyone can square them away? It's Jason. So Jason takes command 81s, squares them away, and then they go to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. They call themselves Bones Bastards because he actually does get them squared away. And this is in the era of, you know, the three-block war. General Krulak would call this the three-block war, where in three city blocks you can separate war in tribes. You can see in high-intensity combat. You can provide humanitarian assistance, disaster relief. Jason leads the 81s platoon with Tim Wyden on his flank at the heavy guns platoon, working for a guy named Padilla, Fred Padilla, through a brilliant deployment through Operation Restore Hope, where he's faced with about every type of complex tactical scenario a young lieutenant could face, and he handles them all brandy. The only questionable decision throughout the Somalia deployment is Jason made the call to bed his platoon down in a field filled with Somali pancakes, which he kind of like sewers. Now this is from an engineer. He's made my share of crappers and baskins. Jason leads the platoon through Restore Hope brilliantly, comes back, does another deployment to Okinawa, and then he gets orders to the Fleet and Terrorism Security Company. So Jason moves Sonia, they go across country, checks in at Norfolk. They have Ashley at this time, and right away Jason gets sent off to Haiti. I think Jason and his Marines had to pretend they were students, right, because Marines weren't allowed in the country, weren't allowed to have weapons. Jason goes down and reinforces the embassy, comes back after a successful mission, co-bar towers gets blown up in the Middle East, so Fast Company is off again to provide security at Manini Plaza in Bahrain, accomplishes that mission, comes back, and then he's back to Haiti with his platoon for Operation Uphold Democracy. And it's in 1970, 1997, when Jason selected for the advanced infantry officer course. Now, his first seven years in the Marine Corps, he's done six deployments while married with a child at home, and another in Ethan is either soon to be born or on the way. He goes to the infantry officer advanced course, again on a graduate just like TBS, ends about at Camp Hamilton in 2nd Battalion 1st Marines. Jason and I both got to the Fleet around the same time. We started as assistant operations officers, and then got command of our companies. Jason got Gulf Company, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines. And I remember being really excited when we found out my engineer company was going to go to CAACS to support Jason's battalion. So this is going to be great. We're going to be working together and we're seeing each other out there. So Jason has the Hilo Company, and he's getting ready to do the helicopter assault force. So I'm talking to my lieutenants, and we have an engineer plan for, you know, looking to advise Jason how to employ the common engineers. So I grew up to Jason's Fox Company. You know it's coming, right? So I grew up there and see Jason. He's into with Jason Perry. He said, hey, Jason, hey, you want to talk to me about how you can employ your engineers for the Hilo assault force? Oh, Billy, you mean like this? He pulls out the map. He's got the blocking obstacles, the turning, the disrupting, the technicals going far better than the engineer could have done. It's Jason, right? This is Jason. You mean like this, Billy, does this look good? Yeah. Yeah. So I go back to the lieutenants and says, do exactly what Captain Bone tells you to do, right? HAC is a success. Jason gives the credit, again, the selflessness, gives credit to everyone else, makes everyone around him better. And then they're getting ready to do range 400. And range 400 is kind of an infantry company commander's report card. And the last time Golf Company 2-1 had done range 400, Emery had been shot. And Jason Perry, who was Jason's until at the time, had talked about it because he was in the company at the time. He kind of had been tarred with it. And Jason had planned on getting out of the Marine Corps. Well, you know, sorry, I had someone shot on the range and I don't see much of a future for me and you know. But Jason's working with him. And then Sonny goes into labor with Emery. So I come back from the range and there's a yellow sticky, you know, used to do those, Captain Bone wants to see me. So I go up, see Jason, he's in the tent there, it's a pre-K span. Hey, Billy, Son's going into labor with Emery. I'm heading back. I said, Jason, yeah, we got range 400. This is in the gray Monday crew like error, right? And we would all just quote FM FM 1, the best indication of what type of commander you are, how the unit performs in your absence. I'm going with you with my family, you know, when Emery's getting born. So he puts it on Jason Perry to take Golf Company 2-1 to range 400. And of course, the selflessness, right? Jason has the company well trained. Jason Perry takes him out of the range 400. I already say it's one of the best runs that you've seen. Jason comes back a week later. Emily's been born. Son is home. The company is doing great. Didn't miss a beat. The addendum is, you know, Jason Perry had to change a heart after that. You know, went on to stay in the Marine Corps, became a Japanese fail, made Colonel, commanded the fourth Marines for Lieutenant General Beerman, the Shanghai Regiment in Okinawa. And as now the senior ran at the Naval Postgraduate School, providing that same guidance, leadership, and mentorship to about 275 students undergoing training out there at the Naval Postgraduate School. That's one example of the thousands of lives that Jason has touched. Jason comes back from CACS. It's obviously a great event. And the embassies get bombed in Kenya and Tanzania. So if you're in the Lieutenant Colonel waggon with a battalion commander at 2-1, who are you going to send when the mission goes out? We've got to reinforce the embassy in Kenya. You've got a company commander. His company has just excelled at CACS. He's got six deployments under his belt already. He's got fast experience, sure enough. Golf 2-1 gets the call. Jason's company is in Kenya. Reinforcing embassy security in Kenya. He links up with the Mew, completes the Mew deployment. And around this time in the fall of 98, the Mar Admin goes out asking for nominations for the Lefwich trophy. And the Lefwich trophy is known as the best infantry company commander, really combat arms company commander in the Marine Corps. And all of us captains, you know, they didn't really need even a competition. We know who it's going to be. And it's no surprise that Jason is the winner of the 1998 Lefwich trophy. General Krulak comes out to present the award. They're at First Marines headquarters. Colonel Paxton is the regimental commander. And there was kind of a cruel joke going around the corps at the time like, yeah, it's great to get that Lefwich trophy, but be careful. Because there's a set of orders taped underneath that. Orders with orders to the worst recruiting station in the country, right? It happened to Dale Laffer. He's in Nashville, Tennessee. You know, before that, Jeff Canny is in RS Pittsburgh. This is around the time that Dave Farnese is getting a smoke jump in the RS Sacramento. So Jason goes up to get the trophy from General Krulak and Colonel Paxton. Looks out there. Orders ain't there. Gets the trophy, brings it home. Orders to Marine Corps Command staff counters. Selected for major, but before we send the command staff, let's see if we can get another deployment out of them. This is around the Kosovo is going on. We need his expertise in Kosovo. They thought they needed his expertise as an individual augment before the corps was really providing those. Jason gets over there to fill a major's billet. Finds out there's the Lieutenant Colonel who wants to get out of there and go take command. And yeah, Jason, you're not going to fill that major bill. We're going to fill you for even here to fill the senior Lieutenant Colonel J5 billet to help plan the O-Plan. Steel and steel. So Jason helps do another O-Plan for a JTF as part of the Kosovo continuity when he's paroled and gets back, moves the family, all three kids now back to Quantico for commanding staff coverage. So Jason's a commanding staff. He's loving it. He jumps into his thesis. He's going to do about Marines. He's got to prepare to fight this three block war. But those devils at manpower have figured out, you know, we know they got on the wisp of taping the orders underneath the left-witch trophy. Let's just put those orders in a drawer for him. Let's get him back here. Think he's safe at commanding staff columns. And then we'll hit him when he's ready to take it. He can't fight about it. Sure enough, Jason's writing this thesis and then boom, orders. Charleston, West Virginia. Well, wait a minute. Did I get changed? Yeah, you're going to Charleston, West Virginia. So for three years, Jason was sent out there to recruiting duty in Charleston, West Virginia. It was the hardest recruiting station in the country. The fourth district was the toughest district for recruiting in the country. That was the time that he ramp up to the OIF war. It was a very challenging time. The best warfighters at the core were commanding recruiting stations in the 4th Marine Corps District. The 10th General Donahue was up in Harrisburg. The General Bearman was in Richmond. General Durney was in Baltimore. General Boehm was in Charleston, West Virginia. And he did get reinforcements, did not get the support, but gutted it out and made it. And what he really grew in this tour was his faith in God, right? And got a great community out there in West Virginia, became part of a great little church and grew in his faith and in his love of the core. After three very tough years, you know, Jason and I were out there together. He was time to go back to the fleet in 2004. So where do you want to go? So I got to get back. I got to get regrained. Where are you going? Well, then go be the XO for 1st Battalion, 1st Marines for a guy named, a lieutenant called Dave Furness. I said, all right, Jason, so you know, Dave Furness is not a shrinking violet. You're not a shrinking violet. You know, hey, here's where I'm going. We're going to get a deployment. So Jason goes out there and is the XO for Dave Furness and 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. Loves working for them. The battalion does amazing things. They provide a humanitarian assistance disaster relief for the tsunami in Indonesia when the giant wave hits there. They go up into Baghdad. They go up into the Middle East. The Mew gets tasked to provide security from Southern Baghdad down the Babil to Jason, Rift 11, Dave Furness and the lead they go and they provide security for Southern Baghdad in a very, very tough time. Jason is selected for Lieutenant Colonel. The Mew comes back. Another successful deployment. But now Jason is a Lieutenant Colonel select and he can't stay in 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. So what do they do with them? They send them to the division staff. Well, Blue Diamond staff, but hey, Blue Diamond is getting ready to go and redeploy back to Iraq and take over from TUMAF. So who do we send over to 2nd conditions for a successful transition from TUMAF to 1MAF? Right back into the mix. So we send Jason back to Iraq. So now he's the current operations officer in the division. He's working for 2nd Mar-Dev as 2MAF leaves as 1MAF comes in. This is Lieutenant General Zillmer, General Neller, new command coming in and Jason just makes it all go seamlessly, smoothly and does yet another combat tour. He gets to come back. He is selected, slated to command 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. So he can't stay in Iraq for a full year. He's got to come back and take this battalion, get them ready to go. Either on his way back or shortly after he gets back, he learns that the battalion's deployment has been accelerated by 4 months. So he's going to have to really do an accelerated timeline to get the deployment ready. This has been the surge in Iraq. This is 8th deployment, 6th combat real world contingency deployments. So Jason's running through the Camp Hamilton training areas trying to find out where he can train his Marines, where he can make the best use of every square piece of dirt out there in Camp Hamilton to get his battalion ready. And he's bit by a rattlesnake. You're not going to get through 8 deployments, 2 combat tours in Iraq and come back and get bit by a rattlesnake and dance. Well then, Jason's not going to go to the duty and say, hey, call an ambulance, not the future battalion commander. I'm going to get myself to that. He gets himself there, get him Marines, he gets up to the hospital, he gets the drugs, calls son, he's got a bit by a rattlesnake. Bring me some books. I got to do some studying while I'm waiting in the hospital. He takes the time and son recreates them to books. He takes 1st Battalion 4th Marines to Iraq. He gets the area of Al-Qaim. He's learned from one of the best war fighters we have, Dale Alford, who's really, Dale Alford and Dave Frenes kind of showed how it can be done over there. Takes Al-Qaim, continues the great work that Alford has done. General Beerman is on his flank there in Haditha. And years later, I'm in the living room of Lieutenant General Stacey Claren, who is the three meth commander. And about once a month on a Sunday afternoon, I was the MCI pack commander. He was the meth commander. He would have me up and we'd just talk about three meth business, MCI pack business in his living room right there over a beard. And he had just finished a whole bunch of fitness reports and fitness reports were on his mind. And he says, yeah, you know, I've just been in fit rep hell all day. I just wrapped up about 30 of them. I got a few more to do. But have you done yours yet? Start talking about it about the profile. And he says, you know, I've been very careful with how I've managed my profile over the years. And I'm very proud to say that my battalion commanders in combat are still at the top of my profile. They're the best I've seen. And this is from the three meth commander. And he ratted off who they were. And Jason Bowman was one of them. One of the other ones was commanded the third vision out there for general clarity. That's what the commander of second Marines thought of one of his battalions coming from first Marines in combat for what Jason did over there. But again, the selflessness right and the faithfulness. Jason had engaged with the shakes. And he was working with the locals out there. But one of the mayors was disappointed that he didn't get FaceTime. But when he was President Bush, Jason said, oh, don't worry, Major Farwan, to shake out to see George Bush, you're going to get to see Mickey Mouse. We're going to get you back to Southern California. Get you to meet Mickey Mouse and see Disney. And Jason worked for years at it with his partner city Laguna Miguel with Nick Murano and got Major Farwan back to Southern California because that's how much he cared and his selflessness comes back from First Battalion. Fourth Marines get selected, go to the Naval War National War College is the honor graduate of National War College, ends up in the J five is the executive assistant for our first ever Winnefeld and then General Jacobi. And now it was right behind Jason National War College. And then I ended up in the J five. Jason may have had something to do with that. But one morning was interesting. One morning, it was a Monday morning, I get a call from from Jason, saying, Hey, Billy, J five wants to see you. So I get the colon now and I just just you just me. Am I in trouble? Just get down here. I went down there and Jason and I are in there. It's General Jacobi. Let's get that. Jason and I are sitting in absent, but they have General Jacobi at the front. Hey, he says, Yeah, the Chairman has just come back from travel with the CAG. And he says the CAG is going to write the National Military Strategy in the Chairman's risk assessment because because they got his voice documents need to stay here. We're going to do those in the five says us guys we've been on the ground. We know what it's like. Jason's like, sir. We'll take care of we'll enable and facilitate the CAG's success. We will get the documents here and produce them as the five should and as the documents should and sure enough, through some of those business team, you know, lanes up there at the Pentagon, Jason maneuvered and friends with everybody. The five ended up publishing both documents and more to come. The CAG director ended up going to Jason for help what in eight months so he could become the civilian deputy J five himself. And again, the selflessness Jason made everyone around him better. And he did it without seeking any credit for himself. Moral courage, softness, faithfulness. So when he's done with his time in the five, Jason really wants to get back to the fleet. He's itching to get back to the fleet. This is what Afghanistan is going on. He's like, I just want to get back to the First Marine Division. And this isn't counted at the time as a guy named General Dunford. He says, nah, you know, we're not going to say we're not going to let you out of DC yet. We need you to be the Marine Corps liaison to the House of Representatives. So General Dunford selects Jason to be part of the Office of Legislative Affairs, the Marine Corps rep for OLA. Knowing General Dunford like we all do, General Dunford thinks ahead and he probably knew Fifth Marines, my old regiment is going to be screened next summer. I have a good idea who would be a great commander for Fifth Marines. Sure enough, Jason does two years up there in the House of Representatives. He is selected to command Fifth Marines, and he takes the family back out to Camp Elton of one more time. Except this time, it's not just going to be a straight line Fifth Marine Regiment. Jason is going to stand up the first Special Purpose Marine No-Grant Task Force crisis response in Central Command. So he has four bosses now. He's working for the Division Commander, the Math Commander, the Marine Corps Installations West Command because Jason is the San Mateo Commander and Marcent Commander. Jason stands up, Special Purpose Magna, deploys them to the Middle East, and then he deploys with a contingent into Aractus for the Joint Fight against ISIL. This is 12th total deployments, 10, 10 combat contingency real world deployments. Comes back, selected to be the Director of Expedition Worker School. As is the Director of EWS, he's selected to no one surprise the Brigadier General. And when General Dunford turned over command, had the passage of command, I'll see the General now. General Dunford talked about with General, boom, what Jason had done with Fifth Marines out at the Special Purpose Magna. So Jason is a Quantico, he takes command of training command, 18 current commands distributed all over the United States. It is a tough beast to get a hold of. This is also at the time when women, the Direct Round Combat Exclusional is being lifted. So Jason has to do all the standards for the basic school to make sure the integration goes exceptionally well. There's institutional risk at stake, and Jason helms it all, brilliantly. He gets selected for joint duty, he goes over to Strike Forces, NATO, does two years over there, helps square NATO away to Navy Command, gets them squared away, and then gets selected to come back to be the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, except the one challenge this time is not going to Charleston, West Virginia, and not taking over the worst arsenal in the country, but he's taking Marine Corps Recruiting Command at a height of COVID when the high schools were all locked down. Jason takes command from his flank man from out there in Iraq, General Beerman, continues the success and the Marine Corps is the only service to make it during Jason's tenure and ever since for what he's done as Commanding General and Marine Corps Recruiting Command. After turning over to me, he's formed a TBS roommate, and gets selected to be the Inspector General of the Marine Corps. In everything he has done, courage, physical, moral, spiritual, doing the right thing for the right reasons, selflessness, making everyone around him better, faithfulness, truly epitomizing Semper Fidelis, to his Marines, to his family, to God, to the country, to the Corps, everything he's done, courage, selflessness, faithfulness, and you know he's also found some time to make some other contributions as well. You know we got two books here that he wrote from the Cold War to ISIL is a great journey that just will bring a smile to your face and Washington's Marines' latest book just won the Francis Tavern Award for the best book of the year and it's up for another book award currently. But you know he hasn't done it alone. He's done it with a supportive and loving family and and Sonya thank you for loaning Jason to us for 34 years, 12 deployments, 10 combat deployments, raising three children, you have truly done it all. Our nation owes you an enormous debt. For Ashley and Ethan and Emily, watch you grow up. You know seeing you just know your parents are so proud of the children you've become. You know Emily, you brought smiles to our family's faces when we were in Okinawa and locked down and our family was imploding in there and we got a message from you, can you bring Christmas presents for the girls? I just came over and played with the girls for the afternoon and Ethan, I know your dad's so proud of you and Ashley, it's so great to see you again. Your family has given more than can be expected, more than can be asked to this country, to the Marine Corps and our nation, our Corps and all of us who've been blessed to be Jason's friend who are at better because of our friendship within OU and enormous debt and an enormous thank you for loaning up to us. So on behalf of all the Marines whose lives you've touched to have our Corps, our country, thank you all very, very much. God bless you, Semper Fidelis. Introduce Ms. Bohn. My heart's beating about as fast as it's all going. Perhaps it's not common for the spouse to offer words at the retirement ceremony, I honestly don't know, but I felt compelled to offer a few words of congratulations to my husband and to acknowledge my gratefulness for this life that his calling has given me, Ashley, Ethan and Emily the opportunity to live out. Grateful for Jason's dedication and for his love. I'm occasionally thanked by others for the sacrifices that I've made because of his calling, but I never viewed it as a sacrifice. It was always a joy, an honor and a pleasure and today it's also my joy, honor and pleasure to be able to witness the promotion of our youngest daughter Emily the stock surgeon. We're all here as witnesses to these events. Our family of five, our extended family and friends and our Marine Corps family. Those who could not be here but wanted to be, we know are here with us in spirit. I'll end with a poem that I wrote several years ago which I thought fitting for the day's events. I'll try to read. The poem's entitled Warriors and Patriots. A warrior who stands for an ideal with vision sharply set upon the right makes no use of pomp or prop in the fight. Distractions that seek only to appeal and conferences restraining honor cloud movements that require no apology. Not theirs to promote ideologies of any one or other faction. Glad to make use of might and main for a cause lofty in purpose. Sworn to support and defend that which seeks a virtuous end. Liberty and peace through a supreme law. Citizens are born but patriots made. Inspired by selfless acts exemplified by those who chose to put the full cup by so others may find rest within the shade. Sing to your daughters and sons songs of hope. Optimistic oats. Patriotic verse. Build resiliency as they rehearse lines for the time that will be theirs to cope. Theirs to move and to breathe and to decide. Weave strong fibers into their tapestry. Motivate them to noble ministry. In such and in their God they will abide. Thank you all for being here. You share in our story. We love you and I'm forever grateful. It may be a rainy day but it's all sunshine in my day, all right. It's because of you. So thankful to have all of you here. General Bierman, General Anderson, General Martin, Admiral Miller. Oh, Sergeant Major Pan, you made it. Slipped in on me. Excellent to see you. Sergeant Major Wiggins, Sergeant Major Scott, General Lukeman, Miss Garrison, S.E.S. Shilton, and Adams. General Bowers, my dear friend, and all of you. Thank you so much for joining us and honoring us today with your present. I also wanted to recognize all of the other Sergeant's majors if I missed any of you and the Master Gunnery Sargents in the audience. I know there's at least two now, right? Yes, I went ahead and got them. I also want to personally thank General Lukeman and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Thank you so much for the beautiful venue and for all the support for us today and being able to be here. Thank you for helping to preserve our rich history and tradition of our Corps. I want to thank the band, excellent music as always. Thank you so much. Stratcom, where you have strategic communications, we're filming things and taking pictures. And I want to thank my home team, the Inspector General team, for all that they have done to be able to make this event happen today. Thank you so much. A special thank you to our chapter, Pastor Jeff Slins, who is our pastor at City Gates Church, and Jeff would stand up for him, please. So you'll recognize the fact that he's a fine look-in Air Force officer, but what I also want you to understand is that he's a former Marine Staff Sergeant. Thank you. Because as you have all heard earlier, we also had distinct pleasure as luck would have it that my daughter's number did hit and we'll be able to promote her to Staff Sergeant directly following this ceremony. So that Staff Sergeant connection there. And let me tell you I could not be happier. So thank you all for being here. As I stated, we will do the ceremony. The way it's going to work is I will make my comments. We'll finish this part of the ceremony. I understand some of you may have to go back to work. We're going to change uniform, get to know each other a little bit better. We're going to walk down this trail right here to the Mali Marine Statue, which is a female Marine statue, and we're going to do our daughter's promotion down there. And we would be very honored if you could all join us for that. And I also want to thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedule. I apologize for the fact that this is the day after Easter, and I know some of you had to travel on Easter. I apologize because I know because Lee let me know that the plane tickets are much more expensive right now because it is a holiday weekend. But you really do honor us by your presence today. And Sonia and I would like to sit here and recognize every single one of you and talk about how we touched our hearts over the years. But we just simply don't have enough time to do that. So if we could, after the ceremony and during the reception, we would love to be able to engage with you individually and thank you for your time and for your support all of these years. On that final admin note, the reception, receptions traditionally are held in the museum, and I encourage everyone if you haven't had the opportunity to go through the museum. It really is a pilgrimage for all Marines. However, we're not doing a reception here today. We're going to do it at Milano's Family Restaurant in Springfields, Virginia, which is about 30 minutes up to 95. And the reason we're doing that very simply is because we want to support some local businessmen. And you know, all the restaurants got hit pretty hard during COVID. And this is kind of our go-to place in our neighborhood. And so we want to show our support for the locals. And I know General Lutman's got all kinds of money. All right. Well, before I begin my comments today, I really first want to take a moment to acknowledge and to thank God because not only for all that he's done for all of us, and for my family specifically, but perhaps even more importantly for the challenges and the struggles that he has placed in my life. Because I know, and it took me several years to figure this out, that I had grown much more during those trials of life than I ever did when things were going well. And I thank God for that opportunity. I also want to take my family right up front. So all of you in the room know when you heard from General Bauer, some of the challenges of being in military family, the lost friendships, the sacrifices that are made, the moves, it all takes a toll on the family. But I would argue that it also builds character and it builds resiliency. And Sonia and I love our kids dearly. We couldn't be happier with the people that they have become, the talents that they are using and following their passions and becoming good citizens in our great nation. But of course, as Bill said, none of this is possible without this strong, independent, brave, resilient woman that you see sit before you today. So my wife, Sonia, truly is my best friend and I love her dearly. Now I'll be honest with you, it isn't always Rosie, but that's my fault, not hers. But all joking aside, now Sonia and I have been together for 37 years, longer than I've been in the Marine Corps. She has been with me every step of the way that Bill very thankfully shared. And I can tell you that I cannot ask for a more supportive, loving or caring partner or loving parent and supportive parent than Sonia. And like God, Sonia has not always given me what I wanted, but she has always given me what I needed. And I'm very grateful for that. And there's not a person in the world that I look forward to spending the rest of my life with. I love me. I also love the Marine Corps. Okay, in fact, I was, my mother still has a scrapbook with a letter in it that says, Dear Jason, thank you for your interest in the Marine Corps. But Sonia, so you're only 12 years old, we can't help you. True story. I still even had the iron on that they send along with it. Now little did I know that I would become that recruiter man later that said that letter. But all joking aside, true story. You know, I have wanted to be a Marine for quite a long time. And the advice that I received from the Recruiter Station CO at the time was to stay in school. So I did. And by doing that, and through the mentorship of some very wise and caring staff NCOs, staff, non commission officers, I stand before you today. So while contemplating what I wanted to talk about today, the answer became very clear to me. I am leaving the Marine Corps today with a happy heart. And I want to share with you why I love the Marine Corps. I love the Marine Corps first and foremost, because of all of you. Because of every Marine sitting in this room, every Marine that I had the honor to serve with over these years, every Marine that went before us, and every Marine that's going to come after us. I love the Marine Corps because it's older than the country it defends. I love the Marine Corps because it was established in a bar, no doubt filled with ruffians, like many of you in the room today. And that culture has remained with us for 248 years. I love the Marine Corps because we jealously guard the rich history and traditions, and we pass them down from generation to generation. I love the Marine Corps because no matter where we are in the world or what our circumstances are, we all celebrate the birth of our Corps every November 10th. I love the Marine Corps because we had the best damn uniforms in the world and everyone knows it. I love the Marine Corps because we make and keep three promises to our great nation. We make Marines, we win battles, and we return good citizens to our country. I love the Marine Corps because one has to earn the title of Marine, and every other thing that's worth gaining in the Corps. I love the Marine Corps because Marine recruiters continue to make mission during the most difficult time in Marine Corps history. I love the Marine Corps because the young people we attract and recruit join knowing full well that our boot camp and our officer cad school is going to be longer and harder, that they are promised nothing and that they will consistently be asked to do more with less. Yet they keep coming because there's selfless service and willing to sacrifice all for the greater good. I love the Marine Corps because we follow a transformation process where all recruits and officer candidates are broken down as individuals and placed on an equal playing field where one's success is measured by the contribution they give to the team and not by their pedigree or their ethnicity or their gender. I love the Marine Corps because every day I get to serve with men and women of honor and character. I love the Marine Corps because we remain true to our brand of being tough elite warriors. As other lower standards to better mesh with society we understand that war is a dirty nasty undertaking. We instill discipline standards and values in our people and then we hold each other accountable for living up to them because failure to do so will lead to defeat on the battle. I love the Marine Corps because we exist to win our nation's battles not wars. Our friends in the Army Navy and Air Force exist for that purpose but we kick the door in and we kick the snot out of anybody that we need to to enable the other services. I love the ethos of the Marine Corps in that every Marine is a rifle at first and foremost regardless of their military occupational specialty and every officer is a potential rifle platoon commander. History consistently proves the wisdom of this approach. I love the Marine Corps because when in civilian clothes and ask what do you do in the military we don't respond with I'm a pilot I'm a surface wearer for our officer or I'm a tanker we were probably simply I am a Marine. I love the Marine Corps warfighting doctrine that is as relevant today as it has been since it was first written several years ago. I love that Marines fight as Marine air ground logistics task forces which helps us to be so mobile self-sufficient and self-supported when necessary and I can't tell you how many times that has proven true and played to our advantage in combat. I love that Marines are trend centers and that historically we take the lead in developing innovative approaches towards fighting the next war and not worrying about fighting the last war. I love the Marine Corps because our Marines are flexible adaptable problem solvers who train to understand that they can accomplish anything. Anything there is no challenge to grade there is no obstacle too high that we cannot overcome particularly when we work together as a team. I love the Marine Corps because we do windows we do whatever the nation needs more often than not I found myself deployed on one mission only to have to quickly shift gears in order to do and all other missions as the president may direct. I love the Marine Corps because we love to fight unfortunately this often occurs in peacetime as often as war but it is what it is. I love the Marine Corps because we are not only the fiercest fighters in the world we're also the most compassionate people that I know. I love the Marine Corps because we are mission focused we always put mission first even if it requires sacrifice unfortunately oftentimes it does with that beyond the battlefield or at home. I love the Marine Corps because we stand over the bodies of our fallen comrades we show our respect and then we get back in the fight until we achieve victory but I also love the Marine Corps because we never we never forget our fallen comrades. I love the Marine Corps because of our motto Semper Fidelis always faithful to our God to our country and to our core we're all brothers and sisters. I love the Marine Corps because the nation does not need a Corps. We have an Army and Navy and an Air Force that can do everything that Marines do and oftentimes quite frankly they do it better but the nation wants a Marine Corps because of our unique culture and the strong conviction that Marines always get it done. I love the Marine Corps because we own our mistakes we correct them and then we move out smartly. I love the Marine Corps because even on our worst day we can still say I love the Marine Corps because once you earn the title Marine it stays with you for life and finally I love the Marine Corps because the Corps lives on. Marines come and go and today as I leave back to duty I proudly pass the torch on to my daughter Remy and to all the other Marines we're in our nation's cloth with great pride. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve and will always remain Semper Fidelis. God bless y'all. Louis Flores first family Major General Boehm has made a donation to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Ladies and gentlemen please rise for anchors away from the Marines. This concludes today's retirement ceremony. On behalf of Major General Boehm and the Boehm family thank you for your presence. As a reminder everyone is cordially invited to attend the promotion ceremony at the Molly Marine statue at which time Sergeant Emily Boehm will be promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. Additionally these two in the Boehm family for a luncheon at Milano's family restaurant immediately following the promotion.