Good afternoon. It is a distinct honor to join you today at this year’s Modern Day Marine Exposition. For more than four decades, this event has served as a place where warfighters, industry, and lawmakers converge with a unified purpose. Together, we ensure the United States Marine Corps remains our Nation’s premier expeditionary force in readiness.

This year, our gathering carries a profound historical weight. As we stand on the cusp of America's 250th anniversary, it is a natural time for reflection. We look back at the long, unbroken chain of Marines who served as sentinels of freedom from the volcanic sands of Iwo Jima to the frozen landscape in Korea, from the jungles of Vietnam to the mountains of Afghanistan. For the Marine Corps, this anniversary is not just a celebration of the Nation we serve, but a powerful reminder that we must be ready to fight in any clime and place. The theme for this year's exposition perfectly encapsulates this identity. ‘From American Shores: 250 Years of Fighting Forward’ speaks to our ethos and our enduring promise to the American people—because when the Nation calls, Marines are first to fight.

Today, I will provide you with a brief update on the four focus areas that are driving our corps: returning to a 3.0 ARG/MEU Presence, Setting the Theater, accelerating Modernization and Lethality, and Building and Sustaining a Lethal Force.

The 2026 National Defense Strategy prioritizes defending our homeland and deterring China. The Marine Corps plays a central role in supporting these priorities. Marines are defending the homeland by reinforcing security on our southwest border while combating narco-terrorism in the Caribbean. They are also providing credible deterrence by serving as a Stand-In Force, operating within the adversary’s weapons engagement zone. Throughout the Indo-Pacific, Marines are operating shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies and partners, integrating, training, and sharpening their skills.

The common denominator for our success across the globe is our Amphibious Ready Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit teams. They integrate the strategic reach of the Navy’s seapower with the decisive lethality of the modern Marine Air-Ground Task Force. These naval expeditionary teams provide a unique capability that continues to make them the force of choice for Combatant Commanders. The 22nd MEU is playing a key role in Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR while the 31st MEU is demonstrating our resolve in the Middle East as part of Operation EPIC FURY. Meanwhile, the 11th MEU, having just conducted Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief in the wake of Super Typhoon Sinlaku, is also on its way to the fight.

The ARG/MEUs are more relevant than ever before and they continue to demonstrate their unique and unmatched value to the Joint Force. But we cannot sustain today’s current presence. As the Secretary of War testified yesterday, the Department of War joins the Department of the Navy in fully supporting our shared and unwavering goal of returning to a permanent 3.0 ARG/MEU presence. That means, one MEU forward deployed from the east coast, one MEU forward deployed from the west coast, and the 31st MEU deployed episodically from Okinawa, Japan. This is our number one priority, and it remains my North Star.

The Navy and Marine Corps are in complete agreement that our current inventory of 31 amphibious ships is not sufficient. Together, we are pursuing three primary lines of effort to increase the size and availability of our amphibious force. First, we are optimizing maintenance schedules and force generation models to get more out of the ships we already have. Second, we are making targeted investments in service life extensions to keep our current fleet ready and relevant for longer. And third, we are moving forward with the procurement of new and more capable ships. The President’s Budget for fiscal year 2027 represents a significant and welcome down payment on this effort. But it is just that—a down payment for this generational effort.

We are committed to protecting our interests, deterring adversaries, and reassuring allies. To achieve this, we are ensuring an optimized force posture and investing in littoral mobility, while prepositioning supplies and equipment. Stand-In Forces need the ability to conduct intra-theater movement—that is where Littoral Mobility comes in. It extends the reach of amphibious shipping and provides Stand-In-Forces with the ability to persist inside an adversary’s weapons engagement zone. I am excited to announce we have selected the LST-100 as our new Medium Landing Ship—or LSM, which will significantly enhance our ability to conduct maneuver and sustainment in the littorals.

That is significant because in a contested environment, logistics is especially vital. For decades, we have operated with the assumption that we could move our forces and supplies wherever, and whenever we needed. That assumption is no longer valid. That is why we are focused on establishing a robust Global Positioning Network, which consists of prepositioned stocks, equipment, and contracting. This NETWORK will enable expeditionary forces while reducing our reliance on long and vulnerable supply chains. To sustain our lethality over a protracted conflict, we are making deliberate investments in our magazine depth for both ground and air launched munitions. Adequate magazine depth will provide commanders with increased options to affect the battlespace while freeing them from the constraints associated with resupply.

We are sustaining the momentum of Force Design by increasing capabilities and capacities across the Marine Air-Ground Task Force. Modernization and Lethality encapsulates the focus of so much of the innovation you see on this exposition floor. We are making deliberate investments to extend our reach and reduce the risk to our Marines. We are increasing the accuracy and range of our fires to shape adversary decision making and hold key systems at risk. To protect our forces, we are developing and fielding a family of ground-based air defense systems. These capabilities will enable maneuver and preserve freedom of action. Central to our ground-based air-defense capabilities are several counter-UAS efforts designed to increase installation resiliency and protect our forces. In addition, we are transforming our command-and-control architecture to be more resilient while bolstering our Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance enterprise. As detailed in the Aviation Plan, we are also advancing manned-unmanned teaming while modernizing assault support and attack aircraft. These actions are not about becoming a more niche force—they are about making the force we have more lethal.

To further accelerate modernization, we have transitioned our acquisitions system to the newly established Portfolio Acquisition Executive—Marine Corps. Under this model, a single leader is now accountable for delivering a capability across its entire lifecycle. This model aligns with our culture of accountability, which is also why for the third year in a row—we have achieved a clean audit opinion. We are committed to being responsible stewards of the American taxpayer’s dollar and we will continue to honor the trust placed in us by using our resources effectively.

Finally, none of this matters without our people. The United States Marine Corps has an asymmetric advantage that no adversary can ever hope to match: the individual Marine. Everything we do is designed to empower Marines fighting at the leading edge. Our culture attracts the very best our Nation has to offer and it is our sacred obligation to prepare them for the brutal realities of the modern battlefield. Building and Sustaining a Lethal Force means investing in talent management, ensuring we have the right Marine in the right billet at the right time. It means taking care of our Marines and their families because we won’t recruit our way out of a manpower crisis, we must retain our way out. We are aggressively tackling the challenges of aging barracks. In fiscal year 2025 alone, we invested $448 Million in new barracks and began renovations for 4,200 Marines. These investments are just the first steps of a long journey.

We are also taking a more holistic approach to readiness through our Marine Corps Total Fitness program. We place a premium on physical fitness, but we recognize total fitness also includes the mental, spiritual, and social aspects. Simply put, we recruit the best, we take care of our people, and we retain them. The future operating environment will be defined by ambiguity, chaos, and friction. It will place a premium on decentralized decision-making, small-unit leadership, and initiative. In that environment, the force with the most disciplined, most innovative, and most resilient warfighters will win. That has always been our edge, and that is what we are doubling down on.

In closing, we continue to adapt, innovate and modernize with the changing character of war. We are focused on returning to a 3.0 ARG/MEU Presence, Setting the Theater, Accelerating Modernization and Lethality, and Building and Sustaining a lethal Force. This is a shared endeavor, and it requires the commitment of everyone in this room.

To the team at the Modern Day Marine, thank you. You have once again created a world-class forum for the honest dialogue and collaboration that our national security demands. To our indispensable partners in the defense industry—look around this hall. The ingenuity on display is breathtaking. You are the arsenal of democracy, and we cannot succeed without you. And finally, to the Marines past and present—you are the soul of this institution. You carry the legacy of every Marine who has gone before you—and you are forging the path for every Marine who will follow. I am proud to serve alongside you. Thank you not just for what you do, but the way in which you do it.

Semper Fidelis.

I look forward to your questions.