Remarks by the Vice President at Fort Campbell, Kentucky

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hey, it's good to be back with you all. I'll tell you what. I want to thank General Colt for accompanying me up here. I get the honor of introducing the General.

I was back here on February 11th, to welcome home members of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Afghanistan -- 155 of you got off that plane in the middle of the night, and the only thing that was more exciting than seeing you getting off is watching your families watch you all get off. So it's an honor to be back here so soon.

I know many of you have just gotten home in the past few weeks -- so welcome home. And I know from experience that your families want more than anything to spend time with you. And so, every time I show up at a welcome home ceremony, I'm always worried about getting in the way. Because I remember when my son came back home from Iraq after a year, there were all these ceremonies. And I kept saying, hell, man, stop, I want to see my kid. (Laughter.)

So, anyway, I get it. So let me just say how much gratitude the President and I have, and all Americans do, for you all. You guys have been in the fight from the beginning. And the risk you've taken, the incredible sacrifices you've made, the comrades you've lost, the losses you've personally endured -- you've been in some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

I've been there a number of times, back up those damn mountains. I'd get a helicopter to go down 9,800 feet, and all I got on is a vest -- a bulletproof vest and a helmet and I'm out of breath climbing up about 40 clicks -- 40 feet. And you guys are up there, 60 to 80-pound packs running around. God, you're amazing. You just are amazing. I'm in awe of the job you do, in awe of the job you do. (Applause.)

As I said back in February, I want to also thank your families. They made sacrifices as well, those intangible sacrifices -- those missed births and those missed birthdays, those missed graduations, those missed -- an occasional funeral. Perhaps more than anything else, just being missed, just not having you home.

The famous poet -- there was a famous poet I like to quote, John Milton, who said, "They also serve who only stand and wait." Your families serve as well. And the rest of America owes your families a debt of gratitude as well. (Applause.) And so, to all the families that are listening, I want to say their service is as real as yours and it's as appreciated.

To the soldiers here, you are the most capable warriors. Let me say this without any fear of contradiction, you're the most capable warriors in the history of the world. There has never, never, never, never been a fighting force as capable as you are.

It's my job today and my honor to talk a little bit about the man that I get to work with every day. We've just got to spend time with the assaulters who got bin Laden. (Applause.)

By the way, I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to tell you anyway -- the President is going to be mad I'm taking so long -- (laughter) -- but today was "Grandfather's Day," so I went by earlier this morning before I came out here to my granddaughter's little spring play. And after it's all over she said, "Pop, come back to my classroom with me." I said, "I can't, honey." She said, "Are you going someplace on Air Force Two?" I said, "Yeah, I am, babe." She said, "Where are you going?" I said, going to -- true story -- I said, "I'm going to Fort Campbell." I said, "We're going to see the guys out there who got Osama bin Laden." Absolutely true story. She said, "Pop!" and then she grabbed a little friend of hers and she said, "My Pop is going out to see the whales." (Laughter.) Not the SEALs, the whales (Laughter.) Because if they're that good they got to be big, man. They got to be big. (Laughter.) Well, you guys are the gorillas, I'll tell you.

I want to tell you, look, I've watched -- I've been around a while with eight Presidents, so I've watched Presidents make some difficult decisions. They've all had to make difficult decisions. But sitting in every meeting getting ready and planning for this mission and assault, for the mission to get bin Laden, I saw something extraordinary. I saw a President who was told the odds -- told the odds weren't but much more than 50/50 that he'd be there and we could do this, but they were considerably less than 100 percent.

And I, along with the all the rest of his national security team and Secretary of Defense, stayed -- everyone else, we sat around there and he asked our advice and we gave him our advice, and we told him told him a little this and that. And finally, he just looked at all of us and said, I got faith in the -- I got faith in these guys.

He walked off on his own without anybody giving him any guarantees at all and he decided -- because he believed in not only the SEALs, but believes in all of you. He has absolute total faith in all of you. And he made that determination, and it was an amazing thing to watch. But it was because he had the absolute confidence that you were there.

And so he decided, when he got into office, because of the fight you all were in from the beginning, that the number one priority was to get Osama bin Laden. And he knew the risks, he knew there were significant risks, and more importantly, special operations risks to the people who were risking their lives getting there. But he didn't hesitate, nor did your guys.

Bob Gates said something interesting. I've known Bob for a long time. He said, it was one of the gutsiest decisions I've ever seen made and one of the gutsiest raids. This is going to go down in history, what happened. This is going to go down in history.

And here to introduce your Commander-in-Chief, the guy that I'm proud to serve with, is one of the country's leading warriors himself, Deputy Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division, General Jeffrey Colt. Ladies and gentlemen, General Colt. (Applause.)

GENERAL COLT: Thank you, sir.

I can only try to tell you today just how proud of you that this Division and this local community are. But more importantly, today, you're going to get to hear from the Commander-in-Chief just how appreciative he is of all of your service and your sacrifices.

Please join me in this great privilege of welcoming the President of the United States, Barack Obama. (Applause.)