"We’ve put mental health – put a lot more docs in theater. I would assume you know that. We are trying to treat there, as opposed to here, where we can ... I’ve told the chiefs – I’ve said three explosions and you’re out. And I don’t know if that’s not too many. Obviously, we could debate – obviously, one bad enough and you ought to be out. But there’s got to be a judgment call made on the part of the line leaders that are there to say, you’re out, period. These aren’t medical types and everybody wants to get back in. I talk to them all the time. They don’t want to leave their units; they don’t want to be pulled out of the fight."
(December 09, 2009, Total Force Health for the 21st Century , Uniformed Services University of Health of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD)
"We’ve lost over 5,000 in these wars and we try to pay an awful lot of attention to them. And we’ve got tens of thousands with physical wounds and hundreds of thousands that have suffered in stressful conditions. And I believe we as a country owe them a debt. In communities throughout the land...there’s a sea of good will out there and I think we need to be able to connect communities to those who’ve served and are living in the communities to make sure they have – they’re able to live out their [lives]."
(January 06, 2010, The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart, New York City, N.Y.)
"Secretary Gates has said the most important thing we do is send the right people into the fight. The second most important thing is that we take care of them and they get back…"
(September 17, 2009, Military Training Conference on Traumatic Brain Injury, Washington, D.C. )
"I think leaders throughout the land and throughout communities in our country need to reach out and make sure that we are meeting the needs of these great, young Americans who sacrificed so much. And not just the military members, but their families. And while we've made a lot of progress in the last several years, we still have an awful long way to go."
(July 05, 2009, CNN State of the Union w/ John King, Washington, D.C. )
"And in fact, young people, young families want to contribute to society. They still have dreams, and those dreams include getting to school, sending their kids to school, having a good job for both members of their family, and hopefully being able to own a home someday. And I think all of us in America need to pay this -- or repay this debt, that they've done so much for us, and do it in a way to make sure that they're in great shape for the rest of their lives."
(July 05, 2009, CNN State of the Union w/ John King, Washington, D.C. )
"There is, in my view, no higher duty for this nation, or for those of us in leadership positions, than to care for those who sacrifice so much and who must now face lives forever changed by wounds both seen and unseen."
(June 10, 2009, Interview w/ American Forces Press Service)
"We would not be close to where we are in Iraq, [or] be able to do what we’re doing in Afghanistan without the family support, period. We would not have achieved the success in Iraq that we have without that."
(June 02, 2009, Tribute to the Troops, Washington, D.C. )
"How we take care of those who are wounded and their families, and the families of the fallen, is right at the center of my life... they’ve done exactly what we’ve asked them to do. They’ve put themselves in harm’s way, and many of them have not come back."
(June 08, 2009, Army Times)
"I’d also like to affirm and reaffirm the leadership’s dedication to families, those who’ve made such a difference in these very difficult times in order to support the challenges that we have as a country and as a military. And that that dedication, that focus and that priority will never go away.
"
(April 13, 2010, Sesame Street Outreach Launch Event, The Pentagon)
"I’ve been married to a Navy wife, military wife, for over 40 years, and we have a tremendous appreciation for what it takes to do all of this from a family perspective – to both move, to be separated, to raise kids, to do that in a way that makes a difference in their lives."
(July 21, 2010, All Hands Call , U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud, South Korea)