[Vision2020] Obama Speech to Veterans

[Chasuk]

Tom, Visioneers,

This is a speech that Obama gave to veterans in West Virgina.  It is
one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever read, and I am not
easily inspired.  I am thankful and hopeful) more for Obama every day.

http://baldwinparkdemocrat.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-to-americans-veterans-must-read.html

    And I want to thank the people of West Virginia – particularly
those who have worn the uniform of our country. More of you are
veterans here than in almost any other state in the nation. So many
Guard members from this very armory have been deployed to Iraq and
Afghanistan on tour after tour, year after year. And that means there
are more West Virginians who've had to say goodbye to these heroes;
who've borne the burdens of their absence in ways that are often
immeasurable – an empty chair at the dinner table or another Mother's
Day where mom is some place far away. Your sacrifice and the sacrifice
of your loved ones is immense, and it must never be forgotten.

    There is an election here tomorrow. I'm honored that some of you
will support me, and I understand that many more here in West Virginia
will probably support Senator Clinton. But when it's over, what will
unify as Democrats – what must unify us as Americans – is an
unyielding commitment to the men and women who've served this nation
and an unshakable fidelity to the ideals for which they've risked
their lives.

    Without that commitment, many of us wouldn't be here today. I am
one of those people. My grandfather – Stanley Dunham – enlisted after
Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army. My grandmother
worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone, and my mother was
born at Fort Leavenworth. When he returned, it was to a country that
gave him the chance to college on the GI Bill; to buy his first home
with a loan from the FHA; to move his family west, all the way to
Hawaii, where he and my grandmother helped raise me. Today, my
grandfather is buried in the Punchbowl, the National Memorial Cemetery
of the Pacific, where 776 victims of Pearl Harbor are laid to rest.

    I knew him when he was older. But whenever I meet young men and
women along the campaign trail who are serving in the military today,
I think about what my grandfather was like when he enlisted – a
fresh-faced man of twenty-three, with a heart laugh and an easy smile.

    These sons and daughters of America are the best and the bravest
among us. They are a part of an unbroken line of heroes who overthrew
a King for the sake of an ideal; who freed the slaves and faced down
fascism; who fought for freedom in Korea and Vietnam, from Kuwait to
the Balkans – who still wake up every day to face down the gravest
dangers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the world.

    When our troops go into battle, they serve no faction or party;
they represent no race or region. They are simply Americans. They
serve and fight and bleed together out of loyalty not just to a place
on a map or a certain kind of people, but to a set of ideals that we
have been striving for since the first shots rang out at Lexington and
Concord – the idea that America could be governed not by men, but by
laws; that we could be equal in the eyes of those laws; that we could
be free to say what we want and write what want and worship as we
please; that we could have the right to pursue our individual dreams
but the obligation to help our fellow citizens pursue theirs.

    Allegiance to these ideals has always been at the core of American
patriotism – it's what unites a country of so many different opinions
and beliefs. It's why some of us may disagree on our decision to start
this war in Iraq, but all of us stand united in our support for the
brave men and women who wage it. That's how it should be. But it's not
how it's always been.

    One of the saddest episodes in our history was the degree to which
returning vets from Vietnam were shunned, demonized and neglected by
some because they served in an unpopular war. Too many of those who
opposed the war in Vietnam chose to blame not only the leaders who
ordered the mission, but the young men who simply answered their
country's call. Four decades later, the sting of that injustice is a
wound that has never fully healed, and one that should never be
repeated.

    The young men and women who choose to serve are defending the very
rights and freedoms that allow Americans to speak out against
government actions we oppose. They deserve our admiration, respect and
enduring gratitude.

    At the same time, we must never forget that honoring this service
and upholding these ideals requires more than saluting our veterans as
they march by on Veterans Day or Memorial Day. It requires marching
with them for the care and benefits they have earned It requires
standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our veterans and their families
after the guns fall silent and the cameras are turned off. At a time
when we're facing the largest homecoming since the Second World War,
the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning
heroes as well as they've served us.

    We know that over the last eight years, we've already fallen short
of meeting this test. We all learned about the deplorable conditions
that were discovered at places like Fort Bragg and Walter Reed. We've
all walked by a veteran whose home is now a cardboard box on a street
corner in the richest nation on Earth. We've all heard about what it's
like to navigate the broken bureaucracy of the VA – the impossibly
long lines, or the repeated calls for help that get you nothing more
than an answering machine. Just a few weeks ago, an 89-year-old World
War II veteran from South Carolina told his family, "No matter what I
apply for at the VA, they turn me down." The next day, he walked
outside of an Outpatient Clinic in Greenville and took his own life.

    How can we let this happen? How is that acceptable in the United
States of America? The answer is, it's not. It's an outrage. And it's
a betrayal – a betrayal – of the ideals that we ask our troops to risk
their lives for.

    But it doesn't have to be this way. Not in this country. Not if we
decide that this time will be different. There are many aspects of
this war that have gone inalterably wrong, but caring for our veterans
is one thing we can still get right. When I arrived in the Senate, I
sought out a seat on the Veterans Affairs Committee so I could fight
to give our veterans the care they need and the benefits they deserve.
We fought to make sure that the claims of disabled veterans in
Illinois and other states were being heard fairly, and we forced the
VA to conduct an unprecedented outreach campaign to disabled veterans
who receive lower-than-average benefits. I passed laws to get homeless
veterans off the streets and prevent at-risk veterans from getting
there in the first place. I led a bipartisan effort to improve
outpatient facilities at places like Walter Reed, and slash red tape,
and reform the disability process – because recovering troops should
go to the front of the line, and they shouldn't have to fight to get
there. I passed laws to give family members health care while they
care for injured troops, and to provide family members with a year of
job protection, so they never have to face a choice between caring for
a loved one and keeping a job.

    But there is so much more work that we need to do in this country.

    It starts with being honest about the sacrifices that our brave
men and women are making. For years, this Administration has refused
to count all of our casualties in uniform. In Iraq alone, tens of
thousands of troops who were injured or fell ill have not been counted
in our casualty numbers, going against the military's own standards
from past wars. It's time to stop hiding the full cost of this war.
It's time to honor the full measure of sacrifice of our troops, and to
prepare for the cost of their care.

    That's why I've pledged to build a 21st century VA as President.
It means no more red tape – it's time to give every service-member
electronic copies of medical and service records upon discharge. It
means no more shortfalls – we'll fully fund VA health care, and add
more Vet Centers, particularly in rural areas. It means no more delays
– we'll pass on-time budgets. It means no more means-testing – it's
time to allow every veteran into the VA system. And it means we'll
have a simple principle for veterans sleeping on our streets: zero
tolerance. As President, I'll build on the work I started in the
Senate and expand housing vouchers, and launch a new supportive
services housing program to prevent at-risk veterans and their
families from sliding into homelessness.

    I'll also build on the work I did in the Senate to confront one of
the signature injuries of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – PTSD. We
have to understand that for far too many troops and their families,
the war doesn't end when they come home. Just the other day our own
government's top psychiatric researcher said that because of
inadequate mental health care, the number of suicides among veterans
of Iraq and Afghanistan may actually exceed the number of combat
deaths. Think about that. Think about how only half of the returning
soldiers with PTSD receive the treatment they need. Think of how many
we turn away – of how many we let fall through the cracks. We have to
do better than this.

    In the Senate, I've helped lead a bipartisan effort to stop the
unfair practice of kicking out troops who suffer from them. And when
I'm President, we'll enhance mental health screening and treatment at
all levels: from enlistment, to deployment, to reentry into civilian
life. We also need more mental health professionals, more training to
recognize signs and to reject the stigma of seeking care. And we need
to dramatically improve screening and treatment for the other
signature injury of the war, Traumatic Brain Injury. That's why I
passed measures in the Senate to increase screening for these
injuries, and that's why I'll establish clearer standards of care as
President.

    We have called on our troops and their families for so much during
these last years, but we haven't always issued that call responsibly.
Yes, we need to restore twelve month Army deployments, but we also
need to restore adequate training and time at home between those
deployments. My wife, Michelle, met with Army spouses the other day in
North Carolina who told her about the toll it takes to watch your
loved one serve tour after tour of duty with little to no time off in
between. And they told her something we all need to remember: "We
don't just deploy our troops overseas, we deploy families." That's why
we also need to provide more counseling and resources to help families
cope with multiple tours.

    And when our loved ones do come home, it is time for the United
States of America to offer this generation of returning heroes the
same thanks we offered that earlier, Greatest Generation – by giving
every veteran the same opportunity that my grandfather had under the
GI Bill.

    There is no reason we shouldn't pass the 21st Century GI Bill that
is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend
Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under
President Ronald Reagan.. His plan has widespread support from
Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran
with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not
harm retention.

    I have great respect for John McCain's service to this country and
I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of
the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he
thinks it's too generous. I couldn't disagree more. At a time when the
skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of
a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the
men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance
to pursue the American Dream.

    The brave Americans who fight today believe deeply in this
country. And no matter how many you meet, or how many stories of
heroism you hear, every encounter reminds that they are truly special.
That through their service, they are living out the ideals that stir
so many of us as Americas – pride, duty, and sacrifice.

    Some of the most inspiring are those you meet at places like
Walter Reed Army Medical Center. They are young men and women who may
have lost a limb or even their ability to take care of themselves, but
they will never lose the pride they feel for their country. They're
not interested in self-pity, but yearn to move forward with their
lives. And it's this classically American optimism that makes you
realize the quality of person we have serving in the United States
Armed Forces.

    This, after all, is what led them to wear the uniform in the first
place – their unwavering belief in the idea of America. The idea that
no matter where you come from, or what you look like, or who your
parents are, this is a place where anything is possible; where anyone
can make it; where we look out for each other, and take care of each
other; where we rise and fall as one nation – as one people. It's an
idea that's worth fighting for – an idea for which so many Americans
have given that last full measure of devotion.

    I can still remember the day that we laid my grandfather to rest.
In a cemetery lined with the graves of Americans who have sacrificed
for our country, we heard the solemn notes of Taps and the crack of
guns fired in salute; we watched as a folded flag was handed to my
grandmother and my grandfather was laid to rest. It was a nation's
final act of service and gratitude to Stanley Dunham – an America that
stood by my grandfather when he took off the uniform, and never left
his side.

    Abraham Lincoln once said, "I like to see a man proud of the place
in which he lives. But I also like to see a man live so that his place
will be proud of him."

    There is no doubt that we are a nation that is deeply proud of
where we live. But it is now our generation's task to live in a way
that Stanley Dunham lived; to live the way that those heroes at Walter
Reed have lived; the way that all those men and women who put on this
nation's uniform live each and every day. It is now our task to live
so that America will be proud of us. That is true test of patriotism –
the test that all of us must meet in the days and years to come. I
have no doubt that this nation is up to the challenge. Thank you, and
may God Bless the United States of America.

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I hope some of you enjoyed this.  It actually made me feel
"patriotic," which most you who know me will find fairly startling.

Chas