seated to my left is sergeant daniel burgess and his wife janette. he is up from the cleveland area. belongs to a psychological operations unit up there. last year he was in afghanistan, and he was in southern afghanistan attached to the marines. while doing that, he himself stepped on an ied. he lost his leg. severe wounds to the rest of his body. the first thing janette said when she contacted him is i'm not getting out. i'm staying in. today he is down in ft. houston at the warrior training brigade rehabbing so he can get back in force. we have to make sure we're doing everything in our power in an area where we are looking to save money and reduce debt, but we cannot afford to shortchange the great soldiers. and as the admiral said, they are indispensable. our army can't do what it does without them. i use him as a symbol of why i'm here. and i look forward to your questions, sir. >> thank you to your service to our nation. we're very proud of you. please be recognized. >> and also your wife. [ applause ] i'll call upon the marine general. >> tha

seated to my left is sergeant daniel burgess and his wife, janette. sergeant burgess is from twinsburg, ohio, or up in the cleveland area, belongs to a psychological operations unit up there. sergeant burgess last year was in afghanistan, and he was in southern afghanistan attached to the marines. out on a mission as a psyops sergeant, helping work with the local afghans to get them to show the marines locations of ieds and other dangers to protect him. while doing that, he himself stemmed on an ied and he lost his leg, severe wounds to the rest of his body, mild tbi, and janette said the first thing he said when she contacted him when he got to germany was, "i'm not getting out. i'm staying in." and today he is down in ft. sam houston at the warrior training brigade rehabbing so he can get back in the force. that epitomizes what -- why we're here. we're here because of them. and we're here to say we've got to make sure we're doing everything within our power in an era where we are looking to save money and reduce debt, but we cannot afford to shortch