Earlier this year, I found myself on stage at a high school—John Adams High School, in South Bend. We held an event for all the young people who had made the solemn decision to serve. Some were going into the academies, some were enlisting directly, some were going into the Guard. All of them were joining an unbroken line of patriots whose service and sacrifice we honor today.

They were 18, but they still looked like kids to me. And in the back of my head was this voice saying, “Do not let them down. Do not let anybody play games with their lives.”

These young people are going to raise their right hands and make a promise. It is a two-way promise. And part of that promise is that America is not going to take their lives lightly—that we will not use them as pawns in our politics or props for a show. This is not a show. It is not a game. It’s a promise that we will support our service members throughout their military journey and embrace them when they return.

And one of the reasons I’m running for president is to be a Commander-in-Chief who actually knows what it’s like to be sent abroad on the orders of a president—a Commander-in-Chief who will keep America’s promise to those who serve. [...]

I had felt the tug of service growing up. Knocking doors in rural Iowa for a different young presidential candidate with a funny name, I encountered entire towns emptying their young people into military service. I walked away knowing it was my turn to serve. [...]

It was the most diverse and integrated organization I have ever belonged to, but also one burdened at the time of my commissioning by a law that would not allow someone like me to be open about who I loved and also serve the country that I loved.

For all those contradictions, my service brought me closer to my country and to my countrymen and -women. I became the rare mayor, I imagine, whose duties once or twice extended to scrubbing toilets.

Everyone does their part—whether stateside or abroad, reserve or active or both.

And in the dust of a war zone, I learned to trust with my life people with whom I had nothing in common except the flag velcroed to our shoulders. The folks who got in my vehicle did not care whether I was a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, they cared whether my M4 was locked and loaded. They didn’t mind whether my father immigrated to this country with or without papers, whether I was going home to a girlfriend or a boyfriend—they wanted to know whether I had selected the route with the fewest IED threats. They just wanted to get home safe, like I did. [...]

Yet those who deploy often struggle to return to the world they left. With a civilian job and community waiting for me, my transition was probably smoother than most. But for me, too, returning from war was disorienting. Sometimes, I’d absentmindedly yank the door of my Taurus so hard it would bounce on its hinge, as if my arm forgot it was no longer opening the door of a heavy, armored Land Cruiser for a drive through Kabul. Sometimes I’d ask my startled passenger if we were “CLEAR RIGHT” before making a turn. Sometimes I would wrestle with depression. [...]

The women and men who have come home from war are not unblemished heroes or broken souls. They are us. They are our fellow citizens who ask only for the care they’ve earned and a chance to belong to the life of their community. They are not burdens. In fact, they are some of the greatest assets America has. And it is the responsibility not only of our government, but of all of us, to realize their full potential here at home. [...]

When 80 percent of military families need some form of full-time childcare, but the Defense Department can’t meet the demand, that’s not just a family matter. That directly impacts mission readiness. It impacts retention. It means someone’s going out on patrol worried about a spouse trying to look after their kids and hold down a job at the same time.

That’s why we’ll ensure that every military family has access to quality child care. And we will train teachers at the beginning of every school year to account for the unique needs and capacities of kids in military families. Being a kid is hard enough—we can make it a little easier for our children to integrate into their classrooms.

We will also take steps to unlock the potential of military spouses. This is not your grandfather’s military of single men and single-income families. Today, the majority of those in uniform are married. Both spouses tend to be equally educated and both tend to be breadwinners. Yet 56 percent of military spouses are under-employed. That has to change. [...]

Women in uniform face additional burdens--high rates of sexual assault, isolation, and limits on promotion and leadership opportunities. So we will fully integrate women into all parts of military service. We’ll ensure that they have access to health care. And we will shift the prosecution of sexual assault from military commanders to independent prosecutors. If anyone is sexually assaulted while serving, we will see to it that justice is done.  

And when our military tradition includes Black soldiers who fought for their own liberation, and Latina veterans who call this country their own, and Native service members who serve at higher rates than any demographic, we must ensure that nobody who serves this country is subject to discrimination.

We’ll work to promote racial equity--and that includes treating white nationalism as a security threat, whether it’s found in our armed forces or anywhere else in society.

We will protect immigrant service members and their families from deportation, and revamp and reinstate the MAVNI program that allows non-citizens with vital skills to become citizens through their service. If you are willing to risk your life for this country, it is your country. [...]

My administration will streamline and modernize care, with a White House coordinator to improve data and recordkeeping between the VA and DoD. We’ll implement an electronic health system and a patient portal that’s actually designed to work for veterans, because you shouldn’t have to fight the enemy abroad and come home to fight with a computer.

We will also depoliticize the VA--with five year-terms for key positions--so that decisions are made based on what’s best for veterans and not based on whoever last talked to the president at his golf club. [...]

We will do everything in our power to end the epidemic of veteran suicide. We’re going to invest in veteran suicide prevention. We’re going to support responsible gun ownership. We’ll develop a 24-hour VA concierge service, to guide veterans to mental health support well before it becomes a crisis. Twenty veteran suicides a day is twenty too many. [...]

Veteran small business owners make up nearly 10 percent of all businesses in America. And we’ll provide further business training and mentorship--because we know that veterans and their families are not a problem to be solved, they are talent to be competed for. [...]

But welcoming veterans back into our society is not something we can accomplish solely with a new law or a new program. It requires each of us to reach out to our fellow citizens, to invite entire communities to help restore the sense of normalcy and belonging they’re seeking. [...]

In South Bend, we were one of the first communities nationwide to pilot an initiative called Veterans Community Connections. The idea was actually enlisting, so to speak, anybody in the community who wanted to do more than say “Thank you for your service.” Our volunteers help veterans navigate their way around our community--not just finding a job, but a good dentist, or a haircut, or a trombone lesson for their kid.

Because when our communities embrace veterans, veterans enrich our communities.

In Kansas City a few months ago, I saw veterans coming together to build transitional houses and provide wraparound services for homeless vets.

There are networks of veteran entrepreneurs working to spark the next era of American innovation.

Returned service members have helped communities recover from natural disasters—responding to tornadoes in Texas, fires in California, and floods here in New Hampshire.

And then there is a new generation of veterans who realize that their oath to defend the Constitution calls them to serve in elected office. Whether that’s on the school board or in the statehouse; whether as a Democrat or a Republican. And when Democrats retook the House last year, it was thanks in large measure to leaders like Mikie Sherrill, a Navy pilot; Chrissy Houlahan, an Air Force officer; Jason Crow, an Army Ranger; Jared Golden, a Marine.

These leaders embody the words of America’s first Commander-in-Chief, inscribed at Arlington Cemetery, who reminded us, “When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.” [...]

A decade or more from now, I want to return to those young people I met at that high school. I hope to be retired then, after two good terms in the White House.

I want to salute their service, knowing that if they were called to fight, it was only ever in just and necessary conflicts that kept the peace and advanced American values and interests.

I want to tell them, we did not let you down—look how we gave you the peace of mind that your family would be secure and settled while you were deployed.

I want to tell them, we did not let you down—look how we made it so our returning sons and daughters had easy access to the care they need.

I’ll tell them, look how your community wrapped you in their arms when you came home, how they were there for you at every turn.

I’ll tell them, “Thank you for your service,” and know that a nation’s gratitude will be expressed not only in our words but in our works.


That is the future we can build for everyone who wears the uniform of our country. That is the America I am determined to bring about. And that will be my highest calling as your Commander-in-Chief.