Thursday, January 22, 2015

Hagel Thanks U.S. Military, Lauds American Leadership



By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2015 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today expressed his gratitude to U.S. service members for their service and to their families for their sacrifice, as well as his pride in America’s global leadership role.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Hagel recalled his recent three-day trip to bases around the country to personally thank service members.

“As we leave 2014 behind, I want to, first of all, thank all the men and women of the Defense Department for their sacrifice, their service, for this country,” he said. “I also want to thank their families for the incredible sacrifices they make. All of America, I know, is very proud of the men and women of this institution.”

Commitment to Service

In what may be his last news conference before leaving office, Hagel recognized U.S. troops for their commitment to service all over the world.

“We see their agility today in the Middle East, where our men and women continue to stay on high alert, particularly off the coast of Yemen, where that situation changes hourly,” he said.

“We’ve seen their agility in West Africa, where thousands of our troops deployed to help stop the spread of Ebola at the source.”

The defense secretary also pointed to the ongoing efforts of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, and said that while there is still much more work to do, he is encouraged by the progress that has been made.

“This is an ongoing process of development measured by many metrics as to the progress we’re making,” Hagel said.

American Leadership

“In Afghanistan,” he said, “we’ve transitioned with our ISAF partners to the new Resolute Support mission -- training, advising, and assisting Afghan forces as they assume full responsibility for their nation’s security.”

In Iraq, Hagel said, U.S. troops are working with coalition partners to help train and support Iraqi forces as they take the fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and as the country seeks to form an inclusive government that represents all the people of Iraq.

Noting he’d just received a briefing yesterday, Hagel said troops soon will begin deploying to the region to help in training and equipping the moderate Syrian opposition.

Strengthening Alliances

Hagel said these missions demonstrate the critically important roles U.S. allies play in advancing shared interests around the world.

“Since our alliances and long-term partnerships are important to our own security,” he said, “strengthening these allied relationships with a core strategic focus for this department in 2014 has been very important, and it will be an ongoing priority.”

During the past year, Hagel said, the first U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Defense Forum on American soil took place and the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministers met for the first time in more five years.

And as Russia’s aggression in Ukraine galvanized the NATO alliance, the secretary said, the United States bolstered its training exercises and rotational deployments, continuing to make progress, reassuring its allies and demonstrating its resolve.

Hagel also said he has put the U.S.-India relationship “as high on my priority list as any one area” can be, and noted he has worked “very hard” not only on finding common ground, but also on advancing the relationship. President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to India, he said, may “produce some very tangible and positive results” of the Defense Department’s efforts.

“It’s a particularly, I think, unique time for this relationship between India and the United States,” Hagel said. “I am very proud of the progress we’ve made.” The relationship will continue to progress, he added.

Necessity of U.S. Leadership

The past year, Hagel said, was marked by persistent and varied threats that included terrorism, global health pandemic, sectarian violence, cyberattacks, state-on-state aggression and transnational crime. Though predicting the next crisis is impossible, he said, he noted that Obama said during his State of the Union address earlier this week that if there’s been one constant seen over the last year, it is the necessity of American leadership in the world.

“That leadership,” Hagel said, “and the ready and capable military that supports it, will be even more important in the years to come.”

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