economic times, we must do everything we can to ease the transition of the thousands of service members who will come home from war to civilian life. they fought for us. the least we can do is fight for them. [ applause ] it's now my honor to introduce one of those soldiers who fought in vietnam. senator chuck hagel. he led an infantry squad in vietnam during the bloody fighting following the tet offensive. and like millions of our generation, he demonstrated bravery, patriotism, and heroism on the battlefield. and he also demonstrated that patriotism and that bravery and that heroism in the life of