up today? caller: i don't know their names. i know their faces. they were good guys. i spent a year in vietnam, 1966 -1967. that's all i have to say. host:host: do know when you sawe fighter pilots or why them in particular? caller: it was a night mission. they never came back. it has been on my mind. host: thanks for calling in today. it is a good day to remember

them. thanks to all of you in this first hour. we will keep your your stories on this extended washington journal and also pick up issues about the ba and about the military. up next we will be joined by reporter patricia kime talk about some of her latest investigations and later a conversation with jim whaley about his polling of veterans issues around the country. stick around for those conversations. we will be right back.

>> this week on the c-span network, the house and senate return for the first time since the election for legislative business and votes as they prepare for thepcoming 119th congress in the new year. house and senate republicans are holding leadership elections. house gop will select their nominee for speaker. senate republicans will select their new leader to replace mitch mcconnell. newly elected house members and senators will be in d.c. for orientation. watch live on the c-span networks or on c-span now, our ee mobile app. also head ever to c-span.org for scheduling information or to watch live or on-demand any time. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.

c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store. rouse through our latest collection of c-span products, apparel, books, home to core, and accessories. there is something for every c-span fan. shop now or any time at c-spanshop.org. >> for the past 10 years tess owens has covered extremism, disinformation, and politics for several nationally known publications. in the october 8, 2024 issue of new york magazine she wrote an article with the title inside the patriot wing. she talked about several of the 1400 january 6 defendants spending time in the district of columbia jail two miles from the u.s. capitol. this is the story of how she got to know several men who have been convicted of violent

crimes. we asked tess owens how she got access to these folks behind bars and what are they saying. york magazine article "insidew the patriot wing." on book notes plus. book notes plus is available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> washington journal continues. host: patricia kime joins us. she focuses on military veterans and health care. i want to start with your recent story on who might be va secretary in a second trump administration. who is in the mix for the job? guest: i spoke with the previous va secretary right after the election and he likes to say it

is a full's errand to figure out who it is. we do know that former va secretary robert wilkie is very much involved with the trump transition team and he is leading the defense transition at dod. he has been at the forefront of some veterans policy issues and being an advisor through this entire last four years. he has been working on va issues behind the scenes so he is definitely a person to consider. some other people are interesting. there is dan gade, former v.a. for the state of virginia, he directed the state of virginias v.a. he is a retired army colonel who is an amputee.

his name has been put out there. there is darren selman, retired air force officer who has for decades been at the forefront of community care reform and getting v.a. care outside of v.a. strengthening the v.a. facilities but also giving vets more options. host: in the first trump administration, what trump was looking for in his v.a. secretary then and what he might try to build on? guest: president trump, the mission act was signed under him and that was an expansion of the v.a. choice program. v.a. choice was a response to a scandal overweight times over veterans waiting in phoenix and elsewhere, not being able to get

care. they passed the choice act and president trump expanded it, which shortened wait times for access to care and also drive times so it gave veterans figure options for just going to the v.a.. i think we'll see some focus on that. also a look at the structure of the v.a.. aging facilities. moving to certain parts of the sunbelt. leaving old v.a.'s in the northeast. i know there'll be an effort to look at the structure of the v.a. and see how they can make it work better for veterans. host: when the biden administration came in whether

parts of v.a. programs they tried to unwind from the first trump administration and will we see some of that come back or some biden programs unwind by the next trump administration? guest: one of the concerns has been the cost of community care. community care now is 42% of the medical care provided by v.a. host: what is community care? guest: that is when a veteran cannot get access at the local v.a. so they get a referral and they can go and it is paid for by v.a. but it is private. one of secretary dennis mcdonough's top priorities was to rein in the expansion of community care by considering that now veterans have access to telehealth and may the current metric, those 20 days to get a

primary care appointment were not as effective and they need to be redone. he was not able to do that. community care has become a large part. we will see a continuance of that. with any administration there is focuses. the project 2025, the veteran section was written by brooks tucker, former chief of staff at the v.a. under the trump administration. there is focus on hot button issues like lgbtq care, abortion , and how broad unions are at the v.a. that is definitely thought to be a focus of the next administration. host: we are talking veterans issues with patricia kime of military.com. phone lines are the same

throughout the program. veterans and their families, it is (202) 748-8000 cap active military (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002. we will also look for your text messages and tweets. folks are calling in. the story i wanted to get you to explain to viewers and it is a long investigation you did on this. canceled appointments, unexplained mixups, veterans facing challenges getting mental health care. what did you find in your investigation? guest: we started hearing stories of veterans having trouble getting appointments, once they got appointments for mental health care facing unexplained cancellations. early on in the early 20 20's he

had the pandemic. cancellations were more common. host: are these mostly face-to-face cancellations -- the illustration that goes with the story shows a veteran working at their computer. guest: a lot of it was due meetings. that was a theme. also people going into a ba and being told you do not have an appointment or the provider is not here and we have to reschedule. that was a concern. we did hear these stories as recently as 2023 and this year. it is a continuing thing. the v.a. has said they have brought down the level of cancellations down to 8% of the facilities -- 8% of appointments, but for a veteran who is experiencing a mental health issue a cancellation can

be a devastating thing. host: so about one out of every 10 appointments scheduled gets canceled. how does that compare to the private sector? guest: i tried to get at that. it is hard to figure that out because it is not a centralized system. i talked with experts who said it seems to be a little high in terms of cancellations because it is such a large system and there are so many veterans seeking appointments. host: this comes at a time the v.a. has been pushing the prices hotlines to get veterans to reach out if they are in crisis. this runs counter it sounds like to what they are trying to do on mental health. guest: it does. they did a huge hiring surge last year and one of the focus was mental health providers.

they scaled back a little on hiring but they are trying to stay very focused on mental health. we talked to some folks who work inside the v.a.. they said part of the issue is provider shortages and kneeled back up if somebody goes on holiday there is no one to take those appointments. it is a problem and does need to be addressed. host: let me bring in some calls already for you. this is jerry out of long island. you are with patricia kime of military.com. go ahead. caller: caller: good morning, how are you. i would just like to say you are a fantastic person. i can tell you care a lot about people. i wanted to make mention of a thing the knights of columbus put on recently called the honor flight. my father was a vietnam vet.

it was -- he said he had the time of his life and i really appreciate it. host: for folks who do not know what an honor flight is, could you explain it real quickly? caller: they take a bunch of veterans from around the united states and they fly them down to d.c. and it is like a second home coming for the veterans because when they originally came back from vietnam they were treated horribly. they take them around washington, d.c., they give them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. they take them to the monuments, tomb of the unknown soldier. it made my father's -- it made his day. host: what was your father's

name? caller: my father is also named jerry. host: thanks for telling us about jerry. have you ever experienced an honor flight? guest: i am blessed to live in a gorgeous city and running on the mall on saturday mornings, you run by the world war ii memorial and see these honor flights, the buses come in with the veterans. little-known thing. for years senator robert dold, even until the very last of his days used to get up on saturday mornings and would sit at the world war ii memorial and basically welcome the honor flight people. he stayed there for two or three hours. host: not that it was scheduled, anyone who came. guest: anyone who came. usually there is an honor flight every saturday. host: if you go to the national airport one of the gaetz has all

of the flags up from the various errors of service, world war ii, korea. it seems like that is the main gate they come through when it comes to national. guest: it is an amazing program. it is inspiring to see the buses. host: elizabeth is in new york. you are next. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask if she knows about order the last time trump was in office that he said he would have no trans people in the military serving. is there going to be that same position of his? i have family who served in the military, some of them are no

longer with us. a son who reached the rank of captain and my family -- i am concerned because my granddaughter received one of those racist texts, 15 years old at school on friday saying she would be picked up by a brown van to take her to the plantation to pick cotton and to be ready by a certain time. i am very concerned about the possibility that friends people will not be allowed -- that trans people will not be allowed to serve. not just because they would possibly be in combat, but we have to realize there are trans people who are nurses and doctors and care for others who are in the service.

i would like to know what -- host: let me take the question and listen to patricia kime. guest: i understand your concerns and i would say at the end of the first trump administration trans people were barred from serving in military service. that went through the court system and was put in place. president biden rescinded that on his first day in office. we hear repeatedly that project 2025 is not necessarily the blueprint for the trump administration, but it does specifically say that transgender conditions are not compatible with military service. that is a real possibility.

they've been pretty clear about that. host: we talked about potential v.a. secretaries and a second trump administration. what are your thoughts on the next defense secretary? guest: i am really going to defer because i just do not track the dod as closely as you would think i would. i am very entrenched in covering the defense health agency and military medicine. in terms of the politics of dod i will pass. host: speculation on every cabinet position. it is a speculation game that happens on the turn of every new administration. we have plenty of time to speculate all we know donald trump's -- susie wiles, his campaign manager. we start to look at these other positions. this is ed in florida.

good morning. caller: i would like to ask your guest why there is such a disparity in the v.a. system between the national guard veterans versus the active-duty component veterans. the guard has served right along the active-duty component but when it comes to the veterans care issues, whether it is their premiums are different. i would like if she could address that. by the way, the national guard museum is right across the street from you. host: thanks for the call. national guard. guest: the national guard is a unique animal. it goes to the very heart of the definition of a veteran. in terms of the v.a., a veteran has to have served on active duty for at least 30 days continuously and there is a

bunch of active-duty serving the federal service which is very different than serving at the state component. there are differences and issues there. there would have to be a big policy shift in terms of considering who is a veteran and how those benefits would be changed based on that. host: let me go to john in virginia. line for veterans. good morning. caller: how are you today? host: doing well. you're on with patricia kime. caller: most people join to be a veteran because of our constitution. it means the rule of law, individual rights, and free enterprise. our forefathers chased the english out when we beat them at yorktown to form a continental congress. it took 78 years to hash out the

constitution. these men never had tv or radio. they read roman and greek law and applied it to our constitution which is the greatest piece of paper ever written. in 1789 they ratified it and we became a country. host: bring me to 2024 and veterans issues we are talking about. caller: i am not talking about veterans issues, i am talking about being an american and why we are veterans and why we have to protect the constitution. i do not want to talk to any pundit or bureaucrat inside the beltway that knows everything that spent 30 years getting a degree or writing a paper and knowing everything. you saw what happened the last election. people inside the beltway are never never land. thank you and happy veterans day. host: that is john in mclean, virginia. about 20 minutes left with patricia kime.

a long series of stories in her writing career. scroll through them at military.com. i want to ask about a recent one. who arcade to -- you are k2 veterans? guest: it was an airbase in use pakistan the u.s. used early on in the global war on terror. about 37,000 people over the course of time were stationed there. it being a former soviet base had a lot of environmental pollution. the research done and talking to the veterans who lived there, they had a pond, a waste pond, they call it the skittles pond because it was bright green with who knows what. there were signs that said

radiation, do not pass this point. there is discussion about whether there was depleted uranium on the base. it is a cohort of veterans that uniquely were exposed to a whole host of environmental exposures. they have been pushing recently for more recognition for the onus is they believe were caused by being stationed. -- for the inesses they believe were caused by being stationed. host: this is another group of veterans like agent orange that were exposed to something. guest: that agent orange legislation years ago really did expose how the combat environment is environmentally hazardous. from lead to agent orange to burn pits to the waste of being

a troop. it is not a healthy environment. host: on k2, secretary spoke at the press club about this recently on october 29. we want to play two minutes for viewers. >> nearly 12,000 are service-connected for at least one condition, keeping an average of 30,000 year earned benefits. k2 veterans now have a higher claim and approval rate than any other cohort of veterans. we have more work to do to get this right. some k2 vets still understandably feel overlooked. they have waited for 23 years to see their uniquely dangerous service recognized. i will say that again. uniquely dangerous service recognized.

we have to do better and be better for those k2 veterans. today i am proud to announce the v8 will begin rulemaking to add bladder and other urinary cancers and new presumptive conditions for k2 veterans. we are not stopping there. next week we will complete the scientific review of multiple myeloma and leukemia. the preliminary findings are promising and they suggest that the v.a. will be able to make those conditions presumptive for k2 veterans and all eligible veterans. once the final results are in, the v.a. will look to expand that presumption tall biologically linked blood cancers. this may include p-vera, a

condition identified by veterans themselves and shared with v.a. we will do so based on biological science without requiring vets to wait for v.a. to complete additional studies. i've committed to establishing service connection for any rare condition found in k2 that which has plausible biological link to the toxic soup we now know and acknowledge was present at k2. host: secretary dennis mcdonough there. how significant are the changes he announced and more importantly how quickly did this happen compared to the burn pits or as far back as agent orange? guest: it is interesting. one of the biggest things he

said during that speech was about the blood cancers, which were left out of the massive legislation for the burn pit exposure. the blood cancer thing, not just for k2 people. that is pretty significant. it is fairly rapid. in 2012, there were a handful of families that were pushing for burn pit legislation. they were sick. between that and 2022 when the pack was finally passed, that is a decade, k2 veterans have been sick for years. the reporting that actually exposed that based on that clip, they showed a picture of the major reporter who covered that issue. she started writing her stories

and 2018 and 2019. it is five years later we are having some movement, some policy changes to help these veterans. things are moving a little bit faster. host: is there something out there that could be the next k2, the next agent orange. what is another group of veterans that have come together to advocate for these toxic environment soldiers were exposed to? guest: a lot of these veterans you hear about, it is serving overseas. we know from camp lejeune, north carolina, where they had for 30 years water that sicken people who live there. there are places in the u.s. that have issues or have stored agent orange where they used agent orange.

i previously reported on california, where they used dioxins to kill offjust herbicif thing. there is a very vocal small group of people, that is done in alabama. i think the next group will probably be the folks on domestic bases who will have gotten sick because of poor management in the past. host: this is everett, grand junction, colorado, good morning. caller: thank you john. thank you patricia for answering questions. from 1970 -- i served from

1970-1978. i did not go and serve in vietnam. i know a lot of people that did. those that came back and were trying to apply through the v.a. system for different types of benefits, mental or physical, it just seemed like it took such a long time for them to even get to somebody that could help them. i was lucky enough to -- we have an old guard unit here that was turned into a veterans help center. we do have a hospital here. brian was a marine that was injured, he was taking people's claims and trying to help them out. he did a wonderful job. i was lucky during my time in the service my mother kept all

my records. i know veterans and servicemen who at that particular time through records out the window, they threw them over the fence. it was extremely frustrating to them. i was lucky to have all of my records and i could communicate back and forth. one lady over there, i did not know her, she kept asking for forms. i sent 13 forms, it took five years to get somebody to look at my case. i'm looking at a shirt that i wear on veterans day, all gave some and some gave all. it had salutes and a flag, m-16 with a helmet. i'm sure all veterans know that particular one. even those that did not serve in

the military, my dad was a railroader. he couldn't serve because he was needed to operate an engine and freight train. just a shout out to everybody. thank you for this program. host: could we come back to the record-keeping and the digital age? guest: thank you for that and thank you for your service. it's a complex system. i think the v.a. with the digital records they have to find a balance. sometimes they will promote the digital thing, we have the older generation. we have a hard time with the digital system. we are in that transitional

period where we will get to a point where they are applying for claims and that will make it easier. the record system is hard. there was a major fire years ago where they kept a lot of army and air force records. if people didn't have copies they all went up in smoke. the v.a. has pledged, also there are veterans service organizations. they all employ service officers who could help veterans like the american legion and disabled american veterans. so many that i cannot name them all. they try to get those claims. host: shippensburg, korean war

veteran? is that correct? caller: the second korean war. we were exposed to many toxic chemicals, agent blue was the one that has given me the most problems. i put in for an obstructive sleep apnea claim on may 6, 2016 . i was finally granted a 50% rating for that. let's see when they did this. july 27, 2023. if you do the math from 2016 through 2023, that was over eight years time span for the

v.a. to consider my claim which at first they denied. i appealed that and finally had a judge in 2023, they took part of the claim. they referred back to pittsburgh v.a., the balance. they gave me a 50% rating. what they should have done originally based on the v.a.'s own guidelines, i should have been rated at 100% when i filed this claim. i have appealed the judge's decision now. they sent me two different checks. they sent me one for 10% and

they sent me another saying they are combining the two, my disability on breathing, i can't walk more than 50 or 60 feet before i have to stop. i cannot breathe. this is the way the korean war veterans served from 1966 on that were exposed. they were exposed up to the year 2000 when we came off. to give you an idea of how the dmv veterans were first treated, when i first clot -- filed my first claim and that was 16 years ago, i included paperwork and copies of my orders, sending me to korea from my artillery unit while in the infantry promoted, my orders going back

stateside to fort riley, kansas, when i filed my first claim, i had all of those orders attached. my first claim was for frostbite, which i suffered in 1968-1969, my denial came back that said, you were in vietnam and you could not possibly have gotten frostbite. host: thanks for sharing your story. what you think about that? guest: going before the judge and veterans court of appeals, that actually is a supremes court case that was heard a couple of weeks ago about two

veterans, it is the benefit of the doubt clause. whenever they file, it is against the head of the department. the court of appeals when you have equal looking proof, a way toward the veterans. grant a disability rating in favor of the veteran peered there were two vets that challenge this because they didn't get what they believe was benefit of the doubt. depending on how the supreme court rules on that, a lot of

these cases may take forever. it could affect the court of appeals in expediting cases like that. host: whether they are 50% disabled, 100% disabled, what does that mean? guest: each percentage is a level of monetary compensation. host: is that every bill you get from a doctor's visit? guest: claims are very different. it is separate than the veterans health administration. they are not tied to your medical care. when you apply for a disability came -- claim it is like applying for social security disability. i got this sickness when i was in the service or i was injured in the service and it is aggravated or getting worse. 100% disabled is obviously the

highest rating. it's the most monetary compensation. it affords you some interesting benefits. now disabled veterans could go shopping. there is some other things like that, that benefits afford like 100% disability rating. host: a question from robert on social media, is there any thought on cannabis based remedies? so doctors could prescribe them? guest: interesting. there is a paper out by the v.a. , the v.a. has been trying to get that removed, cannabis removed from the schedule one classification that prohibits it from being readily used for research.

what the v.a. would like to have done is have that removed from schedule one so they could do the research that is needed to be able to prescribed cannabis. they would probably not move forward with that without having solid research that shows it is an official to a certain number of veterans. host: do you have time for one or two more calls? guest: shirt. -- sure. host: do you have a question? caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: my issue was i'm the daughter of a 30 year veteran and three other military people in vietnam but i don't have any medical issues, is that ok? host: what is your question?

does it relate to the v.a.? caller: i thought they wanted to talk to families of veterans. host: tell me about your family, i have about two minutes. caller: my father was a 30 year veteran, an officer. took the only black troop into omaha beach. he was in seven different wars over there in europe before he came back. i have two brothers who were in vietnam. they went back twice. a sister who was a nurse in germany. we did a lot of traveling with the military. i have a lot of respect for it. i have a lot of respect for our flag. when i moved to seattle the flag was tattered and torn and left out 24 hours per day for years.

the flag is supposed to be respected and be in light at night, taken out during storms. when i asked a young man to help me put it up, he said i don't care about the flag. i think that's a really important issue people need to know a little bit more about. it's a lot of rules for flying the flag. the flag means a lot. host: thanks for that from seattle, washington. patricia kime, you do so many investigations, what are you working on next? guest: i think we will get through the next presidential transition and dig into quite a few ideas, not disclosing.

host: you will be able to find them on military.com. patricia kime is a reporter there. thanks for coming on. guest: thanks for having me. host: up next, a conversation with mission rollcall ceo jim whaley. top issues impacting veterans, stick around for that conversation and we will be right back. >> attention middle and high school students across america, it's time to make your voice heard. c-span's contest 2025 this year. this is your chance to make a documentary to make an impact.

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continues. host: on this veterans day we continue our focus on veterans issues. we welcome jim whaley, he serves as ceo as mission rollcall. what is the mission of mission rollcall? guest: we have 18 point 5 million veterans across the country. we help you share their voice with decision-makers, great people like yourself in media. make sure american people know the challenges and what advantages veterans bring to our great country. host: start with the challenges, what are the challenges facing veterans today. one of the challenges on veterans day, 2024? guest: access to their benefits, quality health care is important. they are very concerned about homelessness. as you know those numbers continue to go up. the third one is around medical

compensation. you heard a lot of your call in folks this morning go through challenges of getting compensation after they served. that is still a major issue for veterans. host: what separates mission rollcall from other veterans groups? how do you uniquely do your mission here in washington, d.c.? guest: we are helping others that could support veterans tell their story. we do podcasts, youtube videos, we use every platform to make sure veterans know about some of the great veteran support organizations that are out there. the second thing is the voice. we asked polling questions, we take that data and share it with the elected officials. we could break down those poles

and share that with elected officials so they know what they are saying in their district. in some cases veterans voices are not being heard. when you think about 18.5 million veterans plus spouses and dependents, that is one thathost: should be listened to. -- that should be listened to. host: we are talking with colonel jim whaley. (202) 748-8000 for veterans and their family members to call. if you're active military, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-8002. colonel whaley, folks are calling in, when the next congress sits in january what should their top priority be with veterans issues? guest: we need to take a look at how do we make sure veterans make the transition to civilian

life better? we call it service to service. that's the initiative we have within mission rollcall. to make the transition to employment after service. that is a difficult task for many of them right now. the assistance program falls short. the fact is veterans are underemployed. why is that? they are humbled by nature. they will not brag about what they did and how many people they lead and the equipment they are responsible for. what's difficult sometimes for that transition. we like to see a national effort underway and make sure we use those skills, use those qualites they gained from being in the military. you see the business roundtable involved. a lot of veterans, 200 thousand

every year that get out of the military. no reason they can't walk into a job the next day. continue to serve as countries police officers, elected officials. another thing we like to see is we need to make sure veterans are getting the health care when, where, how they need it. many of them are struggling to get the health care they need because they need to go to brick-and-mortar locations. it is a bureaucracy involved with that. there are some efficiencies that could be enjoyed if they could manage that a little bit better. . you get a lot of frustrated people. the third thing the congress needs to really think about, this would seem odd because it is not a veteran issue but it is. 24% of active duty right now

have financial insecurity issues. this is not a statistic we came up with. this is a department of defense statistic. 24% of active duty have food insecurity issues, which is really financial insecurity. you have the resources to do so. you have many junior enlisted and the senior enlisted having challenges taking care of their families. it should be no surprise that we are struggling when that is the case. if you join the military and you are part of 24% that have food insecurity issues, you get yourself out of that and go into the civilian world. that calls for challenges when they get out.

the dod and v.a. need to work closely on this and officials need to address the issue. we need a military that could take care of their own. host: viewers familiar with this chart will show it mostly every veterans or memorial day. members of congress who are veterans. the dark line is the senate, the light line is the house. today in the 118th congress it is about 17% of congress and 18% of the house our members with previous military service. we all know the final number -- we don't know the final number yet in the 119th congress. what does this mean that there is less lawmakers today that have military service, does that make your job harder? the follow-up question is in the mid-1970's when it was 81% of

the senate, 75% of the house. was congress better with veterans issues when it was so high in the mid to late 70's? guest: i don't know if it is better or not. i will address the first question, does it make it difficult? yes. there is an education process to what the military is. the economy has changed, demographics change, pay scales change. a lot of factors, the quality of life for the military when i was in the service from 1984 through 2004 is better than it is today. the reason for that is benefits have not increased with the challenges of just maintaining a home and taking care of a family. all of those things need to be addressed.

the other contribute and factor of course is we have been busy for many years working across the globe fighting the war on terror. that is biting into available funds for veterans. those things have all contributed to that. when i'm met the capitol and meeting with congressman and senators there is a more welcoming feeling when you go into someone who has served their country at any branch of service. that said, there's a lot of congressmen and senators that have not served that know the importance of that, that try to fix some of the issues. we need to make it a national priority and hopefully that will occur. host: missionrollcall.org is the website that colonel whaley is the ceo of. you could check that out as you call in this morning. about the next half hour.

this is jerry up first in midway, utah. vietnam era vet. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to see if you know about a program called move. recently i had seizures. i ended up waking up at the va hospital in salt lake city. through that i got involved in this program called "move." we meet once a week for 24 weeks. we discuss our problems and things together for an hour and a half. encourage each other and help each other and do follow-up. i come to my little city outside of salt lake, we meet with vets on tuesdays. i think this move program is a wonderful thing to help vets.

i hope people would look at the v.a. and type in "move" and check out this new program. you know anything about this? could you give a little encouragement to get involved with the move program? guest: i don't know the details of it but i know this, any time you bring veterans together, that shared purpose makes a big difference. just having somebody that could talk and understand is very important. at the end of the day veterans need two things, they need a tribe. a group of people around them, family members, supporters, fellow veterans, which is what you are talking about to help them like most people, to solve problems, get connections to things. find out about things. the second aspect is they need

help tops, they need a purpose. they need something to go after, defendant. that purpose is sometimes missing. when i left the military in 2004, i had a wonderful corporate job. inside i struggled a little bit. i'm not a part of something bigger than myself. i needed to address that. we connect other veterans support organizations. most organizations want you to come to their program and do their thing. that is great. we find out what you need and we address that and guide you to our website to various support organizations geographically located near you.

i would love to learn more about move. maybe we could bring them on to our podcast and share it on our websites. host: lynchburg, virginia, this is zach, military family. caller: i'm zach from lynchburg. i'm a black american. my granddad served in world war i. my dad was over liberating work -- germany in world war ii he was infantry for the seven 61st black panthers. -- i would like to know if your guest knows anything about the infantry backing them up, like he was, they were following patent. he went through france, germany, belgium, everywhere. my uncle, my uncle, he served in vietnam, three tours.

my brother was in vietnam during the tet offensive. i want to let people know that we fighting, i want to let everybody know, we served our country. i wanted to serve, but at that time, i graduated in 77. you had to register for the draft. i registered and was ready to go and then they went all volunteer and at that time, i like to smoking weed, they didn't say this but they didn't want to except me. but anyway, that's all i got to say. host: thank you for sharing your family's story. colonel, on the smoking weed aspect, there was a viewer in the previous segment who had tweeted a question about medical cannabis and where is the v.a. on that and whether they will

recognize it for medical treatments. what do you know? guest: i do know that you have people on both sides of that issue right now. some people if you use cannabis, it has worked for them. i think that there are others that are concerned about the effects of it long-term. it is important to study that and make sure that we do the right course of action. then again, we can't study it for five or 10 years. we have to have a sense of urgency. if we can help veterans today, we should be figuring out how to do it today, even if it is on an exploratory basis or a test pilot program. that should happen. i know that holistic medicine is something the veteran community is talking about right now. if you think about it, a lot of the things the v.a. does is you go in and you say my knee hurts or i can't think straight, i've had terrible headaches, they go in and they solve that problem.

in another case, some of those problems could be worded differently with a holistic approach and make sure that veterans when they leave service are doing what they can do to make sure that they stay as physically fit as they can. and there are great organizations that address that. team read, why, and blue is a nonprofit that we work with that sees the importance of physical fitness and has veterans getting involved, working together with communities across the country going for a run, walk, going for a climb somewhere, it gets them outdoors with their fellow veterans and their families. it is a way to keep yourself healthy, fit, and engaged, and that's important. if you are not engaged with other veterans and not involved, sometimes you feel a little separated and that causes problems down the line. we urge every veteran to reach

out to support organizations. you can find them on our website and get involved. host: to the previous caller, i wanted to note that in the c-span archives, it made me think of this book event that we covered back in 2004, the viewer might be interested in considering this story, kareem abdul-jabbar talked about the book that he co-authored, brothers in arms, the epic story of the 761st tank battalion, world war ii's forgotten heroes, chronicling the all black battalion, george part -- george patton's third army detail, 183 days on the front lines at the bag up. kareem abdul-jabbar, co-author of that book. back to our calls, this is madeleine in georgia, good morning. caller: good morning, thank you to all of our veterans today. i would like to ask your guest a question.

since our new president-elect has been so insulting to veterans, like the late john mccain -- i believe he was deferred from going into the military five times. none of his children have ever been in the military. what is your opinion about that disrespect for our veterans. i will listen to your answer. caller: thank you for the question. as an organization we try to stay as apolitical as possible, we want to make sure that everyone feels invited to the organization and the causes that are important to the veteran community. i'm sure that there are different opinions on the candidates and we have acknowledged that. veterans, it's interesting, veterans ventures -- are registered to vote at the rate

of 98%. we found that out through some extensive polling here. think about that, 98 percent of veterans vote. that's an amazing statistic for a cohort of people. we are obviously passionate about what the future holds and we are hopeful, working with the next congress and senate that we will address these issues in a way that will affect in a positive manner veterans and their families. host: james, buffalo, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. it makes me feel good to hear all of these people remembering their veteran families and i'm going to check out your own does your site, i appreciate that being on your own island, it's tough. my question is, it's about the major richard starr act.

government told us that we know who they care for by where they spend their money. so, why is this game being played out? is this ever going to pass to take care of the 50,000 combat wounded troops that were told they had to leave the military because of being wounded? thank you very much for everything you are doing. host: can you explain that act, colonel? caller: that act addresses the fact that a lot of combat veterans that have gotten out of the military were not getting the access to health care that they needed to get, so it addresses a myriad of issues there. we are active with our advocacy in d.c. and with our local state legislators as well to make sure that these and other efforts are being pushed. it is important that they

address these issues in a bipartisan way and quickly. the elizabeth dole act has been in congress now for over one year and it seems like something that could have been done before the congress in this election. it's disappointing that these things take so long. it absolutely befuddles me why we cannot figure out how to pay junior enlisted men. i don't think any american is proud of the fact that someone who raised their hand, wrote a blank check for their country that they want to serve and then cannot buy groceries for their family. if you think about the wealth of this nation, it's intolerable and it is something that needs to be addressed. i feel for the caller on that issue. we, as many other better and support organizations do, work together to try to get audiences with congressmen and senators to

make sure they push this legislation. i would urge anyone listening to help us in that regard, join mission roll call. it doesn't costs anything, we send you some poles and you can decide which ones you want to answer and which you don't. it makes a big difference when i go into one of these offices, if we represent 1.4 million veterans, if we represented 4 million to 5 million, that's a different conversation and a much more powerful, productive conversation if i can represent more. it's important for us to have our voices heard. that's our challenge. there were 40,000 veteran support organizations in the country. think about that. there is no other secretary of the v.a. that has 40,000 veterans support organizations that are trying to help. but it also points to the fact

that there are some serious problems. you can imagine that if you had that many not for profits for agriculture or the department of defense, it would be a problem, right? but somehow these issues are not being addressed the way that they should be. we should fix it and people should be upset about it. i was upset in the fact that we had two vice presidential candidates that had a debate. both were veterans. not one question about veterans. i still can't get my head around why the journalists didn't ask that question. host: what question would you have asked? caller: how are you going to address important veteran issues? suicides are way too high. as a nation we should be striving for zero suicides for veterans. right now it's anywhere from 17

to 45. any given night we have 40,000 veterans that are homeless. access to health care. we know for a fact that veterans are waiting years to receive the benefits they deserve. all of those questions should have been asked. what the specific remedy was for the issue. or at least how committed they are to solving the issue. host: through september, joshua jacobs appeared on this program, took questions on a variety of issues from hosts and viewers that day. one of the big things he spoke about was addressing the backlog of unallocated claims at the v.a., along with the challenge of veterans benefits in general. here's about two minutes of what he had to say. [video clip] >> backlog is anything that takes more than 100 25 days to process. right now we have an average of 150 days to complete claims and

there are certainly claims that take longer and certainly claims that we can process more quickly. it really depends on the nature of the condition and the number of conditions. the bottom line is, we want to get to yes. we have what's called a duty to assist. if we don't have that evidence to get to yes, we have to go get it and sometimes that takes longer. host: the military times reported that there was a surge in the rise of companies trying to work with veterans who are may be eligible for these types of benefits and then taking predatory business. what is the v.a. doing about it? guest: it's a really concerning trend and we see it with greater frequency because more veterans are going for these benefits but these claim sharks are making false promises that they can provide more timely decisions with higher benefits, but it is

simply not true. we have worked with the biden administration and our fellow agency colleagues to launch a new program called be safe where veterans and their family can go online to learn about it. we launched a campaign to make everyone aware that they should not pay to file a claim. there are plenty of folks who can help you do it for free. ultimately, we want them to know, and you can find information on the website, that if you feel you have been a victim of one of these companies, to know what your recourse is and contact law enforcement. host: our veterans reaching out because the process is complicated? guest: there's a lot that people don't understand and we are trying to get the information out to better understand the process. what is really important to know is that we want to get to yes,

but in order to do so we need military records and health records. so, we help veterans obtain those. but there are also many, many veterans organizations that do it for free and do it very well. host: that was joshua jacobs, the viewer under secretary for benefits. anyone who wants to watch that can see it on our website in its entirety, but colonel, i want to get your reaction to what he was talking about. caller: certainly -- guest: certainly in the best world this would be a seamless process and veterans could go to the v.a.. but that's not always the case and we are trying to pick up the slack. in some cases the ability to do that has been limited and you can understand by veterans feel so frustrated and go to outside sources and pay to help navigate the labyrinth of regulations and paperwork that the v.a. has.

look, no doubt, there are great people working in the v.a. trying to fix this problem, but it is moving at the speed of a glacier. people are waiting for years to get their claims looked at. so, when they talk about it taking 150 days, in many cases they get back to you in 150 days and say that you are declined, or its 10% or you need to do this and that and the clock starts over again. so you can understand the why the frustration is there from a lot of veterans and their families. so, that needs to be addressed. they need to think about customer service, right? how do you reach out to veterans in a positive way that will help them navigate this and make it easy? look, it's a huge organization. i understand that if it was an easy problem, it would have been solved a long time ago. but the fact is we have been talking about these subjects for 25 years.

host: marcus, texas, veterans line, good morning. caller: good morning. navy cv here. a comment on what i guess we are calling a shortage of food for our military. something that i observed when i was active duty all the time was a lot of these young people coming into the service have never had any budget training at home and they got very little budget training on active duty to know when and where to spend their money. you know, a lot of them get paid for the first time and they get to keep their entire check, so now they blow it on games, fast food, junk like that. you know? but they never really had any training on their budgets. it was out there, but it wasn't like mandatory, something that

really needed to be learned, some kind of criteria. also, a lot of people i would run into were enlisted because either legal problems and it was a way to get out of that area, or a teen pregnancy, something like that. they were coming in with luggage to begin with. you know, i might be way off, but that is kind of how i see it back -- saw it back then and still see it now. that's my comment. happy veterans day to you all. host: let me let the colonel way in. guest: there's no doubt that financial literacy is an issue for the general american public, not just veterans and active-duty military. a lot of benefits can happen by sitting people down and explaining how to manage a budget, make sure they can save and stretch their dollar as far as possible. i would say that the majority of

issues faced by active-duty veterans involve getting food from a local church or another via so because they are not getting paid at the level they should to have a livable wage. it's just about the poverty level. we are asking a lot of them. we deploy them throughout the world. we need to make sure they have a wit -- livable wage. it should be a no-brainer for congress. host: karen, arkansas, veteran family, go ahead. caller: i just wanted to get some information out that my husband was in the korean war. he died of als, lou gehrig's. the military veterans declared that as a service-connected death and illness. not many people know that.

there's no weight, hardly, for the process of the claim, because there is no cure or treatment and such. so, i just kind of wanted to put that information out for people who may have let lou gehrig's. they can go to the military for service-connected illness. host: thank you for that, karen. stephen, ohio, good morning. caller: good morning to you. good host: morning to you. host:go ahead, sir. you are on with colonel whaley. caller: my name is stephen lewis, i'm a proud vietnam veteran. i served from 67 to 68. i was a member of the 196 light infantry brigade, u.s. army. i'm 77 years old. my grandson right now is on active duty in the air force and

has been in the air force for about eight years. my uncle served in the all-black 92nd infantry in italy. benefits have been good around education and job opportunities. god bless america. and i'm receiving my patch act. thank you, sir. guest: great to hear. sounds like your family has a history of service. host: we have had a lot of those calls today, some with histories of service going as far back as the revolutionary war. dave, go ahead. caller: by family is from pennsylvania and we go back to the revolutionary war with a genealogy all the way recorded back from then until now. i am a veteran. i think i'm a veteran, i want to get some definition on that.

i was drafted in 1968. the lottery messed up my numbers. i was told that i had one month to find a place unless i would be drafted. i was fortunate enough to get into the reserves. then i joined the pennsylvania national guard. they offered me a full-time civilian military position as a full-time technician for the pennsylvania national guard. i was in the guard and had a full-time position there for 35 years. i'm 76 years old and am retired and getting tri-care, which is wonderful. i have a question. i've always been confused on being a veteran. i was always under the impression that you had to have active service. the lady before you said something about needing 30 days,

i believe, to be considered active as a member. i'm a little confused with that. right now i get my tri-care. i live in pennsylvania. i drive to the carlisle army barracks for my prescriptions. i go to there a few times a year . i live about 10 miles away from a veterans hospital. has things changed as far as benefits for people in the national guard? i never considered myself as a veteran, because i didn't really have a lot of active duty. host: i think i got your point. let me let colonel whaley jump in to see what he has to say. guest: it seems to me that you would qualify as a veteran, but don't take my word for it, i'm not an expert in all the rules and regulations of the v.a., as much as i have tried to be. but i think that because you are

getting tri-care, which you just outlined to me, i think you would qualify. but again, i don't know for sure. so, i think the best thing to do would be to either circle back to us and we can try to find that out for you, or i would go to the va hospital and have them pull your records. it should be in there, your service, and they can figure it out on your form what your active service was or is. host: on the changing face of the american veteran, taking a look at that 18 million strong veteran population in the u.s., trying to project what the veteran population will look like 24 years from now in 2000 48, here's just some of the results of the quarter century

shift in the veterans population. the share of women's veterans will increase from 11% to 18%. the overall number of women veterans is expected to increase from 2 million to 2.2 million. the number of male veterans is expected to drop to just under 10 million. the share of non-hispanic white veterans is expected to drop. the share of hispanic veterans is expected to roughly double, from 9% to 15%. the share of black americans is expected to increase from 13% to 15%. today, 28% of veterans are younger than 50 compared with a projected 34% in 2048. does that mean? which of those numbers mean for what you will be working on in the years to come? host: in the next few eat -- guest: in the next few years

many of our veterans are going to be post-9/11 veterans. that can be difficult to put our heads around, time going by so fast. the demographic changes are representative of the fabric of our country. the military comes from the general american public and represents that. it's a growth in different communities and a growth in those veterans. i am buoyed by the fact that we have more women in the military. i have two daughters on active duty right now. eyes see that they are continuing to meet and exceed those challenges and flourish in the military. it is great to see people from every walk of life serving. it's what makes the service so great. you get in there and you come from different economic demographics and you get together and are on a team and are all considered a part of that team and it's what makes the military so effective.

so, it's good to see those numbers continuing to increase for a lot of different groups. the number goes down, as you have stated. we will have to address that as time goes on. i think it's important that we make sure that we are skating to where the puck is going to be when we think about the v.a. and the services needed. host: how far back does your family service go? guest: on my wife's side, back to the revolutionary war. my side, a little less. we have had grandparents that served in world war ii, and my wife also was on active duty. a fellow helicopter pilot, like i was. two of our daughters serve on active duty and work for the bso , to help active duty military. host: is it an expectation and your family? if you have a grandchild, is the

expectation for the grandchild? guest: no, it isn't, in fact. we never encouraged our children to serve. we kind of let it happen organically. i think, you know, they were very young when i got out of the military. they really didn't have too much time moving around, although they were born in different parts of the world. one in pam and -- one in panama, one in germany. i think they just see who our friends were, what our background was, and of course the discussions kind of led to where they are today. i am very proud of them, but had no expectations for them to serve in the military. i think that is absolutely a personal decision, it's such an important decision. host: time for one more call, martin in louisville, kentucky, navy vet, good morning. caller: i was in the navy in san

diego in the 80's. there is a new va hospital over there, that's good to know. i wanted to make an observation to see if your guest had anything to say about it. a lot of people in america, the best thing that politicians can do for the military people is keeping them from having to do their job. a lot of people think that the worst president we had in modern history was jimmy carter. when he left office he pointed out that no american servicemen lost their lives in battle when he was president. that's been true to this day and you'd have to go back 100 years to find that. i would like to know what the guest has to say. thank you. guest: i would refer you to my earlier comment, of course. my family is serving in active duty right now. no one wants to see their children in harm's way. on the other hand, i'm very proud of their service and i know it's important to have a strong defense so that we don't have to do that. host: colonel jim whaley is the

ceo of mission roll call. how else can people find you besides online? guest: you can go to our facebook page, linkedin page, almost any platform we are on. we are talking about what some great services are for our veterans. we have a class on the mrc university on youtube, where we help veterans navigate the v.a. that's been a great series that we have got a lot of great accolades from our veterans and their community from, as well as other vs owes. we do podcasts, like the lasting mission, where we bring in guests from other vs owes and veterans, folks that started businesses to help veterans figure out how to start a business, navigate the v.a., overcome challenges, things like

that. between podcasts, youtube channels, we are reaching veterans from every walk of life . it is important for us to share those positive stories. i would mention that 85% of veterans right now are actively deployed and involved in their communities, coaching little league in leading boy scout troops. serving in congress. firemen, police officers. they have integrated into the community seamlessly. they play a vital role in our community. a vast majority of veterans volunteer in their community and continue their service. that's why we think the service to service initiative is so important. we would like to see the administration and congress work together to find out ways to increase ways that veterans when they get out of the military,

four years or 25 years, can get into continuing to serve their country either as working in the community or as a business involved. there are a lot of great businesses that hire veterans and value the service that veterans bring to the community. they celebrate that and have support organizations within their companies, but many others do not. those companies need to think about that. i would say that every company in the united states has benefited from active duty military and people who have served in the military. we enjoy the freedoms that we have because the military served all over the world to make sure that those freedoms are secured. companies need to make sure they can think about hiring veterans and i tell you, when you hire a veteran, you won't regret it. they bring a lot of loyalty and

leadership skills and as a country it is something i think we should put in a national effort for to make sure that business leaders, chamber of commerce, business roundtable, as well as others are involved in that. i think it will have an enormous positive effect on our veterans in our country and we know that if you get out of the military and get a good job and integrate into the veteran community and community as a whole, you are going to be very successful. if you have a challenge getting in the military or getting out of the military and you can't find a job and are struggling financially, it leads to homelessness. it leads to abuse of alcohol or drugs. then you are on a different path. a path that costs this country a lot of money and anguish and i think we can do a lot better to solve the problem on the front-end than dealing with it on the backend. host: colonel jim whaley, thank

you for telling us about your mission and happy veterans day. guest: thank you. you, too. host: in about 90 minutes we will be taking you to the arlington national cemetery with a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier and an address from president biden. until that time we will te her phone calls on this veteransay asking what veterans day means to you. terans and their families, call in at (202) 748-8000. active military, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-82. we will get two more of your calls right after the break. ♪ >> the house and senate return for the first time since election for legislative business and votes as they

prepare for the congressn the new year. the house gop wil select their nominee for speaker. senate republicans will elect their new leader in the republican majority controlled senate. head over to c-span.org for scheduling information. or watch live or on-demand lie. >> for the last 10 years, jeff owens has covered business, information, and politics. in the october 8, 2020 four issue of new york magazine, they wrote an article with the title "inside the patriot wing." she

talked to several january 6 defendants who have been spending time in the district of columbia jail two miles fm the u.s. capitol. this is the story of how she got to know several men who have been convicted of, in her words, violent crimes. we asked her how she got access to these folks, behind bars, and ty saying? >> "inside the patriot wing," with brian lam. available on the c-span now mobile app or where ever get your podcasts. >> joined book tv this weekend for the texas book festival, live from austin. coverage begins saturday at 11 a.m. and sunday at noon with ray suarez and his book, "we are home," on immigration in the

process of becoming an american, and eliza monday discusses her book, the sisterhood of women in the cia," with glenn fein and his book, "watchdog," on the role of inspector general, and elizabeth diaz on "the fall of roe." watch this weekend on book tv, sp2. visit our website for this full schedule, c-span.org. ♪ >> c-span now is a free mobile app featuring your unfiltered view of what is happening in washington, live and on-demand. keep up with the biggest events of the day with live floor proceedings and hearings from the congress, the campaign, and more from the world of congress, all at your fingertips. stay current with the latest episodes of washington journal and c-span radio, plus a variety

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morning. at 11 a.m. eastern there will be a ceremony of the -- at the tomb of the unknown soldier and we will be taking your calls until then, asking you the question we often ask on veterans day, what does it mean to you? phone lines are split this morning. if you are a family member of a veteran, (202) 748-8000. active military, (202) 748-8001. all others, (202) 748-8002. your calls from now until about 11 a.m. eastern this is benjamin in clearwater, florida, good morning on the line for veterans. caller: good morning, sir. i'm a retired veteran and was in the military from 1962 to 1983. i applied for disability in indianapolis and was moved to florida and rejected. i have never used the services,

but i thought that there were people who needed it more than me. i'm almost 86 years old now and when i try to get some help, i haven't been able to get any. i would just like to make a comment about that. it's a shame, i listen to veterans who have given 8, 10, $20,000 a month from the system. i spoke to guys who broke fingernails and stuff. i would like to make that comment. it's a shame that i can't get any help. thank you for letting me express myself. host: have you tried going through any of the veterans organizations like we spoke of in the previous segment? caller: my disability was less than 10% when i got out of -- when i left indianapolis. i went to big pines and i did file over there.

there was a representative in tampa, some marine person. i filed and then i talked to -- every time i use that facility, i had to pay a $50 co-pay just to use the facility. it's, you know, it's been miserable. host: thank you for sharing your experience, benjamin. florida, veteran line, good morning. caller: yeah, how you doing? anyway, this is kind of a complaint against the v.a. i didn't get a chance to talk to your other people that you had on their, but i hope now that president trump is back in office that once he gets in there, i hope he makes the v.a. be held accountable for the things that they do. i'm going blind because of what they did to me. i just thought i would -- you know, nobody does anything about it.

i have called congressman, senators, had multiple white house investigations. they just lie about everything and they get out of it and are not held accountable. so, i hope that when he gets in there again, that he does something about it. host: did you think that he did something about it in the first term and that there is more to do? >> yeah, he made them be held accountable. when i was there in 2019, i was in patient at one of the medical centers here in wisconsin. two people got fired because of what they did to me and what they were doing to other veterans. and then they retaliated against me. it's been going on ever since. i know it's a fact that it has been going on because these investigations, the advocates, the social workers, everybody knows about it and they don't do anything about it. these people don't want to lose

those jobs at the v.a. they are good, cushy jobs. they retaliate against people and i'm sorry i had to say this, but i guess it's just my bad luck. vietnam era. 74 to 77. i have all the benefits, but yeah, i'm going blind because of what they did to me and they could care less. host: michigan, dave, good morning, you are next. caller: thanks. good morning, john, all you veterans out there. my aspect is every time i look at the veterans affairs, talking about a shortage of funds and money? why is it that every time we have a war going on or a conflict, you might say, it's all -- it's an international problem?

we go over and try to liberate these countries and then it comes back to our veterans at home and they claim they don't have enough funding and it turns into a national problem. now, if i was trying to consider something, i would like to see them have a green card, automatic green card if they want to go back to a country they helped liberate and fight under our good faith. they should be able to go back to that country, if they wish. and they also would be able to come back here and that country would be responsible to a certain percentage of the costs that are veterans give up. for the life and limb. that's all i've got, john. thank you, veterans, thank you very much. host: david, maryland, good

morning. caller: happy veterans day. i've had a very good experience with the v.a. in baltimore i have found that in the last couple of years, they are as easy to make an appointment and keep it, you know, as the civilian side of things. i've seen both sides of it. yeah, they are just as responsive. one thing i would say to any active duty person is to keep your records. and it's much easier today than it was 25, 30 years ago. you know, you can scan those things. to the person who called a few callers back about whether he's a veteran or not -- i'm not 100%

sure on this, but you have to have a dd214 certificate of discharge, generally. which means that you served at least 30 days, i believe. but again every case is different. that's all i wanted to say. thank you. host: what about this question we are asking as we wait for the ceremony here, what does veterans day mean to you? caller: well, yeah, it means a lot, to be honest. i served with a lot of great people. hundreds of them in the navy and in the first gulf war. yeah, it's a great way of, you know, documenting or remembering, generally, back to the first world war, yeah i

think that with the lower number of people serving these days compared to let's say world war ii, you need to have that in place to remember people's service. thank you. host: what's it like serving in annapolis? did you always want to be at the naval academy? caller: [laughter] annapolis is a great town and a lot of revolves around that navy. the people at the academy. yeah, it's very vibrant. it's a navy sort of town. i come from the big ship side of things. host: were you always going to live by the water after the navy? caller: i think so, for sure. i love the water. i think that's correct.

host: thank you for the call this morning. william is in virginia, veterans line, good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing well, sir. caller: good. i volunteered for the navy and 55. i've had a lot of discrimination against me. [indiscernible] didn't want me to make a rank. case in point, there was a ship going to the middle east and they sent me to it, they didn't want me to cut their hair. they had that little store, they didn't want me to work in the store. they gave me a broom [indiscernible] cleaner. they had the e2 in the vote

count and you put them in the store for two weeks. so, one of the guys working up there in the office said where are they going to put you in that store? i said it was because the old man said it was a problem and the next morning they came down to get me out and they went to the store and cut the lock. i'll never forget, they went down to the stockroom and cut the lock down there. while i was there, something funny happened. they spilled the nickels. then a quarter. it was a quarter. it was orange. he said i don't know what the heck is going on. anyway, they put me in the

store. then that same officer set i've never had a man run the store since i've been aboard the ship. then he got transferred, second class petty officer in the navy. host: thank you for telling us about it, william. taking calls from viewers this morning on phone lines for veterans and families of active military and all others on this veterans day, letting you share your stories. this is danny out of texas. also a veteran, good morning. caller: i was curious, i served in the marines for 20 years of active duty. 10 in the reserves. i took my grandson to school

this morning. i don't believe that schools should even be in session during veterans day post offices are closed, also the banks, you need to with the kids, so that they realize what veterans do. only 2% of the population served in the military at one time and i think that it should be observed by everyone not just the banks and the post office. host: if your son wasn't, if your son didn't have to be in school today, what would you be doing with him. caller: probably going to a ceremony. there are ceremonies everywhere. there's a military museum and i

think they should be educated. i'm not telling them to go into the military. it's not for everyone. i just think that they need to be aware of the patriotic duties that they have growing up in the united states. host: and veterans day, november 11, dating back to the first world war. november of 1919 that president woodrow wilson proclaimed november 11 as a first commemoration of armistice day with the following words -- to us in america the reflections of armistice day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the service of the country and with gratitude because of the thing from which it freed us and because of the opportunity it has given america to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of nations. armistice day eventually becoming veterans day and being celebrated on november 11.

this is ed in georgia. vietnam vet. what does veterans day mean to you? caller: means a lot to me. i was in vietnam in 69 and 70. i want to quickly say, if i may, i've been wondering if trump will take a full page ad out to write a letter to the american people if he would apologize, if he would if he would mention the fact that maybe if he had been a bit stronger and suffered on through and kept on going with his bone spurs, maybe we would have won the vietnam war if he had been there. he should mention that and apologize to the people that gave their lives for this country. by the way, i killed the commies i killed in honor of trying to

preserve the freedom of the press in the united states and so much airtime on c-span is wasted by people asking you how you are doing today. for you to say how you are doing today 10 times should be enough when the people ask you how you are doing, their call should be dropped so that somebody can get through to say something worth hearing. thank you so much if i'm still on the air. host: yes, you are, add. happy veterans day. good morning. caller: i'm calling from gallup, new mexico. host: new mexico, go ahead. caller: i want to acknowledge and remember the navajo who served with the marine corps in world war ii. they were a part of the first marine, second marine, third marine, fourth marine and six

marine divisions. my late father served with the second marine division in the gilbert islands. and there was a fifth marine did the vision in iwo jima, italian 20 seven marines company -- italian 27 marines company -- but italian 27 -- battalion 27 marines company i. [speaking another language] that's semper fi in the navajo language. thank you, good morning, happy veterans day. host: happy veterans day, larry. cindy is in tennessee, good morning. >> "washington journal" continues. i just -- caller: i just wanted

to call and say thank you to all the veterans. i have volunteered at our local clinic for nine years now. our veterans are so special to me. it's just amazing, the people i get to work with everyday and i want to say thank you to all the veterans today. host: why did you start volunteering there? caller: a friend of mine who was a veteran, he was there. i said that she said come over and it was the best thing i ever done. host: who is someone you will always remember from those nine years? caller: our volunteer supervisor, his name is josh green. he was a remarkable man. host: cindy, thank you for the call. tennessee. cimmaron, new mexico, good morning.

yvonne, are you with us this morning? caller: hello? host: go ahead, you are on the air. caller: oh yes, sorry. good morning. i want to say i honor all veterans, past and present. i have a great incredible respect. i have an uncle that fought the battle of the bulge and lived the rest of his life with shrapnel in his legs. i remember his pain from that. last year i was in the netherlands and was able to visit two cemeteries. one american, one canadian. the local populace in the netherlands and elsewhere in europe so love our persons who died for them during world war ii. and they teach the children to honor our veterans who are still

over there in graves. they teach them to respect them, they bring flowers, they even connect the families. they adopt a grave. i just wanted to mention that. i was quite moved when i went to those gravesites. sorry to bring something political in, but i think that our president elect to apologize for calling those who served as losers and suckers, especially john so forth. host: this year will be the 80th anniversary of the battle of the bulge. do you think that that particular battle will, people will learn to remember that more this year on the anniversary? caller: what do i think? every night of the year that battle, rain, you know?

son. terrible winter weather. a veteran every night goes across that bridge and 58 lights come on as he walks across the bridge in remembrance of the 58 soldiers who rode across the river and were killed. every single night of the year that bridge is in remembrance of our veterans. host: that was yvonne in new mexico. larry, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span and all that you do for the nation. what veteranso me quite a bit. i listened to your collars and i would like to say that the v.a., there are some areas, i'm sure, that there's problems. there is areas where there are no problems. i go to the v.a. in long beach,

california. you can't walk down the hall of the hospital 10 feet with a puzzled look on your face until someone asks you -- where are you going, what do you need, can i help you? there are good and bad things that occur, but i would like to say that they do a wonderful job to help people. i'm sure, like i said, that there are issues. veterans day means a lot to me. i think that if more people would serve, they would have skin in the game when it comes to the country and the things the country stands for and what the country means to them. host: where did you serve, larry? caller: my goodness. fort bliss, texas. i actually called in last year when mr. carrington was on. lieutenant colonel whaley was a helicopter pilot and i was a

helicopter pilot instructor serving at fort rucker, alabama, served at fort bliss, the missile electronics school. i was also an air traffic controller. so, i did quite a bit. korea, i served in fort lewis, washington, fort bliss, texas, alabama, and also in greenland as a ballistic early warning contractor, contract manager. i just want to thank all the veterans out there for their service and thank their families, too, because they sacrificed just as much. maybe not as much but they are right behind those veterans that serve and i think they deserve credit, too. host: thanks for the call from los angeles. paul and springville, tennessee. good morning. go ahead. caller: i served in the military 33 years.

i was in the national guard, army twice, part of the operation in iraq. host: and what does veterans day mean to you? caller: it used to mean a hell of a lot to me. from the first war, they are buried around the country in different places, i knew guys that died from agent orange. now i don't do much with veterans today anymore. i will think the government to a large extent, some of the bigger politicians, they want to abandon us. some of us calling us deplorables, baby killers. i heard the other day we are supposed to be fascist. i don't even fly the american flag anymore.

that is all i have to say. host: do you think you will ever fly the american flag again? caller: maybe, i don't know. host: what would it take? caller: people need to stand up and help us more than they are doing. i have no quarrel with the v.a. the v.a. has been very good to me but some of this other stuff going on i don't understand anymore. host: caller in new mexico a couple callers back speaking about his father being a navajo code talker in world war ii. the story from the associated press, october 21, just a couple weeks ago. john kinzel senior, one of the last navajo code talkers to transmit messages died, he was 107 years old. navajo nation officials announced his death the previous saturday.

tribal presidents ordered all flags on reservations to be flown at half staff october 20 72 honor kinsel. a brave marine who selflessly fought for all of us in the most terrible of circumstances as a navajo code talker, the tribal president said. only two navajo code talkers are still alive as of october 21. former navajo chairman peter mcdonald and thomas begay. this is quincy in illinois. veteran. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. appreciate it. i listen to you folks just about every day. i'm a veteran of the vietnam conflict, national guard unit from the state of illinois here in quincy.

our unit was called up from the state of illinois back in 1968. it was night that president johnson said he was not going to run for office again, however, was going to call up 125,000 guard and reservists. we served in vietnam, 144 of us went over. we all came back home, served as a unit, served our country. i think veterans day is a day that we should be remembered by. it was a pleasure for us to serve. we still meet once a month, we have a meeting once a month, a bunch of us get together. we also have a christmas party, big fish fry in the summertime. the camaraderie is good. the guys, we all stay in touch pretty much.

some of them are spread out in different areas. we were from all walks of life and we signed to be in the national guard, knowing that we could be called up for service somewhere. this unit from quincy, illinois was called for every conflict they had. host: remember what day or when you got to vietnam? caller: we went to vietnam in september. 1978 was the tet offensive. we landed in danang, we were in jet fuel, supply and service company. we ran supplies out to the field in different places. our main objective was to support the american division. it was a once-in-a-lifetime

opportunity. it just means a lot to us. host: do you remember the day that you came home? caller: i came home in march 1969. as a short timer, i had six months to go before my duty was up. i had orders to go to vietnam at six months to go. another guy in my unit had three months to go and he still went. our first sergeant was a veteran of the second world war, the korean conflict, and then he went to vietnam with us. host: did he make it out of vietnam? caller: yes, we all came home. all of us came home, all 144 of us. we have lost 63 since then due to agent orange, other things. i will be 84 this month.

when we got on the plane, shook the hand of the general, they wished us good luck and everything when we left fort carson, colorado. we all went together on two jet carriers. host: thanks for telling us about the 144 out of illinois. ann in portland, oregon. good morning. you are next. ann, are you with us? go ahead. caller: yes. i grew up in arlington, virginia. my dad had a drug store four blocks from the white house. this was a really exciting time to grow up there. our immediate family was not in the service, however, my nephew served on the d&c border with the iraq war for three years. when he came home, he didn't receive all the awards that the people who served in iraq,

however, he was right there on the dmc border. he told me yesterday they had one of the honor guard and his company, and every night they did the honor guard ceremony and folded the flag. if there was any red on the flag -- it had to be all blue -- he would say, don't bloody my flag. my nephew, spencer clark williams, retired in the national guard. he would have been the schwarzkopf of the service because he knew every single battle, all the troops, all of them. unfortunately, when they downsized the army, they let him out, and he was in the national guard to retire. i also have a friend in a writing group. i graduated from high school in 1952. many of the people that graduated that year went straight to korea.

my friend went to korea. they asked if anybody knew how to type. he knew how to type, so he ended up in the general's office, procuring all the good food for the general, so he never actually served in battle. but everybody told tim walz that he never served in battle. when you go into the service, you go where the army or navy or air force sends you. i thought that was unconscionable that people should say that he didn't serve in battle, therefore he was less than. and john mccain was one of my heroes. i think we need to have more movies that are showing the valor of our service people and less movies on monsters and violence and all this other stuff. host: you said you lived in arlington, virginia. ever make it to arlington

national cemetery? caller: i did many times. i went to the tomb of the unknown soldier when i was there. host: that is what viewers are seeing on the screen right now. caller: it is fantastic. you take the trolley, you go around, there are celebrities there. the confederate soldiers have a tombstone that has a peak to it, and that tells you that is a confederate soldier buried there. i cannot say enough. go to all the museums in washington, d.c. but if you only pick one, go to the tomb of the unknown soldier. host: ann in oregon. frank out fairport, new york. line for veterans. caller: good morning, sir. i want to let you know i was a proud marine, 1956, over in okinawa, served two years over there. it was known as the cold war.

today, i am honoring all veterans wherever they are at. i want to let you know that i put a green light on my front porch every month of november. i am hoping that everyone does that in the united states, honoring our veterans. a green light on your front porch. it doesn't cost very much for a lightbulb, green light bulb honoring our veterans. you have a very nice day. good luck to all of you veterans. host: do you know where that green light tradition started, how did you come about deciding to join the tradition? caller: i have no idea. i heard about it about six or seven years ago in rochester, new york. i've been doing it every month of november since then. a green light on the front

porch. i have it go 24/7 honoring our servicemen. host: thanks for the call out of fairport, new york. shreveport, louisiana. this is homer. line for veterans. good morning. caller: good morning. this is homer in shreveport, louisiana. i went in in 1961. i was in high school one day, serving the next. walking out the grocery stores, somebody said, happy veterans day. thank you for your service. when i got discharged in 1965, all they did was give me the boot out the door. it is really nice. i want to thank america for that very thing. it sure is nice to hear. very kind of your time.

host: thank you for your service, thanks for the call. stuart. you are next. good morning, sir. caller: good morning. i spent 20 years in the virginia national guard, thinking i was going to get a retirement. i went to the v.a. to ask about my retirement. they said you don't have any benefits. you have to stay in for 30 years. i was in the national guard until the very end of the vietnam war, from september of 1969 to the very end of the vietnam war.

and i didn't get squat for it. i am still upset about that. host: with that experience of the v.a., your service, what do you do on veterans day? is it a special day for you? caller: is it a special day? well, yes. host: what are you going to do today, stuart? caller: what am i going to do? right now, i am in the hospital. the v.a. is not doing anything to take care of me. so i am in here on my personal insurance. host: wishing you the best in the hospital this veterans day. this is rudy out of chicago.

you are next. caller: good morning. i just want to call and acknowledge all veterans. my dad was drafted in norfork, virginia at the age of 17. sometimes the american public don't understand these men and women who serve in these wars, probably as young as 13 or 14 years of age. host: keep talking about those who have served. you just have to turn down your television. caller: ok. can you hear me now? what i'm saying is we want to acknowledge all the veterans, particularly those teenagers who were drafted to the korean war, world war i. our family, being from the state of georgia, my family has served the country since the revolutionary war. my dad was 17 and his brothers

all served in the navy. i just want to acknowledge them for this particular service. thank you very much. host: 10:15 on the east coast. extended "washington journal" this morning because at 11:00 we expect a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. president biden will participate, give remarks this veterans day. we have been told vice president kamala harris is set to attend the ceremony as well. we will bring you live coverage when it happens here on c-span. we will keep taking your phone calls until that ceremony begins. also attracting other news for you this morning on the ongoing trunk transition. this is the headline within the past hour from voice of america. donald trump taps the least of audit to be u.n. ambassador rice, choosing republican representative at least a phonic for that position.

i am honored to nominate chairwoman at least a phonic to serve in my cabinet as ambassador to the united nations. the new york representative and house republican conference chair has been a fierce trump ally in the house. they write the story coming out in the past hour in voice of america, reuters, other news sites. warden is next in rockville, maryland. caller: good morning. i am calling this morning to tell you that i served in vietnam, two deployments with mobile construction battalion four. first in denying, caisson. that is where we had attachments. then my second deployment which began with being mounted out

during the tet offensive. with regard to earlier discussions of the v.a., i have had no problems with the v.a. they treated me with dignity and with grace, and with a very helpful hand when i needed them. the other thing i wanted to say, i was one of three jewish men in mobile construction battalion four when we deployed our second time. i want people to remember that, in these times of great distress for members of the jewish religion, that we served in america's wars also. i'm a member of the jewish war veterans. i attend meetings as often as i

can and i contribute. just want people to remember that while there is also a lot of hatred in this world for jews, we served this country honorably in all wars dating back to the revolutionary war. that is what i have to say. host: you might be interested to hear this feature article from the front page of usa today on the 100th birthday of a world war ii veteran, robert set the tape, focuses on his service and also his jewish background, being a soldier during world war ii, fighting at the battle of the bulge under george patton. a feature of him at usa today. what did a mobile construction battalion do in vietnam? caller: we built things. we paved roads, built airfields.

we built bridges. we were engineers. host: have you been back to vietnam since the war? ever been back to vietnam? caller: no. i have no desire to go back to vietnam. host: mind if i ask why? caller: i carry certain bitterness. i saw a die unnecessarily. i visited the memorial in washington, d.c. a couple times. every time i shed a tear. guy's i deployed with never came home. host: do you know how many never came home from your mobile construction battalion four? caller: we were in 800-man battalion, three of which were jews. one of them was our company dr.. host: thanks for telling us about it this morning. this is john out of wisconsin,

line for veterans. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i served in the korean war, 1951 in two 1952, with the third infantry division. vc company. i remember today especially for two of my buddies, willie gray, harvey brockert, who didn't come home. they were in my battery. i was a mortarman. it brings back a lot of memories today for those two fellas who never had the chance to live out a good life but gave their all for the country. for so many others, as well.

that is my feelings today about veterans day, especially even though i think about them almost every day. host: what has been life been like for you since coming back? caller: i have had a good life. came back, got married, went to the university of wisconsin, graduated, got a good job with an insurance company. very fortunate. host: the step from the pew research service, only around 106 to 7000 veterans that served in the korean conflict still alive today. caller: that is right. host: what do you think we lose, as we are losing that generation of world war ii veterans, this d-day anniversary this past year, the commentator saying this is probably the last one

where many world war ii veterans will show up. we are getting close to that point with korean war veterans. caller: yes, we are. i was 19 years old when i went into the service. i am 93. pretty much anyone who served in korea during the war is going to be 93 or older. so, yes, the number of veterans that you find from the korean war are getting fewer and fewer. i was on the honor flight, 2014. already at that time it was quite evident there were not that many korean war vets left to go. host: when is your feeling about how this country remembers the korean war, especially compared to whether it is world war ii, more recent wars, what are your

thoughts about how much we talk about, remember the korean war in this country? caller: the best way to remember that is what we called the korean war, the forgotten war. it was basically forgotten. world war ii was such a dynamic five years in the history of this country, five years after world war ii was over in 1950, when the korean war started, nobody wanted war. people in the united states did not look favorably upon servicemen that went in. we did not get treated as badly as the vietnam vets did. that was a different kind of situation. for example, i went and served in the military for two years, i was drafted. i served almost a year in korea.

when i came home, people said, gee, have not seen you for a while, where have you been? host: they had no idea you were in korea. caller: no idea. very small sample from my family, maybe a few friends. but we were not ready for the war, so soon after world war ii. host: do you think it is still forgotten, thought about that way? caller: no. i think it has gone its prominence, especially when they erected the wonderful memorial in washington, d.c. i visited that when i went on my flight. i think that awakened a lot of the eyes. people who have made your forgotten about what had happened at that time.

if they saw that memorial, they would see another side of the war, have better appreciation. host: describe the experience of seeing that memorial, for folks who may not be familiar with it. it is a unique memorial down on the mall. caller: it is. i would love to be able to go back, but i don't know that i'm up for it. would love to see the wall with all of the names departed. i know it is there, well received. host: can you talk about walking to that memorial for the first time as i show viewers from the national park website, the picture of what you see when you walk up? caller: when you walk out and you see that squad coming through, like we did back in those days, it brought back a

lot of memories. i have to say, i was very teary-eyed. my son was with me as my sponsor , aid. you are showing the picture of the memorial right now. it is dramatic. it is so moving, it brings tears to my eyes even now watching it on tv. whoever the people were who designed it ought to be commended. it is representative of all the services, more men that we had in a patrol but they wanted to include air force, marines, navy and that depiction, because they all serve in one way or another

during that war. host: john, thanks for telling us about it. happy veterans day. doreen in doylestown, pennsylvania. you are next. caller: good morning. so nice to be able to speak with you. first of all, i want to give auditors to veterans of all wars, going back to the civil war, where my grandfather served. i am calling because i want to give some honor to women veterans. during and after the vietnam war, i became somewhat involved with our local vda chapter. from there, i became very involved with doing a lot of research on the women, a lot of women who served during the vietnam war. also did some research on the

eight women who died. we don't hear so much about them , but they were quite unique and special, even after all this time. they remain very special to me because of their service. all of them were nurses, died during the vietnam war in vietnam. i was married to two men who have served in vietnam. my first husband was in the air force at cam run day. my second husband was an army grunt with the first infantry division. he recently passed away four years ago but i have always honored all servicemen and women of all wars because they have done so much for us. the other thing i would like to

say, there was a caller who commented about the fact, someone told him, making some kind of differential because people who served in combat and those who didn't. they really should remember -- and someone told me one time. for every man on the battlefield, there are three people supporting them off the battlefield. i think that's a good thing for everyone to remember. i guess that is all i wanted to say. thank you for taking my call. i hope this is a wonderful day of remembrance and gatherings of veterans all over america. host: thanks, doreen. jim out of indiana. you are next. caller: thank you, john. i want to first of all say, salute to all the veterans who have served. i want to especially mention that my grandfather served in

the spanish-american war, which was not a very long war, but he did serve. very honorable. my brother served in world war ii on a mine sweeper that went into japan after they dropped the atomic bomb. that was a pretty dangerous mission. mine was in the air force, kentucky national guard, 1961 to 1968. anyway, i want to mention that and i want to thank everyone who is a veteran. i wish we could make some kind of a rule, each person who is able, serve their country for at least two years, whether it is the military -- some kind of position, which i think they would appreciate our country more. thank you very much. host: shirley in kansas. good morning, you are next. caller: yes, i was calling in regard to world war ii, to the

families that had a veteran that served. i was 10 years old living in england when the soldiers came to england. i just wanted to say thank you to their families. host: what do you remember about u.s. soldiers coming to england staging for the invasion of mainland europe? caller: oh my goodness. we lived where we were heavily bombed. my father was 32, died during the war, serving, working at an airfield there. i can remember those soldiers coming down the street and how safe we felt having them there. my mother later married an american soldier and came to the united states. i didn't come until several years later because during the

war, a piece of the bomb did damage to her leg. after she came over here, it turned into cancer, so i came to help and never went back, and never regret it. and that is why i was calling to say thank you to the families that lost a veteran during world war ii. host: shirley, do you remember finding out about dj on june 6? caller: oh yes. everybody celebrated. i don't remember a whole lot about june 6? i remember when the war ended. and several of my friends back then, people brought things, anything that would burn into the street, celebrate it. they were pianos, i remember my mother playing a piano.

i remember more about the end of the war. host: shirley, thanks for sharing those memories with us this morning. claude in camden, new york. line for veterans. good morning. caller: how are you doing today? host: doing well. caller: thank you for letting me speak. i am with the 25th infantry, second brigade, vietnam. i was a cross recipient of that brigade, medic. i am just proud of my service, proud of the service of all the men that served with me. we train for a long time in hawaii before we went. the training was tremendous because it hit every point we needed when we got in-country. we built the base camp. we were the first unit.

arrived in january 1966. took our first casualty, ezra miller, on the 17th of january. he was our platoon sergeant. i was platoon medic at that point. later on i became company medic for a company. 19 may, we took many casualties, and that was the day that i got mike ross. -- my cross. i want to put out a hello to all the veterans out there. i have a lot of friends who are also cross recipients through the legion of valor of the united states, and i want to say hello to them today. we have the best holiday. some of these guys have been through some terrific events. medal of honor recipients especially, they have seen some awful things. i am sure glad to have been able to meet them, get to know some of them through my experiences,

myself as a cross recipient. thank you for your time. host: before you go, claude, do you mind hearing the day of the story that you got the cross? caller: i will make it short. i was a combat medic. we captured an enemy hostel facility. the 17th of may. we held it for three days. on the third day, i was treating casualties. i was wounded several times. we got pinned down as we tried to withdraw the hospital and support one of our other units by the tally machine guns. our whole headquarters element was hit. we took numerous casualties including our artillery officer,

cadets, first class of 1965 of west point to be killed in action in vietnam. he was a terrific officer. he could put a shell in your back pocket and you wouldn't know it was there until something went boom. captain blackwell was our company commander. he was wounded in the arm. our first sergeant was wounded in the leg. most of the command element was down. it took me about two hours to get everyone evacuated, pulled out. then i saw two officers as i tried to get the lieutenant cadet's body out. as i went to get the two officers, i hit a tripwire, laid down on a hand grenade. host: what do you remember next, claude? caller: someone screamed medic, and i got back up and went back

to work. it took the word medic and the scream. one of my other medics had lost their arm, by the name of forrester. when he got injured, he started to run toward the enemy positions. i said tackle him, knock him down. i got to him and stopped the bleeding in his arm. we withdrew from that area from the intense fire, got back to our battalion complex. the next morning, general westmoreland pick me up on a helicopter, flew me over the battlefield and then took me to get medical treatment at the medical center there while he got briefed on the actions going on in the field area. host: claude, thank you for

sharing that story on veterans day. i appreciate it. caller: you are welcome. have a good day. god bless all the veterans out there. the veterans administration is fantastic. i have a friend who was once the head of the veterans administration. he was also chief of staff of the army. we went to vietnam on the uss walker together when he was lieutenant, and artillery officer with lieutenant cadets at west point in 1965. his name was shinseki. host: thank you. as the viewers can see on the screen, the ceremony about to get underway at arlington national cemetery at the tomb of the unknown soldier. we will let you watch and listen for a little bit.

host: host: that ceremony taking place at arlington national cemetery at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

it will be a wreath-laying ceremony in the next five or 10 minutes. we will of course go there lie when it happens. president biden is set to speak at that ceremony. guests are gathering. you just saw the presentation of the colors, arms there. we will continue to monitor it and show you live images as we join you on this veterans day, your thoughts about what veterans day means to you. we've been doing it all morning long, and extended "washington journal" as we hear your stories. this is a joy in myrtle beach, south carolina on the line for military families. go ahead. caller: can you hear me ok? host: yes, ma'am. caller: i am the daughter of a world war ii veteran. he grew up in chicago. he was a pacifist, was not going to go to the war, but when the japanese bombed pearl harbor, he knew that he would be called up.

he and my mom quickly got married in a chapel, wedding dress and all of that. he volunteered to go into the navy because he liked water a lot. i suspect from the little i know, he might have wanted to avoid hand combat, killing somebody, because he was a pacifist. on his ship, uss tuscaloosa, he became a first-class radio man, did the morse code. when he came back, he didn't really talk a lot about the war, hardly ever, but i feel a lot of pride that he was a part of saving europe from naziism. the greatest generation. i went up into the attic one day and found four telegrams from the dwight d. eisenhower that he had taken off the ship, snuck

off the ship, i don't know, but one of them was from june 5. that was supposed to be the day where the invasion occurred. it couldn't i think because of the weather. but i have three other telegrams from eisenhower after that in june. i would be interested in knowing if there is anybody, any expert, any place that i could donate these two. i have no particular use for them except for the interest. host: is there a local historical society in myrtle beach that you could reach out to, joy? caller: maybe. i think i took them once to an appraiser and said they were worth about $100. just telegrams. i thought they were really good. one mentioned the army-navy game. host: thanks for sharing.

a few of your tweets and text messages. this is tony from florida sayin i have a grandson who just separated fr the army after six years of service. this is his first year as a veteran. i am proud of his service and the ma the army need him. another viewe martha saying, so many sacrificed so tt could go to the church of my choice, so a wan could go to a university, so somebody could speak out on an issue because those brave soldiers served. thank you, veterans. a few of your comments as we await the ceremony at arlington national cemetery, should be getting underway in a couple of minutes. until then, more of your phone calls. marcia in vermont. family member of a veteran. good morning. caller: can you hear me all right? my dad served in the korean war. he thought for the stars and

stripes, enlisted after graduating high school, promoted to corporal. he became a writer after that, went to college for four years at boston university on the g.i. bill, graduated law school. i remember when i was a kid, reading very little about the korean war at the time, knowing very little, i asked him, did you cross the parallel? he looked at me and said, yes, we did. of course, they went all around the river, borders of china in north korea. it was something. he was able to further his career. he served for two years and it really made a difference for

him. and for myself. we were certainly able to enjoy his writings, stories. i don't feel there is enough happening for veterans really or their families, in terms of fostering education. there is the g.i. bill, families, daughters and sons. hopefully there could be grant funding for college education made available to them. in fact, benefits that permanently exist. hopefully there can be more on the information highway for families and veterans in terms of what is available. i just cannot thank them enough. these brave men and no women of course serving this country --

now women of course serving this country. there needs to be more information in terms of acts of heroism, medal rewarding. all people know the work they do. host: thank you. this is gene in florida. you are next. caller: good morning. i was an air force nurse during vietnam but i was not in country. i spent eight years in the air force, took care of the guys before and after, and their families. very proud of all of it. host: what are you doing today on veterans day? caller: i am 84, so i am sitting here doing nothing at the moment. [laughter] watching you on television. host: you can watch the ceremony coming up in a little bit, wreath-laying ceremony at the

arlington national cemetery at the tomb of the unknown soldier. ever been there? caller: yes. i did a lot of traveling around. host: what was that experience like going to the tomb of the unknown soldier? caller: i cannot give you the date but i was part of the military, so i felt very proud of the men doing the changing of the guard. i was very proud. proud to be a part of our country. that is one of the things that i find most upsetting these days, when i hear people talk, they don't know what is in the constitution. then i think, my gosh, we lost something when we stopped requiring civics in high school. we have lost inability to understand what the laws of our country are. and the other component is, one of the things that we lost with the loss of the draft, men -- at

that time it was mostly men -- from all over the country living together and getting to know each other instead of being in their own bubbles, from their own section of the country. it would be nice to see some of that come back. host: thanks for that as we continue to wait for the ceremony, wreath-laying ceremony. president biden will be participating. we understand the vice president is there as well at arlington national cemetery. president biden's remarks will follow the wreath-laying ceremony. about 15 minutes after. we expect to see the president come up that path on the far end. when he does, we will take you there for the life ceremony. until then, your phone calls. this is ron in daytona beach, florida. caller: how are you doing this morning? i'm a vietnam war veteran,

served from 1965 to 1968. today is veterans day but it doesn't really put any emphasis on the real value of the day itself. if you did, the v.a. would be open. today, the v.a. is closed. they are not honoring us by being closer so that we cannot get to their facility. it is like voting. if voting is that important for this country, only comes around for years, it should be a national holiday. everybody should be shut down and paying attention to voting. my argument is also with the v.a. itself. it is a money pit. their budget for next year is 415 billion dollars, which is a huge amount of money that the taxpayers are paying, and very little of that 415 billion dollars gets down to the veterans. it is consumed by the v.a. to run the place. in my opinion, the v.a. is not user-friendly for the veterans, it is for the employees. it is their way of making a

living, send their kids to college, making a mortgage, whatever, off of our backs. it is a disgrace that they spent all of this money and crumbs down to the veterans themselves. i have an attitude that i think is pretty much wide spread as far as a lot of veterans in the country. host: that is ron in daytona beach. howard and fort lee, new jersey. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. i think i have some unique experience. i was in vietnam early 1967 to 1968. i worked and what was called the officer replacement division, united states headquarters. we processed on a daily basis about 150 officers who came in country, about 150 who left the country. about a 40-unit organization. i have some comments to make as follows. one, i invite every single

military veteran who was in a war to write a remembrance of their time in war. a few years ago, i sat down at my typewriter and for about four hours, i wrote a 28-page remembrance of the things i remember from vietnam. i have to say, if you were involved in a war -- i am 84 -- if you were involved in a war, today, 50 years later, you remember every single day of that more experience. write it down, give it to your family and friends. it is something to get off of your chest. it will be just terrific to do. now regarding what i was doing. on a daily basis i would see a list of officers whose came in country. i would say it is an estimate, something like 80% of all officers that came in country where united states graduates of west point.

the last names were very familiar to me. of the 80%, i would say 70% had next to their last name, junior, iii, iv, v, vi. the commitment to military families goes back to the revolutionary war. the most famous names occurred to me in january 15, 1968. george as patton iii. he was then the lieutenant combined are in charge of a 30-unit tank battalion. he eventually rose to be a three-star general. i was in charge of coordinating the information that came in on a daily basis, sent to the pentagon. we knew where every officer was at any moment of the 39,500 officers. vietnam wasn