 First, let me say it's an honor to be here. And for a bunch of senior non-commissioned officers, you clean up very well. It's the first time I've seen Sergeant Major Davenport in a tie. In the six months I've been in command. And I understand that we have some folks that have never worn a tie before. I have to give the good Sergeant Major a hard time. He was a young sergeant in my brigade, right? We're old tankers. I guess I'm an old tanker. He's a personnelist. But really, it's wonderful to be with you tonight, to share a few minutes. And it will be a few minutes. I can assure you of that. I have a plane to catch back the V's button tonight sometime. But seriously, great to be with you tonight. And General Ludovic, thank you for your hospitality. And it was great to meet with you today and to share a dialogue about our mutual interests. And there are plenty of mutual interests. And I thank you for that. Chief Sergeant Anderson, thank you for co-hosting this with U.S. Army Europe and Sergeant Major Davenport and for your leadership, which is really inspirational. And to all of our senior listed advisors from across Europe and our allies and our partners, and of course my good friend, Command Sergeant Major Dave Davenport and my neighbor who lives right next door to me, I have to make sure he cuts his grass and doesn't stay out of the Garrison Commander's trouble. But you know, this is a great group of senior non-commissioned officers and I thought I would tell a little story before I begin my dialogue, and it'll be short, I promise. But I really wanted to tell this story because you can relate to this. So you know, we generals like to talk. We talk and talk and talk and talk. And look, they're all nodding your head, that's your truth, sir, your truth. So it's, you can pick any war, there was a private, a sergeant, non-commissioned officer and a general, and they were captured by the enemy. And they told the private, the sergeant and the general, the enemy were going to execute you in the morning. You get one wish. And the private said, I would just like a good meal. He wasn't very educated, just come out of the training cycle. So they said it's granted. They went to the non-commissioned officer, you said, I'm pretty smart. I would like a meal, a cigar, and a cognac. My Bulgarian friend recognizes it. So they said, hmm, he's pretty smart non-commissioned officer, we'll grant it. So they went to the general and said, I would like to address the troops one more time. And at that point, the sergeant and the private said, please shoot us now before the morning. So I will keep my remarks brief. But I do thank you for inviting me, Sergeant Major Davenport and Chief Sergeant Fleming, and for hosting this wonderful event. And I want to thank General Lukvis and again, and Chief Sergeant for really co-hosting and allowing the U.S. Army of Europe to come here in your wonderful city and wonderful country and participate. This is an incredible team, and it's also, I'd like to recognize our United States Army Europe Strategic Cooperation Division, Security Cooperation Division for a great job they've done in helping facilitate, but I know the hard work has been done by you non-commissioned officers. And even though the weather is a little dreary, Copenhagen is a beautiful city, and I will be back. Unfortunately, I hear it's going to be beautiful tomorrow, and I have to fly away. So, and as you know, the theme of this year's conference was and is slightly different from what has been in previous years. Instead of talking about training, which we need to do and traditionally have done, and we think of as the good stuff, you discuss resiliency. The mental, physical, and emotional well-being of your soldiers, our soldiers. And as a leader, I can tell you this is also the good stuff. I've been doing this for, I was just thinking today, 35 years. I've been doing the business of soldiering. So tonight, I'm going to offer a perspective on this topic very briefly, and I promise, as I said, to keep my remarks brief. But I want to share with you my thoughts on why I think resiliency is so important, not just for soldiers and families in our care, but for the readiness if you think about it for all of our forces and all of our countries. And as the commander of the United States Army Europe, my mission is straightforward. I'm charged to prepare soldiers and units for decisive action, in combat, along with our European allies and our great partners. To accomplish this mission, we have focused in use, sir, on four main campaign objectives. A professional force, maintaining strong partnerships, which we're indicating we're doing tonight, and you have this week, a strategic stance which allows us access in strong communities. And I won't bore you with all of these tonight, but I would like to focus on one, the professional force. I've established four simple imperatives in my command. Imperatives that reinforce the characteristics that I hold critical in establishing the good order and discipline of a professional force. They are teamwork, comprehensive fitness, leader development and training, and discipline and standards. These are the items I've come to trust as a sound formula for developing units into a team that is ready to accomplish any mission it's given. They also happen to be right in line with your responsibilities as non-commissioned officers and topics that you discussed this week. Let me look at comprehensive fitness briefly. Our soldiers are our greatest asset on the battlefield as the general has talked to tonight. And they must be physically and mentally prepared, and they must be physically and mentally tough. This means they must be cared for as a complete package, the mind, the body, and if they choose the spirit. Doing so increases their ability to accomplish the mission no matter how challenging or demanding. This is what guarantees the readiness of our force. And if you think in terms of comprehensive fitness tied to combat, many of the nations that are represented here tonight have spent time in Iraq or Afghanistan. And I think you can attest to the need to be physically fit, to be emotionally fit, and to be spiritually fit. Take discipline and standards. I don't have to tell a non-commissioned officer that discipline matters. How a soldier looks, with sunglasses or without, and acts in a garrison environment directly translates to their performance in combat. Again, discipline fosters readiness. The soul of an organization, from my perspective, and this is a quote from George Washington, the soul of an organization is its discipline. I added the heart of an organization are its standards. Leader development and training. Leaders mentor and followers seek mentorship. Be worthy of mentoring. Challenge your soldiers daily with rigorous, realistic training, and you will be surprised at how high morale can climb. Also keep in mind non-commissioned officers, mentor officers as well. Don't forget that. That is very important. Some of the best mentorship I've had through the years that I've grown as a young officer, to a more senior officer, now to a very decrepit old officer, have been from the mentorship of non-commissioned officers. At the company grade, as we say in the U.S. Army, to the field grade, and now as a general officer. The best advice I've ever gotten was from a non-commissioned officer on mentorship. I once gave an order to my company as a young lieutenant, and the first sergeant came in in my office, and in those days, you could still smoke in the U.S. Army in the offices, and he took a big puff on a cigarette, sir, that was a really screwed up order. And I said, how are you going to get me out of this sergeant, first sergeant? He says, I'll take care of it, and he did. And so instead of going left, we went right, as he recommended, and the soldiers didn't know that Campbell had given a crappy order, and the first sergeant had fixed it. But seriously, mentorship is important. I depend on Sir Major Davenport as my wingman, my battle buddy, as we say in the U.S. Army, and he has the courage and the conviction to come in and tell me, sir, we really need to look at this or we need to look at that, and I would encourage you to do that with your land force commanders or whoever you may work with. Sound mentoring and training, it all works to foster a professional force. If you think about it, it is ready and resilient. Leader development is our legacy. It's how we will be viewed, our legacy, how if we train those that will come after us. I tell Sergeant Major Davenport, Sergeant Major, you should find those non-commissioned officers that will replace you. I'm looking for the general officer that will replace me someday. I won't get the pick he or she. I suspect it will be a he, but regardless, I'm looking for that officer. Finally, teamwork, in my opinion, the most important imperative. We succeed or fail as a team in the United States Army Europe, as an organization or really as allies. If as leaders we set the conditions for our subordinates to succeed, they will succeed. Allowing them to fail means we have failed together. Use this professional forum to team with your non-commissioned officers, and I know you have. But don't waste this opportunity. Don't hand out a business card and never call that person or receive a business card and never call the non-commissioned officer that you had dinner with or that you sat with in this forum for this week. Don't lose the opportunity to stay connected, or as the Secretary General of NATO has said, let's use the Connected Force Initiative in a way that is personal, that focus on people, because people are what we are about. And take advantage of this tremendous conference to network across Europe to build strong teams, to build strong soldiers. It's incredible. And don't underestimate the power of teamwork, even at country level, or even European level, NATO level. Everything that I'm about as a general officer, I've achieved because I focus on teamwork. I'm not known in the United States Army as an intellectual giant. I'm where I am because I focus on building teams. I build teams that will be successful in anything that they need to do. I don't say that with bravado. I say it because it's true. I will take that team, and I will take that team, and I will merge it and make it a winner. And we can do that, and you can do that. So when we talk about things like resiliency, about mental and physical well-being, about discipline, what are we really talking about is truly readiness. That means that resiliency is every bit as important as training. Just as non-commissioned officers train soldiers in units on basic individual and collective tasks, so do you look after their mental, physical, and emotional well-being to ensure the overall readiness of the force. As you all know, very real challenges face us as we close more than over a decade of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and look towards maintaining a professional and ready force, really for the future. Post-traumatic stress, caring for our families, soldiers, wounded warriors, and our veteran communities all deserve our utmost attention as our Army's transition to a post-ISAF posture. How we handle these important issues over the next several years will have a direct impact on our readiness, and this is why this year's theme is so appropriate and timely. As you close this conference and head back to your countries and your armies, I ask all of you to take these themes back to your soldiers and to your units. Non-commissioned officers are the backbones of any professional force, and you have a role to play not only in the accomplishment of the tactical, operational, and strategic missions, but also in maintaining the resiliency of your soldiers and units as you shape the force of the future in your country. I am confident that you will rise to the occasion like you have done so many times in the past as non-commissioned officers. I congratulate you all on what you have done, and thank you for taking the time to join this great team and others for sharing the ideas that can make our partnerships even stronger, because it will be more important for the future, post-ISAF, that we stay together, whether you're in NATO or your European partner that participated or didn't. It's important for the future of the U.S., for Europe, and for the world, frankly. And so I wish all of you the best for the future as we continue to train and fight side by side, and we will fight side by side in the future in the name of peace and security around the world. Thank you for allowing me to be here tonight. God bless all of you. Safe travels back to your countries. Strong teams.