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  • I want to speak to the most important people in the room for a moment.

  • Who were the people who are responsible for this great construction behind me?

  • First I'd like to introduce General Patrick Murphy was to my left.

  • General Murphy is tested smart and he is tested tough.

  • I've been with a general for nine years.

  • I've seen him in hurricanes and Superstorm, Sandy and floods and everything Mother Nature could could throw at us.

  • So I've seen him in attempted terrorist attacks.

  • There is no one better.

  • He leads from the front.

  • He knows what he's doing.

  • Oh, and you could not have a better commander at this time, then General Patrick Murphy.

  • And I want you to know that I want to congratulate the Army Corps of Engineers for what they did here.

  • I used to be in the federal government.

  • I worked with the Army Corps of Engineers all across the country.

  • I worked with them on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation building housing, and one of the officers of the Army Corps of Engineers is still in service and reminded me of that.

  • They are top shelf on.

  • What they did here is top shelf.

  • I want to thank the Javits staff, which is really stepped up.

  • And I want to thank our National Guard because you are the best of us.

  • You are the best of us.

  • And whenever we call on you, you were there and what you did in this facility in one week, creating a hospital is just incredible.

  • I don't know how you did it now You did such a good job that I'm asking for four more from the president.

  • That's the downside of being is as good as you are at what you did.

  • But what you did is really incredible.

  • And I want to make two points to you.

  • And I want to make two promises to you.

  • This is a different beast that we're dealing with.

  • This is an invisible beast.

  • It is an insidious beast.

  • This is not going to be a short deployment.

  • This is not going to be that you go out there for a few days.

  • We work hard and we go home.

  • This is going to be weeks and weeks and weeks.

  • This is gonna be a long day, and it's going to be a hard day and it's going to be an ugly day and it's going to be a sad day.

  • This is a rescue mission that you're on.

  • The mission is to save lives.

  • That's what you're doing.

  • The rescue mission is to save lives, and as hard as we work, we're not gonna be able to save everyone.

  • And what's even more cruel is this enemy doesn't attack the strongest of us.

  • It attacks the weakest of us.

  • It attacks are most vulnerable, which makes it even worse in many ways because these are the people that every instinct tells us we're supposed to protect.

  • These are our parents and our grandparent's.

  • These are our aunts, our uncles, these air a relative who was sick and every instinct says, protect them, help them because they need us.

  • And those are the exact people that this enemy attacks.

  • Every time I've called out the National Guard, I've said the same thing to you.

  • I promise you, I will not ask you to do anything that I will not do myself, and I'll never ask you to go anywhere that I won't go myself, and the same is true here.

  • We're going to do this and we're going to do this together.

  • My second point is you are living a moment in history.

  • This is gonna be one of those moments they're going to write about and they're going to talk about for generations.

  • This is a moment that is going to change this nation.

  • This is a Nate, a moment that forges character Forge is people changes.

  • People make them stronger, make them weaker.

  • But this is a moment that will change character, and 10 years from now, you'll be talking about today to your Children or your grandchildren.

  • And you will shed a tear because you will remember the lives lost and you'll remember the faces and you'll remember the names and you'll remember how hard we worked and that we still lost loved ones and your shed a tear, and you should, because it will be said.

  • But you will also be proud.

  • You'll be proud of what you did.

  • You'll be proud that you showed up.

  • You showed up when other people played it safe.

  • You had the courage to show up, and you had the skill and the professionalism to make a difference and save lives.

  • That's what you will have done and At the end of the day, nobody can ask anything more from you.

  • That is your duty to do what you can when you can, and you will have shown skill and courage and talent.

  • You'll be there with your mind.

  • You'll be there with your heart and you'll serve with honor.

  • And that will give you pride.

  • And you should be proud.

  • I know that I am proud of you.

  • And every time the National Guard has been called out, they have made every New Yorker proud.

  • And I am proud to be with you yet again.

  • And I'm proud to fight this fight with you and I bring you thanks from all New Yorkers who are just so appreciative of the sacrifice that you are making this still that you're bringing the talent that you're bringing and you give many New Yorkers confidence.

  • So I say, my friends, that we go out there today and we kick Corona virus.

  • That's what I say and we're going to save lives in New York is going to thank God bless each and every one of you.

  • Hi, everyone.

  • George Stephanopoulos here.

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  • Thanks for watching.

I want to speak to the most important people in the room for a moment.

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