Well, thank you very much everybody. This is an honor. What a beautiful group of people you are. You are good looking. I wish I looked like you. I would -- I would have been president 20 years ago if I looked like you. [Laughter] But I want to give a special hello to Al Udeid Air Base, sometimes referred to as the deed.
That's a little sinister term, the deed. Today, we can all relax and be at ease and we're going to have a little fun. I have nothing else to do, so let's have a little fun, right? So I'm thrilled to be here with the men and women who embody American strength and pride. The warriors of the United States Armed Forces.
It's an amazing group of people. You are without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. That's the way it is. I said it last night. I said it strongly. We have the strongest military in the world. It's not even a contest. We have the best equipment. Nobody has equipment like us. Nobody has the planes or the missiles or anything else.
And as your commander in chief, I'm here to say that America's military will soon be bigger, better, stronger and more powerful than ever before. We just did a budget. The budget was the highest by far. Over $1 trillion. That's a lot. That's a lot of stuff. And hopefully it's peace through strength. Hopefully we don't have to use it. Because if you use it, I feel sorry for the other guy.
But we don't want to have to use it. I want to recognize a true warrior and that's our secretary of Defense. They put him through Hell, the radical left did. And uh, he's incredible. You know, he went to the best schools, he did the best stuff. He was a smart guy, and he's a great guy. And I just listened to his words standing backstage, when he was speaking.
And he really has it right on the peg. Pete Hegseth. He's going to be great. You're going to love this guy. You're going to love him. And I also want to influence -- truly, I want to influence you to clap for a man who's a great influencer here. In fact, my son Barron said dad, you got to do an interview with somebody I hadn't heard of, but my son knew very well.
He knows everyone. He said dad, and this is before the election. You know we won in a landslide in case you hadn't known. [Laughter] But he said, dad, you got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von. I said who the hell is Theo Von? [Laughter] He said dad, he's such a big guy, you got to do an interview.
So he knew all the names. I didn't know the names. And where is Theo? He's around here someplace, I think. Theo, thank you very much. Thank you. And that's Baron. You know Baron. He said you got to do it with it. We had a good time, right, had a good time. We had like 270 million people that listened. So you know what?
I think Baron was right. Thank you for being here, Theo, appreciate it. Also, Lee Greenwood, right from the beginning, that song went on. And you know that song was a successful song, but we made it the most. Number one. We made that song -- uh, it's the top of the list of that type of song. That's a pretty big -- I don't want to go into the list because you'll get upset with me if I do. Like, uh, the national anthem and things is like -- . And it became uh, unbelievable.
And I was saying you could get Elvis or anybody else to do a song. There's nothing -- that was my intro song right from the beginning. Because as you know, we won three elections, OK? And some people want us to do a fourth. I don't know. We'll have to think about that. You saw the new -- the new hat, the hottest hat.
It says Trump 2028. We're driving the left crazy when you see that. [Laughter] We didn't need that hat. But uh, it was uh, it's been an amazing period of time. And when, uh, Lee Greenwood did that song, it went from the first day. I came out, we played it. It was a great song, but we didn't know. And then I did it a second time, a third time.
And that was 968 rallies ago. Can you believe that? We did 968 rallies. There's another hat that says 968. I said what the hell does that mean? That's the number of rallies. I said you have to be kidding. But from the very beginning, and we played Lee's song. And it was the walk on. And then for the last inauguration, I had every -- all the big singers, they wanted to do a song for me. And they wanted to have me walk on to their song.
And my people were like oh, that would be nice. That would be nice. And when I heard about it, we were all set. We had a lot of them, and I heard about it. I said I'm not switching, are you kidding me? I'm not switching. So we stick with Lee. But there's -- nobody could have done better than Lee. And he's been so loyal and so great.
And it's been really about nine years of that stuff. And you know, we had -- really honestly we had three unbelievable campaigns. And it's been -- it's been an honor. And there's nobody been stronger than the military in terms of backing us, nobody. So I just want to thank you all very much. Great honor.
Thank you very much. And also with us today is a really a great talent and somebody who's one of the most popular television hosts in history. Still looks young to me, but he's been doing it a long time. But he's an incredible man. He's -- always seems to take my side and therefore, I like him even more.
But he has -- he has common sense. We talk about common sense all the time, but he's one of the biggest in the history of television, the great Sean Hannity. He's here someplace. Sean, stand up wherever you are. Thank you, Sean. Thank you. Where is he? Thank you, Sean. Thank you, sir. He was a little shy for a change.
I've never seen that. We're all so grateful to have a very excellent ambassador, Timmy Davis, everybody loves him. Timmy, thank you very much. Thank you, Timmy. Along with your great military leaders, real -- these are real leaders. These are real tough cookies. Lieutenant General Derek Trapper France, Major General David Shoemaker, Brigadier General Richard Deuce Dickens, Chief Master Sergeants Chris Murphy and Joshua Wiener, and Colonel Brian Ellis.
We want to thank you amazing people. They're real leaders. And this is one of the great bases anywhere in the world. And we're lucky to have them. Thank you very much, fellas. And a very special thanks as well to our partners from the Qatar Army and Armed Forces. Let's give them a really special hand. They are so great.
They are so great. And in particular, we want to be -- uh, give a little special applause for somebody that's been so good, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Saoud. Where are you, Saoud? Thank you very much. Great. Thank you. Thank you. It's an honor. Yesterday, we signed an agreement for Qatar to purchase $42 billion worth of the finest American military hardware, including THAAD missile batteries, Pegasus refueling aircraft, desert Vipers, light armored vehicles, amphibious combat vehicles, the MQ-9B and the SkyGuardian drones.
That's all the best stuff, isn't it? If it isn't, please stand up and tell me and we'll get something else. [Laughter] But I believe it's the best. Qatar will also be investing $10 billion to support this massive base in the coming years. And there's no place like it they say. And uh, a man, a leader, Emir, he's been a special friend of mine for a long time.
Long before I did the political thing. When he was a novice, he was a young guy. And we got to know each other. We liked each other and got along long before I ever thought of running for president. And it's nice when you have that kind of a relationship. We got along right from the beginning. He's a special guy.
He's a great leader, great leader of your country. So I want to just congratulate you on that and all the Qatari people, a spectacular group. And it's an honor. And I don't think our friendship has ever been stronger than it is right now. It's -- you had the last administration, I don't know if they knew too much about what was happening, but this administration does.
And you will never see anything like the relationship that we have. We just left Saudi Arabia, as you know. And you have a fantastic crown prince. He is a fantastic guy likewise. And we're going -- from here, we're going to UAE and United Arab Emirates and we're going to see another leader. We have -- it's an amazing part of the world and our relationship has never been stronger.
And you're going to see that as time goes by. But with us, it's not words. As you know, I'm in the midst of a very historic trip visiting the key partners in the Gulf. We had just some incredible stopovers, and a wonderful day. Yesterday, we had the dinner, however, with His Highness, the Emir. And he is -- going to see him in a little while.
I'm going to be saying goodbye to him, but we'll -- we'll be saying hello again very, very soon. But no visit to the Gulf would be complete without stopping to salute the people who keep America safe, strong and free and the patriots of the United States Army, Navy, Space Force, I love Space Force. That's -- that's I have to say that's my little baby.
You know, I started that. They said that'll never work. Oh, it worked. You know, we were way behind Russia and China. And now we're way, way ahead of everybody. So Space Force, I'm very happy. That was my -- you know, not since the Air Force has that happened. So we created a force and it's a big force and it's a brilliant force.
So Space Force, thank you for doing such a great job. The Marines, and of course, the United States Air Force. Al Udeid is the home of the legendary 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, known as the Grand Slam Wing. We also have the first Expeditionary Theater Support Group. We've got them all. And let's not forget the top notch Army soldiers from the 11th Air Defense Artillery, the Imperial Brigade.
Thank you, fellas. That's great. We also have the Eighth Expeditionary Air mobility squadron known as Mighty Ochos. Where are the Ochos? We don't want to fight with them. All of you are the tip of the spear. You're the finest we have anywhere in the world. You're the finest we have. You're the finest anyone has in the fight against the enemies of civilization.
You're the people that are defeating chaos, combating terror, defending our interests, supporting our allies, securing our homeland and making America incredibly proud. And you know what? Making America Great Again. That's what's happened. It's happened very fast, happened very fast. As president, my priority is to end conflicts, not start them.
But I will never hesitate to wield American power, if it's necessary, to defend the United States of America or our partners. And this is one of our great partners right here. When we're threatened, America's military will answer our enemies without even thinking about it. We have overwhelming strength and devastating force.
And we had people that didn't like to talk about that. You know, they didn't want to talk about the level of quality that we have. They didn't want to talk about anything. They didn't. We're going to have a big parade this year, you know, in Washington DC, a real parade. And I'll tell you just a little story.
A week ago, May 8th, I'd call up a certain country and they said, oh, we're celebrating the victory of World War II today, sir. Oh, really. I speak to one of the presidents or prime ministers or whatever, and they were so busy, oh, yes, we're celebrating the victory of World War II. Then I spoke to another one and they were celebrating.
And the fact is Russia was celebrating. France was celebrating. Everybody was celebrating but us. And we're the ones that won the war. [Laughter] We won the war. And they helped. But without us, they don't win the war. We're all speaking German. You know that right? Without us, they're speaking German, maybe a little Japanese, too. [Laughter] We won the war.
And we're the only ones that didn't celebrate. So what I did is I got my crack staff over there and we did it every time we have May 8th and we also have the date in November, that sacred date in November for World War I. Because we won that war too. But think of it. I'm calling -- now we love France, right?
But I think we did a little more to win the war than France did. Do we agree? You know, I don't want to be a wise guy. But when Hitler made his speech at the Eiffel Tower, I would say that wasn't exactly ideal. [Laughter] And I called up the President Macron, good guy, by the way. Donald, we are celebrating our victory over the Germans.
Oh, that's wonderful. No, we don't take credit for what we do. And I said what the hell? Every country I've spoken to in the last week is celebrating the war, but us. Isn't that terrible? So we're going to be doing holidays, but I said it has to be a working holiday because you know, you can only do so many of them.
We have a lot of holidays. I'm not so sure we should have them and you don't have to go to work. Our country has to go to work. So we're going to have a working holiday for each one of those two dates. And we're going to be celebrating too. Because we should celebrate more than anybody else. And others did help a lot, but nobody helped like us. We wouldn't have won.
I mean, the fact is not winnable without us. And now we're stronger than ever before. You know, I rebuilt the military in my first term. We had a great first term. Everywhere. We had the greatest economy ever, stock market up 88 percent, the biggest rise ever. All of that stuff, but the second term is going to be even better.
We have over $10 trillion going to be invested in our country. And this little tour didn't hurt. I will tell you. Between the three great places. I recently announced that I'll approve an unprecedented $1 trillion. As I told you, it's going to end up going higher, investment in the US Armed Forces. And that's a record.
As part of that effort, I signed an order to build the Golden Dome missile defense shield to protect our country from missile attack. Is everybody OK with that? It was called the Iron Dome, but I changed it to the Golden Dome. I thought it was a little more beautiful. [Laughter] Maybe a little more modern or something.
But we're going to have it. And it's uh, it's amazing actually, what they do. It's going to cost many billions of dollars. All made in the USA. I want it all made in the USA. The days of making our parts all over the world because we have wonderful partners. No, it's America first now. America first. We're going to make it all in the USA. And we're going to, by the way, it's America first, but we're going to take care of other countries.
We're going to have plenty left over because we're doing things now. You know, six months ago our country was laughed at. Now, our country is respected again at a level that it hasn't seen in a long, long time. And we're going to keep it that way. And our Air Force will soon have the world's first and only sixth generation fighter jet the F-47. Why did they name it 47? Does anybody know?
I don't know. That was a nice thing. But it's quite the plane. They say it's -- there's never been anything done. But we're also looking at an increased version of the F-35. I think we're going to call it the F-55, which will be a double engine plane. I like two engines on a plane. I'm sorry if I say that, but does that make sense to anybody?
Does anybody agree? General, do you agree with that? I like it. [Laughter] Thank you. So many of them, sir, this engine is infallible. No engine is infallible. I like two engines on a plane. It should have been made with two engines. If I were here, you would have had two engines and you would have had a lot of other victories, by the way.
But we're going to do a -- when you think of it, Russia-Ukraine would have never started. October 7th, Israel would have never happened. Because Iran, as you know, was broke. They were unable to fund Hamas or anything else. It wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't have had the disaster of Afghanistan, the -- the leaving.
We were getting out, but we were getting out with dignity and strength. We were going to keep Bagram Air Base. We weren't going to give that up because it's one hour away from China. One hour. Do you know who occupies it now? China. The damage that that administration did to this country is legendary, allowing 21 million people through an open border where anybody could walk into the United States of America is something that will never be forgiven.
Grossly incompetent. And evil, bad people, too, bad people. But the real strength of our military doesn't come from its fighter jets. It really comes from our people. That's you. It comes from our people. You're unbelievable people. The aptitude and all of the things you have to do to do what you do. You know, I look at some of those engines and I'm a pretty smart cookie.
I would tell you, I'm real smart. And I look at you and you take those engines apart and put them back together blindfolded and fix them up. It's amazing what you're able to do. And then to fly them. Just incredible. You're incredible. You're a very special group of people. And that's why in my 2026 budget includes, uh, across the board.
Maybe you don't want it. Look, for the good of the country, you don't have to take it. Pay raises for each and every one of you. Substantial pay raises, but you don't have to take it. You don't have to take it. You can go to your commanding officer say sir, I'd rather not take that pay. I love my country, sir.
I don't want it. I refuse to take it. Anybody here, raise your hand please if you refuse to take it. Let's see here. All right. [Laughter] Well, at least -- at least we have smart people. That's good. [Laughter] So you do your duty for us and as commander in chief, I will always do and fulfill my duty to you.
That's what I'm doing. Under the Trump administration, we're liberating everything in our Armed Forces from really radical social experiments carried out under the previous administration and beyond that, and actually beyond that. And restoring the strong and fierce spirit of the American warrior and the American fighter.
On day one, I signed an executive order stopping our service members from being forced to endure endless training sessions on political correctness. We don't care if you're politically correct. And I directed the reinstatement of all patriots expelled from our military by the COVID vaccine mandate, which should have never happened.
They're being returned at their former rank with full back pay. Very important. After years of not making our enrollment targets, to me this is the biggest thing, our military suddenly has the best recruiting numbers that perhaps they've ever had, but certainly, in 30 years. Think of that. You go back, six months ago, we couldn't get people to join the military.
Nobody wanted your job. Now everybody wants your job. So we went from having the worst numbers we've ever had in terms of recruitment. That included police officers also firefighters, but police officers. But in the military, think of that, you couldn't get people to join the military. And now we're brimming over.
We have the highest numbers we probably -- minimum 30 years, but probably have ever had because there's such an incredible spirit now in our country. We have a whole new spirit. And it began on a date, November 5th. That was Election Day. Under the Trump administration, America is back at America's military is back bigger, better and stronger than ever before.
Since my inauguration, service members stationed throughout this region have terminated 83 major terrorists operating across Iraq, Syria and Somalia, including the number two, just recently global leader of ISIS. And I knocked out ISIS, as you know, in my term. They said it was going to take four years. I said why four years?
That's a long time. And then I met a general, Razin Caine. He's now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right? And he was great. He said we could do it in three weeks, sir. I said, well, I was told four years, general, by your television generals in Washington DC. And he didn't want to be disrespectful to them.
He said, sir, I'm telling you, if you want, we can do it in three weeks. And that's what he did. He knocked out 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate in three weeks. Should I tell you a little long boring story about that? Yes? OK. Some of you have heard it. Because it's sort of a cool story. But I was wondering why we couldn't defeat, you know, ISIS. We have this great military, all these great jets that we have new all over the place.
The best in the world, the fastest, the best. And I went out and I said to a certain general in Washington DC, a television general, not much of this a real general on television. You have the television guys, and you have the real generals. And I said general, how long will it take us? Because it doesn't make sense.
We're spending a lot of money on defeating ISIS. And they don't have great equipment. They, in many cases, don't even have equipment. They're vicious and they are good fighters. We always have to respect that. Sir, it will take at least five years, sir. I said five years? That's a long time. I mean, we have jets, they have knives, and it can it takes five years?
Yes, sir. I said I don't really believe that. So I did something that I've never done before. I said I want to go to Iraq, and I want to meet with the people in Iraq. Because maybe they're different. But I couldn't understand how a large and powerful terror group could last so long. And so I scheduled a flight.
Meaning I left at 3:00 in the morning. It was pitch black. We left very, very under guard. We traveled through Washington DC. There was nobody around. Got to the hangar at about 3:15. The Air Force One was waiting for us. The pilots, the best looking human beings I've ever seen, even better looking than Tom Cruise and he's a friend of mine, OK? [Laughter] These guys were central casting, and they could also fly.
And we headed out about 3:30 in the morning, pitch black. We headed for Iraq. And nobody knew I was going, nobody. And we're flying and we're starting to get close. And they come to see me. And they say, sir, we have a problem. What? We're flying over enemy territory very soon, sir, could we please turn off your lights?
I said my lights? We're flying in Air Force One. We just spent trillions of dollars on fighting and yet you can't fly in with lights on? No, sir, it's very, very dangerous out there. So I said obviously, I'll turn them off. Then he comes in, in addition to the lights, we want to turn down the shade. So I said you mean not even shades?
OK, we turned down the shades. Then I said I want to go upstairs. This is 747, two levels, beautiful plane. Just ordered new ones by the way, beautiful, beautiful new ones. And Boeing just, by the way, did the biggest order in the history of Boeing. Just did with your beautiful territory right here. They ordered I think 160 planes.
I think it's the largest order ever for aircraft. So I salute the people from Boeing, Kelly and everybody and General Electric. The engines are General Electric Super Prime. And -- I really think it's great. Congratulations. But I go up to the -- to see the pilots, because I love sitting with the pilots.
I admire their skill. I really do. Like amazing, especially at a certain level. And when you -- when you fly Air Force One, supposedly you're the best pilot. So I hope that's true by the way. But it seems to be. I have no complaints. We land. It's like always landing like glass. I've had pilots where when you land it's not a pretty picture.
In fact, you admire the plane so much for being able to keep apart. You know, I mean, sometimes I land with some of these guys, you're bouncing down the runway. I'm saying these planes are amazing that they don't crack up. But these pilots landed .and the 747 is a hard one to land, but they're great. So I go up, I see the pilots.
I say hi, captain. The guy's a handsome guy. Got a blond flat top. I'd like to have a flat top like that. [Laughter] I don't know if the hair is good enough for that. I don't think so. I don't think I'm going to try it either. [Laughter] But perfect person. And I look at the right, he's perfect. Everybody was perfect.
I like perfect human beings. I said, how are we doing, captain? We're doing fine, sir. We'll be there in half hour, sir. I said they want the lights turned off, captain. And they do. Yes, sir, they're doing the right thing. Oh, that's great, Captain. It's -- that's great. So now we're 15 more minutes. And all of a sudden and most of you know this sound because that's what you do. But you have the computer voice, a beautiful voice where it says 1900. They're talking about feet.
So when you're on the big planes and sophisticated planes, the voice comes on. And I'm sitting back there, watching them, fly it beautifully. And I'm still not 100 percent happy with the statement that he agrees that the light should be turned off. I would have preferred that he said, no, there's no problem.
But that's not what he said. So we're going through. And it goes 1000, 900, 800, 700. Talking about feet. Now 700 is getting pretty close to the ground. I don't see a thing, there's no lights, there's no runway. And I've done this a lot. And I always see the runway in the distance. I have fairly good eyes.
I'd say for my age, extremely good eyes. And I don't see a runway. 600, 500. Captain, are we OK? Yes, sir. We'll be landing in just a few minutes, sir. 400. Captain, are we OK? I don't see a runway up there, captain. Oh, we're fine, sir. No problem, sir. 300, 200. I'm saying, captain, you're sure we're OK here?
And he said, we're fine sir. And then, wow, you know, just lands that thing so beautifully. And I see -- they had no light, they had no nothing. I don't know how the hell they do it, OK. All I know is we landed like and for him it was routine. And I'm trying to pretend I'm cool as a cucumber. You know, I'm your president. [Laughter] I'm supposed to be cool as a cucumber.
And I'm like, you know, I'm like -- I'm not happy. [Laughter] But after we land, I actually went to my people, and I said I want to ask you a question. I did a very brave thing just there. Is the president allowed to designate himself for the Congressional Medal of Honor? [Laughter] And they said, sir, honestly that wouldn't be good.
I said, OK. So anyway. We get it. I kid. You know, I have to say I kid because the fake news is back there. And they'll actually -- [Laughter] No, it's true. [Laughter] And they'll say that the president wanted to give himself the Congressional Medal of Honor. And he was talked out of it by his staff. So anyway.
So I -- I get -- the door opens. We have a platform. And I have -- I see down. And I look down and I see all -- these are all specimens just like you guys are all perfect people. And I'm seeing a couple of generals, a couple of, uh, staff sergeants and drill sergeants, but everybody's like from a movie. And I walk out of the plane and meet the first gentleman.
And I said what's your name? He said Caine, sir. My name is Caine. And I said hello, Caine. What's your first name? Well, they call me Razin. I said wait a minute. Razin, you mean like Razin Caine? Yes, sir, that's what they call me. General, I love you. You're the guy I'm looking for, general. You're the guy I'm looking for.
So he's Razin Caine. It's Daniel Caine, but Razin Caine, that's what they call him. Then I met another general. I met a colonel. I met a soldier. We all -- they said, sir, would you like to rest? I said what do you mean rest? I've been resting on the plain. I don't want to rest. What do I have to rest for?
He was thinking about Biden to come. OK. [Laughter] Biden -- biden would have rested the entire trip. He would have, first of all, he wouldn't have made the trip. [Laughter] But if he landed, he would have been rested for about five days before he had the first meeting. I said no, let's go have the meeting because I want to find out what's going on over here.
We're spending a lot of money and people are being killed. I want to find out why it's taking so long, so let's go right away. So we went to the -- almost like a -- just a very secure room that was in the form of a boardroom, very professional, however. It was very highly sophisticated with the equipment.
Best you can buy. We have the best you can buy all the time. But I went into the room. And I said general, so they tell me in Washington, it would take four to five years to defeat ISIS. And I want to know from you, is that true or is that -- ? No, sir. But it's not my place to say, sir, because they are the ones that call the shots.
I said, well, if you disagreed, you do. It's not the military way, sir. You have to listen to them. That's a chain of command. I said, oh, that's great. I'm not sure I like that system. But how long do you think it would take you if I gave you total authority to go in and knock the hell out of them? Sir, it would take approximately three weeks.
I say, say it again, general, I was told five years. Sir, it'll take three weeks and you'll have time left over. I said you got to be kidding me. Where the hell have you been? [Laughter] And then I sort of was really in disbelief because I said, you know, I've been hearing for so long, we've been fighting it. How long were we fighting them, 18 years or something?
And here's a guy telling me three weeks. So I said general, how do you do it in three weeks? He says, well, sir, I don't like saying this because I do have people in Washington, but I'm going to say it. We have portable stations, we have portable runways, we have runways all over the place. We have other bases.
And we're being forced to fight them from a very faraway distant base, which is right here. And by the time we get there, we have to come back because there's no fuel. And we're way too far away, sir. And they're over here. And he shows me a map. And we're over here. And we're all the way here, sir. I said why didn't they use the other bases?
Well, they didn't want to disturb the country where those bases were located. I said we give those countries billions of dollars. We can disturb them a little bit. They wouldn't know what we're doing anyway. Are they going to know where the planes are going? Not really, sir. I said so what would you do different?
He said, well, sir, I'd start from here and I'd go, and he went through a whole thing. And I'd hit them from the left. I'd hit them from the right. I'd hit them from underneath. I'd hit them from atop. I'd hit them from every angle, sir. I'd hit them so hard and so fast, they wouldn't know what the hell is happening.
I said and you think you can do that in three weeks? Yes, sir, and we're going to have time left over. And I said -- let me think about it, general. I went back to Washington. And I spoke to a couple of people. And they said no, don't think so, sir. I think you're talking about years of fighting. And then I called the general and I said so general, you still think you can do it in three weeks.
A lot of people think you can't even come close to that. Sir, we'll have time left over. And I said go to it, general. Go to it. Thank you, sir. And he hit the hell out of them. He hit the hell out of them. And he calls me up. Sir, we have a lot of these people. And if you want, I can finish it off right now, sir.
I said, well, I don't know. That's a lot, it's -- you know, it's a lot of people. Well, these people are not good people, sir. These are not good people. You'll feel better about it. Well, they're not good people, but they're people aren't they? And he goes -- I said, you know what? Why don't you buzz them for a little while and maybe after a day or two of buzzing them, they'll surrender.
They don't know about surrendering, sir. Well, maybe they'll raise the white flag. They don't have a white flag, sir. I said well, give it a shot anyway. He said all we're going to do is take a couple of bullet holes in our wings. You guys know about that right? And I said, well, let's give it a shot. And he calls up and says, let me do the job, sir.
I said all right, do the job. And we defeated 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate in just a very short little period of time. Totally different from what I was told in Washington DC by a bunch of frickin losers, OK, losers. [Laughter] And that's the beginning. And I took that general and made him the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as I told you.
And he's going to be great. And he's highly respected by everybody. Just a different kind of respect, though it's a real respect. But we can do our job better than anybody in the world. But you have to have the leadership of the top at the top. And we're doing that. We're finding, you know, we, uh, we let a lot of four stars go a lot of four.
We had more four stars. We had I think 425 four stars in World War II, which by the way we won. In World War II, we had 187 generals. And we had like 425 generals now without really a war. And so we made a lot of changes. And we have the best, we have the best. We figured -- we worked hard to figure the best, the real ones.
We want the real generals, not the fake generals. And not the political generals too. So we have something that's special, but it can show you really what happened. We also just apprehended as an example, the ISIS terrorist of the [Inaudible], the one that caused all of the problems in Afghanistan. Caused unbelievable destruction.
We lost 13 great soldiers. I got to know the parents and the families of those soldiers. But you know what they don't say is the ones who were so horribly wounded, which were many. And hundreds of people were killed from the other side. I always include that. That should have never happened. That whole mess should have never happened.
I think it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country. And we're not going to have things like that happen anymore. And again, we should have kept -- we should have kept the air base, we should have kept it. We left it go. And we left. And it was a very embarrassing moment in the history of our country.
That will never happen again. There are a lot of people that said that Russia went into Ukraine. When they saw that they said, wow, we didn't think that was possible. But it's not possible any longer. I can tell you. That's another one that would have never happened if I were president. Russia would have never gone into Ukraine.
All of those things, they would have never happened. But the Afghanistan withdrawal, not the fact that they withdrew, but the fact that they -- the way they did it was so horrible and so embarrassing. So we brought this horrible person to justice to American justice. We caught the person that -- that set off that bomb.
And all of this is possible because of the work that you do with partnerships that you forge. In this case, it was Pakistan. And by the way, I don't want to say I did, but I sure as hell helped settle the problem between Pakistan and India last week, which was getting more and more hostile. And all of a sudden you'll start seeing missiles of a different type.
And we got it settled. I hope -- I hope I don't walk out of here in two days later find out that it's not settled, but I think it is settled. And we talked to them about trade. Let's do trade instead of do war. And Pakistan was very happy with that. And India was very happy with that. And I think they're on the way.
You know, they have been fighting for about a thousand years in all fairness, so. [Laughter] I said, you know, I could settle that up. I can settle anything. Let me settle it up. Let's get them all together. How long have you been fighting? About a thousand years? Oh, that's a lot. I'm not sure about that. [Laughter] I'm not sure about settling.
That's a tough one. They've been fighting for a long time. But we got that settled. Nobody -- boy, everybody was very happy. I'll tell you. That looked like it was really going to be escalating out of control. But with us today is the first sergeant of the 379th Wing, Master Sergeant Patrick Elders. Patrick, wherever you may be. Where are you Patrick?
Thank you. Handsome guy. Wow, I'm looking at him from here and it says after having served 22 years, he's a lot. How long have you been in, Patrick?
[Inaudible]
Wow, that's amazing. It looks like he's like 25 years old. I'm saying 22 years. They said we must have this mixed up. We don't have it mixed up. I guess when you love what you do, you stay young, right? And he loves what he does, no doubt about it. But having served over 22 years in the Air Force, he's one of his -- right now, this is his sixth deployment.
But this time it's a little different because his stepson, Airman First Class Ashton Inman is on his own first ever deployment nearby in Kuwait. Right now in Kuwait, which is really incredible. Master Sergeant Elders is proud that two generations of his family are now serving the same mission in the same theater, protecting the same great American flag.
So say hello to him. [Inaudible] Thank you very much. Thank you very nice. A lot of stories like that. A lot of stories like that. And I want to thank Airman First Class Inman also very much. It's a -- that's a great -- that's a great story. That's a great story. And we have many of them like it. I guarantee in this room right now there are many such stories.
There are several married couples serving side by side in uniform at this base, including Staff Sergeants Tyler and Paige Duck. Where is Tyler and Paige? [Inaudible] Well, good, beautiful, beautiful. For years, they grew their relationship while Paige was deployed in the UK and Tyler was halfway around the world at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska conquering a 14 hour time difference.
That's a lot of time difference. And now they're together at Al Udeid. And it's really great. So staff sergeants, congratulations. It's fantastic. The American people never forget that our service members and their families make incredible sacrifices each and every day so that all Americans can be safe and be free.
And we love our amazing military families. Our military families are as good as you can get. The men and women here today are part of a noble tradition of service that has been passed down from one generation of Americans to the next. And your spirit and courage and sacrifice has always been there when we needed you the most.
You're always there when we need you the most. With us today is Master Sergeant Michael Shiloh, who happens to be from a small town in a place called Butler, Pennsylvania. Has anybody heard of Butler, Pennsylvania? Yeah. Michael is a member of the Air Force Reserve as well as Butler County corrections officer.
And last July 13th, he attended the rally where an assassin tried to take my life. He gave it a shot. Not good. That was some day. As soon as the shots were fired, Michael raced to direct law enforcement toward the sniper's perch, then worked to evacuate the rest of the crowd in a very safe manner. But Master Sergeant Shiloh would be the first to tell you who the real hero was that day.
He personally knew and really liked veteran, firefighter, also a veteran of the military, great veteran of the military who laid down his life for his country, really laid down his life for his country. His whole life was about his country. Corey Comperatore, and he's become somewhat of a legend. I will tell you.
He took a hard shot. He took a hard shot guarding his family. Master Sergeant Shiloh, your commitment represents the very best in America. Thank you for your incredible service that day and forever. Because that day was a horrible day, but you acted with incredible bravery. We've gotten reports about what you did.
It was really amazing. And I personally appreciate it. That was a -- that was a rough day. We don't want to have days like that. But Corey was an incredible guy, lost his life guarding his wife and children. Every American warrior here today inherits a legacy of exceptional patriots who have defended our freedom for nearly 250 years.
You carry on the glorious tradition of the heroes of Lexington and Concord, Gettysburg and Belleau Wood, Normandy and Midway. You embody the spirit of the soldiers who hoisted the flag over Fort McHenry and the Marines who planted the Stars and Stripes on the summit to Iwo Jima. That was a rough attack. You carry forward the mission of generations of Americans before you who marched through halls of gunfire, trekked over rugged mountains, stormed across scorching deserts, sailed through hostile waters, conquered unknown dangers and poured out their blood and guts on battlefields all over the world.
The military is incredible. And we won our independence. We preserved our union, protected our way of life, defeated fascism, crushed terrorism, liberated millions and millions of people from bondage and brought communism to its knees. It's what we did. And now we're going to defend America from all enemies.
Overcome all obstacles and dangers. And as one nation, we're going to build a future of peace and prosperity for generations to come. Together, we will stand strong. We will stand proud. We will live free. And we will fight, fight, fight and win, win, win. So my trip is four and a half days, but this is the one I was so looking forward because I'm with the people that I really love and respect.
And we love and respect you. This is what you're doing, the service you do for your country, you keep us safe. There is no more important profession. And I was so proud to see those reports coming in just a few days ago, saying that the enrollment is at the highest level ever. Especially when I had a suffer running against a group of people that were very inappropriate where they allowed that reputation of what you stood for and what you stand for to deteriorate to a point where we weren't able to recruit.
So just remember this, you have a job now that everybody wants. Everybody wants to be doing what you're doing. It's a special job. And I'm so proud. When I saw those numbers come across the board that we set the record for enrollment in the military. And we took that from the exact opposite just six months before.
I was very, very proud of that. We have a great country. We have a proud country. We have a country that's respected all over the world. And as I said before, a year ago, we were laughed at, but nobody's laughing at our country anymore. We're the most respected country anywhere in the world. And thank you very much.
And enjoy your lives and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.