--- 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: 2026-10-07T07:12:30.392Z 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read President Obama's Farewell Address to the Armed Forces > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1b992068-5191-406c-a093-55632c8282d2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama Gives Farewell Address To Armed Forces [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Gives Farewell Address To Armed Forces](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UTGtwb1y.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2017-01-04. President Barack Obama bid farewell to the Armed Forces during a ceremony on Wednesday._ 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 bid farewell to the Armed Forces during a ceremony on Wednesday. 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. --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] At moments like this I think of all the times that I have [00:02] stood before our men and women in uniform. [00:06] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Commissioning [00:10] our newest officers, presiding over promotions. To [00:14] members of Congress, Vice President Biden who along [00:17] with Jill Has known the love and the [00:21] pride and the sacrifice of a [00:25] military family. To [00:28] Deputy Secretary Work, service secretaries, [00:33] distinguished guests, dedicated civilians from across [00:37] the defense department My national security team. [00:43] Most of all, our men and women [00:47] in uniform. I thank you for this honor and for the [00:50] warmth and respect that you have always shown me. [00:54] And the support that you've shown Michelle and our [00:58] daughters during these past eight Eight years. I [01:00] recognize that the formalities require me [01:05] listening to praise directed in [01:10] large part to me i wanna tur the tables. I am still [01:14] commander in chief and so i get to do what i wanna do [01:18] and i wanna thank Thank you. Of [01:21] all the privileges of this office and they're many, I will [01:23] miss Air Force One, I will miss Marine One. [01:27] [ LAUGH ] But I can stand before you today and say [01:30] that there's no been greater privilege and no greater [01:33] honor than serving as the commander- in- chief of the [01:36] greatest military in the history of the world. ```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":"2026-10-07T07:12:30.392Z","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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Gives Farewell Address To Armed Forces","description":"President Barack Obama bid farewell to the Armed Forces during a ceremony on Wednesday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UTGtwb1y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-04T21:50:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UTGtwb1y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/","duration":"PT1M38S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4622417/president-obama-armed-forces-speech-transcript/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```