Claudia Kennedy
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 07:25 PM My name is Claudia Kennedy, and for 32 years I served with some of our nation’s most dedicated, courageous patriots: the men and women of the United States Army. I was proud to be the first woman in army history to rise to the rank of three-star general. But most of all, I was proud of our soldiers. We train them hard. We tell them, “You have to know who you are and what you stand for.” I’m here today because I know who Barack Obama is and what he stands for. He has the judgment, the resolve and the vision to be a superb commander-in-chief who will keep our military strong and America safe. Barack Obama knows the commitment of our troops and their families and the debt our nation owes them—patriotic Americans, like the grandparents who helped to raise him. His grandfather enlisted after Pearl Harbor and marched in Patton’s army. His grandmother worked on a bomber assembly line. After the war, his grandfather went to college on the GI bill and bought their first home with a federal loan. Barack Obama knows that today’s generation of servicemen and women deserve the same leadership, respect and support of his grandparents’ generation. In Barack Obama, our troops will have a commander-in-chief who has the judgment to use them wisely, sending them into harm’s way as a last resort, not a first resort; who listens to intelligence, doesn’t exaggerate it; who will bring our troops home from Iraq responsibly, not keep them there indefinitely; who knows that torture is not only morally repugnant, it’s militarily ineffective. It doesn’t work. It puts our troops at risk. It endangers our national security. In Barack Obama, our military families will have a leader who will ease their burdens, ensure predictable deployments, offer more support to spouses back home and ensure military paychecks keep pace with the private sector. Our veterans will have a president who finally makes veterans’ benefits and health a priority, caring for their body, mind and spirit. Early in the Iraq war, I visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I was riding the elevator with two wounded soldiers. Both had lost a leg. I watched in silence as they stood there. No despair, just determination. No pity, just pride. Those two soldiers—like so many others—have made sacrifices few Americans can imagine. They did their duty. Now, it’s time to do ours—to keep faith with our troops, to repay the debt. With President Barack Obama, we’ll have a commander-in-chief who always will.