SECNAV Del Toro Delivers Keynote Address at Modern Day Marine 2024

Good morning, everyone! It is great to be with you here in D.C. for the final day of Modern Day Marine 2024.

Lieutenant General Chiarotti, thank you for that kind introduction and for your 36 years of service in the United States Marine Corps. 

From Europe to the Middle East, from the Indo-Pacific to the Caribbean, you answered the call of our nation time and time again, leading Marines and Sailors around the globe in support of peace and stability.

And I thank you for your continued dedication to serving the Marine Corps as the Chief Executive Officer of the Marine Corps Association.

The work of your organization and others like it undertake to support the professional development of our Marines and to build awareness of the rich history, spirit, and traditions of our Marine Corps that are critical to maintaining the world’s premier naval expeditionary force.

General Smith, General Mahoney, Sergeant Major Ruiz, thank you, Gentlemen, for your decades of service, and for your leadership of the United States Marine Corps.

I cannot express how I proud I am of the successes we’ve realized during our time together, from meeting recruiting goals to being the first service to pass an audit, and I look forward to what the future holds for the Marines, Sailors, and civilians that you lead.

Given the challenges our nation faces today, alongside our international allies and partners, it is imperative that we remain committed to fielding a strong Navy and Marine Corps team that is lethal, agile, and capable of deterring our adversaries and, if called upon, prevail in combat.

And those challenges are many, from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to the Red Sea.

In Europe, Russia has entered the third year of its unprovoked, illegal, and brutal war of aggression in Ukraine.

We, alongside our NATO allies, proudly stand alongside our Ukrainian partners as they fight to restore peace in their homeland.

And I commend Congress for their passage of the recent national security supplemental budget request that included $60 billion in assistance for Ukraine, providing them with the materiel support they need to defend against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

And as you are all aware, in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, we are working alongside our NATO allies and partners in the Middle East to ensure the safety of innocent, civilian mariners and to protect our commercial shipping against missiles and drones launched by the Houthis in Yemen.

Since last November, the Houthis—who are an Iranian partner and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group—have launched over one hundred attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

Marines and Sailors across multiple ships and aviation squadrons have demonstrated a high level of warfighting experience and an incredible amount of resiliency while conducting kinetic operations.

In March, I had the privilege of welcoming USS Bataan (LHD-5) home at Naval Station Norfolk. The sense of pride I felt from our Marines and Sailors from knowing that they excelled in the performance of their assigned missions was overwhelming.

Likewise, the outpouring of love and support I witnessed from the families that had endured over eight months of separation was a reminder of why we do what we do—why we sail into harm’s way—to keep them safe, and to defend the ideals and freedoms we enjoy.

Finally, in the Indo-Pacific, we face a comprehensive maritime power—our pacing challenge.

The People’s Republic of China continues to exert its excessive maritime claims through their navy, coast guard, and maritime militia.

We will continue to sail and operate alongside our allies and partners, including the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, in support of our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, one where nations are secure in their access to the seas and where their rights within their exclusive economic zones are respected and upheld.

Our Navy and Marine Corps remain at the center of global and national security—maintaining freedom of the seas, international security, and upholding the rules-based international order that has brought prosperity and stability to millions around the globe.

And to preserve the freedoms and ideals codified by the Constitution many of us here today have sworn an oath to support and defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic, we are proud to have the world’s strongest Marine Corps, supported America’s Warfighting Navy.

But to maintain the competitive advantages our Marines and Sailors enjoy today in terms of platforms, systems, and capabilities, it is imperative that we continue to both modernize and innovate.

Shortly after I became the 78^th Secretary of the Navy in August of 2021, I laid out our Department’s three enduring priorities of: Strengthening Maritime Dominance, Building a Culture of Warfighting Excellence, and Enhancing Strategic Partnerships.

Over the last year, we have realized significant advances in the Marine Corps against all three of our enduring priorities. 

This progress directly supports Force Design, and the Marine Corps continues to make progress in this force-wide transformational endeavor to ensure our ability to operate as our Nation’s Stand-In Force, any-time, anywhere around the globe.

And as we look towards the future of the Corps and how we will advance its warfighting capabilities and readiness along all three enduring priorities, we are making strong commitments to the acquisition of modern platforms and systems, taking care of our Marines and their families, and strengthening our relationships with allies and partners across the world.

On the acquisitions front, the President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 includes $4.2 billion for the procurement of platforms and weapons our Marines and Sailors need to operate ashore as an expeditionary force, including:

• Joint Tactical Vehicles
• Amphibious Combat Vehicles
• Naval Strike Missiles for NMESIS
• Tactical Tomahawk missiles
• Javelin anti-armor missiles, and
• Ground/Air Task Oriented RADAR (GATOR)

We continue to acquire F-35s and CH-53Ks to provide our Marines with the strike and heavy lift support they require from the air.

And our Navy continues to procure LPDs, LHAs, and LSMs to ensure we maintain the sealift capacity necessary to move Marines and their equipment throughout the maritime domain in potentially contested environments.

However, the core of our combat strength is our people. A critical element of Force Design is providing our people with world class training and education opportunities—including the Naval Community College—to hone their skills, making the Marine Corps more lethal and agile.

We are taking an innovative approach to utilizing our Reserve Marines through programs such as the Marine Innovation Unit, where reservists can directly apply their civilian career experiences in support of the rapid identification, experimentation, prototyping, adoption, and fielding of cutting-edge technologies to solve capability gaps identified by Marines in the field.

And we focused on improving the quality of life for our Marines and their families through initiatives like Barracks 2030, improving on-base family housing, and expanding childcare services with planned construction of new Child Development Centers across several installations.

We are also committed to reducing destructive behaviors across both the Navy and Marine Corps as we strive to provide each and every one of our Marines, Sailors, and civilians with a work environment where they feel safe, respected, and welcomed.

All of these efforts contribute to the readiness and resiliency of our Marines and their families, ensuring they are ready to respond to wherever they are needed around the globe.

However, it is important to note that our Marines rarely operate alone and are often accompanied by forces from our allies and partners.

Every day, our Marines and Sailors are sailing, flying, and operating alongside the forces of fellow like-minded nations across the world.

Exercises like Freedom Shield 24 with the Republic of Korea Marine Corps, Iron Fist 24 with the Japanese Self Defense Force, and Balikatan 2024 with the Armed Forces of the Philippines provide us with unique opportunities to strengthen the bonds between our nations’ respective militaries, building trust in one another’s abilities to operate in a critical region.

We also continue to train alongside our allies and partners in Europe and South America through exercises such as Nordic Response and CENTAM Guardian 24, respectively.

The alliances and partnerships we enjoy with nations around the globe are indeed what separate us from our potential adversaries, and I am proud that the United States Marine Corps is the partner-of-choice many militaries across several continents.

Now, as we look towards the future of the Corps, it is important to reflect on where we’ve been, and the sacrifices made by our Marines and Sailors who, for centuries, have served as our Nation’s premier expeditionary fighting force.

Here in Washington, D.C, their stories, including acts of heroism and devotion to our nation, are preserved throughout the capital’s museums and monuments—including the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, where I swore my oath of office as Secretary of the Navy.

Up the road from here in Annapolis at the United States Naval Academy, the names of fallen graduates like Major Doug Zembiec, Major Megan McClung, and 1^st Lieutenant Travis Manion adorn the walls of Memorial Hall.

Across the world, Marine Corps bases and installations are marked with reminders of Marines who remained “always faithful” to our Nation.

And in our Fleet, warships bear the names of Marine Corps Medal of Honor Recipients, like Colonel Harvey Barnum, hard-fought battles, including Bataan and Bougainville, and places of historical significance to the Corps, such as Tripoli.

In December of 2022, I had the privilege of naming the future America-class amphibious assault ship LHA-9 the USS Fallujah, honoring the actions of our Marines who participated in the First and Second Battles of Fallujah, as well as all of our Marines and Sailors who conducted operations in Iraq.

In keeping with naval tradition of naming our Navy’s amphibious assault ships after U.S. Marine Corps battles, I am honored to announce today that the future LHA-10 will be named USS Helmand Province, recognizing the bravery and sacrifice of our Marines and Sailors who fought for almost 20 years in the mountains of Afghanistan.

I am also honored to announce that Mrs. Trish Smith, the wife of the 39^th Commandant of the Marine Corps General Eric Smith, will serve as the ship’s sponsor for USS Helmand Province.

A ship’s sponsor plays a critical role throughout the life of a warship, serving as the bond between the ship, her crew, and the nation they serve.  And I have no doubt that Mrs. Smith will serve admirably in this role, supporting the Marines and Sailors of USS Helmand Province wherever they may sail around the globe.

Mrs. Smith, please join me on stage for the presentation of your official sponsor designation letter.

Thank you, Mrs. Smith, on behalf of our Navy and Marine Corps, for accepting this lifetime commitment, which will endure long after your and your husband’s time in service to the Corps ends.

At this time, I would like to offer the stage to our Commandant, General Eric Smith, to share the significance of Helmand Province to the Marine Corps.

(Commandant Provides Remarks)

Thank you, General Smith, for sharing your reflections on why naming this ship USS Helmand Province is so important to keeping the memories of those who gave all alive for future generations of Marines and Sailors.

As I close, I will echo what General Smith highlighted—the work we ask our Marines and Sailors to do every day is anything but ordinary or routine, and in many cases extremely dangerous.

It is incumbent upon all of us here in this room—government and industry—to leverage every resource at our disposal to ensure our Marines have what they need to be successful in their assigned missions and return home safely to their loved ones.

May God Bless our Marines, Sailors, civilians, and their families, and continue to grant our Nation with fair winds and following seas. Thank you.