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Distinguished Guests … Ladies and Gentlemen … to those tuning in virtually… thank you so very much for being with us today.
Secretary Austin, Sir, thank you for your kind words … Thank you for your tremendous leadership of our Defense Department. Thank you for your joining us for our graduation here, just a few months ago. It was meaningful and, again, I know there’s no place you would rather be today than with your Navy at this moment in time.
Secretary Del Toro, Sir, thank you for the generous comments, thank you for your mentorship, thank for your leadership of our Sailors, Marines, civilians, and their families. It matters. You matter.
Chairman Milley, Vice Chairman Grady, it’s been an honor to serve as a Joint Chief under your leadership. Go Red Sox.
To my fellow Service Chiefs, I have seen first-hand your remarkable dedication to our Nation and to the men and the women of our Armed forces. I’m grateful to have served alongside you.
To our combatant commanders, I never cease to be impressed by your leadership. Americans should sleep soundly at night knowing that you have the watch.
Members of Congress, past and present, thank you for resourcing us and for ensuring that our Sailors have what they need every single day as they sail forward. We know how dedicated you are to our nation’s security.
To our industry partners who are here today, it is as true today as it was 83 years ago when FDR in a fireside chat talked about you as the “Arsenal of Democracy” for the world. It is still true. Thank you for your dedication to our nation’s security.
Let me also acknowledge our allies and partners from other nations – you honor us with your presence, and you honor us with your friendship to America.
To the Navy Team tuning in and here in the back row, I feel incredibly fortunate to have served with you—MCPON Honea, there is seawater running through your veins. You are a beacon of light for our enlisted force. Thank you for your leadership, and for your counsel.
To our deputy chiefs of naval operations, what a group. To our senior civilians, an incredible group of patriots who have walked away from a lot of money and industry to serve their country, thank you.
And to a bench of fleet commanders, it is just a privilege to serve alongside you and watch what you do every single day. You are doing incredible work every day for our Navy.
Let me also recognize the former CNOs and their spouses who are in the audience; it has been the honor of a lifetime for Linda and me to follow in your footsteps.
My Mother is here. My Father is with us today in spirit. Phenomenal parents – and all those two words represent. Five children – raised in the great city of Lowell, Massachusetts – my sister Mary Joy, is here, my brother Mark is here, my brothers Dave and Brian, and their families, are tuning in. It’s so wonderful to have you here, along with so many other members of our family and friends who are here today. It means the world to us to have you here. And we’re grateful to you for your support over nearly four decades.
And the most important people in my life … my wife Linda, and our sons, Brian and Michael. We have two, very terrific sons who we’re very proud of. I would not be here – I would not be alive – without your love, and your sacrifice, and your support.
For Linda, I know that for you – and other Navy spouses – in an institution that has a very rigorous and strict command and control, you know, lines, that you sometimes feel invisible. Know that you are not. And that those who stand alongside you, many who are in this audience, are not.
You have been a beacon of hope. For not just for women in the Navy and not just spouses, but for those in uniform too. And beyond our Navy – other services and, as the Secretary spoke to, our international partners as well. Hope is a really, really important thing. Your experience as a working professional, as a spouse of a U.S. service member, as a mom, has really resonated with people. There’s an authenticity there, that flows from you that is real, powerful, and meaningful. You’ve been inspirational, for them, and for me. I love you.
It has been the honor of my life to serve in this office. I’ve had a front row seat to our extraordinary Navy, and to the exceptional men and women who are out there every single day doing exactly what the American people expect them to do.
Day after day, I witness our men and women perform with resilience, with bravery, and with professionalism.
From the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, where our Sailors face down hostile forces nearly every day, to the South China Sea, where our Sailors operate at the tactical edge in the strategic competition against China.
To the Atlantic Ocean, and to the Mediterranean, where our Sailors help bolster European security in the face of Russian aggression. Right now, we have two carrier strike groups and two amphibious ready groups at sea, joined by nearly one hundred other ships. They’re forward where they belong.
And all around the world … we have forces at sea and ashore … in the silent depths of the ocean and in the bright skies above them … we have aircraft carriers, we have air wings, we have destroyers, we have cruisers, we have littoral combat ships, we have amphibious ships, we have submarines, we have special forces, we have explosive ordnance demolition teams, we have lawyers, we have doctors, we have nurses, we have chaplains, we have information professionals, we have cyber warriors, and so much more.
They are all out there doing the country’s work—protecting our national security interests, promoting our prosperity, and preparing to do what the law requires, and that is prompt and sustained combat action, if called upon.
And we do none of this, not a bit of it, alone. Everything we do is with our joint partners, and the other services, by, with, and through our Allies and Partners.
We just joined 20 partners in Exercise UNITAS, the world’s longest running maritime exercise in the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic, around Central and South America.
We just joined 13 other nations in Australia for Talisman Sabre, to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Last month, as the Secretary mentioned, we with joined 15 NATO partners and Allies for Exercise Neptune Strike, reinforcing defense and deterrence of the Euro-Atlantic.
On any given day, we are at sea with like-minded navies. We are exercising, we are training, we are interdicting drugs and weapons, we are rescuing stranded mariners, we are responding to crisis, we are providing humanitarian aid or disaster relief.
We are tracking submarines, we are securing airspace, we are protecting civilian maritime traffic, we are deterring adversaries, we are upholding freedom of navigation … and so much more.
This is what I’ve had the privilege of witnessing with great pride and with great admiration every single day.
What has also made this job so special is that it’s given me a front row seat to the future … where we’re heading as a Navy, and how we’re changing to respond to the growing demands and increasing complexity of our mission.
The Navy recognizes that this is a decisive decade – a decade during which command of the seas will determine the balance of power for the rest of this century. And we are rising to the occasion.
Through an evolutionary approach, we are undergoing revolutionary changes in our plans, in our platforms, in capabilities, how we lead and support the men and women of “Team Navy.”
We’ve taken a comprehensive look at how we fight, what we fight with, and what we’ll need in a contested environment. We’ve updated and implemented new operating concepts. We’ve already begun to build the fleet of the future – a hybrid fleet of manned, unmanned, and optionally manned systems. We’ve started to deploy the next-generation of platforms from the F-35 to the [USS] Ford. We’ve developed and are testing new weapons with range and speed. We’ve undertaken a once-in-a-generation investment in our ballistic missile forces, and a once-in-a-century overhaul of our shipyards.
And above all, we are focused now, more than ever, on the education, resilience, the mental health, and quality of service for our greatest warfighting asset … our Sailors.
This change we are undergoing is nothing short of revolutionary. The character of war is changing, but our Navy team is adapting at speed. If we continue to act with urgency and purpose along with our allies and partners, we will meet any challenge, we will oppose any adversary, and we will protect any nation that joins with us in the cause of peace and justice.
And no one has been a greater champion of this change than Admiral Lisa Franchetti. A Fleet Sailor called back to Washington, she has already made the Navy better as our Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
She is a warfighter with combat experience, she’s an operational leader, she’s a strategist, she’s an innovator, she’s a team builder, she’s a trailblazer, she’s an example of personal and professional resilience – and a testament to the power of the American dream to inspire service and sacrifice.
I can’t wait to see what’s next for her as she’s leading our Navy, for her phenomenal husband Jim, and her incredible daughter Isabel. And let me tell you this: I will be proud to call her my CNO, and I know you will be too.
As I draw my remarks – and this chapter of my career – to a close, I think about my recent visit to the mighty warship USS Higgins, the first ship I commanded – she’s named after a Marine. She was commissioned nearly 25 years ago and the investment is still paying off. She’s forward, on point where she ought to be, forward-deployed out of Japan, and she continues to do the work of our nation’s Navy.
As in every one of my visits to the fleet, I was again moved by the extraordinary men and women onboard. Common Americans from across our nation, who share an uncommon devotion to their country … and to one another.
I was stirred by an enormous sense of pride in these Sailors – and all of our Sailors – who have volunteered to support and defend our Constitution.
And I was again humbled and inspired by the reminder that individuals come and go, but the timeless mission of our Service endures. Fulfilled by the faithful men and women of the United States Navy.
They are the sentinels on the seas, they are the watchful warriors ready for combat, deterring aggression, and maintaining the freedom of our oceans.
Every day for the past 38 years, I have been inspired by a great Navy and our Sailors. I have been uplifted by your honor, I have been strengthened by your courage, I have been sustained by your commitment.
May God bless each and every one of you.
May God bless and keep your families.
And may God bless our United States of America.
Thank you.
Adm. Mike Gilday
14 August 2023
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