 Ladies and gentlemen, the ceremony will begin in five minutes. Please take your seats if you haven't already done so, and please silence all electronic devices. Ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Kelly Barrett's Stuttgart, Germany. I'm Master Sergeant Theresa Bukowski, and I will be your narrator for today's Special Operations Command Africa Change Command Ceremony. In which Major General John M. Hicks will relinquish command to Brigadier General Dolphin R. M. Anderson. General Thomas D. Walhauser, Commander, United States Africa Command will serve as a presiding official. We are honored to have as our special guests today representatives from many nations from whom we are proud to partner from around the globe. We would also like to welcome senior leaders from our fellow Special Operations Command, United States Africa Command, and our components. Let us not forget to welcome our beloved Special Operations Command Africa Families, who truly carry the heaviest load and enable us to do the important things we do. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the arrival of the official party and rendering of the honors, and remain standing for the presentation of the colors, the singing of National Anthem, and the invocation. I am M. Hicks Legacy of Distinguished Service. I offer gratitude serving across a wide spectrum in complex, hot environments. We are grateful for his leadership, mission success through the tenure of his command. I solicit your blessings this morning over him, Moran, and the kids as they undergo a change in mission and return to Florida. M. Hicks collectively share the joy, the pride, and the satisfaction for their collective sacrifice and contributions to our nation during this command. Protective Overwatch over Special Operations Command Africa, as Brigadier General Anderson assumes the helm. Give him wisdom and guidance for the complex and multifaceted problem sets that lie ahead. Help him to build the dream team with his staff as they face unique challenges. In the Midwest, you be the ultimate security, providing protective Overwatch for the quiet professionals and, literally, the crown jewel of the United States Special Operations Command, Erich Stuttgart. As they continue liberating and defending those in oppression. Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated. Anderson, before we start this morning, just because it's air conditioning here doesn't mean we can take the speeches for hours and hours, but it feels good to be in here. You know, for some of you who are guests today, before I begin my follow-up remarks, all winter long we were out there in what we call the prison yard gym. As they were putting in the air conditioning and so forth, in the middle of winter here, nobody was too excited about that. But on today it is, you know, 90 degrees plus. It's very nice that we have the facility today. By the way, I want to thank Sock Gap as not part of my remarks, but behind the walls here there's some new additions to equipment that you guys and Mark have put in, and you're really appreciating that. And as the sign says on the marquee outside when it's hot, it's cool in the gym. So this will be ready for working out by lunchtime today, so I'll unexpectedly see somebody back in here later on in the day. Good morning, everyone. Distinguished guests and analysts and guests. He was representing Special Operations Command through Tampa today. We have senior leaders here from the Special Operations community. I also want to recognize the man, Sergeant Major Marsh, ladies and gentlemen, all the service members who are here today. And I also want to recognize General Anderson's parents who flew all the way here from Michigan trying to get a little bit of the German weather. At least he escaped the rain, and maybe not the heat from Michigan, but welcome here. I know your family and your son, especially, is happy that you're here, that you're here. I know most of the crowd understands this, but I want to say to the outside, we will be certain, we will refer to the SOC Africa here for my remarks. And of course, we're talking about the Special Operations Command of U.S. Africa. I also want to mention Colonel Deffner, our German host here this morning. We want to thank you for your partnership on the African continent here in Stuttgart, and as well at Bonn-Bold, where some of the special operations and forces are based. We appreciate the hospitality extended to the service members and their families stationed here in Jurg. This morning, we honor Major General Mark Hicks and the accomplishments of SOC Africa, while simultaneously welcoming Brigadier General Dogman Anderson as he assumes command this morning. As we meet here today, SOC Africa has over 1,200 personnel in nine African countries dedicated to strengthening post-nation defense capabilities, working side by side with partners to counter violent extremism and protecting U.S. interests across the continent. SOC Africa trains, advises, and assists African security forces to confront trans-regional threats in some of the most inhospitable territory on the planet. Remember those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice over the past two years while valiantly serving beside our partners. We honor the courage and commitment of Sergeant First Class Jeremiah Johnson, Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright, Staff Sergeant Brian Black, Sergeant David Johnson, and Staff Sergeant Alexander Conrad. They are truly representative of the men and women of SOC Africa, often working in small groups under austere conditions on the continent. We shall never forget them. The soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines of SOC Africa are perhaps the most personal and flexible individuals U.S. Africa command has on the continent, and of course as we all know, a land mass the size of three and a half times of the United States. Almost daily these devoted men and women interact with U.S. ambassadors, country teams, Western allies, and African colleagues truly embracing the concept of with partners to enable the accomplishment of U.S. Africa command and U.S. Special Operations Command national security efforts all across the continent. General Hicks leverage the value of SOC Africa's train, advise, and assist missions at high-resh lines within our partner's chain of command to strengthen our networks, build the capability of African security forces, and increase U.S. access and influence on the continent. Let's use Somalia to illustrate this point. During the past two years SOC Africa adjusted its approach to focus on guiding upper-level tactical command and control elements and maneuver elements to better enable our Somali national army partners. Instead of accompanying Somali units on every mission, SOC Africa personnel advised and assisted from within operational centers incorporating technology and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to better mentor and support the partner forces. These efforts advanced our objectives to set the conditions for security to take hold and to transition responsibility to do so from the African Union mission in Somalia to the Somalian National Army. Furthermore, SOC Africa's commitment to teaching and building the advanced infantry battalion, or Danab, which translates to the word lightning in Somalia, added the ability of the federal government of Somalia to disrupt and degrade the subversive operations of Al-Shabaab and ISIS Somalia. The dedication of SOC Africa contributed to the legitimacy of the federal government of Somalia and assisting them in moving towards a secure environment that will ultimately foster economic growth and development. Somalia's long-term stability and prosperity remain vital to the wider peace throughout the region and is important to the United States' national security interests. This concept of security force assistance at higher echelons was also replicated in West Africa, where SOC Africa personnel are developing within our partners at the operational level the confidence and capacity necessary to counter the threat posed by rising extremism and violence in that part of the continent. In the Sahel, a transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the Savannahs stretching across the continent from Senegal to Sudan, SOC Africa's partnership with the Nigerians has created one of the region's most mature special operations forces who contend with growing instability on all of their borders. Thanks to the hard work by SOC Africa, the Nigerians are now not only capable of integrating and utilizing intelligence and defense, but in commanding and controlling forces to take the fight to ISIS and on panel-aligned groups on their borders. The impact of the small footprint of special operations personnel has been significant, as indicated by rising demand for more western special operations forces, trained forces, and increasing financial investment and security assistance from our European allies. And we are seeing similar accomplishments elsewhere on the continent where SOC Africa bilateral engagements have been vital to our strategy of supporting an African home, African land response to combat insecurity, facilitate humanitarian operations, and restore the authority of the state. Likewise, in North Africa, the advising and training investment made by SOC Africa to enhance Tunisia's security institutions has paid significant dividends in improving its armed forces ability to fight extremist groups while at the same time strengthening American influence in the region. Today, thanks to the many women of this command, Tunisia is one of our top security partners in North Africa, hosting multinational exercises and leading security operations. But in order to be truly successful in promoting security and stability across the continent, we must first and foremost cultivate strong, trusting, and lasting relationships with our allies and partners. General Hicks, during your time at command, you've elevated and reinforced some of our most critical relationships on the ground, increasing synchronization with not only African militaries, but also Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, French, and other European SOC partners. For example, in Mali, through your close collaboration with France's Operation Barcade, the U.S. supports an African-led, French-assisted security and stabilization operations by integrating key intelligence and non-lethal support. These efforts are continuing to pressure extremist groups, expand the operating space, and enable employment of our development and economic tools as counters to the root causes of conflict. The strengthening of relationships by your command further manifests itself in the abundant participation in SOC activities and exercises, as was characterized by this year's flintlock exercise co-hosted by Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Over 2,000 participants represent 15 African and 19 Western countries, three U.S. interagency and four intergovernmental organizations focused on building the capacity to plan, execute, and command and control counter-violent extremist operations at the operational level of war. This superbly designed exercise by SOC African put Africans, such as the Moroccans, out in front as the primary trainers of other Africans, deepening the ownership of our partners in solving some of Africa's most complex challenges. Africans training Africans. That is a huge step forward in achieving self-reliance by special operations security forces on the African continent. Flintlock was typical of many of SOC African's tremendous engagements, which represents some of the best tools we have to enhance partner defense capabilities and develop procedures to increase interoperability with U.S. forces and others. Mark, not only did you nurture strong partnerships with our African and Western allies, but you also fostered a solid and impactful relationship between African and SOC African, which has proven vital to achieving the objectives of our overall campaign plan. To illustrate this over the past year, SOC Africa has made significant progress in reducing its persistence presence in locations where our African partners have an effect graduated from long-term security assistance programs, such as in Tunisia, Senegal, and Cameroon. And you reduced the need for static deployments by using episodic engagements to maintain relationships where we can set risks against localized threats which did not jeopardize security of our allies for the homeland. This is appreciated because it supports DOD's goal of optimization to increase the readiness of the joint force with a focus on great power competition and major high-end combat operations. And it enables U.S. African command to right-size its counterterrorism activities to align with the national security priorities of our national defense strategy. However, our mission does not change outright in North Africa, the Sahel, Lake Chad, or Somalia as we continue to focus on intelligence sharing and building capacity for our partners to take the lead in establishing security, stabilizing their borders, and addressing their regional crisis. General Hicks, you've done a superb job in leading these men and women who employ both diplomacy and force in very complex and challenging environments. Your welcoming of guest speakers and think tanks from academia to discuss the drivers of conflict and civil military friction deep inside Africa is understanding of the security challenges on the continent. In a few months, we'll retire from the Air Force after 33 years of dedicated service to our country, to the Department of Defense, and to the men and women of U.S. Special Operations Command. Over your entire career, you've epitomized the values of integrity, selfless service, and excellence, virtues which made you a very successful leader. Speaking for the entire audience here today, Mark, I would like to thank you for your many contributions over the years and we are proud of your service and commitment to our country. It's also an honor this morning to recognize the special team who supports you. Lauren is here today, but the children who are very smart, by the way, said they wanted to wait for the movie. There's something to be said about you. Tell them I think that's a great idea. But anyway, Manny and Connor are not here. They chose to be other places. But if they would have known, was there a condition, maybe they would have changed their mind. But the bottom line is, Lauren, you as a wife and two children have endured a lot and made many sacrifices over the years with deployments, moves, and his family events. So we thank you, we thank the children for their service as well. And I'm sure they look forward to spending more time with you as you guys move to Florida. So at this point, I'd like to give a big round of applause for General Dixon's family. Congratulations, Greater General, Dr. Anderson, on Assuming Command today. And we welcome Elizabeth, his wife, and his two daughters, Hala and Leela, who came to Germany from Hawaii non-stop, probably 24 hours ago. So you know that the good news is, I'm not sure what time it is, but they'll all work themselves out here in the next few days. And I know Germany is a long way away from Hawaii where you just came from the beaches and trapped a lifestyle. But Germany offers a vibrant culture, picturesque sites, rich in history, and a very welcoming population. And as you'll find out, there's nearly a fest for every occasion for the man to come. And I'm sure you'll attend some during your time here. Peter Johnson brings with him over 15 years of experience within the special operations community, living at the squadron, group, and wing levels. He's an accomplished academic across a broad spectrum from international affairs to low-intensity conflict, an expertise which will serve him well in dealing with the complexities and challenges of operating in the United States and Africa area of responsibility. I'm confident you will lead both capably and with integrity, as you further the important and demanding missions of SOC Africa. I also know that you'll take care of the most done and elastic we have here today. That's our service members, the civilians who work here, and their families. Reader General Anderson, we are pleased to welcome you aboard as the new Canadian General of SOC Africa, and although I'm going to hesitate to get around and applause before you've done anything, but I want to give Canada a round of applause. So ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude this morning, I want to thank you for joining us for this ceremony. SOC Africa's success is a testament to the character and judgment of the many women of this community who are assisting, instructing, and motivating our African partners to challenge those who attempt to destabilize and create chaos. The operations and missions of SOC Africa are some of the most powerful tools we have in our military inventory, which enables the United States diplomatic and development efforts to foster economic growth and good governance. So thank you again everybody for your presence today. Thank you for inviting me to be part of this ceremony, and I wish everybody all the success to include the outgoing and incoming commanders. Senator Fidelis, thank you all very much. The national anthem, in addition to being an outstanding intelligent professional and arrogant speaker, a great athlete and single intelligence writer who worked on that type of writing, that's pretty neat. Thanks to the Honor Guard as well, and the band for all of what you do, and Chaplain thanks for your communication as well. And to Stacey White and the team that put all this together and all of the people who set this up, I know it takes a lot of work, and thank you for all your efforts fortunately and deservedly. And I did have to say that I'm a little disappointed in the lack of the stage because I've been practicing for months through the box jump to the stage, and some of you will understand that if you don't, that's probably okay. Tara, thanks for being the voice of Africa or South Africa. Daddy, you'll understand that you'll be on board for very some of them. And Tara, thanks for all that you've done to get in the front office and come in and share your communication. General on Africa, thank you for your remarks and your leadership. This is a long time ago. I wish you all the best. Thanks for being here. Thanks for representing Silicon. And Tim, thanks for your friendship and leadership for the years we've served together and a privilege and an honor, and there's no one from Silicon that would ever have any of you. Your leadership, in a sense, will be critical to Silicon as we deal with the substantial, structural problems that we face. That's wrong. Thanks for being here. And CZ, glad to see you're at the hospital. You're too old for that stuff. Oscars, admirals, distinguished visitors, after-commit teammates, interagency partners, Western partner relationship representatives, Dag, Liz Anderson, the girls, and Ernest, thanks for making the trip. I do hope to get the time to figure out if we'll be okay. Most importantly, many women with special operations in the United Africa. Welcome, and thank you for attending this changing community. I like to have a choice, but it's kind of cool to see. As we all know, it's been a very busy and eventful two years which has happened both in Africa and in the United States that it's impacting us all. Looking back, my tenure here began amidst a debate over the future of combined joint task force, HOA, and the common relationships of Somalia, which continue to evolve as I speak. And then before my 90-day assessment was complete, as we were moving to advise and assist at an increasingly higher level and to shift from counterterrorism strategy to counter-services strategy, the tragic events of October 4th, 2017. In the small village of Tarotano, took alive to four American and four Nigerian soldiers and sparked a debate about U.S. security policy in Western Africa. It continues to this day. The event became all the more tragic when combat action became politicized and shifted focus from the obvious question of what happened to the question of who was at fault. Also, it made it continue. The question of what happened has been lost in the noise. The fact is that combined U.S. and the general control was overwhelmed by a numerically superior force that no one assessed to be our burden of duty, not ourselves, not our African partners, not our Western partners, not our own intelligentsia, in the real world. It's not the African who quickly realized that this Salafi jihadist insurgency you know your model was building and expanding and explosively great. But that message was difficult to disseminate amidst the political term. Thanks a great part to the interest of each year the cause of the time you're talking about. We were able to attract a large portion of the International Press Corps to attend an exercise five-lock in each year of Hurricane Faso in March 2018. They were important which was completely consistent with our assessment. How to change the international understanding of the situation in the Sahel, which now is well understood rapidly deteriorating security environment and many, many western nations are rushing to support. Now the future of Hurricane Faso is uncertain due to the dramatic uncertainty of penetration but at least almost everyone understands what's happening. Whether we, we, meaning the western liberal democracies and those who aspire to be democracies can turn the time into the south as the surgeons see the Sahel where it needs to be seen. What is less certain however, what is certain however, is that the loss of Staff Sergeant Brown and Black, Staff Sergeant Dustin Wright, Staff Sergeant General Maya Johnson, Sergeant David Johnson who's not been evaded. Their sacrifice led to an intent an international under-awakening about the plight of the Sahel into an ongoing discussion about the best ways to address the challenges and if we speak momentarily of building to address the causes of the solitist insurgency and we owe it to these brave men to get ready with the Staff Sergeant Alex Conrad to continue the mission for which he gave his life. Alex was killed in 2008 in 2018 about 45 km north of this bayonet segment of Somalia along the lower Jewel River while he was helping to establish the combat outpost the combat barrister. The campaigning that he was supporting has freed over 1,000 Somali families to return to their homes and free them from al-Sarmada territory to extend it into the government of Somalia and get out of Somalia territory. Thus, Conrad stands as a bastion of security in the beacon of the thousands of Somalis. Further, and consistent with General Walden's conference campaign along the lower Jewel River to Conrad demonstrates the wisdom of the system for the counter terrorism strategy and it's one that disrupts terrorists by targeting individuals in small groups in the hope that governments and development will follow to a focused population centered counter-terrorism strategy one that clears and holds term directly provides security to the population. It's simultaneously provides governance, development and health support as I mentioned we're now seeing success similar to the lower Jewel River along the Jevelle River southwest of Lomgechi but while Somalia remains a difficult political environment and now Shabab remains a very capable al-Qaeda act of insurgency Somalia is a much better place today than it was two years ago and there too will be a full of government approach to address the root causes of insurgency also looking back as if it wasn't hard enough while South Africa was shifting from counter-terrorism to counter-insurgency strategy and adjusting our forced posture to meet the emergent threat we received guidance to cut our force so for the first time we identified issues that were nearing completion on one hand for those that were not returning results on the other in order to train the force without substantially having to finish so you'll probably be pleased to know that I can report that today the first chance of the optimization is complete yet by adjusting our operations and advising at a higher level we're now more effective than we were two years ago with less force pressure however this magic cannot be replicated we've cut all the fat and some of the muscle we are as effective and efficient as any subcom organization and employee thus having a return on investment the further cuts are directly to grade issues that are already operating on the margins therefore along the general path we are then against further cuts of optimization so now as I prepare to pass the flag to general Anderson I know that the SOC gap is doing the right thing the right way and for the right reason also another dead handerson will have a grade team in the SOC gap I was thrilled to hear that you were firing me because we worked together before and I hope you can higher your level more than I was you, Liz, kids all of us and we're not sure we'll be in sight of an interesting job and there is in fact an effective way to do it to the representatives of our western partners and we want to thank you and your nations for your commitment the common right shift and the leadership across the continent of Africa I truly enjoy working with you all I'm particularly grateful to our French colleagues for their leadership in the SOC and for the recent rescue of an American citizen and for presenting me with the Legion of Honor I am deeply honored and I would like to apologize in advance for what the US football team is going to do to France I'm also grateful to our German hosts for their spectacular work and for their leadership in the SOC truly honored to be supported by SOC teammates from Belgium, Norway and the United Kingdom of Canada are always keeping an interest in our Italian counterparts from Australia, Denmark, Ireland and you all your common right shift has been enormously helpful and it truly shows that western partners can get together to help our African partners visit you I'd like to thank the African Count on Service components for their corrective support for our operations across the continent and I'd like to make a particular shout out to more for Africa my friend may jump or a sandborn or I don't know if you're here but somebody give word again that you guys have been the only service component to step up and support us when we ask and sometimes before we ask thank you and acknowledge that argue clearly embrace common rights guidance to do more to the African Count staff many of you know the time of the time where it was a serious experience for many of us served upon this together and a shared experience many of you know who you are and have been critical in helping us conduct operations on this working with you all particularly with Greg Wilson and Will West who have been exceptional to me he's providing a great travel amazing shopper personally improving the economic situation and it's an answer about it I'm also blessed and I have been truly blessed to put an exceptional group of ambassadors country teams across the continent and that's just not always the case so to my state department I want to thank you it's made my job easier and I know that special operations for me in Africa you have accomplished so much so little so quickly and under such difficult circumstances you've done everything you've asked and I'm enormously grateful that you have served wish you all the best and I know that you will continue to excel in general issues and before I thank my family I would like to make a personal shout out to Colonel Major of Bermud who was unable to make it he's the special operations commander in the chair he's a very serious security issues to deal with but I would like to thank him for sending the African weather this week but finally I want to thank my family Lauren has put in an enormous amount of energy in trying to improve the community particularly our ability to take care of families she's done this managing two kids in German schools which ironically has been a job summer to my own and to make it harder she's had to bear a disproportionate share of the stress and frustration of my job two main nights I went home with almost nothing no patience for the no patience for small children for dirt girl scouts for general teachers for any normal family business I didn't come home at all because I was on the continent traveling traveling to the states there's another subject here for those of you who missed coming to the gym this morning because the door was locked sorry my dad but if you're welcome for getting out of the CCU on Friday I think that will help Lauren to say I couldn't have done this without you it is a mistake I was only able to do this only because even the kids kept me singing through most exasperating professional experience in my life to give them the strength to continue the mission to move on to something more balanced and alleviate everything we have to do this and be successful thank you general hex spouses play a very important role not only in the success and balance of our service members but of the organization and particularly with families a donation to the special operations warrior foundation was made in mrs. Hicks's name as a token of our appreciation for her dedication and support for the women of special operations the changing commands is a military tradition that is rich with symbolism and heritage dating back to the medieval times service members often carried staffs or standiers into battle and identified them as a unit throughout military history unit colors have marked the position of the commander on the battlefield and served as a rally point service members would follow the standard or guide on of their leader all others within the organization might perish but the colors live on forever in more recent times the colors represent not only the heritage and history of the unit but also the unity and loyalty of its service members wherever the commander is there are also the colors today special operations command Africa continues this tradition as general wall houser major general Hicks and Brigadier general Anderson take their positions for the exchange of special operations command Africa colors please remain seated during this portion major general Hicks relinquishes the colors to general wall houser thereby their war signifying the termination of his command general wall houser presents the colors to the new commander Brigadier general Anderson charging him with the responsibility for mission accomplishment and the welfare of his force Brigadier general Anderson assumes command and returns the colors to command major march signifying his acceptance of the command responsibility and the continuation of the mission ladies and gentlemen please stand for the reading of the official order attention to orders by the authority of title 10 united states code section 164 and 167 the understined assumes command of special operations command Africa stucard Germany affected 28 June 2019 ladies and gentlemen please take your seats Brigadier general dogman r.m. Anderson commander special operations command Africa the floor is yours first of all I appreciate everyone coming out today general wall houser thank you for the warm reception in several rooms today I would just like to thank you very much for being here I hope that you raised me in a long time and it's great to be with you again in certain ways and most more CZ great to see a friendly face friends from the past I was there with Catherine absolutely every person very nice to see you again and really happy to make it today to all the other flag officers I appreciate maybe time to break this because he's capable of development it wasn't just for me it was to say for general it's the witness to change the command but I really am truly honored and humbled to be here today and be entrusted with this responsibility I know these ceremonies are they have a lot of meaning I think they're important they're important I'm really especially glad my family is here with me Mike Liz she's put up with me for 20 years now 20 years this month it's a miracle she stayed with me this long if she does she continues to do it with a smile I appreciate that I would definitely not be able to do any of this without her my daughter is Halla Lillia who continued to do this I think with a smile on their face as I drag into new places, new schools separated them from friends but they always look forward to living in Mexico of course the last two of them are pretty good Hawaii and Germany so that may have been part of the reason they continue to smile it's always been good I really appreciate the fact that my parents are here to mark another milestone in my career they've made everyone I really do appreciate that that was Albuquerque, Korea, Germany, wherever they may be they've been there the factories the farmland they've seen Michigan but I'm really glad they're here I don't think I've got nearer me to say that the folks appreciate what they did so I'll keep this quick short I appreciate the opportunity and I'm honored to take demand of soccer I'm going to take this stand and I'm very honored to wear the soccer apache I think there's some symbolism that's important but more importantly it represents the intelligence needed to complete that task and the wisdom to know when to act when to wait and when to be patient to achieve a difficult objective I think it's important to have the confidence to have the confidence to have the confidence to have the confidence to have the confidence to have the confidence to be a difficult objective I think, most importantly, though for me the baccos of shield a shield that protects protects our nation, is interest and most importantly's values and ideals are for a freedom frontier values not the those that are represented by the flag we all wear on our own shoulder values that are shared across borders with partners and allies ideals that we aspire to and the hope that freedom and freedom people around the world. I think these symbols are important to reflect upon as they remind us why we sacrifice, and why we choose every day to do what we do. Because what we do is we operate, because what we do is we operate in an incredibly complex environment and this will be becoming more complex. We no longer just address violent extremists who lie shouting as freedom. We now have to balance threats from regional powers to seek to achieve nuclear power, to intimidate their neighbors, to compete with peer adversaries who wish to change the world order, and disrupt the peace and prosperity that we've enjoyed through the last seven decades. To undermine the values of the very fabric of our nation and our way of life. We face these challenges on various levels across the African continent. We're helping build our partners build the capacity to deny savings, to confront common threats, and to show that we are the partner of choice in the increasingly competitive world. We provide a global network of operators who can monitor and understand the actions of our peer adversaries as they seek to assert themselves globally. We're a network of operators that can provide presence and inform our sick makers in a world that's changing. A world that's changing and the only thing that's clear is that we'll continue to be able to engage in a multifaceted effort across all domains on an ever expanding battlefield. Where we'll need to understand and compete with our adversaries on multiple levels. Where information and engagement will often be the primary effort and partnership with like-minded allies and partners key. I know this is not an easy effort. I know that we cannot and should not take this on alone. We'll continue to work closely with our partners and allies and civil aids and SOCF's work to develop. Allies that have been with us for decades standing side by side facing threats to our shared values. Working with new allies that have been with us in front of violent extremism in Afghanistan and Iraq. Working with our partners on the continent to develop their capabilities and capacities. And I have no doubt that we're up to this task because we've been able to come together time and again to confront our adversaries in the defense of liberty, freedom, and human rights. I look forward to continuing these partnerships and cooperation in the future. I look forward to leading one of the best trained and most capable forces in the world. But I realize that we cannot just say that's what we are. We have to earn it. We have to earn it every day. Earn it by working hard, by being humble, and by continuing to adapt to adversaries who continue to work against this. All this while maintaining the professionalism and dedication that defines the United States military. I know General Hicks ran the incredibly capable and mature, dedicated force. I appreciate the fact that this force is doing great work with very limited resources in a very difficult environment. I also believe that it's incredibly important that we continue to do that. That we continue to focus on defending the United States, our interests, and those of our allies far forward. I do this because I'm passionate about what I do. I'm passionate about what I do and great my family around the world because I believe in who we are. I believe in who we are as a people. I believe in who we are as a nation. I believe that we do represent something special and that we provide hope and we provide opportunity for many of those people that we will never be able to talk to, that we'll never be able to see, but they look to American pollution and that's what we'll continue to provide. I look forward to continuing this and I look forward to taking out the challenges in the future. Thank you. Special Operations Command Africa. We also made a donation in Mrs. Anderson's name to the Special Operations Work Fair Foundation. The donation marks the beginning of the support and friendship that will develop as a member of the Stuttgart community and Special Operations Command Africa. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand by or please stand for the blank of the service men and remain standing for the departure of the official party.