coverage of the annual wreath-laying ceremony and observant program to honor america's all in from arlington national ceremony. president biden lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier followed by remarks from the president and secretary of defense, lloyd austin. watch live coverage today, morrill day, beginning at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. -- memorial day, beginning at 11:00 a.m. easternn c-span. >> coming up on the memorial day addition of "washington journal ," we will take your calls and cummins live on the air and then the mental health care challenges facing current and former members of the u.s. military we will speak with a warmer be a undersecretary for health. "washington journal" starts now. ♪ host: an agreement was reached

saturday between president biden and kevin mccarthy on raising the debt limit addressing spending concerns, house members will cut short their memorial day break and begin considering the bill as early as tomorrow. there is concern over the deal from progressives on the democratic side and from the speakers right side. they want to bring a vote of the entire house by wednesday. good morning, it is monday, may 29, 2023 and it is also memorial day, welcome to "washington journal." we will talk about the debt limit bill and that vote coming up on wednesday. we will look into some of the provisions of the bill and ask you your thoughts. here are the lines -- you can also send us your thoughts by text.

make sure you tell is your name and where you are texting from. we welcome your comments on facebook and on twitter and instagram and you can post those. while that will occupy most of our first hour, on this memorial day, we will spend a good portion of this program and this morning on c-span with reflections from arlington national cemetery and later, the vietnam veterans memorial in the nation's capital. this is a live look at a damp area near the tomb of the unknown where president biden will be arriving later this morning. we will bring you that ceremony and the laying of the wreath and the speech at the amphitheater at arlington national. that's expected to get underway about 11:00 a.m. eastern we will have live coverage here on c-span and have it for you on our streaming app, c-span now

and at c-span.org. later this program, more thoughts on memorial day and we will hear about military mental health with the retired major general richard stone. right now we focus on the debt ceiling bill and the negotiations in the rules committee and later on the house floor. the reporting of roll call, the text of the bill came out last night so number of reporters and others have been going over to see what's in it. this is from roll call --

the rules committee will meet at 3 p.m. tuesday to set the parameters of the debate in the chamber is expected to vote wednesday.

your comments on the debt ceiling agreement -- this is the house speaker late saturday evening, kevin mccarthy announcing the outline. [video clip] >> i talked to the president twice today after weeks of negotiations. we have come to an agreement in principle. we still have a lot of work to do but i believe this is an agreement in principle that's worthy of the american people. it's historic reductions in spending, consequential reforms that will lift people out of poverty into the workforce rein in government overreach and no new taxes or government programs and there is more within the bill. we have more work to do tonight. we have the writing of it and i want to take a moment and thank

patrick mchenry and garrett graham for their work on this. i know you have a lot of questions but i will not take them tonight. out of respect come i want to brief our members about where we are. we will finish the writing of the bill and check with the white house and speak with the president tomorrow afternoon and posting it tomorrow and then vote on it on wednesday. thank you for your time and i think this is very worthy of the american public. host: the speaker late saturday night and we will have some reaction a little bit later as well. reporters covering the issue, here are some comments. also on twitter --

here is the headline from cnn -- a photo there of congressman dusty johnson of south to coda who we will hear from.

guest:5 guest: [indiscernible] speaker mccarthy made additional comments and posted them on twitter later after he spoke with his conference. this is what we heard from kevin mccarthy. >> how was your conference? i didn't want to interrupt. >> the call went really well with the members. we are working to get all the language and i will talk to the president again tomorrow after my granddaughters graduation. it won't be a long bill. it will probably be about 150

pages or less. >> are you going to lose people from the freedom caucus? >> once people read the bill, i'm excited but america wins on this one. >> you will need some democrats to help you out to get this passed? >> anytime you negotiate a bill, you always have both parties involved. host: additional response by twitter from the white house late yesterday

responding to that, that democratic congresswoman said this -- we are talking about the debt deal which will get underway in the rules committee tomorrow. it's up for a vote by wednesday. (202) 748-8000 is the line for democrats, (202) 748-8001 is the live republicans and the line for independents is (202) 748-8002. caller: what a joke, what did

they accomplish? what did the republicans accomplish, nothing. they held the country hostage to raise the adults receiving food stamps from 49-54 years old. the debt ceiling has been raised. infrastructure is still where it was, what did they gain? nothing. if they were just holding the country hostage to placate the base of theirs. spending level is still the same. they didn't accomplish anything and the people that vote republican, please stop voting against your own people. it makes no sense. those people don't care about you, all they care about is power in their cult leader

donald trump. wake up. you all wake up, you are the joke. host: on to that he in south carolina, republican caller. caller: the democrats are not going to go along with anything republican. what we are in today is because of the democrats. they won't do nothing. all they are doing is destroying this country. that first caller is wrong is wrong can be. they called to tell a bunch of lies and they talk about trump will he gave to the rich. we were doing good but you see

what we are doing now. i vote for what they say in what they do but not this president. he does what he wants. people don't have to worry about gas or food or paying their light bill or all that. but we do. i am 79 years old and i never in my life saw anything like this. host: this is the front page of the washington times --

[video clip]

>> you have said you're caucus would not support a bill more requirements that hurt poor people. does the deal do that and is this a dealbreaker for you? >> i don't know because i haven't seen the language. first of all, terrible policy, absolutely terrible policy. it does not reduce spending. by some estimates, it creates a burden on administrative spending that is actually worse for the overall cost of a program like that. it is about people who are hungry, people who just need a little bit of temporary assistance. we are one of the only countries in the world if not the only one that is an industrialized country that puts any requirements on people who just want food. very bad policy, does not save money and does not work. we have seen dreams of data that show when you put these work requirements in, they are really

just administrative redtape that prevents people who need help from getting help. what i'm not sure on what i'm looking at now and i need to see the text is what it means in terms of the exemptions that were put in. that's for veterans and folks experiencing homelessness and people coming out of foster care. those are three exemptions that were included so what to the numbers look like? i'm not sure. it is bad policy. i told the president that directly when he called me last week on wednesday. this is saying to poor people and people who are in need that we don't trust them in the average amount of assistance for snap is six dollars per day. we are talking about six dollars per day. i think it is really unfortunate the president open the door to this and at the end of the day,

perhaps because of the exemptions, perhaps it will be ok but i cannot commit to that. it's not just progressives, across the ideological spectrum, people feel this is bad policy. it's very unfortunate that it even made its way into the discussion. host: the reaction on social media -- [video clip] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ford (202) 748-8000 democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, independents (202) 748-8001. (202) 748-8002. let's hear from linda, democrats line for mississippi, go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm so tired of republicans always stating that the economy was so good with trump. it was good because trump was in there because of obama and biden area when biden came in, he had to clean up behind trump just as obama cleaned up behind bush. this debt ceiling discussion, it

is just ridiculous. people already had to work for their medicaid and their benefits. when you are alert -- working below poverty, you're working every day but you are not making enough money to earn enough money to get off of food stamps. then there are those that cannot work. the republicans always try to balance the budget on the back of the poor. they are crying and crying but the only reason they go against the poor people is because they want more taxes. it's a hardship that they should pay the right amount of taxes. host: are you disappointed that revenue was not as big then you

had hoped? caller: yes, if you want everyone to pay their fair share, i have to pay mine and you had to pay yours. they are concerned about the rich paying a little bit more. that's only fair. they talk about welfare. taking food from children and families, they are getting the tax revenue free. the rich don't even pay taxes and trump only paid $750 in taxes. host: pond to our independent

line, ohio, hello there. caller: good morning, america. we are in the same place every time the debt ceiling hits us. this is even worse because we are on a holiday and what's going on? the staffers are the one hacking this bill out. our representatives are having a good time and enjoying the holiday. the democrats have done excellent job as far as exploiting america and as far as maga. the reason i voted for trump is he did what he said he was going to do a didn't allow anybody to make decisions for him. i enjoyed paying $1.86 gas. joe biden comes in he slashes everything the trump did in that we have a run at the border, illegals coming in, we have to support them, roughly $200 billion a year to support these

people. we need to audit everybody in that building behind you and even joe biden. he is under investigation. as far as the durham report, they allowed the clock to run out so no one could be prosecuted. we are in one hell of a mess and the only one who can help us is ourselves. we need to get these individuals out of here. host: onto the republican line, richard in new york, good morning. caller: how are you doing? this is a problem. i enjoy c-span but the problem is, the education level in america is at an all-time low. the people that call in, these are some of the dumbest people i've ever heard in america. everyone has to get smart -- host: why do you say that? caller: you can tell that these

people are going through life with blinders on. i just don't understand. when you are young, you go in a job and you work, food stamp so this other stuff, you have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. this is the problem. these guys have an easy life, they get money for free, food for free, everything free but the people that work, the middle class, what do we get for free? we down, we work until we break our backs and hopefully social security is still there and then we die off. this has to stop. we need trump back in office. he is a smart man, he is a businessman. i'm sick of people in america hating trump. you cannot hate somebody like that, forget about trump, deal with the policies.

we need to make america strong again and stop the free. you cannot go through life with free. that's the problem with these young people. i'm a plumber. when people come to the job, they think they will get everything for free. that's not america. america is you build it and these people, especially democrats, they just want to just sit in the house and get these free programs. host: this is the new york times this morning.

comments on social media this morning --

one more from christine -- next is adam in pennsylvania on the democrats line, good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to make a comment about work requirements i heard several people talking about that. haven't heard people mention why they are so bad. the real issue with workwear armaments is that anywhere from 62-78 percent of disabled people in this country are denied disability and because of that, they are not considered disabled and they are under these work requirements. they have to work even though they can't in order to reap the benefits.

host: the work requirements in this agreement would apply to folks under the age of 54, able-bodied people. is that correct? are you there? all right -- i lost you there, lindo in california -- linda in california. caller: i would agree that neither party cares about the country or the people. i think both parties are committed to wall street, and american form of capitalism that wants to have american capitalism around the world. we are putting way too much money into our pentagon and

military interests which are the biggest money makers on wall street. we are putting way too much money in there. the wealthy capitalists aim toward controlling a world of unfettered capitalism. it's a fantasy to begin with. it could never happen, even the most fascist nation on the earth could not make this a unipolar world. we are spending too much money for that. we need to get to taking care of our planet. we need to get to taking care of the people around the world. we need to clean up our waters. how many cities in our country do not have drinkable water? both parties are committed to a unipolar world under united

states control. that is madness. it is fascism. it's impossible. host: we are talking about the debt ceiling deal which will be voted on by wednesday in the u.s. house. the lines are (202) 748-8001 (202) 748-8000 democrat per democrats, republicans, (202) 748-8001, independence (202) 748-8002. this is the chart and what is in the biden/mccarthy deal. it was raised -- he would raise the debt until january 1 after the presidential election, it would cap spending growth at 1%. it would keep domestic spending flat this year. it would cut $10 billion from the irs and cut defense spending

by 3.2% this year. it would clawback the unspent covid-19 aid, streamline permitting for some energy projects and it would force the president to cut spending on new regulation and would expand work requirements for food stamps and welfare cash payments. representative dusty johnson, republican of south dakota was on state of thunion yesterday. he was asked about grumbling on the republican side. [video clip] >> we are hearing a lot of grumbling from your caucus. some call this a debt ceiling surrender. they said no one claiming to a can did -- to be conservative could claim a yes vote in the basic criticism is that mccarthy gave up too much and could have gotten more. what do you think of that?

>> i'm the head of a group of 75 pragmatic conservatives who are called the mainstreet caucus. there will be freedom caucus people who vote for this package so when you say the conservatives have concerns, it is really the most colorful conservatives. some of those guys didn't vote for the thing when it was a republican wish list. those votes were never really in play. we get that but overwhelmingly come republicans in this congress will support the deal. it is a fantastic deal. >> how many votes will you get and how many can you afford to lose? >> we are starting the process now. i talked to between two and three dozen republican members but i have not heard a single one of them telling me that i can't support them. >> buck norman and goode have

some thoughts. >> let's be honest, bob good will not vote for this thing. he is not voting for it. he was never going to. this is going to pass. host: we are spending this first hour on "washington journal" talking about the debt ceiling deal which will come up for a vote on wednesday in the u.s. house. part of program this morning and we will spend a good deal of the program this morning later at arlington, national ceremony on this memorial day. our live camera look at arlington national with a little bit of rain this morning in the nation's capital expected to move out. either way, we will have large cup -- live coverage when the president arrives. the wreath-laying ceremony gets underway at 11:00 a.m. eastern we will have live coverage of that and have our cameras at the vietnam veterans memorial as well.

we will about veterans until health later. president biden at 11:00 a.m. here on c-span it stream that live on c-span.org and you can watch it and c-span now. back to our conversation on the debt deal, new york city is next, democrats line. caller: yes, vote -- i hold c-span responsible for not educating these people that call. there is some money for racist white trash that call up c-span and continue to vote against their own interests. i don't understand how you can continue to vote against your own interests. the democrats is the part of the helps the poor and the middle class. there is no millionaires that call up c-span. the majority of these people are dependent on the government.

they continue to depend on the government. c-span needs to educate these people and stop letting these people call up and talk about trump. trump did nothing for this country, he should never have been president. this man is a crook, this man is racist and he continue to bring out the worst in people. we do not need this man to be president again. i hope the people wake up. host: in las vegas, republican line. your thoughts on the debt deal. caller: good morning, america. it's memorial day so let's keep that in mind. we are in an autocracy where these people are the least capable government. they are elected by non-producers. we our society they cannot sustain itself yet is awarded

goods and services from a diminishing number of wealthy people. your last color was the perfect example. the function of the media is not to educate people. it's to report which in this country they don't. i hope the debt ceiling does get past. it looks like it's going to. when obama went one dollar, one dollar for defense and domestic, we should have stopped it right there. we have to have strong defense because we cannot protect what we have, we have nothing. hopefully, everything will be good but keep in mind that we live in america and we live in a country that should award -- reward people who make money and

we shouldn't be concerned, i'm serious, we should not be concerned with people who are not producers, people who don't get out there and work. the one guy who talked about the people not qualify for disability, well you are not qualify for disability, you have to draw the line somewhere. we have to continue to keep going forward, god bless america and thanks for taking my call, have a good day. host: on to laura, democrats line from washington, welcome. caller: good morning and thanks for c-span. the problem is not the open borders and's not the national debt, there are no borders. it's fascism going on in the nation that's causing the problem with the debt ceiling. they want to prove that they are

strong and we are we just not true. i encourage you to understand that you and the middle-class have more in common with poor folk. we don't have -- we have more in common with the man on the street. marjorie taylor greene is trying to put in these requirements on the debt ceiling. it shows you what kind of fascism we have. host: what would her bill do? caller: host: we lost her, let's go to byron in north carolina. caller: yes, good morning. i challenge you guys to see how much this will cut the debt and it does not. a lot of damage has been done to america. because of all of this. main thing i want to challenge

these men to do is to go back and see who started this debt. it started going up with republicans but then when the next republican got income of bush and his father, he put us into wars -- into wars and kept us there and created the department of homeland security. they couldn't even predict january 6. they need to get rid of them. you look at all that money they have spent, all these veterans that are disabled that they have to pay for the rest of their lives, you're looking at about $20 trillion right there. they don't talk about how we got here. we are never going to get out of this by getting people off of food stamps and making them work, it's not raising any

money. i don't understand why the democrats can't point that out to people. they need to let them know who did this. also bush was borrowing money to fight those wars mainly iraq and he borrowed that money and cut taxes at the same time. and then trump comes up there and these guys don't want to take the tax limit back to where it was. the tax rate on the rich was it 90% at the greatest time in america. i'm not saying take it back to that but that's what we did because we paid for the wars. host: you are still on. caller: i'm sorry, when we fought wars back then like world war ii, we took the tax rate way up so we could pay for it. this is what has created the debt and now the turnaround and

put it on the democrats on the poor people and everything. they are not serious about this. host: we appreciate your call and here's some comments are members of congress on the debt deal announced saturday night --

speaker mccarthy was on fox news yesterday talking about the deal. [video clip] >> the white house is saying inside and they will take credit as well. they say there are no budget caps after 2025, only nonenforceable appropriations targets. we know how that works in washington. they say you might have gotten something but after that there's nothing to it. >> watch with the government has done before. >> are they not telling us the truth there? >> we have a statue terry cap there we had to rule to keep it going forward. the other thing you have is for the very first time, you have administrative paygo.

we have a president who spends another $5 trillion around congress. >> he's got to make executive action. >> he doesn't have to talk about it, he has to do it. we could save 1.2 trillion in them presidency and that's never been law before and now it's being put into law. if you look at each movement here, this is a whole new direction. think about this how this came to freshen. you normally have a 1000 page bill and this will be less than 150 pages. normally that, the country doesn't know about it until after it passed. we will wait 72 hours. this is worthy of the american people and i want them to read it and understand it. we only have a majority in one house with a -- with five seats with a president who said we would never talk about this and chuck schumer said this would be a clean debt ceiling. that's not the case. you got to work with people getting them out of poverty and

into jobs and we've got reforms were we can build things. the president can't just spend money wildly. we are actually spending less than we spent last year. that has not happened in congress. maybe it doesn't do everything for everyone but this is a step in the right direction that no one thought we would be at today. host: the debt ceiling bill will get a vote by the house by wednesday, possibly by the u.s. senate if it passes in the house later in the week so there could be a weekend session for the u.s. senate possibly depending on the schedule. from politico this morning, wrinkles and curveballs in the debt ceiling bill --

let's go to the republican line in new hampshire, welcome. caller: good morning. happy memorial day. listening to these calls and

when you talk about education, i went to college for business and took a class in economics and work in the insurance industry and financial services for over 30 years and people just don't have any sense of economics. we are taking in one dollar and spending $1.29. it it doesn't take anybody with education to understand that. he listens of democratic party and they don't want to cut any spending. they want to keep spending. we obviously need term limits. that would eliminate a lot of the stuff going on. it's a compromise. joe biden took 97 days to finally sit down with the speaker and he took days off.

we all know where the former president is. people have to have a sense of business. the other thing is about the jobs. how many help-wanted signs are out there and they are complaining about job requirements? 20 hours per week? there is such a disincentive to work in this country now and that's a big problem. it's deficit spending, too many regulations and they create monopolies and that's why we have less competition. host: would you have liked to see the republicans take a tougher line on spending? caller: they have a slim majority and yes, obviously. in the long term, we have to get back to balanced budgets. we never had were very few. we just cannot spend beyond their means. over the years, i've been an

advocate for defense spending but the has to be reasonable as well. you just cannot spend your way out of things. throw money at everything and it doesn't solve anything. like the earlier caller said, nothing is free. everything costs. it's just economics and people really have to learn economics and we have to teach it in schools. economic theory, finance people understand how the dollar works and how money works. we need more business people in congress. host: we appreciate that and john is next from south dakota, democrats line. caller: i'm a businessman i've been in business for over 30 years. i'm a gun owner and i work hard, i've a full-time job and a part-time job in a business owner. i expanded my business this year by 400% because of joe biden and

his wonderful work. trump was a disaster for me. the republicans in the passive been very bad for business. i wanted to also get into jared krishna receiving $2 billion from the saudi prince and also trumps treasurer, steve mnuchin retreat -- received $1 billion. do they have to pay taxes on that? also the climate denying republican party, one third of them control the medium. am 950 radio.com at 11:00, tom harden -- tom hartman comes on. he gives you a lot of good information. you will learn quite a bit in public broadcasting does a pretty good job just with their nightly news each night. tune in on wednesday night and

check them out you don't have to listen to a bunch of advertising and they get into stuff in depth and talk about climate like united nations ipcc report which everyone should listen to and it makes a difference on our economy when the economy is burning up. the republicans have put us in debt with $40 trillion with two wars since reagan. now, the tax cheats will get by because of this deal. it's just for a year so that's kind of where i'm running with everything. i will be voting democrat for the rest of my life, that's for sure. host: comments on social media on twitter --

caller: thank you for taking my call. there is structural unfairness in america.

mccarthy did with work requirements is minute with respect to money. if anyone wants to google and do a study of that, they will see that what we say will be so small. let me say this -- we have structural inequality. i'm a part-time farmer. the amount of money that goes to farmers alone from the agricultural department, free money, irrigation, i would challenge the listeners to do some research to find out where the bulk amount of money goes. the poor people did not benefit from the infrastructure bill.

it was rich americans who own these gigantic companies, construction companies. it's not poor people that benefit, it's the mcdonnell douglas is who employ a certain segment of our population, very small segment of our population with huge amounts of money thrown for them. what the republicans are doing is they are sending out dog whistles to placate a base to say we cannot tolerate welfare mamas. i would say to intelligent people to understand where money goes in america and you would be very surprised about where free money goes in america.

thank you for taking my call. host: onto the republican line, arkansas, good morning. caller: good morning. that's a good topics to start. in my state where i live, there is nothing wrong with people being required to work, 20 hours per week to receive their benefits. if they are able to work. another thing, in this world, we are not promised free items. you have to work to be able to get along and survive. nothing is free. for another thing, please, people, stop blaming others for your problems. if you see a problem, then get up and go out and try to solve

your problems. stop looking for the government to help you solve it. host: thank you. there is a rollcall article from this morning breaking down what some of the bill says, the debt deal bill was released, the text was released late last night. this is the headline -- i want to get to a bit more in the article. they talk about nondefense appropriations in this bill.

there is still more negotiations at head. you can read more of that and

the language of the bill at roll call.com. chester, pennsylvania is next, hello there on the independent line. caller: good morning. i am calling in reference to the other caller who sounded like she was a black american and said most of the people who called him are dependent on the government. i'm an african-american and believe me, i'm not depending on this government who cannot balance the budget. it's unbelievable how some people are thinking. a lot of callers think the way that i do that you have to go to work for everything you get. years ago, the black americans had black wall street where we had our own system and our own businesses and whatnot until the u.s. government came in and destroyed it. they burned it all up. that's who you want to depend on?

the type of government that does those type of things? uh-uh. i work for everything i haven't by the grace of god, i trust in god only, not the u.s. government. thank you. host: host: yes good morning. -- caller: yes, good morning. the man who came in and said how do farmers get paid? i have plenty to say. ain't no such thing as people working on food stamps. i know people that have got jobs because they -- they are on food stamps because they cannot afford to buy food. -- when the republican -- comes in to talk about veterans in the country they have every veteran in the country. yeah, i am still there. host: yes, thank you for your

call here in texas. it is memorial day and later in the program the rest of the morning will be reflecting on memorial day. we will take more of your calls but first retired majoreneral richard stone is with us acting md for the federal mental health care administration. and he will discuss the mental health care for the u.s. military coming up next. announcer: today, memorial day we will bring you live coverage of the observance program for america's fallen national cemetery. president biden will lay a wreath at the tombs of the unknown soldiers followed by the

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in-depth, journalist david quam and will be our guest to take calls about national history and the origins of deadly ruses like ebola and hiv. he is a contributing writer for national geographic and has written any books. his latest is worthless about the defeating the calls of the covid-19 pandemic. join him with -- join the conversation with ur phone calls, text, facebook comments, and tweets. ♪ ♪ announcer: healthy democracy does not just look like this. it looks like this. where americans can see democracy at work. citizens are truly informed. the public thrives. get informed straight from the source on c-span. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word.

from the nation's capital to wherever you are. to continue -- the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span powered cable. announcer: washington journal continues. host: we are joined on this memorial day by retired major general richard stone. he is a former acting under secretary of the u.s. health department -- veterans health department. he is also a member of the u.s. army. retired now. he is also the author of this book save every life you can. a reflection on leadership and saving lives during the covid-19 pandemic. let me start first of all with your background. you came to this with a career in medicine and in the military. how did that all start for you? guest: i was is physician by training and army reservist. i was leading a perfectly good

life in the midwest. i was in command of the combat reserves in -- a hospital. when 9/11 occurred i spent the next 14 years voluntarily on active duty. i was sent to avid tennis down -- afghanistan and in my final assignment i did the business transformation work that -- defend self agency that unifies military medicine. following that i went to the v.a. and at the v.a. was acting under secretary executive in charge. ended up leading the v.a. through the pandemic. i left in mid 2021 which is when i wrote the book. host: how did your service and active duty in the later years, as you observe men errs of the military on deployment and coming home, how did it change your view of how we address broadly until -- and medical

concerns of military veterans particularly those who served in combat zones eschenbach -- zones? guest: people talk about exposed individuals. i am in exposed veteran. the person i replaced in afghanistan died of a rare blood cancer. my chief nurse died of a cardiac disease. i am a believer in toxic exposures. we dealt with agent orange exposures in the recent years in the country did a poor job of saying you have to prove it first of where you were. we have gradually grown through congressional nudging and laws into really beginning to take care of our toxic exposed veterans more effectively. depleted uranium exposure

occurred after desert storm, i think we've done a bit of a better job but it is still hard. it is hard to identify diseases that are rare and unusual and the triggers are so difficult to get into. i think we are doing a better job than this. host: we were just talking about how that related to the debt ceiling talk and there was money as last year. the past president called for money to increase the research and treatment for those who'd been exposed to the burn pits. guest: the veterans health administration, the v.a. got about 4 billion -- does about $4 billion worth of research every year in diseases affecting veterans. i used to be example, the v.a. is the largest provider of office cancer care in the nation. it has done amazing work in precision oncology so that survival of prostate cancer amongst veterans is set -- among the highest in any subgroup in

the nation. host: can i ask you a personal question about your exposure to the burn pits. you said the person prior to you died of blood cancer. how much of a concern is this for a -- a concern for you? guest: i am a cancer survivor. i developed cancer after i arrived home from afghanistan a number of years later. but i am a survivor. i spoke with this in a testimony before congress with the fact that we are all concerned about this. people serve in the military voluntarily. we all raised our hand voluntarily, no one twisted our arm. we understand we are taking risks to do this deserve a nation. at the conclusion of that, we expect the nation to stand by us. i think the recently passed act goes a long way. the debt ceiling reduction act

or expansion act, whatever they called the latest law that they are talking about and tried to pass, it does preserve and expand the ability of the v.a. to meet the needs of the veterans. host: you talked about retiring in 2021 when you read the book, save every life you get a reflection of the leadership and saving lives during the covid-19 candy made. why did you write it? guest: the most important book in my library's a book called the great influenza. it was written by john berry in an effort to preserve the events of 1918. i had my entire leadership team at the v.a. read it because it foreshadowed what we would deal with in this pandemic. guest: so you read it beforehand? host: i read this -- host: so you read it beforehand? guest: i read it years

beforehand. it and it is a book about how medicine can be overwhelmed. i wrote this book because 100 years from now i hope it is that long in the next pandemic comes, people need to understand the lessons that have been learned. there are recommendations for how congress may change government and recommendations of how we change the american supply chain. many of our medications are in short supply because they are manufactured overseas. the demand for antibiotic, the demand for medicines for diabetics are in short supply. people do not know this, but half of the drugs that the v.a. buys are for diabetes. they are made overseas. even our best allies, our best allies, will preserve medicines for their own people before they sell it to a third-party. and i think that places the country had a great danger. host: retired major general

richard stone is here and we are talking about veterans health. we will focus in particular on veterans mental health. we welcome your calls and comments. here is how we have broken down the lines if you're active or former military, the number is active (202) 748-8000, family (202) 748-8001, other (202) 748-8002, or you can text us at

(202) 748-8003. -- if you look at americans about 70% of us are combat experienced. when you begin thinking about mental health issues, about 85% of us come back different from a combat deployment. we come back stable and we are surrounded by the things in our lives that stabilize as and anchor us and allow us to be different from our combat experience. but we will do ok. about 15% of us do not. that 15% about half of them about 7.5% get better with time. the other 7.5 percent have lifetime issues. and the lifetime issues need to be cared for in people that understand combat and veteran

experience the best. hence the need for the v.a.. that number of about 15% has been stable since world war i. the vietnam veterans 85% are fine. about 15% had trouble. post 9/11 veterans, iraq war veterans it is about the same number. those lifetime difficult problems can emerge at any stage in life. it is not unusual for the v.a. to see 85 or 90-year-old world war ii or korea and veteran. when they are stabilizing anchors, they lose their spouse, they are displaced from their family, they begin to have problems. host: for lack of a better term a triggering incident in their lives causes them to have a delayed mental issue a emotional response. guest: that's correct. i had a conversation yesterday with the son of the veteran who

literally 40 years after his combat experience began to experience problems. it was because of a end-of-life write downs in his support structure. host: do you think the military treatment and because you were with the veteran department, the acting undersecretary of health, you think the v.a. has gotten better at treating the issues? are there better experts in understanding the issues? you say the number stays the same war after war after war, 15% are having issues. are we better at treating the issues? guest: i think the v.a. is the best place to provide integrative long-term care. but we also lose our providers. providers will quit and you have to start with the new provider. that is terribly frustrating to patients. think about how many times you been asked to explain your own health issues to a provider and then the new provider comes in and asks you to start all over

ruben -- ask you to start all over again. that is frustrating. i would not say that we are graded this, but every study shows that the care in the v.a. far exceeds the care in the civilian sector. could we do better? absolutely. and we need to. we need to continue to work to improve the excellence in that area. but my effort to talk to my -- another veteran about my combat experience or other stressors i had to, during the combat i signed 29 american death certificates. there is lasting effects from that. some of those guys died in my arms. there is an effect from that. and that effect will be with me all my life. how i respond to it, i am blessed with deep faith, a remarkable spouse, a remarkable faith. when i have that, i am able to

anchor myself. what happens in the future i can -- i get all my health care through the v.a.. in the health care through the v.a. i feel comfortable. i am surrounded by people that understand my experiences and i can share my experiences. i am open about this discussion because that veterans and servicemembers listening to you this morning or watching us this morning need to understand that there are people out there to help them when they need help. host: i am not a veteran but my wife and i were at arlington national cemetery yesterday visiting. in two places, the different battles in different cemetery places i saw vans from the veterans health and veterans administration. there were rvs where veterans were welcomed to come in. i thought that was being proactive in the veterans community. meeting veterans where they are. guest: that's exactly right.

there are many events where we take mobile vehicles we have over 400 mobile vehicles across the nation and go to places that may trigger loss. that will talk to you even if you are not a veteran. even if you -- if you are out visiting a family member and it triggers issues they will spend time with you and work with you. the fourth mission of the v.a. is dated be the backstop to the american health care system. we are all over the country doing work when there is a stress situation. i use the example of the nightclub shooting in orlando where there were 49 victims. more than 50 others wounded. we were on the ground with almost 50 mental health care professionals overnight the first night as we help family members identified the deceased. and this is from a nation after

floods, hurricanes, earthquakes. host: we have a bunch of calls waiting. but one quick question about your book in 2022 on your lessons learned during covid-19, in terms of until health issues, what do you think the biggest sin is for recovery? guest: how hard it was when we stop visitation for sick patients to maintain the dignity of patients and to understand that patients were not a disease processed -- they were a mom, dad, brother or sister. i think that lesson of value of family at the bedside was lost. quickly. secondly, there is not enough integrative care in this nation available for us. when we look at this and the rural areas especially. 20%-30 1% of hospitals in rural

areas are at risk of closing. the access is becoming more goal for americans. host: and this would not have been possible for the response of the national guard in places like new york city and in states where the vaccine was finally rolled out. there were many volunteers, but many national guard units among those volunteers. guest: the guard health care units were extraordinarily effective in the work they did. the v.a. was also a military reservation. we were in 49 different states fulfilling emergency needs of governors. host: let's get to calls. we have dan in birmingham, alabama. former military. good morning. >> good morning thank you for your service to the country. i agree that we are a volunteer

service. i always wanted to be a marina since i was six years old. i want to go back to something that was said about prostate cancer at a high rate and how in this -- body and mind are connected. the veterans who have not served or have known exposure by burn pits but they have had exposure by being in the military and suffered from prostate cancer, how might the v.a. in the future go back and consider their exposure to these chemicals or base closures in their care and benefits? how might we best address those veterans? thank you. guest: thank you for the question. it's a really important one. what we must do for someone we presume you are exposed until it is proven you are not. instead of you and i is veterans

having to prove ourselves that we were exposed, we presume that. then we wait for the data to catch up. i think there's a couple things i would like you to recognize. in america, lack males do not survive prostate cancer -- black males do not survive prostate cancer at the same rate that white males are the rest of the population except in the v.a.. not because we are so much better at prostate cancer care about because we take care of other help problems effectively in diabetes and hypertension. we erase the disparities. a couple things i would recommend to the viewers this morning. number one get on the burn pit registry. you can register going to be a dog and go to the burn pit registry and register yourself -- go on to the v.a..gov and go

to the burn pit registry to register yourself. apply for benefits, and go in with the resumption -- presumption that you have a health issue and you want to know whether it is related to your service or not. it is a great shame. enke area -- thank you. -- it is a great question. thank you. host: form a veteran. caller: i think you for everything you do. i was a veteran for the united states army for six years. i was an air traffic controller and i came out and worked for the government 30 years total. i worked with army, navy, coast guard, and air force personnel at that time. i would just like to ask a question or two, one being that if you feel more to say of our

politicians and they were former members of the u.s. military, they would have more insight to the issues that we go through. also i would like to make a statement about -- i do not want to get political, but we have a president who had issued information or had signed laws to assist with mental illness and get funds to states to help prevent and treat mental illness. and one president came in and destroyed that program before the ink even dried on it. the list to say, that president was shot and patient was responsible for that injury. but thank you for your service and god bless the united states of america area think. -- of america. thank you. guest: let me say i am

encouraged that more and more veterans are running for congress. there is unprecedented increases in the number of politician in the things that you and i do that allow us to move forward with people who fully understand our sacrifice. when i grew up in america, every county, state, had mental health hospitals. people were moved to mental health hospitals sometimes involuntarily for their care. in the 1980's, those 600,000 beds when away and i -- went away and i think that is what you are referring to when you talk about this. most of those mentally ill patients either became homeless on the street or they have gone to jail. there is not a sheriff in this

county that won't tell you substantial numbers of people in the jails of this country have mental illness. now within cars -- incarceration you can worse people to take their medicines, but the country has to grapple with major psychiatric concerns. i'm not talking about people oppressed, i'm talking about major psychiatric issues and how we handle that. in the v.a., we created literally thousands of what we call -- beds. we have 8000 beds to take homeless veterans of the street and work with them i voluntarily attempting there psychiatric medicine to stabilize them. it used to be in schizophrenia we we had to give it a sense multiple times a day, today, there are many medications for psychiatric illness and schizophrenia that you can inject every 4-6 weeks and you can bring people back to

reality. many of the patients wake up and go it is not possible for me to do that. but the idea of how the country grapples with our homeless crisis is entrenched in their care of substance abuse and until illness. host: have numbers gotten higher? are there more homeless veterans in the u.s. today? guest: no, there is less because i think we have set a model for america to abandon underuse military bases where we can establish housing. about half of homeless veterans are in the state of california. if you look at the los angeles v.a. medical center, inside and outside of the medical center there is a homeless in cap -- homeless encampment. -- the better off we are in our

ability to reach them. during our -- during the pandemic we gave out ipads and we created cellular communication to reach the veteran. that was extraordinary effort with the support of cellular providers. host: there was a report from nbc saying that they have policy to help servicemembers seek until health care area talking about the branded act that would expedite mental health evaluations and provide confidential -- members to self-report mental health issues. how important you think this will be? guest: it is good it allows broader access to care for transition servicemembers raid i spoke earlier, about the fact that -- service members. i spoke earlier about the fact that i have anchors, my faith, my spouse, they were -- they anchor me.

many military servicemembers are anchored in their unit and we dissipate that when we come home because it is time for people to be transferred or promoted. we cut ties and we see turbulence in the time of coming home from deployment. we also see the exact same thing as you leave uniform military service. i retired in 2021, before we went on the air, i talked about the fact that my last assignment my family lived at port bellmore. full foraging moved there. every neighbor had, and invited us to dinner. for the next two weeks we did not have to cook in the house because we had invitations to neighbors homes. we met everybody in the neighborhood. i came off of the active-duty end moved to a neighborhood that for three years the only person i knew in the neighborhood was

another retired major general. today, in the neighborhood i live, i've never even met some of my neighbors. that difference in anchors of what community is is part of the message of memorial day. this is a time not only to reach out and say thank you to the families had a bad the ultimate loss or the -- they visited the cemeteries for those who have been lost but to reach out to veterans that you know and say i'm thinking about you. i'm just thinking about what went on in your life and you are important to me. the connections as a community are so important. host: we have plenty of calls coming in. we will continue our conversation with enroll stone. we want to point out there is a veteran crisis line. if you are a veterinarian in -- veteran in crisis it is 99-8-8 >

and then you can press1. nancy is in florida with the military family line. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i am impressed with this man he is really talking about a lot of things that i have been through. i was married to t military men in the vietnamwo war. --two military men in the vietnam war. one died in the war and the other one had brain cancer and i had been with him for 30 years. i want to say the administration has proved i've been dealing with them over 50 years and i just want to say thank you for helping my children and taking care of us family members

throughout the years. i just cannot tell you the mental health with families is very difficult also. they do so much better care now with the families than they did back when i first became a widow. the second thing i want to say is that dealing with the veteran administration i cannot say it was easy or that they were helpful over time -- at the time but over time, it became so important to have that support. the military families are what got me through as you just said

a while ago. through that terrible time of transitioning from part of the military to being who widow. i just want to thank -- thank the v.a. for being there is a help through all the years. guest: thank you for your sacrifice and your service. i think this is very difficult not only the combat loss but the brain cancer. i think we have done better in caregiver support and i think we have got well over 100,000 families now that we are supporting around the nation with various caregiver support and respite services and even compensating some spouses and family members under for caregiver program.

i think we could always do better. i think what you identify is that when you are on active duty and your inside of the community. it is easier when you are not on active duty aces ivy spouse -- active-duty or a surviving spouse of somebody who was lost in combat. it is hard to find connections. i know the sarasota community. my dad and mom lived there years. we lost my dad to covid during the pandemic in one of the sarasota hospitals. i will tell you it is a good military community and i will encourage you to continue to reach out to the v.a. to talk about the caregiver support from this. also utilize your bso year vietnam veteran of america. the veteran federations.

these are people that can connect you. the other thing you have in florida which is well-developed is a well developed veterans day program that is really well land and they have multiple programs around the state that can help families continue to connect. nancy, clearly the emotion is at the edge for you and we hear you and i know you are shedding a tear or two on this day, but that said, there are people here to help you through that and i encourage you to continue to reach out and those kind of forms. thank you for your comments and thank you for your sacrifice. host: plot to james for our military in virginia. go ahead. caller: yes sir. i've got three things. happy memorial day everybody and thank you for your service. i am sitting here in my apartment the link -- flag has

been broken for two months. happy memorial day.living the dream in the usa. i am a survivor of cancer. there we went to -- courier station and then we spoke to -- keep termite infestation down in the residence on base. for three years. then back to camp in june for another three years. i was treated and diagnosed with neurological problems. treated on six different military bases including camp will june. i've asked senator manchin for help and nothing. right now i am under so much stress i am about to explode.

host: we lost james. he came off the line. i apologize for that.we will hear from the general. guest: i want you to call the 9 -8-8 line. i think if you call it it will allow you to have a full conversation about your frustration. i respect the fact that you feel like you are about to explode. we need to help you come back from that. you have come a long time from your service but you have been in a number of events that really are tremendous toxic exposure. i understand this in my own family. my daughter is dating a veteran who was stationed at will june 4 years. he only drink bottled water because he knew that great veterans like you it were exposed to toxic exposure. i want you to call the 988 line to help you come through this.

you push 1 you will get a veteran trained counselor who will work with you. james, call us back if you need us, but i want you to get on that 9-8-8 line. host: formerly the deputy surgeon general of the u.s. army. we go to florida on the former military line. go ahead. caller: thank you for coming on today, general. i spent 22 years for health care in the v.a. -- [indiscernible] we had the active duty immigration -- and i work for a contractor for the disability system. i'm writing the book about the whole system. [indiscernible] you have the empathy that very few have in health care. that is what keeps us going. i appreciate and see it.

i want to ask you right now. the issue of what i have with what is going on in the v.a. went health care and active-duty is the referral system. very few services that sapped government contracts and make veterans activity thrive -- to get optometry visits and dental visits which are rare because of the greed that is entwined in the health-care system of the united states. the greed and money. i just -- v.a. has big facilities that are understaffed. the referrals are a disaster. we need to get back to the gs employees being there. that is the contractors. what we do with contractors is ruining a system that was already broken and overwhelmed and made it worse. again, thank you for your service to the country. host: all right. guest: you bring up a number of

points. first of all thank you for your service here in the system and for those of you that do not know that is the integrated disability system the people that do a evaluation saying whether i am disabled or not by my service. these are incredibly complex jobs. these are really smart people. i appreciate the fact that thomas is working on that. let's talk about the fact that about one third of v.a. health care now goes out to the community. the majority of that is caring -- care in ru especially specialty care. ral it is frustrating when you have it -- care in rural areas. it is frustrating when you have those that say i got out of the system and it did not help. our operating could be better. it makes it difficult to hire people.

i'm not throwing them under the bus but it is hard to hire. host: when they referred they do not have a specialist in that field at the hospital nearby to handle that concern. guest: guest: that is right that doesn't -- guest: that is right that doesn't mean the community doesn't have someone. in the las vegas community there is now 80,000 veterans in that community. we need to hire it can take six months to hire a nurse. it can take 6-9 months to hire a physician. there is good work going on to simplify the bureaucracy but we need to break the bureaucracy to hire faster. we do not have a shortage of -- we have a shortage of people -- we did not have a shortage of people who want to enter this mission. you heard this. people want to work for the v.a. and take care of america's heroes. we need to get them on board

faster than six months. host: health-care workers in the veterans facilities are they equally affected as a private-sector colleagues. in other words, there was a lot of burnout with medical professionals with the long hours, weeks, illnesses and deaths, do we still cfx of that in the veteran system? guest: yes, we see the great retirement and resignation. people are tired out. here's the differenc peoplee in the health care system are connected to the units and the hospitals in the same way they were in military service. one third of us that work in the v.a. are people that are veterans. before their family members are veterans, they are connected to the mission. next week, i will be in atlanta with a book signing in the va hospital. when i do that, i will hear one person after another saying i am

not a veteran but my dad or brother was area my son is serving. i am here for then. host: let's go to milwaukee with john on the former military line. good morning. caller: good morning. dr. stone thank you for your service. i lost eight guys on a hilltop in 1959 and i have these words. i'm a little bit nervous. i'm sorry. i want to recite them now since it is memorial day. mother earth is a beautiful place. -- the human race. their life is short and to the weight, it is either learn to shoot straight or roll the joint, -- it is your fellow man you kill for peace. happy memorial day. think of all the veterans that did not make it. thank you. host: going to carol in florida. good morning. caller: hello.

host: hello do us a favor to mute your tv and then go ahead with your comment or question. caller: i would like to say that my husband was a trooper in the 82nd world war ii. you cannot see war movies, he had nightmares all throughout his life, he lived a long life until he was into his 90's. my experience with him and with talking to other people would be that the service does a wonderful job in going and having a citizen go from a citizen to a soldier. but i really think they need to think very hard about the reverse and having to boot camp if you will going back from soldier to citizen.

and having the support system for as long as a particular service person needs it. they seem to just be left loose and have defense -- have to fend for themselves. i think the army can do better for the people who have served and have a real, serious program to help those people. all of them, get back into civilian life. host: ok we touch on that a little bit about the transition into civilian life. do you want to address or can turns? guest: i think the act that does -- that was passed last year does exactly what she wanted it says even if you are not enrolled in v.a. health care we will take care of. if you have a mental -- take care of you. if you have a mental health care issue can go to a hospital and we will cover that. that is not in the act clement

but it is what carol talked about. transition -- to implement but that is what carol talked about. transition in the military area let me go back to what she said. we do a great job of ringing young people -- bringing young people in and help them become professional airmen, soldiers, coast guard men, but we could do a better job with the transition now. there's a number of laws that have touched on this and they have added various transition timing work. the problem is, people are working right up to the end of their service. until the day they step out of uniform. they are interested in doing their mission. they do not have the full attention until they are out and bear are ashton of how we could do the transition better. -- questions of how we could do the transition better. i would encourage listeners to take a look at the pack -- pack act and what they think could be

done better. host: we do a whole segment on that. one day you wear the uniform and the next time -- the next day you are not. or you may be moving on to your next career. it is an entirely different world. guest: i thought i was well-adjusted but when i came out of the community i was not ready. you step outside of the community -- listen to john who lost the previous guys he is still thinking about them. how many of us can say that about the citizen can be. it is a remarkable group of americans. host: michael in virginia good morning. caller: 20 years retired military i served two terms overseas. once overtired, i struggled in civilian life even though after

four years, i had a degree and i was doing really well. i finally realize that i need to go to the v.a. and talk to someone. i voluntarily went. with a long story short, it was a disaster. the reason why, they put me with a contractor, psychiatrist or whatever. i was in one of my sessions i started talking about things going on with my daughter. i voluntarily went to it. i now know it is a psych ward and they get me for the weekend. this was seven years ago and i retired in 1997 after 20 years. i left that place without any help, without any solutions. i ended up pretty much just taking care of myself on my own alone it. i guess with mental strength of my own -- my own.

i guess with mental strength of my own. i decided to go buy a gun. never bought a gun in my life. i -- the guy said you cannot buy a gun because you were in a mental institution. i said what are you talking about? he said the v.a.. and what i am going through now is -- they have charged me with the felony and i am going through the process of maybe going to jail because of the v.a. and how i was treated. i understand about people coming in and -- calling in and talking about contractors and you probably have a different spin on this but as far as i am concerned i would never go back to the v.a. or any kind of mental health issues again. i don't know if i'm going to even make it through this. host: we will give you a chance for general stone to comment. guest: i'm not sure that i have

a different view than you do. i think is a big bureaucracy we do not do everything right. sometimes we have the wrong provider matched to you and that sounds like -- that is exactly what happened to you. i will tell you that help is still here. there is a veteran justice system which is whoever is taking care of your felony charge -- you should ask your attorney to ask about the veteran justice is the -- justice system. it allows us to help you work through these things. thousands of veterans get that support each year and you are eligible for that. i cannot undo what was in upper but i can tell you there are people like me in the 363,000 people at the v.a. that want to get this right and we are still hager -- still here to help you in the best way we can.

whether you come in through the storefront, and blood tory sites, or emergency room, we would -- or emergency -- ambulatory sites, or emergency room, we would like to help you. host: you reflect on leadership and saving lives during the covid-19 pandemic. some of your responses today that like you could work on another book of other issues you addressed your term in the v.a.. guest: i'm one of the guys that only wrote 1500 words in school. but it was the reflection on this that made me want to write and lead. i am the first combat veteran that led the v.a. in 30 years and i led the v.a. health care as acting understaffed area thank you for this time with you and thank you for allowing me this time and i thank you for

the listeners with the great questions. host: thank you so much. still laura head on this memorial day. -- still more a hand on this memorial day. -- we ask you how will you cebrate and honor memorial day ? the different time zones are organized by different numbe they are listed on your screen. we will get to your calls mentarily. during the break we will show you a clip from saturday by president kamala harris giving the commencement speech to the class of 2023. and she said the world has drasticay changed since the first day on campus and they e graduating into an increasingly settled wld. they mention covid-19,ussia's invasion of ukraine, and the

rise ochina. you can also visit our website c-span.org. as we await your call here is part of the speech from saturday it was way. >> -- saturday at west point. >> your first day off-campus -- send your first day on campus, the world has drastically change. i want in a century pandemic took millions of lives. and disrupted lives for billions more. in america ended our longest war , and russia launched the first major ground war in europe since world war ii. looking forward to the future it is clear you graduate into an increasingly unsettled world where long-standing principles are at risk.

in ukraine, russia's aggression is attack on the lives and freedom of the ukrainian people and an attack on international rules and norms that have served as the foundation of international security and prosperity generations. in the indo pacific, china is rapidly modernizing its military. it is threatening the freedom of the seas and rules of international commerce. at the same time, autocrats have become bolder, the threat of terrorism persists, and an accelerating crime it -- climate crisis continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods. all a threat to global stability and security. here is how i see it, in the

face of all of these challenges, america plays a singular role of leadership. cadets, global security and global prosperity depend on the leadership of the united states of america. a strong america remains indispensable to the world. our democratic ideas of freedom and liberty inspire billions. our vibrant economy creates unmatched innovation and opportunity and drives local growth. -- global growth. our allies and partners allow us

to build coalitions and catalyze global action in a way that no other nation can. our military is the strongest in the world. our military is a force that underwrites global stability and our national security . it is this pillar of our strength where you, cadets, have dedicated yourself to lead. essential to our strength is the role that you play to extending our nation's highest idea. announcer: washington journal continues. host: up until 10:00 eastern

this morning we are live of the vietnam veterans memorial here on your screen with the view of the statues near the veterans memorial, the vietnam veterans memorial in washington and across the river. also live at arlington national cemetery for the remainder of his program on this memorial day asking you the question how you celebrate memorial day? eastern/central (202) 748-8000, mountain/pacific (202) 748-800, active & former military (202) 748-8002. the ground is a little wet in the nation's capital. overnight rain so it may hold off both in the nation's capital across the river at arlington national where president biden will lay the wreath on two of the unknowns at 11:00 eastern this morning. we will have live coverage of

that as well. our first call, steve is in st. louis. good morning. caller: good morning. excuse me. i'm a little choked up i don't even know why. every year, of a 75-year-old, former infantry man in vietnam 1969, i was fortunate to come back in one piece. today, my wife and i will be visiting 19 great size -- great sites -- gravesites at jefferson memorial. the list keeps getting bigger every year we go. i really -- this is so fulfilling to me to pay my respects to look down at each of the gravesites and think of the memories that i have with some family to our vietnam veterans who were killed over there.

it is very fulfilling. thank you. host: thank you for your call. this is from national geographic on memorial day their headline, why do we celebrate memorial day ? should it return to its roots? not to be confused with veterans day this federal holiday honors those that lost their lives in service to this country. many americans, memorial day signifies the start of the summer season as well as long -- much-needed long weekend such as sporting events and barbecue. but that was not the purpose of the day originally and its evolution over the years has sparked controversy. memorial day commemorates those who lost their lives serving the country unlike veterans day on november 11 which celebrates all people who have served in the military. at the end of the civil war when it was known as declaration day, the holiday was marked by

parades, ceremonies, and placing of flowers on grades for fallen soldiers. but they write that some critics have complained that holidays have drifted too far from revel's and fun to be restored to a respect full service. national geographic writes here is how the holiday got started and why it has sparked debate throughout its history. that is available at national geographic.com. eastern/central (202) 748-8000, mountain/pacific (202) 748-8001, and active & former military (202) 748-8002. in boston, margaret. good morning. you are on. go ahead with your comment. caller: hello this is -- yes,

what you want me to tell you what i think? host: yes, we do. caller: my father fought in world war i. -- he went over to france and then -- he was in the army of occupation. when he came back, but a delight it was to see him, but he died. i went -- i am going to his grave today and i will sit there and say i love you, father. and i'm going to try to put a plate -- pretty flower on it. you do not need a flower when you love somebody. host: thank you for that. baltimore, maryland. tom is next. how will you spend memorial day? caller: i'm listening to your show right

friends of mine were on the uss scorpion. and589 and she was lost with all hands, 99 people in 1968. i'd like to draw attention to that. they were in the same squadron i was in i want to remember the folks on that boat and we still think about them. host: i appreciate you sharing that story. (202) 748-8000, (202) 748-8001, (202) 748-8002. a look at the tomb of the unknowns at arlington national cemetery at present biden will be there in the service of the just read length and the commas by the president will get underway about 11:00 a.m..

william in pennsylvania, good morning. caller: thank you for all the military people out there today for all your service especially my grandfather and my cousin who came back from afghanistan and had pts and ended up having a drug overdose. i would like to say thank you to them. i would like to say that this war should not be going. we shouldn't be doing all of this minute kills all americans for a pointless war. this isn't going to win for anyone. thank you. host: our camera operators getting a good look walking down the length come part of the like in veterans memorial. west virginia, paul, you are on

the air. caller: hi, today is a different memorial day for me. my great uncle was shot down during world war ii in papua new guinea. you never -- they never recovered his remains. i just want to thank the military for still caring. we have no cemetery to go to. host: is he remembered anywhere? is there a marker or monument to him or his crew anywhere? caller: yeah, his name is on the wall in the philippines in manila. host: all right, thank you for that. larry is next up in florida, go ahead. caller: good morning.

last night about 9:00 p.m., i was going through the channels i think i went on channel two or three and number three is wps and number two is wchfd and they had a memorial program on. it was beautiful. they talked about world war ii, they talked about the korean war but they skipped over the vietnam war and then they went to afghanistan. i am a vietnam vet and i was so pissed off that they skipped over the vietnam war. is it because there was too many people killed over the vietnam war? and too many wounded? they said there was 32,000 people that were wounded in the afghanistan war and over 4000

killed over there. in the vietnam war, there was like 130,000, the guys that were wounded and there was like 62,000 men that were killed there. that was just an 11 year war. why in the hell did they skip over the vietnam people? host: the program made no mention of why they left that out? caller: no, either i'm missing something there or they just skipped over it. host:host: we will continue to take your calls on how you'll celebrate or commemorate this memorial day. (202) 748-8000 east coast and central line, (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific, and for

active and former military, use (202) 748-8002. in the week leading up to memorial day, members of congress vote from the floor, talking about what memorial day means to them and their constituents. here is democratic congresswoman gwen moore of wisconsin. [video clip] >> as a member of a family whose relatives and brothers and dad and others who have served in the service, memorial day weekend is a very -- is very important to me. as our nation prepares to celebrate this memorial day, i am so pleased to join my colleagues in the congressional black caucus on the floor to recall the great sacrifice of all that we asked but on the uniform. memorial day is a stark reminder of the cost of that service, as a sacrifice that comes with

taking that oath. there are a few other callings in life as noble or selfless as the sacrifice of a member of the military. we owe them so much. because of this sacrifice, this distinguished body is able to gather today, tomorrow and the next day under the e pluribus unum in this chamber. because of their sacrifices, there are so many more who are inspired to put on the uniform and will do so in the coming days. well memorial day reminds us to celebrate those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, memorial day also urges us to do something active for those veterans that are serving now, that are standing up our

freedoms and liberties. so i am tremendously proud of the work house democrats have done to continue in this regard, efforts like the sergeant first class keith robinson promised to address comprehensive the pact act to ensure it fulfills a promise providing generations of veterans with the care and benefits they have earned. and deserve. this new law creates a strong framework for expanding and extending eligibility for v.a. health care for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their time in uniform. for too long, veterans have had to fight just to get benefits they earned for exposure to some dangerous toxins while they were in uniform. host: other members of congress

on this memorial day -- veteran marsha blackburn of tennessee tweeting on memorial day -- congressman eric sorensen says -- and we go back to your calls. shreveport, louisiana, a vietnam that. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. i am in 80-year-old vietnam europe and i got to be sergeant

in 1965. i've been getting a little busy lately and i had to fight for over 30 something years to get a little help and i'm a disabled vet now but everything is going good now. i had it pretty bad. i wish they hadn't done the vietnam veterans so bad. people asked me why went in the first place. i thought i should. it's been a nightmare and they really don't treat the vietnam veterans very good lately. host: you enlisted or were drafted into the war? caller: i was a heck of a football player i had 17 scholarships but i didn't go to

school because they drafted two of my classmates, this was in high school, my birthday is in november and they drafted two of my high school buddies. that's why i volunteered. i went to air force instead of the army. i don't regret it. yet a lot of kids raised by women and the boys need to go something like the military to give you a little manhood, little toughness. host: barry next up in florida, good morning. caller: good morning.

i am the voice of the living dead. i am in a hospital i've been fighting since 1967. trying to get help. host: this is from your military service? caller: yes, i joined in 1965, 1966 and 1967 and for the fifth time, i'm in a hospital with health conditions and i've been denied health since i got out in 1967. host: why? caller: the way i'm celebrating today is i'm celebrating the sinking of my ship, the uss frankie evans. she was sunk in the dead of night in 1969 and lost 74 men and i only just learned of the

scorpion. how can we continue to treat veterans like this? it's impossible to fathom. i thank you for your show. i turn the tv on where i am in the hospital bed and there you were with the phone number for me to tell you what we are witnessing and seeing. i am the voice of the living dead. thank you, sir. host: barry in florida come appreciate your call. jeanette is in missouri and please turn down your television and go ahead with your comment. caller: hi, i just wanted to say thank you to every veteran. host: jeanette, mute your volume and go ahead with your comment. caller: i'm sorry, i just wanted to say my heartfelt thanks to every veteran including my

husband, my dad and my two uncles. one of them shook so bad he was sent to a hospital we never got to see him. there is the public television station last night and they said 60,000 were killed when we say how many people die, i know they go straight to heaven. jesus said there is new greater thing than to give up one's life for your brothers. that's my consolation when ice see these terrible figures of war. most important, the joint chiefs of staff last night, i don't

know what you call them but one of them gave a speech that was just fantastic. i wish the democrats would get him to help run with or for president biden. he was wonderful. i don't know and anybody heard the strength and the patriotism of that man. he is wonderful. get him to run for president. god bless all the families of these veterans. they are just remarkable. they've all got a good place to go. host: all right, we will bring you a story a previous caller had mentioned. he was aboard the uss frank evanson served during vietnam and told us about the sinking of that ship.

this is from the st. charles county veterans museum.

that is from the st. charles county veterans museum on the sinking unintentionally of the uss frank evans in 1969. good morning to ruth in sterling heights, michigan, former military, good morning. ruth in michigan, you are on the air. caller: i've listened to a lot of the veterans that were in vietnam. recently, one in the afghan war. there is something to gave a lot of the guys ptsd, that gave us

hallucinations and everything else when i was in the military in the 1960's. it was called lsd. i was wondering if this cia is starting to use that again for the guys going to afghanistan. that caused all kinds of damage and it causes ptsd also that's one drug that does not get out of the system. i found that out through my neurologist. i did not know that until then. host: clarence and medford, new york, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? today is memorial day and we have the vietnam veterans memorial and it's not a day of shopping and barbecuing. we do services at calverton national cemetery in calverton,

new york. then we go to a monument, a huge monument for vietnam veterans that was built 30 years ago. we read the names of all the veterans, over 200 names of veterans killed in vietnam and suffolk county, new york during the war. i would like to give a shout out to all the families. i was with the second battalion, 22nd infantry in vietnam 66-67 and there was 28 of us on a wall that didn't make us home. we've been asked since we've been home, about 30 of us left from a company. we are called the original boat people because we activated the fourth infantry in 1965 and went

over on a boat, we were the first ones over there to pioneer. host: how long were you in vietnam? caller: i was in vietnam 9.5 months and then i went to fort dix and i was a d.i. down there and then i slipped back home. i just came back home. host: thank you for your service and thanks for calling in and taking care and remembering your fallen comrades on memorial day. patchogue, new york is next, hello there. caller: thank you. happy memorial day to all the veterans and we thank you for your services. the gentleman from florida who called, he was probably watching the national memorial service

from washington, d.c. last night with a full orchestra and a lot of military. they opened up the show with a salute to the 50th anniversary of the troops being in vietnam. it was on pbs and i'm sure he can find a show on pbs.org . they went vietnam and world war ii and work their way through to the others. i understand him being upset but i believe he may have tuned in after the show had started. my thanks to all the families and all the veterans out there for your service. host: a member of congress, len thompson, republican from pennsylvania spoke on the floor and gave his observations about memorial day. [video clip] >> mr. speaker, rice today to recognize memorial day. our nation's greatness was earned by the sacrifices of a few so the freedom and liberty would come to all.

this weekend, we remember their sacrifices and their service. every year, on the last monday of may, people across the nation gather in town squares at memorials and cemeteries for our fallen heroes to pay tribute to those who gave it all. this nation is united by our liberties and freedoms and our men and women in uniform took an oath to protect and defend. we will always honors our brothers and sisters who fought in battle to uphold our way of life we never stop searching for those who are missing. may god always carry them and all our service members in the palm of his hand. this memorial day, as we raise the stars & stripes, let us remember that our freedom is thanks to those who serve in those who died in sacrifice. host: looking at the washington

post opinion page from the weekend on this memorial day, take a moment to remember service and sacrifice.

host: getting your thoughts on memorial day, (202) 748-8000 the line for the eastern and central time zone, (202) 748-8001 the mountain and pacific region, and for current military, active performer, (202) 748-8002. on that line and rocks very,

massachusetts, ronald, go ahead. caller: happy memorial day to everybody. i've got military family, got my uncle from world war ii who taught me to be a soldier and then it goes on down to my uncle named after theater roosevelt and my father was named after george washington carvey and down to my uncle who was in the korean war conflict. then my brother who served in vietnam and myself. we served like two years and 18 months. i've been through a lot of stuff. i was on the uss mitchell in just going to korea for 16 days and it sunk and everything on their. host: go ahead, we are

listening. caller: i've been hit with so much. i'm 83 years old now. my brother is five years older than me and i live in california. host: we appreciate you sharing your story this morning. anthony, former military in brooklyn, good morning. caller: yes, good morning. i'm just going to comment. my deepest respect and gratitude and everything to everyone that served. your article before from national geographic was well written. memorial day is about memorializing, it's not a happy day. it's not a veterans day. that's another day to give thanks and respect. it's taken too lightly in this country today. i have family going way back

that served in world war ii and all the branches of the military , the army, the navy, the marine corps, the air force. also against the nazis and the japanese in the pacific. my father, rest his soul in peace was at -- at iwo jima. he was at hogan bill, guadalcanal. there is family on the other site as well. others were in the pacific and europe, d-day. i can keep going. vietnam, it's hard. afghanistan, iraq. anyway, the articles will written and thank you for

pointing me to reading that. host: quincy, massachusetts, go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i've been commenting on this holiday for a few years for -- for a few days now. lacey pulled out shopping and laughing they will have a cookout and they don't even know what. just a holiday today for them. i'm a 65-66 vietnam veteran. there are things i don't want to talk about but it really bothers me. i appreciate kia's and sit back and reflect. don't surround smiling and having a good time. there is a lot of is not having a good time and thank you for taking my call. host: winchester, illinois, lee

is on eric veterans line, go ahead. caller: are you with me? i'm -- you had a general on the program who collected the bodies of veterans. we have at least 250 veterans, 100 lost on our border with mexico. they were lost in the battle of when a vista. one of these my great granddad. i spent today thinking about him but i cannot visit his grave. i understand the mass grave of our soldiers there has been plowed over for an agricultural college. our government wants to ignore these american soldiers that were lost at the border. i don't understand this.

i wish somebody would do something about it. that general needs to get his story straight. that's all i have to say, thank you. host: about half an hour left of your phone calls and comments on this memorial day. how will you commemorate memorial day? (202) 748-8000 the line for the east and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 mountain and pacific time, and for those of you current or former military, (202) 748-8002. error cameras are liveowt arlington national cemetery. the president and misses biden will be arriving there this morning for the wreath-laying ceremony to begin at 11:00 a.m. eastern followed immediately thereafter by comments from the president and others at the amphitheater at arlington national cemetery. keep your fingers crossed that the rain will hold off but

regardless of the weather and the time and the soldiers of the old guard, keeping guard and keeping watch over the tomb of the unknowns at arlington national. sheila is in glen carbon, illinois, good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to say that it was very nice to see the merchant marines honored last night at the concert on the national mall of the capitol. this is the first time they have been recognized. they will also lay the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in honor of the merchant marines. it's a very proud day. my father was a world war ii merchant marine and was drafted into the army for the korean war. it was very touching to see.

the gentleman in the audience, i know several of them. when they got a standing ovation, it was a proud moment. i think it's a wonderful kids absently wonderful they recognize them. i wish they had played the official song of the merchant marine. they say that's one of the catches tunes of all military songs. host: as you mentioned your father's service in korea, our cameras are over the korean war memorial off the mall pure in washington. we appreciate your call this morning. caller: thank you very much. host: to knoxville and live video from the korean memorial. good morning, go ahead with your comment. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call and thanks for doing this.

i am a vietnam veteran who served in vietnam 1967-68. i have a cib combat infantry badge but i will be emceeing the lawn memorial service sponsored by the dorothy mitchell kincaid beloved community. these ladies are cancer survivors and they say the lawn was a cemetery. it was sponsored by alcoa aluminum for african-americans to have a site to be buried. some of eric veterans from blunt county are buried there. host: you said you will be emceeing the event there today? caller: yes, at 12 noon. host: how many years of you been

doing that. caller: dorothy mitchell came on my television show when i had announced that i will be doing it. it's dating back i believe 15 years. somewhere like that. host: it sounds like a labor of love that you love to do every year. caller: yes, i'm hoping to do that and right now going to va for the first time. they are treating me well here in knoxville, tennessee. i am over 80 years old. i have already gotten my v.a. card and everything. it has meant a whole lot to me. yes, we will be doing that. i would also like to make mention that there are those who

gave the ultimate sacrifice and what i mean by that is those who received war wounds from the war , whichever war you want to mention, then came home and suffered from the war wounds and then gave the ultimate sacrifice. let's not forget them. host: glad you did and thanks for calling this morning. kelly calling from dallas, texas good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for your program. this is one of my favorite shows. thank you for c-span and thank you for all the veterans and especially those of the goldstar families. my great great grandfather, he refused to fight, against the native american indians and --

in the american indian war. he was actually burned alive at the stake because he refused to fight. he thought it was wrong. he knew that america was not agreeing to the treaties against the first nation peoples. in my father actually got two commissions -- it was the naval academy. but he did not pass because he did not have 20/20 vision. ironically, my grandfather, his father had 20/17. after that, they agreed to take people with 2020 vision with corrective lenses so my father went into the army.

he was between north korea and the vietnam war. he became a helicopter pilot as well as was at the aircraft navigator thing where they land the planes. anyway, our family has been long for america in different wars and different things weather was conflict or peace time. on my mothers's side of the family, william sturgis, i believe that was the one that died, being burned alive at the stake, his granddaughter or great-granddaughter, her family went on to settle waco, texas. the home she grew up in became a

state or national historical site. i learned that recently. i visited my family, my parents a couple of days ago for the moral day weekend. -- for the memorial day weekend but it's very special to our family. host: thank you for that. this is an opinion piece by john waters who has a headline

host: david is a vietnam that in illinois, go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to mention my unit in vietnam, 1965-1966. it was the first of the 18th vindman trait. just of the 18th infantry. we had to learn to be soldiers. it took at least six months. i think every infantryman things about his time and what he could've done better. that's been my haunt over the years. thank you. host: bonney lake, washington is next and lori go ahead.

caller: hi there, thank you for taking my call. i'm a goldstar mom. my father went to the naval academy and my husband was in the navy but my son served with the marines for two years and that he died of sudden cardiac arrest on a training run. we have since found that that was almost 10 years ago we have since found out that cardiac issues is leading cause of nontraumatic death in the military. for memorial day, we have a display of flags in her front yard of those who have died from heart issues since our son died. it's up to 121 names. we have started a foundation that's working to add electrocardiograms to the medical articles for recruits so they find hidden heart conditions that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest.

that's through the lion park euros foundation. we're are also going to the national cemetery and we will be enjoying the ceremony there and visiting her son's grave. host: thank you for that. david is next from yokum, texas, go ahead. caller: good morning. i would like to tell you that some good comes from military service. i was in the air force for four years. i received the gi bill $160 per month. when i was discharged in 1952, i was able to go to medical school , completed my medical training and served as a physician for 55 years in my town of yokum. there are some good results of

military service. i was blessed and thank you. host: thanks for that. our lines are open for this memorial day morning and we are here until about 10:00 eastern as we usually are. at 11:00 a.m., we will take alive to arlington national cemetery, the wreathlaying at the tomb of the unknowns with resident and misses biden and remarks after that from the president and others. (202) 748-8000 is the line for those of you in the eastern and central time zones, (202) 748-8001 for mountain and pacific time, and current, active, or former military is (202) 748-8002. how will you celebrate this memorial day? sylvia, north carolina, you are on. caller: yes, sir. let's hope today would be

memorial day that people can get together and decide this debt crisis. the first thing it does is take away the veterans pay and social security people who pay taxes for 50 or 60 years. i think there is other government fat that can be cut sides are veterans. this is the very day i think to recognize that, thank you. host: winterville, north carolina is next, good morning. caller: hello, this is my first time calling. i thank all of the veterans who served. my dad served in england during world war ii. he was in the air force and went to the battle of the bulge. he served in the artillery squad as well.

my father-in-law also served in italy in the infantry and thank the lord they both came out of that alive. i wanted to thank all of the veterans. my wife and i served with the assemblies of god and missionaries in the pacific for 30 some years. we serve three years in guam, nine years in the marshall islands and for your solomon islands. in the solomon islands, we lived in new georgia which was north of guadalcanal. the village we lived in was about six miles away from a town that was a japanese runway during world war ii and it was heavily fought over. a lot of men lost their lives there but while we were there, we had several elderly men.

with tears in his eyes, he said tell your people, tell your moms and dads thank you for your service and keeping us liberated from the japanese. i just want everyone to know that it's with those listening that the islands of the pacific still have a lot of respect for americans because whatever forces did to liberate them from the japanese. i just want to thank the veterans of all the wars for their service, god bless america, thank you. host: thank you for sharing that story with us. david is in mannheim pennsylvania on our veterans line, good morning. caller: good morning, i'd like to talk about the people saying

happy memorial day. that term has bothered me for a long time. we need to express memorial day in a more respectful way. i think there be some type of national movement to stop these stores and these different businesses enclosed businesses and observe the holiday for what it was intended. the other comment i have is, your question at the top of your screen is how will you celebrate memorial day? i believe you should change the word celebrate to observe. it's really not a celebration, thank you. host: that is a fair criticism and we appreciate your call. mark is in massachusetts.

go ahead. caller: good morning. i will be celebrating, not celebrating but remembering two guys i went to high school with, kevin houston who was the chief petty officer, navy seal and he was on that chinook that went down in afghanistan come i think it was 2011. host: right. he was a high school friend of yours? caller: he was in my brothers class. i knew him but he wasn't a friend of mine but he was generally good guy since we were young. he was always the kind of guy you want protecting us. he was very calm, easy-going guy.

another classmate, glenn milken who was u.s. air force and didn't dine the line of service podiatry pancreatic cancer. he was a fighter pilot. i don't know, it may have contributed to his cancer but he was only 30 when he passed away. thank you. host: this is from the washington post this morning, and angle on memorial day.

we spoke earlier this week about ukrainian funding to a veteran of the afghan war and we asked him if he believed the u.s. will maintain its support of that ukraine were effort. this is what he had to say. [video clip] >> just like in any war, it

always comes down to it's going to work until we the people decide it's not going to work. when there is popular support, we can win this. we've seen it in vietnam and afghanistan. i'm very worried that over time, people will use the stomach for war that sways important to bring into a rapid conclusion as soon as possible. i understand the budapest accord and i understand the obligation to a country that gave up its nuclear arms, the third-largest nuclear power in the world. that was with the understanding that the united kingdom and in us and russia would protect them if they were invaded and ironically russia. i understand we universally decided to support them and watch the allianz grow and to watch that we are standing up against a russian invasion of

europe. we are doing exactly what we're supposed to do but it's important we bring this to his rep at a conclusion as possible. host: less than tenets of your calls in this memorial day morning. north carolina, it is deborah, former military, go ahead. caller: hello. host: good morning. caller: thank you guys and everybody else for our military, every one of them. my daughter served 29.5 years in the guard and army. my husband served in the vietnam war and 66 and 67. but we are having some problems. he goes to the v.a. and he is getting help. he doesn't want to go to the v.a.. he gets so aggravated with it. he's had bladder cancer, his

arms and he said stents put in his heart and his feet look like they're gonna fall off. with these guys that foot in the vietnam war, they need recognition. they feel like they've just been left out. all i want to say is try to get them some more help. he talked to the agent orange people but he doesn't get anywhere with that. my daughter is getting help but he can't because his records were burned up in maryland. they were burned up and he doesn't have any proof to say he was in thailand or vietnam. all he's got is isdd-214's so we are trying to figure out something here to get more help.

my daughter has to take off from work and she runs up and down the mountain all the time with him. they are in one doctor's office to another. host: thanks for calling this morning and thank -- and sorry for your experience. a couple of comments on memorial day from twitter --

host: lynn in maryland is next. caller: thank you very much and thank you for the wonderful gentle man who answered the phone. thank you for working today. i appreciate you so much. i just think -- i just thank all of the survivors and family members of olivera personnel has served and have died. especially for the gentleman who had delayed injuries. all my family are buried in arlington. they were not active duty when they died. i have others who were. for barry who called from florida who's had trouble getting help, i would just like to say and suggest he get in

touch with the national service officer through the paralyzed veterans of america or disabled american veterans. he fees in a va hospital, he can ask for pva personnel that has an office in the hospital and they can get him even if is not paralyzed. the same for the lady whose husband's records were burned up in the fire, isn't that always the case? could i say something for my friend ms. pat in texas? her brother's name is on the vietnam wall. she is really having a tough time so please remember in your prayers. she is in her 80's in her 80's and this memorial day is hard on her and she remembers that her brother never received the letters they sent him. for all of our folks out there,

remember, don't give up. if you are a veteran, most veterans especially vietnam veterans, you are exposed to agent orange. get in touch with the national service officer through one of the veterans agencies. they are there to help you get your benefits. it's never too late. for widows and family members, my heart goes out to you and you my deepest sympathy and respect. i thank god for those who stood up for our country and gave their lives so that we can be free because that's what they believe they were doing no matter what somebody else's opinion is. . they fought for us. host: lots of good information and observation there, we appreciate that as we look at the vietnam veterans memorial. we appreciate their work in our crew is there and our crew is at arlington national cemetery for

this morning's ceremony. in detroit, your next honor veterans line. caller: my grandparents are from the world war ii generation. republicans and democrats from the generation very patriotic. members of that generation are gone. they were on apology chores and lack of patriotism and the democratic party. it's a fact of life we have to live with. this is what we are dealing with. we need to face that and put america first.

maybe that's a contrite thing that people say nowadays. this is really an appalling term when it comes to the democratic party. host: ramon is next from georgia. caller: i would like to celebrate or observe the veterans day. i'm a black woman and i know the black veterans had a different experience. i watched the movie coming out about a black unit that fought against the germans and they had a hard time with their actual officers and the people he fought with because they were black they were saved in the red

tails save them and they fought closely with the all black soldiers. i want to let all the black veterans no. i know you went through way more atrocities than just with the enemy. i want to appreciate the black soldiers, thank you. host: we will go to barbara from marilyn. how will you observe this memorial day? caller: listening to c-span and i've learned quite a bit. i'm a vet and i want to make it quick so that others can get it. want to tell people, especially the gentleman is having a problem now. unfortunately, he didn't know beforehand about when he was seeking medical care, he was having a problem.