Senator Begich Speaks on Veterans Day
11 11 2009Senator Mark Begich (D) who serves on both the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs gave an address on the Senate floor yesterday to commemorate veterans. Today he is in Alaska attending Veterans Day events, and will be present tomorrow to greet President Obama at Elmendorf Air Force Base tomorrow.
The following is from a press release from the Senator’s office:
“Today I welcome the opportunity to praise Alaska’s servicemen and women, their families who are such a key part of our communities, and the thousands of veterans who have chosen to live in the 49th state,” Begich said.
Recounting Alaska’s military history, including Air Force General Billy Mitchell’s testimony before Congress nearly 75 years ago when he declared, “Alaska is the most strategic place in the world,” Begich noted Alaska’s strategic location has been well known to Alaskans for centuries. Shortly after Alaska’s purchase from Russia in 1867, the U.S. Army was dispatched to help administer the new American territory and within ten years a significant presence was established in Alaska by both the Navy and the Revenue Service, which later became the U.S. Coast Guard.
“The Army helped maintain law and ordering during the turn-of-the century Gold Rush, which saw thousands scramble North in search of fame and fortune. With the build-up to World War II, Alaska’s vital role in the defense grew dramatically,” Begich said.
After noting the construction of the 1,400 mile Alaska-Canada Highway, and the service of the Alaska Territorial Guard during World War II, Begich turned to current day status of Alaska being home to some 30,000 active duty service men and women with another 30,000 family members. Through Alaska’s major military installations, Elmendorf, Eielson and Clear Air Force bases, Army Forts Richardson, Wainwright and Greely and Kulis Air National Guard Base, about one in five Alaskans has a personal tie to the military.
“To maintain these vital posts, the Department of Defense spends in excess of $1.5 billion a year in our state. That is a huge part of federal spending in Alaska, which constitutes about 18 percent of the state economy,” he said.
Alaska is also proud to have the highest per capita population of veterans in any state, Begich noted. The more than 75,000 veterans who call Alaska home comprise eleven percent of the population.
Currently, more than 4,000 service members stationed in Alaska are supporting Overseas Contingency Operations around the world, including many in harm’s way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Begich said since the 9/11 attacks on America, 143 service members from Alaska units deployed in support of the Global War on Terror have paid the ultimate sacrifice.He noted just two weeks ago, a lifelong Alaskan, 23-year-old Marine Corps Corporal Gregory Fleury died in the line of duty. Corporal Fleury had already served two tours of duty in Iraq as a combat helicopter mechanic and gunner when he died Oct. 23 in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province after two U.S. helicopters collided in the predawn dark.
“I spoke with Corporal Fleury’s grandfather last week to thank him for his grandson’s service on behalf of a proud nation,” Begich said, and added that he will submit the names of all Alaska troops who have made the ultimate sacrifice since Sept. 11, 2001 for the Congressional Record. He added it is critical that the transition of our service members from the care of the Defense Department to Veterans Affairs be as smooth and comprehensive a possible and that the VA is funded to meet the current demands of this generation of veterans.
“On these occasions, let us rededicate ourselves to our commitment to our nation’s veterans and servicemen and women. So that their sacrifice is never taken for granted or forgotten,” Begich said.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:52 AM
That’s a nice statement. I am glad he will be there to greet President Obama tomorrow. Any word on whether any of it will be open to the public? i.e., do any of you get to go?
November 11th, 2009 at 9:57 AM
Did Begich serve in the military? I forget…
Did Lisa Murkowski, former Chair of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee serve in the military? I forget…
Did Sarah Palin serve in the military? Gee, I can’t recall…
How about Gov. Sean Parnell, did he? Gosh…(scratching head)
As a matter of fact, I didn’t serve in the military either, so maybe I shouldn’t be saying anything nice about veterans, or thanking them for their service, or mentioning them in my blog.
AKM
November 11th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
I sincerely hope you get to at least go wave! Represent us pups!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Very sad about Corporal Fleury and those that we must lose. Thanks for posting the speech and thanks to Senator Begich for making it. Today on my blog, I make a tribute to a veteran myself – my dad – but beyond him to all veterans.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:13 AM
TAPS:
Day is done.
Gone the sun.
From the lakes
From the hills.
From the sky.
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
Fading light.
Dims the sight.
And a star.
Gems the sky.
Gleaming bright.
From afar.
Drawing nigh.
Falls the night.
Thanks and praise.
For our days.
Neath the sun
Neath the stars.
Neath the sky
As we go.
This we know.
God is nigh
November 11th, 2009 at 12:40 PM
@daisydem- this came into my email this morning.
This is just a brief head’s up that Organizing for America (OFA) is holding a welcome rally for President Obama this week. Please join them at a patriotic gathering outside of the Boniface Gate to Elmendorf Air Force Base at 12:00 noon on Thursday, November 12th.
OFA encourages you to deck yourselves out in Obama signs, whether they are campaign yard-signs or homemade posters with positive messages. This is our opportunity to send a clear message that Alaskans are still fired up and ready to go!
Along with welcoming the President, we need to join him in recognizing the invaluable contributions of those serving in the military and those who have already served. So, bring your American flags for this patriotic event. Please encourage any veterans you know to join us as we will take time to recognize them on this historic day.
You can sign up for the event HERE
November 11th, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Polly….the link isn’t working….for me, anyway…repost?
November 11th, 2009 at 2:02 PM
Hallelujah! I am so happy … who is going? I wish I were there. You know, I think I am becoming an Alaskan wannabe. I’d take an Obamanos sign, and just about anything else I could if I were there. I live in AL, but AK will be on my mind all day tomorrow. I do belong to Organizing for America online. I’ll go to the website and post a thank you.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:20 PM
I just posted a thank you to Organizing for America. I told them to look for you guys on the Mudflats. I also told them that Barack Obama had given us and gives us Hope; the Alaskan bloggers sustain that Hope.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:30 PM
To all my fellow vets up there in Alaska. Happy Veterans Day and God bless you and yours.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:42 PM
I was so moved by the President’s speech at Ft. Hood, that I had to rethink what the military and veterans mean to us. Today I thought I would do something extra for the veterans that I deliver meals to (Meals on Wheels). We actually have at least two drivers who are WWII vets, but I didn’t have a chance to thank them.
At the first stop I asked the man if he was a vet. He replied he had served 37 years in the military. He still had tears in his eyes from watching a memorial for the USS Arizona. He didn’t have any connection to that except his history in the Navy. I gave him a little extra food and got a nice sharp salute from him. (Probably the first and only salute I’ve received.)
The next man I knew was a veteran, and he said I didn’t have to thank him because he didn’t do much. I know better. He is Japanese American and volunteered during WWII, but had to serve in the Army. He really wanted to serve in the Air Force, so he volunteered for that during the Korean Conflict.
The third man was very hard of hearing, but when I asked if he was a veteran, his wife replied that, yes, he had been in combat three times. I thanked him, and he was touched that any one remembered.
I have suggested that our MOW program remember to provide special cupcakes or something on Veterans’ Day in the future. I felt good that my service is valued by those brave men who paid forward so long ago.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Greetings to all my fellow veterans on Veteran’s Day. I honor all of you here in your private journey known only to you. I offer prayers for every family here that had loved ones who served and especially for those that had loved ones sent into harms way.
My Great Uncle came out of WWI severely brain damaged. He had been a graduate engineer out of what was then called Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. He was severely wounded in the Battle of the Argonne Forest in October 1918 and lived in VA hospitals for the next 35 years with the mind of a six year old child until he died in the early 1950’s. I met him as a small boy. My Father loaded the MASH units onto ships for the Battle of Tarawa in WWII.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3ce-hreP-w
He said it was carnage beyond belief. They had to hose down the decks of the returning hospital ships from the blood from the 2,200 wounded on stretchers lashed to the decks of ships. I was a st Lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1969-1971.
General David M. Shoup won the Congressional Medal of Honor as a Colonel at Tarawa for his military acumen and became Commandant of the Marine Corps under JFK. He bitterly opposed the Vietnam War. Few Americans today have ever heard of him or this history of American dissent at the highest level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Shoup
The only way to honor veterans is to spend every moment of your life working to change the world to your last dying breath. In the 20th Century unchallenged entrenched elites in nation after nation took their countries to national suicide. The leadership of the Empire of Japan and the aggrieved psychopaths of Germany from 1933-1945 are two major examples. Yes. That war had to be fought once it was allowed to start. But it should have never been allowed to start.
But then after the innocent sacrifice of WWII, each generation’s now institutionalized right of passage to manhood in militarized American society became the money maker for tens of thousands of business corporations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY
So Vietnam was the inevitable result. Then almost bankrupt Textron Bell Helicopter made money hand over fist on making 5,000 Hueys. Five hundred 19 year old young men died of wounds a week at the height of it. Mowed down in the prime of youth to miss the last 45 years of American life to our current state of bankruptcy. And we learned absolutely nothing. The system went on and on entrenched as ever and the rest is now history to this day.
So I will let Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, recepient of two Congressional Medals of Honor, speak for me as a veteran on every Veteran’s Day until I leave this world.
“WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.
A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”
-Major General Smedley D. Butler – USMC Retired – 1936
.h t t p: //www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm
.h t t p: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
November 11th, 2009 at 8:32 PM
This is one of the days I remember friends and family who came home in flag draped coffins…
and Memorial Day…
and on their birthdays…
Thank you to the vets here today, to Senator Begich, to AKM-
To the customer who shook the hand of our old-timer at work today and said “thank you”
This day is always very hard to get through…