 I appreciate it, Sergeant. I'm going to talk for a few minutes, and then I'll be happy to answer any questions. And if anybody wants to stay afterwards, take a picture, text it back to your mom, show that you're actually at work today, and what you're doing, I'll be happy to stay. What the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps provide to America is presence. We are everywhere, not just the right place at the right time, but the right place all the time. We give leaders options. We give the president the option, whether it's disaster relief that you saw in the Philippines, and we have Marines there a few hours later, or whether it's high in combat, whether it's irregular warfare, or whether it's partnership building. If you look at the defense strategy, that was announced by the president two years ago this month says, concentrate on the Western Pacific. Concentrate on the Arabian Gulf. Concentrate on building partnerships. You just had a definition there of the Navy and Marine Corps. 21st century is going to be a maritime century. And the Marines are America's crisis response team. Marines do for this country what no other fighting force can do. This is the most formidable expeditionary fighting force that the world has ever known. And we've got to make sure that all the challenges that come out of us, that we keep it that way. I try to organize my thinking and what the department does around four P's, people, platforms, power, partnerships. We've got the best train, the best, the most skilled, best educated force we've ever had. Y'all are rightful heirs to the long, great legacy that the United States Marine Corps has established. I got back not long ago from my 12th trip to Afghanistan, where Marines have fought incredibly well for more than a decade. And Heltman's going to join the names of places like Tripoli, Bellowood, Tarawa, Chosen, Way City. And that's a legacy that has been bequeathed to you and it's a legacy that y'all are upholding so well. But we're coming out of two land wars. We're out of Iraq. We're drawing down in Afghanistan. And the Marines are going back to sea. Going back to your nautical roots, Marine Corps is going to get smaller. We're trying to do that in a way that doesn't break faith with Marines, doesn't break faith with families. And we're trying to do it in a way that positions a Marine Corps for what's coming next. Marine Corps has rebuilt the Marines from the ground up during this drawdown. Marine Corps is America's crisis response team, the force in waiting. We're ready, not just on day one. We're ready on day zero to do whatever needs to be done, wherever it needs to be done. We're expeditionary to our bones, part of our DNA. We understand that tempo that we've been going on, whether for args or for deployment to combat, has been really high. And we understand the pressures that that puts on y'all and on your families. And I hope that we can get to a more regular rotation so that you and your families can plan better and that we can make sure that we have the resiliency to keep this force as fine as it is. We try to provide you with the best platforms, best ships, best aircraft, best weapons systems so that you can do your job of protecting this country and standing in the watch. I'm really proud of what we've done, particularly in shipbuilding. On 9-11, 2001, United States Navy had 316 ships. By 2008, after one of the big military build-ups in our history, we were down to 278 ships. In the four years before I took this job, the US Navy contracted for 19 ships. In the first four years I've been in this job, we have contracted for 60 ships with a smaller top line. We're going to get the fleet back under the current plans to 300 ships before the end of this decade. And that has big ramifications for the Marine Corps because we're building amphibs. We're building the ships that the Marine Corps will need to make sure that you provide that presence. And part of it is how we get and use energy, the power part of the fleet. We're moving from fossil fuels to alternative fuels for one reason. That's to make us better war fighters. Make you better at what you do. In the last two years, fiscal year 11, fiscal year 12, the Department of the Navy got $2 billion in additional fuel bills that weren't budgeted. That's because the price of oil has been so volatile. Because oil is the ultimate global commodity. And even if we can produce all that we need in the United States, it's going to trade on fear and it's going to trade on rumor. And so when something like Syria happens, price is going to jump up. It's going to cost us money. And there's not many places to go get that kind of money. We can get it out of operations. That means you train less. We steam less. We fly less. Or if the bill gets too big, we build fewer ships, fewer aircraft, fewer weapons systems. I don't think either one of those is a very good idea. So we're moving, changing how we use, how we use, how we get energy. And the Marine Corps, as the Marine Corps always is, has been at the forefront of that change. During the height of the fighting in Afghanistan, we were losing a Marine, killed or wounded. There were 50 convoys brought in. And most of those convoys were fuel. That's too high a price to pay. We've got to change that. And finally, partnerships. In four and a half years, I've been secretary. I've been 800,000 air miles, 107 different countries. Vist and Marines, sailors, where they're deployed all around the world. Now, Vist and Marines in Mongolia, I Vist and Marines in Burundi. I Vist and Marines on Args off the coast of Malaysia, building partnerships, training other militaries, teaching them how to fight, teaching them how to do the things that militaries need to do. And nobody does that better. Nobody does that partnership building better than the United States. Marine Corps coming in off Navy ships, we don't take up an inch of anybody else's ground. We don't take up an inch of anybody else's sovereign territory. We come in on American ships. We leave on American ships. I wish I could give you some certainty about what's going to happen in Washington, particularly on the budget. There was a budget agreement made in December that covers the rest of this year of 14 and FY 15. And it's a good first step. It allows us to plan a little bit. Because the way we were going, sequestration, continuing resolutions, because budgets aren't getting passed on time, was just causing us. It was mandating us to make bad decisions. We weren't able to put money against strategy. We weren't able to put money where it was needed. Everybody knows that the American people have a right to expect that we're going to spend less on defense as we come out of two wars. But we ought to do it in a smart way. We ought to do that drawdown in a smart way. And we ought to do it in a way that gives us some certainty so that you can plan, so that we can plan. So it's a good first step, but it only goes through 15. And that's about a year and a half from this. It has been since 2005 that Congress has passed a budget on time. And these continuing resolutions are almost as big a problem for the Navy and Marine Corps as sequestration. So we've got a little certainty next year and a half. But tremendous uncertainty past that. You deserve more certainty. You deserve some more stability in where we're going here. Greatest honor in my life has been to lead the Navy Marine Corps. You are the indispensable force for the country. The country has to have you for presence. The country has to have you for crisis response. The country has to have your skill, your training, your education. A lot of times when you're deployed, you'll be the only Americans that foreigners ever meet. So you not only have to be great warriors, you've got to be great diplomats, too, because you're the face of America. You're who people believe about America. We've got the best force we've ever had. But we've got some risk in this force. Now, I talked about the high operations tempo. Some of the stresses that are put on families, but there's some other risks, too. Sexual assault is an attack. And it threatens to undermine the fabric of the Navy and the Marine Corps. You raised your right hand and swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. You also are promising to protect and defend your shipmates, your fellow Marines. But sexual assault is an attack. Somebody was walking through Camp Pendleton taking random shots of people. We would do something about it. Sexual assault is the same thing. It's an attack. It's an attack on one of your fellow Marines. And we have got to stamp it out, or we risk a whole lot in this Marine Corps and in the Navy. America for 238 years has depended on the Navy and the Marine Corps. They've depended on us for presence. They've depended on us for options. And we have delivered for 238 years. We have been the best option for America. We have been the first option for America. The next years, the next decades, will be no different. When you are doing your job, when you are far deployed, you're almost always a long, long way from home. And the American people don't get to see how good you are, how skilled you are, how hard your jobs are, and how dangerous they are a lot of times. And they need to know that. They need to know what a great force the Marine Corps and the Navy provide for them. Fewer than 1% of Americans wear the uniform of this country. But you protect, you defend, the other 99% in a professional and awesome way. So on behalf of a country whom you protect and you stand the watch for, thank you very much. So Marines, sailors, Semperphi, Marines, Semperfortis, sailors, who raw? Who's got a question? I do, sir. Hold on just a second. Stand back up. Stand back up. First question gets coined, but only the first question. My name is Lance Corporal Ossani. I come from 939 National Archaeology. My question was about the tank. Now, I know there's some trouble going on in the Northwest of Sioux. Our air station in Futima got taken over. And I know there's more trouble going on. I was wondering if there's more trouble that's going to go on to open up. Fair question, Lance Corporal. We've had an agreement with the government of Japan to move Marine Corps Air Station in Futima, move it up to Camp Schwab, further north in Okinawa, away from population centers. It's been going on for a while. The governor of Okinawa just signed the document, the environmental document that's going to allow us to begin to make that move. Now, it's going to take several years. But it's part of a bigger move whose we'll still have about 10,000 Marines on Okinawa. We'll have a few more than 5,000 Marines on Guam as part of this move. We'll have a rotational force of about 2,500 Marines in Darwin, Australia. It's part of the re-battles to the Pacific so that we have Marines west of the international dateline. We have Marines. We have an ARG in Sassebo, Japan that's going to be out and about through that area. And the Marines, as they rotate down to Darwin and to rotate into Guam, are also going to be doing the exercises, doing the partnership building throughout Asia. So we've had a presence, Navy Marine Corps, for decades now in the Pacific. We are going to have even more of a presence in the future. And as I said, once the governor signed this paper, we can now begin some of the move. It's going to take, it's going to be a few years. You'll be at least a gunnery sergeant by the time all this gets done. But at least we're moving. Who's next? Morning, sir. Good afternoon. This is your first spring division. My question to you is, with the war winding down and the pivot to the Pacific, are there any plans in the works to make amphibious ships, to increase the availability of amphibious ships to the Marine Corps and onto the sailor's gear for training? We are building amphibs. We're building to 33 amphibs, which is what the Marine Corps needs. That's sort of equally split. 11 big deck amphibs, 11 LPDs, 11 LSDs. We'll have nine, don't need to check my math here, but we'll have nine three ship args. We'll have one four ship arg, and then we'll have a big deck amphib, and maybe one other ship available for tasking wherever it's needed. And so I think the short answer is yes. Because we always now have an arg somewhere around the Arabian Gulf, somewhere in the Central Command that's out and about. We always have an arg in the Pacific that is deployed. And we've got the arg in Sasebo, Japan, that's the four ship arg that's home ported there. For Marines and Navy to do what we need to do and to keep the rotation, to keep the ships that we need to build to that number. And the Chief of Naval Operations has said, and he says publicly and so do I, that one of our highest priorities is building amphibs, and keeping amphibs in the fleet so that we can make sure that we do the marine missions that we have. Thanks. See us to the point in the future. I'm going to give you a non-specific answer wherever we need it. Hi, sir. Some again, Marines. What are you for? Sir, I am from Ackerman, Mississippi. Woo! Now, the reason that's important is that I am from Ackerman, Mississippi. Ackerman, Mississippi has about 1,200 people on a really good day. But it's a county seat at Choctaw County. What's your name? Mom and Daddy, I ask about them. Who's next? Go right on, we are here on the Afghani task fraction. And we've been out for about a decade and about a year and a half. What is the purpose of that, that's the right answer? In the Afghanistan, because that's where the people who attacked us on 9-11, that's where they trained, that's where they came out of. What we're trying to do and what Marines have been magnificent at, we're trying to make sure that Afghanistan can never be the haven for people like this again, trying to make sure that Afghanistan cannot be a breeding ground for terror to either threaten its neighbors or to threaten us. Marines, particularly in Helmut, which is where most Marines have been, have done a great job in creating a very stable security situation there. Over the last couple of years, as we begin to draw down, the Afghans have begun to step up. The Afghan army, the Afghan police, national police, Afghan local police have done a pretty good job. They're in the lead in everything now. We're negotiating now about what kind of force to leave behind. And it's going to be up to the Afghans to maintain that security. But the Marines, I'll just speak about the Marines and the sailors who've supported the Marines in Helmut have left them one of the most stable security situations anywhere in that country. And we went into Marjah in 10. It was one of the most violent places that there was in Afghanistan. About a year later, I went to Marjah and walked to the market. That's how much the situation has changed, and whether it's Marjah, whether it's Nalzad, whether it's anywhere in Sangin, Khajiki, in the very north, Marines have done just an incredible job. And now the job is changing to mentoring, to training, and to pulling back in terms of letting them take the security lead. And so far, at least in Helmut, they've done a great job. Yeah? It's regarding a recent budget that was passed. Do you see further cuts to veteran and retirement benefits coming? And if so, would that not be breaking the state of the current inlisting and efficient Marines and sailors? Well, first, the budget that got passed wasn't a cut to retirement. It was a slowdown in terms of the cost of living increases that retirees were getting. Second, if we don't get a handle on personnel cost, if we don't do some things here, what's going to happen is there going to be a lot fewer people, a lot fewer Marines, a lot fewer sailors. Because the only way to offset high personnel cost is to have fewer people. And I don't think that's a good idea. Now, in terms of retirement, there's a commission looking at types of retirement. Whatever system you joined under, so the current system is what you're retiring under. There won't be any change for anybody on active duty. There may be a change. There may not be a change for people joining later. Don't know that yet. But on stuff like working-age retirees who have retired from the military, have another job, can get health care through their employer. Tri-care right now, which they're eligible for, cost about $500 a year for a family of four, a civilian, working for the government. Pockets about $4,000 to $5,000 a year. The health care cost is the same. It's depending on who picks it up. It proposed is to ask people to pay a little bit more of the true cost of health care if they are working-age, if they're retired, and if they can get insurance somewhere else. Now, we're not asking to pay the same amount that civilians pay, nowhere close. And we're tiering it so that depending on what rank you retire at for your retirement, the lower the cost would be. But if we don't, if we don't do something like this, we are at the point now of having to choose between getting you the tools that you need to have and having the force that we have or continuing to give retirees an incredible deal, an incredible deal that was never part of the original contract. Tri-care is only, this tri-care benefits only been around since the late 90s. And it was put in, my understanding it was put in for people who couldn't get insurance through work when they're retired. But if we don't, if we don't attack these things, if we don't do something about it, if we don't stop this huge growth, then a lot of y'all who want to stay in the Marines, a lot of sailors who want to stay in the Navy, same thing for Army, same thing for Air Force, will be told to go home. I don't think that's a good idea. Thank you. First chance all the time. I'd like to know what you have to say about the recent activities of Fallujah. I can't even imagine how it feels to be a Marine who has fought in Fallujah and to watch what's happened, or to be the family of a Marine that we lost in Fallujah. Descent into chaos, the security situations unravels there, has the Marines who fought there, the Marines who were wounded there, the Marines who died there, they fought with great honor, great purpose, great dedication. It is tragic beyond belief that the government of Iraq could not sustain what Marines paid in blood to get. Who's next? Good afternoon, sir. Last but not least, John, hello, Marines. Where am I looking? Over here in the left. OK, sorry. I'm standing in the saloon. We mentioned our political media ourselves about creating our awareness for the average citizen or part of it. Part of that's the job of folks like me. Part of it is, just like you said, the media. Part of it's outreach when we do fleet weeks, when we do marine weeks, when we send things like the Marine ban places. Shows people how good, how professional, how skilled Marines are. I actually think that Marines, that people have a better appreciation of Marines than anybody else. Because when trouble happens, what do people say? Send in the, there you go. I think we just have to, people like me, you when you're home or when you're talking to friends that aren't in the military, explain what you do. Explain the training that you get. Explain what it takes to be a Marine. And keep doing it over and over and over again. Because you provide amazing security, protection, defense for this country. And even though most people aren't aware of it most of the time, they are safe. And they are secure because of what you did. I've got a question about the Blue Joe. Is there any emotion being sent in place to maybe send some forces over there to try to take back what we love? The Secretary of State, John Kerry, announced that there would be no, nobody going in. No American boots on the ground. We are sending equipment into the Iraqis. But that's the extent of it. There was a pretty flat statement that there would be no Americans going in. All right, one more. You can hear the last part of that. You know, one of the things I talked about out of Afghanistan was the need for the Afghans to take the lead in security and the need for us to move into a support role, which has happened. That was one of the reasons I talked about why I thought the Afghan Army, national police, local police were doing a good job in the places I've been. I've been in Afghanistan now a dozen times. And I sincerely hope not, either in Afghanistan or Iraq. But these things move into the hands of the Iraqis or the Afghans, and it's up to them to provide for that security, at least in my trips to Afghanistan and to where I've been, to where the Marines have been operating now for more than a decade. The Afghan Army and the other Afghan units have been stepping up and have been doing a pretty good job in terms of protecting the gains that the Marines and sailors, soldiers, Air Force have gained over the last decade or so. And I deeply, truly hope that those gains will not be lost. All right. Like I said, if anybody wants to stay and take a picture, that would be great. Lance Corporal, I particularly want to see you from Ackerman. But I'll stay here as long as y'all want to take pictures. And again, an answer to the question on behalf of American people, who you make safe, who you give options to their leaders, who you have devoted your talent, your skills, your lives to protecting. Thank you. Semper Fi, Marines.