WEBVTT

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- Welcome here, Sergeant Major.

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We really appreciate you coming out here

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and doing this with us at cadet summer training.

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^- I'm excited to be here, Sergeant Roldan and Amber.

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^It's an honor for me to be here with both of you.

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^- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.

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^So you've had a chance to observe some of the training

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^the cadets go through while they're here at Fort Knox.

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What did you think of it?

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- I was impressed.

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I think cadet summer training is getting after

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what we need these cadets to not only be familiar with

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but to be experienced at.

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And it's the basics, the fundamental stuff that we do,

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our foundations, that build us

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into having this warrior ethos.

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So when they learn things like basic life and marksmanship,

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when they learn things like land navigation,

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when they're doing vigorous PT,

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when they're in a field environment for 21

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of the 30 days that they're out here, I think all

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of this builds into the physical, mental,

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and emotional hardness, not just toughness,

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but hardness we need in them to be leaders in the future

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so that they can understand

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that this is what's expected of them as a leader.

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When they become a platoon leader or a lieutenant out there

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and they're an officer in charge that they have to make sure

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that the men and women under their charge have

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to be the same way.

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So I'm absolutely impressed

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with how we're getting after building this toughness

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into these cadets.

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- And why is cadet summer training important

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from the CI perspective?

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- Well this is all a part of, in the big picture,

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the big scheme of things, this is about

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defending our homeland.

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And this is a way of we get after building these young men

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and women that have made a commitment,

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they've raised their right hand to swear that they

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will support and defend our nation against all enemies,

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foreign and domestic, but a way of preparing them

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so that when they graduate and they commission

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and they go to the basic officer leadership course,

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they've already been kind of immersed in the environment

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that they're gonna end up being operating in.

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And also that this kind of training,

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as I was answering Amber's question, it builds over

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into building the kind of leaders

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that we expect out of them.

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The leaders of character.

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The leaders of example and things like that.

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So in the end, this builds readiness

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and readiness is what defends our homeland

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and our way of life and our freedoms.

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- As a CI, are there any things you observed

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from other services in the way they run

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their cadet training programs that the Army could adopt

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or learn from?

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- I think what's absolutely critical about our joint force

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is that although we're joint war fighters, in any kind

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of conflict or operation or deployment, we will do it

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in a joint and multi-national manner,

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it's absolutely critical that we have service identity.

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And so the Army trains Army cadets

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to serve as Army officers.

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The same with the Navy and Marine Corps for that matter

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and the Air Force.

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So I think that service identity is important

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and there are a lot

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of similarities in what we do, but I think each service

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does a great job of getting after what they need

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their young second lieutenants or ensigns to be

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as they enter their service for their

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Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine.

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- You had the opportunity to advise that officers

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at virtually every level and echelon in the Army

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and Department of Defense.

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So what advice would you have for these cadets

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as they prepare themselves to become second lieutenants?

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Well one, they have to understand they're gonna be a leader

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and they're gonna be a leader of consequence out there,

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especially if they're in a place like Syria, Iraq

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and Afghanistan.

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But even if they're in an assurance and deterrence mission

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in eastern Europe, or on the Korean peninsula,

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or on the south China Sea area, or anywhere that they

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have to be a leader of example and they've got

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to be a visionary.

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Some people say that company grade officers

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really don't need to have vision.

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I disagree with that.

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I think if you're a platoon leader

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and you have 30 infantryman within your platoon,

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and you're the only DOD element in a country

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like Ethiopia or somewhere like that where we're trying

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to assure allies, deter any kind

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of violent extremism efforts by Al-Shabaab

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or something like that, you have to have a vision

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of where your organization is and where you want

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that organization to be as you prepare

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for that deployment or while you're in that deployment

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and some of the priorities you ought to have

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to get after that vision.

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And then be able to impart that kind of vision

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on your platoon sergeant or your non-commissioned officers

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to be able to get out and get after that mission

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as well as developing the young men and women.

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So I think having a vision,

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having priorities are important

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but then when they get there,

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understand that they're also there to learn

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and that those non-commissioned officers

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within that organization are gonna make them

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an excellent platoon leader

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or an excellent officer in charge

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as their company grade officers, company commander, whoever,

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are gonna make them a better platoon leader or OIC.

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So they gotta have a vision, they gotta have priorities,

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they gotta understand they're in charge, but they also

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have to understand that they're there to learn

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and grow and develop and the best way for them to learn

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is from the non-commissioned officers

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that they're gonna be around every day.

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- So as someone who has dedicated your life

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to serving our nation, what advice do you have

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to millennials as we leave college and prepare

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to enter the workforce?

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- (chuckle) Well, every generation we have...

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When I as 18 years old and I was graduating

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a Vietnam veteran for telling me hey sonny,

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you gotta grow up and things like this, so...

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I think we've got to keep in perspective each generation

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and we have to adapt our culture based on the generations

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that are coming out, meaning young men

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and women learn a lot differently, a lot faster

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and a lot more efficiently than I did when I was 18 year old

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and the world

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is at a touch of an app or something

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to people nowadays and millennials have grown up with that

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so old horses like me, and I would even fill you in there

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since you've been serving a while, we have

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to be sensitive to that.

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We have to adapt culture to make sure

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that we provide optimal learning environments for men

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and women as they come out.

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So for millennials as you come out, understand that,

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especially if you're joining the military

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that we're gonna continue to modify our culture to make sure

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that we're keeping up with the current way men and women

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are learning as they grow up

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but two, understand that some

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of the ways that we did business in years past

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had a very good effect on how we developed men

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and women out there and not be too sensitive

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when there's methods being used to enable you

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to reach your untapped potential or to grow and develop

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that may be uncomfortable to you.

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Now absolutely all of these methods have to be legal, moral

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and ethical, but in the end, sometimes we get too sensitive

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when someone is kind of giving us what we call tough love

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as opposed to trying to give us the kind of love and caring

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that we're comfortable with.

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So be comfortable in your own skin

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to the millennials out there.

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Never stop growing and developing and understand

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that it's a complex world

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and it's an unforgiving world out there

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and at any given time and it's a certain

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that you're gonna run into times of adversity

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but just be understand that some of the methods used

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to help you deal with that adversity may not

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be the methods that you've grown up with

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but they're time-proven methods that have developed men

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and women since the start of this country.

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- Great.

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Thank you very much Sergeant Major.

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Is there anything else that you want to add?

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- Yeah, I just want to say, the way I finished the townhall

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and I always say this.

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We have some challenges within our country.

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We have challenges with political infighting.

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We have challenges domestically.

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We have challenges with budget.

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We have challenges with threats

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that are arising around our nation but I, the Chairman

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and the Secretary of Defense, know three absolutes.

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And those absolutes are that the United States military

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and in this instance, the United States Army,

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can absolutely defend our country, our way of life,

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and our freedoms.

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That we absolutely have war-fighting advantages,

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competitive advantages, in every war-fighting domain

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over any potential threat.

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And three, we can absolutely meet our alliance commitments

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around the world to assure those allies

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and deter any kind of aggression against us

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and those allies.

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And last but not least, it's not an absolute, but...

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Well it is an absolute, but it doesn't fall

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under those three, is the key thing

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on why we're the greatest military in the world

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is because of this competitive advantage we have

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in the human domain.

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Nobody in the world trains, educates, develops, trusts,

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and empower people like we do.

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In this case here at cadet summer training,

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these cadets are gonna go back,

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they're gonna graduate next year, they're gonna go

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to their basic officer leader course,

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and then they're gonna be put in charge of an organization

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of men and women somewhere on some foreign soil

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and they're gonna be expected to lead

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because we've trained them, we've educated them,

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we can empower them because we trust them.

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And that's the message that needs to be sent

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that we're still the greatest military in the world.

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- Thank you.

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- [Troxell] Thank you very much.

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- Thank you very much Sergeant Major.

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Appreciate you coming out here.

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We are honored to have you here.

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- It's my honor to be here.

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Thank you so much.

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