One of my job's privileges is the opportunity to meet the courageous men and women who serve our Nation. They are smart, resourceful and confident. They wield with extraordinary ease the most technologically advanced weaponry on Earth, and they do so with great skill. Our Soldiers take the technology that we provide them and use it — not only in the way it was designed, but in other innovative ways as well. Let me give you an example. I enjoy trivia, and one of my favorite factoids involves a picture of Soldiers on horseback. My question: "When was the horse last used in combat?" I get various answers, but the right one is "during Operation Enduring Freedom." In the early days of the war in Afghanistan, we saw our Special Forces on horseback using satellite communications to connect 19th century horse cavalry with 20th century B-52 bombers to produce a 21st century capability that put bombs on target with precision. It was a very dramatic example of our application of technology combined with the resourcefulness and skill of our warfighters.
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