Honoring Our Nation's Elite: Steve Attends USASOC Change-of-Command

Statement

Today my wife Meg and I had the privilege of attending the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) change-of-command ceremony at Fort Bragg. My friend Lieutenant General Mulholland departed command after nearly 4 years at the helm as commander of all US Army Special Operations Forces. I served with him twice, at Fort Bragg and Fort Campbell, and know of no finer senior leader. I feel the same about his wife and family. I first met incoming Lieutenant General Cleveland in Northern Iraq in 2003 when he commanded the Special Operations Task Force there for the invasion and met again later when he was Chief of Staff at USASOC. Our nation is well served by these men and the men and women under their command who are still deploying overseas, often in harm's way. All the speakers today recognized the sacrifices of our Special Operations Forces soldiers and their families, especially the Gold Star Wives that were present. God bless you all.

It also brought back a lot of memories for me since I graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course at Fort Bragg in 1988 and had several Special Operations assignments at Fort Bragg and other posts. I saw several old friends, familiar faces, and the monuments around the headquarters that are a reminder that we have no shortage of brave Americans willing to volunteer for the toughest duty and most dangerous assignments. And, if you live in the Second District, these soldiers and their families live among us in almost all of our counties and communities. Few live on Fort Bragg. No matter your opinions on our foreign policy and conflicts abroad, please tell them thanks for the sacrifices they make every day.

As a member of the US Congress I'll fight to ensure we keep our commitments to our veterans and work with our business communities, schools, and economic developers to take advantage of the talent our veterans and their families bring to central North Carolina. They're good neighbors while they're in the service and assets to our communities when they retire. I'll also ensure we make smart decisions in our defense budgets so these elite soldiers get the training, equipment, and quality of life they need to protect us and our interests.

There's a lot at stake for our great nation in this election cycle, and there remains a lot of work to be done to get our domestic policies back on track. Under my watch, none of it will happen at the expense of our nation's women and men in uniform or compromise our responsibility to protect their families' interests.

God bless our service members, and God bless America.

Steve

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