of the trumpet white house. >> and what will that near to be thou terms of fighting counterterrorism? >> i think, you know, i don't want to speak for general flynn. the narrative will be this war is not over. quite honestly bbc what president obama has done in the last year, a year and half ago he's talking about isis is a jv team of terrorism. he's not talking that way anymore. he's talking about two years ago about, he talked about a generational struggle. if anyone was reluctant to put troops back in iraq it was presidenpresident obama but he t because realize what a threat isis was. he has frozen the troop withdrawal from afghanistan because of the taliban is coming back. there is a general consensus now this conflict is generational. it's a different kind of conflict. it's not one you can say we can walk away from because we won. the enemy gets the vote as

military says that at this enemy has decided to keep fighting. >> you can watch this and other programs online at booktv.org. [applause] >> good evening everyone. my name is john heubusch. i have the honor of the executive director of the ronald reagan presidential foundation and needs to do. i want to thank you all for joining us this evening. in honor of our men and women who defend our freedom around the world in uniform, would you please stand and join me for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of united states of america and

to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you. please be seated. .. [applause] thank you so very much.

on that note there are a few other people that i would like to recognize in the audience this evening. i'll start our board of trustees, president bush's ambassador of court of st. james, bob and his wife maria. [applause] he's an extraordinary supporter of the bush family, brad freeman. [applause] one of our newer but remarkable trustees, mr. ben sutton. [applause] from the reagan family, michael and tamron. [applause] state assemblyman, dante acosta's. [applause]

just a few more, a former com congressman and his wife janice. [applause] owl on all of our elected officials. [applause] president bush's secretary of treasury, rosario. [applause] and lastly, retired u.s. army gary and his wife mari. [applause] i would be remiss if i didn't mention that gary became paralyzed from the waist down when a helicopter crashed while

conducting operations in iraq in 2008. let thanks for the generosity and the infinite hero foundation , he can now walk through the assistance of an exoskeleton. [applause] if you'd like to know what an exoskeleton is, gary will be at the reagan library tomorrow night for an event here to share his story. we invite all of you to come back at the same time tomorrow for what will be an inspirational invite. thanks for coming gary. [applause] to begin our conversation with our special guest this evening, is another another of our foundations trustees, mr. fred ryan. brad has served, i better have a plot line than that.

he has served at the reagan foundation for 22 years. prior to his chairmanship, he started at the reagan lighthouse from 1982 to 1989. after that he served as president reagan's first post white house chief of staff. i know of no other person who has spent more time and effort working on behalf of ronald and nancy reagan over the years than fred ryan. fred would never brag about that fact but it is a fact so i will brag for him. ladies and gentlemen if you would please join me in welcoming to the state, mr. fred ryan. [applause] thank you, john. that was a kind introduction. our special guest has been to the reagan presidential library several times, the first was as an owner of a major-league

baseball team, then as governor of texas, he was back as a candidate for president of united states, back as president of the united states to dedicate air force one at the reagan library, been here as a former president of the united states and is the author of a popular book decision points. tonight he's back is an accomplished painter. we can only wonder what he'll be on his next visit to the reagan library [as americans we closely observe what our presidents do when they leave the white house. after serving in the most powerful demanding job on the planet, they certainly deserve to spend time doing things what they'd like to do in the presidential years that they enjoy and want to the most. some take on bold new challenges and exciting adventures after leaving office. like one of my favorite favorite presidents, became a skydiver. until his wife but a stop to it

but like our special guest tonight, there had been a few artists among our former presidents including ulysses s grant, dwight eisenhower and jimmy carter. to our knowledge no president has ever attempted portraiture. our 43rd president ventured bravely into that territory because he was so moved by the sacrifices of our wounded american warriors and began the challenge to capture and immortalizing their courage on canvas. i have to say, i look at president bush's collection of portraits in awe. not only because of his talent and skill, but because of his subject matter. how he finds a way to take their strength and their dignity and their perseverance and their patriotism and lifted up her all of us to see any deep and intimate way. these paintings, fill the evidence of a warrior's. and hopefully this work gives us a better understanding of the issues facing these heroic veterans. in this new book, portraits of courage president bush paints a

story of more than 60 brave souls and in the book he states his goal, to honor our men and women in uniform, to highlight family members and caregivers bear the burden of their sacrifice, to encourage encourage those who may be struggling to get the help they need and to help americans support our veterans and empower them to succeed. after reading the book, there's no question that the president has achieved those noble goals. in doing so, i believe, believe, he's revealed a bit of himself as well. oscar wilde wrote, every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, it is rather the painter on the color canvas reveals himself. now it is my great honor to introduce that through his paintings has further revealed

his depth of passion and character, the 43rd president george w. bush. [applause] thank you, mr. president. >> thank you, brad, sit down. thank you all, please. [applause] your eating into airtime. [laughmac] thanks for your kind remarks. thanks for inviting me back and i also want to thank john, the trustees, michael, good to see you again and my buddy brian who will talk about in a little bit. i painted him. i asked his mother what she thought of the painting and i always thought he had a face only a mother could love. [laughmac] she liked it.

this is a huge relief. elton, good to see you again. anyway, ready to roll. >> we have a full house and were streaming is online and on television and there been a number of questions submitted about the book, about about your painting and a few other subjects. will try to get through as many as we can. the book is now available, portraits of courage it's already a top seller on amazon or if you go to the bush center directly at bush center.org the book is available straight from the stores. i saw that there's a special deluxe edition personally signed by the president and all the proceeds will go to the veterans [applause] mr. president, the first thing

everyone wants to know is when did you start painting? >> well, i was an art agnostic for martha my life. [laughmac] it was a terrible admission to make. i get back from washington and i wrote a book and another book and i'm trying to stay fit, working a lot of the bush center in dallas but it wasn't enough. you have to understand, when you're of president you go 100 miles an miles an hour and then the next day it's zero. i had this anxiousness to keep moving and to learn something. i read winston churchill's' painting as a pastime, i'm a big admirer of churchill, the great great leader and he took up painting. this essay is worth reading. i basically said, what the the hell, if he can paint, i can paint.

i told that to laura and she said, yeah sure. [laughmac] i hired an instructor, gail and she came over to the house and she said, what's your objective, i said gail there's a rembrandt trapped in this body. [laughmac] so she came back realizing i was serious and i painted a cube. then i painted a watermelon. it was a liberating experience. not only was it liberating but it was an unbelievable learning experience. i've been painting ever since for about five years. >> the first question we have is from tina, she asks, did you have a history of painting as a child earlier in your life and did your mom keep any of the school paintings on there for dinner chris mark. >> i'm sure i was a finger pain or but no. tina, i just wasn't all that

interested in art and now i am. so it goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks it's interesting, when you get to be our age. [laughmac] , 70 and you're sitting around with your pals there's only two topics of conversation. what medicines are you taking? and how your grandkids? my buddies say you've got a passion for painting. i say you should try it. they say they campaign but i said the same thing five years ago. i'm living proof to tell you that you don't know what you can do until you try it. my call for aging baby boomers, try it out. run to the finish line. painting has enabled me to do that. >> what medicines are you

taking? [laughmac] >> the grandkids are great. very strong, fred. i didn't think you had it in you left. >> trying my best. next question, from janet she said, you started painting farm animals and world leaders, when did you decide to paint wounded warriors ? who was the first and why? >> what happened was my mother. she can be quite plainspoken. she heard i was pointing and said i can't paint. [laughmac] by the way, this is the woman that said when i was gonna run again in 1993 said you can't win. and i said i damn sure can't

paint. so she said, paint my dogs. so i became a pet portrait painter for a period of time. i painted bob the cat and bernie the cat and barney and so, then an instructor in dallas that smack one of the greatest things in instructor can do is to set new horizons for new students. my instructor said you should paint the portrait of world leaders. i'm sitting there is a fledgling artist saying this guy thanks i can actually do that chris mark and i did it. i have two instructors now and one of them was at the house. you ought to paint the portrait of portraits no one knows and it dawned on me that i ought to paint these warriors who i do know. at the bush center we have mike and bound rides, golf

tournaments with these wounded vets and, brian is a biker and i got to know brian and i started studying those stories. the first person i painted was major turner, and i'm sitting next to him in a dinner and asked him why he was here? he said i can't get out of my mind seen one of my buddies killed. i paint from pictures, photos and as i'm painting turner, i'm thinking what must that be like in his mind. he writes me a letter later and he's much more comfortable talking about the invisible wounds of war. there's a huge stigma, brian will tell you. they don't want to talk about it. they think people won't understand me, i won't get promoted, i'll never get hired so they keep it inside which often times leads to

self-medication. turner writes me a letter standing that writing this letter help to share his story more and more. step one, is seeking seeking help. so i repainted turner. i painted the same portrait again and i was trying to show people how one can improve when you deal with the stigma and seek help. i was hoping to show people that i improved as a painter as well. [laughmac] >> the next question from isabella follows up on what you are saying, what is the process for painting one of your portraits? today said in the studio or did do they get to see and approve it? have you ever had an unhappy subject #. >> yeah, my wife. [laughmac] i painted boro one time. i thought it was a pretty good painting. at first it was too anguished and finally i said forget it. i did paint my mother for her

90th birthday and it was a painting of her walking her two dogs on the beach in maine but in order to deal with the angst of laura, i painted mom from the back. [laughmac] i do paint from photos. the only person i painted live is me. one of my instructors convinced me to paint myself from looking in the mirror. it's a grim -looking expression on the face because it's hard to paint and smile while you're looking in a mirror. no, i didn't run it by the vets. i was just hoping beyond all hope that they liked it. i was nervous about some of them. i wasn't nervous about brian. some of them -- todd wrote of the letter about it was like to

be in the war and when i was painting todd he told us he had night sweats. i was thinking about what it's like to have night sweats. if the dark painting, in a sense. i thought todd in tampa, two days ago, and said said let me show you a painting. man, that's really good. todd, i'm no longer the commander-in-chief. [laughmac] you could tell me the truth. he liked it. it was a great relief for me. he liked it because i captured the anguish he felt, but he doesn't feel it anymore. i wish i could repainted but the books out. [laughmac] >> the question from meredith is which of your wounded warrior painting was the hardest paint? they're all tough. every one of these men and women

have physical wounds and some of them have, all of them have in one way or other, pts medic brain injury. when you think about that it's hard to do. on the other hand, i have such great pride in knowing them. i'm a baby boomer which means vietnam war. when there was a draft and the war, people didn't understand it and when the vets came home they were treated despicably. we get attacked and i made it abundantly clear that were going to defend the country and millions volunteered totally different attitude, being able to salute people who volunteered in the face of danger was a high all honor. oftentimes, i thought about the integrity and courage of those who are willing to volunteer to wear the uniform. and painting them, i had a lot

of pride. i guess the toughest was me and melissa stockwell dancing. melissa is a first lieutenant, the first woman to lose her leg in combat. when they are on metal at the paralympics in rio at the triathlon. she said let's dance, i said i don't want to dance. i'm not a very good dancer. she convinced me to dance and so i painted melissa. the hard part was me, the easy part with her. most the time i look like alfred e neuman. [laughmac] remember him? he iran for president. >> mr. president caroline from

maryland asks, when do you do your paintings ? who cleans up after you ? and how long does it take you to do a portrait portrait from start to finish? >> i paint upstairs at our house, i built a studio and so i've got places where i can retreat to. i clean up, most of the time. [laughmac] laura is a neat nick and oil painting not meet. i limit my palate to two yellows, to read, to blues and blues and two white. it teaches you to limit colors. if you get a deck on your finger and happen to not get it cleaned and you lie down on the wet white bedspread. [laughmac] blue. i try -- i'm not a very good

cleaner. it me a year to paint the 98 portraits. a painting is really never done. i look at some of these portraits and say i wish i could put them back on the easel and keep painting but at some.you have to call it quits. i live with these portraits for a year, some more complete than others and i look at brian and i think i better touch him up a little more. if the never ending process. i can't answer that question. >> michael in greenwich asked, have you ever been unhappy with one of your paintings and tossed site? >> all the time. a lot of times i'll paint in get in bed and think about it and hustle upstairs and scrape it

off. that's the great thing about oil paintings. you can paint, scrape, paint, scrape. i tried acrylic's but it dry so fast that there's no scraping. [laughmac] all the time. the good thing about oil is to keep painting over it until you got it where you're comfortable there some questions beyond the painting and more of those to come back to, here's, here's a question from betty in washington dc, and a time when someone call uncertainty, what can you tell the younger generation of our country to do to renew the sense of belief and optimism that ronald reagan embodied? >> read history. i remember somebody telling me right after 911, you've had the toughest presidency. what about abraham lincoln? in the country was at war with each other. i talked about a period of time, 50 years later it was a tough. -- what you have to understand

is that the nation goes through tough times. there's something unique about us. we have a spirit that can't be extinguished and that's why i'm so optimistic about the future of the country and one reason i'm optimistic -- think about this, millions wore the uniforms and have ptsd at a young age in life. the fundamental question is: can we help them transition? they are the leaders of the future that's what this project is about, helping people take the skills that they learned in the military and transitioning them to bring those skills into civilian life. there's a real challenge, there's 1 million to military civilian divide, a lot of that has to do with language. they have to apply for a job, vice president of human relations asks what's your skill set? sniper.

[laughmac] i don't think we need one this year. [laughmac] but if the person had said i'm discipline, i work hard, team player, believe in personal responsibility and i could take pressure, all of a sudden the civilian takes a different look. the challenges to as a society to understand how the military thanks and how the military understands our civilian things. a lot of work has been done, by the way. i'm optimistic kids have to understand the history of the country. you'll see. there's a resiliency to it. it should make people optimistic. my concern is that the rhetoric and politics get so out of hand these days that good people say

i don't want to get involved in politics but it's been that way. they called abraham lincoln and ape. this is not the first time there's been name-calling in politics. i might have been called names at one time. [laughmac] kathy be back kathy into cargo rights, we were so glad to see your dad make it to the super bowl for the coin toss after leaving the hospital. [applause] how is he doing and how is your mom? >> they're both great, given their limitations. dad can't walk, he confined to a wheelchair but his spirit is joyful. i went to see dad three years ago, in the icy you unit in houston and -- if you've ever been to an icu unit it's not real warm. i said to dad my library is opening.

sir want you there and his voice is incredibly weak and he says, i'll be there son. i left tearful thinking probably not, and and sure enough when we opened up the library the most important thing and it's nice to have the great weather and a lot of friends and former president but dad was on the stage. flipping the coin reminded me of him being there for the library opening. this guy has a huge desire to live. i've often thought about, wrote a book about him, and i thought about it had to have started when he was 19 years old floating in a raft off of tg team a, worried about the japanese capturing him and of course killing him if they captured him. mom's doing fine. she's drinking. [laughmac] as she does her voice gets louder.

she's a piece of work. [laughmac] don't tell her i said it. >> mr. president, question from the audience, why did you criticize president trump recently after not criticizing president obama? >> i'm asked a question, do i believe in free press. the answer is absolutely am i believe in prepress. as with every other american. the press holds people to account. power is very addictive. it's corrosive. it becomes central to your life. therefore, there needs to be an independent people who hold you account.

i answer that question, of course the headlights were bush criticizes front. i need to say there is a free and and independent press but it ought to be accurate. [applause] i made the decision after my presidency to not crew the diet obama but first of all the office of president is more important than the occupant. i believe it undermines. [applause] the office of the presidency. secondly, i understand there's a lot of critics. i don't want to make the president's job worse. it's a hard job and i think that if a former president that there guessing, it would make it harder. i want anybody who's president

to succeed. we are all in this deal together and so, i understand sometimes remarks can be construed as criticism. they're certainly not meant to be. after this before, you probably won't hear from me for a while. i like privacy. the thing about the presidency is as soon as a thank you for the sacrifice, i say it's not a sacrifice sacrifice to survey country you love. you do sacrifice anonymity. i can't walk down madison avenue in new york without drawing flies. maybe i should put that a little better. [laughmac] without drawing a lot of attention. i get a sense that i'd like privacy. art has given me a chance to be

not totally inside myself but a learning experience but it's also very -- it's amazing how time moves. it's a little scary when you're 70. >> the bush family has always been viewed for their civility in politics. when did things change and why i don't think so. politics have always been a rough sport. again, if you read history, there's a there's a lot of cases where campaigns there was slander and people saying bad things about each other. what's changed, however, is how people get their news. believe it or not, i'm really the first blackberry, the first e-mail president. the blackberry wasn't government

issue right at the end of president clinton's time. the reason i make that., technology has changed dramatically and quickly, as has the dispersal of news. in the old days, it was abc, cbs and now people get news from all over the place. part of the issue with this new dispersal agents is that you can be anonymous. there's no responsibility, no accountability whatsoever. this lends itself to some pretty angry messages going out. the danger, of course, is that people say they don't want to get involved. that's a huge problem. our system is only as good as the willingness of good people to be involved with it. >> michael in buffalo asks,

ronald reagan has the fable famous line of asking are we better off now than we were four years ago. is the world more dangerous than we were four years ago. >> it is a dangerous place. it may be taken as criticism and i don't mean it to be, there is a lesson however when the united states decides to not take the lead. and withdrawal. vacuums can be perceived when the presidents proceed and vacuums are filled with people who don't have the same ideology, and the same sense of human dignity and rights that we do. there's an isolationist tendency in our country and i would argue that's dangerous to our national security and doesn't benefit the character of the country. >> you mentioned.

[applause] you talked about social media. i was on twitter for the account of at judge george w. bush and it was described as locked. do you recommend it to others? that's a loaded question. >> no, i don't tweet. if there is a twitter account under my name, someone else is writing it out of the bush center. this is an interesting question. we do good things at the bush center but the only way i make the news is if i criticize my successor or criticize my party. the fundamental question is, how can you get good news out so that people, find out about our center. twitter and insta graham are

useful ways to communicate with people who are interested in what we are doing. i do do face time. [laughmac] is high-tech, isn't it? [laughmac] cutting-edge. with my grandkids. it's like watching a whole movie every day. it's awesome. by the way, they're doing well. [laughmac] >> and those medicines are taking? [laughmac] as eight years as america's leader what advice would you give those in our country today and talk about -- what would you give advice to those running in the? >> know what you don't know. find people who know what you don't know and listen to them. my advice is that the job is

different once you get in. it looks one way, and then you get into the oval office and it looks different. trust me. my advice as though if you're thinking about it, go for it. unless, of course, if your life is wound up and whether you win or lose. don't go for it. my dad never won the state of texas until 1988. he loses and 64, he loses in 70, he lost in 1982 ronald reagan and because i'm not very good at psychobabble but his priority was faith in his family and friends and that loss while it stung was tolerable.

then he won in 1988 and became and became president of the united states. you can't win your home state three times and he ended up being president. this speaks volumes about the question that you just asked. which is, take risks. but make sure you have the route foundation on which to take risk. >> would have painted in the white house if you knew that he had the skills for smart. >> there's no do overs. what i have signed on the uss abraham lincoln? [laughmac] it's a good question. i doubt it. it's an all-consuming job. you think about the presidency, and the the problems you're

dealing with, the issues all the time and what startling is when you're not president because mankind can adjust to the environment with which they live, pretty adaptable and the next day after you have to go get the coffee yourself. [laughmac] you wake up and realize you no longer have that sense of responsibility. it's pretty startling. my answer to your question is the reason you have the essence of responsibility is because the job is all-consuming. >> do you see the world differently now through the eyes of the artists for smart. >> i do. >> in what way are smart. >> i was on ellen degeneres' tv show today and who by the way is a very fine person. i looked in her eyes and i said i could mix that color. [laughmac]

icy colors and shadows that i never did before. i see this sky differently and so, yeah, i do. i don't know if it's made me a more centered or sensitive person but i know this it has changed my life to the better. >> does laura paint with you or separately? [laughmac] nor does she play golf. >> no, she's not not a painter. she's a positive critic. laura has a really good eye and loves art. she's made some very meaningful and positive suggestions, and some not so positive

suggestions. she takes a great interest in art and with this exhibit, all the paintings that will be displayed at the first bush center. laura went over there to make sure the colors on the walls worked well with the paintings and she's taken a huge interest in the project. like my mom, she is my biggest fan. she's unbelievably positive and it's to encourage me to keep doing it. >> you once said, if you aim for big change you shouldn't expect to be rewarded by short-term history. do you feel that history has been fair to you? >> i don't think it's judge me yet properly. i think it's impossible to judge the president in the short term. there has to be the reach of time. to be able to analyze the

decision the president has made and the consequences over time. i wrote the decision points and thank you for pointing it out, as i wanted people to have an understanding of why i made the decisions i made. regardless of whether or not, you agree with them, you could learn why and i put in an introduction that it would be a better.for future historians. if they're generally sincere about trying to find out my place in history than they ought to read this book, not as the data.but as a data. we have this library down there very much like the reagan library, full of eye archives. some of it hasn't been declassified yet, but it will be. hopefully historians will calm and right an objective history because more presidents will follow me. it enables one to see

perspective. i'm not that worried about it. i gave it my all and that's all you can do. [applause] >> what will people be priced to learn about you that you left the oval office? >> that i'm a painter. [laughmac] when i wrote that book, the first one i was thrilled to be able to say that if people are going to be shocked about this book. they didn't think think i could read, much less write. [laughmac] they'll be surprised at that. i'm not sure what else. i think they're surprised i'm not out there in front of my successor. i should have given you this answer when president obama was

president, i get a lot of calls from the heartland saying i should speak out. now now the coast is saying i should speak out. [laughmac] >> this next question is back to your paintings. it's human nature to be private about wounds and scars, how did you get the subjects to open up and revealed the aspect of themselves that many would choose to hide? >> earn their trust. that's the first thing. i think i earn their trust, in several ways. one, i told their troops and their families as president i would support them 100% and i think they saw that. secondly, when you're writing mountain bikes there's a lot of karate and a lot of needling but

it's a way to earn someone's. we set it up so that our debts can speak and we encourage them to be open, some more open than others. as you are sitting as a vet and someone talks about an invisible wound gives you confidence to speak yourself. here's what's important to understand, the challenge for society is to get a vet to get rid of the stigma. the best people to do that our debts. if someone comes out of combat and goes into a doctor's office and says i have a problem and the doctor doesn't understand how to speak to that person but if someone seeks out brian who dealt with pts and says i've got these issues brian penn say, i understand what you're saying. the other aspect is what works. we have this wellness alliance

that were raising money for that makes up. two peer counseling groups, team rubicon with groups that work. ucla has a fabulous brain center. the coinventors, the center in nyu, these are places that have proven that they're able to help you that's who want help to begin with and so that's why what were doing what were doing. some talk about it more than others. as i sat next to turner, probably made him nervous city next commander-in-chief but i asked him, turner why are you here question and he opened up. part of the healing process, as it turns out. i don't know why turner told me what he told me but as a result turner is now a healer himself. he's part of the peer to peer counseling network.

>> is talking about these groups that serve veterans, the website mentions that 80% of the organization less than $100 a year. what can we do to help? >> the first question is does the 80% raise a hundred thousand dollars a year do good work therefore, i'm pretty confident on her website there's an opportunity to look at the characteristics one ought to be looking for before they give money to an organization. the amazing thing is how the response to our vet this time, compared to vietnam, is overwhelming. there's 35000 ngos set up for events. the real challenge is what works and what doesn't work. we don't want to be the jury at the bush center but we want to highlight programs that we know are effective. team rubicon is an example. started by a really cool guy

takes that's and put them into their smack a hurricane is hit, or an earthquake and they help locals recover. it's a peer to peer counseling group. that's are all serving somebody else. this is a part of healing. in the book, there's a number of people who are recovering nicely because they're now working to help somebody else's i've improved. you don't have to be a vet to understand the benefits of serving mankind. >> you mentioned, on the side, there's talk about the 1%, would you.to the 1% being the warriors who defend the 99% of americans. the warriors. >> that's not me, i'm on a government pension.

[laughmac] >> 200,000 a year, left my medicare premium. [laughmac] >> is this something the government can be doing better for vets? the va has got some very good programs. i talked to many that's who had who said that they been helped by the va. the best way for the va to work is to do joint ventures with private sector programs that are effective. [applause] by the way, there's a va head is very receptive to that idea. we intend to gain credibility for understanding and knowing what were talking about. they want our input. they want to make sure that they get the help that every vet

deserves. i'm told by the former secretary of the va an interesting fact. part of the reason is it's not an order. it's not a disorder, it's an injury. will you hire someone with a disorder? no, you'll more more than likely hire someone with an injury. what was the.i was gonna make? >> what can the government do. >> there's no question that the pipeline is getting clogged with pts. notice i dropped the d. it turns out vietnam that's are beginning to show symptoms of pts now after all these years. they've been in combat, they come home and there raising

their families and they have a job and they retire. and they go something's wrong. they check into the va of their exit meaning symptoms of pts and all of a sudden, you have a lot of vietnam that's heading to the va. so va has to deal with this. so that as many people can get help as quickly as possible without frustrating our vets. the problem with frustrating our vets is that they're coming out of combat. if they don't get help immediately there's a threat of self medication brian will tell you there's a lot of that. the challenge is to prevent that from happening as best as we can. i used to self medicate. i quit drinking and 86. [applause] who will be the subject of your next portrait and why?

>> it's an interesting question. me. i looked at a lot of paintings of past masters turns out they pay themselves a lot. it's kind of an arrogant lot. one reason why you do that is because if you foul it up it doesn't upset anybody. [laughmac] senator huck of the paint these giant portraits and he suggested that i paid that's in there big faces. he happened to be an african-american in these painted faces that nobody knows. they're great paintings. you should paint a huge portrait, six-foot big and so it's me. my face on six-foot canvas. that's a lot of faith. [laughmac] i'm working on that. it takes a long time. he's helping me through this.

he's each part of your face becomes a portrait unto itself. you can spend four or five days on an ear because it's so big, until you get right. i'm doing that right now and it's a fascinating experience. i painted freddie. laura and i go to the ftca and dallas and we wanted to see a great friend of ours with donated money to this. we get in there and there's a dog foster mother holding this little tiny puppy and of course they have to tell us the story that this dog has been abandoned any construction site along with brothers and sisters. the others had been adopted. they had this whole freddie back because he wasn't eating very well. laura picked up the dog and it

was over. [laughmac] so he's named freddie ford. he happened to be in the line of sight and i said, okay. this dog is now named freddie. i don't know if she calls him that or not. but i painted him. he's awesome by the way. i don't know if you've done this with your dog but we did a dna to find out how uncured freddie is. [laughmac] he has one whole line that says mixed breed and he is another line that says chow these on terrier, which is a proposal and border collie. he's an awesome guy by the way. >> have you ever thought about being an art instructor?

back no. i'm still in art people. every brushstroke is a learning experience people that's why it's important to have people around who understand that and are willing to help you, reach out continue to press. i used to paint real tight. if you look at those world leaders there's not my expression in them. it looks like tony blair or vladimir putin but there was no confidence and not a lot of paint on it. some of these have a lot of paint on it and big brushstrokes and it's an involving style. my instructors helped me gain the confidence necessary to paint that way. >> this one's anonymous would you be available to do a portrait of our family for their christmas card? >> no. [laughmac] no i wouldn't.

if if you're asked to paper charity, go spend the rest of your life painting for charity. i'm not going to do that. thanks. nor, will i ever someone. the selection of 98 paintings, i'm giving it to the bush endowment fund and it may be worth something 30 years from now if they start running out of money than they can sell it. i did make a giclée with which brian which is a sophisticated copy of each painting. i promise to only make one copy for portrait and i'm going to send it to each vet. [applause] >> a couple questions about portrait specifically, it says that artist that seek to do

portraits are the toughest. you can miss paint a landscape and was going to complain but if you decide to capture a person they might complain christmas. >> i painted jenna's baby once, lelah and she complained. i thought it was nice. then i painted another and didn't like it. i painted something that looked like the gerber baby. [laughmac] >> portraiture is considered the most complex form of arts requiring not just artistic skill but an insight into a subjects character that means over special reporter is developed between the artist and the subject. does that go for you christmas. >> i think in order to make a

portrait work you have to have feeling a feeling about your painting. as i mentioned earlier, i painted with great respect for each person. i stay in touch with them, brian, wrote at the ranch and came back to the ranch to write again. we have got what we call club 43 who had been to our events and expand it every year and hope the alumni come back. they form bonds among themselves and network between the bets. for example, i saw four bets on the today show and i saw two today at allen. i stay in touch with them. some ride in and some sent pictures and but they're my friends.

>> that's great. you've talked about the art, the paintings, what inspired you to make a book out of the paintings? >> it's a little risky to put your paintings out there, someone may not like them. some people didn't like make my decisions, so i'm used to it. [laughmac] but i wanted to raise money for the foundation i wanted to tell the stories. when you read them you'll be moved. they are stories of courage, injury, recovery, willingness to help others and i also wanted to highlight the invisible wounds. my biggest concern. i'm writing mountain bikes lost their leg, then back and comment on one leg. the first portrait in their lose their leg and they've been in combat twice. the prosthetics are great.

the invisible wounds concerning so this book is a way to highlight that. hopefully it will inspire people to help, that's to come forward and talk about it, caregivers to rethink the care they are giving, if it's not working. it's to call people to a very important cause. i have a platform still not quite as big as the old one but i intend to use it. >> i like to thank you for doing this book and i was fortunate to get an advance copy.

what a great gift it is to give to people in the military and their families and i would urge everybody to grab their book. thank you for the opportunity for this book to get a book that is signed by the author. it's a wonderful thing and i would encourage people to get one. >> thank you, thank you all for coming. [applause]