Thread by @Headsnipe011

Remarks by Secretary Mattis at National Guard Association of the United States Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana

@drawandstrike @ThomasWictor @HNIJohnMiller @catesduane @rising_serpent @_ImperatorRex_ @Debradelai @LarrySchweikart @GodlessNZ @almostjingo

dod.defense.gov/News/Transcrip…

***Posting parts that stood out to me***

I want to talk to the group just a moment about our national strategy because it's not the Pentagon's national strategy, it's not even the military's national strategy. It's our strategy.

It's our national strategy of the American people and should be subject to your review, and we are accountable to you, those of us who were assigned the responsibility to write it.

It's only got three LOEs (lines of effort). I thought those ladies who sang the national anthem a few minutes ago gave one of the best renditions I've ever heard. How about a round of applause for those ladies?

(APPLAUSE)

They're back behind the door, there. They're back behind the door. I hope they heard that. I just thought it was beautiful. I couldn't sing or dance, I ended up in the Marine infantry myself.

(Laughter.)

But that strategy defends everything that those beautiful young ladies just sang about in such wonderful voices.

First of all, the way we are going to address the challenges we face is, we are going to restore readiness across our force.

And you're considered every bit as much a part of that force as any active element. And we're going to build a more lethal force in the process. That's the first thing we're going to do.

Secondly, we're going to strengthen alliances with partners & allies, and we're going to create new partnerships and allies. Recalling that in our revolution, that we had allies like the French, the Polish & the Germans who came to our support and helped us create this country.

The third line of effort is, we're going to reform and modernize our department for greater performance, accountability and affordability. And one point I would make is we have tremendous bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

Eighty-seven percent of the Congress voted a couple weeks ago for the National Defense Authorization Act, 87 percent, Republican and Democrat. They are with you. The Congress is with you.

And that's because we are going to be accountable for every dollar we spend to build their confidence in the budgets that they have been providing. That's the third line of effort.

But I want to talk, first about lethality because everything we, in this room, do must contribute to increased lethality and militaries in history that lost sight of that lost battles.

Americans, we Americans, we have no God-given right victory on the battlefield. So we need you, my fine young National Guardsmen, at the top of your game.

Lethality begins when we are physically, mentally and spiritually fit to be evaluated by the most exacting auditor on earth. And that auditor is war.

. . .

So lethality, readiness all go hand-in-hand. Our second line of effort, this department is laser focused on strengthening alliances and building new partnerships. I've fought many times on many battlefields.

I had a great privileged to do so. I have never fought in an all-American formation in history. History is very clear, nations with allies thrive. Those without allies die.

It's hard work and Churchill said it best, he said, "The only thing harder than fighting with allies, is fighting without them."

So, I had that privilege to fight many times, but I will tell you, that having allies at your side is a great, great asset when the chips are down.

I would point out that you Guardsmen have a unique opportunity to build connective tissue and confidence with partner nations, military to military, human heart to human heart, through the state partnership programs.

Last week I was in Latin Am. , where your units are building regional stability as we speak. In Brazil, one of the subjects I discussed with my counterpart would be how to craft one of the most important strategic relationships that we face with that nation that is coming of age.

In Argentina, troops from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia were training alongside troops from the Andes and the Pampas.

In Chile, the Texas National Guard is being requested to enhance defense cooperation with a key Latin American Pacific partner, specifically on protection of Chile's cyber domain, an area of concern, I might add, increasingly shared by every democracy that I speak with.

In the Middle East, when Jordan led a retaliatory strike against ISIS for torturing and burning alive a pilot who had been shot down, that strike was planned and led by a Colorado Air National Guardsman,

flying wingman to the king of Jordan; our National Guard, building confidence in a key ally's brave leader.

Similarly, Alaska's Air National Guard has provided critical support to Mongolia as it develops a new air force capability.

And remember, Mongolia had a choice of partners in this, the U.S. or their close neighbor, China, or perhaps their other close neighbors, Russia.

*** @ThomasWictor this is for you***

I need you to be open to being persuaded by foreign nations, not just to listen to them. Recognize that not all the best ideas in warfare come from the nation with the most aircraft carriers.

When the tough times comes and the thin veneer of civilization is stripped away from us, we are tempted to close ranks, interacting only with those who look like us, dress like us, speak like us, think like us.

You must not fall into that trap because trusted and honest allies have always got their disagreements between themselves, politically or on some economic issue.

But military to military, those who believe today's debates are unprecedented have not read enough history. These things have always happened, but we have been able to fight together on the battlefield with like-minded nations. There's nothing new under the sun.

We certainly faced nothing more complex than the Suez crisis of 1956 or the Ural missile debates of the 1970s, so I need you to use your example and your persuasive force of personality;

your example to make our allies and our partners sense that they are valued for what they bring to the fight, reminding them by your word and deed that they can count on us in bringing out the manhood in their troops, and sharing their confidence that builds theirs.

As I said before, our world is awash in change. It's a time of great promise, but it's also a time of great peril. For our experiment in democracy to long endure, our country needs citizen soldiers willing to go,

as the poet puts it, "far from the well-lit avenues of life," when called upon.

. . .

For the first time in 70 years, we are going to conduct an audit of every bit of money that we're spending in DOD. We're going to find problems, and I'm going to correct every one of them.

But this is part of how I can look Congress in the eye and say we're accountable for what we're doing.

So part of this is to make sure we build confidence in the Congress, that we're spending the money wisely for what they gave it to us for.