Joint Chiefs of Staff

GENERAL JOSEPH F. DUNFORD JR.:  Hey, thanks very much.  Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  And you expect me to say it, but it’s an absolute honor for my wife Ellyn and I to join you here this evening on such a special night.

And the first thing I want do to John Pray and the Operation Homefront team is to say thanks.  And I have the privilege of saying thanks on behalf of all of the men and women in uniform for what you do to our – for our military families.  And you know what I like about the way this organization characterizes what we do for military families?  They don’t help families get through the sacrifice.  They don’t help families deal with the challenge of military lifestyles.  They help families thrive in that environment.  And there is a difference.  And there’s a difference. 

And I think when we see this evening’s award recipients we won’t see people that have somehow survived the sacrifices of the military lifestyle.  We’ll see people that have had challenges in their own life that actually go far beyond the challenges they confronted in a military lifestyle.  And we’re going to see young people who have actually thrived.  And I can’t put a price tag on what that means to us in support of the Operation Homefront.

And, John, you had just about everybody else in the room stand up earlier this evening except for you and your team.  And what I’d ask now is for all of those that are part of Operation Homefront to please stand up and just let us say again, on behalf of all men and women in uniform, thank you.  (Applause, cheers.)

You know, John said that I would somehow try to put into words what this organization means to those of us in uniform and maybe to describe a little bit about military families, and to tell you the truth, as I was preparing to come over here, you know, I actually couldn’t come up with the words myself to be able to really – to get really at the heart of what it means to me, especially a military family. 

And I could, like Mike did, share some of the similar stories about our own family – you know, over three decades married, raised all of our children in the military – and I can tell you the stories about changing high schools senior year and worried about whether they were going to get into college, and all the things that our military children put up with.  But what came to mind is one of my favorite stories that for me actually captures the essence of what it really means to our military to have strong families, the foundation of the military.

And I think those of you who have been around people in uniform know that we all like to compare ourselves frequently to the Spartans, right?  So you meet people in uniform and we always talk about the Spartans because the Spartans were, in their day, the most confident, the most feared warriors in the world, for the world as it existed in that time.  And there’s more to this story of the Spartans than just that.  And part of that came from – I read a few years ago a book called “Gates of Fire.”  Some of you have read that – have read that particular book.

And the book tells the story about the Battle of Thermopylae in 490 B.C.  And at that time, thousands of Persians were attacking the Greek city states, and the Greek city states couldn’t actually get organized and they were about to be overrun.  And finally the king of Sparta had to make a pretty tough decision.  He said, look, I’m going to have to pick 300 warriors to go up to the pass at Thermopylae – with what we call today mission orders – and tell them nothing more than, hey, get up to that pass and stop the Persian horde and let us have the time that we need to get organized for a much more effective response.

And when you read the book, you really don’t know how the king came to select those 300 warriors, for most of the book.  And, you know, you think, well, he probably picked the warriors that had experience.  But he had thousands of warriors in that army to pick from that were experienced.  You might have said, well, they were the ones that were most proficient in the arms of the day, the sword and the shield.  But again, he had thousands that had proven themselves in combat to be proficient.  You might have said, well, was it volunteers?  Once again, he had many, many more volunteers than just the 300 that he had. 

You don’t find out how he selected those 300 warriors until the end of the book.  And there’s an exchange that takes place between the king and a woman.  And the woman comes up to the king – this is after the battle now and all but one, the one who allegedly wrote the story, has perished.  And she said, you know, you chose 300 warriors, and from my family – and you had thousands to pick from, but from my family you picked my husband and you picked my son, the only males in our family, and they’re both gone.  Why did you ask our family to sacrifice so much when so many others didn’t sacrifice at all?

And the king paused and he said, I knew that this was going to be a long fight and I knew I was going to have to ask our people to make great sacrifices.  And the reason I picked those 300 is because of the strength of their families, because of the strength of their spouses and the strength of their children.  And I knew what I needed is I needed families that would set the example for the other families, so that for years to come our nation would be able to be mobilized and do what has to be done to protect our freedom.

Ladies and gentleman, that little anecdote to me tells me that, one, that king was pretty smart and he recognized that the strength of his army and really the strength of his nation, the foundation, was those families, the support structure that those warriors and the example that those families would set for Sparta in the tough days that were sure to follow, in his mind.

But I also think that what was true in 490 B.C. is no less true today.  Today I would tell you that we ask our young men and women in uniform to do a great deal, and particularly after the last 14 years I think it’s fair to say the folks in this room certainly don’t need me to remind you of all that we’ve asked from our families – great sacrifice – some of the folks that have made that sacrifice sitting in this room here this evening.  You know, both Gold Star families and others who are wounded are here tonight to represent those who have made such great sacrifices.

And I would just tell you that the resilience of our families.  And in particular, what we recognize and what we honor tonight, the resilience of our children, is absolutely what has allowed us to do the things that we have asked our force to do for these 14 years, or frankly during the time that the singer has just mentioned, you know, World War II, whether it be Korea, Vietnam and so forth.  The strength of the U.S. armed forces, the strength of our nation is, in fact, in many ways, our military families.  And that’s what Operation Homefront celebrates. 

And frankly, I can tell you from personal experience there is no way that I would be standing here today, 39 years of active duty – there is no way that I would still be doing this if our children hadn’t had the resilience to deal with the military lifestyle, if Ellyn and I didn’t think that we could move our children from place to place and from school to school and that somehow they’d figure out a way to adapt and become young adults and be contributing members of society.  Had we not thought we could do that in the military, we would not have been able to make the choices that we made. 

And tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you know, we’re recognizing some children who have demonstrated those qualities of resilience, who have not just gotten by in the military lifestyle; they have thrived with the challenges associated with the military lifestyle.  They have thrived.  And that’s what we recognize today.  And for Operation Homefront to support that kind of – that kind of young person who sets the example for all the rest of us, I can’t put a price tag on it and can’t tell you how much, John, that we appreciate that. 

And so, ladies and gentlemen, again, for Ellyn and I, a tremendous honor to be here this evening, a tremendous honor to be here to recognize the young people that are going to quickly follow me here on the stage.  And for all those here from Operation Homefront, and as importantly, all those who support the mission of Operation Homefront, please once again, on behalf of those of us in uniform, accept my sincere thanks and gratitude for what you do, because we are able to do what we do because you do what you do.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)