51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
51 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
|
That's why, working with our military leaders, I have proposed a new
|
|||
|
|
defense strategy that ensures we maintain the finest military in the
|
|||
|
|
world, while saving nearly half a trillion dollars in our budget. To
|
|||
|
|
stay one step ahead of our adversaries, I have already sent this
|
|||
|
|
Congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing
|
|||
|
|
danger of cyber-threats.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Above all, our freedom endures because of the men and women in uniform
|
|||
|
|
who defend it. As they come home, we must serve them as well as they
|
|||
|
|
served us. That includes giving them the care and benefits they have
|
|||
|
|
earned – which is why we've increased annual VA spending every year
|
|||
|
|
I've been President. And it means enlisting our veterans in the work
|
|||
|
|
of rebuilding our Nation.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
With the bipartisan support of this Congress, we are providing new tax
|
|||
|
|
credits to companies that hire vets. Michelle and Jill Biden have worked
|
|||
|
|
with American businesses to secure a pledge of 135,000 jobs for veterans
|
|||
|
|
and their families. And tonight, I'm proposing a Veterans Job Corps
|
|||
|
|
that will help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters,
|
|||
|
|
so that America is as strong as those who defend her.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Which brings me back to where I began. Those of us who've been sent
|
|||
|
|
here to serve can learn from the service of our troops. When you put on
|
|||
|
|
that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; Asian or
|
|||
|
|
Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight. When
|
|||
|
|
you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you,
|
|||
|
|
or the mission fails. When you're in the thick of the fight, you rise
|
|||
|
|
or fall as one unit, serving one Nation, leaving no one behind.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with
|
|||
|
|
them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names.
|
|||
|
|
Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn't
|
|||
|
|
matter. Just like it didn't matter that day in the Situation Room,
|
|||
|
|
when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush's defense
|
|||
|
|
secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for
|
|||
|
|
president.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about
|
|||
|
|
politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved
|
|||
|
|
in the raid later told me that he didn't deserve credit for the mission.
|
|||
|
|
It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did
|
|||
|
|
their job – the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of
|
|||
|
|
control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the
|
|||
|
|
troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs
|
|||
|
|
who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded
|
|||
|
|
because every member of that unit trusted each other – because you
|
|||
|
|
can't charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know
|
|||
|
|
that there's someone behind you, watching your back.
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
So it is with America. Each time I look at that flag, I'm reminded
|