Hegseth appoints Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer to Barracks Task Force

When a young American raises his or her right hand to defend our nation, we're supposed to make them a promise that we will take care of them

But for too long, with barracks in disrepair, we have not made good on that promise, and that ends now

You see, a year ago, we launched the Barracks Task Force with one mission in mind, to fix the unacceptable living conditions our warriors have been forced to endure for far too long

We've made progress, but we're not at the finish line. And we're not interested here in simply making things better

We're interested in getting this done. And that's why we've brought in this guy, Medal of Honor recipient and United States Marine Dakota Meyer

to serve as my senior advisor for the Barracks Task Force and to help us lead this effort rightly across the finish line

You see, my instructions to Dakota, they've been clear. We're not asking for another study on the problem

We're not asking him to make it a little bit better. We're asking him and our task force to fix it. I'll be traveling to installations across the country walking through barracks

meeting directly with our warriors and Identifying exactly what standing in the way of getting these problems fixed and he already done a lot of that And that why he exactly the right guy for this mission And I want to be absolutely clear when Dakota Meyer walks onto an installation he there representing me the office of the

Secretary of War. He has my full confidence, my full support, and my expectation that we are going

to get this done. I expect leaders at every level to work with him and our barracks task force to

remove obstacles and deliver results. We're done accepting bureaucracy policies and process

as excuses for inaction. And this guy is a man of action. Our war fighters should be focused on

training, readiness, and defending this great nation. They shouldn't have to fight for basic

living conditions when they come home at night. This is about more than barracks. It's about

keeping our commitment to the best that our nation has to offer our men and women who serve

They've done their part, so now it's time to do ours. I want you to ask this question for the next couple of months

Where's Dakota? Could he be coming to my base, to my installation, to my camp, my fort

Because he might be. He'll be traversing the country on behalf of the barracks task force, on behalf of me

personally inspecting, holding town halls, getting real input, and then providing real solutions

Be on the lookout for him. We're here to fix the barracks on your behalf. Thank you