ladies and gentlemen the President of the United States accompanied by
at ease good afternoon and welcome to the White House and this is officially
for you most of you know the Rose Garden very special very very special place
today is a day of celebration so relax and have a good time I have no higher
honor as president than to serve as the commander in chief of the United States
Armed Forces and I truly have no greater pleasure than to award the
commander-in-chief's trophy for the first time in 21 years to the Army Black
Knights special thanks to West Point superintendent Lieutenant General Bob
cash and whiz Bob where's Bob how do you like it Bob Bob Castle you know you
remember our meeting right that was a good meeting right but I'm glad you did
what you did and you have done a fantastic job thank you
made the right choice with you general you're a great leader and a legendary
institution that has been a source of pride and strength for our country for
more than two centuries I'd like to welcome to West Point grad serving in my
administration we're here today to celebrate the Black Knights history and
really that historic victory secretary of the army
mark Esper where's mark mark mark mark how are you mark doing a great job and a
man that's gotten more publicity than me lately our new Secretary of State first
in his class at West Point is that a true story he was first in his class and
I have he is who he is today because I was his tack officer as well
that's Mike Pompeo and he's been busy general he's been very busy he's been a
busy guy how's everything going good I think better than people even understand
good good job Mike a warm welcome to Deputy Secretary of Defense
Patrick Shanahan Patrick thank you very much Thank You Patrick as well as the
army chief of staff a very special guy general mark Milley thank you
thank you Joe finally and most importantly welcome to coach Jeff Monken
see they say most important today is a very important day he's a great coach
and the 2017 commander-in-chief trophy winning team the Army Black Knights that
really is something very special coach thank you very much what a job I assume
you have him signed to a long term contract he could get a little expensive
I don't know but he said he loves his team coming back so you have another
good season planned I know that as the team had an amazing season capping it
off with a come-from-behind victory at the Armed Forces Bowl a game I watched
and that was a very exciting game that was old-fashioned football everybody had
counted you out but you refused to give up you scored 21 points in the fourth
quarter alone your victory gave army its second ten win season in the entire
history of army football that's something winning a bowl game is
truly impressive and you really shutting out Air Force and Air Force is a great
football power at a great football school 21 to nothing but we all know
that your most important win was at the celebrated Army Navy game there is no
game like that I think coach oh well it's something special on that snowy day
you fought hard you came from behind and beat Navy for the second season in a row
the first time that it's happened in over two decades that's what you call a
job well done amazing really amazing in that most crucial game of the year you
made the entire US Army proud and you made the country proud early in the
third quarter Navy was up ten to seven when their quarterback started racing
down the field one of your team captains Jon Voight no relation to Jon Voight he
wouldn't be too good a football player but he's good at other things right Jon
Voight was John come on big guy I think he's good-looking enough Mike I don't
know well so you went down and you stopped him with a shoestring tackle
water play John so if he doesn't make that shoestring tackle what happens
coach you're probably not standing here right now coach that was great that stop
save the game for army and put all of you in the record books
so what it's done you're in the record books credible season then there's your
great army quarterback that we all know co-captain Ahmad Bradshaw Ahmad
oh I could just see the NFL I don't know how much I don't know I think you'd
rather be doing what you're doing and you're doing an unbelievable job what a
great game you had you became Army's all-time single-season rushing leader
with 1746 yards that's a lot of yards that's all time you didn't just break
the army record much you broke the rushing record for every single service
Academy ever so that is a tremendous achievement thank you and I understand
that one of the toughest moments of the year came with only two games left in
the season I hate to bring this up but we have to coach when the University of
North Texas scored a winning field goal in the last seconds of the game the
final score was a heartbreaking 52 to 49 back in the locker room coach Monken
looked every player every single one of them in the eye and with great
inspiration he asked do you want to win with me do you want to win with me right
coach I guess they said yes right they responded finally the coach declared we
are not losing another game this year we're going to outwork out coach and
outplay everyone and that's what they did and that's why you're at the Rose
Garden of the White House right now receiving this really incredible trophy
very meaningful trophy each of you is part of a great tradition of army
football excellence that goes back many generations and it's true excellence
here today is one of the great examples of that tradition a key member of the
legendary 1958 team exactly 60 years ago army went totally undefeated this
pretty good general right good team how do you think they could have beaten you
guys they might have been smaller and not as fast but I'd like to recognize a
member of that historic team former all-american got a lot of people know
this name if they know football even a little bit great linebacker Bob
Novogratz whiz Bob where is well come here Bob hey Bob come here Bob come here
he's a big guy he's a big guy come on up here Bob come on up still looks good
they keep him good at Westpoint right Mike stand up here with us general is he
allowed to stand with you he's in the Hall of Fame is right to all of the
players here today West Point adopted each one of you into its history
traditions and values the Corps gave you a fundamental piece of who you are and
who you will always be you have given back to the Corps with dedication and
teamwork with every effort to achieve physical and academic excellence with
your embrace of those three most hallowed words duty honor country when
each of you stepped out on the field you had the pride of knowing that you played
for army you won for Army and very soon you will be officers and leaders in that
incredible group of heroes called the United States Army and they really
are a group of heroes you look at the world by the way we are respected again
is that right general we are respected again at the highest level you can see
what's going on you see a big difference there's a big big difference in fellas
we just got approved seven hundred billion
dollars this year 716 billion dollars for next year and that's for you and the
Armed Forces and
is that a correct statement general I see there's one very happy general
sitting right there he's definitely an army guy too isn't he you were very
happy with this game weren't you general I know you well the lessons you've
learned on what General Douglas MacArthur called the fields of friendly
strife you will soon put into service for our nation I know that each of you
will serve with the same commitment determination and character that have
earned you distinction on the gridiron you will be courageous members of the
long gray line that stretches back to the earliest days of our republic you
will be part of the five proud branches of the United States Armed Forces Army
Navy Marines Air Force and the Coast Guard and we're actually thinking of a
sixth and that would be the space force does that make sense the space force
gender you probably haven't even heard that I'm just telling you now this is
perhaps because we're getting very big in space both militarily and for other
reasons and we are seriously thinking of the space force and you'll join the
greatest force for peace and justice the world has ever known
you will keep us safe you will keep us strong you will keep us free and thank
you for your service and go army I'll be watching you coach I'll be watching you
next year I really believe that from what I'm hearing this team could go on
and have another incredible season you are a special group of people and it's
an honor to have you at the White House thank you very much coach please say a
few
Thank You mr. president and all of our distinguished guests on behalf of the
United States Corps of Cadets United States Military Academy the long gray
line of West Point graduates and their nearly 1 million men and women who
proudly serve our country as members of the US Army Army Reserves an Army
National Guard the army football brotherhood is honored to accept what we
consider the most coveted award in all of college football the
commander-in-chief's trophy we're grateful for your invitation to
this historic home and for welcoming the members of America's team to be your
guests here today this is not only a team of tough talented football players
this is a team of Fighters just as they battle with the tenacity and unrelenting
spirit to a ten win season a second straight Bowl victory and service
academy dominance in winning the CIC trophy they'll battle like warriors
leading our nation's next generation of soldiers to victory on other fields on
other days with us today are 28 soon-to-be commissioned cadets who will
graduate this may and enter the field of arms prepared to lead and fight our
nation's Wars joining them are dozens of fellow cadets who in the next two to
three years will join these senior cadets as officers in the US Army mr.
president these young men and women embody the values duty honor country and
they represent the best our nation has to offer we're incredibly proud to be
here thank you for this tremendous honor and as I invite Jon Voight and Ahmad
Bradshaw our team captains to present our game uniform from the great Army
Navy victory I say proudly on brave old army team and beat Navy
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