We know that the decisions we reach will have a profound impact on the communities hosting our military installations, and more importantly, on the people who bring those communities to life.

While we listened carefully to the input from the local communities, military value was our top priority.

At the end of the day, if you don't have end-strength reductions, you don't have any military savings,

It's important for our nation that our military and our society be close together. That's important for democracy. And it's important for recruiting. It's important for retention. It's important for building support for our engagements overseas.

The proof is in the pudding when they come home. Will we have the data about their health, will we know where they were stationed, what their unit deployments were? I will need that information.

I think we're keeping faith in the people of Limestone. They've also proved their mettle, because I believe they're one of the highest-quality (accounting offices) in the system, and customer satisfaction indices show them to have done a superb job.