Trish and I are honored to be with you tonight—especially for this one. This is not just another awards dinner.

This is our tribe. And it’s good to be home with family.

Thank you to LtGen Chiarotti, the Marine Corps Association, and the entire team that makes tonight possible. This event has grown over the years and is something much bigger than just an awards dinner. It’s a touchstone for who we are—and an opportunity to recognize our most deserving leaders.

I also want to thank LtGen Chip Bierman—our Deputy Commandant for Plans, Policies, and Operations—our Operations Officer for the Marine Corps. No one fights harder for the Ground Combat Element than him. He’s retiring next month, and he will be sorely missed. His impact on this Corps will be felt for years to come. Thank you Chip!

And to our awardees: Congratulations.

You represent the very best of us. And more importantly, you represent the standard for the Marines coming up behind you. You remind us that the spirit of Leftwich, Hulbert, Zembiec, Thomason, and Chambers lives on in this Corps—because it lives on in you.

This is a ground awards dinner. So tonight, I get to talk like an infantryman. Not a list of programs. Not a bunch of acronyms. I’m going to tell you where we are. What we’re fighting for.  And where we need to go—together.

But first I would also like to take a moment to recognize the team that made tonight possible—from the event staff to the behind-the-scenes professionals who worked tirelessly to deliver tonight and who will be closing up after the conclusion of tonight’s event.

Please join me in thanking them.

Let me start with the infantry. Our Corps has always drawn its soul from the infantry. We say “every Marine a rifleman” for a reason.  It's not a recruiting slogan. It’s a truth baked into our bones.

From Belleau Wood to Tarawa, from Hue City to Marjah—it’s riflemen who hold the line. Riflemen who close with. Riflemen who win the fight and carry the cost. And let’s be clear—when I say “riflemen,” I’m talking about every Marine who’s carried a pack, dug a fighting hole, and stood a post.

Whether you were on patrol in Helmand, ensuring comms in a COC, or keeping the trucks running—you’ve earned this title through discipline, toughness, and a willingness to fight.

But we can’t look backward. Our job is to make sure this legacy doesn’t just live in museums or in citations—it has to live in our formations.

It has to live in how we train, how we equip, how we fight, and how we lead. And that brings me to where we are today.

Right now, more than 33,000 Marines are forward deployed or forward stationed—deterring aggression, reassuring allies, and preparing for the next fight. We have two MEFs abreast in the Indo-Pacific—I MEF and III MEF. 

III MEF training with the Japanese and others across the First Island Chain—while I MEF operates just to the south, shoulder-to-shoulder with allies, pushing capability forward from Australia to the Philippines.

Meanwhile, II MEF is deployed across multiple continents—providing depth, reach, and readiness wherever needed.

We are not in garrison. We are forward, we are active, and we are fighting every day to stay one step ahead of our adversaries. And while the headlines talk about new technology revolutionizing the battlefield—what’s really going to win the next fight is leadership. The kind of leadership we celebrate tonight.

Company commanders who lead from the front. Gunners who make battalions more lethal. Raiders who display an unconquerable spirit. And our young non-commissioned officers who pull Marines together when everything’s falling apart.

That’s what defines us. That’s what always has. That’s what always will.

Now let me speak plainly about Force Design. We are not “transforming” the Marine Corps. That’s not what this is. We are adapting to thrive as the character of war continues to take shape—we’re modernizing. We are adjusting to win. That’s what Marines have always done.

And it’s not something that’s happening to the infantry—it’s being driven by the infantry and by the leaders in this room.

We didn’t sit in an office and guess. We learned. From 20 years of irregular warfare. From five years of wargaming. From what we’ve seen in Ukraine and Gaza. From hard lessons on ships, on islands, and in contact.

Here’s what it comes down to:

Small units need to see farther, shoot farther, and survive longer in order to win.

They need tools that match the threat—drones that let you see first, fires that let you strike first, and formations that are lighter, faster, harder to find, more lethal, and easier to sustain.

That’s why we’ve returned to the 13-Marine rifle squad.

That’s why we’re rapidly developing organic precision fires. That’s why we’re standing up Fires and Reconnaissance Companies in every infantry battalion—blending sensors, mortars, and unmanned fires into one integrated package.

These are not concepts. They’re happening now. We cannot confuse ends and means though.  Force Design isn’t about new units, and it’s not about shiny technology. It’s about preserving the one thing that wins wars: Marines, led by other Marines, in the right place at the right time—with what they need to kill the enemy and bring each other home safe.

That brings me to the Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again tonight: the ARG/MEU is the Swiss Army Knife of the Joint Force—one of the most flexible, responsive, and effective tools our Nation has. If you want to change someone’s zip code: send the Army.  If you want to change someone’s mind: send the MEU. It is a three-ship formation—self-contained, fully trained, with lethal options ready to go. It can respond to a terrorist, tank column, or a tyrant—and it can do it before anybody else gets out of the briefing room.

The ARG/MEU is also the most survivable base in the Joint Force.

Why?

Because it moves. Show me another airfield, FOB, or logistics hub that can displace 500 miles in a day and still bring combat power with it. Mobility is protection—and nothing moves like an ARG/MEU.

But frankly, we’ve let this capability atrophy. We used to lay a new keel on LHAs every year.  Now we’re lucky to get them started every four.  And we’ve also dipped below 50% readiness for our amphibious fleet as a whole.

The result is that today we can’t maintain three ARG/MEUs forward at all times. That’s unacceptable.

We need to return to a 3.0 ARG/MEU presence. That’s three consistently deployed, three-ship formations—heel to toe. One from the east coast, one from the west coast, and one episodically deployed from Okinawa, Japan.

Because when that formation is forward, it does three things: it assures our allies, it creates uncertainty in the minds of our enemies, and it gives our national leadership options in peace and war.

Without it—we’re slower. We’re less visible. We’re less useful.

That’s why we’re fighting to restore it.

That’s also why I’m pleased to announce to you tonight that the November edition of the Marine Corps Gazette will feature the ARG/MEU as its central topic—its history, its global impact and why it must be central to the Marine Corps’ future.

And I’m also thrilled to announce the Commandant’s Rapid Response Essay Contest—focused on the future of the MEU. This is a personal request from me to the entire Fleet.

I want your ideas—your concepts—on how we should task organize and equip the MEU of 2035.

Hosted by the Marine Corps Association, this contest is your opportunity to help shape the future of our most agile and lethal formation. The best ideas will be published, recognized, and awarded at the Marine Corps Associations’ Annual Meeting this December.

Bring your ideas. Our future fights depend on them. This contest reinforces what we already know: the ARG/MEU is our North Star—this is the Marine Corps’ top priority. 

We are going to fix the ships we have, build those we need, and restore a formation that is vital to the Joint Force.

I’ve spent most of my life in the infantry. I’ve seen what makes Marines tick. It’s not comfort…It’s not gear…It’s not even medals. It’s the bond…The fight. The shared sense that what we do matters—and that we do it better than anyone else.

That’s what tonight is about. These awards are not given for showing up. They’re earned through sacrifice, grit, and leadership under fire.

The Leftwich Trophy carries a legacy that reads like a list of the Corps’ most lethal leaders—among them, Captain John Maloney.

John was cut from the same cloth as Lieutenant Colonel Leftwich. He wasn’t just good—he was the best we had. So, when I see the awards and trophies behind me, I see obligation.  A strong reminder that leadership is a heavy burden—and once you pick it up, you carry it every day.

To every awardee tonight: well done.

But the real honor starts tomorrow. The weight is now yours.

I’ll leave you with this. The Marines we honor tonight have done their part. They’ve led, sacrificed, and carried their Marines with them.

The question for the rest of us is this: what are we going to do to earn our place in their company?

Are we going to lead with the same tenacity?

Are we going to speak with the same candor?

Are we going to fight for what matters?

I believe we are.

Because no matter how much the world changes, one thing never will: Marines fight…Marines win…Marines lead.

Semper Fidelis.