JANUARY 19, 2025 – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., hosted an Armed Forces Farewell Tribute honoring Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III yesterday at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.
Austin spoke from the heart to service members and their families and reflected on 45 years of military service during his speech. Upon graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1975, Austin rose from second lieutenant to four-star general during his military career before President Joe Biden nominated him to be the 28th secretary of defense.
He took office in January 2021 and presided as DOD responded to the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party. He worked to build the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to arm that country after Russia’s unprovoked invasion. He worked tirelessly to stop the Hamas attack on Israel from spreading to a greater war in the Middle East. He also put in place programs to improve pay and working conditions for service members and their families.
While Austin thanked his staff and co-workers for their support, he aimed most of his remarks at service members. “This business is not just about platforms and procurement; it’s about you,” he said. “We’re not just the most lethal fighting force on Earth. We are also the finest fighting force on Earth, and that is down to all of you.”
The secretary spoke of lessons he learned from his first platoon sergeant, Army Sgt. 1st Class Fox Ballard. “He taught me that the most important thing you can do is to take care of your people,” he said. “That has always been my North Star.”
Austin said America’s greatest strategic advantage will always be the talents of its people. He said the power of the U.S. military “flows from both our people and our principles,” adding, “We don’t lower our standards for our recruits; we take good people and make them better.”
Noting the unrivaled capabilities and platforms of the U.S. military, Austin said while those are expressions of strength, they are not its foundation. “Every military defends a country, but the United States military also defends a Constitution,” he said. “That isn’t some side point. It’s the oath that I swore when I commissioned to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is what we do, and that is who we are. And I will never stop saying this.”
The secretary said he learned at West Point “to pray that I would choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong. I have tried, every day as secretary, to live up to that teaching.”
Austin said he leaves the department with great pride and confidence because of the courage, character, strength, integrity, and commitment of American service members.
“You and your families bear an extraordinary burden to keep your fellow citizens safe, and we must always be honest with ourselves about the sacrifice that this enterprise demands,” he said. “Over the past four years, yellow folders have arrived at my desk again and again. Those yellow folders carry the letters of condolence to the parents of the fallen — to new widows and widowers and to children who will grow up without their mom and dad. I have sat with those letters, and I have thought of them before each decision, and I will hold them in my heart until the day I die. I still mourn for the fallen of Abbey Gate, of Tower 22, of every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine and guardian lost in a training accident, and of every American in uniform who gave in to unseen wounds and took their own lives. And I hope that, as Lincoln said, we will all take increased devotion from these honored dead.”
Austin called serving as the secretary of defense the highest honor of his life and the heaviest responsibility.
“This job demands calm judgment and humility,” he continued. “It tests you; it tempers you, and I shouldered it with a deep sense of resolve and duty. I will set it aside with gratitude and confidence. I am deeply proud of what we have achieved together at this hinge in history. The world continues to look to America, and we must stand as a beacon of freedom.”
By Jim Garamone, DOD News