Issue Position: Our Veterans "The Very Best Among Us"

No class of people deserves more from the rest of us than our veterans of military service. They have gone to places and endured horror and pain the likes of which few of us will ever know. They have stood firmly between you, me, and the evil forces that would destroy us. They were prepared to give life or limb for us, and many of them did exactly that.

Veteran's issues are a big deal around our place for a number of reasons. I have great uncles who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. One of my uncles and my mother's first cousin were decorated veterans of World War II; one an infantryman in the Western European Theater (whose brother, an airman, was shot down over the Pacific and never found), and another who was a fighter pilot who escaped both death and capture after being shot down three times. My dad's brother served during the Korean War. Dad and his twin brother served in the Army in the years just following that conflict. My generation endured Vietnam, and I have many contemporaries who are veterans of that terrible struggle. I have many close friends who are returning from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As your state representative I pledge to show our veterans the respect and dignity they deserve by supporting meaningful legislation that honors their service. I will work as hard as I can to see to it our veterans receive the support and services they have so courageously earned.

To every veteran: Thank you for all you have done to protect this great country, our sacred freedoms, and our way of life.

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