Mr. Chair, when I say “veterans”, I mean the member as well as the family.
I was in Bosnia during the gunslinging days of 1993, where we were sending peacekeepers over to be witnesses or hostages to the situation. At that time, when this was considered to be a bloodless offering in the name of peace, the families of the soldiers, sailors, and air force personnel who were sent over there were left at home to suffer all the fears and anxieties and apprehensions that our nation is today with the situation in Afghanistan. I know that only too well.
I might add that despite the notoriety I gained from my deployment to Afghanistan as the first combat mission since the Korean War, the situation I faced in Bosnia as an unarmed military observer was far more dangerous to my well-being and almost as well publicized. My wife had far less access to the things we've put in place from the lessons we learned over those years. When I came back from Afghanistan, being away from home for a very long time, one of the most profound realizations I recognized was the trauma that families experience. Indeed, they can experience the full array of occupational stress injuries that soldiers can experience overseas. I might even say that they're more susceptible to it because they're in less of a position to do anything about it.
I must apologize to the committee for my omission of the word “families”. They are certainly first and foremost in my mind. The personnel who serve overseas are a unit. It's them, as well as the strong families who stay behind. We must not only support them during the deployments, but certainly also in the aftermath of the duties that our soldiers, sailors, and air force personnel have in serving overseas.