Joe biden. Joe biden thank you, sarge, thank you, deshaun, i thank you for your years of service and thank you for your continued commitment to supporting our students, veterans as they pursue their education. And thank you Hillsborough Community college for hosting us today. My wife jill is a Community College professor and ive known for a long, long time the Community Colleges she says are the secret, best kept secret in america in terms of our Education System and this is just one reason why. You help people take the next step in their lives to get the training and accreditation they need, including our vets, who after years of dedication to our country are ready to build civilian lives of meaning and of opportunity. Less than 1 of the population of our country chooses to serve our country in the military less military. Less than one percent risk everything to defend our nation, our values, and everything we hold dear. Them our 99 of us owe thanks, gratitude, and respect. My view, based on reports of interviews, President Trump has proven hes unfit told the office of the president time again but nowhere are his faults more glaring and more offensive to me at least than when it comes to his denigration of our Service Members, veterans, Wounded Warriors, the fallen. Quite frankly, it makes me very upset the way he gets in front of a camera and crows about how much he has done for veterans and then turns around and insults our Service Members and Fallen Heroes when the cameras off. Calls them suckers and losers. My son beau, who as a u. S attorney volunteered to go six months to kosovo to help them set up a criminal justice system, he did such a good job there, kosovo government named a highway after him erected a war memorial. And then he had to get an exemption because his attorney general of the state of delaware to go with his unit to iraq and he went for a year in iraq, came home with a bronze star. Hes gone now, but he was no sucker. He was a man like many of the people he served with, women and men who served with him, served in a way that they should be honored as heroes, not in some derogatory way. They didnt come home losers, they became home heroes, and i think its an absolute disgrace. Donald trump has no idea about the ideas that animate women and men who sign up to serve duty , honor, country. Thats what service and patriotism is all about. Duty, honor, country. As reported a very reliable source and confirmed by many major outlets that he said to a fallen father, a member of the service, the father the father of a fallen soldier who was himself was a member of the service while hes standing by to gravesite, he allegedly said, i dont get it, what was in it for them . What was in it for them . Donald trump doesnt seem to be able to conceive the idea of Selfless Service or being part of a cause thats bigger than yourself. Every day i carry with me a card, and ive been doing this for better part of 14 years, it is my schedule. On the back of it wherever the schedule ends, theres always a black box that i have here. It says daily troop update. U. S troops died in iran and afghanistan. 600 923. 6923. Every one of these fallen angels left behind a family left behind a community theres an empty seat at the table now. U. S. Troops wounded in iraq and afghanistan 53,192. Not over 53,000. Ive flown back on those c130s with caskets draped coming out of iraq and afghanistan, ive been there at Dover Air Base and those bodies come home. You know, and think of all the folks, and you all know it, coming home with unseen injuries. Tens of thousands come home with posttraumatic stress, Mental Health challenges. Have beenn, we criticized about this over the last 30 years, but i have said it. As a nation, we have many obligations, to our children, to the elderly, to the poor, to those in need, but i believe we have only one truly sacred obligation, to prepare and equip our troops that we send in harm s way and to care for them and their families when they return. Veterans security and dignity that they have earned, and it starts by protecting the and the v. A. Must be the premier provider of Health Care Services to remote to promote our veterans overall wellbeing. Eyond physical and mental it provides a community of understanding and support and facilitates accountability for health and wellbeing as a whole that is vital for successful outcomes. We need to be sure we are providing veterans with worldclass health care they deserve in every situation. That means hiring more doctors and medical personnel, professionals, to work at the v. A. , including position central to veteran health care, nurses and psychologists. They need the incentive to join the v. A. We need to pay them a Competitive Salary with the private sector. We also need to do more to build a pipeline of doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas. If you live far away from ava center, it is absolutely essential that you can see a doctor closer to home. That is right. During the obama administration, we signed the veterans access accountability act into law in 2014. President trump likes to say he passed the v. A. Choice, and just like Everything Else he is saying, it is a figment of his imagination at a flat live. Now, we need to keep working for the mission act, effectively and efficiently, so it works for our veterans to make sure they are held to the same high Quality Standard as v. A. Centers. We are going to make sure our Women Veterans and our lgbtq veterans get the service and respect they deserve from culturally competent providers. Critically, we are going to make sure that no veteran is locked out of treatment for conditions related to toxic exposure or traumatic brain injuries they experience in the line of duty. We made that mistake with agent orange. As a senator, i fought for decades to help Vietnam Veterans get access and help. We were able to expand on it during the obamabiden administration. Delayedt let this be again, denying access, because they could not prove a direct connection that you were exposed to agent orange. It is wrong. It is to be presumed if the ailment you have is caused by your exposure to agent orange that you get treatment. Tackle got to seriously Mental Health crisis that we have, the suicide academic claiming far too many of our veterans and Service Members. You know, one of the saddest things when my son came home iraq, he wasit back as attorney general, and the week before christmas, he came over to the house and said, dad, i do not know what i am going to do. There was a veteran deployed six times of my memory is correct a modern, upscale neighborhood, middleclass neighborhood. And to get up in the morning and get out, i think it was a dodge ram, and started down the street in front of his house, which was no sidewalks, saw a woman walking her dog, ran over her, killed her. Killed the dog. Put her in the back of the pickup truck, took her to 95, where there was the sand pile ,or emergencies, molested her put her back in the truck, came home, called the state police and said, i just killed someone. There was a voice in my head that set i had to kill someone that said i had to kill someone. Latest data suggests that almost 600 veterans a year just here in florida, devastating. There are no easy answers for this. And we can do so much better than we are doing now. We have an obligation to do so much better. We have to help our heroes understand that it is an honorable thing to do and take strength and reach out and ask for help if you are suffering from unseen wounds. Accustomed to not ask for anything, we have to end the stigma surrounding Mental Health treatment. Whenthey do reach out, they call the crisis hotline, walk into a va hospital, or visit a v. A. Center for counseling, we have to make sure that there is nobody turning them away. No one tells them they have to wait. Part of it is also making sure that veterans feel a sense of security and connection and mission with the civilian world, as they did on active duty. Better employment opportunities. Meaningful career trajectories. Education like the ones get here at the Community College, which translates into greater opportunities for our vets, not just put money in the pockets of forprofit outfits, because we have got to stop that. It all matters. It especially matters how their families are treated. Poet, wrote the these lines. Serve and only stand and wait. Husbands, wives, fathers. They serve every day. And unique challenges, that should never be a unique afterthought. It is a National Security imperatives. Fulfilling our promise to veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors is critical to ensuring we not only meet our obligations, but future generations continue to volunteer to serve. My wife, jill, she worked on this. She and Michelle Obama teamed up and started an outfit called joining forces, a nationwide initiative to drive concrete commitments to support Service Members, veterans, and their families and caregivers and survivors to help make sure teachers are equipped to better meet the needs of military children in their classrooms, to help bring down some of the barriers, because the vast majority, the vast majority of those kids in school have no idea, little johnny or mary or because hisried mommy or daddy is stationed in a foreign land. It makes it harder for military spouses to find good jobs and build careers. They have to change. Working with leaders, hiring our heroes. Employmenty spouses program. For example, make it easy to carry your professional credentials with you from one state to another when your spouse moves. The harrisbiden administration will keep pushing forward and make it easier for military spouses to fight meaningful careers, to assure that teachers know how to support military students in their classrooms, and to have improved support so much more than we do now. This is not a theoretical commitment. It is personal. Beau, deployed to iraq with the National Guard unit. That is when jill and i really learned what it means to be part of a military family. You end up praying every night for the safety of your child far from home in the middle of a war zone, facing unknown dangers. They areily gathering, missed. Every time the children ask why mommy or daddy is not there, it hurts. These are the challenges most americans never have to face. ,hese are the women and men their families. They are the absolute best our country has to offer. They are the backbone of america. Some of the most meaningful moments of my vice presidency, of those eight years, was at thanksgiving, we would host a thanksgiving meal for the wounded veterans at the Vice President ial residence. Daypent every christmas visiting the patients at walter reed hospital. I spent time with our Wounded Warriors in Trauma Centers all across the country and around the world. But do you know what the message is when i walk in and say, soldier, what can i do for you . Whether they are amputees or not, they pull themselves up and try to salute. They say, yes, sir. I want to go back to my unit. Can you get me back to my unit . Hearthat sound like the and grit and patriotism of a sucker or a loser . It sounds like heroism to me. It sounds like what patriotism is all about. Our military is the greatest fighting force in the history of the world, and that is not hyperbole. It is the gods truth. They deserve a commanderinchief who understands and respects their sacrifice. They deserve better then goes on now with the commanderinchief, and if i have the honor of ever serving as the next commanderinchief, i want every Single Member of the armed forces, the veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors to know i will never treat you with anything other than with the honor and respect and dignity deserve. I will always have your back. Our back. Ave had the countrys back. All, and may god protect our troops. Thank you. Am i here . How are you . Thank you, for your compelling remarks. Thank you to the Hillsborough Community college for hosting this event, and thank you to the viewers around the country who are watching today. I have the great honor of being not only a participant but a moderator today. I am the ceo. In 2004, my husband received military orders to naples, italy. As i prepared for the adventure, i realized moving would bring a myriad of challenges. There was a formal policy on base that prevented local military spouses from providing for professional jobs. I had come from the white house and realized quickly that my career was at a total standstill. Fast forward 16 years, and not only have we created jobs for almost 300 military spouses and veterans, many have moved many times, and we are also one of the largest womenowned Small Businesses in the tampa bay area and the second largest privately held Government Contracting form firm in the region. We received one of the largest awards in history. Former v. P. Biden thank you. That is because me and my cofounder and other affectional military spouses wanted to attain meaningful employment in naples, italy, years ago. We realize that as much as we could not hire all of the talented military spouses around the world, although we are still trying to. Now, part of the hiring our heroes program, to give back to this incredible population that had helped us grow, we also started home front rising, and annual Training Program to help military spouses get engaged in the process across the political spectrum. Four timesrces are more to be underemployed or unemployed. Is a staggering number. But hiring military spouses is not simply the patriotic or right thing to do. Hiring military spouses is good for our economy. It is good for individual businesses, and it is good for our force readiness. It impacts all of the other issues we will talk about today. Mental health, transition, quality of life all get better when military spouses are afforded the opportunity to contribute their intellect, ingenuity, and professional background to our communities. Mr. Vice president , thank you for what you and dr. Biden have done for all military families, with the joining forces initiatives profoundly affecting literary Spouse Employment and other military family issues. Thank you for inviting us here today. Thank you forden what your country has done. Look. You all know this, because your veterans, and many of you have spouses. I do not want to presume anything, but the fact is, you know, one of the things was, i found, particularly difficult when watching what happened during the heavy deployments back in iraq and afghanistan before i was able to get permission to bring home 150,000 troops was the significant force of that troop those troops were either reservist or National Guard, and they did not have the camaraderie if they stayed back on the base, at least of other people being in the same circumstance, and what i found was, as we traveled around the world and around the lack of a sense of being understood, what is happening, just being able to know that somebody else knows what youre going through, that sense of loss, even if everything is fine, even if your husband and wife is in good physical shape and safe if deployed, but this idea that you of thell taking care homework by yourself, or you are the only one going to the school play, or the only one there for the birthday, and no one is there. It does impact on family solidarity. It does impact on a sense of community that you have. And my wife was part of an organization in delaware called boots on the ground. I do not know if you are familiar with that at all, but what that was, and just in my small state of delaware, and if i am taking too much time, just tell me, because i will stop, but what i found is i remember calling ininlaw eau first snowstorm after b was deployed, saying, somebody is out there shoveling the driveway, and this was after a snowstorm, shoveling the driveway, and i did not call them, and they left a note saying, ask for your service. Thanks for your service. Thanks for your service. You find yourself in a situation where you have to show up for a mammogram or a follow up on something heavy with a health problem. Who takes care of the kids . What happens . Well, they started this whole thing in delaware. People would show up. They would just volunteer. They would give phone numbers and say, i will be there, and you know, but i want the people to understand it. It does help psychological health, the sense of community. You did not volunteer to serve to get thanks. You volunteer to serve because that is who you are. Youre not used to saying, thank me. I did something special. But it helps when people know what you have done and are just supportive of what you did. So i think it is a big deal what you have done, it is a major part of what jill is already, god willing, if we are elected, is starting. Reignite, joining forces again, as she and michelle have done. You. N thank haun, who ise des going to speak to us, as well. Former v. P. Biden promoted to major and got two bronze star, and he said, congratulations. Anyway. Especially the marine corps. It is an honor, and i know you hear that a lot, but i really truly mean that. When i got out of the marine corps, i decided to come here to the college and get my degree and went on and got my masters degree, so i have been around education ever since i got out of the military. Likely, they found out i was good with veterans, so i decided to come here. The veterans education is a big part of my life now, and i think that our current v. A. Is great, but one of my fears is that they may not be keeping up with the times and that they may fall behind in terms of evolving with veterans. As you probably know, there are a lot of veteranowned businesses now, that is because