thank you veri much for that warm welcom __PUNCT__ and for invit me to address you __PUNCT__
thi is not the first time i have had the honor of speak at your convent __PUNCT__
i alwai grate for the opportun __PUNCT__ and pleas to be in the compani of american who have had the burden of serv our countri in distant land __PUNCT__ and the honor of have prove your patriot in difficult circumst __PUNCT__
i wa bless to have been born into a famili who made their live at sea in defens of our secur and ideal __PUNCT__
my grandfath wa a naval aviat __PUNCT__ my father a submarin __PUNCT__
their respect for me wa on of the great ambit of my life __PUNCT__
and so it wa nearli pre __PUNCT__ ordain that i would find a place in my famili profess __PUNCT__ and that occup would on dai take me to war __PUNCT__
such wa not the case for mani of you __PUNCT__
your ambit might not have led you to war __PUNCT__ the honor you sought were not kept hidden on battlefield __PUNCT__
mani of you were citizen __PUNCT__ soldier __PUNCT__
you answer the call when it came __PUNCT__ took up arm for your countri sake __PUNCT__ and fought to the limit of your abil becaus you believ america secur wa as much your respons as it wa the profession soldier __PUNCT__
and when you came home __PUNCT__ you built a better a countri than the on you inherit __PUNCT__
i did what i had prepar much of my life to do __PUNCT__
you did what i did and more but without the advantag of train and experi that i possess __PUNCT__
mani of you were kid when you saw combat __PUNCT__
i wa thirti year old __PUNCT__
i believ you outrank me __PUNCT__
i do not mean to dismiss the virtu of the profession soldier __PUNCT__
i consid my inclus in their rank to be on of the great honor of my life __PUNCT__
the navi wa and still remain the world i know best and love most __PUNCT__
the navi took me to war __PUNCT__
unless you ar a veteran you might find it odd that i would be indebt to the navi for send me to war __PUNCT__
you might conclud mistakenli that the secret bond veteran share is that we enjoi war __PUNCT__
but as most veteran know __PUNCT__ war is an experi we would not trade and we would rather not repeat __PUNCT__
we do share a secret __PUNCT__ but it is not a romant remembr of war __PUNCT__
war is aw __PUNCT__
when nation seek to resolv their differ by forc of arm __PUNCT__ a million tragedi ensu __PUNCT__
noth __PUNCT__ not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobil of the caus it serv __PUNCT__ can glorifi war __PUNCT__
war is wretch beyond all descript __PUNCT__
whatev gain ar secur __PUNCT__ it is loss the veteran rememb most keenli __PUNCT__
onli a fool or a fraud sentiment the cruel and merciless realiti of war __PUNCT__
neither do we share nostalgia for the exhilar of combat __PUNCT__
that exhilar __PUNCT__ after all __PUNCT__ is realli the sensat of choke back fear __PUNCT__
we might be proud to have overcom the paralysi of terror __PUNCT__
but few of us ar so remov from the experi to mistak it todai for a welcom thrill __PUNCT__
what we share is someth harder to explain __PUNCT__
it is in part appreci for have sacrif for a caus greater than ourselv __PUNCT__ relief for have your courag and honor test and affirm in the fearsom crucibl of combat __PUNCT__ pride for have replac comfort and secur with miseri and depriv and not been broken by the experi __PUNCT__
but the most import thing we share __PUNCT__ the bond that it is our alon is veri difficult for other who have not share our experi to understand __PUNCT__
if you will excus a few moment of shameless self promot __PUNCT__ i want to quot from a passag i wrote in a book publish last week __PUNCT__ entitl __PUNCT__ hard call __PUNCT__ which examin a number of histor import decis and how and why thei were made __PUNCT__
it avail in better bookstor everywher and at __URL__ for __MONEY__ a bargain at twice the price __PUNCT__
commerci opportun asid __PUNCT__ i refer the book becaus in sever chapter i tri to explain briefli my thought about war __PUNCT__ it natur and paradox __PUNCT__ the mistak that ar often made __PUNCT__ the attribut of success command __PUNCT__ the experi of fight __PUNCT__ and the uniqu purpos that is the combat veteran __PUNCT__
it is the last subject that interest me as i tri to describ the relationship between robert gould shaw __PUNCT__ who you might rememb wa the white command offic of the fifti __PUNCT__ fourth massachusett infantri regiment in the civil war __PUNCT__ and the african american volunt he had the honor to co mmand __PUNCT__
in the end __PUNCT__ all soldier fight for the same caus __PUNCT__
some defend the right and some the wrong __PUNCT__
some embrac the caus their nation summon them to fight __PUNCT__
some perceiv other interest of the state in their summon __PUNCT__ less nobl or selfless perhap __PUNCT__ but serv out of a sens of patriot duti __PUNCT__
some fight becaus thei ar profession soldier and proud to do the job thei have been train to do __PUNCT__
some fight to prove themselv or to aveng an injuri to their countri honor or their own __PUNCT__
some fight becaus thei would be asham not to or to make someth of themselv in the exhilar challeng and spectacl of combat __PUNCT__
some fight to make the world better and some to keep the world from threaten their littl piec of it __PUNCT__
some fight eagerli and some reluctantli __PUNCT__
but in the upheav of war __PUNCT__ that great level of ego and distinct __PUNCT__ thing chang __PUNCT__
war is a remorseless scaveng __PUNCT__ hack through the jungl of deceit __PUNCT__ pretens __PUNCT__ and self __PUNCT__ delus to find truth __PUNCT__ some of it ugli __PUNCT__ some of it starkli beauti __PUNCT__ to find virtu and expos iniqu where we never expect them to resid __PUNCT__
no other human experi exist on the same plane __PUNCT__
it is a surpass ironi that war __PUNCT__ for all the horror and heroism it occas __PUNCT__ provid the soldier with everi conceiv human experi __PUNCT__
experi that usual take a lifetim to know ar all felt __PUNCT__ and felt intens __PUNCT__ in on brief passag of life __PUNCT__
anyon who lose a love on know what great sorrow feel like __PUNCT__
and anyon who give life to a child know what great joi feel like __PUNCT__
the combat veteran know what great loss and great joi feel like when thei occur in the same moment __PUNCT__ the same experi __PUNCT__
it can be transform __PUNCT__
howev gloriou the caus liberti __PUNCT__ union __PUNCT__ conquer tyranni it doe not defin the experi of war __PUNCT__
war mock our ideal concept of glori __PUNCT__ whether thei ar genuin and worthi or someth less __PUNCT__
war ha it own truth __PUNCT__
and if glori can be found in war __PUNCT__ it is a differ concept altogeth __PUNCT__
it is a hard __PUNCT__ press __PUNCT__ bloodi __PUNCT__ and soil glori __PUNCT__ steeli and forbear __PUNCT__
it is the decenc and love persist amid aw degrad __PUNCT__ in unsurpass suffer __PUNCT__ miseri and cruelti __PUNCT__
it is the discoveri that we belong to someth bigger than ourselv __PUNCT__ that our individu ident test __PUNCT__ injur __PUNCT__ and chang by war is not our onli cherish possess __PUNCT__
that someth is not an ideal but a commun __PUNCT__ a fratern of arm __PUNCT__
soldier ar respons for defend the caus for which their war is fought and for which thei will lai down their live __PUNCT__
but it is their war __PUNCT__ and thei have their own caus __PUNCT__
in the immediaci __PUNCT__ chao __PUNCT__ destruct __PUNCT__ and shock of war __PUNCT__ soldier ar bound by duti and militari disciplin to endur and overcom __PUNCT__
their strongest loyalti __PUNCT__ the bond that cannot break __PUNCT__ is to the caus that is their alon __PUNCT__ the caus for which thei all fight __PUNCT__ on anoth __PUNCT__
it is through loyalti to comrad in arm __PUNCT__ their exclus privileg __PUNCT__ that thei serv the nation ideal that begat their person transform __PUNCT__
when war is over __PUNCT__ thei might have the largest but not exclus claim on the success of their nation caus __PUNCT__
but their claim is shorn of all romanc __PUNCT__ all nostalgia for the crucibl in which it wa won __PUNCT__
from that crucibl thei have but on prize __PUNCT__ on honor __PUNCT__ on glori __PUNCT__ that thei had withstood the savageri and loss of war and were found worthi by the men who stood with them __PUNCT__
that is a distinct no other american can claim __PUNCT__ and it came at a great price __PUNCT__
the sacrific made by veteran deserv to be memori in someth more last than marbl or bronz or in the fleet effect of a politician speech __PUNCT__
your valor and devot to duti have earn your countri abid concern for your welfar __PUNCT__
and when our govern forget to honor the countri debt to you __PUNCT__ it is a stain upon america honor __PUNCT__
the walter reed scandal recal __PUNCT__ i hope __PUNCT__ not just govern but the public who elect it __PUNCT__ to our respons to the men and women who risk life and limb to meet their respons to us __PUNCT__
such a disgrac is unworthi of the greatest nation on earth __PUNCT__
as the greatest leader in our histori __PUNCT__ georg washington and abraham lincoln __PUNCT__ instruct us __PUNCT__ care for american who fought to defend us should rank among the highest of nation prioriti __PUNCT__
the world in which mani of us serv wa a danger on __PUNCT__ but more stabl than the world todai __PUNCT__
it wa a world where we confront a massiv __PUNCT__ organ threat to our secur __PUNCT__
our enemi wa evil __PUNCT__ but not irrat __PUNCT__
and for all the suffer endur by captiv nation __PUNCT__ for all the fear of global nuclear war __PUNCT__ it wa a world made fairli predict by a stabl balanc of power until our steadfast and patienc yield an histor victori for our secur and ideal __PUNCT__
that world is gone __PUNCT__ and pleas don't mistak my reminisc as an indic that i miss it __PUNCT__
if i nostalg for it at all __PUNCT__ it is onli an old man nostalgia for the time where he misspent hi youth __PUNCT__
that world __PUNCT__ after all __PUNCT__ had much cruelti and terror __PUNCT__ some of which it wa our fate to wit person __PUNCT__
todai __PUNCT__ we glimps the prospect of anoth __PUNCT__ better world __PUNCT__ in which all peopl might somedai share in the bless and respons of freedom __PUNCT__
but we also face a threat __PUNCT__ and a long war to defeat it __PUNCT__ that is as difficult and in mani respect more destabil than ani challeng we have ever face __PUNCT__
we confront an enemi that so despis us and modern itself that thei would us ani mean __PUNCT__ unleash ani terror __PUNCT__ caus the most unimagin suffer to harm us __PUNCT__ and to destroi the world we have tri throughout our histori to build __PUNCT__
as we meet __PUNCT__ in iraq and afghanistan __PUNCT__ american soldier __PUNCT__ marin __PUNCT__ sailor and airmen ar fight brave and tenaci in battl that ar as danger __PUNCT__ difficult and consequenti as the great battl of our arm forc __PUNCT__ stori past __PUNCT__
as we all know __PUNCT__ the war in iraq ha not gone well __PUNCT__ and the american peopl have grown sick and tire of it __PUNCT__
i understand that __PUNCT__ of cours __PUNCT__
i __PUNCT__ too __PUNCT__ have been made sick at heart by the mani mistak made by civilian and militari command and the terribl price we have paid for them __PUNCT__
but we cannot react to these mistak by embrac a cours of action that will be an even greater mistak __PUNCT__ a mistak of coloss histor proport __PUNCT__ which will and i am as sure of thi as i am of anyth serious endang the countri i have serv all my adult life __PUNCT__
we have new command in iraq __PUNCT__ and thei ar follow a counterinsurg strategi that we should have been follow from the begin __PUNCT__ which make the most effect us of our strength and doesn't strengthen the tactic of our enemi __PUNCT__
thi new battl plan is succeed where our previou tactic fail __PUNCT__
although the outcom remain uncertain __PUNCT__ we must give gener petraeu and the american he ha the honor to command adequ time to salvag from the wreckag of our past mistak a measur of stabil for iraq and the middl east __PUNCT__ and a more secur futur for the american peopl __PUNCT__
to conced defeat now would strengthen al qaeda __PUNCT__ empow iran and other hostil power in the middl east __PUNCT__ unleash a full scale civil war in iraq that could quit possibl provok genocid there __PUNCT__ and destabil the entir region as neighbor power come to the aid of their favor faction __PUNCT__
the consequ would threaten us for year __PUNCT__ and i am certain would eventua lly draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would impos even greater sacrific on us __PUNCT__
our defeat in iraq would be catastroph __PUNCT__ not just for iraq __PUNCT__ but for us __PUNCT__ and i cannot be complicit in it __PUNCT__
i will do whatev i can __PUNCT__ whether i am effect or not __PUNCT__ to help avert it __PUNCT__
that is all i can offer my countri __PUNCT__
it is not much compar to the sacrific made by american who have volunt to shoulder a rifl and fight thi war for us __PUNCT__
i know that and am humbl by it __PUNCT__
but though my duti is neither danger nor oner __PUNCT__ it compel me nonetheless to sai to my fellow american __PUNCT__ as long as we have a chanc to succe we must try to succe __PUNCT__
i have mani respons to the american peopl __PUNCT__ and i try to take them all serious __PUNCT__
but i have on respons that outweigh all the other and that is to us whatev meager talent i possess __PUNCT__ and everi resourc god ha grant me to protect the secur of thi great and good nation from all enemi foreign and domest __PUNCT__
and that i intend to do __PUNCT__ even if i must stand athwart popular opinion __PUNCT__
i will attempt to convinc as mani of my countrymen as i can that we must show even greater patienc __PUNCT__ though our patienc is nearli exhaust __PUNCT__ and that as long as there is a prospect for not lose thi war then we must not choos to lose it __PUNCT__
that is how i constru my respons to my countri __PUNCT__
that is how i constru it yesterdai __PUNCT__
it is how i constru it todai __PUNCT__
it is how i will constru it tomorrow __PUNCT__
i do not know how i could choos ani other cours __PUNCT__
war is a terribl thing __PUNCT__ but not the worst thing __PUNCT__
you know that __PUNCT__ you have endur the danger and depriv of war so that the worst thing would not befal us __PUNCT__ so that america might be secur in her freedom __PUNCT__
the war in iraq ha divid the american peopl __PUNCT__ but it ha divid no american in our admir for the men and women who ar fight for us there __PUNCT__
it is everi veteran hope that should their children be call upon to answer a call to arm __PUNCT__ the battl will be necessari and the field well chosen __PUNCT__
but that is not their respons __PUNCT__
it belong to the govern that call them __PUNCT__
as it onc wa for us __PUNCT__ their honor will be in their answer not their summon __PUNCT__
whatev we think about how and why we went to war in iraq __PUNCT__ we ar all those who support the decis that place them in harm wai and those who oppos it humbl by and grate for their exampl __PUNCT__
thei now deserv the distinct of the best american __PUNCT__ and we ow them a debt we can never fulli repai __PUNCT__
we can onli offer the small tribut of our humil and our commit to do all that we can do __PUNCT__ in less try and costli circumst __PUNCT__ to help keep thi nation worthi of their sacrific __PUNCT__
mani of them have serv multipl tour in iraq and afghanistan __PUNCT__
mani have had their tour extend __PUNCT__
mani have return to combat sooner than thei had been led to expect __PUNCT__
it is a sad and hard thing to ask so much more of american who have alreadi given more than their fair share to the defens of our countri __PUNCT__
few of them and their famili will have receiv the new about addit and longer deploy without aim a few appropri complaint in the gener direct of peopl like me __PUNCT__ who help make the decis to send them there __PUNCT__
and then thei shoulder a rifl and risk everyth everyth to accomplish their mission __PUNCT__ to protect anoth peopl freedom and our own countri from harm __PUNCT__
it is a privileg beyond measur to live in a countri serv by them __PUNCT__
i have live a long __PUNCT__ event and bless life __PUNCT__
i have had the good fortun to know person a great mani brave and selfless patriot who sacrif and shed blood to defend america __PUNCT__
but i have known none braver or better than those who do so todai __PUNCT__
thei ar our inspir __PUNCT__ as i suspect all of you were onc their __PUNCT__
and i prai to a love god that he bless and protect them __PUNCT__
thank you __PUNCT__
