The reason we have such a high quality military force today is, first of all, because we attract the right people. Secondly, because we train them properly. And third, because we retain them. In order to retain them, we have to have interesting jobs. That's where we have an edge on almost any alternative job you can find.
Military service has the most interesting jobs, the most challenging jobs in the world.
If we really want to get the benefit of our training, we have to retain the people that we've trained. And therefore, we have to have a decent quality of life. So in my assessment of the quality of our military forces, the attention to quality of life is the key to retaining people and therefore, the key to getting the full benefit of our training so that we will have a high quality force on into the future. I was deeply impressed with her knowledge, not just of her job on the ship, but what the whole battle group was all about. She gave me a very professional briefing on what the George Washington was doing on this mission, why it was important, why it made a difference to our national security.