JANUARY 17, 2025 – At Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, yesterday, the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff bid farewell to President Joe Biden, who has served as commander in chief of the U.S. military for four years.
The leaders praised Biden’s contributions to the military and support for service members.
The president secured funds needed to support the department’s mission, equipment and troops, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., said. He also ensured the U.S. military remains prepared for whatever challenges are on the horizon.
“President Biden’s work with Congress on bipartisan legislation has set our military on a course to confront the threats of tomorrow, to ensure our warfighters are ready when the nation calls,” Brown said.
“He supported significant investments in shipbuilding to modernize and expand our naval fleet. We are on track to increase the number and lethality of our fighters and bombers and to expand our space domain capabilities.”
Brown said DOD is now able to increase long-range fire capability, implement next-generation combat vehicles and improve air and missile defense. The department is also modernizing its nuclear triad. He attributed all of this to Biden’s leadership.
But Biden’s impact can be felt on more than just improved equipment, the chairman said.
“President Biden has worked tirelessly to care for our men and women in uniform and their families, improving the quality of military housing, providing historic pay raises and implementing new programs to expand the benefits available to all service members,” he said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said the president dramatically strengthened America’s global network of allies and partners.
“He rallied the free world to help Ukraine fight for its freedom after Putin’s indefensible invasion [and] positioned America to succeed in strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China,” the secretary said.
Under Biden, Austin said, NATO expanded with the inclusion of Sweden and Finland. And when Hamas attacked Israel, the president demonstrated America’s commitment to Israel’s security.
“He helped defend Israel from outrageous direct attacks by Iran, and he’s prevented the Middle East from erupting into an all-out regional war,” Austin said. “And he has just secured a ceasefire that will stop the fighting in Gaza, surge more humanitarian aid to suffering Palestinian civilians and reunite the hostages with their families.”
Austin said he learned a lot from working with the president over the past four years.
“Mr. President, it has been an honor to serve with you,” the secretary told Biden. “I hope that future presidents and secretaries of defense will enjoy similar relationships of trust, candor and friendship. Our entire department stands together today. We salute your service to the republic that we defend, [and] we are deeply, deeply grateful for your love of our troops.”
Biden told the troops gathered at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall that serving as their commander in chief has been the greatest honor of his life.
“While I’m deeply grateful for your thanks and affection,” the president said, “I’m here to thank you for your service to our nation [and] for allowing me to bear witness to your courage, your commitment, your character.”
Biden thanked service members for, among other things, concluding the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan, the department’s efforts to defend Ukraine against Russia and Israel against Hamas, for operations in the Red Sea to defend commerce there against Houthi attacks, and for their work in growing the strength and size of the NATO alliance.
“Everything I and others have asked of you, you’ve done … with honor, commitment, grit and guts,” he said. “Let me close with a final request. I say it not as your president or commander in chief. I say it as a man who spent 50 years of his life serving his country in a different way: remember your oath.”
The president said the U.S. military is the strongest, best-trained, best-equipped fighting force in the world, but that is not what makes it the best military in the world.
“It’s our values — American values — our commitment to honor, to integrity, to unity, to protecting and defending not a person or a party or a place, but an idea,” he said.
That idea, Biden said, part of the Declaration of Independence, is that all Americans are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“That’s the idea that generations of service members have fought for, an idea you’ve sworn an oath to defend,” the president said. “As a nation, we’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never, ever, ever walked away from it. And our country is counting on you to ensure that that will always be true.”
By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News