Ka‘ū News Briefs, Monday, November 11, 2019

Youth Challenge, which volunteers for ʻO Kaʻū Kākou and Nā Mamo O Kaʻū events, paraded for Veterans Day in Hilo on Saturday. OKK held its Veterans Day event in Nāʻālehu. See photos in tomorrow's Kaʻū News Briefs. Photo by David Corrigan/Big Island Video News

"WE HONOR THE SERVICE OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS," said Sen. Mazie Hirono in her Veterans Day message. She wrote that veterans, "through their commitment, defended the values and freedoms we cherish. Today, we also renew our commitment to serve our veterans and express our sincere gratitude for the personal sacrifices they have made for us. From the Filipino World War II veteran hoping to reunite with their family in the United States to the young veteran returning home from Afghanistan, it is incumbent on all of us serving in Congress to uphold the promises we've made to those who wore the uniform of our country.
     "As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I will continue to push for legislation and hold officials accountable to ensure our veterans receive the care and benefits they've earned."

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TULSI GABBARD, CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, KAʻŪ'S CONGRESSWOMAN, and a Major in the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard, tweeted this morning: "On this day and every day, let us all pledge — as Americans, as patriots, as those who love our country — to honor our men and women in uniform by making sure that no veteran is left behind, that they're always taken care of." She also spoke at the inaugural Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Veterans Day celebration.
     She honored the men and women throughout history "who have worn the cloth of this country,"

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, speaking today at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.  Photo from Gabbard

with a promise to support and defend, even when it requires making the ultimate sacrifice to do so. She described their spirit as "Acta Non Verba - action, not words."
     Gabbard said Veterans Day celebrates men and women across generations who have "put service above self - to put the wellbeing of American people and our country above all else.
     "Now at a time when we have too many leaders who are looking out for their own selfish interests, for power or fame or profit, let this day, this Veterans Day, be that shining example of what service really means for the leaders of our country to follow.
     She said that the terrorist attack on 9/11 "completely changed my life. It's what motivated my decision to enlist in the military and go after and to destroy the evil that visited on that day."
     She reviewed her service including first working in a medical unit in 2005, about 40 miles north of Baghdad where her first task of the day in a field unit was to go through a list, name by name, of every American service member injured or hurt in the previous 24 hours. "It was heart wrenching every day because I knew that their names were not just names on a page, that these were my brothers and sisters, and that behind every single one of them, waiting anxiously at home, were moms and dads, husbands and wives, children, brothers and sisters. So many never got to make that trip home, never got to say that final goodbye, leaving their families with an emptiness that could never be filled. We will never forget our brothers and sisters."
     She told of her own return from the war zone to Hawaiʻi, landing at Hickham Air Force Base where she walked off the plane "to the sweetest trade wind breezes that I have ever felt. We stood in that formation that we had been looking forward to for so long, hundreds of us standing shoulder to shoulder, listening to the final speech from our commanding officer, waiting for that most important word, 'dismissed.'

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard celebrated the anniversary of the U.S. Marines on Sunday in New Hampshire and addressed the LA County's Veterans Day celebration on Monday. Photo from Gabbard

     "We were met by our families there who held 'Welcome Home' signs and were cheering." Gabbard said that when her dad hugged her, it was the first time she had seen him cry. "As I hugged him I felt him sobbing with tears of relief. My mom then joined in the hug and for me, in that moment, that was really when I began to realize the great sacrifice that military families and our loved ones make while we're gone. While we're deployed, we're focused on our mission; we're focused on getting the job done, and thank God, it's our families who are at home who are holding down the fort. But it is our families who lay awake at night, fearing that that knock on the door may come."
     She said that as she reviewed the daily list of injured in Iraq, "thinking about those who pay the price for these wars, I also wondered how many of our politicians who make this decision also laid awake at night, worrying about our brothers and sisters in uniform. My guess was not that many.
     "Those of us who've been deployed were all too familiar with the quick stops in country that politicians make. They come in, touch down for a few hours, bring troops together for a quick photo op, and then go home. We're tired of these self-serving politicians; tired of those who are unwilling to sacrifice their own lives for our freedom and our safety, but are all too willing to sacrifice the lives of our men and women in uniform. Politicians - you send us into harm's way, to be the world's police, to topple dictators we don't like, to fight unnecessary wars that actually undermine our national security; squandering taxpayer dollars, destroying entire countries, and then, turning their backs on us when we come home."
     She gave the example of toxic burn pits in the Middle East, where the U.S. military set fire to its waste. Those suffering and dying from exposure - before they can get the care, said Gabbard, "We've got to provide proof of that mixing pot of trash and ash that we inhaled every single day of our multiple deployments."
     She also pointed to the high suicide rate and opioid epidemic among veterans who need more help. See the entire speech at facebook.com/TulsiGabbard/videos/685296228625789/.

Sen. Kai Kahele and his family. Photo from Kahele

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CANDIDATE TO REPRESENT KAʻŪ IN CONGRESS, KAI KAHALE, released this Veterans Day statement: