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SECDEF visits Joint Base Lewis-McChord

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Todd Wivell
  • 62nd Airlift Wing
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  On a two-day trip to the Pacific Northwest, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter took a day to visit with the service members of the Puget Sound at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, March 4.

The secretary started his day by touring a C-17 Globemaster III, a 22nd Special Tactics Squadron and 1st Air Special Operations Group static display, a Stryker vehicle and a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System vehicle. Airmen and Soldiers at each of these locations had an opportunity to brief Carter about their equipment's unique capabilities.

He also visited the 262nd Network Warfare Squadron at McChord Field to discuss cyber operations and then the I Corps Headquarters building to discuss Pacific Pathways.

Carter rounded out the trip by conducting an all call with more than 150 service members from across the Puget Sound, including Sailors and Marines from Bremerton and Bangor and Airmen and Soldiers from JBLM.

"It is great to look out at all of you and tell you how incredibly proud I am of all of you. To be at the helm of the finest fighting force the world has ever known is a tremendous privilege, and to be part of a country that has forces as strong and as decent and as principled as you are is a wonderful thing--not just for us to protect our people, but to leave a better world for our children, and that's what you do," said Carter during his opening remarks.

He noted that JBLM is at the pivot point of strategic history for the United States and stated it is that way for two reasons: doing it all and having it all.

Carter clarified what he meant by "doing it all," saying JBLM has the capabilities and is involved in all the major challenges this country faces. He outlined five major challenges that we face as a country right now.

"In the Asian-Pacific region, we have, first of all, the challenge of maintaining the role that the U.S. has played for decades and decades out here, which is to provide the military flywheel, the system of security that has allowed the Asian miracle of prosperity which has been good for America to occur," said Carter. "It has been in the atmosphere of peace and stability provided by us that Japan rose, then South Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and today China and India, and that's a good thing."

"China's rise is fine. China's aggressive behavior is not ... lots of our partners out here look to us to apply a counterweight to check anything excessive, and you do that here--all of the services represented here," said Carter.

"We talk about a rebalance to the Asian-Pacific, and that is a recognition of the fact that this part of the world--of which this region is a part--is where a half of the humanity lives and where a half of the world's economic activity is; so it is the single region of greatest consequence to the American future," he said.

He continued, speaking about challenges we face in the Pacific. He also addressed North Korea and the likelihood that this area could be a hub from which forces are moved if there were a crisis on the Korean peninsula. He spoke of Russia and how units from this area have already been participating in the European Reassurance Initiative, which is aimed at detRussian aggression in Europe. Additionally, he discussed Iran and the nuclear deal we have with them, noting that while it prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, it does not solve all of our issues with them.

He then went on to talk about one of the biggest challenges being ISIL.

"We will defeat ISIL. We have to defeat ISIL. I am confident that we will, but we need to get on with it. And we need to accelerate that process ... and defeat them, first in Syria and Iraq, which is where this cancer began, where the parent tumor was," said Carter. "We are accelerating that now. We are doing it in every possible way, and I will mention two capabilities that are resident right here."

He spoke of his visit with one of the JBLM HIMARS units and how they would be deploying to the Middle East and participating in the counter-ISIL fight. He also spoke of his visit to the cyber unit on McChord Field and talked about their operations to defend DoD networks and their efforts to help civil society defend critical infrastructure in our country.

He went on to discuss cyber-offensive operations and how they contribute to the fight against ISIL.

"We are going on the offensive against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. There is no reason why these guys should be able to exert command and control over the Internet. There is no reason why they should be sending these nasty messages around. There is no reason why they should be able to use the Internet and social media to dominate and tyrannize the people on whose territory they now sit, and we are going to knock that out," said Carter.

Carter spoke of the JBLM region's expertise in technology and how that technology benefits the military.

"That makes our force the finest fighting force the world has ever known," said Carter. "It is important that we be the first with the most, not just now but 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years from now, and that means we have to leverage the tremendously initiative American technology economy and make sure we are completely up to date and have the very best in our military."

Finally, he recognized the total force effort by guard, reserve and active duty units to work together to accomplish the mission. He shared one example he observed during his short visit.

"I visited this historic cyber unit here that is made up exactly of that--total force--and they are not only doing something path breaking that is working in the cyber domain, but they are doing it in the way that allows the military to have access to extremely experienced people in the field of technology," said Carter. "These are people who work in leading companies, but they serve their country at the same time. That's one of the beauties of having a strong reserve component in our country."

Carter left the troops with these parting words:

"So you have it all here. You do it all, and I want you to know when you talk to your families and you tell them you saw the secretary of defense ... on behalf of our entire country, he thanked you for what you do," said Carter. "You're doing the noblest thing that a person can do with their life ... right here, right now you are at a hinge of strategic history, and you are going to make strategic history. We are extremely proud of you, and I am so proud of you, and you are absolutely a wonderful capability. God help anybody who gets in your way."