university's reputation as a training
ground for generations of citizen
soldiers and as a pioneer in American
higher education I learned today that
Norwich is not just the first private
military college in the nation it is
also the birthplace of ROTC the first
Military College to accept women and
home to the nation's oldest collegiate
band but
University obviously honors tradition it
is also clearly focused on the future
and this matters because when today's
students become tomorrow's graduates
they will be called upon to help their
nation succeed in a world that is being
constantly transformed after my visit
your leader day with both military and
civilian students I think our country
will be very very well served the cadets
I met with the other students seem to me
both incredibly young and extremely
bright and I asked great questions
exemplifying this University's
commitment to and I quote tolerate all
opinions within reason is left free to
come back them
unquote the students concerns today
reflected a mixture of pride in our
country and anxiety about the future
concerns which I'm sure are shared by
this whole audience all of this gives us
an awful lot to talk about this evening
so I will look forward later to your
questions and since I'm no longer in the
government I will actually be able to
answer them
I would however briefly like to share
with you some of the experiences that
shaped my own view of the world and
America's role in it like many Americans
I didn't begin my life in this country I
was born in czechoslovakia only two
years before Adolf Hitler's troops
marched into the capital city of Prague
my father was a diplomat at the time and
unwilling to cooperate with the Nazis
and so my parents and I fled to England
which is where we spent ww2 among my
first memories are those of sitting with
our neighbors during air raids huddled
together in a shelter while enemy
bombers flew overhead waiting for the
all-clear sound our anxieties were
heightened because the war in Europe
have not begun well and it seemed that
we who had found refuge in great britain
might be left to fight alone but then
one day wonderful news came from across
the sea a brave nation had answered the
call and was on its way to rescue
freedom soon american soldiers and
airmen arrived in England bringing with
them their boundless energy competent
wisecracks and funny way of walking on
the streets of British cities and towns
children like me
trailed along behind them in all of
their uniforms and all that they
represented then in early June 1944 the
troops were sadly nowhere to be seen
Operation Overlord the largest
amphibious landing in history have been
launched in the months that followed
almost an entire continent lost evil had
to be taken back village by village HILL
by hill it was an assault carried out
against a dug-in positions amid rain and
mud and blood and darkness winnable only
through unbelievable courage and
unbearable loss in those days the entire
spectrum of human possibility was on
display from the soul is chair of
buchenwald auschwitz to the selfless
bravery of allied warriors my father who
also volunteered to serve as an air-raid
warden
was head of broadcasting for the
Czechoslovak government-in-exile as the
fried fighting progressed he reported
each break through to the millions of
people back home
secretly listening and sellers headaches
I still remember celebrating the Allied
victory and for the first but not the
last time then I love with Americans in
uniform I was just eight years old when
the war ended and we were turned to
prague because the fighting was over my
parents and get our best to settle in
and resume a normal life but within a
couple of years the government of
Czechoslovakia was taken over by the
communists so once again my family was
forced into exile this time sailing
across the ocean to a new and welcoming
home we arrived in New York on Veterans
Day November 11 1948 I will always be
grateful for the warm reception we
received in for the opportunity I had to
grow up in a country that cherished
freedom for as long as she lived my
mother used to comment on the fourth of
July and want to know whether her
grandchildren we're singing patriotic
songs as for my father he's decided
contrast he said that in europe people
would say to refugees we're so sorry for
your troubles and that your country's
been taken over by a terrible system I
hope you have everything that you need
and by the way when are you going home
but when we came to America people would
say we're so sorry your country's been
taken over by terrible system you're
welcome here and when will you become
citizens you can't imagine how
privileged I felt when a secretary of
state I flew two important meetings on a
plane carrying the Pride title United
States of America and could sit behind a
sign that said the United States while
in office I seized every opportunity I
had to visit with our soldiers sailors
airmen Marines who were stationed
overseas and like the cadets at this
university these were men and women
from across our land representing every
variety of background race color and
creed I was impressed by their
enthusiasm and commitment whether their
assignments were in Europe the Balkans
the Arabian Peninsula or East Asia when
sitting with these military people I
never heard a single complaint true
after all just because someone is in the
military doesn't mean they're too shy to
speak up and yet the most frequent
concern those young people shared had
nothing to do with personal comfort it
was the fear that folks back home didn't
really understand how abort their
mission was or how much good they were
doing on behalf of the United States I
was deeply troubled by this is Sean at a
reflection of the era in which we live
next week marks sixty seven years since
I first came to the United States it was
a time when a marriage image images of
american Battlefield valor were fresh on
the minds of Americans and
freedom-loving people across the globe
in the time since the two world wars in
Korea have receded in memory as first
Vietnam and then the Persian Gulf and
then Afghanistan and Iraq again and then
Afghanistan again and now perhaps iraq
again have moved to the floor
meanwhile the technology of warfare has
changed and so have the tactics the
enemy now strides to remain invisible
and the means that its uses are
unconventional we still speak of the
military in heroic terms but these do
not always feel like heroic times our
military engagements in this young
century have played out against a
complicated political backdrop tinged
with religious and cultural tension
questioning allies less than conclusive
results and an american public that has
often seemed disengage a recent
battlefield deaths in Iraq the first
since 2011 was a reminder
each day our fighting men and women are
still putting themselves at considerable
risk in service to our nation as one
citizen I acknowledge an enormous debt
for me to those in this audience and
those in this community who have chosen
to contribute their energy and talents
to the armed forces of our country the
debt extends to all of our veterans some
of whom bear permanent scars of battle
and all of who married a permanent place
of respect in our collective memory and
in our hearts as I stand here a week
before a Veterans Day 2050 I have to ask
how well that is being repaired it seems
to me that if we are intent on
protecting the security and prosperity
of our country we would have long ago
put an end to the partisan squabbling
and develop a unified and lasting
approach to the federal budget that
restores military readiness and support
all instruments of national power the
agreement reached last week in
washington was a welcome step in this
direction but its two-year duration
practically guarantees that there will
be more confrontations in the future as
this political season heats up I hope
that everyone agrees we must always
ensure that our fighting men and women
have leadership training and equipment
second to none and that our military
families are treated with the respect
they deserve
before during and after the fighting is
done
but just as importantly we have to
resist the suggestion heard more and
more often that we americans need not
bother about problems overseas and that
if we just mind her own business
nothing like pearl harbor or 911 will
ever happen again after nearly 15 years
and continues warfare in places far
removed from the rugged beauty of
Vermont I can certainly understand the
temptation to turn inward but while we
may be tired of dealing with aggressors
pirates and terrorists they are not
tired of us clearly the world is a
troubled place al-qaida's core
leadership has been weakened but even
more dangerous and deranged successor
groups have arisen in the Middle East
and North Africa in this evolving
terrorist landscape no group has gained
more information on Isis which calls
itself the Islamic state but is neither
islamic your estate many in the region
now call adesh and since they hate that
name that's what I've decided to call
them as well
groups such as dash will remain a threat
as long as receptive ears are found for
their poison and the gullible can be
persuaded the murderers are martyrs but
they will also continue to feed the
chaos and civil wars in places such as
Libya Yemen and most of all Syria where
President has led his country into
disaster as secretary of state I visited
Mr Assad not long after he took office
succeeding his father who called himself
a lion but had the temperament of a mule
we hope that the time because the new
president belong to a younger generation
he might open his country to political
and economic reform instead he has shown
himself to be every bit as stubborn as
his father the result has been economic
stagnation and for the past four years
of sectarian war that has forced half of
Syria's population more than
11 million people from their homes
creating a humanitarian catastrophe in
the region and a refugee crisis in
Europe I can't think of a time when
there have been more overlapping and
competing crises in one region of the
world and there's no predicting how this
will play out
indeed we now face the danger that the
conflict in Syria will do further into a
proxy battle between Shiite Iran and
Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies and
perhaps between Russia and the United
States one thing I've learned is that in
the Middle East a bad situation can
always get worse and that's why it's
important that all of the parties to the
Syrian conflict are now coming to the
table to talk about a political
resolution to the war of course the
problems in the Middle East are not the
only global challenge that should
concern as today for example there
remains the unsettled situation in
Ukraine where russia's illegal
intervention has given anyone who lived
through the cold war are most welcome
feeling of deja vu for 18 months the
United States and our allies in europe
have stood together by and large in
opposing Russia's actions in Ukraine as
a result russia is isolated diplomatic
Lee and hurting economically but that
has not been enough to change the
calculus of President Putin who proves
that leaders of great countries are most
dangerous when they make up their own
facts there has been much speculation in
Washington and other capitals about
president Putin's ultimate objectives in
Ukraine I cannot claim to know what
those are
I am NOT his psychiatrist but one thing
that is clear to me is that Putin would
like nothing more than to split the
United States and the European Union on
this issue and he would rather have a
political and economic basket case
owners border that is successful stable
democracy there would undermine his own
narrative to the russian people despite
the best efforts
Russia Ukraine is making progress in
reforming its economic and fulfilling
its democratic potential and if ukraine
is succeeding that means Putin is
failing which may partially explain his
attention diverting adventure to Syria
as russia's intervention in the Middle
East shows none of the world's complex
and challenges can be viewed in
isolation from each other and
Afghanistan are partners on the ground
and our adversaries are waiting to see
whether these events will cause the
international community to divert
attention away from that critical effort
in the South China Sea and our search
