    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 11 (Monday, March 22, 1993)]
    [Pages 410-412]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Radio Address to the Armed Forces

     March 12, 1993

        Good afternoon. I'm coming to you from aboard the United States Ship
    Theodore Roosevelt, which left yesterday from Norfolk, Virginia, on a 6-
    month mission. What I've seen on this ship today only increases my pride
    not only in the sailors and marines I met but also in every soldier,
    every sailor, every airman, every marine who serves our Nation, from
    Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Germany, where Americans are leaving to
    airdrop lifesaving supplies into Bosnia, to Somalia, where our Armed
    Forces have served with great distinction and made every American proud.
        I'm honored to join you on Armed Forces Radio. I've had many
    blessings this year: the privilege of meeting Americans all across our
    Nation, the opportunity to hear about their lives and their dreams for
    our future, and of course, the opportunity to become the President of
    the United States. But there is no greater honor than actually serving
    as America's Commander in Chief.
        Your work is often dangerous, even when times are quiet. Your day at
    the office can be 6 months or longer. And it's not for the money, it's
    always for the country. Because America's Armed Forces are more than the
    backbone of our security, you're the shining model of our best values:
    dedication and responsibility and the willingness of you and your loved
    ones to bear a tremendous level of sacrifice. You commit your daily
    energies and even your lives to benefit your fellow Americans.
        Our armed services stand as one of history's great successes. Every
    color, every background, every region of our society is represented in
    America's Armed Forces. The American military pioneered our Nation's
    progress toward integration and equal opportunity. It's America's most
    effective education and training system. It's constantly adapted to
    change and always rising to the challenge of change. You, and all who
    wear America's uniforms, are what make the United States a true
    superpower. It is your skill, your professionalism, your courage, and
    your dedication to country and service that constitutes the muscle, the
    sinew, and the soul of our strength. And today I salute you.
        I want to say a special word about the Navy since I'm on board this
    fine ship today. It means a lot to a Commander in Chief to have a ready
    fleet. When word of a crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident
    that the first question is: Where is the nearest carrier? This ship's
    namesake, President Theodore Roosevelt, once said, ``The Navy of the
    United States is the right arm of the United States and is emphatically
    the peacemaker.'' Theodore Roosevelt was the first American ever to win
    the Nobel Peace Prize, in part with the help of the United States Navy.
        We have a great stake, you and I, in maintaining a strong American
    defense and in working hard even at the end of the cold war. The
    Theodore Roosevelt played an important part in the end of the cold war.
    In 1988, it was here that an American Chairman

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    of the Joint Chiefs of Staff first welcomed his Soviet counterpart to
    visit an American aircraft carrier. That was when my friend Admiral
    William Crowe and Marshal Sergey Akhromeyev stepped aboard this ship to
    meet the crew and watch flight operations just as I have done today. It
    was a key milestone on the path to the end of the cold war.
        Less than 5 years later, the world has changed, faster than anyone
    could have possibly guessed. The cold war is over. The Soviet Union no
    longer exists. The Warsaw Pact is gone. The specter of Soviet tanks
    rolling westward across the northern German plains no longer haunts us.
    But the world remains a dangerous and increasingly an uncertain place.
    Saddam Hussein confirmed that. The tragic violence in Bosnia reminds us
    of that every day. The proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of
    mass destruction is unfortunately a growing, not a receding, menace. And
    human suffering, such as that in Somalia, may not threaten our shores
    but still requires us to act.
        These challenges are new in many ways, but we dare not overlook
    their significance. Blinders never provide security. A changed security
    environment demands that we change our security arrangement. Yes, we are
    reducing the defense budget because of the end of the cold war, but
    we're not downsizing for its own sake, we're trying to rightsize our
    security for security's sake. And as we change, we must keep a few core
    ideas in mind: Our military first must be exceptionally mobile, with
    first-rate sealift, airlift, and ability to project power. Our military
    must be agile, with an emphasis on maneuver, on speed, and on
    technological superiority. Our firepower must be precise so that we can
    minimize the exposure to harm for men and women who wear our uniform and
    reduce civilian casualties. Our military must be flexible so that we can
    operate with diverse coalition partners in different parts of the world.
    Our forces must be smart with the intelligence and communications we
    need for complex threats. And above all, our military must be ever-
    ready, given the unpredictability of new threats.
        None of these goals are possible without a quality force. The people
    on this ship and all of you who are listening to me exemplify that
    quality. It is your skills, your experience, your training, and your
    dedication that will get the job done for America and guarantee that our
    vital interests can be protected.
        While all of you carry out your mission so far from home, we back
    home will be engaged in many debates on defense policy. I will tell you
    that there are changes which lie ahead. Defense cuts are, and have been
    for the last several years, a fact of life, an inescapable consequence
    of the new world you've worked so hard to create. As you watch the news
    or read newspapers, you will hear us talk of new roles and missions and
    you'll see news about bases and budget cuts. But as we reduce defense
    spending, we must not leave the men and women who won the cold war out
    in the cold. As these bases close, as close some of them must, we must
    not close our eyes and our hearts to the need for new investments and a
    need to create new jobs in communities with old bases.
        Defense spending has been declining since 1986, but there's been no
    real plan about what to do on it, no real plan for military personnel
    mustered out, no real plan for civilian workers who have lost their jobs
    or for the communities who have been hurt or for the companies who have
    been devastated. We can't repeal the laws of change, but we do have a
    choice: We can be buffeted by change, or we can act boldly to use this
    change to make our country stronger and safer and smarter. That's why
    it's so important to make the investments we need in defense conversion,
    in education and training and new jobs in new industries. I want to help
    ensure that those of you who choose to leave the military in the years
    to come return to a nation of jobs and growth and opportunity.
        As you follow the news of all these changes, I ask you to remember
    this: I am immensely proud of who you are and what you're doing. And as
    these changes proceed I pledge that as long as I am your President, you
    and the other men and women in uniform will continue to be the best
    trained, the best prepared, the best equipped fighting force in the
    world. There is no single decision I take more seriously than those
    involving the use of force. As I weigh crises that confront

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    America around the world, you will be in my mind and in my heart.
        This is, on balance, a very hopeful time. But still, it is full of
    challenges. We can be glad that your mission is not darkly framed by the
    cold war's confrontation with a nuclear adversary. But many new duties
    and dangers are taking the place of that single stark threat, some of
    them yet unknown. There is no sonar, no radar that can enable us to
    fathom all the changes in terrain over which we are about to set sail.
        Napoleon had a standing order to his corps commanders to, quote,
    ``March to the sound of the gun.'' He meant that when the shooting
    starts on a battlefield, it is the soldier's obligation to move into the
    fight. Today, there are many different security challenges into which we
    must all move. And at times, you who serve our Nation in uniform may be
    called upon to answer not only the sound of guns but also the call of
    distress, or a summons to keep the peace in a troubled part of the
    world, or even the cry of starving children. The cause may be more
    diverse, but our values must remain unchanged, our purposes clear. And
    your commitment to serve remains the linchpin in every new and
    continuing effort.
        I know that for some of you listening to me today, this is a
    difficult time. You have left your family, your friends, your home. I
    hope you understand that your work is vitally important to your fellow
    Americans and to the President and to this very new and very hopeful
    world we are trying to nourish and to build. The American people have
    great faith in what you do. Their faith is well placed, and I thank you
    for your service.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:03 p.m. from the U.S.S. Theodore
    Roosevelt. This item was not received in time for publication in the
    appropriate issue.