thank you
Mr chairman General thanks for being
here you and your family thanks for your
service
as we talked about yesterday we want to
try to keep politics out of uh out of
your business you don't need that and I
apologize for what you've had to go
through this morning some of your
hearing times shouldn't shouldn't you
shouldn't hadn't gone through that but
because you can't control that okay so
but I thank you for being here uh but
you're going to find out in your
recruiting we've talked about recruiting
today your three biggest hurdles are
going to be politicians the media and
social media that's going to be your
three biggest problems uh I've gone
through that before not in the military
but also in coaching and so uh
that's some things that you're going to
have to fight through I'm just a one
little story about a year ago I
tell you a sad story one of the big
things that we get here uh that you get
uh
satisfaction from is to be able to
nominate young men and women to the
military academies which is awesome I
mean it's awesome accomplishment
they've worked for it all their life
they put their heart and soul into it
and I called a young man last year in
Alabama and it had been his lifelong
goals he perfect in every score
and in school and he said coach I'm
going to turn it down
I've read too much in the media about
what's going on I don't want any part of
it that's the direction that we're
headed in this country we need kids like
him to be in the military not force them
out because of too much dying politics
so uh good luck to you and I think
you're going to do an awesome job I want
to ask you about
the future long-ring assault aircraft
the new helicopter that we're getting
ready to start and you're going to be
the recipient of that uh what's your
thoughts about it you know the decision
that we've made you know with the Dual
rotor
you're talking uh Flora yeah well I
think that uh that helicopter obviously
the the ones that we've had and I've
been you know on for the last 20 years
or great this one you're going to get
double the speed and double the range
and have the ability to upgrade them
from them I think that that will be a
significant Improvement and as I
mentioned up front we have to constantly
be looking to evolve and I think that
this will help us definitely help us to
do that you think that's going to help
us in the indo-pacific you know the Army
being involved if there has to be a
future conflict I I do yes senator
because of the size speed I think the
size and the speed and getting and
moving things around yes Senator thank
you you know tomorrow
you know I'll be meeting with General
Hamilton you know the commander of the
army material command as you know
Anniston Depot is a designated Center of
industrial and Technology Excellence for
vehicles such as the M1 Abram tank and
the striker the depot has teammates
deployed around the world and direct
support of our nation's warfighters
providing service and repairs in the
field especially in this time of of the
conflict we're having in Europe
General what's being done to ensure that
the Depots around the country can meet
the current
forecasted workload to replenish what
we're losing now
um Senator first uh as I mentioned to
you I think uh we're super proud of
Anniston a lot of what ends up in in
Ukraine has been touched by the great
Workforce it's uh that's down there at
Anniston and also helping with all of
the logistics is also coming out of uh
of redstone
um we are in the process of updating the
industrial base it's critically
important to the Army really to the
Joint Force and to our nation we have a
long-range plan to do that and we've
kind of broken it up in inter increments
to prioritize what we can do
we had spent a good amount 1.5 billion
dollars out of our budget thanks to
Congress we got an additional uh 1.6
billion and I think you know we're
continuing to look at at that and what
we need to do to pull it left it's
oftentimes not as easy as just going out
and fixing everything all at once
because we also have to continue to do
what we're doing at Anna's so you have
to figure out how you're upgrading it
while continuing the mission I'm amazed
at how many people it takes to run a
tank not the people inside but the
people that follow along the fuel the
the maintenance mechanics I mean it is
it is unbelievable just just looking
through that scenario but uh again
congratulations thank you your family
and look forward to going to Redstone
and Fort Nova cell and Anniston in near
future thank you thank you thank you
Senator Senator Kelly please thank you
Mr chairman and uh good to see you again
General and