Remarks During an Engagement With United States Troops at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan

The President. We're going to be getting together. We'll be saying a few words in a little while. But it's an honor to be with you. We brought Senator Barrasso. As you know, he's a great supporter of our military services. And nobody is like you. We spent $2½ trillion since I've been here. That's a lot of money. But we rebuilt our military. It was depleted, as you know, and now it's—I guess, the word "depletion" is about the last word we'd use, right?

Participant. Yes, sir.

The President. Because we have all great stuff.

But I want to thank you very much, and I'll be talking to you later.

But right now I want to have some turkey, okay? I'm going to join you for a little lunch. And thank you. We're going to also shake hands with some of the folks. So thank you all very much. What a great job you do. It's an honor to be here.

It's a long flight. That is a longer flight than you told me about—[laughter]—I have to tell you, John. But we love it. We would have been—if it was five times longer, it wouldn't have mattered to me.

So thank you all very much. Thank you.