Tulsi Gabbard Interview

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

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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