commander everett alvarez and tammy are on another date, here, this afternoon. so congratulations and thank you for your courageous service to the nation. [applause] veterans day is saturday. it's a day we remember the millions of brave men and women just like everett alvarez who fought our nation's wars and stood guard over our country during the periods of restless peace and between -- in between those wars. it's a day to reflect on what veterans and their families have done what they sacrificed for our country and for each of us. because here's the thing. when someone signs up to serve our country in the military, we make them a promise. if you fight for us, we will fight for you. if you serve us, we will serve you. if you take care of us -- if you take care of us, when you come home, we'll take care of you. now our country as a whole makes that promise. i'll say more about that in a minute. at v.a., it's our privilege and it's our honor to keep it. so i'll start as eileen said with an update on what we're doing at v.a. to keep our promise to veterans. since