Thank you. Thank you. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome.
It's good to be back at the Naval Academy. I'm pleased to provide a convenient excuse for you to miss class.
It's the first year that every class of midshipmen at this academy arrived after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001. Each of you have volunteered to wear our nation's uniform in a time of war, knowing all the risks and dangers that accompany military service.
Whatever their chosen mission, every previous graduate of the Academy is bringing honor to the uniform and helping us bring victory in the war on terror.
In the years ahead, you'll join them in the fight. Your service is needed because our nation is engaged in a war that is being fought on many fronts: from the streets of Western cities to the mountains of Afghanistan, the islands of Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa.
This war is going to take many turns. And the enemy must be defeated on every battlefield.
Yet the terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in... um... ...in their war against humanity. And so we must recognize Iraq as the central front in the war on terror.
As we fight the enemy in Iraq... ...ahem. As we fight...
As we fight the enemy in Iraq, every man and woman who... ...who volunteers to defend our nation... uh... ...deserves... ...you, you all deserve... ...an unwavering commitment to the mission and a clear strategy for vic...
You know... I just have to say... I just... You know, I just have to say, this... ...this speech I'm reading... I just have to say, this is... this speech is... it's bullshit. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Yes, you heard me right - and, no, don't you Secret Service goons dare drag me off this stage. You boys just sit back down. Karl, Andy, all you admirals, you do the same now, you hear?
I want to tell you something. Nobody understands the pressure I deal with. Nobody knows the weight I carry on my shoulders, 24/7. Not even former presidents, at least the ones still living. It's not just the burden of being commander-in-chief or leader of the free world I'm talking about. It's so much more than that.
Every day I get up and go here or there, to this place or that, and they stick these freakin' speeches in my hand, and I read them, and people even applaud and have their picture taken with me. But they know - a lot of them - they know. And I know they know. And now you're gonna know that I know, too.
I want to tell... Karl, I mean it. You just sit down and stop agitating all over yourself. And you either turn this microphone back on or I'll just stand here and shout what I have to say...
That's better. I want to tell you a story about something that just happened to me. An amazing story.
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