Retired Major General and former Congressman Bill Enyart’s remarks to the Veterans and Military Families Council at the Democratic National Convention, August 18, 2020
Good afternoon and thank you to the Biden Harris team, the NEXT president and vice-president of our great nation, for inviting me to speak to the Veterans and Military Families Council.
As a former enlisted man and as a former general who had the responsibility for training, equipping and ordering soldiers and airmen into combat, I share with every veteran in our great nation, the painfully earned knowledge that we must watch what people in positions of authority do and not what they say.
Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.
Joe Biden’s actions over a lifetime of service prove to us that he will do what he says he’ll do.
How do we know that?
He was an early advocate for Viet Nam veterans exposed to Agent Orange, when the VA was denying it was a problem.
He fought for more funding for prosthetics and for mammogram coverage for female veterans.
During the Obama-Biden administration, the homeless veteran population was cut by almost half. Veteran unemployment was cut by half. And the backlog in disability claims was reduced over three years by ninety percent.
Joe and Jill Biden understand the sleepless nights that veteran families have undergone. They know the agony of having a child in a combat zone. Their son, Beau, deployed with the Delaware Army National Guard to Iraq. They don’t just talk the talk, they’ve walked the walk.
Joe’s four-point plan is to:
- Provide Veterans World Class Health Care to Meet Their Specific Needs
- Work to Eliminate Veterans Homelessness and Bring Down Suicide Rates
- Create Meaningful Employment and Educational Opportunities
- Improve VA Management and Accountability and speed up the disability review process.
As the son of a disabled Navy veteran, as the brother of a Viet Nam combat disabled veteran and as a veteran, I appreciate what Joe and Jill Biden have done and will continue to do for veterans and their families.
Contrast Joe’s record with the guy who dodged the draft five times, who has attempted to privatize the VA, who has assaulted the reputations of Senator John McCain, a Viet Nam prisoner of war; as well as that of a Gold Star family; and who claims to be smarter than all the generals, while his former secretary of defense retired Marine General James Mattis accused Trump of violating Americans’ constitutional rights and criticized his lack of “mature leadership”.
Were Donald Trump a private in the Army, he couldn’t get a security clearance because of his murky Russian business deals, his multiple bankruptcies and his openly adulterous relationships. He has no concept of what it means to serve or have a family member serve. He actions dishonor the role of commander in chief.
Our servicemembers, veterans and families deserve a commander in chief who knows the pain of a child in combat. A commander in chief who has proven himself with years of work to make Abraham Lincoln’s words come true, that we as a nation will “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan”.
Thank you and now I’d like to introduce my friend Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia’s Third Congressional District. Congressman Scott holds the distinction of being the first African-American to serve in Congress from Virginia since Reconstruction and the first American with Filipino ancestry to serve as a voting member of Congress.