VIDEO-Joint Chiefs Chairman Channels His 'Uptown Funk'

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (AP File Photo)

(CNSNews.com) - Interesting things happen when children interview adults -- in this case, children of military parents interviewing the nation's top military officer.

"How do you define your success?" a girl asked Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Demspey at a gathering in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Military Children Education Coalition on Thursday.

"I don't know," Demspey said -- and stopped.

"Oh, you want me to extrapolate on that?" he joked. Dempsey responded that he's proud of being a soldier, a husband and a father.

"Do you think that failure plays a part in that success?" the girl asked.

"Failure plays a part in every success," Dempsey responded. "You've experienced it already, I'm sure -- you know, overcome your own challenges. It's like Chumbawamba -- 'I get knocked down, I get backup again,' right?"

Everyone laughed.

"But uh -- I'm trying to connect to the kids," Demsey said to his wife Deanie, seated next to him.

"Well, look, you don't want me to break into 'Uptown Funk You Up,' do ya?

Don't belive me, just watch, he sang.

Demspey, continuing in a more serious tone, said high school is a time to keep doors open: "Every door that you can imagine is open to you right now. Until you do something to close it. That's the great thing about being an American, actually."

Dempsey told the children that he's the grandson of four Irish immigrants; his father was a postman; and his mother was a shelf-stocker at a convenience store.

"And I'm the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I can tell you, that would not happen any place else.

"So, the doors are open. You just can't close them. But you can stumble. You just can't fall flat on your face. And I"ll leave it to your imagination to decide which are stumbles and which are catastrophes."