the reason why we greet each other with
Aloha is because of the real powerful
meaning of this word that really
expresses I come to you with respect and
with an open heart and with love and a
recognition that no matter where we come
from or the color of our skin or you
know how we work or if we worship or how
we were all of these things it cuts
right through and recognizes that we're
all connected we're all brothers and
sisters all children of God and
therefore are inspired to treat each
other with that most deep respect and
care that inspires us to take action to
take action to care for one another
I get asked about the gray that I have
in my hair here and it
I started started to go gray during my
my first deployment and just over the
years have decided to keep that because
of the reminder that it brings to me of
[Music]
those who pay the price for war the cost
before you'll never forget
I I think that I think that is most
important to make sure that we have the
right the right people with the right
qualifications motivated purely by that
love and care and compassion for others
in positions of power because ultimately
when it comes down to it whether you
have men or women in positions of great
power and influence if they're driven by
that hunger for power and desire to hold
on to it that's where we end up in a
very very bad place
the VA is an organization that has a
mission to protect and to serve the
needs of our veterans those who go and
are willing to sacrifice all for our
country and unfortunately what we're
seeing is that even after all of these
years both in the post 9/11 era of
veterans but also with Vietnam veterans
Korean War veterans those who have come
before us the the services are still
falling short and this area of
post-traumatic stress I think is one of
the main areas where that's true there
continues to be a stigma around this
whether people are willing to admit it
or not both within the military and also
as people of transition back to their
civilian lives I've experienced it
through some of my friends who I've
served with who've come home really
really struggling and having a hard time
finding the best place that can that can
really help them
this is one of the drivers behind the
the continued rate of veteran suicide
that we're seeing in our country and
shows that we have to take a more
holistic approach and this is what I
would lead as president where as a
veteran I understand in a deeply
personal way who pays the price for war
and how heavy that price is and will
ensure that our VA leaves no veteran
behind that every single veteran gets
the care that they need and as we look
at post-traumatic stress there are many
different levels of how it impacts
people on a whole spectrum some very
very extreme situation some may be less
extreme but every person heals and finds
their therapy and and their path forward
in a different way and as a VA as a
government as a society we need to be
able to help support that
we're still working on putting together
kind of on paper in each of these areas
what my vision for the kinds of changes
that we'd need to see as a presidential
platform these are issues that I've been
closely involved with and working on
with legislation in Congress both
co-sponsoring bills like the aim high
act and others and bringing voice to you
know those who are my constituents and
others in the country who are still not
being represented you know at the table
where a lot of these decisions are being
made
you