00:00So forgive me for being a little late, but I also want to thank our good friend here,
00:05a true ally of our warriors in Congress, Congressman Glenn Grothman.
00:09Glenn, where are you at? Glenn, thank you.
00:16President Trump talks a lot about 3 a.m. members of Congress.
00:19They call it 3 a.m. with extra demands before a key vote.
00:23Glenn is not a 3 a.m. guy.
00:25He's a reliable vote no matter what, meaning when you need his vote, he's there to do the right thing
00:30on behalf of America First.
00:32Congressman, thank you very much.
00:38Wisconsin's got a great delegation.
00:40I also want to thank a true warrior and a true patriot of the highest order.
00:43A friend of mine, Congressman Derrick Van Orden, he couldn't be here today,
00:46but he's a great advocate for what we stand for, as well as our good friend Senator Ron Johnson,
00:51who runs the Senate Budget Committee and I know is dedicated to ensuring in the coming weeks and months
00:56that the $350 billion reconciliation bill that's going to help fund our $1.5 trillion budget passes.
01:03So Ron Johnson's a great ally and we appreciate his support.
01:06I also want to thank a proud Wisconsinite, Under Secretary of War for Acquisitions and Sustainment, Mike Duffy.
01:14Mike, raise your hand.
01:23Acquisitions and sustainment is like a mouthful of a title, but think of it this way.
01:28He is the War Department's official weapons buyer.
01:31He's the world's largest arms dealer and his name is Mike Duffy, Department of War.
01:36It is great to be here with my team at Oshkosh in the great state of Wisconsin,
01:42home to 30,000 defense industrial base workers and 14,000 U.S. service members.
01:49And I'm here on behalf of the Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump, to say thank you for building faster and
01:55faster each day
01:56the arsenal of freedom that our warriors need.
01:59I'm also here because I want an opportunity to look all of you in the eye, my fellow patriots,
02:04and tell you how important your job is.
02:09We don't have the helmets without the hard hats and we don't have the warriors without the workers.
02:15We are all shoulder to shoulder in this arsenal of freedom.
02:20The vehicles you make here, as you know, are used by our warriors all around the world.
02:27Every single one of you, every welder, every receptionist, to the CEO is supporting American warriors every single day.
02:38This is not just another manufacturing job.
02:41This is patriotism in the form of steel, past and present.
02:48It's incredible what you've accomplished here in Oshkosh.
02:51This company has played a role in every major conflict of the last 80 years since World War II.
02:58And I've seen your incredible work firsthand downrange.
03:02And I know that it saves American lives, the lives of American warriors.
03:07Many moons ago I was a platoon leader in Iraq fighting an enemy, a cowardly enemy, that fought amongst women
03:13and children
03:14and hid IEDs with standoff because they knew they couldn't fight American warriors toe to toe.
03:21And then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, after my time in Iraq, but I went back a couple of times
03:27as an embedded reporter to see what the troops were up against during the Iraq surge.
03:32Robert Gates saw that they needed stronger, safer vehicles to protect our warriors.
03:37He cut the usual Pentagon red tape to get Oshkosh MRAPs to our warriors in theater.
03:44You and this company saved American lives.
03:49There are many American warriors, in fact, I have no doubt many veterans right here today living because of the
03:55good work of Midwest manufacturers like you.
03:59Their kids, someday their grandkids and their families, thank God, literally, for your work.
04:07It's a great American story that we are iterating on and replicating across our department right now.
04:15And I'll explain more about that in a moment.
04:18But first, I think what's really special about Oshkosh is that 90% of your work is for commercial civilian
04:25use.
04:26It's great to see integrated production lines of both commercial and defense capabilities.
04:32At President Trump's Pentagon, unlike previous pentagons, unlike what Joe Biden did at Obama did, commercial products and offerings are
04:42the default policy.
04:44We need more commercial companies in the Department of War space.
04:48We are open for business for the best American manufacturers, for all manufacturers.
04:55And you no longer have to sue your way into the department in order to compete.
05:00Our job is to make it easier for the big guys and the little guys to get in to compete
05:04and ensure that American warriors have the best.
05:07You see, we came to Oshkosh because Oshkosh is a model for other commercial manufacturers to step up when your
05:16country needs you.
05:18From building the beautiful fire trucks I had a chance to see to the family of medium tactical vehicles, you
05:24are a model of delivering commercial and military capabilities to the warfighter.
05:31Most companies have been in the past too afraid, and rightfully so, of the maze of Pentagon bureaucracy.
05:37But I'm here to say we're a different kind of department, moving at the speed of business, moving at the
05:43speed of markets, and we are open for business.
05:46We need more Oshkosh across America.
05:51During President Trump's first term in office, he rebuilt our military.
05:56Now, in his second term, he is rebuilding it yet again.
06:01A key piece of legislation passed by this administration and championed by your representatives,
06:06the one big beautiful bill specifically secured $190 million in defense contracts executed right here in Wisconsin.
06:15And we intend to do more as we move forward modernizing our forces.
06:20This year's defense budget request includes $16.8 billion to modernize Army and Marine Corps combat equipment,
06:28which will include the procurement of new futuristic vehicles like the incredible Oshkosh Rogue Fires System.
06:37Just two months ago, the United States Marine Corps awarded Oshkosh a well-deserved $92 million contract
06:44for the Rogue Fires System.
06:47President Trump has promised a golden age of America, and he is delivering all across the country
06:53with American manufacturing and rebuilding our defense industrial base.
06:57It's a part of the Trump economy that is booming and that equates to jobs right here in your state
07:03and all across America.
07:06But I should note, selfishly, since at the War Department we look at the metrics of our own people as
07:12well,
07:13that that also includes our military.
07:16Under the last administration, military recruiting was at record lows.
07:21You see, they would miss a recruiting number, so they would lower the goals and then they would miss that
07:26goal.
07:26And they would lower it so low that they could barely make it and then say they met their goal.
07:31But since November 2024, and something particular happened in November 2024,
07:38the US military has seen its highest recruiting records in 30 years.
07:44Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Space Force, you name it.
07:49And they're not just meeting goals, but we're exceeding them months and months in advance.
07:53And now with this $1.5 trillion bill, we're going to grow the size of each of those services,
07:58and we're confident we'll meet those new goals as well.
08:01So for the men and women looking to put on camouflage, the Department of War is open for business as
08:06well.
08:07And what a reflection of confidence from the American people, fathers and mothers,
08:11to send their sons and daughters in record numbers to go serve.
08:14We're humbled by it and honored by it, and we'll continue to do right by them.
08:18And part of doing right by them is being right here with you.
08:22It's why building our defense industrial base is part of our national defense strategy.
08:27It's why burden sharing is so fundamental to who we are and what we do.
08:31Every part of what we've focused on has been unleashing American business
08:35because we need the best weapons in the hands of warfighters.
08:38Right now there are at least hundreds of thousands of jobs open in America's defense industrial base,
08:44including jobs right here in Oshkosh.
08:47It was mentioned to me that there's a disproportionate number of vets that work here at this location and across
08:53Oshkosh.
08:54If you would, please raise your hand if you've served our country in uniform as well.
08:58God bless you.
09:08You guys and gals are serving again.
09:10It's an extension of service just like everyone else next to you.
09:15You see, this administration knows that Midwest manufacturing doesn't just build our trucks or tanks or airplanes.
09:20American manufacturing built the middle class of the Midwest.
09:26American made, American manufacturing, American muscle, American money, funding it and in your pockets American jobs.
09:36Companies like Oshkosh combine American ingenuity with American work ethic, sheer American work ethic in support of our American warriors.
09:45It's an unbeatable combination that none of our adversaries can conceivably match.
09:51Well, that speed, I mentioned Secretary Bob Gates, that was used for the MRAP program, is now what we are
09:58demanding for absolutely everything across the War Department.
10:02It is the norm, not the exception.
10:06We are cutting the red tape to get weapons to warriors in record time.
10:11You see, we are not just fighting adversaries.
10:14One of my jobs every single day is to go to war with the Pentagon bureaucracy.
10:18It is a war of attrition that we intend, our office intends to win.
10:23All four years we are going to cut red tape and requirements and ridiculous layers that have been added time
10:30and time again, year after year,
10:32mostly by lawyers of big companies that want to prevent competition.
10:35And we have to tear those barriers down to allow the best companies in America, defense or commercial, large or
10:42small, to run as fast as possible.
10:46That's why we want all of our defense contractors to pivot.
10:49And that's why we are doing this arsenal of freedom to pivot to a wartime footing and build for victory.
10:56As I mentioned, for decades, the Pentagon was hampered by bureaucracy, bogged down by burdensome and inefficient processes,
11:04paralyzed by impossible risk thresholds, and distracted by agendas that had nothing to do with warfighting.
11:12It was mostly our fault, the world's largest bureaucracy.
11:17The Pentagon sent contractors unstable demand signals, that's part of what we talked about on the factory floor today.
11:24Uncertain projections that made the defense industrial base risk averse, slow, lethargic, just like government.
11:32The companies that served government started looking like government, falling behind on budget, everything costing more.
11:39Ever-changing and insane requirements. Scheduling overruns became the norm. Fat, lazy, and complacent companies.
11:49Well, those days are over. Speed to delivery is now our organizing principle.
11:55We have slashed the culture of bureaucracy, ended the culture of risk aversion, and accelerating a culture of agility, innovation,
12:04and sheer results.
12:05Process is not a result. All that matters is end state and results. No excuses. Speed, scale, volume, efficiency, maximum
12:19urgency.
12:21Every dollar squandered on redundancy or bureaucracy or waste, it's an insult to you, the taxpayer, and it's a theft
12:28from warfighters.
12:30This is a new department with a new focus on our core mission, where we're restoring the warrior ethos, and
12:39that means a focus, an unrelenting, uncompromising focus on lethality.
12:43It means no more DEI. It means no more trannies, just training.
12:53It means color-blind, gender-neutral, merit-based, back to basics, across the board, no matter if you're carrying a
13:01rifle or you're working on the plant floor.
13:05President Trump, in fact, he said when he gave me this job, moments afterwards, he said,
13:10Pete, I want you to bring the warriors back. Bring them back.
13:17And that's what we've done. That's been our focus. Uncompromising, without apology, from day one.
13:24And that's what the Arsenal of Freedom has been all about. Bring American manufacturing and jobs and agility back.
13:32And that focus on lethality is re-establishing deterrence. We want a military so strong and powerful that our enemies
13:38never think about testing us.
13:41But, as you know, our adversaries are not sitting idly by. They're moving fast. They're developing and delivering new capabilities
13:49at a rate that should be sobering for every single American.
13:54Which is why President Trump is asking our friends in Congress to pass a $1.5 trillion budget for our
14:01warriors. It is a bold generational investment.
14:05The largest military budget in history. But it's absolutely necessary when you look under the hood and you understand the
14:13nature of the threat.
14:14You understand the negligence of previous administrations, the deferred maintenance. It is what we must provide for the necessity of
14:22today's warriors.
14:24And in order to make an investment in the future of warfare. Think autonomy and drones, AI, compute, space, subsea,
14:33hypersonics, cyber, you name it.
14:36We are laying the foundation for continued American dominance here at home in our hemisphere and around the globe for
14:44decades to come.
14:45We will build the arsenal of freedom. And in the coming months we will ensure that all of that $1
14:52.5 trillion is funded.
14:54So that our department working with great companies like this one can provide it. And working with members of Congress
15:00who are willing to give us all the authorities.
15:01We need to give companies like Oshkosh stable, clear, and consistent demand signals so that you can plan ahead, make
15:10more investments, and create more American jobs.
15:14I'll say it once and I'll say it again. No more offshoring, outsourcing, American made, American manufacturing, American muscle, American
15:25jobs.
15:27So keep doing your part right here on the factory floor.
15:31We'll do our part at the Pentagon to keep cutting red tape, running, allowing you to run as fast as
15:37possible and speeding up the procurement process.
15:40And you know, we all know, all of our warriors do their part every single day and every single night
15:45all around the world to keep us safe.
15:48And they remain in our prayers constantly.
15:51So thank you for delivering when it counted and continuing to deliver when it counts.
15:57Each one of you ought to be proud and your families of what you do.
16:02Companies like this one are the backbone of the arsenal.
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16:13Download the One India app now.
16:16We'll see you next time.
16:16We'll see you next time.
16:17Bye.
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