It's my absolute pleasure to introduce someone that I've grown to know over the years, who's also an alumni of the Ron Paul lunches, a terrific mind, a terrific patriot,

former senior advisor to the African Secretary of Defense, hopefully future Secretary of Defense.

So my great friend Colonel Douglas McGregor.

Thanks, Dan.

Well, thanks for the nice warm reception. It's always nice. It's much better than a brick through a window, which is from time to time what somebody attempts.

I was in a state of shock when I drove into the parking lot just a couple of hours ago.

And I saw this sign, and I thought I was in a wrong place because I thought this conference was which way America, and instead I saw peace and prosperity.

And then I got closer, and I said, oh, well, this is RPI. Okay, I understand that.

Now I understand why this conference is in Virginia and not in Washington.

Because every week in Washington, we have another conference. It's called War and Spending.

So I've been to several of those. They're very depressing.

First, I want to point out, again, my admiration for Dr. Ron Paul.

He is a sort of person.

I told him that the first challenge for anybody in politics and my own personal challenge in military affairs is to outlive your opponents.

And he has thus far managed that. I hope he continues to do so for some time.

And the other point I wanted to make is that Isaac Newton, when he was finally recognized for his contributions to physics by the king, the king knighted him, said, you've done wonderful things.

And he said, if I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.

I feel as though we have a giant here, Ron Paul, and I stood on his shoulders.

Now I was thinking about remarks last night, and I threw them out this morning and started fresh again.

And the reason for that is, as follows, you know, I went to, I think, a total in my lifetime of nine graduations from West Point.

I had to go because I was a cadet at the time, or I had to go because I was an instructor.

And then, of course, other people graduated later on, and I was friends with.

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