exactly. it makes us look top-notch but we know it's affordable. (garage door opening) (sighs) honey, haven't i asked you to please use the.... >>we don't have a reception entrance. ship a pak via fedex express saver® for as low as $7.50. welcome to "taking the hill." in minutes, i'll tell you about a big day in afghanistan for the u.s. military. but first, let's go to alex witt for the latest breaking news on the missing jet liner. alex? >> thank you so much patrick, for that. well, everyone, we've been talking about it all morning, it's a missing air asia jet with 162 people onboard. flight 8501 lost contact with ground control shortly after taking off from indonesia. it was on its way from singapore.

both have launched a joint search and rescue operation. however, the air search has been suspended. the u.s. state department says the country stands ready to continue with the search for the plane. monitoring the story frommen london for us. kelly, what's the latest as you see it? >> well, the indonesians who are really leading this search say it's on hold until daybreak tomorrow, planes are not flying overnight. daybreak in about five hours or so. the founder of asia airlines asia air is in indonesia. he's met with some of the families and promising to do all he can to help them. even tweeted. my worst nightmare, but we will get through this. aircraft from indonesia, malaysia singapore will all take part in the search tomorrow. they're focusing on an area in the java sea and hoping for decent weather. at least less rain not as heavy rain tomorrow. indonesian teams search for ten hours today. they found nothing. but the conditions were very

bad. hoping for slightly better weather at daybreak. most of those onboard were indonesian. lots of families headed to singapore for vacation. a british passport holder with his 2-year-old singaporean daughter, a couple from south korea and their 1-year-old girl alex. in all 17 children. >> thank you for bringing us the latest. patrick, we're going to of course bring you the updates as noose news warrants, but now back to you and "taking the hill." >> appreciate it. what we'll be covering over the next hour a quiet ceremony today in kabul marked the formal end to the war to the u.s. military in afghanistan. it's america's longest war and it came to an end after 13 years. as u.s. and nayto forces exchanged flags. some forces will remain in the country in noncombat roles. we'll talk to a u.s. senator about that in a moment.

also he was the deadliest sniper in u.s. history. a legend among navy s.e.a.l.s. chris kyle's life cut tragically short is a subject of a new film "american sniper." we'll talk to a fellow navy s.e.a.l. sniper about the man behind the legend. but first, today an estimated 22 veterans committed suicide and 150 active duty troops last year alone. five years ago, one of those soldiers was army specialist jacob sexton. now a new bill seeks to end that trend with health evaluations for all troops. joining me now, democratic senator joe donnelly members of the armed services compete. and jeff sexton jacob sexton's father. gentlemen, thank you so much for joining me today. >> thank you, patrick. >> senator, let me go to you first. i want to talk about your incredibly important piece of legislation. let's get your remarks on what you saw in afghanistan today.

you're on the armed services committee. what does it say about the war that began with such fervor 13 years ago and a rather quiet, unassuming and frankly unnoticed way. >> well, what we hope is that there's continued stability in afghanistan in the years ahead. and we've now switched to a support mission. and so we will have a little bit over 10,000 people there this next year helping to support 350,000 plus afghan army. and so what we're hoping is that they'll carry the ball from here on out. and that what we've been able to do is try to make sure our nation is safe that there are no terrorist attacks that are being developed from afghanistan again. and that as we move forward, afghanistan is able to chart their own direction. >> yeah. >> how about there's over 10,000 of our troops that will be there in noncombat roles. for them the war really isn't over. >> no they're there every single day. they'll be working with the afghan army and afghan police

every single day. and so their role is to support to train, and for them to come home in the next few years. >> senator, let me switch gears. friday the u.s. senate's partners conducted 12 air strikes against isis targets in iraq and syria. as far as isis goes you know i know it's a different region what's the end game look like to you? >> well we have to eliminate them and have to make sure they're not present there anymore. look we have felt it particularly strongly here in indiana. i'm in indianapolis right now. one of our sons from right in this city peter kasik was one of the last people that isis beheaded. they have no moral code and we're trying to make sure there's stability in that region and that that kind of conduct ends. >> yeah. well let me go back to the topic at hand. jeff, thanks so much. i know we talked and met before but can you tell me and the

audience about your son jacob, please? >> yes. jacob joined the military when he was 17 years old, you know. went through iraq and one in afghanistan and everything. the most kind-hearted person you could ever want to meet. and he would do anything to help out his fellow service members or anybody down the street. >> you know he said he's a hoosier through and through. what does the jacob sexton bill do? >> well, what it does is we're trying to prevent any more young men and women who are serving in active duty or in the guards or in reserves. and so there's an annual mental health assessment each and every year, not only for those in the deployment cycle, but for those

at home as well. and what we're trying to do is make it a sign of strength that you can talk to somebody rather than a stigma. it provides privacy protections for when you're talking to somebody. and additionally on top of that what we're trying to do is put in best practices. i went to israel last year to meet with a general from the israeli defense forces. and patrick, they have a real bottoms up approach that the platoon commanders that your fellow members of your platoon, that they can come up and say, listen, you know, it's probably time to talk to somebody. one of the things that jeff told me was when they had the services for jake that jeff had talked to some of jake's fellow battle buddies and said look you know, i didn't see any signs. and his battle buddy said, you know, we did. and so patrick, as you know last year we lost 132 young men and women in combat and we lost

475 to suicide. our goal jeff and barb's goal is to get it to zero. >> yeah. especially such a strain on the -- that's the 1% of americans served in the longest war in american history. must be so much harder for you and barb. jeff what do you think maybe held jacob back from seeking help. i know as joe just mentioned. they could see some signs. what do you think held them back from seeing a mental health professional? >> well, the biggest thing that held him back was the stigma you know. i'm not a good soldier if i don't fight through this. one of his best friends the day before they left to go to afghanistan said that jacob said i'm not sure about this you know. i'm not sure i can make it through this deployment and

everything. and at that time his buddy told him, hey, man, it's too late now. we're on the bus. i think jacob was more afraid if he did go to somebody, they would say, oh, you're just trying to get out of deployment. you're chickening out. and so he kept his mouth shut and tried to battle through it. >> and patrick, that's part of what we're trying to do at this. is so that every member of our military knows, hey, if you want to talk to somebody, that's a sign of strength. it's not a sign of weakness. and it's never too late. i mean you know that from your experiences in the military as well. the more support we can provide, the better off we are. >> yeah. and senator, this is now -- this legislation is now u.s. law. what's the next few steps? where do you think the changes will be dramatically here in the immediate future? >> well i think you're going to see the changes that all of our services the leaders, everybody involved has said, look, we want

100% make sure this message gets out. the message that if you're seeking help hey, that's what we want you to do. and if you're seeking help that's not the kind of thing we're going to go looking to bust you down a rank or this or that. that when you do that you're making it better for your whole platoon, your whole group, your whole family, patrick. what we're hoping to do is to significantly reduce the number of suicides and make it so that for our young men and women who serve, they know if they want to talk to somebody, they can. and i want to thank jeff and barb and another friend of ours who have been so instrumental in helping. jeff called me up during the chuck hagel confirmation hearings. he happened to be watching, and i was talking to chuck hagel about the scourge of suicide in our military. and jeff sent an e-mail to our office and said tell joe i want to help. i want to make that what

happened to jacob that we can turn this into a positive for our country and for these other men and women. >> thank you so much for joining us. as you know 22 veterans who commit suicide every day it's an epidemic. and five years ago was 18 a day. it's getting worse, not better. for you two to be national leaders on this and, senator, for your efforts, we want to thank you very much. we're going to continue to be in contact with you to see how it's moving forward. thank you, gentlemen, so very much. >> thanks, patrick. thank you. after the break led him and his wife to the front lines for the fight of medical marijuana use by children. and make sure you use your #takingthehill to have your voice heard today. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german-engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta... and the 2015 motor trend car of the year all-new golf. if you're wishing for a new volkswagen this season...

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following this breaking news. flight 8501 lost contact with ground control shortly after taking off from indonesia on its way to singapore. both countries have launched a search and rescue operation, but the air search has been suspended until daylight. air asia released a statement saying the crew of flight 8501 had asked for a change in flight path to avoid the rough weather. from desegregation to ending don't ask, don't tell. the military has long been an agent of change in our country. perhaps it should be no surprise that it was a green beret and his wife that led the charge in colorado for the use of medical marijuana by children. matt and paige's daughter charlotte suffers from a condition that causes seizures. they finally tried a strain of marijuana oil that preserves the

cannabis but removes the thc and it worked remarkably. now parents across the country are flocking to colorado in search of this strain known as charlotte's web. and many more are hoping to reform the law in the home states. joining us now is state senator republican, state senator from pennsylvania and angela farrell who suffers from devastating seizures. and the ambassador for the campaign for compassion initiative. thank you so much for joining us here on "taking the hill." >> thank you for having us. >> can you tell us about your son michael? >> sure. at six months of age, michael had his first of many seizures. we then were told that he had a syndrome, a rare and hard to treat form of epilepsy with no known cure. in the 13 years we have tried over 20 different anti-epileptic

drugs with severe side effects at times. we have had a device searchicallysearch ically surgically implanted in his chest. we've tried restrictive diets. sought out second and third opinions from different neurologists and multiple states. and we still have not been able to find an answer for stopping michael's seizures. until the summer of 2013, we -- we were desperate. and it seemed like our answer had been given to us by way of the story of charlotte and her success with medical cannabis. we obviously wanted to research it, look into it see if it was an option for michael. and once we realized that pennsylvania obviously was not a compassionate state, we decided

that because it was not a possibility for us to move to colorado we decided to stay within pennsylvania and join forces with the great senator flomer and also the wonderful advocates we've met along the way. >> you're a conservative republican from the red part of pennsylvania, tell us why this became your passion. >> well, started a little over a year ago. and i met with two parents. they came in and asked me if i would cosponsor a bill by a democratic senator, senator leach. and informed me gave me information, and gave me hundreds of papers. i took that information and read it and said oh my goodness, i've been wrong. i'm wrong. there's a lot of misinformation. this could work. and i knew that if i got involved because of politics. i'm going to be blunt about it.

i called senator leach up and said, hey, let's work together. let's get together working on a people issue, let's get this done and get this message out there. this is way, way too important. >> how far did you get. how far did you get? >> we got it through the senate 43-7. i had 20 other republicans to vote with me. so it was -- it was a good victory. and now we're set and we're poised we're introducing this senate bill 3. and we're ready to go. and the advocates, the mama bears, they have been awesome. and they're the reasons why we're gotten as far as we've gotten. >> yeah. back to you. how old is michael now? i know you said 6 months but how old is he now? >> he's 13 years old. >> so you've been dealing with this for a decade? >> yes. >> do you feel momentum's on your side? because there's thousands of these momma bears across pennsylvania and the effort across the nation, as well. >> i definitely do.

i think that we are only going to come out stronger. after, you know, after seeing it go through the senate with such great support, i can't see how it wouldn't pass this year. so we're determined. we're determined to do this. >> yeah. senator, you have 1,000 of these momma bears that have your back on this fight. where do you see it now? governor coming in pennsylvania weeks away where do you think it'll move? and how optimistic are you? >> i'm very optimistic the governor-elect has been publicly in support. so i'm looking forward to a broader bill. and if i may, patrick, to expand upon this and how great these momma bears are, they not only were pushing their issue, but as we expanded this issue and the research that i have been doing. we expanded it to help all pennsylvanians with various diseases to make this as broad and diverse as possible.

it was because of these fine folks. it wasn't about their children. so i'm very confident with the new governor coming in that he wants the broadest bill possible, the strongest bill properly regulated. >> yeah. i saw a poll 84% of pennsylvanians support your efforts. >> yeah. >> what is the hold up? is there special interest against what you're trying to do? >> there's special interest. and the special interest reared its ugly head toward the end. we had large pharma for profit prisons, for profit treatment centers, causing the -- smoking this and so forth. remember, patrick, this is not about the high. >> yeah. >> this is about giving people safe access to an alternative medicine to allow people to have one more arrow put in their quiver between themselves and their medical professional to fight their disease. >> yeah. you have a republican colleague, u.s. congressman scott perry who introduced this bill on a

federal level. where do you think it needs to go on the federal side? >> well, it's great action going forward here. it gets the issue out there to help us educate, educate, educate. and that's what this is about. not about cheech and chong. not about "fast times at ridgemont high." it's about safe access to i believe a great alternative medication. >> yeah this is michael -- >> yes, amen. exactly. >> both of you, thank you so much for joining us here today. i know it grabs all of our hearts to hear this story and we'll continue to follow this and do all we can. >> you know patrick, as you're doing the show today, you know thousands of soldiers as you talked about and the suicide rate. this has been known to work very, very well with ptsd along with their therapy. i'm letting you know that. >> we're looking at the v.a. allowing -- states that allow this with the v.a. clinic. >> thank you so very much. when we come back, an update on the breaking news. the search for the missing

jetliner off indonesia. also two heroes who continue to serve as they return home overseas. you're watching "taking the hill" on msnbc.

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and their families is without equal. start investing with as little as fifty dollars. in a nation without mandatory service, one of the most inspiring things is to see our volunteer warriors continue to serve even after they come home. greg berman left a career on wall street to first serve in the state department and go on to active duty with the navy and deploy to afghanistan where he served as strategic adviser to david petraeus and john allen. when he returned home he found that nation swell, media company dedicated to telling positive stories of people who are moving america forward. jason redman was a navy s.e.a.l. when he was wounded in 2007. while recovering, he famously hung a bright orange poster on

his door that read in part, attention, this room you're about to enter is a room full of fun, optimism and intense rapid regrowth. if you're not prepared for that, go elsewhere. signed, the management. that message continues to work as founder of wounded wear an organization that seeks to optimize the wounded troops. i spoke to them at a recent nation swell summit. >> nation swell is a media company dedicated to elevating the solutions to our country's biggest challenges. and we want to be a platform where people can plug in engage and serve and can become better citizens. we have a digital platform where we tell stories about innovators and organizations. we're doing great things to take aim at big national challenges. >> trying to bridge that civilian military divide. >> as you know, during the past 12 years, less than 15% of the country served in the military or as a direct family member of

someone who has. the vast majority of the country has gone untouched and hasn't really experienced the same kind of sacrifices as others. members and events organizations in our community are really focused on trying to connect veterans civilians, trying to showcase some of the great things that veterans are doing in the civilian world and working to bridge that divide. >> i think it goes beyond just saying hey, i appreciate your service. i think people need to look for ways to support within their community. there's over 50,000 veteran nonprofits. i think there are ways to support them. our end state, i think, for all veterans, especially for our combat wounded warriors, we need to help them find purpose and peace. purpose is found through housing, education and employment. and peace is found through the organizations that are out there. can help them deal with the invisible wounds of war, traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress. in september of 2007 was conducting a mission in the anbar province of iraq walked into a pretty heavy well set up

ambush situation myself. and several teammates were shot up. i took at least eight rounds that we know of. two rounds in the elbow, i took a round in the face and that began a whole new journey of getting put back together. i started wounded warrior in 2008. basically the genesis of the idea came about from what i had been through. some things i had seen. and really it was amazing to me. we had been at war at that point for six, going on seven years. and there were a lot of americans who -- there's still a detachment. i had these injuries and people would always assume i'd been in a motorcycle accident or car accident. and that was kind of the catalyst that made me say, hey, man, we've got to raise the awareness for the american people that there are young men and women over there sacrificing for their freedom. ask and that's how it started, forever recognizing the cost of freedom. scarred so others may live free. and it just continued to grow. the clothing line grew. we started getting into empowering events for the

wounded warriors and events that raised that awareness. >> we salute you. two great americans here at home after the military service. after more than 13 years, the formal ending of the combat mission in afghanistan. just a few hours ago. is this the time and the right time for the draw down? joining our conversation using the hash tag #takingthehill. th unique extended release technology helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq.

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we're following this breaking news. an air asia plane with 162 people onboard is missing. flight 8501 lost contact with ground control shortly after taking off from indonesia on its way to singapore. both countries had launched a search and rescue operation, but the air search has been suspended until daylight. the state department says that u.s. stands ready to assist with the search for the missing plane. welcome back to "taking the hill," i'm patrick murphy. america's longest war formally came to an end today in a quiet

ceremony. after 13 years, u.s. troops officially completed their combat mission in afghanistan. nato military forces held that ceremony with u.s. officials a few days earlier than expected. but nearly 11,000 members of the u.s. military will remain in noncombat responsibilities. on christmas day president obama marked the beginning of the end of the marine corps, talking to the marines in hawaii. >> because of the extraordinary service the men and women in american armed forces afghanistan has a chance to rebuild its own country. we are safer. it's not going to be a source of terrorist attacks again. >> joining me now from honolulu is nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing. chris, how is the president painting the situation right now in afghanistan? >> well patrick, we're expecting an official statement from the president within the hour. but i think we'll hear him say that he believes as a result of sacrifices made by american

service members, the country is safer. that is what we heard him say to the troops on christmas day. you just played a little clip of that. i think he'll also make the case afghanistan is certainly better taking over their own security and holding democratic elections. although, he has acknowledged it's still a very dangerous place. and the reality, of course, is very complicated. 13 years $1 trillion in u.s. spending. and 2014 has been the deadliest year since the start of the war. civilian casualties expected to hit 10,000 this year. another 5,000 afghan forces have been killed, a number that as you know grew as they took over security responsibilities. and so while today's ceremony officially ends u.s. combat involvement, we know that earlier this month defense secretary chuck hagel announced the u.s. would keep about 1,000 more troops than planned in afghanistan through early next year. and so there is still another chapter of this to be written. although officially, this ceremony marked the end, patrick. >> yeah, and as you said, chris, this was the most violent year

in afghanistan. thousands of afghan police and security forces were killed in the line of duty. but our operations -- our combat operations, at least are now ended. but how much chris, of a division has been there been in the administration about whether now's the time for the drawdown? >> well of course there's been a constant push and pull between the administration and the pentagon. it's probably one of the most written about parts of this administration. of course, he made promises to end the war in afghanistan. when he was running for president and has often been at odds. we saw, for example, when there was that decision in 2009 about the surge. we saw more recently as this drawdown got near. and as the taliban stepped up its campaign to take advantage of this fact that afghanistan was taking care of its own security now. i think also worth noting in all of this is that republicans will be taking over the senate of course, next month and that john mccain who has been one of the

president's fiercest critics on the handling of the war and foreign policy in general is set to head the armed services committee. and of course, there's going to be ash carter who is looking to be the new defense secretary, patrick. >> yeah, and the confirmation hearings are probably a few weeks away. thanks so much for joining us. we do appreciate it. he was the deadliest sniper in u.s. history. 160 confirmed kills. his longest, more than 1.2 miles away. he's reportedly nicknamed the devil of ramadi. he was a legend. tragically, though his life was cut short last year when he and a friend were allegedly killed by a troubled marine corps veteran who were trying to -- they were trying to rehabilitate. kyle's story is now on the big screen in the major new film "american sniper." >> hold on i got a woman and a kid 200 yards out moving toward

the convoy. >> her arms aren't swinging. she's carrying something. >> yeah she's got a grenade. she's handing to the kid. >> you say a woman and a kid? >> you got eyes on this? can you confirm? >> negative. your call. >> they'll fry you if you're wrong. >> that was pretty intense. joining me now is fellow navy s.e.a.l. sniper john mcgwire. thanks for your service. >> thanks for having me, patrick. >> john, tell us about chris kyle the man.

>> well to -- you said it earlier that he was an example for navy s.e.a.l.s. he set the bar. i think it was humble. and his biggest regret he did not save more lives. you know and special ops, we call them sheep dog, men who realize some things are more important than fear. and he -- we use our strength to help those and others, help themselves. >> yeah. >> you know, in the film and in the book he talks about his regret and unfortunately, terrorists who blew up his colleagues, men and women who were there trying to do what they thought was right. do you think a lot of these veterans are going to come back and have survivors' guilt? >> certainly. and one thing about chris that comes out. i've talked to several team guys that knew him better than me was he had overwhelming energy toward helping others. talks about, he wishes he would've saved more lives. >> yeah. how about the life of a sniper? i mean you know, i was in a

regular, you know, airborne division. platoons and companies and brigades. but as a sniper you're often isolated and alone and have to make decisions, can you walk us through what that's like? >> well, you know, not just snipers. >> it's all about a team. the conflict of the decisions that you have to make. are not too far from the grunt kicking in the door. so maybe a little up close and personal looking through the glass. and that you may see someone's eyebrows and facial expressions. but it's a conflict it's a job, and you've got to do your job and realize some things are more important than fear. if you don't do your job, your brothers don't come home to the family. >> yeah. how difficult is it to make those decisions? those life and death decisions? >> well certainly it's difficult. and one thing i like about this movie, it's a humble and serious depiction of the men and women who serve. a lot of marines and s.e.a.l.s and other guys. it's tough stuff. >> i know one of the things i

came away with people think the military we're robots that these things don't weigh on us for the rest of our lives, that it's so difficult. tell us about the training that the snipers and navy s.e.a.l.s have to go through. >> well obviously there's been a lot of things. it's not for everyone. and we cannot afford the luxury of a quitter in combat. we need the people to make the right choices. we have to fight the fear. the training requires a lot of concentration. a lot of dedication and sacrifice. but not just snipers. all the men and women are part of the team. >> yeah. >> i talked earlier, less than 1% of america served in iraq and afghanistan. for those other 99% that might go to the movie theaters to watch american sniper what do you hope this will take away from watching that movie? >> well i like i think everyone should see this movie. and what i like about it, shows that evil is real.

when he saw 9/11 he stepped up and wanted to serve or be part of something bigger than himself. and as long as our country has men and women willing to step up like that america's going to be around for a while. >> yeah. i look at the tragedy of him trying to help out another marine corps veteran. and unfortunately, that veteran who turn and took chris's life and another colleague's life. you know, how do you see it when these men and women come home after serving country overseas? the strain of that and the fact there are 22 veterans that commit suicide every day. what do you think more our country could do? >> well you had a piece about jason redman. i know him. he's a great guy. he talked about serving others. veterans can help veterans. and chris kyle has a fund. it's chris kyle frog foundation. and the whole premise is serving those who serve you. and, in fact i'd rather focus

on his death being that he may have died by an ex-vet. but really he died serving another veteran. >> yeah. i look at his service and some other. and, by the way, i think "american sniper" will probably be the defining film of our generation of veterans. when you look at -- and i'm not just saying that because bradley cooper is a philadelphia native. you look at the war movies and people coming back in that divide that exist in this nation, you know and you look at what's going on with isis right now. where they're strong in syria and iraq and we've brought our troops home from iraq and we've -- what do you see going on with isis? and what, basically, do you think -- how similar are they to al qaeda? and what needs to be done? >> well we said it earlier that evil does exist. and the only thing evil -- in popular culture, they talk about

snitches and done't say things. all americans are going to determine the outcomes. if you see something, you need to say something. you need to stand up. and we talk about sheep dogs. we use our strength to help those that don't have the strength to protect themselves. and a wolf is someone that sees a weak person and uses that as an opportunity to take advantage of them. and sheep dogs we take out the wolves. >> well, john, thanks for your service, thanks for all you've done. >> we can all do more. >> yep. and we will together. one of the biggest challenges veterans face in rejoining the civilian workforce. so i sat down with u.s. army veteran and chairman and ceo of johnson & johnson. discuss his time in the military in the ways companies can help not only help hire veterans but utilize their unique skill sets. this is up next on "taking the hill."

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welcome back to "taking the hill." for all the different issues we discuss on this show our core mission is addressing the military civilian divide in our nation. for many of us that served that divide becomes strikingly clear when we try to reenter the civilian workforce at the end of our military service. on the positive side, veterans are disproportionately ceos and executives of fortune 500 companies. i had the opportunity to sit down with one of them, the chairman and president and ceo of johnson & johnson and west point graduate who served six years in the u.s. army. i began by asking alex what was his time in uniform -- what did it teach him? >> one of my most vivid memories is as a brand new lieutenant, in the seventh infantry division out of california and at that time, we thought we were as good as the 82nd airborne. this was in the mid-80s. and i can remember walking in to

my new unit and i saw the first sergeant and the first sergeant said you know sir, sit on down let me tell you how we're going to do things around here. and probably a lot of you remember those same kind of conversations. and it was one of those moments where yeah you knew you had accountability and responsibility and you had a certain rank on your shoulder, but you really didn't know very much. i learned right away the difference between educated and intelligence. and just because some of the people i worked with in the military didn't have ph.d., m.d., mba, as many initials don't think for a second they're not wicked smart. maybe they didn't have the same kind of educational opportunities that a lot of us have had or certainly that i had. and the counter to that is true by the way, you get a chance to work with a lot of people with initials behind their name that doesn't mean you can get something done, automatically.

>> we're talking about veterans hiring and veterans retention. what is j & j doing to hire veterans and keeping them there? >> well, we're doing a lot, but i'm far from satisfied with what we're doing. it's not just aboutit's not just about getting a job but setting up people for a successful career. we first try to say, what are the things we can do to help reentry. their families. the second thing we tried to do is how can we make sure we are helping people take all the skills experiences. the capabilitieses you have and how do we translate that into civilian language. we have a lot of people involved in mentoring and development programs on things as simple as uh how to do a resumé. how do you go through and interview. how do you translate some of the things you have taken for granted. sometimes i think one watch out is that you undervalue.

because you are almost shy about it. you don't want to come across too the strong. as a result some of it's lost in translation. the person on the other side of the table either doesn't understand or can be intimidated because they are thinking wow, they protected democracy. they ran a unit of oh a hundred people. they were responsible for millions of dollars. what are they going to do to help me in my job when i have to get a product out next week? how do you the connect that? instead of, no this is a person who is deeply committed. knows how to take uncertainty and quickly add structure to it. and is used to deadlines used to leadership under stressful situations. making that transition is so important. we spent a lot of time doing it. what we hear from many employees frequently is i think they do a lot to help veterans. they get so much out of it.

they walk away with a better appreciation for what people like you have been doing. >> for more information on the great work they are doing go to veterans on wall street.com. when we return final thoughts. this is "taking the hill" on msnbc. i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil. the nighttime, sniffling sneezing, coughing aching, fever, best sleep with a cold medicine. [ fishing rod casting line, marching band playing ] [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request

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the latest on that big breaking news today. an air asia plane with 162 people on board is missing. flight 8501 lost contact with ground control after taking off from indonesia on its way to singapore. both countries launched a search and rescue operation. the air search has been suspended until daylight. air asia says the crew of flight 8501 asked for a change in flight path to avoid rough weather. shortly after that request, controllers lost contact with the plane. you will hear more here on msnbc on "meet the press" and at the top of the hour. yesterday was a funeral for one of new york's finest. raphael ramos, one of two police officers assassinateded on duty

this week while sitting in a patrol car. thousands of nypd officers and thousands from across the country came to pay final respects to one of their brothers in uniform. vice president joe biden addressed the family specifically officer ramos's sons will never see their daddy again. >> justin and jaden, know that although your father is gone you have inheriteded an entire family -- the men and women of the new york police department will always be there as long as you are alive. they never, never forget. >> when i was growing up the son of a cop my mom told my brother, sister and me always kiss your father good-bye before he leaves for work. you never know if you will see him again. that's what the thin blue line peens and reflects the risk police officers take every day. this year, 115 police officers never made it home after a their

shifts. our hearts go out to the officers and their family. let's hope as country and community we can come together during these times. all lives do matter. thanks for joining us on "taking the hill." i'm patrick hur if i. next up, "meet the press." is playing) hey! i guess we're going to need a new santa ♪(the music builds to a climax.) more people are coming to audi than ever before. see why now is the best time. audi will cover your first month's payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. visit audioffers.com today.

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plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last until the am. now you can have a good night and a... good morning! new aleve pm. for a better am. this sunday, outpourings of grief at the funeral of a slain new york city police officer. >> when an assassin's bullet targeted two police officers, it targeted this city. and it touched the soul of the entire nation. >> what can be done to alleviate tensions between the black community and police in the country. i will be joined by william bratton.