Vice President JD Vance Swears In Secretary of the Army

Afternoon, everyone, and thank you all for being here. I'm Senator Ted Budd from North Carolina, and it's absolutely my honor and privilege to be here to welcome and offer congratulations to my friend and fellow North Carolinian on being sworn in today as Secretary of the Army. I want to give a special thank you to Dan Driscoll's family, his wife, Dr. Cassie Driscoll, and their two children, Daniel Jr. And Lila, for sharing their dad, their husband, with the rest of the country. Also, I don't know if they're either back behind us or in this room here, but the grandparents, who I know have been quite busy for the last six months, so we want to thank them as well. I have the. I know that Dan has the distinct honor of also being a classmate of our Vice President, and they both have served our country in uniform, and for that, we are forever grateful. Dan, we're grateful for your service to our country, and we know that you're going to make us proud in your new role as Secretary of the Army. So please welcome the Vice President and this new Secretary of the army and his family.

Great.

Everybody please be seated. So we're gonna do a little swearing in here to make this official. And I thought so sometimes when you do these swearings in, you actually do them formally beforehand, and then you actually do the one on camera just in case you screw something up in front of the cameras. It still counts. We have not done that with Dan. So number one, that puts him under a lot of pressure. He actually has to say the words correctly. And number two, that gives me an opportunity. Dan, this is the last minute here. Anything you can promise me to ensure that we swear you improperly? Because the Senate's done its job, and now it's time for me to do mine. But let me just say a couple of words here. First of all, of course, I want to thank the President for nominating a very, very great army veteran, a family servant, a guy whose grandfather, father, and now himself has served in the United States army, to be our Secretary of the Army. If you look at our recruiting numbers, just in the last month, you see a massive. And the number of people who decided to volunteer, enlist and sign up for the United States Army. Because I think that under the Trump administration, under Secretary Hegseth and now under Secretary Driscoll, we have people proud to join the United States military again. Thank God for that, because we need good people in our armed forces. We need great people in the United States Army. We have a lot of great people. But of course, the future really matters, and I'm proud to that under President Trump's leadership, we have turned what was a recruiting shortfall into, I think, a recruiting boon because people are proud to serve the United States military as they should be. I want to say something about Dan and his wonderful family. So Dan has been a dear friend of mine for a long time. His beautiful wife Cassie, who's also an incredible physician, and two beautiful kids who are, I think, the most well behaved kids I've ever seen of a secretary nominee. You guys do a really good job. You actually listen to your parents, which is amazing. And I think it speaks well. If Dan can get. How do you. Daniel, you're eight. Okay. Lila, how old are you? You're six. If you can get an eight and a six year old to listen to you, then I think you can sure as hell be the Secretary of the army. Because these guys are a lot tougher than a lot of the soldiers that Dan will now lead. But we're proud of him. He's a man of integrity, he's a man of character, he's a man of great leadership. And I think that he will bring the army to a place where we can be proud of it and where we can have meritorious service rewarded and commended in the United States army and where we make sure that we're promoting the best and brightest. We're enlisting the best and brightest. And when, God forbid, we have to send the best and brightest to America's wars, we do it with competence, with effectiveness. We do the job, and then we bring everybody home safely. That is what we need to do in the United States Army. I want to thank Senator Budd. Senator, we have a lot of senators here, Senator Britt, Senator McCormick, and of course, Senator Ernst for their great leadership in helping Shepherd Dan's confirmation through. We've had some tough confirmations, we've had some easier confirmations, and Dan has been on the easier side. And I think that is great testament both to his character and leadership, but also to the United States Senate and what they're able to do. So with that, I will turn our secretary designate into a secretary by administering the oath of office. So, Dan, if you would please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Daniel Driscoll, do solemnly swear.

I, Daniel Driscoll, do solemnly swear.

That I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support and defend the.

Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

That I take this obligation free, freely. That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation.

Without any mental reservation.

Or purpose of evasion.

Or purpose of evasion.

And that I will well and faithfully.

That I will well and faithfully discharge.

The duties of the office on which I am about to enter.

Discharge the duties of the office of which. On which I'm about to enter.

So help you God?

So help me God.

Congratulations, Mr. Secretary.

Thank you. They gave us five minutes total for all of this, so this is going to be very fast. It is a privilege to stand before you Today as the 26th Secretary of the United States Army. I first want to thank the President of the United States for his confidence and his trust. Next. I am forever grateful to the vice president and second lady. This friendship has been the adventure of a lifetime. I cannot imagine where it goes from here. To Cassie, Daniel, Lila, both sets of our parents. My brother. Thank you for everything. Couldn't have done it without you. To everyone I met on the campaign trail. It is incredible how quickly we went from strangers to friends. Arthur, thank you for pushing so hard to get this through. And then, just the last thing. My commitment to this role as the Vice President mentioned is rooted in my family's long lineage of military history. We are a family that is grateful to have had the privilege of wearing the United States army uniform. And we're going to fight hard for it. As secretary, I will Honor the Army's 250th Union, your legacy of service and sacrifice. And I will stay focused on my mission and shoulder my share of the task, as I know our soldiers will do. Thank you for being here today. I'm grateful for all of you great.