Good evening ladies and gentlemen. First, it is great to be back at Hook; to see so many wingmen, friends and mentors. It’s so great to be here, to see you all, and I want to thank the Tailhook Association for putting on the best Hook ever – thank you.

First thing’s first, let us please recognize the absolute solemnity of this day. Please in our hearts let’s lift a prayer for all those who lost their lives on that terrible day 20 years ago.

For their families and to all those who loved them and have mourned them since.

A prayer of thanksgiving for the bravery of the firefighters, police, first responders who charged into danger and for all those who stand sentinel this day.

Pray please for our shipmates, wingmen and battle buddies who fallen in honor over these last twenty years…

And in our hearts a brief prayer of thanksgiving for all those who the watch today, who are in harm’s way. The young Americans who are the guardians of freedom and our blessed American way of life… And who fill us with the hope that our founders invoked in the miracle of 1776.

May God Bless America.

I work for you, every soul in this room, and everyone else, I work for you. For the newest E1 to every civilian. So, I owe you a SITREP. Where are the carriers?

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier and its embarked Air Wing and surface combatants and submarines are the most unparalleled, credible, sustainable, mobile, survivable and lethal combat power in the world.

Nations fear them, and nations aspire to them. Carriers clearly and undeniably represent our nation’s resolve by their presence alone.

And right now as I utter these words, USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and CVW-5 are in the Western Indian Ocean having supported our operations in Afghanistan, having delivered rounds in anger in support of Americans in harm’s way.

USS Carl Vinson and CVW-2 recently executed interoperability exercises over the Philippine Sea with U.S. Marine Corps and Royal Air Force F-35s from the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Carrier Strike Group 21 - one of the largest deployed collections of fifth-generation fighters, as both the U.S. and U.K. have begun to operate F-35s in the Western Pacific.

Today, Vinson and the world’s most modern and capable air wing are operating in the South China Sea – marking the first time that a carrier strike group is operating in the South China Sea with the advanced capabilities of the F-35C and CMV-22B Osprey.

As we leverage tactics and training to establish innovative ways to use combat power, we reflect on our past and prepare for the future.

For this year’s Hook, we honor the service, bravery, fidelity and zeal of all those who took part in the Vietnam Air Campaign. May we recognize our Vietnam Veteran aviators, maintainers and families. Please, a round of applause for our honorees.

We, everyone in this room has said it, that NATOPS, and tactical manuals are written in blood.

It is through the lessons learned from training and operations that we collect, analyze, validate, record, share, and gain knowledge. In doing so, the entire force learns from the past and adapts for the future.

For our Vietnam Veterans, it is not lessons learned, but LESSONS EARNED by your intellect, rigor and energy… your blood, toil, tears, sweat, in your character and in many cases lives. And we all have profound gratitude for the legacy you’ve left us.

I want to absolutely assure you that your lessons are as powerful today as they have ever, ever been. And they are taught to every Naval Aviator and every maintainer that walks into a ready room or maintenance control.

Your incredible service and the sacrifice of heroes:

Ev Alvarez, Jim Stockdale, Mike Estocin, Paul Milius, Clyde Lassen, Jesse Taylor, Bill Lawrence, Dick Stratton, Jeremiah Denton, Charlie Plumb, John McCain, Jim Hickerson and so many in this room.

And we must not also forget Petty Officer 2nd Class John Hartzheim or Petty Officer 2nd Class Doug Hegdahl’s unique heroism.

I had the very great honor of also being trained by the Vietnam generation: Eagle McClung…I saw Doc Maloney here in the crowd, Decoy Marksbury…Bill DuBois… Bush-Hog Nelson…Marty Herzog… Billy Gunter. Just a few of the names that had a direct impact on my life without whom I am not here. I only wish that I could name every one of them.

And we should also recognize to the brave Aviation Bos’n’s mate on his back hooking up the bridles under a thundering F-8. To the troubleshooters, whose thumbs up is the sign that the mission is a go. To the 18 and 19 year old that for everyone who wears the wings of gold, in whose palm of their hand we entrusted our lives.

And for the families, among them: Marie Estocin, Sybil Stockdale, Patsy Creighton, Karen Butler, Mary Ellen Hoff, Carol Hickerson, and for so many more in this crowd and everywhere else, for all those who waited, and for all of those still waiting.

Whether by hook, rotor, boom, wrench or hearth. In naval aviation, all gave some, some gave all. To a person in this room and in ready rooms ashore and at sea worldwide, we owe the Vietnam generation so very, very much.

You strengthened the ethos of Naval Aviation formed in the Second World War—the ethos that sustains us today. And as the torch is passed to the next generation, so too is the service passed from the generation of Vietnam, through my generation and onward. Service in the lessons you taught us, and the lessons that we must pass on. Though not authoritative, I see the lessons you have passed on accordingly.

And the first is hard work: As the ethos of Naval Aviation. Each should give their all

Humility: In the essential understanding that each of us is human, and is inherently imperfect, and that the only perfection is in the perfect of a complete effort

To unblinking self-assessment: Criticism in the service of improving for our nation. The highest expression of this is the self-identification of our errors so others may learn from our mistakes

Teamwork: To give your all for your wingman and for the team. To give all credit to the team. That rank has no place in the brief or the debrief or the maintenance desk, one of the hallmarks of, the ethos that the Vietnam generation left us was respect for expertise and for wingmanship

To never, ever, ever, quit

And to never lose faith in your shipmates, your wingmen, your nation.

Vietnam Veteran aviators’ legacy has inspired and shaped generations in the post-war years through today. It remains the greatest gift anyone should bestow --the example and the ethos that the young people out in harm’s way today are embodying every single moment.

The Vietnam generation lights our path forward. You kept the faith with the nation; you continued the upward path of U.S. Naval Aviation with TOPGUN, Strike U., HAVOC, CAWS, SWTI, all of the elite schools, for your intellect that continue to enhance the fighting spirit… and in fact the élan of U.S. Naval Aviation.

Each of us who answers the call to serve loves our great nation, but each of us, in the secrecy of our own hearts wants to become better versions of ourselves.

To the Vietnam generation, I will speak for my own generation and those behind me, I wanted to be you. All of us want nothing more than to be more like you, and we still do. You were our highest aspiration and you continue to be; and we hope and pray to be worthy of your shining example.

So as the boss told me, that’s what I call Admiral Gortney, the boss. It is training that distinguishes us and if we going to train, then we are going to have an approach… and it’s Tailhook, so a fine time for a carrier metaphor.

So flying the ball symbolizes the approach, pun intended. Our approach to meeting the challenge of living up to your example…is in Meatball, Line-up, Angle of Attack…

- Meat Ball: Keep your eye on the ball; do what’s right always; be guided what is true, honorable, right and pure

- Line-up: Look long for line-up… never forget our nation’s founding values, we are in an eternal, infinite game to defend the nation and its well-being, it’s a long game. Look long for line-up.

- And finally, angle of attack: Watch your attitude; be confident… Jaw’s out; shoulders back.

To those that we honor this year, the Vietnam Veterans, you may also be confident that today’s leaders in Naval Aviation will pass on our values to the young people on the watch today

And they in turn, continue to pass to the youngest generation of those who will wear the Wings of Gold or the Warfare specialty of Aviation Maintenance and Aircrew.

And I call on the next generation of aviators – all of you in this room and in every Ready Room worldwide – to take up the mantel of our ethos against the challenges ahead, wherever on the globe that leads.

The nation, and the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard needs you as much today as our nation needed the heroes in this crowd.

The future security environment will be the most difficult we have ever faced, complicated by emerging and accessible technologies, the shrinking of distance, and greater speed of high leverage events. The events of the past have shown us what the ancients knew—that civilization rests on a thin veneer.

Now more than ever, U.S. Naval Aviation will be an indispensable force to defend our great nation.

So I am going to take a moment. I am a graduate of Aviation Officer Candidate’s School and there are many of us here. The boss, Admiral Gortney is an AOCS grad exactly 10 years before me; Trigger is an AOCS grad; Proton is in the room – he is an AOCS grad; Kid Brennan, Kenny, the AIRBOSS is an AOCS grad… there are still a few of us around.

And if you went through Aviation Officer Candidate’s School, you commissioned in the Museum of U.S. Naval Aviation and it was a unique experience. And it was unique because everyone in the commissioning class was going into Naval Aviation and accordingly, you stated the Navy’s Flyers Creed.

And I am going to recite that right now in the hope that all of us in our heart will renew our own vows in U.S. Naval Aviation.

I am a United States Navy Flyer.

My countrymen built the best airplane in the world and entrusted it to me. They trained me to fly it.

I will use it to the absolute limit of my power.

With my fellow pilots, air crews, and deck crews, my plane

and I will do anything necessary to carry out our tremendous responsibilities.

I will always remember we are part of an unbeatable combat team--the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

When the going is fast and rough, I will not falter. I will be uncompromising in every blow I strike. I will be humble in victory.

I am a United States Navy flyer. I have dedicated myself to my country, with its many millions of all colors, and creeds.

They and their way of life are worthy of my greatest protective effort.

I ask the help of God in making that effort great enough.

This is our duty, this is our creed, these are our values in U.S. Naval Aviation.

On this day, the 11th of September, our hearts are filled with solemnity but also with faith in our values and in our nation.

For the Vietnam generation, with gratitude for the ethos and example that sustains us in U.S. Naval Aviation today —your legacy…

… and as a witness to the superb young generation to whom we pass the torch, we leave each other with an abiding sense of hope…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you – and as the Chairman of the Board, Admiral Gortney and Mrs. Sherry say, let’s get to work.