WEBVTT

1
00:00:07.927 --> 00:00:10.015
[SECRETARY KELLY]
Well thanks commandant, thanks very much

2
00:00:10.015 --> 00:00:16.101
and I will be very, very brief.
Um two bits of advice and I know an

3
00:00:16.110 --> 00:00:18.901
awful lot of people will be giving
you advice but I’ll tell you the ones

4
00:00:19.471 --> 00:00:22.776
that got me through forty five and a
half years of leading Marines, soldiers,

5
00:00:22.776 --> 00:00:25.962
sailors, airmen, and Coasties in combat &
in peacetime. Take care of your people.

6
00:00:26.062 --> 00:00:32.008
Train them. Mentor them. Defend them.
They will do anything you ask them to do.

7
00:00:32.748 --> 00:00:37.384
They’ll show up to work on time.
They will put their lives at risk, on

8
00:00:37.424 --> 00:00:42.098
the high seas interdicting drugs in tons,
tons, dealing with the most dangerous

9
00:00:42.148 --> 00:00:46.181
men on the planet, or they would jump out
of a helicopter in the middle of the

10
00:00:46.181 --> 00:00:53.375
night into raging seas to save someone’s
life. All you have to do is lead them.

11
00:00:54.795 --> 00:00:59.271
The second thing I wanted to share with
you is, is a bit of advice.

12
00:01:00.591 --> 00:01:04.007
Tell the truth.
Tell the truth to your seniors

13
00:01:05.427 --> 00:01:08.150
even though it is uncomfortable,
even though they may not want to hear it.

14
00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:10.964
They deserve that.
Tell the truth.

15
00:01:11.164 --> 00:01:14.015
And finally a quick story
about what you are about to do.

16
00:01:14.325 --> 00:01:16.506
Because it’s all going to get fairly
serious here in a minute.

17
00:01:17.176 --> 00:01:21.640
As you go from cadets to commissioned
officers. About 42 million Americans

18
00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:26.886
in our history have taken the oath
that you are about to take. More or less.

19
00:01:27.016 --> 00:01:30.274
42 million Americans,
about a million of them have died

20
00:01:30.354 --> 00:01:34.666
in defense of their country.
And as the story goes,

21
00:01:34.866 --> 00:01:38.263
we have a very, very unique oath.
The most unique oath on the planet.

22
00:01:39.803 --> 00:01:42.507
If we were in London right now
and you were graduating from whatever

23
00:01:42.607 --> 00:01:47.271
school you would be taking an oath
to the sovereign, to the queen.

24
00:01:47.331 --> 00:01:51.107
If we were in France,
you’d be taking an oath to the French people.

25
00:01:51.807 --> 00:01:55.245
If we were in Beijing,
you’d be taking an oath

26
00:01:55.425 --> 00:01:59.119
to the Communist Party.
And there are various others.

27
00:01:59.249 --> 00:02:02.379
We are the only country,
you are the only people

28
00:02:02.479 --> 00:02:08.181
that will take an oath to a concept.
Embodied, in a piece of paper,

29
00:02:08.251 --> 00:02:13.209
called the US Constitution.
So understand first and foremost

30
00:02:13.549 --> 00:02:15.655
we are a nation of laws.
And if we use that as

31
00:02:15.735 --> 00:02:17.799
our guiding document
we will never, ever go wrong.

32
00:02:17.909 --> 00:02:21.665
So where did the oath come from?
As the story goes it’s generally accurate

33
00:02:21.775 --> 00:02:26.659
as I understand it. They were about
to inaugurate our very first President,

34
00:02:26.749 --> 00:02:30.081
who’d never done that before,
George Washington, in our first capital,

35
00:02:30.171 --> 00:02:34.590
New York City. They were just about to go
out and do it, and someone said, don't

36
00:02:34.630 --> 00:02:41.081
we need an oath? Because up until then
they had been Englishmen and Englishmen

37
00:02:41.351 --> 00:02:44.001
and Englishmen and Englishwomen had
always taken their oath to the sovereign.

38
00:02:44.071 --> 00:02:48.075
So they sat down and wrote up the oath
that you generally are about to take

39
00:02:48.135 --> 00:02:52.533
and handed it to George Washington
before he became President.

40
00:02:52.603 --> 00:02:56.738
The only thing he added
to that oath was so help me God.

41
00:02:57.948 --> 00:03:01.523
So as you take the oath today
understand that you are swearing

42
00:03:01.643 --> 00:03:05.041
to the American people,
to a piece of paper,

43
00:03:05.191 --> 00:03:09.243
to uphold the Constitution
of the United States

44
00:03:09.373 --> 00:03:13.224
against all enemies foreign and domestic,
and to your death,

45
00:03:13.464 --> 00:03:16.525
you are willing to go,
to fulfill that oath.

46
00:03:16.695 --> 00:03:20.366
So from one Marine
to a whole bunch of cadets

47
00:03:20.426 --> 00:03:25.455
just about to be commissioned officers,
I wish you well, farewell, fair winds,

48
00:03:25.495 --> 00:03:27.421
and following seas
as we say in the Naval services.

49
00:03:27.511 --> 00:03:32.211
God Bless you, God Bless your parents.
And you can now go do it and lead

50
00:03:32.331 --> 00:03:36.345
those young Coasties into what duties
they are accomplishing.

51
00:03:36.405 --> 00:03:40.828
So again, I am incredibly proud
to be up here.

52
00:03:41.068 --> 00:03:47.748
And with that my duty, my honor now,
is to introduce our President,

53
00:03:48.048 --> 00:03:53.298
our Commander in Chief, Donald Trump.
Thank you very much.