Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates presided over the recent graduation ceremony at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California.  While on base he provided a “media availability” – as its called.   A DoD transcript is here.

 

Kevin Oratowski and Christopher Boyd didn’t just volunteer – they volunteered in a time of war.  Kevin died on August 18th and Chris died on August 19th.  The SecDef didn’t intend to make a tribute to them (because he was speaking on August 13th) but he did:

 

 

 

                 SEC. GATES:  This is obviously a very welcoming community for our men and women in uniform.  And I would just add that it's really moving to see these new Marines and Marine trainees and what they go through and how sharp they look when they're done. 

 

                 And knowing that they'll be going into the fight and the fact that they're all volunteers is very moving.  And I expressed the gratitude of the American people to them for signing up. 

 

                 So with that, I'll take a couple of questions.  Let me take a couple from the local press.  And then I'll take a couple from others. 

 

 

 

He took a question and responded.  To respond to the next question, he recalled his years before he was drafted for a cabinet post as President of Texas A&M.  This was the second question:

 

 

 

                 Q     Mr. Secretary, you mentioned that to the Marines today that they – that you think of them as your sons.  This has always been something very personal for you. 

 

                 SEC. GATES:  It is.  I've spent between three-and-a-half and four years in this job.  I never expected to be in it in the first place.  I never expected to be in it this long. 

 

                 And I think going from being a university president to this job has actually made it harder.  I spent four-and-a-half years watching 18- to 25-year-olds walk around campus in flip-flops and shorts and t-shirts and backpacks and having fun and going to class.  And then in an instant I was watching kids exactly the same age, 18 to 25, in full body armor in Iraq and Afghanistan.  So I – it is very personal for me.

 

 

 

He took two more questions and then these:

 

 

 

                 Q     Mr. Secretary, can you – can you reflect on the increasing casualties –

 

                 Q     (Off mike) – in Camp Pendleton serving in Afghanistan right now.  What is it going to take to achieve our military objectives, and do we need to build?

 

                 SEC. GATES:  Well, we're very close to having the maximum number of troops in Afghanistan that we will have.  We will have about 98 percent of the 30,000 surge in Afghanistan by the end of this month.  The only remaining piece is a – is a headquarters that will go in, probably in October – couple of thousand people.  So we're pretty close to having the surge end. 

 

                 But, you know, as people look at how things are going in Afghanistan, it's worth remembering that the surge – the full surge only now is getting under way, because only now are all the troops getting in there.  We have a – we'll have close to 100,000 troops there.  Our allies and partners have about 50,000 troops.  And I will say they are very much in the fight.  Most of the national caveats have gone away.  And so they are full partners with us in this.  And I'm cautiously optimistic that this is going to work.

 

 

                 Q     Secretary, can you comment on the increasing casualties in Afghanistan and what the capacity is to absorb that and to deal with it and –

 

                 SEC. GATES:  Well, we – you know, this is not a surprise for us, unfortunately.  I mean, from the very beginning, when the president made his decision to send 30,000 additional troops, and with the decision even before that, last year, to send the Marines into Helmand, we knew that as we became more aggressive and went into places that the Taliban – where the Taliban had been undisturbed, sometimes for several years, we knew that the casualties would be higher.

 

                 And we warned everybody last January and in testimony all through the spring that it was just inevitable that the casualties will be higher.  My hope is we will see what happened in Afghanistan what we saw in Iraq, and that is that early in the surge the casualties rose as we were in the thick of the fight, and then as we began demonstrating success, the casualties began to decline significantly.  That's my hope. 

 

                 But it's why these kids are so brave, in my view, and why their commitment is so significant, because they know that they're going into battle.

 

 

 

He took one last question and then he was done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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