    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [May 19, 2000]
    [Pages 968-971]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Armed Forces Day in
    Suitland, Maryland
    May 19, 2000

        Thank you very much. Secretary Cohen,
    thank you for your kind words and your truly exemplary leadership of the
    Department of Defense. Secretary Slater,
    thank you for your presence here and the support you have given the
    Coast Guard. General Shelton, thank you for
    your lifetime of service and for your leadership of the Joint Chiefs.
    And Senator Glenn, I thank you for your service,
    your personal friendship to me, and your astonishing lifetime example.
    We're all looking forward to going into space in our late seventies,
    thanks to you. I thank the members

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    of the Joint Chiefs and the Service Secretaries. General Jones, General Shalikashvili, thank you for being here. Ladies and gentlemen of our
    Armed Forces, family members, and friends.
        I want to begin, if I might, by paying tribute to the men and women
    of our military who work in the White House, my Andrews-based Air Force
    One crews, my helicopter crews, my military aides, and those from every
    branch of the services who actually work at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
    Without you, we couldn't do America's business, stand up for America's
    interests, or even keep the White House open as America's house. Thank
    you for 7\1/2\ wonderful years.
        As has already been said, 50 years ago tomorrow America marked the
    first Armed Forces Day. It was then an uncertain time for our country,
    Americans coming to realize that our new global leadership carried with
    it global responsibilities, chief among them, the defense of freedom
    across the world. American troops then still occupied Germany and soon
    would be pouring into Korea. All around us there were new and terrifying
    weapons, determined adversaries, and an unfamiliar landscape. Against
    that backdrop, President Truman moved to put in place the foundations of
    America's modern military, a force united under the Department of
    Defense.
        The first Armed Forces Day celebrated service unity, honored those
    in uniform, and reassured Americans that our military was ready for
    whatever challenges lay ahead. Fifty years later we can look back
    proudly on a half-century in which America's best have more than met
    those challenges. We are as secure at home and safe from external threat
    today as we have been at any time in our long history. For that, we owe
    every American in uniform and everyone who has served before an eternal
    debt.
        Next week, as we celebrate Memorial Day, we will remember the
    thousands of men and women who have given their lives so that we might
    live in peace. I hope all Americans will teach our children how their
    forebears fought and died for the freedoms we hold dear. I have asked
    every office in the Federal Government to observe a moment of
    remembrance for our military dead, to put the ``memorial'' back in
    Memorial Day.
        Over my service as President, I have seen our men and women in
    uniform meet every conceivable kind of challenge, from flying flawless
    missions over Kosovo, to working to contain Saddam Hussein, to keeping our word on the Korean Peninsula, to
    slogging through the mud to rebuild lives and communities in the
    aftermath of Hurricane Mitch in Central America, to keeping the peace in
    Bosnia--and everywhere you go, always representing the best of America.
        Some of you have mentioned to me, from time to time as I meet our
    service personnel, that you see in the pictures at the Oval Office the
    stands of military coins I have there given to me by units, officers,
    and enlisted personnel all over the world. I have about 400 now. And my
    historians at the White House say I have visited more military units
    than any President before. All I can tell you is, it's been one of the
    great honors of my life. I never get tired of it. And if you have a coin
    I don't have, I'd be glad to have it today. [Laughter]
        I never cease to be amazed at all the different things we ask our
    Armed Forces to do. We ask them to serve in the White House or in
    Kosovo's Camp Bondsteel, on the deck of a carrier or on the crew of a
    space shuttle launch. We ask you to defend our interests in a 21st
    century world of high-tech weapons, fast-moving, small-scale warfare,
    peacekeeping--sometimes when there's no peace to keep--and terrorism.
    But the 21st century challenge is the same essentially as President
    Truman defined 50 years ago, readiness for any eventuality. Today I want
    to talk just a little bit about what we are doing and must continue to
    do in the areas of personnel readiness, combat readiness, and civilian
    readiness to help you meet that challenge.
        As has already been said by previous speakers, the people in our
    Armed Forces are our most important asset. So our first task is doing
    the best job we can of recruiting and retaining good people, to train
    them to do their jobs right, to train them so they can do their jobs
    safely, and then to provide the state-of-the-art equipment that will
    keep them ahead of every adversary and every eventuality.
        Keeping faith with you is a sacred obligation. We've tried to do it.
    Over the last 2 years, military pay has been raised by more than 8
    percent, with another significant raise slated for this year. This
    year's raise was the largest in about 20 years. In July we're increasing
    parts of the military pay scale as much as 5 percent more to reward
    service members who gain experience and stay with us to put it to use.

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        And we must never forget that, although we recruit individuals, we
    must retain families. Thanks to the leadership in the Department of
    Defense, military child care and schools are now the envy of many
    civilians. We are working to provide better military housing and taking
    steps to improve access to medical care for all military personnel,
    families, and retirees.
        Readiness also means making sure our forces are trained to fight and
    equipped to win. The world we live in demands a high tempo of
    operations. That puts strains on individuals and families and creates
    important challenges for readiness.
        I realize that I am the first President to serve his entire service
    in the post-cold-war era and that, as a consequence, I have imposed more
    high-tempo operations on the military, more different kinds of things in
    more different circumstances than any previous President in peacetime.
    Often, when I see our young men and women in uniform, I don't know
    whether to thank them or apologize, because I know what burdens I have
    imposed on many of you and your families. All I can tell you is, America
    is a safer, stronger place and the world is a more peaceful, more
    democratic place because of what you have done. And we have to continue
    to do everything we can to ease your burdens and make it more likely
    that you will be successful.
        We have tried to watch combat readiness closely. We have tried to
    respond rapidly where there are strains. For several years now, we've
    increased the amount of money available for readiness spending,
    including $5.4 billion for the year ahead. We've worked with Congress to
    protect funds for training and equipment and proposed an increase of
    $124 billion to support military personnel, strengthen readiness, and
    speed modernization with improved facilities through the next 5 years.
    That includes the latest advances in digital communications and
    navigation technology for soldiers in the field; advanced combat
    aircraft like Super Hornets, Raptors, and the Joint Strike fighter; new
    and modernized destroyers and a new aircraft carrier; and, less exciting
    but perhaps even more important, more money for spare parts.
        I've talked about our budget and priorities for readiness, but we
    also must meet our responsibility for civilian readiness, creating an
    understanding among our elected officials and among our people at large
    that power and prestige don't just happen, that America cannot be a
    leader for peace and freedom and prosperity without paying the price.
    Civilian readiness means commitment to keeping our military the best
    trained, the best equipped, the best led fighting force. It means
    support for diplomacy that can help us avoid using force in the first
    place. It means that when we do make the difficult decision to commit
    our troops, we stay the course.
        Secretary Cohen talked about our involvement in Kosovo. Last spring
    I had the privilege of meeting with our fighting men and women, from
    Barksdale and Norfolk to Aviano and Skopje. When I met the Wing
    Commander of Spangdahlem Air Force Base in
    Germany, he told me, ``Sir, our team wants to stay with this mission
    until it's finished.'' He could have spoken for every one of our men and
    women in uniform. When we and our allies responded to the rising tide of
    violence in Kosovo, we sent a message of hope and determination to
    Europe and all the world.
        Let me remind you that there had previously been a terrible war in
    Bosnia. It took the world community a long time to respond. When we did,
    we put an end to it, and people are living and working together there in
    peace. Then as if no lesson had been learned, Mr. Milosevic drove nearly a million people out of their homes in
    a poor country, over difficult roads and adverse circumstances.
    Thousands lost their lives, but nearly a million people were run out of
    their country just because of their ethnic background and the way they
    worship God. That was a threat to our national interests because it was
    a threat to the security and stability of southeastern Europe and
    because it was a colossal affront to the basic notions of human rights
    and freedom.
        The 20th century has witnessed a lot of this kind of hate and human
    suffering. But it ended with an affirmation of freedom and human
    dignity, because in the face of division and destruction, we helped to
    stand with our allies and good people in that region for humanity and
    for freedom.
        Well, what's happened since then? Our troops are on the ground in
    Kosovo, doing another job every bit as vital, working to help the people
    there rebuild their lives and build a lasting peace. Now our allies and
    partners have taken on the lion's share of the burden. Since the end of
    the conflict, our European allies and

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    others are supplying 85 percent of the troops and nearly 85 percent of
    the police on the ground. Our share of international assistance for
    Kosovo is now well under 20 percent.
        It's been a fair burden sharing because we bore the majority of the
    responsibility for the military conflict that made the peace possible.
    But it's still important that we do our part. Our presence is vital, for
    our forces symbolize something fundamental about the promise of America,
    the possibility of true peace and, frankly, the confidence your presence
    gives to others because nobody doubts that if any job can be done, you
    will do it. Our forces in Kosovo are doing a terrific job under still
    difficult circumstances. We must give them the tools to succeed and the
    time to succeed.
        Yesterday the Senate of the United States, in bipartisan fashion,
    cast a profoundly important vote. They affirmed our Nation's commitment
    to stay the course in Kosovo, rejecting language that would have called
    our resolve into question, permitting people to say, had it passed, that
    the United States would walk away from a job half-done and leave others
    to finish. But the Senate said, ``No, we won't walk out on our allies.
    We won't turn our back on freedom's promise. It may be a difficult job,
    but we started it, and we intend to finish it.'' And I would like to
    thank the Senators, Republicans as well as Democrats, and the American
    leaders around the country, Republicans as well as Democrats, who took
    this position to stand by you until the mission is completed.
        In 1963, on Armed Forces Day, a great American veteran, President
    John Kennedy, said that our service men and women ``stand as guardians
    of peace and visible evidence of our determination to meet any threat to
    the peace with measured strength and high resolve. They are also
    evidence of a harsh but inescapable truth, that the survival of freedom
    requires great cost and commitment and great personal sacrifice.''
        We're a long way from the cold war world in which President Kennedy
    spoke those words. But today, the words are still true, where you stand
    as freedom's guardians in a world where communication is instant, but so
    is destruction; a world where the threats of the last century have
    largely been vanquished, but the timeless demons of hate and fear and
    new destructive possibilities rooted in new technologies and new
    networks are with us; in a world where millions still struggle for
    liberty, decency, and the very basics of life.
        Today America thanks you for your commitment, renews our pledge to
    stand with you, and asks you to continue to do your best and give your
    best for freedom. The last 50 years are proof that when you do your job,
    and we support you, the world is a much, much better place.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

     Note:  The President spoke at 10 a.m. in Hangar 3 at Andrews Air Force
    Base. In his remarks, he referred to former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs
    of Staff Gen. David C. Jones, USAF, (Ret.), and Gen. John M.
    Shalikashvili, USA; President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Brig. Gen. Donald
    J. Hoffman, Commander, 52d Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base; and
    President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
    (Serbia and Montenegro).