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