Iokwe!
PRESIDENT LOEAK, COMMODORE LOVELY, COMMANDER HARRIS, THANK YOU FOR THIS EVENT. FRIENDS…
PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FOURTH OF JULY MESSAGE TO ALL DIPLOMATIC POSTS READS IN PART:
“ON INDEPENDENCE DAY, WE CELEBRATE A SMALL AUDACIOUS GROUP OF PATRIOTS WHO, IN SIGNING A DECLARATION, IGNITED A REVOLUTION AND MADE US FREE. BELIEVING IN A DEMOCRACY THEY HAD NEVER KNOWN, THE PATRIOTS OF 1776 DID NOT FIGHT TO REPLACE THE TYRANNY OF A KING WITH PRIVILEGES OF A FEW OR THE RULE OF A MOB. THEY CREATED A GOVERNMENT OF, BY, AND FOR THE PEOPLE, ENTRUSTING EACH GENERATION TO KEEP SAFE OUR FOUNDING CREED.”
WELL, THE MARSHALL ISLANDS ARE A SMALL AUDACIOUS GROUP OF ISLANDS, THAT NOT ONLY SHARES THE BENEFITS OF INDEPENDENCE, BUT ALSO THE IDEALS OF DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, AND EQUALITY THAT WE IN THE UNITED STATES HOLD DEAR.
IT IS GRATIFYING TO BE PARTNERS, AND AN HONOR TO BE FRIENDS.
PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP IS TESTAMENT TO OUR TWO COUNTRIES COMMITMENT TO EACH OTHER. TO BE THERE FOR EACH OTHER IN TIMES OF TROUBLE, LIKE DROUGHT, AND IN GOOD TIMES.
OUR IDEALS ARE SO CLOSELY SHARED, THAT MARSHALLESE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN VOLUNTEER TO SERVE IN THE US ARMED FORCES AT A HIGHER RATE THAN ANY STATE. ALL OF US, FROM BOTH COUNTRIES, SALUTE THEIR SERVICE TODAY.
PRESIDENT OBAMA GOES ON TO SAY “WHEN OUR WAY OF LIFE HAS BEEN CHALLENGED AND TESTED, BRAVE MEMBERS OF OUR ARMED FORCES HAVE STEPPED FORWARD TO DEFEND OUR CONVICTIONS AT HOME AND ABROAD. FROM THE MINUTEMEN WHO FOUGHT FOR A NATION STILL ONLY AN IDEA, TO THE PROUD MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVE IN UNIFORM TODAY, OUR SERVICE MEMBERS MAKE THE GREAT EXPERIMENT OF AMERICA POSSIBLE. ”
AND PRESIDENT OBAMA WOULD BE VERY PROUD OF THE WORK BEING DONE HERE ON BEHALF OF PP 13 AND BY THE DISASTER ASSISTANCE RESPONSE TEAM HERE FOR THE DROUGHT.
PRESIDENT LOEAK VERY THOUGHTFULLY OFFERED CONDOLENCES TO COMMODORE LOVELY TODAY IN THEIR MEETING FOR THE LOSS OF 19 AMERICAN FIREFIGHTERS IN ARIZONA.
FIRST RESPONDERS.
YOU TOO, IN UNIFORM, WORKING HERE AS NGO’S, AND WORKING IN THE EMBASSY, ARE ALSO FIRST RESPONDERS. RESPONDING TO THE NCD HEALTH EMERGENCY, RESPONDING TO THE NEED FOR EDUCATION, SO THAT EVERY MARSHALLESE CHILD CAN COMPETE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. FOR THE SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN, RESPONDING IS JUST WHAT YOU DO. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. AND AS WE SAW AT THE DELAP HEALTH FAIR, YOU DO WITH A SMILE, YOU DO IT PROFESSIONALLY, AND YOU GET AS MUCH OUT OF THE SERVICE AS YOU PUT INTO IT. THANK YOU.
BEING WITH THE NAVY FOR ANY AMOUNT OF TIME DOES RUB OFF ON YOU. THE TRADITIONS AND COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE.