 All right, you guys ready to get this thing kicked off? All right, me too. OK, so please rise and give a warm welcome for the Vice Commander of Verry University and the Commander of the Lumet Center and the Command Chief of Verry University. So it's Major General Rothstein and Chief Master Sergeant Todd Simmons. All right. Thanks, Chief. Thank you, thank you. First sit down, please. Thank you. Wow, that's probably the best lead in speech I've ever gotten there. I'd like a copy of that clip, please, Chief Morris. Steal that plagiarism of the finest form of flurry. Hey, welcome to Maxwell Air Force Base. Welcome to Montgomery. Thank you for braving a hellacious storms yesterday. And I'm sure there's a lot of folks who didn't make it quite yet and a lot of travel. And I know the staff went through tremendous turmoil to make adjustments as we dealt with the weather yesterday. But thanks for being here. What a great opportunity. General Cotton, the AU Commander, unfortunately is not here. But he's out presiding at the retirement ceremony of a Chief Master Sergeant. Chief Good, excuse me. So that's not a bad place to be. 24 years ago today, I am sitting in this auditorium. The painting was a little different because we used to call it the blue bedroom. And now it's not quite as blue as it used to be. And so that was the blue bedroom. Like all PME students, you like to find something you can needle about PME. And then as you become older and wiser, it's not about the blue bedroom. It's about missed opportunities. At all those opportunities you had during those things that the Air Force gave you to learn and get better that you missed. And this is another opportunity for you. Thanks for making it. What a great investment by Chief Master Sergeant Air Force Wright and the Magcom Command Chiefs and our Air Force and the AU folks to bring you all here to put this on, to create an opportunity for you guys to come together as Chiefs and to think about this next step in your career. One thing that's been on my mind lately is followership. And I'd like you to think about that as you go through these next few days. Because not only, everyone's been telling you you're now the senior enlisted leaders in the Air Force. Well, you're also the senior enlisted followers in the Air Force. And that's really important. And so to hear from your Magcom Chiefs, to hear from Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Wright, General Goldfein, of course, who's flying down here just to talk to you guys, I can tell you he does not do that every day, folks. Trust me, this is a big deal that he's taken half of his day just to come down here and give his command intent to you all. So I'd ask you to listen to it and tune your ears to it. And then take advantage, of course, of everybody sitting in this room, because this is the cohort that you will grow up with over the next five to 10 years of your Air Force career who will save your butt, who will solve your problems, who will be your shoulder to cry on, and who will be that kick in the butt when you need it. So work your crowd here, make some friends. It's real important. We are here to help set the stage for you. If there's anything we can do better here at Air University to make this better for us, just please let us know. I know it's got a crack team, and they're working hard. Excuse me, I've been under the weather for like four days, so I'm not on my A game this morning. But we are just here to help. So don't hesitate. We just want to be good for you. And with that, I will welcome you. I will get out of the way and hand it over to Chief Simmons all yours. Good morning. Who's awake? All right, I know some of you got in up until about one or two o'clock in the morning. So welcome to Air University. Welcome to Maxwell Air Force Base. Welcome to the River Region. And I would say welcome back. And what I would say and add on to General Rostine's comments about what you're going to get and the relationships you're going to build. As General Rostine was sitting in this auditorium 24 years ago, as a captain, Airman Simmons was working the front gate waving Captain Rostine in. And that relationship continued when Chief Simmons was the absent SEL that helped General Rostine, one star, at the time out in Afghanistan. And now I'm working with General Rostine again as the Vice Command and the Command Chief. So over 24 years, we've been together three times. And those relationships persist. So as you, what I see the beauty of today and the beauty of the next couple of days is I remember back in Space Command when I made Chief and I went to my MAGCOM orientation and how we as Space got together for those couple of days. And we learned about Space and we learned who's from Buckley and who's from Vandenberg and who's from different bases. But the opportunity this week, the opportunity to meet your brothers and sisters that will be around for next, like General Rostine and say, three to some of you, 10 to 12 years, to start building those relationships right now that will not only last in this uniform, but hopefully start forging those bonds that will go well beyond the day we all take this uniform off. But that's what it's about. We will know each other for the rest of our life. And those relationships start today. I have been excited about this since July. I went from nervous to excited to terrified to got sick this morning before I got out of bed. So what we're gonna get through this, I think, I mean, the best team, Chief Morris, Chief LaMaurie, Chief Vincil and Chief Veronica Haskins, the four Chiefs who have put this thing together for you with their team of over probably 50 or 60 people already. They're ready to execute for you this week. And hopefully it's gonna be a lasting thing for our United States Air Force going forward of building teams, building teams of Chiefs who work together from day one and get after the business of United States Air Force. With that, I'll get off stage because this is the only time you'll see me on this stage this week. But we got a great, great, great array of speakers coming up and I'm just so happy that we're here. We're finally here. And if you need anything from us or our team, I'll be running around. The team will be running around. Just don't hesitate to ask. So with that, welcome to our university. Welcome back. Welcome to the River region. And we'll see you around this week. Thank you.