Washington ( CNN ) -- With full military fanfare -- gun salutes , fife and drum corps , brass bands , a flyover and presidential praise -- the nation bid farewell to its top military man and honored his successor Friday . Adm. Mike Mullen has been Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman , the president 's top military adviser , since October of 2007 . Army Gen. Marty Dempsey takes his place . `` As the new secretary of defense , I am confident of the future because we have the strongest military force in our history -- and it is strong because we can replace one great warrior with another , '' Leon Panetta said during the 90-minute Hail and Farwell ceremony on the Fort Myer parade ground across the river from Washington.. It was n't just the October sun that brightened the day for Mullen . It was also the lengthy praise from the president and from the military he had served for 43 years , as well as the day 's latest success in the terrorism fight -- the successful take-down of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki . Obama pointed to Mullen 's leadership , from all the advice he provided in the Oval Office about the nation 's two wars , to his crucial testimony to Congress that the country should end its ban on gays and lesbians serving open in the military . `` Mike , as you look back at your four consequential years as chairman and your four decades in uniform , be assured : Our military is stronger and our nation is more secure because of the service that you have rendered . '' Mullen , the son of a Hollywood publicist , is a master of self-deprecating humor . He drew laughter from the crowd when he told a story of how he had been mistakenly identified at a party as the former general , and now CIA director , David Petraeus . And he said that White House meetings went better if participants did n't criticize the president 's baseball team , the Chicago White Sox . `` And he really likes it when you laugh at his jokes . It just makes the meeting go better . '' Mullen said . Mullen never misses a chance to make a point , hammering a favorite theme , that the American public must become more connected to its military personnel when they come home , giving them a chance , a job , an education . `` Welcome them back to those places , not with bands and bunting or yellow ribbons , but with the solemn recognition that they have done your bidding , they have represented you well , they have carried the best of you and of this country into battle , '' Mullen said . `` They have done things and seen things and bear things in their souls that you can not know . '' Panetta praised Mullen 's hard work and dogged persistence . `` His leadership , his influence , his honest candor , his compassion and his outspoken concern for our troops have set an exceptionally high standard for the responsibilities and performance of a chairman of the Joint Chiefs , '' Panetta said . Dempsey becomes Panetta 's and Obama 's right hand man in navigating the withdrawal from Afghanistan and the hard choices about budget cuts . `` Marty 's strategic vision is the right one for this time of transition as we craft a joint force that can defeat the wide range of complex security threats we face today , and into the future , '' Panetta said . `` In a speech he gave while leading the Army 's Training and Doctrine Command , Marty said that the pace of change in today 's world requires that we look at the future differently than we have in the past . Instead of trying to leap ahead decades into the future as we design our military , we must build a force able to handle the challenges we know it will face today , and one that can adapt to the future . '' Mullen oversaw two wars plus the U.S. role in the Libyan conflict during his four-year term . But in recent weeks he found himself in a final skirmish inside the Obama administration itself over his statements that the extremist Haqqani network along the Afghanistan border was `` a veritable arm '' of the Pakistani intelligence service . He chose not to comment directly on that , saying only that in his advice to his successor , `` I urged Marty to remember the importance of Pakistan to all of this , to try and do a better job than I did with that vexing and yet vital relationship . '' Mullen said Afghanistan will be Dempsey 's biggest challenge . `` In seeing this critical transition through to its completion , in making sure that the security gains we have made are not squandered by the scourge of corruption or the lack of good governance that still plagues the country , our strategy is the right one , '' Mullen said . `` We must keep executing it . '' The new chairman , the first Army general elevated to chairman since 2001 , had the last word . `` Although you 're a sailor and I 'm a soldier , in the tradition of the horse cavalry , I want you to know that I will be proud to tell people that I rode with Mike Mullen during some of the most challenging times in our nation 's history . ''
Adm. Mike Mullen honored as he steps down as Joint Chiefs chairman . Obama : `` Our nation is more secure because of the service that you have rendered . '' Mullen urges American to become more connected to military personnel . Army Gen. Marty Dempsey is the new chairman .