Lt Gen Liquori joins the US Space Force as a Lieutenant General.
Transcript
[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, today the men and women of the United States Space Force pay special tribute to the Director of Strategic Requirements, Architectures and Analysis, Headquarters United States Space Force, General, correction, Major General William J. Liquori, Jr. on the occasion of his promotion to Lieutenant General. The presiding official for today’s ceremony is the Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force, General John W. “Jay” Raymond. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise. (“United States Space Force March”)
Thank you. Please remain standing for the playing of the national anthem and the invocation. (“The Star-Spangled Banner)
Ladies and gentlemen, Chief Master Sergeant Levon Coles, United States Air Force, Retired will now remotely deliver the invocation.
[Coles] Good afternoon everyone. I just want to first say thank you to General Liquori for extending this opportunity for me to give the invocation, even remotely from the snowy city of Colorado Springs. General Liquori it is a privilege and an honor, I consider you a mentor and a friend for life. A true friend. So thank you for this privilege and opportunity to be a part of your ceremony. And I’d also like to say thank you General Raymond, for your friendship and I look forward to the day our paths will cross again. For everyone there I just invite you to just bow your head and just pray with me as I give the invocation right now. Heavenly Father we thank you for this day, and what a joyful day it is. In the midst of a time of uncertainty, we can trust that your strong hand has steadied us during times of difficulty. Throughout our nation’s history you have raised strong and courageous men and women to lead the way in the defense of freedom and through challenging times. Men like Bill Liquori. Father we thank you for the opportunity to celebrate an exceptional leader, Major General Liquori on the occasion of his promotion to Lieutenant General. Lord your favor has been poured out upon Bill throughout his many years of faithful and honorable service to our nation. For General Liquori it started some 29 years ago, as he set out in his career path in the Air Force. And while the future may have been unknown to him at that time, it was clear to you. For your word says specifically to Bill in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you.” “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.” “Plans to give you hope and a future.” Father we saw not only your plan, but your protection and prosperity throughout his career in the Air Force. As General Liquori leaves a legacy behind in the Air Force, and it is now for such a time as this, you have established him as a pioneer and one of our senior leaders in the United States Space Force. With this new assignment and increased responsibility, Father we ask that you would increase his wisdom tenfold. Make known to General Liquori the manifold wisdom of God in every area of his professional and personal life. Father will you bless he and Amy, T.J., Greg, and Alexa. May you continue to give them sweet and precious times of connection as a family as time would allow. Finally Lord we say thank you for General Liquori’s leadership, mentorship, and friendship. May you bless the events of this day, and all of his family and friends, who are present there to support him. It is in the mighty and matchless name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.
[Announcer] Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, General Raymond. (applause)
Good afternoon. We’ve been meeting a lot like this lately, haven’t we? (laughter) I think this is our fourth ceremony here in the Hall of Heroes. What a special space to do a promotion ceremony. And all promotions are really special, really, really, special, but to get to promoted to the rank of Three Star General in our service is no small feat, and if you look at the total numbers of Three Stars across the department, there are very small numbers. But this really, really richly deserved, and I can’t thank you enough for the privilege of being able to officiate and participate. You know promotions are all about families, and it’s great that your family, most of your family could be here. Bill’s parents, Bill Sr. and Pat are here celebrating. It’s interesting Bill was a B-52 pilot, also earlier flew KC-10s and 135’s as assigned in SAC. But a B-52 pilot celebrating, just celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary so (applause) That’s the golden anniversary, when you get the same number of the airplane that you flew. (laughter) Since you flew a 135, you’ve got a long way to go. (laughter) It’s great that Amy could be here as well. Amy thank you for packing up yet one more time and coming back to where you just left not that long ago. Amy is a physical therapist, has worked everywhere you’ve been, I think other than when you were overseas, as a physical therapist. Thanks for once again packing up and leaving. They have three children. T.J. is a musician, graduated up at a school in Boston, has written musicals as a student, and now I think as a music teacher in the Boston area, and obviously couldn’t be here today with that commitment, and then Greg, their son, last time I saw Greg was at the club at Peterson. You were just getting ready to go off to pilot training. Graduated from pilot training and was selected to fly F-15’s and showed up today or yesterday?
Yesterday.
Yesterday, to Seymour Johnson and immediately played hooky, (laughter) I think you had a good excuse, and came up here to watch your dad get promoted, and enter F-15 training, which is, and the cool thing is I got one hour in an F-15, he already has (laughter) I was trying to teach him all the things that I know of (laughter) Don’t touch anything! (laughter) And their daughter, Alexa, man time flies, was a high school student, and is now a senior in college at the real good school in Boston called Boston College. And is not just learning, or studying to be a teacher, but is also a captain of the crew team, which is pretty cool because that crew in that part of the country is really significant. This is a big day. It’s a big day for the Liquoris’, and it’s a big day for the United States Space Force. And you know, Bill comes from a military family, we talked a little bit about his dad, but his grandfather also served and was a POW for nine months in World War II, and so obviously comes from a long military history, and that continues today, so thanks everybody for being here. Commissioned in 1991 out of Boston University, met Amy, and they lived in the same dorm, the floor, not the dorm room, which (laughter) Freshman and sophomore years, and went to the same school as ROTC classmates as Salty, and so I’ll talk a little bit about that, the importance of the team. I also before though, would like to also welcome Walt and Nancy Schivel for being here. They’re from upstate New York, came down, Amy’s parents. And thank you very much for being here, I know it means a lot to Bill and Amy, and it sure means a lot to us to have you here with us as well. So when somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said “Hey, you’re gonna have to stand up a space service.” You know, the first thing that was going through my mind is, “Who is the team that I’m gonna assemble” “to be able to help with this?” And I remember when I was the E3 talking to a former Chief of the Air Force, General Mark Welsh and he was talking to me about when I was hired to be the E3 that one of the things that he really paid attention to was not just the competency of the officer, which obviously is the most important thing, but to have a team that can work together. And if you look at the team that we have formed, because we’re a relatively small crew, but we all know each other, and as I said upstairs in this office, and I’ve said before when we were out at Space Command, if we can’t get done what we need to get done with this team, then we’ve really screwed it up. And I think we’ve got the perfect people in the perfect spots, so when it came time to pick who was going to serve as the S-5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, whatever numbers we have at- (laughter)
We have here at JOC are, the one person that came, I mean this was like the light bulb came on, it was really, really easy, it’s Bill Liquori. And if you look at Bill, he’s obviously got the credibility as being a space expert, and I’ll talk a little bit about that, he’s also a strategist. He’s served multiple jobs in the strategy business, I want to highlight that, and then he’s a good guy, and he’s a great leader. And if you put all those three together, and you were to say “Who do I want to have this?”, the person that can build relationships with other services, fight at the table for dollars, link into the global space community, it’s Bill Liquori. And so Bill again, we are so excited to have you here. I guarantee you within about three minutes of pinning on this star, (laughter) there’ll be people yanking you up to your office to-
Some have already tried that. (laughter)
We’re really, really excited about it. On the space expert side, Bill is steeped in both NRO and Department of Defense space, has had multiple jobs growing up in that business, especially in the satellite command and control business. I had heard of Bill Liquori for years, I know he’s a weapons school grad, a weapons school instructor, has a great reputation, but really the first time that I got to serve with you was when you were in the role of Commander of the 50th at Schriever. And I took note because not only did he have a mastery of the mission of that wing, he also had a great ability to build a team, and the gentleman that you just heard say the prayer was Bill Liquori’s Command Chief, and that leadership team was extremely effective in a very complex time. Also, I talked about he was a DG at weapons school, and weapons school is where we build the depth and not just the depth of space, but then being able to integrate that with all other aspects of the Joint Coalition Forces. Went on to be, went on to school, and then went to SAASS, School of Advanced Aerospace and Power, and so if you look at the combination of Weapons School plus SAASS, it’s a really powerful combination. Went to Marine Corps War College just down the road, and so he has all the right tools to be successful in this, at the job he’s about to assume. As the strategist, he worked as the, in the Missile Defense Division in U.S./European command, so he’s got the joint flavor, he understands what a Joint Command means from space. He worked here in the Pentagon as the DASD, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, so he understood that, and then got a job working at the White House, on the National Security Council at a really critical time, at the formation and the building of the Space Force. And I remember working very closely with Bill at that time, and trying to figure out what this thing was going to become. So he was on the ground floor at the creation of this. So again, when you look at who you want to have on the team, it’s pretty easy to pick. On the leadership side, I have never served with a more effective leader. And I mean that in all sincerity, he has the, Bill has the ability to pull groups together. You’ll never hear anybody say anything bad about Bill Liquori. He’s just a genuine, good person. Easy to work with as a team builder, and develops a partnerships amongst everybody he’s working with. So if you look at “What do we have facing us as we stand up a Space Force?” So in that room when I was sitting down trying to figure out, “Okay, what staff do I need?” The first thing you have to have if you’re going to be an independent service, there’s kind of three things. One, you have to have, as a member of the Joint Chiefs, you have to have the infrastructure to be a member of the Joint Chiefs. That’s the S-3 and a Deputy that serves on, in the tank and on the Joint Chiefs. That again, we picked Salty Saltzman for. If you’re a service and you have an independent budget, you have to have a Three-Star programmer sitting at the table, and I think that that’s going to be your perfect fit for that, to build those relationships and fight for resources that this service is going to need, and that’s going to require all, every bit of your skill to sit in this building, build the partnerships, and fight for the dollars that this service is going to need to be successful. And then you need a Director of Staff to be able to pull all this together, and so here over the last, last two or three weeks we’ve had a real pleasure of promoting each one of those officers into those jobs, and starting today we’re going to go, “Ready, ready, switch!” (claps) (laughter) So Bill again, I can’t thank you enough for the privilege of officiating today, and I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to continue to serve in a really dynamic time. I guarantee you as we all look back on this years down the road, we’ll be able to say “You know we were at the Pentagon at a really cool time.” And at the beginning of a Space Force that’s going to be a force that will be absolutely critical for our national security going forward. And we get to do it together with people that we enjoy being with and serving with, and again I couldn’t be more proud and hopefully, this is your fourth time at the Pentagon, hopefully you’ll get it right this time. (laughter) But congratulations to you and again, very proud of you. And Amy thanks very much for continuing to serve as well and for the family. And very good luck to you.
Thank you sir.
Keep flying well. All right with that, let’s make you a Three-Star. (applause)
[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, please rise as General Raymond promotes Major General Liquori to Lieutenant General. Attention to orders. Special order number AAG108, the President of the United States, acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Air Force, has placed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, integrity, and abilities of Major General William J. Liquori, Jr. In view of these special qualities and his demonstrated potential to serve in the higher grade, Major General Liquori is promoted to the grade of Lieutenant General, United States Space Force, effective 8 September 2020. By order of the Secretary of the Air Force. (applause)
Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, Lieutenant General Liquori’s spouse, Mrs. Amy Liquori and son, First Lieutenant Greg Liquori will pin the Third Star on his service coat.
[Attendee] Hey Greg, don’t worry about the frogs man. (laughter)
[Amy] It’s really hard to
[Attendee] Absolutely, yes ma’am. (laughter)
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Just remember there’s probably a lot more going on yours than mine here. (laughter)
[Greg] I win. (laughter)
[Amy] You always win Greg. (applause)
[Announcer] Please rise as General Raymond administers the Officers’ Oath to Lieutenant General Liquori.
[Gen. Raymond] We’re gonna do a switch. General Liquori’s dad is gonna administer the oath.
[Attendee] Oh wow.
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] All right, let’s see here.
[Mr. Liquori] Okay. I, William Liquori Jr.
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] I, William Liquori Jr.
[Mr. Liquori] Having been appointed the Lieutenant General of the United States Space Force
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Having been appointed the Lieutenant General of the United States Space Force
[Mr. Liquori] Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
[Mr. Liquori] Against all enemies foreign and domestic
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Against all enemies foreign and domestic
[Mr. Liquori] That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
[Mr. Liquori] That I take this obligation freely
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] That I take this obligation freely
[Mr. Liquori] Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion
[Mr. Liquori] And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter
[Mr. Liquori] So help me God.
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] So help me God. (applause)
[Announcer] Please be seated. (“United States Space Force March”) Throughout the history of warfare, a general officer’s personal flag symbolized leadership on the battlefield. The Space Force has incorporated the use of flags to signify the presence of a general officer. This flag is visibly displayed in the office of the general officer. To commemorate his promotion from Major General in the United States Air Force to Lieutenant General in the United States Space Force we will now unfurl Lieutenant General Liquori’s Space Force Three-Star Flag. (footsteps) Ladies and gentleman, the Space Force is proud to introduce Lieutenant General Liquori. (applause)
Thank you. Thank you all. And every one of you that’s here, and those that will be watching online, really honor us with your presence. My whole family, and I already started, my daughter told me to keep my outside voice (laughter) Chief and Mollie, thank you very, very much for honoring us, presiding over the ceremony. Thank you for being mentors and good friends over the years. To do this on your first day back from leave in this town is really special, so thank you very, very much. We really appreciate it. Chief Coles, I know you’re out there, Levon thank you again. He did my Two-Star invocation a few years ago, and COVID kind of prevented us from doing a sort of similar thing, but I would not be standing here today without the broad shoulders of Levon Cole and his family, and all the things they did for us while we were a leadership team out at Schriever. Mr. Bolle and the Protocol Team, thank you guys very much. I mean, we’ve met before, but most of the others on the team I haven’t even met yet, I mean this is my second day in the building, and the team has just done a phenomenal job, so I can’t thank you enough. It’s a really big day for us, and this ceremony has been really special. To the Honor Guard and the rest of the team behind the scenes, because I know these things don’t happen on their own, thank all of you very, very much. To my Peterson S-59 Front Office Team, thank you as well. We went from confirmation to a truck packed in two weeks, and that never would have happened without that Front Office Team doing all kinds of calendar magic and calling on the phones and getting some appointments made, I wouldn’t be here today for lots of reasons without that team but I owe them a debt of gratitude because we turned it around in two weeks so. Two Speed, I know you’re out this way, so we met last week, he’s my Exec and we’ve hit it off already, and he has kept me straight on the right path already, so thank you again. To do this for somebody you had never met is really impressive and speaks volumes, and I can’t wait to work together more and get to know you, so thank you very, very much. All right now what I tend to call my foundational thank yous, right? You can’t do anything without a good foundation, and for me at the top of the list, my soulmate and best friend Amy. So yesterday we celebrated 29 years of marriage, so thank you for sticking with me. (applause) As General Raymond mentioned, we met in Boston and it’s been quite a ride ever since. I convinced her to come on this journey with me. It was a four year experiment to start with, and she’s been wanting to relive these times, so it’s been great. A lot of you are sitting there wondering, you’re thinking in your head, “29 years, what’s the magic item?” “What is, you know, what is the 29th anniversary?” Well as far as I can tell the Space Force thinks it’s cardboard because our house is full of it right now. (laughter) But we’ll work on other stuff.
[Gen. Raymond] What’s the, you packed up?
[Lt. Gen. Liquori] Two weeks. Oh yes sir. We packed on Amy’s birthday, and we’re unpacking on our anniversary. So we know how to schedule, so we’re doing well. (laughter) Amy, there’s no way I would be standing up here today without your love and support, so thank you very, very much. From the bottom of my heart. And our three kids who have grown into the most resilient young adults I know, T.J., Greg, and Alexa. T.J. and Alexa will be watching from a distance in Boston, and Greg literally just completed his own PCS, drove into Seymour Johnson yesterday, and got back in a car and came this way, and turns around tonight to go back for orientation for Strike Eagle training tomorrow, so thank you very, very much for making the trip, and thank all three of you for the support that you’ve given me throughout the years. It’s been phenomenal. It’s forced you all to become very, very resilient as we made one move after another, but you guys did and shined in each of your individual ways, and Mom and I’ve just had a treat watching you grow up into the young adults that you are, so thank you. To my parents and the rest of my side of the family that are watching online, you know, you gave me the foundation and the desire to serve others, and so I can’t thank you enough for that. It’s been phenomenal. You know we were driving over here, you mentioned my grandfather who’s passed away now, but he was a POW in World War II for nine months, and Mom realized, so the official date of our confirmations was 7 August, that’s 86 years after he was captured at the Battle of Mortain, so it’s kind of a neat time twist there, but he’s watching from above, as well as a whole bunch of others. Thank you all for the foundation that you gave me. I got a special message from my brother and his family who are, well I guess we’ve got one in New York, one down in Gainesville, and two in Orlando, but we’re headed to Maxwell next week. I’m gonna get the honor of retiring him from the Air Force next week down at the LeMay Center, so we’re looking forward to come celebrate with you guys, when we get down there next Thursday, and we’ll do a great ceremony on Friday, so looking forward to joining you. And to Amy’s parents, or my second parents, and the whole family on Amy’s side. Most of you that know Amy know I hit the lottery, but the lottery was a whole lot bigger, because I ended up with all my other support system. It has been phenomenal. Now her brothers made me do a little bit of an initiation before we got to go all the way to the wedding, they took me out on the back of a boat inner tubing and gave me a run for my money, but I held on so they said “Okay, you can join us.” But the whole family has just been phenomenal. You’re lucky as a service member to have one family that supports you, but to have two it just makes everything possible, so thank you all very, very much. To our closest Air Force family members, Saltzmans’, Jacksons’, Millers’, and Spradleys’, who are spread out today. We’ve got Saltzmans’ but all the rest are here in spirit. We go back to ROTC or very first assignments, and have come together and gone apart and come together, but really always been together. You just couldn’t be here without peers who challenge you, challenge your thoughts and ideas, sharpen your thoughts and ideas, and every one of those folks and their better halves have done that for me all throughout my career, so thank you all very much. It’s a pleasure to get to come back together again. No doubt about it. And last, but certainly not least. To all of our dear friends, coworkers, and mentors from every single assignment. From DT 355 and Boston University and ROTC, all the way to the last assignment at Headquarters US Space Force at Peterson, every step of the way, the people that I have had the pleasure and the honor to work with, many of whom are in this room, and to serve with have just made it fun, and made it to where you want to keep coming to work, and you want to keep solving problems, and keep helping people, and so I am honored with your presence here, and online for all of you. Thank you very, very much. The last piece I want to touch on is I don’t want to let this day pass without recognizing a little more on the historical significance. It is not lost on me at all. To my White House and inter-agency colleagues that have joined or will watch this from afar, all of you recognized the national imperative for space security when we were working together. Regardless of when that was, you all recognized it and poured time and effort, and many long hours into setting us on the right path, and worked tirelessly on a lot of these issues that brought us to this point in time, or to December of last year when we started the Space Force, and certainly to this point in time as we continue to fill out the team. I guess I’m the latecomer to the team, right? Trust me, I’m ready to jump in. We’ll be all set. But all of you helped set the stage for the very first military service in 72 years, and I hope, I know that you thought about it at different times, I hope you take a few minutes today to think about what it is that you have been a part of. To every one of them, even the ones who were my bosses, they would never say they were my boss, they would always just say they worked with me, but gave me the right mentoring and latitude to move in certain directions and the support afterwards, we wouldn’t be here today without all of you, and so thank you for that. To Chief and Mrs. Raymond, and our inaugural space staff teammates, thank you very much. Amy and I are honored by the opportunity to serve together. I look forward to jumping in and tackling the big issues with all of you. As Chief Raymond highlighted, it’s a phenomenal team and I’m just tickled pink to be able to join it, so thank you very much for that. It’s not lost on me that we stand here on the shoulders of some giants, of some great air and space pioneers. We owe them and all of the space professionals that we serve our very best, and I’m ready to do that, and today marks a continuation of the career, but it marks the start of doing it in this capacity, and I really look forward to doing that. The bottom line is the nation and the world, is counting on us to get this right. They’re counting on us to be agile, innovative, and bold, and I can’t wait to continue the work that a lot of you have already started, and I know you’re ready to hand some things off, so I’ll be ready for the baton toss. With that, Semper Supra, and let’s get started. Thank you very much. (applause)
[Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, the men and women of the United States Space Force are proud of Lieutenant General Liquori, look forward to working with him as he takes on new challenges. Please remain standing for the playing of the official interim United States Space Force March. (“United States Space Force March”)
[Attendee] You guys need some words. (laughter)
[Announcer] This concludes today’s ceremony. Due to COVID-19 we request that guests continue to adhere to social distancing and safety protocols after the ceremony. Thank you for your attendance, and wish you a pleasant day. (applause)