Defense Secretary James Mattis, in his farewell message, encouraged all Defense Department employees to “keep the faith and hold fast” during difficult times.
“Our Department’s leadership, civilian and military, remains in the best possible hands,” Mattis wrote in the letter released on Monday.
“I am confident that each of you remains undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the Constitution while protecting our way of life. Our Department is proven to be at its best when the times are most difficult. So keep the faith in our country and hold fast, alongside our allies, aligned against our foes,” it continued.
Mattis, who resigned after President Trump announced earlier this month that he would pull US troops out of Syria, will hand over the reins of the Defense Department to his deputy Patrick Shanahan a minute before midnight Monday.
The retired Marine Corps general also included a telegram that President Abraham Lincoln sent to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in 1865 during the Civil War.
“It read: ‘Let nothing which is transpiring, change, hinder, or delay your military movements, or plans,'” the letter said.
Mattis concluded: “It has been my high honor to serve at your side. May God hold you safe in the air, on land, and at sea.”