People come first, because we cannot have a ready force today or tomorrow unless we attract, train and retain the highest quality men and women to operate our 21st century technologies. Readiness and modernization are equally key to our present and future national security - but in our constrained budget environment, we must assume some risk in current readiness in order to pay for modernization that is key to future security. Importantly, over the five year defense program, we have achieved 15 percent real growth in investment accounts. Let me turn first to people.
People are central to our efforts to shape the international environment.
Over the past year, our airmen have been engaged around the world and have flown into virtually every country in the world. We also contributed significantly by participating in 53 joint and multilateral exercises worldwide. And, of course, the Air Force was also heavily engaged in Southwest Asia, where on a typical day 8,500 Air Force men and women launched 150 sorties over Iraq. These operations are not without a cost. The deployment rates of our total force have increased dramatically since the end of the Cold War.