<p>It was an honor to be there today. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/03/09/2190-secretary-harvey-says-farewell/[/url]”>http://www.army.mil/-news/2007/03/09/2190-secretary-harvey-says-farewell/</a></p>
<p>The Army is a class organization. </p>
<p>The heartfelt words of the Chief and the Master Sergeant of the Army today brought tears to my eyes as they recounted the accomplishments of the last 27 months for which they gave Harvey most of the credit. Among those is the Barracks Improvement Program that Harvey initiated in early 2005. The program’s objective was to bring 20,000 substandard barracks units to acceptable quality standards within one year, a goal that was accomplished in record time.</p>
<p>They also spoke of Harvey’s leadership in the strides the Army has made in recruiting new Soldiers. When he took office in 2004 the Army was not meeting its recruiting goals, and he formed and personally led a task force that planned and implemented a variety of actions. Those initiatives and other supporting actions turned around the decline in recruiting, and in fiscal 2006 the active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve all saw significant increases in the number of new Soldiers and recuriting is at its highest levels in 8 years.</p>
<p>They talked with pride of the initiative for which Harvey is perhaps best known, Army Transformation, an effort that thus far has seen some 212 brigade combat teams and multifunctional and functional support brigades converted to the Modular Design Force model. </p>
<p>Nobody does a better ceremony than the Old Guard, and the Chief and the Sergeant Major of the Army made sure it was done right.</p>
<p>Army Strong!</p>