REMARKS FOR
THE HONORABLE
NORMAN Y. MINETA
SECRETARY OF
TRANSPORTATION
ADDRESS USCG
PORT SECURITY UNIT 307
GUANTANAMO BAY,
CU
THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 28, 2002
10:00 AM
Admiral Barrett. Admiral
Smith. Admiral Belz.
General Miller. General
Payne. Captain Crissy. Captain
Buehn.
Thank you very, very, much for allowing me to join you
today to help observe Thanksgiving Day with our troops. I am especially pleased that my wife Deni, and our friend
Sheila Barrett, could be with us, as well as my chief of staff, John Flaherty,
who is also a huge fan of the Coast Guard.
And to the men and women of Port Security Unit 307, it is
truly an honor, and a privilege, to be in the company of such an outstanding
group of patriots as yourselves this morning.
Please accept my gratitude, for the job you are doing to
protect our country, and our freedoms, during these troubled times.
Two-hundred and twenty-five years ago this month, the
Continental Congress of the United States declared the first national American
Thanksgiving. Today, as then, we
are fortunate to count our blessings, even as you spend this holiday away from
your families and loved ones.
Many of you have been away from home for much of the past 24 months. For some, this may be your first overseas deployment.
I know that your activation has caused you hardships.
Some of you were not home to celebrate wedding anniversaries or the
birthdays of your children.
Some of you have struggled to meet your financial
obligations, missed school, or were not there to mourn the passing of a loved
one.
In that spirit, each and every one of you is to be
commended for your personal courage and commitment to our nation, every day of
the year. You are here for the most noble
of purposes; you are here
because your country needs you.
I would also like to recognize the members of your family,
who I had wanted to bring with me today, and thank them, for their support of
you, our Armed Forces, and our government.
I am truly sorry that ongoing intelligence operations here
at GITMO made their attendance impossible.
However, I know that with their commitment, and with your devotion to
duty, we will defeat those who wish to hurt us and destroy our values, and our
way of life.
On September 11, 2001, America suffered the anger of an
enemy who hoped to destroy America by killing thousands of our citizens, and our
spirit.
But they underestimated us.
Amid America’s grief and our darkest moments, heroes
emerged. Heroes that gave America
the strength to not only carry on, but to rise to new levels of bravery, and
commitment, and compassion.
And nowhere was this more evident than among the men and women of the United States military. I would like to personally say "Thank You" to every soldier, sailor, airman and marine for their selfless sacrifices. You also embody the Coast Guard's core values of honor, respect, and devotion to duty.
To my fellow Coast Guard men and women, there are few
higher callings than placing yourselves in harm’s way for the sake of others,
and in doing so, you have made your families proud.
You have made the Coast Guard proud.
And as your service secretary, you have made me mighty proud.
You stood the watch, during Operation Southern Watch,
shortly after the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
You stood the watch, during Operation Noble Eagle,
protecting the homeland in New York, Boston and Providence harbors.
And you are standing the watch, at Guantanamo Bay during
Operation Enduring Freedom, ensuring that port and harbor areas are maintained
free of threats that could disrupt support and resupply operations by Navy and
Coast Guard vessels.
Because of you, and what you have done for your country,
others are alive today. And because
of what you do every day of the year,
the world is a safer place now than it was yesterday. And it will be safer still tomorrow.
Beyond the thanksgiving and sorrow for yesterday’s
victims of terrorism, we must awaken to the challenges of tomorrow, which won’t
be any simpler than those of the past. If
anything, they will likely be harder, for freedom is not retained any more
easily than it is earned. Freedom
is never free.
The demands on those
who stand up to defend our nation will continue to be difficult.
The sacrifices necessary will be greater still.
There can be no other way if we are to retain the blessings of liberty.
Time and again, America has called on the Coast Guard.
And, time and again, PSU 307 has answered the call.
Defending the country.
Saving lives. Improving
safety. Disrupting the poisonous
flow of drugs. Protecting the
environment. Patrolling our shores.
Every single mission of the Coast Guard rings out with this nobility of
purpose and this opportunity to serve.
You are Always Ready,
Always There, every hour, every day, around the clock, around the world.
In the years ahead, our nation will require an even safer
and more efficient marine transportation system. We will insist on respect for our immigration laws, and
demand protection of our marine environment.
We will seek a country free from terrorist attack and foreign criminal
enterprise.
I wish I could tell you that your efforts are drawing to a
close, but I cannot. As our
Commander-in-Chief has said, we are a country awakened to danger, and called to
defend freedom.
And we face a cunning and remorseless enemy.
As we move forward from September 11, we must step up our
vigilance along our borders, and we must take new steps to move people and
commerce safely and efficiently, recognizing that the nature of the threat has
changed.
These are missions we cannot afford to leave for a later
time. In fact, these are missions
that the United States Coast Guard has been in training for -- for more than two
centuries.
On behalf of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and a
grateful nation, thank you for your service to your country.
We are awfully proud of you. I
am awfully proud of you. Bravo
Zulu, to all the men and women of the United States Coast Guard Port Security
Unit 307.
And thank you very, very much, for the honor and the
privilege of being with you here on this day.
With the upcoming move of the Coast Guard into the new
Department of Homeland Security, today may well be my final opportunity to speak
to you directly as your service secretary.
I have enjoyed every moment of the many visits I have made over the last two years to Coast Guard facilities all over the world, and I can tell you without hesitation that the men and women of the Coast Guard are quite simply the finest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing.
My only request as I leave you today is that you stand the
watch for your new service secretary with the same sense of duty and honor and
pride that you have shown to me.
That being said, I cannot think of a place I would rather be this Thanksgiving. In my travels with your Commandant and Vice Commandant, I often hear them refer to their Coast Guard family. You should know that I will always consider you a part of my own family.
May God bless you, and watch over you.
May God bless your families, and keep them safe until your return.
And may God bless the United States of America.
Semper Paratus.
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