President bush at the Invictus Games where it was clear how committed he is to this. And Burt Reynolds when is amazing and out there winning everything and i had a chance to talk to president bush about what he is doing. President obama of course is deeply committed to this. I just talked to mrs. Obama and i had a chance to see him in laos and one topic was what he thought about vietnam. And we have a lot of undetonated bombs there. He is two weeks older than me and we asked about what was going on and looked at wars differently in the 1960s and 1970s because there were drafts and we were not attacked on our turf. I said those veterans that did serve in laos and vietnam do you call them heroes . And he said absolutely call them heroes. This isnt something reserved for the more recent or voluntary wars. As my experience here, we have experienced a lot of not diminishing attention but now that the war has really came to an endish as i say there is not as much attention being given to those that served in the country. I would love to hear what it is like to be in the white house and have that power and influence on an issue that is extremely important. I would say one thing is worry. You worry in the white house. When you know there are kids in harms way and you think about them every singleal night. When you are in the lap of luxury with a Beautiful House where sheets are changed every day and you think when you get in bed about our troops are laying on the ground somewhere. I would say the main thing about having troops in harms way when you live there is that you worry about them. And just we have had the honor and experience to visit our wounded at walter reed and many military hospitals and that is a sobering experience. When we first came into term, our visits lasted hours because we would be seeing 75 folks going room to room many with devastating injuries. Just last week he went to visit and was there for 30 minutes because there are fewer of our men and women who are being injured in war. That is something a commander and chief deal with when going to war. When you spend time on the base, and know these men and women and their families you dont just talk about war like there are no implications. It is serious businesses and lives are changed forever. So i would hope that any commander and chief that would have the privilege of serving would understand that these are real lives and real families that are impacted. When there is a story coming out of somebody or maybe a large gro group, significant injuries in the war, is it long conversations that you have with the president , with your husband, that night . After visiting walter reed or wherever . Sure, yeah, we talk about them and think about those families. In many cases the families were there around them. There is one injured warrior that i know of who we still see who had such a severe head injury they didnt think he would ever see him again. That that would be it. He is one of the warriors that george has painted. He painted him with this scar in his head he still has but with his little child on his lap. What a lot of warriors will say is that their families are what saw them through. One couple that george painted, him a portrait of him but he painted his wife, i think, because this man said his wife was always there and always with him. He had suffered a head injury where he needed the help she could get him. He is doing great now but george didnt just do his portrait by himself but painted her in it because he credited her with his recovery. Meeting our Service Members and meeting theme on the base fundamentally changes who you are. I was like most americans. I had limited connection to the military community and it wasnt until the campaign in 2008 that i started meeting military spouses and hearing their voices. Voices you dont hear in regular conversation. We talked about the challenging working mothers had, worrying about raising your kids. But with these women mostly there were the worries of multiple deployments. Understanding they are moving their kids every year and worrying about if there are adequate specialed programs in the schools they are moving to. And doing this with grace and pride that blew me away. That is one reason why i am such an advocate for this community. I wish every american had an opportunity to sit down, to go to a base, to meet with families and meet with Service Members and sit down with our veterans. We would think differently about our challenges as individuals. It makes me inspired to work harder because i think here we are sitting in the white house . We have no reason to complain when we have one percent of our country serving and sacrificing were the freedoms of the rest of us. That has been a profound opportunity to for me and one of the reason i will always chamian for these men and women and their families as long as i can breathe. I would like to talk about children because both of you had your chance to have your kids live there in the white house. And both of you during times of war. I should mention quickly, i didnt hear the full introduction but will reynolds also has four kids. He has gone through what he has gone through and it gives you a different perspective on things if you have a child and they are in the midst of something significant. And i would say moving is emotional and difficult but during these times what was it like when you had kids there when this was happening and knowing very well the commander and chief was the one ultimately responsible for this and you are probably the first ones they turn to in i think that jenna and barbara were freshman in college so they didnt live there. But they were seven year olds when their grandparents moved there so they new the white house like we did. When i wrote my book and looked through my schedule i saw the weekend after september 11, barbara and jenna came home to the white house and i knew they wanted to be with their dad and us and felt great insecurity off at the university of texas and yale as freshman after the attacks. They wanted to be there with him. And then i noticed a month or month and a half after that our childhood friends from midland, texas came. And i knew those boys, men we knew as boys, wanted to be there with george. I think that is really no one talks about wars. That wasnt a conversation. The conversation was we just wants to be with you. I think that is really important. And i can that is the way the children are, too. You dont want them to be worried about the decisions their father makes. You want them to feel the security and love that every parent wants. You just want home to be home. You want that for the president because they need that refuge with all the handle of the course of day. You want them coming on the elevator and opening the door and they can breathe. They dont need kids hounding them with why didnt you do this. Sometimes malia and sasha will do that. Every now and again it is like what were you thinking but for the most part home is home. That helps keep kids normal. I said this time and again my greatest concern coming into the white house was making sure my girls came out whole, normal, decent and kind just like i would expect them to if we were living on the south side of chicago. It takes work to keep white house life normal for the kids. It is not normal. It is not normal. You try to friend like it is normal. Just ignore the guys with the guns, you know . I remember one parentteacher conference that barack went and there were swat guys on top of the school and it was like really . Do they have to be up there . And it is like, yeah, just keeping walking and going. They have to put up with that after they leave. The computer is a different level. We dont want to talk about to too much but it is not the same as what it will be for the president and the former first lady. It is a different level of security. I am really hoping my four kids get back to normal when i leave abc news. But after i was hit, i had to tell my little kids, there is a new rule. I am not going to cover wars anymore. I am over in asia reporting and i can do stories about conflict . Conflict is not war. You know, we spoke about the joining forces that you worked on as well. Both of you have worked together, yri think, better tha most. I think somebody said you ask tell the husbands to behave themselves compared to the others. What have you accomplished . More or less than you expected . In terms of what you are doing for the veterans. When i talk about veterans i am not just talking about veterans who are wounded. About 25 are considered to have been wounded. The rest went out with transitions, some to a new civilian world, but what have you done for them that is the most important and is it more than you expected or less . I think in general that there is just a feeling that people support the military and that it starts at the top. It is very different as you said from vietnam when vietnam, my generation, they came home from war and were spit upon. That is not the way it is now. I think that is really great and i hope our returning veterans really feel the gratefulness and support of the american public. I know and you know this, too, the thousands of veterans support groups, the little mom and pop groups that sprung up all over the United States because people do want to support our returning vets and the other thing we should look at is what an asset they are. There have been two and a half million post9 11 vets and i think another nine million will be transitioning out in the next year. Think of the asset that is for our country. These people who chose to serve they volunteered to serving, and now they want to come home. It signup it is up to us how we can keep them serving in the communities and make a life for themselves they are happy with and deal with the trauma a lot of them have. The thing i have been most pleased about with joining forces is it has been a call to partnership with all sectors. Corporate sector, with our safe communities, schools, educators, medical community. What we have seen is when you ask people step up without hesitation. You know . That is the power of our platforms. A lot of times this laura i ask for help people are receptive. The Business Community has created thousands of jobs for our veterans and military spouses. Millions of jobs. Helping them get to throneing training to obtain those jobs and keep those jobs. We have been pleased with our local leaders who have answered the call to end the veterans homelessness which was part of our call with joining forces. The notion we have even one single veteran living on the streets should be, you know, just considered a travesty to all of us. There are many mayors, some governors, some states who eliminated veterans homelessness because they answered that call. The Hollywood Community has stepped up. We work closely are writers and producers who helped develop plotlines that involve our military families and community because part of integrating those stories into everyday life helps to normalize these men and women and familiarize the rest of the civilian community with those issues in sort of a nonproof nonpreachy way. You have done your entertaining as well. Two days ago you were on ellen degeneres. What is the purpose of that . You have been on television shows. Usually when we do an appearance, ellen, you make things fun because my motto is jow get people to laugh and then you can get theme listen. That is mandatory with her. Most americans respond differently when there is humor and people feel like you are making yourself vulnerable and you seem less like the first lady but more a neighbor or friend. I was able to highlight initiatives including the work with Healthy Eating and the work seth curry has been doing. We had Bradley Cooper on to highlight 22kill. Bradley cooper, for example, has been a tremendous support around the issue of military health for our veterans and Service Members. Bradleys kind of cute and he is a little distracting but you have stop and listen to what he had on ellen, you know, he was promoting the importance of ensuring the suicide rate among military members is reduced and in order to do something about it you have to know it is a problem. So people are watching ellen. They are not always watching the nightly news. Sorry. Except abc. Of course, except abc. We have to reach people where they are. Nobody wants to talk seriously all the time for those that have been hit humor is a great one. My wife tells me i are rocked in my head which technically is the case. You had those before, didnt you . I am just speaking for her. That is correct. Of course, i use my memories when she says go to clean the garage and i say what is a garage . When the wars began, we cons concentrate on those coming ow of the hospital and the next step was figuring out a way to get them back into the civilian world and the next is jobs. I think the rate of unemployment within the veterans now is lower than the civilian numbers. The rate for unemployment. [applause] the other one, ms. Bush, i think this is a concentration was on those visibly wounded and we have to realize there is more to it. That is one of the most longlasting effects of being in trauma like that. So one of the things that george has done with the bike rights and the golf is a lot of people recover from those invisible wounds if they are playing a sport. They can do it with a sport. Those are the two things he did and the idea behind inviticus and that is to have a sport to go to to get over those invisible wounds. I moved back to texas with a group of people i grew up and we founded a Conservation Group called texan my nature and just hosted a conference on monday at houston Methodist Hospital in houston about the benefit of being outside for Mental Health. One of the people that spoke was a colonel who suffered from ptsd about how being outside just even being able to see green, there is research, not a lot on research, that proves it but they say if you go outside some. One of the researchers talked about this problem that a lot of people have where they ruminate over a problem. Rumination he called it. You spend a lot of time with something going through your mind and it is bad for your brain because you start to produce a lot of cortisol and that is what ptsd can be. You go through the trauma and see your best friend being shot over and over. To be able to get out of that, to be able to go outside, it is very helpful with presidency ptsd. The other thing george tried to do is take the d out. It is an injury. Not a disorder. If people are diagnosed with a disorder they think it hurts them. They will not be able to get a job if they have a disorder but you can improve from an injuries. That is the work we need to do around Mental Health and how the military can be so helpful. Mental Health Effects all americans. 15 americans is dealing with some kind of Mental Health diagnose. The challenge we face is there is still a stigma. People dont feel good about identifying and getting the help that they need. Sometimes it is viewed as a weakness. When you think about it is ludicrous. Like laura said it is an illness. Can you imagine claiming a patient with cancer seeking chemo therapy is being weak . Or tell someone with a Heart Disease to toughen up . Our military can play a big role around changing Mental Health for the entire country. We know these men and rowomen a heroes. We know they are brave. If they can be brave enough to step up and get the help they need perhaps that will help a kid in some community who is depressed and maybe thinking about suicide. Maybe the research that is happening for our veterans can be translated and help everybody. That is one reason with join forced we have been working with someone called the campaign change the direction and the goal is to help the rest of the nation understand the five signs they need to look out for when someone has Mental Health. Sort of like cpr training or use of a delibrilator. Everyone should be aware. Teachers and educaters. So when you see the signs you can identify them and get the help. This is true for military spouses. The stresses of being a caregiving and being that spouse that is dealing with four kids while their spouse is deployed. I mean, we have to make sure that these individuals feel like they can reach out when they need help. That was one people didnt understand and they will not hire with someone they cannot identify. That has changed over time. I think the stigma has dropped down. It really is important for people who are suffering in any way to reach out. For the veteran as well as for it family. Veterans are slow to say i need help. You know . They are tough. They pride themselves on it. And they dont want to jeopardize their chances of getting the job by saying i need help. So i think there are a lot of ways. I have seen some ads on television about talking. One man told george about seeing his best friend shot next to him and he said he could not get it out of his mind and wrote him a letter afterward and said you know, i never told anyone that. George said you waited until you told your former commander and chief and havent told anyone else . Those are things people need to be able to talk about. They need to have somebody that listens to them. I want to talk about spouses. You mentioned spouses again and children. That is another one so many times we have heard this especially early on in our world of the wounded and just all veterans actually, whether wounded or not, is the ones that dont get any attention or credit, is the spouses whether it is a man or woman, husband or wife, the ones that serve are the ones that get all of the attention and that is changing over time and a lot is what you have doing. We have so much fun working with military spouses. You talk about highly skilled Service Members . Military spouses are smart, resilient, multitaskers. Amazing to the tee. They are great spokespersons and managers and leaders. Many have had their careers disrupted because they are supporting a spouse. When you are moving every two years, how do you keep up with your job . One of the issues we worked on with join forces is military spousing license. You have job that requires any license, social worker, you name it. If you move to a base in another state there is no reciprocity so a lot of military spouses had to go through hours of retraining, spend hundreds of thousands to get recertified. We put a call out to all the governors. We had a meeting at the governors conference and were like hey, come on people, you can do this. This is a winwin just get it done. We finally have all 50 states who have military spousal licensing reciprocity. We would never have known that if we had not had these conversations with these men and women and hear what going on and what we can change. This is just one of them. Talking about the military kids. The challenge of moving a kid and finding a program. If you have a great specialed program your child is in and moving to another base you dont know if that school is going to have the same program. Seven, eight, nine ten schools in their entire primary and secondary School Education and these kids are still graduating on time and at the top of their class and still amazing. But there is a parent at home that is doing a lot of heavy lifting to make that happen. A lot of advocating and one of joe bidens proieject is workin with the Education Community on this. There is so much we need to know about the challenges military families face. They are holding up this country just as much as the men and women serving on the front lines. They are just as proud and important. The reason he won was he wanted it make sure histi teenage girl had agents during high school. Men with guns was a great motivator. My wife and i moved to ten different cities and then my son by the time was 11 was in his 8th city and i wasnt even in the military. Is that the rocks in your head thing . How many times are you going to say that . Okay. It is true. One of the great hithings, if y compare what you have doing now and compared to the former first ladies and some went to the war zone and one came back physically with blood on their hands. But the number of hours you put into it, if you compared it is it just much more unending in terms of participation by the first ladies . I think first ladies have been active forever. Elenore roosevelt dropped the mike on that one. They thought this about lady bird johnson. Isnt that sweet she likes flowers . The first lady likes flowers. She was really one of the very first, you know, conservationists that talked about using plants. So that takes us then to the next step which is i know you are doing this well after you left. What are you going to do when you go . What is going to be your priority in terms of all the work . Many many initiatives you have done even other than veterans and i am not ask you which one you will concentrate on the most but how long will this last . The rest of your life . Absolutely. Yeah. What else are you going to do . You really have a podium. People still listen to barbara bush; dont you think . I certainly do. [applause] do you obey her . It is just great for us to be able to have the opportunity to contribute thoothio thing and d things and keep working on things. These are issues you never get together and say done. Right. They are all things you have work on. Literacy or whatever forever. I was going to say yeah, to do this, you have to have a strong Public Service bone sort of built in you. That is true for me and my husband. Long before he ran for office we left Corporate Law and were working with kids and mentoring. Heap was a community organizer. I worked were the city government. That is sort of what you do and you dont stop because there is always something to do. So i cant imagine that i will leave here and really kick my feet up and say good luck. I will do that a little bit. You are right. What is your hobby going to be . President bush is taking on painting. And i think in march we will get a book. He did a great painting of you. There is life after the white house. It doesnt have sheets changed every day. We will have a brand new administration coming very soon. Your kids are going to have to move and do something. With initiatives generally, largely for operating out of the white house, i know there is a lot of remarkable organizations that are doing so much for the veterans. You have a chance to go and visit the white house and it changes their attitude. I would hope this next administration will prioritize our Service Members, veterans and our families. That should be high on the list. There is something everyone can do to support the community but the commander and chief and second family, the Vice President , they have an obligation to set that tone. I think laura said that earlier. With this platform you can raise the bar high on this issue. Every administration will try to top the next one in what they do for these men and women. Whatever you call it, whether it is joining forces, or you name it something else, but the work of making sure that this country never forgets the service and sacrifice particularly when it comes to gold star families that we hold them in our hearts and dont just honor them with words but do things that impact their lives. As much as laura and i have done there is no such work to be done. Everything is not fixed. There is plenty for the next administration to do. I would urge all of your veterans organizations, blue star moms, gold star families, everyone to keep the pressure on the next administration, hold them accountable. Ask the same important questions you have asked of these presidency to make sure that we never go back to the time of vietnam war where a veteran comes hope and they are afraid to even identify as a service member. I will never forget having a general come up to me and saying to me you know, i have never been more proud to be a veteran than now. He said i used to never tell anyone i was a veteran because i never knew what their reaction would be. Now every day i dont leave the house without something that identifies me as a veteran because i dont care where i am people are going to stop me, they thank me saying thank you for your service and we are so proud of you. He said now i dont leave the house without something that identifies me as a veteran and that warmed my heart and is something we have to think about. Our Women Veterans, there are more and more Women Veterans out there. We have to hold them up and let them know that we are grateful. A lot of the vietnam vets will be coming back to go into the va. Some have brain injuries that were never identified before. So we are seeing a big number of vietnam vets coming into the va hospitals. Hopefully we will not have another major war. The good thing is it is so fulfilling to have this relationship with a group of americans that served and did so much because they volunteered. My son and daughter dont have to join the military unless they want to. How has that been for you . Maybe to some degree it is an obvious answer to it but have you ever cried much . Yeah, i cry all the time. It is more tears of pride. I am moved by this community. Moved deeply because when we talk about pride of country. When we talk about citizenship and talk about all the things we want. We want a Strong Defense and to beat back terrorism. All of this is resting on the shoulders of this one community. One percent of the country is stepping up to serve and protect the freedoms of us all. We cannot just talk Strong Defense if we are not taking care of these men and women not just during their service but after. So, yeah, i do get emotional. I get emotional when i see a young man with all his limbs blown off at walter reed and i see a young family sitting there and wonder what are they going to do. Then a few months later, i see that young man with his prosthetics and next month i see him walking and next year you see him competing in the Invictus Games and that clutches your heart in a way you cannot imagine. We have been able to follow those journeys, to watch people go from traumatic injury to victory and there is a strength and a power to that that you just cant, you know you learn about the resilience of people and america and our country. We are so lucky to live where we live. Which is another reason why it is so important for you to concentrate on the invisible wounds, too. Our medicine advancement. I am working on an hour for pbs about this and how medicine is another thing about the war. One of the positive aspects is medical advancements. The civilian world of medicine is saving lives like never before. People say if i was hit five years before this i would not have survive. I want to thank both of you for what you are doing. I havent sadly done the research on how much previous first ladies have done for the veterans. I know we have brand new wars that were after the cold war and before. But you have really, again, you have done more than anybody expected. And your influence has been remarkable. I think to thank you personally and i think from everybody here for doing what you are doing. [applause] so i think that means we can stand up. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will see Michelle Obama tomorrow and laura bush at the National Museum of African American history and culture. That outdoor dedication takes place on the National Mall in washington, d. C. Where the museum is located. We spoke to a member of congress about the new building and its significance. Can you tell us what you think the significance of the new africanamerican American Museum on the mall is for the country . It is significant. All i keep thinking of is growing up and going to school and no one knowing the c contributi contributions that africanamericans played in our society. It wasnt taught in schools. With this museum, things i was told and my family was told and sisters and brothers on a small level, can be opened up to all of america even internationally. People can come and really understand and see that this country would not be what it was today if it wasnt for the contributions of africanamericans in almost y