To this day, Chuck bears the scars and the shrapnel from battles he fought in our name. Chuck Hagel's leadership of our military would be historic. He'll be the first person of enlisted rank to serve as Secretary of Defense, one of the few Secretaries who have been wounded in war and the first Vietnam veteran to lead the department. As I saw during our visits together to Afghanistan and Iraq, in Chuck Hagel our troops see a decorated combat veteran of character and strength. They see one of their own. 

Chuck is a champion of our troops and our veterans and our military families. As a leader at the VA, he fought to give our veterans the benefits they deserved. As head of the USO, he devoted himself to caring for our troops. Having studied under the GI Bill himself, he helped lead the fight from post-911 GI Bill,so today's returning heroes can get their education, too. Having co-chaired my intelligence advisory board, he knows that our armed forces collect, analyze and depend on good intelligence. 

Chuck recognizes that American leadership is indispensable in a dangerous world. I saw this in our travels together across the Middle East. He understands that America stands strongest when we stand with allies and with friends. As a successful businessman, he also knows that even as we make tough fiscal choices, we have to do so wisely, guided by our strategy and keep our military the strongest fighting force the world has ever known. 

Maybe the most importantly, Chuck knows that war is not an abstraction. He understands that sending young Americans to fight and bleed in the dirt and mud, that's something we only do when it's absolutely necessary. "My frame of reference", he said, "is geared towards the guy at the bottom who's doing the fighting and the dying." With Chuck our troops will always know, just like Sergeant Hagel was there for his own brother, Secretary Hagel will be there for you. 

And finally, Chuck represents the bipartisan tradition that we need more of in Washington. For his independence and commitment to consensus, he's earned the respect of national security and military leaders, Republicans and Democrats, including me. In the Senate, I came to admire his courage, his judgement, his willingness to speak his mind, even if it wasn't popular, even if it defied the conventional wisdom. That's exactly the spirit I want on my national security team: a recognition that when it comes to the defence of our country, we are not Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans. "Each of us has a responsibility", Chuck has said, "to be guided not by the interest of our party, or our president even, but by the interest of our country."So Chuck I thank you and Lilibet for agreeing to serve once more,in the interest of our country.