and already you can hear celebrations under way here at madison square park.his is where the starting point is for the parade, and you know, they're expecting tens of thousands of people, and the turnout really looks on par for what they've been expecting, 27,000 people are expected to march right up fifth avenue in celebration of veteran's day. this year is honoring specifically women in the military. joining me now female veterans thank you so much for your service and for being with us this morning. this is the national association of black military women. tell me, this is colonel with the u.s. army nurse corp. tell us how important is this parade. >> it's very important, as women being together, as you can see we have all nationalities. i've been in the military for 25 years. we have women that reached the ranks of general. so this is very important to us. >> thank you. and we have colonel osborn, thank you for being with us, and for your service. now you're recently retired, and just returned from kuwait. you tell me, you have seen the evolution of women

parade in your local area or new york area, please come to 5th avenue at the memorial -- at madison square parkr anywhere along the parade route. >> in your town. >> or in your town. how important is it, and i talked about it yesterday, hiring vets. >> it's critical. the skill sets they are bringing into the community cannot be purchased through normal educational processes. it's the interpretation of that skill set into the civilian need where we're seeing the problem. many veterans organizations, including the department of defense, are working on how to transfer the skill sets so the hr departments understand what the qualifications of the candidates are. >> there's honor, courage, strength, and don't forget sequestration where a lot on furlough and taking retirement and needing a job. how do you fund what you do? >> we fund through generous donations from our corporate sponsors and other veterans organizations like wounded warrior, corporate sponsors such as chase, u-haul, history channel, hbo. those are our major contributors. but we've seen the slowdown in the contribution area that's goi

erika joins us live from the start of the parade at madison square park.orning. they are calling this america's parade, because it is expected to be the largest in the country, celebrating veterans day. 27,000 people are expected to march up fifth avenue. we were at madison square garden, the starting point of all the celebration. this year's entire celebration is featuring the u.s. early. they are honoring specifically women in service and female veterans, in fact, the grand marshal of the parade is retired general who served 37 years in the army. she is the first woman to become a four star general. joining me now is a veteran himself, good morning to you, first of all, thank you so much for your service. this man fought in the tet offensive in the vietnam war 1967-1968. how often do you think about that time? >> every day. every day. in truth, it's the thought of the good, the bad and the ugly and on a day like today, it's such a recognition and so much honor that we're receiving, so it wells us with pride. >> excellent. you are the executive director o