For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 12, 2001
Remarks by the President at Youth Activities Center
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
12:16 P.M. CST
Q Thank you for coming,
sir. We're really looking forward to this.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm looking forward
to hearing from them. But one of the things I -- my job as
the Commander-in-Chief is to boost morale in the
military. In order to keep the peace, the military must be
strong and morale has got to be high. And I've come to talk
about base housing. We want to make sure people are well
housed in the military. And there's some
money in my budget to do that.
(Baby crying.)
THE PRESIDENT: Don't worry about
it. Base housing's on the way. (Laughter.)
I got to see new housing and I got to see
not-so-new-housing. And it was important to do so, and I
appreciate the General giving me a tour. Anyway, thanks for letting me
come by. And by the way, I'm proud to be
traveling with my brother, Jeb. If you've got any problems,
write him -- (laughter) -- and the two congressmen
from this area, Congressman Boyd and Congressman Scarborough are with
us. And of course, General Mike Ryan, who is from the
Joint Chiefs. I appreciate you being here, General, as
well.
But thank you all very much for giving me a
chance to come. I look forward to hearing what you have to
say, and it's your chance to give the Commander-in-Chief a few
suggestions. And I'm interested.
I do want to say that I know a lot of families
are worried about all the deployments that take place. And
we'll honor our commitments. But the
mission of this military is going to be to be ready to fight and win
war, and therefore stop war from happening in the first place.
And I think that's important for all of the
folks who wear the uniform
and their spouses to hear. The mission will be
well-focused, and that's what we'll be focusing our resources and
attention on. I take it very seriously, because -- and I
believe strongly that we're going to be able to
keep the peace. It's a noble mission for all of us involved
with the military.
Thank you.
END 12:19 P.
|