Thank you so much.
I want to thank the folks here who are our witnesses. Thank you for your service to our country, and thank you for your service to our veterans. I really deeply appreciate it.
I'm going to come to you first, Mr. Benjamin, because I'm really compelled by your story. Unfortunately, I've heard similar realities from people from different ethnic backgrounds and indigenous backgrounds who faced significant discrimination and racism during their service time, and I've heard about the lack of speed in responding to that.
I'm wondering if you could explain a few things to me.
I also want to start by apologizing, because I feel like one of the hardest parts of doing this work is that we ask people to come to this place to tell their personal stories and basically bleed in front of us so that we can prove that it's really happening. I want to apologize for the fact that this is where we're at and that it's what the system requires. I also want to say that if you feel uncomfortable, please let us know.
You said you started your service in 1982. I'm wondering if you could share with the committee how long you served.