We accept blame, ... We offer our condolences to the village, but I will tell you the surveillance video shows no children there. But we're not trying to avoid blame in this.

Not everyone is qualified to join this team. To enlist you have to both meet our high standards and be motivated to serve your country — motivation or qualification alone is not enough.

It's sensitive because we understand they're different soldiers.

The Army is America. We are America's sons and daughters. America's sons and daughters are getting tattoos. That means that American soldiers are getting tattoos.

American youth tend to have tattoos now. The demographic is changing. If a kid is in good shape and passes all the tests, do Americans really want us to say no to him because he's got tattoos? I don't think so.

Every army in the history of the world has always had some deserters, usually much greater than we have today, because once again every soldier who's joined the Army since 1973 is a volunteer, and the numbers are very small and they are almost completely for -- people desert almost completely for personal or financial reasons.