Posted by lex, on October 1, 2007
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, writes to American servicemen and families:
I am honored today to begin my term as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As I do, allow me to thank you for your service at this critical time in our Nation’s history.
Whether you serve in Baghdad or Bagram, Kabul or Kuwait — whether you find yourself at sea in the Pacific, flying support missions over Europe, on the ground in Africa, or working every day at stateside bases — you are making a difference and so is every person in your family. Your service matters. And I do not take it for granted.
The world is a dangerous place. The hundreds of thousands of you who have deployed since September 11th — many of you more than once — already know that. You’ve stood up to those dangers. You have lost friends to them. You may even have lost some of yourself to them. The dangers of this new and uncertain era have hit you and the people you love squarely in the gut. I will not lose sight of that.
Nor should any of us lose sight of the need to continue serving. The enemies we face, from radical jihadists to regional powers with nuclear ambitions, directly and irrefutably threaten our vital national interests. They threaten our very way of life.
You stand between these dangers and the American people. You are the sentinels of freedom. You signed up, took an oath, made a promise to defend something larger than yourselves. And then you went out and did it. I am grateful and honored, to be able to serve alongside you.
