President Biden hailed America’s war fighters Thursday as the “spine” of the country in the first Veterans Day speech of his presidency.
“To be a veteran is to have endured and survived challenges most Americans will never know,” Mr. Biden said at Arlington National Cemetery. “You’ve done it for us, you’ve done it for America, to defend and serve American values,” he said.
“Our veterans represent the best of America,” he said. “You are the very spine of America, not just the backbone. You’re the spine of this country, and all of us owe you.”
The speech came two months after Mr. Biden oversaw the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. The Taliban overran Kabul, and Americans and allied Afghans struggled to leave the country, sparking a crisis and terror attack near the airport that killed 13 U.S. military members and 170 Afghan civilians.
Mr. Biden said he carries a daily schedule card in his pocket with the number of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“There’s nothing low-risk or low-cost about war for the women and men who fight it,” the president said.
During his speech, Mr. Biden noted two high-profile veterans — former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia and former Secretary of State Colin Powell — who died in recent weeks.
Mr. Biden also remembered his son Beau, who served in Iraq and died of brain cancer in 2015.
The president has suggested a potential link between Beau’s death from brain cancer and his exposure to toxins in the air, particularly around massive pits where the military disposes of waste by burning.
Mr. Biden announced Thursday a federal effort to better understand, identify and treat medical conditions suffered by troops deployed to toxic environments.
The new federal effort on toxic exposure is also designed to make it easier for veterans to make claims based on their symptoms, to collect more data from troops who are suffering and to give veterans more time to make medical claims after symptoms such as asthma and sinus problems develop.
“We’re discovering there is a whole host of lung conditions related to deployment,” said Dr. Richard Meehan, an immunologist and rheumatologist.
The retired Navy Reserve officer, who served in the Mideast during the 1990s and again in 2008, is co-director of the National Jewish Health Center of Excellence on Deployment-Related Lung Disease.
The Denver-based center receives funding from the Department of Defense and private donors.
Dr. Meehan, along with his colleagues, is investigating the role of inhalation exposures among military personnel who were deployed to Southwest Asia. He said burn pits aren’t the only issue — the air quality in some countries is so poor that troops would not be allowed to work there under civilian federal workplace guidelines.
He has worried that troops who came back with breathing problems are being compared with other Americans to determine whether there is a higher rate of lung illness.
But those deployed with the U.S. military are in peak physical condition, stronger and more fit than average Americans. To come back unable to make it up stairs without getting winded or unable to lift anything without breathing heavily is highly unusual.
“When you compare them to another group, you have to compare them to another healthy, fit group,” Dr. Meehan said. “That’s one of the problems overlooked in surveys that have shown no higher incidence of cancer.”
The new rules will allow veterans to make claims within 10 years of service, and the government has changed how it determines what symptoms count and why.
Mr. Biden said the program is part of a broader effort to make sure veterans receive the care they are entitled to, both for physical and mental wounds.
“I want you to know that our administration is going to meet the sacred obligation that we owe you,” he said. “We’re going to work with Congress, Republicans and Democrats together, to make sure our veterans receive the world-class benefits that they’ve earned and meet the specific care, the specific needs, that they each individually need.”
Before issuing his remarks, Mr. Biden and Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough participated in a solemn wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier while a military band played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The president made the Sign of the Cross at the wreath and then saluted while the band played “Taps.” Afterward, he bowed his head for a minute of silence.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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