1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:07,430 --> 00:00:09,652 Good afternoon , ladies and gentlemen , 3 00:00:09,652 --> 00:00:12,020 on behalf of Colonel Page M Jennings , 4 00:00:12,020 --> 00:00:14,242 the commander of the United States Army 5 00:00:14,242 --> 00:00:16,076 Financial Management Command and 6 00:00:16,076 --> 00:00:18,020 command . Sergeant , Major Kenneth 7 00:00:18,020 --> 00:00:20,242 theft law , the senior enlisted advisor 8 00:00:20,242 --> 00:00:22,353 to the commander of the United States 9 00:00:22,353 --> 00:00:24,353 Army Financial Management Command . 10 00:00:24,353 --> 00:00:26,576 Welcome to today's ceremony as we honor 11 00:00:26,576 --> 00:00:28,520 Colonel Ralph M Mac Crumb with the 12 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:30,409 presentation of the Major General 13 00:00:30,409 --> 00:00:33,620 Nathan Tosin medallion . The host for 14 00:00:33,620 --> 00:00:35,630 today's ceremony is Colonel Page M 15 00:00:35,630 --> 00:00:37,797 Jennings , the commander of the United 16 00:00:37,797 --> 00:00:39,630 States Army Financial Management 17 00:00:39,630 --> 00:00:41,463 Command . The official party for 18 00:00:41,463 --> 00:00:43,519 today's ceremony consists of Colonel 19 00:00:43,519 --> 00:00:45,686 Rebecca Be McKell Wing , the Assistant 20 00:00:45,686 --> 00:00:47,963 Chief of Staff for Resource management , 21 00:00:47,963 --> 00:00:50,019 U S . Army Central and Colonel Ralph 22 00:00:50,019 --> 00:00:52,186 Mac Crumb , the Chief of staff for the 23 00:00:52,186 --> 00:00:54,408 United States Army Financial Management 24 00:00:54,408 --> 00:00:56,352 Command , the Major General Nathan 25 00:00:56,352 --> 00:00:58,574 Thompson regimental medallion . There's 26 00:00:58,574 --> 00:01:00,408 the name of Major General Nathan 27 00:01:00,408 --> 00:01:02,463 thomason who as paymaster general of 28 00:01:02,463 --> 00:01:04,686 the United States Army from 18 19 to 18 29 00:01:04,686 --> 00:01:08,000 21 and from 18 22 to 18 54 30 00:01:08,060 --> 00:01:10,250 envisioned and shaped a financial 31 00:01:10,250 --> 00:01:12,361 department which met the army's needs 32 00:01:12,361 --> 00:01:15,240 up until the 20th century . Our career 33 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,462 soldier , Major General Yasin fought in 34 00:01:17,462 --> 00:01:19,296 the war of 18 12 as an artillery 35 00:01:19,296 --> 00:01:21,780 officer during the war . As a captain , 36 00:01:21,790 --> 00:01:24,012 Major General Yasin commanded artillery 37 00:01:24,012 --> 00:01:26,190 during many confrontations including 38 00:01:26,430 --> 00:01:29,020 the Battle of Fort George , the Battle 39 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:31,080 of Stoney Creek , the Battle of 40 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,130 Queenstown Heights , the Battle of 41 00:01:33,130 --> 00:01:35,920 Cipolla , the Battle of Lundy's Lane 42 00:01:35,930 --> 00:01:39,000 and the Siege of Fort Erie , the rate 43 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 of fire of his batteries during the 44 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,180 siege of Fort Erie was so rapid that 45 00:01:43,180 --> 00:01:45,124 his position was called Thompson's 46 00:01:45,124 --> 00:01:47,236 Lighthouse by the american soldiers . 47 00:01:47,930 --> 00:01:50,152 He was promoted to Brigadier General in 48 00:01:50,152 --> 00:01:52,820 18 34 and then Major general in 18 48 49 00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:55,052 for his service in the mexican american 50 00:01:55,052 --> 00:01:57,310 war . Under his supervision , army 51 00:01:57,310 --> 00:01:59,421 paymasters assumed responsibility for 52 00:01:59,421 --> 00:02:01,477 paying all U . S . Troops on an area 53 00:02:01,477 --> 00:02:03,330 basis geographically the world's 54 00:02:03,330 --> 00:02:05,630 largest nation at the time yet to 55 00:02:05,630 --> 00:02:07,852 sean's new systems and strict standards 56 00:02:07,852 --> 00:02:09,908 of accountability brought costs down 57 00:02:09,908 --> 00:02:12,650 and reduce losses to 1/5 of 1% . 58 00:02:14,010 --> 00:02:16,232 Major General Thompson died while still 59 00:02:16,232 --> 00:02:19,340 on active duty on July 20 , 1854 after 60 00:02:19,340 --> 00:02:21,680 serving in the Army for 42 years . 61 00:02:22,380 --> 00:02:24,850 Fortas in Oklahoma and the american 62 00:02:24,850 --> 00:02:27,360 liberty ship Ss Nathan Thompson were 63 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,527 both named after Major General Yasin . 64 00:02:29,750 --> 00:02:31,639 The Major General Nathan Thompson 65 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:33,861 regimental medallion was established by 66 00:02:33,861 --> 00:02:35,972 the US Army Finance Corps Association 67 00:02:35,972 --> 00:02:38,950 on seven may 1993 to recognize 68 00:02:38,950 --> 00:02:41,090 exceptional achievement or exemplary 69 00:02:41,090 --> 00:02:43,800 service by currently serving US army 70 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,856 financial management and comptroller 71 00:02:45,856 --> 00:02:47,530 commissioned officers , non 72 00:02:47,530 --> 00:02:49,363 commissioned officers , enlisted 73 00:02:49,363 --> 00:02:52,170 soldiers and civilians demonstrating 74 00:02:52,170 --> 00:02:53,892 exceptional leadership and his 75 00:02:53,892 --> 00:02:56,003 accomplishments , clearly distinguish 76 00:02:56,003 --> 00:02:59,600 them from their peers appearing before 77 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,610 a most arteries and discriminatory 78 00:03:01,610 --> 00:03:03,388 committee of proven finance and 79 00:03:03,388 --> 00:03:05,670 controller professionals . Be it known 80 00:03:05,670 --> 00:03:07,837 that the following individual has been 81 00:03:07,837 --> 00:03:09,810 tested and found worthy of special 82 00:03:09,810 --> 00:03:11,820 recognition for his outstanding 83 00:03:11,820 --> 00:03:13,709 contributions to the community of 84 00:03:13,709 --> 00:03:15,876 finance professionals and will receive 85 00:03:15,876 --> 00:03:17,860 the Major General Nathan Thompson 86 00:03:17,870 --> 00:03:21,070 medallion , attention to 87 00:03:21,070 --> 00:03:23,950 orders in recognition of demonstrated 88 00:03:23,950 --> 00:03:26,061 exemplary contribution and service to 89 00:03:26,061 --> 00:03:28,172 the U . S . Army Finance core , be it 90 00:03:28,172 --> 00:03:30,061 known that Colonel ralph crumb is 91 00:03:30,061 --> 00:03:33,350 awarded the 855th award of the Major 92 00:03:33,350 --> 00:03:35,630 General Nathan Thompson medallion and 93 00:03:35,630 --> 00:03:37,297 is entitled to all rights and 94 00:03:37,297 --> 00:03:40,720 privileges here in Presented this 6th 95 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:44,110 day of June 2022 signed Paul 96 00:03:44,110 --> 00:03:46,480 Morrissette , President , Finance Corps 97 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:47,430 Association 98 00:03:55,990 --> 00:03:58,350 Ladies and gentlemen , Colonel Rebecca 99 00:03:58,350 --> 00:04:01,480 B McElwain team . I just want to say 100 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:03,536 thanks for coming out here today and 101 00:04:03,536 --> 00:04:05,702 we're here to honor Colonel Matt Crumb 102 00:04:05,702 --> 00:04:07,924 and his team's accomplishments . Really 103 00:04:07,924 --> 00:04:10,147 I know that some of you went to the P . 104 00:04:10,147 --> 00:04:12,313 D . I . So you were able to see he and 105 00:04:12,313 --> 00:04:14,480 his team recognized in front of all of 106 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,020 our peers and fellow organizations 107 00:04:18,020 --> 00:04:20,480 across the US army . It's a real honor 108 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:22,536 to be up here today and Mac , I'm so 109 00:04:22,536 --> 00:04:24,536 glad that you were able to redeploy 110 00:04:24,536 --> 00:04:26,702 safely and you're here with us today . 111 00:04:26,702 --> 00:04:28,869 But I just really want to say a couple 112 00:04:28,869 --> 00:04:30,924 of words about how fantastic and the 113 00:04:30,924 --> 00:04:33,036 type of legacy that you've brought to 114 00:04:33,036 --> 00:04:33,010 the finance and control record to your 115 00:04:33,010 --> 00:04:35,770 family , to yourself . Um And as you 116 00:04:35,770 --> 00:04:37,992 know , you know , we've been at war for 117 00:04:37,992 --> 00:04:40,214 what 20 years . That's an extraordinary 118 00:04:40,214 --> 00:04:41,826 amount of time . 20 years in 119 00:04:41,826 --> 00:04:45,150 Afghanistan alone , countless lives and 120 00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:47,206 we know what the cost of all of that 121 00:04:47,206 --> 00:04:49,317 was . It's very clear and the U . S . 122 00:04:49,317 --> 00:04:51,080 Populace is very well aware of 123 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,413 everything that happened in Afghanistan . 124 00:04:53,413 --> 00:04:55,413 They tracked it closely . They took 125 00:04:55,413 --> 00:04:57,636 care of our soldiers . They cared about 126 00:04:57,636 --> 00:04:59,747 everything that we were doing there . 127 00:04:59,747 --> 00:05:01,969 And as you know , financing control . I 128 00:05:01,969 --> 00:05:01,130 mean the bottom line is we're first in 129 00:05:01,130 --> 00:05:03,186 last out , aren't we and matt Chrome 130 00:05:03,186 --> 00:05:05,408 and his team are no exception to that . 131 00:05:05,430 --> 00:05:07,486 I mean after all of the time that we 132 00:05:07,486 --> 00:05:11,220 took to um spend in Afghanistan really 133 00:05:11,230 --> 00:05:14,250 the collapse , the dissolution as the 134 00:05:14,250 --> 00:05:17,180 disestablished the movement back was 135 00:05:17,190 --> 00:05:19,100 actually very rapid . By the time 136 00:05:19,100 --> 00:05:21,156 september hit , they were full board 137 00:05:21,156 --> 00:05:23,000 and fully moving out doing full 138 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,222 evacuations , we're talking hundreds of 139 00:05:25,222 --> 00:05:27,333 thousands of evacuations were talking 140 00:05:27,333 --> 00:05:29,980 our own soldier types of evacuations 141 00:05:30,190 --> 00:05:32,301 and then let's not forget the marines 142 00:05:32,301 --> 00:05:35,060 and the army um that happened at Abbey 143 00:05:35,060 --> 00:05:38,180 Gate and all of that was underneath 144 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,400 matt crumbs watch as well as all of his 145 00:05:41,420 --> 00:05:43,642 Air force counterparts didn't even have 146 00:05:43,642 --> 00:05:45,698 an army team to get him through that 147 00:05:45,698 --> 00:05:47,364 with the fibs and most of you 148 00:05:47,364 --> 00:05:49,364 understand what it would be like to 149 00:05:49,364 --> 00:05:51,531 train our Joint force on G fibs and to 150 00:05:51,531 --> 00:05:53,309 try to work through hundreds of 151 00:05:53,309 --> 00:05:55,531 thousands of transactions . To be quite 152 00:05:55,531 --> 00:05:57,587 honest , $22 billion worth of things 153 00:05:57,587 --> 00:05:59,753 that they were working through closing 154 00:05:59,753 --> 00:06:01,809 out . And really frankly almost 1000 155 00:06:01,809 --> 00:06:03,864 contracts . And when you think about 156 00:06:03,864 --> 00:06:06,031 contracts and I just want to put it in 157 00:06:06,031 --> 00:06:08,031 perspective , the folks that you're 158 00:06:08,031 --> 00:06:10,198 contracting with are actually probably 159 00:06:10,198 --> 00:06:12,253 a lot of them are from Afghanistan . 160 00:06:12,253 --> 00:06:14,309 How do you track down vendors to pay 161 00:06:14,309 --> 00:06:16,309 them when they're in the midst of a 162 00:06:16,309 --> 00:06:18,309 complete um movement out of country 163 00:06:18,309 --> 00:06:20,253 trying to save their livelihoods , 164 00:06:20,253 --> 00:06:22,476 their lives and their families . How do 165 00:06:22,476 --> 00:06:24,531 you track all that down ? Well , Mac 166 00:06:24,531 --> 00:06:24,130 did that . And then on top of that with 167 00:06:24,130 --> 00:06:26,620 NATO partners , um , all of the 168 00:06:26,620 --> 00:06:28,787 countries that we have under NATO that 169 00:06:28,787 --> 00:06:30,960 had contributed over the years to what 170 00:06:30,970 --> 00:06:33,081 was happening in Afghanistan . All of 171 00:06:33,081 --> 00:06:35,248 that collapsed extremely quickly . And 172 00:06:35,248 --> 00:06:37,250 he and his team worked hundreds , 173 00:06:37,260 --> 00:06:39,810 hundreds of millions of dollars . And 174 00:06:39,810 --> 00:06:43,130 frankly , I think Mac , you did over Um , 175 00:06:43,420 --> 00:06:45,531 billion or something like that , just 176 00:06:45,531 --> 00:06:47,698 in transactional work , let alone what 177 00:06:47,698 --> 00:06:50,830 it leaves us . And when we look at his 178 00:06:50,830 --> 00:06:52,830 transition from Afghanistan , the 179 00:06:52,830 --> 00:06:55,130 entirety , you know , one year , one 180 00:06:55,130 --> 00:06:57,130 year ago today , we had a four star 181 00:06:57,130 --> 00:07:00,200 general in the seat that quickly went 182 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,311 as we started to transition , we took 183 00:07:02,311 --> 00:07:04,760 Celestica . You know , are the folks 184 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:06,982 that were paying for all of that Asif , 185 00:07:06,982 --> 00:07:09,204 Afghanistan security forces fund paying 186 00:07:09,204 --> 00:07:11,427 for all the security cooperation , um , 187 00:07:11,427 --> 00:07:13,538 you know , roughly anywhere depending 188 00:07:13,538 --> 00:07:15,820 on the year 10 to $22 billion program 189 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,127 of different things that we were doing 190 00:07:18,127 --> 00:07:20,293 in Afghanistan . And then you took use 191 00:07:20,293 --> 00:07:22,349 of our alpha . Those were the combat 192 00:07:22,349 --> 00:07:24,460 forces , right ? Those were everybody 193 00:07:24,460 --> 00:07:26,682 else that was there working through the 194 00:07:26,682 --> 00:07:30,280 mission at hand . And so what happened 195 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:32,336 is we created what's called a DSC em 196 00:07:32,336 --> 00:07:34,336 off . It's a dense security defense 197 00:07:34,336 --> 00:07:36,002 security cooperation . It's a 198 00:07:36,002 --> 00:07:38,970 transitional organization . And you 199 00:07:38,970 --> 00:07:41,980 know , when everybody else redeployed , 200 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,144 he said , you know , Mac , are you 201 00:07:44,144 --> 00:07:46,200 going to redeploy with everyone ? He 202 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,422 said , I'm not leaving . Of course . He 203 00:07:48,422 --> 00:07:48,280 went , why would he write financing ? 204 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,910 Controller stays last in the seat to 205 00:07:50,910 --> 00:07:52,799 make sure that it's a good battle 206 00:07:52,799 --> 00:07:54,966 handoff . He knew that are sent needed 207 00:07:54,966 --> 00:07:57,188 his help . He knew that army needed his 208 00:07:57,188 --> 00:07:59,021 help to make sure that It was an 209 00:07:59,021 --> 00:08:01,243 orderly transition . And even under the 210 00:08:01,243 --> 00:08:04,030 midst of chaos , he found a way to make 211 00:08:04,030 --> 00:08:06,110 that happen with a very , very small 212 00:08:06,110 --> 00:08:09,560 team of six and that included 213 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:13,460 himself . So when you think about just 214 00:08:13,460 --> 00:08:15,404 the enormity of that mission , the 215 00:08:15,404 --> 00:08:17,571 billions of dollars and frankly one of 216 00:08:17,571 --> 00:08:19,516 the most expensive wars that we've 217 00:08:19,516 --> 00:08:21,627 fought , not the most expensive , but 218 00:08:21,627 --> 00:08:23,627 one of the most expensive wars that 219 00:08:23,627 --> 00:08:25,850 almost $2 trillion . Um , the amount of 220 00:08:25,980 --> 00:08:28,360 you know equity that the US had in 221 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:30,920 their soldiers and frankly military 222 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,280 lives that were lost . Um , it all came 223 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,960 down to a controller in the very end , 224 00:08:35,980 --> 00:08:38,590 the last one boots on ground signing 225 00:08:38,590 --> 00:08:40,930 the document for disestablishment . And 226 00:08:40,930 --> 00:08:43,360 then now Ds sumo alpha is completely 227 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:45,740 and totally disestablished and our 228 00:08:45,750 --> 00:08:47,910 operations in Afghanistan underneath 229 00:08:47,910 --> 00:08:50,132 the normal operations have ceased as we 230 00:08:50,132 --> 00:08:52,970 know them now . And so he took the time 231 00:08:52,970 --> 00:08:55,137 to carefully give that back to our son 232 00:08:55,137 --> 00:08:57,192 and our son is now closing out . And 233 00:08:57,192 --> 00:08:59,026 for those of you that are fiscal 234 00:08:59,026 --> 00:09:01,137 managers , you understand how much it 235 00:09:01,137 --> 00:09:03,137 takes to close out all those fiscal 236 00:09:03,137 --> 00:09:05,303 tales because it's not even just those 237 00:09:05,303 --> 00:09:07,359 closing years , the canceling year , 238 00:09:07,359 --> 00:09:09,470 it's actually gonna be about 10 years 239 00:09:09,470 --> 00:09:11,581 of litigation as we try to figure out 240 00:09:11,581 --> 00:09:13,692 those contracts right with all of our 241 00:09:13,692 --> 00:09:15,914 vendors that we hope we find and we are 242 00:09:15,914 --> 00:09:18,137 able to pay them their due um and close 243 00:09:18,137 --> 00:09:20,520 out those contracts . So Mac I um I 244 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:22,742 can't thank you enough . You've written 245 00:09:22,742 --> 00:09:25,020 history , You've written history again , 246 00:09:25,020 --> 00:09:27,242 not just for financing controller , but 247 00:09:27,242 --> 00:09:29,353 you've written history for army . You 248 00:09:29,353 --> 00:09:31,576 had written it for your family . You've 249 00:09:31,576 --> 00:09:33,687 written it for your Children and your 250 00:09:33,687 --> 00:09:35,742 Children's Children . So thank you . 251 00:09:35,742 --> 00:09:39,580 Alright , so at that I will pass 252 00:09:39,580 --> 00:09:42,930 this over to Mac for his comments as 253 00:09:42,930 --> 00:09:45,263 well . We'd like to hear from you , Mac . 254 00:09:45,470 --> 00:09:48,040 Ladies and gentlemen , Colonel Mac 255 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:50,262 Crumb . Well , good morning everybody . 256 00:09:50,262 --> 00:09:52,484 Thank you so much . Uh First off thanks 257 00:09:52,484 --> 00:09:54,484 to the Commander , Sergeant Major , 258 00:09:54,484 --> 00:09:56,651 Command Sergeant Major for for hosting 259 00:09:56,651 --> 00:09:58,596 this event . Um Colonel McElwain , 260 00:09:58,596 --> 00:10:00,762 thank you for a wonderful words . Um I 261 00:10:00,762 --> 00:10:03,050 do appreciate that . Uh And I think you 262 00:10:03,050 --> 00:10:05,106 said it perfectly at the beginning , 263 00:10:05,106 --> 00:10:07,330 which is I get to receive this award 264 00:10:07,630 --> 00:10:09,852 and I get to wear this award . But it's 265 00:10:09,852 --> 00:10:11,963 a team effort and it really is and it 266 00:10:11,963 --> 00:10:14,600 required just the work of the team I 267 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,660 had while deployed . Um but I'll be 268 00:10:17,660 --> 00:10:19,882 honest with you if I didn't pick up the 269 00:10:19,882 --> 00:10:22,216 phone and call back to Arson very often . 270 00:10:22,216 --> 00:10:24,160 I didn't call back to our very own 271 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:25,993 command here and talked to folks 272 00:10:25,993 --> 00:10:28,216 because when Afghanistan Fell , we left 273 00:10:28,216 --> 00:10:30,438 the normal course of events . We took a 274 00:10:30,438 --> 00:10:32,660 hard left and there were a lot of items 275 00:10:32,660 --> 00:10:34,771 that , you know , you have to call on 276 00:10:34,771 --> 00:10:36,993 all your controller tricks and you have 277 00:10:36,993 --> 00:10:39,216 to call on your friends and you have to 278 00:10:39,216 --> 00:10:39,200 call on the people that can help you 279 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:41,660 get to the next level and make you 280 00:10:41,660 --> 00:10:44,990 aware of the close out procedures and 281 00:10:44,990 --> 00:10:47,157 where to go next . And , and so it was 282 00:10:47,157 --> 00:10:49,379 a battle of comptroller ship . It was a 283 00:10:49,379 --> 00:10:51,601 battle of contracting . Uh , and it was 284 00:10:51,601 --> 00:10:53,920 a battle of transitioning all of the 285 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:56,530 work that we did back from a forward 286 00:10:56,530 --> 00:10:59,140 deployment back to the arson team , 287 00:10:59,150 --> 00:11:02,850 back to NATO , back to D . S . C . A . 288 00:11:02,860 --> 00:11:05,310 And back to centcom . And I certainly 289 00:11:05,310 --> 00:11:07,421 could not have done that alone . So I 290 00:11:07,421 --> 00:11:09,643 appreciate that . And it's it's a great 291 00:11:09,643 --> 00:11:11,754 thing to again receive this award . I 292 00:11:11,754 --> 00:11:13,532 appreciate that . I can't thank 293 00:11:13,532 --> 00:11:15,310 everybody enough . So thank you 294 00:11:19,290 --> 00:11:21,401 ladies and gentlemen , this concludes 295 00:11:21,401 --> 00:11:23,457 today's ceremony . Colonel Crumb and 296 00:11:23,457 --> 00:11:25,623 his family would like to thank you for 297 00:11:25,623 --> 00:11:27,910 attending service to soldiers , Winning 298 00:11:27,910 --> 00:11:29,880 matters Army Strong