confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. we got word less than an hour ago that the president has landed in bagram field in afghanistan. he's brought with him country music star brad paisley to help get the job done. we've been bringing you live reports of that. there's another picture of brad. i'm joined by colonel jack jacobs. what does this do when the president comes unannounced? is it unannounced for the troops or do they know? >> this troops don't know but this has been planned for a little while. he just doesn't pick up and so
with president karzai while he's there? >> reporter: we don't have any reports about that right now. as you know the obama administration's relationship with president karzai has been quite strained because karzai has refused to sign the security agreement which would essentially have set those troop levels. the administration is hoping the next president who takes over in afghanistan will do that. there's no reports president obama is planning to meet with president karzai, but i wouldn't rule this out. he just landed in afghanistan. the white house has to keep these types of things under wraps because of the president's security, of course, that being of the utmost concern. this is something we have seen this president do in the past and president george w. bush visited with troops in afghanistan. made a surprise visit.
terms of waiting lists of the va. >> thanks so much for senator max cleland for taking the time to talk with us. we're waiting for the president to speak in afghanistan as we makes a surprise visit. i'll talk to a veteran about his experience in the iraq war. you're watching taking the hill on msnbc. (growls) (man) that's a good look for you. (woman) that was fun. (man) yeah. (man) let me help you out with the.. (woman)...oh no, i got it. (man) you sure? (woman) just pop the trunk. (man vo) i may not know where the road will lead, but... i'm sure my subaru will get me there. (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. c'mon, you want heartburn? when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast, with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact.
thousands of polling places, and yet billions of afghans lined up to cast their ballot, and next month's runoff is going to be another step towards the first democratic transfer of power in the history of this nation. that is a tribute to the can courage and determination of the people of afghanistan, but it is also a tribute to you and the sacrifices of so many americans and our coalition partners, everything that you have done over the years. we we know that this progress has come at a heavy price. tomorrow's memorial day. and the bases here at afghanistan and the towns across america, we will pause and we will pay tribute to the all those who have laid down their lives for our free doom. -- freedom dom, and that includes nearly 2,200 american patriots who made the last sacrifice of full devotion right
time out of his busy schedule to visit the troops, the troops will appreciate that. >> colonel jack, this wednesday president obama will give the commencement address at west point. you and i have taught there. what do you think he'll say this wednesday? >> it's an expectation he's going to make a significant policy address. it's not just going be the platitudes and thanks for jour service. these are tough times and we're really relying downand thanks for wearing the uniform and all that kind of stuff. he's going to say some things of substance. it would be an interesting time to do that since he's just will have just returned from afghanistan because there's a great deal of discussion just about everywhere about what we're going to do about that area of the world. it's not just a question of whether we'll have 5,000 or 10,000, probably not going to have a whole lot more than that, but what they're actually going
determine the troop level after 2014. this will be a central part of that conversation. once the briefing finishes, we got a bit of video, president will head to that concert which you just had a little bit of video of brad paisley performing for 32,000 american troop who is are serving in afghanistan. president obama will join that in progress and i'm told he will make remarks. i don't anticipate those remarks will be heavily weighted in the policy arena. i think president obama will focus on thanking the troops for their service as we approach this memorial day. that's the tenure we're expecting, the tone of the president's remarks. then he will head to a hospital where he will visit with wounded and hand out medals of honor there. that's part of the tick tock of the president's day. he'll leave before the end of
to decide what the troop levels will be in afghanistan after 2014. it also comes as this administration is dealing with the mounting va scandal, which of course, the reports as many as 40 veterans may have died in phoenix while waiting for care and there may have been other types of similar instances of mistreating veterans across the country. that's what the obama administration is dealing with as president obama makes this surprise visit to afghanistan. i'm told that rob nabors just got back. he's launching his own review into what went wrong with the va facilities across the country and the president is expecting that report by the end of the month. president obama thanking the troops in afghanistan on this memorial day. >> are there any plans to visit
protecting the president's safety. the center peace of this visit is going to be rally with 32,000 americans who are currently serving in afghanistan and country music singer brad paisley who traveled on air force one with president obama will perform at that event. this comes with mounting scandal of the va here at home. he dispatched one of his to be advisors to the va hospital in arizona where it's reported as many as 40 veterans may have died while waiting for care there. rob spent the day there talking to facilities trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong and how it can be prevented moving forward. that's the backdrop as president obama marks this memorial day. one more point is that he is
joining me now is shawn barney, retired marine who was injured eight years ago. the president came to a surprise visit to afghanistan. what do you think that means to the troops over there? >> it's very important thing he's doing and the right thing. you want to know the people at home are thinking about you. they know what you're doing. they know what you're going through and they haven't forgotten about you. that's exactly what he's doing. >> you didn't follow the path to military. you went to yale, harvard. what inspired you to join the military? >> when 9/11 occurred i was 26 years old. i was an advisor to one of our senators in delaware. i loved my job and felt like i was the luckiest guy in the world to have that job. when you see a turtle sitting on a fence post, you know it didn't
the american public and during the second world war we had more than 20 million veterans. the whole system of taking care of veterans resonated before every household had participated. it's a very small number of american who is are serving and at the time we're drawing down. kid sometimes may feel they are being forgotten. eventually almost nobody there in afghanistan but the whole idea about keeping faith with our soldiers, they're not going to forget them once they will have left the service of this country and require assistance. that's got to be taken seriously and we have to do a much better job of taking care of our people