--- title: President Obama: Read His Farewell Address to Armed Forces description: President Barack Obama bid farewell to the armed forces during a ceremony on Wednesday canonical: https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-04T21:17:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:32:57.875Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces og:description: "I'm a better man having worked with you" og:url: https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf193780880ceb7b1/6988b472656a3f20a4bce498/obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barack Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces twitter:description: "I'm a better man having worked with you" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf193780880ceb7b1/6988b472656a3f20a4bce498/obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2017 9:17 PM UTC  President Obama speaks during an Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, VA, on Jan. 4, 2017. President Obama speaks during an Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell Review at Conmy Hall, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, VA, on Jan. 4, 2017.Alex Brandon—AP by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2017 9:17 PM UTC [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4621778/barack-obama-congress-obamacare-health-care-repeal/) bid farewell to the Armed Forces during a ceremony on Wednesday. Obama commended Defense Secretary [Ash Carter](http://time.com/4596356/us-defense-secretary-ash-carter-visit-afghanistan/), General Joseph Dunford, General Paul Selva, Vice President Joe Biden and the members of Congress for their work throughout his presidency. “I can stand before your today and say that there has been no greater privilege and no greater honor, than serving as commander-in-chief of the greatest military in the history of the world,” [the President said](http://time.com/4620220/president-obama-chicago-speech-obamacare/). Read his full remarks below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/"},"headline":"Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces","datePublished":"2017-01-04T21:17:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:32:57.875Z","description":"\"I'm a better man having worked with you\"","url":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","transcript","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf193780880ceb7b1/6988b472656a3f20a4bce498/obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf193780880ceb7b1/6988b472656a3f20a4bce498/obama1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Alex Brandon—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/","name":"Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces"}}]}] ```