♪ [taps] ♪ [no audio] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] >> [applause] the secretary of veterans affairs. ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, the vice president of the united states. [applause] >> please remain standing for the procession of our nation's colors. the united states marine band will play the national emblem march. please ensure hand over your heart or render a hand salute. remain standing for the prayer for all veterans delivered by chaplain michael mccoy. followed by the pledge of allegiance. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> lettuce pray. -- let us pray. we invoke your present and ask that your blessings may come on us. most gather here in our hallowed ground of heroes. we thank you for veterans of generations past and present. who served during times of war and peace. many of whom are bearing the spiritual,isible, and invisible wounds of war. we celebrate them for their faithful service in defending and preserving freedom for us all. we are grateful for our national and state veteran service organizations, many are represented today in this rousing parade of colors. we thank them for their ongoing willingness to support and advocate for veterans every day in so many valuable ways. we support those who made the supreme sacrifice, above and beyond to secure for our nation the blessings of life, liberty, and justice for all. america. sod be with our nation' leaders. be with family and friends of those we honor today. thank you for giving us so much to celebrate on this veterans day. amen. >> i would like to invite mr. ron hope to lead us in our pledge of allegiance. >> hand over your heart. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> please be seated. it is my privilege to introduce the members of the veterans day national committee. the committee was formed by presidential order in 1954 to hold this annual observance in honor of a america's veterans and to support veterans day observances throughout the country. please alter applause until i have introduced these guest. if they will stand when your name is called. , disabled americans ryan, military officers association of america. council. wary and art, korean veterans association. national commander, catholic war veterans of the usa. president, paralyzed veterans of america. jewish warmmander, veterans of the usa. vice president, vietnam veterans of america. chief, veterans of foreign wars of the united states. commander,rst vice president, blinded veterans association. national commander, army and navy union of the usa. commander, noncommissioned officers association. william bryant, national vice commander, the american legion. militaryce commander, order of the purple heart. president, fleet reserve association. commandant, marine corps league. and townsendatory for chaplains and military personnel. national commander, legion of valor of the usa. legislative director, national association of uniformed services. chief, military order of the world wars. congressional matter of honor society. located to myare left. i would ask the national commanders that comprise our associate mentorships to stand erect sized. ladies and gentlemen. recognize our leadership with your applause. [applause] [applause] it is my pleasure to introduce our organization hosts. disabled american veterans. this is the most long-lasting veterans advocacy and assistance group in this country. they have watched the country grow and change have grown along with it. they are dedicated to a single purpose. leave --g veterans to lead productive lives. they are represented by their national commander. please welcome ron hope. [applause] >> good morning. ladies and tillman, family and friends, i federal -- my fellow veterans, i am privileged to be here. among the ranks of many assembled here today. like many of you, i wore the uniform of my country very proudly. i served a cause greater than myself. the defense of our nation and our freedoms we value so much. bond that alll veterans share and it is a privilege to share it with you on veterans day weekend. today is special for us. called, weuntry responded by saying send me. on veterans day, we think about our brothers and sisters. those we serve besides and those we led and those we look up to and those we lost. veterans day could never be just another day of the year. military families are unique in this way. when a wife or husband, son or daughter raises his or her hand and says send me, there is a sacrifice most americans can't understand. our men and women in uniform miss holidays, birthdays, and other milestones family take for granted. we are rapidly approaching the holiday season. military families often cannot invest the emotional capital of enjoying this time of year that is for most filled with joy and being surrounded by loved ones. that isns all too often a hard kick in the gut. it is no wonder that only one half of 1% choose to serve today. they are among the finest and bravest because they raised their hands and say send me. proud to be part of a very special group. a group of people who left behind a part of themselves while serving their country. , whether therans injury is visible or not, reminds us of the phrase that freedom is not free. it is a daily truth that we live with. that is why i am proud to be part of dav. our heroes want to live fulfilling lives. they don't ask for much. that makes it all the more important than america keep the promise made to her veterans forever changed through military service. we fight to ensure that those promises are met and i encourage you to get involved. let's examine what veterans day means to those who send -- said send me. i like to keep things simple. but me share three words with you. we the people. america's sons and daughters can both. they put on american uniforms and are sworn to uphold and defend freedom in dangerous and desolate places. i'm very proud as all veterans should be when i remind myself that i'm part of a special group that committed to defend the ideas of our forebears. the concept of hard-won freedom gave birth to what is a profound and radical concept back in 1789. a government is responsible to the people who elected it. what about those words? duty, honor, country. general macarthur said those words. they are your rallying points. because of the words, it means something to all americans. the words duty, honor, and country carry profound profound meaning to veterans. serving one's country and community is the single most part undertaking one can make. am proud of my military service. knowing i still advocate for the american veteran makes me prouder still. our veterans are part of america's greatest treasure. they are the bravest and finest be a nationalways comprised of we the people. thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you. every day is veterans day. [applause] honorablewelcome the robert mcdonald, secretary of veterans affairs. [applause] >> vice president biden, secretary hagel, secretary perez,r, secretary members of your family's, dempsey, and hope, andes, ron other representatives of veterans service organizations. dr. and mrs. summers, thank you for your advocacy on the part of veterans. god bless the memory of your son daniel. other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning everyone. what a great day for honoring veterans. have setes, americans aside this hour of this day of this month to honor those who have served this country in uniform. in times of both peace and war. it is fitting that veterans day come so close to thanksgiving, because it is the day to give --nks and to ask [no audio] it is a day of both prayers and promises. we pray and promised that those who served and are serving will never be forgotten. returning warriors will not bear their wounds alone. their families will receive help and facing uncertain futures. we as a grateful nation embrace and care for survivors. a --year, all of us at the .a. arrived on the road. the road was built on the v.a.'s mission. we care for those who a borne the battle and the families and survivors. we set three goals for ourselves as we began to move forward. the first was rebuilding trust with veterans and stakeholders. second, improving service delivery. third, setting v.a. on a course for long-term excellence and reform. we want veterans to know that they do not strive alone. the vision of our president and vice president and leadership and support the congress and the efforts of our service organizations and the good people are all required to best serve veterans. we are reorganizing for success in this effort. this is the largest restructuring in the history of the department. my v.a..alled it is called my v-8 because we want veterans to know that it belongs to them. we will provide quality care. functions, entail increasing productivity, affectively implementing the veterans access choice and account ability act. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] our goal is simple, to provide timely care and benefits to all generations of veterans. today fullyguest shares president obama's commitment to america's veterans. he and his wife, a tremendous supporter of veterans in her own right, have seen a son off to war and felt the special pride of having a child who shares the privilege and responsibility of wartime service to our great nation. ladies and german, i am deeply honored both professionally and personally to present to you a great advocate for our veterans, the vice president of the united states, joe biden. [applause] [no audio] [no audio] we are having some issues with our signal at arlington national cemetery. ceremonies are taking place p we are working to correct that and we hope to get back to comments from mr. mcdonald and others in just a moment. we are live on c-span. >> to all the distinguished guests here, but me say to the much wer families, how appreciate the opportunity and the privilege to be able to speak your today. privilegese great the president or vice president has. speak one to literally this sacred ground. this is the second occasion i have had in my tenure as a vice president. this is a beautiful autumn day. the sun is shining and the skies are clear. the temperature is perfect. heatng like the scorching and the bitter cold and that intense storms that confronted many of you here today and our troops through every conflict in every age. sunshine is nothing like the scorching heat our veterans endured while battling across the sunbaked coral islands of this -- the pacific. facedg like the hardships i a generation of americans who of weighted to the rice paddies in vietnam. nothing compared to the hundred 15 degrees heat in falluja. nothing compared to what our young men fought through in 25 degree below zero in north korean mountains pinned down by heavy enemy fire. nothing compared to the stoical that hampered us 66 years ago. lines is fromrite a poem -- a play by john steinbeck. "east of eden." cyrus describes to his son adam what it means to be a soldier. this is what it says. soldier is the most holy of all humans because he is the most tested. a soldier must coldly learn to put himself in the way of losing his own life without going mad. if you can bring yourself to face not shadows but real death and described and recognizable then you or saber, need never be afraid again." america,he veterans of the most trusted among us. you are the most tested of all americans. represently, you generations of soldiers who have served and sacrificed for all of us. you're not only the heart and spine of thisthe nation. nation, we pause today to millionre than 23 surviving veterans who have so bravely and faithfully protected our freedom. you gave and they gave and you deserve our applause. [applause] [no audio] [no audio] for those who continue in harms way, as i speak to you today. 9/11, 3.5 million women and men have joined the military. with the near certainty of knowing that they would be deployed. they have. of this million generation have been deployed to iraq and afghanistan. some of you have been deployed multiple times to both places. havethan half of you returned to civilian life with the honored title of veteran. generation took on a responsibility that extended far beyond base or battlefield. they were prepared to follow osama bin laden to the gates of hell and they did. [applause] [no audio] [no audio] >> we are bringing you live coverage of veterans day ceremonies at arlington national cemetery. you heard portions of what vice president joe biden was saying. he is standing for president obama this week in we are recording this program and we hope to bring it to you in its entirety on the c-span networks. for every one of those warriors -- [no audio] > [no audio] we are recording the ceremonies today and we will have this in its entirety for you tonight starting at 8:00 eastern on the c-span networks. we should let you know that part of the live coverage today, john mccain will be offering remarks of his new book. that book is called "13 soldiers." you can watch that this evening at 6:30 p.m. eastern time. congress returns from their midterm break. many are offering statements and remarks. buck mckeon made the following statement. also, harry reid released this statement. on this veterans day, we want to know what your message is. you can log onto facebook to leave your comments or you can tweet us. we will read some of your messages during today. melissa tweeted us. she said happy veterans day. this is from celeste, thank you for your service. >> c-span of veterans day covera ge continues tonight. the wreathlaying ceremony is at 8:00. just after 9:00, the uso gala featuring martin dempsey. discussions on veterans mental health issues as well as other selections from the medal of honor ceremonies. here are some of the comets we received from our viewers. >> i enjoy q&a. everything stops at my house. i turn off my phones and i get my coffee and it is the most enjoyable hour on television. >> the guest was very informative. i enjoyed listening to him. he was very accurate and on point. he was not using his own personal innuendo. i greatly enjoyed it. i hope you have more guests like that. he was right on target this morning. c-span islling to say wonderful. i have almost no criticisms. the reason i have none is you do a tremendous job of showing just about every side of everything. i take my hat off to you. follow us on twitter. we continue our programming with discussion on the challenges veterans face as they transition back into civilian life. he will hear from representatives at the red cross and the veterans affairs department. they talk about resources that are available. this event is part of the annual national convention of the national alliance on mental health. it is just under one hour 20 minutes. i am mike jones. . am the first vice chair i am bringing this presentation to you today. understandelp you that we do have resources out there in the community for all of the veterans and active duty that are having trouble with this very long war they have had to endure. veterans,at for some it is a real struggle to transition into the community. many do it without a skip of the beat. many struggle with these issues. we know they struggle because we because of the legal problems many veterans have. we note there is a great deal of homelessness. the unemployed ability issues everybody knows about. the status of the statistics is all the suicides we hear about. usther organization tells day,ere between 22 to 30 a veterans suicide. we know at least one active duty military member commits suicide. these are tragedies that we have to muster up. as you exit this afternoon, we have made a list of all of the organizations you need to be familiar with. not just the list, but can't act information. your affiliate can hook up with the the s those. we have a privileged today to hear from four veteran service organizations. they have been out there historically. one has been with the military since the beginning. have comee others along many years ago also. officer for the dav. there are many service organizations out there that you can be familiar with and hook up with. night, our executive that when the affiliates across the land hook up with the the s those, we become a for mobile force to help veterans. do, i am noter a going to make any other announcements. you know who let are the us those are here. left,e right to my christina kauffman -- all the way down there. of is he executive director the coat of support foundation. the military.ound i have retired military. i am looking forward to hearing about this. the coatfamiliar with of foundation as i should be. some of us old timers going to learn something today. is burrell love. from fellow veterans in the military committee. diana man well. she comes to us from the services of the armed forces from the american red cross. we can hear a lot about many of isse programs next to her katlyn thompson. the suicidetor of prevention. we know that is a difficult topic. this is something that we need to hear about. what is the v.a. doing to help with the untold numbers of suicides. this is how we are going to do this. we are going to give each of our presenters roughly 12 minutes to tell us about their organization and its mission and how it helps veterans and possibly how you can interface. after we hear all of the presenters, we'll will open for questions. hold until we hear from all four speakers. >> i am going to stand. i am the deputy director of the suicide prevention director for the v.a.. i am hoping that everybody got this folder. not, this is in the back. would one of you -- thank you so much. i am going to be referencing it. i work for v.a.. i am thrilled to talk with you today. oureally value collaboration. i want to make sure that you are available froms the eight as well and how you a -- the a with the v.a. on how you can help with this terrible situation we have with suicide. we really need to work together on this issue. speakn general, i want to to the suicide prevention program as a whole. things we biggest have available is suicide prevention coordinators. you are located, there is a suicide prevention coordinator that is your local expert in suicide prevention for veterans through v.a.. we really encourage you to get in contact with them. been in touch.e suicide prevention coordinators are required to provide five outreach of events per month to their local community so that the information regarding suicide prevention and suicide prevention with veterans and other resources are disseminated throughout the country. had you find out who your prevention coordinator is? this is one the things i want to talk about. general, and the these are some of the most important resources that we have. when it talks about the veterans websiteine, there is a that says veterans crisis line. you can find out who your coordinator is. if you are concerned about a veteran, if you're concerned about family members of veterans and you want to make sure that they are being seen or if they are enrolled in care or if they don't want to work with the v.a., that is fine. we want to work with all veterans. we want to tap into working with those who don't seek care at the v.a.. you can find through this research locator a zip code and find out who exactly your prevention coordinator is. that is one of very important resource the you can tap into in your local area. it, i want toout mention the fact that we do want to see as many veterans as we can in v.a.. the reason is we are finding that those veterans who seek -- what is that saying? there is something going on. we are doing something right. we have an intense care system for those who have a high risk for suicide. developingork on safety plans with any veteran who is at a high risk for suicide. forave very specific rules how many time veterans can be called. we want to make sure they are not fall into the cracks. the people that we can use your are thosehelp with who are in more rural areas and eight --ng care at the v.a. they may become isolated. the other thing that we know is veterans use firearms more than non-veterans in terms of suicidal behavior. we know that firearms are the most lethal form of suicide. if you're taking pills, there is a much longer. youime after you take them can find somebody. if you use a gun, there is a 90% chance that you will die by using the gun. we know our veterans are comfort with guns. one piece of what i have started to talk more about and i think we can talk about together is ensuring that gun safety is prominent. when you're looking and working with veterans. we are looking to keep them safe. on the veterans crisis line dot-net website, there are individualest that include our p.s.a.'s. these are all public. you can use them as much as you want to. the re on youtube -- administration page and also on this veterans crisis line dot-net website. we also recreptly developed a