From Soldiers Radio and Television, this is a closer look with General Martin Dempsey. He talks about his nomination and the Army. General Dempsey, good to talk to you and congratulations, sir. You've been nominated to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It's quite an honor. It feels exactly as you described it. It's a great honor. It's a daunting task, as you might expect. The challenges of the next decade feel as though they will be every bit as challenging and maybe more as they were in the first decade of this century. But I come to the job with a lot of teammates who I'm going to count on to help me see my way through this. And that's of course the combatant commander's most of whom I've worked with, as well as the Joint Chiefs who are a terrific group. So I'm humbled. I'm a little daunted, but I am feeling kind of that same sense of confidence you might feel like before a big basketball game. Sir, I've heard you speak to Soldiers about three main elements. First, fitness and discipline. That's right. So let's break it down. Trust. What's your definition of trust? Trust is a relationship. And I would rather provide you an image. It's of a squad leader in Afghanistan. He's on the radio. He's clearly in duress. You can see courage and fear. You can see confidence and uncertainty. He's on the radio. A soldier's protecting his flank and on his hand is a wedding band. So why is that my image of trust? Well, that squad leader is out there more or less by himself in places that 25 years ago you never find a squad leader by himself. He's got somebody protecting his flank. He couldn't be on the radio doing what he's doing unless that other soldier was protecting his flank. There's a trust relationship that exists between them. And that trust relationship means that he trusts and has confidence in that soldier to do his job so he can do his. Built up over time. The squad leader is on the radio. He's calling for some help. I don't know what it is. I don't know. It could be a meta-back. It could be an indirect fire from artillery. It could be a joint. It could be an F-15, F-16, A-10 or a predator. But what does he do? He trusts that if he makes that call, someone will deliver. By the way, that is unique in the world. This trust relationship I'm talking about is it exists in all armies. It has to. It's the foundation. But it is uniquely strong in ours. He's wearing a wedding band, which means that he does what. He trusts that he's going to get paid on time. He trusts that there's medical care for his family. He trusts that after he comes back, and while he's gone, someone will care for his family. He trusts that when he retires, if he's, you know, eligible for disability, he will collect the disability. Look, the point is, I've often asked myself, why do the young men and women who joined the army, first of all, why do they join it? Secondly, why do they do what we ask them to do? I mean, I'm a Bayon, New Jersey, son of Irish immigrants. Why would anybody want to do what I ask them to do? And it's because they trust that not just the person to their left and right, or the immediate supervisor or the immediate suit, but that the entire institution will take care of them. That's why trust is the single non-negotiable foundational value of army. OK. Physical fitness. Somewhat self-explanatory. Sure. Or is it? No, it is self-explanatory. But it's not, notice I said fitness. I didn't say physical fitness. I say fitness because we've learned a lot over the last 10 years. We've learned about the effects of repeated deployments. We've learned about the effects of concussions and explosion explosions. We've learned about the stresses that build and accumulate that lead to things like PTSD. So this is really about understanding fitness in all of its dimensions, cognitive, social, physical, to be sure. But I want to learn what have we done to this force of ours and what needs to be done. So fitness is a term with a little broader definition than just physical. And discipline, your definition, please. Well, my definition of discipline is that these young men and women have to be capable, willing, and do what's right even when nobody's watching. And I would suggest that there are echelons of disciplinary issues. The most fundamental is literally the discipline of an individual. But then there's institutional discipline that discipline with properties, command-supplied discipline, discipline of training, you know, training management. And look, here's what I've said to us, because I'm part of this. What I've said to us is if ever we're asked to do anything in the future, whatever it is, you know, another conflict, a humanitarian relief operation, a mass atrocity response, a natural disaster, whatever it is, when I call you to tell you, you've got to take your unit to New Orleans to do flood disaster mitigation. You can requisition whatever you need. If you need tents, I'll get you tents. You need canteens, I'll get you canteens. You know, if you need more rifles, I'll get you more rifles or shovels, you know, vehicles, you can requisition that. You can't requisition when the moment comes. Trust, discipline, and fitness. So every leader, every day, has the obligation to understand what they are doing in this 1.1 million man and women army, active guard and reserve, has an obligation to think about how are they contributing to the development of trust, discipline, and fitness as the building blocks of an army. General Dempsey, thank you again for your time and once again, sir. Congratulations. Thank you very much. From Soldiers Rayon Television, that's the Closer Look.