Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
President Biden continued his farewell tour of Washington, D.C., on Thursday with wide-ranging final remarks to America’s service members, touting their defense record while praising the military and urging them to remember their oath to uphold the US Constitution.
“Our commitment to honor, to integrity, to unity, to protect and defend not a person, a party or a place, but an idea,” Biden said. “This is the idea that generations of service members have fought for, an idea you’ve sworn to uphold as a nation. We’ve never lived up to that idea, but we’ve never, ever, ever strayed from it. Our country is counting on you to make sure this is always true.”
Biden, addressing a crowd of service members and officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr., Vice President Harris and First Lady Jill Biden, moments earlier he had received a Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Department of Defense.
He then took to the podium to praise the troops, sailors and airmen for representing “America’s character, honesty, integrity and commitment.”
“Every time I’m here, it’s made me so proud to be an American,” Biden said at the farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia.
“Serving as Commander in Chief has been the greatest honor of my life. While I am deeply grateful for your appreciation and affection, I am here to say thank you. Thank you for your service to our nation, for allowing’ m testify to your courage, your commitment, your character”.
He went on to highlight a myriad of actions during his time in the White House, including investing “record resources to fight the scourge of military suicide,” bringing homelessness to new heights, changes to the military justice system, which he said he has reduced rates. of sexual assault for the first time in nearly a decade: ending President-elect Trump’s ban on transgender service members, creating more economic opportunities for military spouses and expanding opportunities for women in combat roles.
Biden spent several minutes on his administration’s effort to enact the PACT Act, legislation that increases access to medical care for veterans exposed to toxic burn waste and substances. The issue is especially close to her heart, given that her eldest son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 after being diagnosed with brain cancer believed to be the result of exposure to military burn pits while serving in Iraq.
He also praised the troops for their role in ending the war in Afghanistan in August 2021, a chaotic and deadly withdrawal that his adversaries have often attacked his handling of.
“When I asked you to end our nation’s longest war, you rose to the occasion … achieving the greatest airlift in military history in any war,” he said. “I think history will reflect that it was the right thing to do, but I know it was difficult.” He noted that he has the pain of losing 13 service members during the withdrawal “every day.”
And just six months after that war ended, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Biden called on the US military to help Kiev, “you didn’t hesitate. You kept Ukraine in the fight, you training Ukrainian soldiers and pilots, the troops strengthened NATO’s eastern flank, and above all, you showed the world that America stands for freedom.”
He also pointed to US deployments in the Middle East following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, which led to several regional conflicts, including between Israel and Iran and its proxies in Lebanon , Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
“You step up, doing long nights and long deployments to weaken Hamas, to defend Israel from unprecedented attacks from Iran. Imagine if not. If we don’t lead the world, who will lead the world? WHO?” Biden said, his voice rising.
She also highlighted her appointment of the first female chief of service and the first female Joint Chiefs of Staff in US history, Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who became Chief of Naval Operations in November 2023.
To close his remarks, Biden added that he had an additional request for the military, made as someone who “spent 50 years of his life serving his country in a different way,” referring to his time in the United States Senate, as vice. president, and as president.
“Remember your oath,” he said.
