As our nation marks Veteran’s Day this Sunday, November 11^th, we honor those who have served our country in the line of duty.  Our veterans are all around us in Virginia, where the 4^th district is home to one of the highest populations of veterans in the nation.  I urge you all to pause and spend some time with a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine. Whether still on active duty, the Reserves, or a former military member, these brave men and women have served their country and sacrificed so much for all of us. It is our responsibility to recognize their sacrifice and commitment, preserve the legacy of their service, and pass this on to future generations.

I hope you will use the opportunity Veterans Day gives you to take time to talk with a veteran and learn more about their service. It could be a family member, friend or someone you live near or work with that you think may have served but never took the time to ask.   If you know a war veteran, please consider interviewing them or taking a picture and sending it to me at HonoringVeterans@mail.house.gov. If you are a military veteran, I’d also love to hear from you directly. I look forward to sharing many of the photos or anecdotes I receive. 

I also suggest you all read and share stories on the Veterans History Project, which collects, preserves and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.

To kick off this endeavor, here are two photos and an anecdote dear to my heart. My oldest son, Neil Forbes (below left) , spent eight years in the United States Army, serving in Korea, the 82^nd Airborne Division and Virginia Army National Guard.  My father, Malcolm Forbes, (below right) also served in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer in World War II.

Shortly before the Normandy invasion in 1944, (my father was not a very religious man at the time but he did carry a pocket-sized bible in his chest pocket) he prayed for God’s protection and promised God that if he made it home, he would make sure his family attended church every Sunday. Well, he made it home and he kept that promise.  I cannot remember a Sunday that my Dad did not take my mother, my siblings and me to church.  Although my father died many years ago, I still have his pocket bible. It is one of my most treasured possessions and it serves as a strong reminder of my dad’s service to his country.  

Today, I called on Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to address the underlying causes of the severe claims backlog plaguing the Veterans Benefits Administration.

In spite of considerable efforts to reverse this negative trend, the Department of Veterans Affairs has seen its claims backlog jump from just 390,000 at the beginning of 2009 to over 904,000 at the end of May. Our nation’s veterans have made extraordinary sacrifices, and they are deserving of far more expeditious and accurate claims decisions from the Department of Veterans Affairs.  In some cases our veterans have been forced to wait for months or years to get an adjudicated claims decision – this is simply unacceptable and an egregious breach of faith with those who have served our nation honorably.

In a letter to Secretary Shinseki, I expressed concern that the Department of Veterans Affairs’ actions thus far have not rolled back the enormous claims backlog that has ballooned over the last three years. “Considering that claims receipts are expected to reach 1.25 million in 2013, prompt, substantive action is required to both critically assess and address the root causes of the claims backlog and more importantly implement meaningful reform to the claims processing system,” I wrote.  The full text of the letter is available here.

Current claims backlog figures from the Department of Veterans Affairs are available here.

To read more information on my work on behalf of veterans, please visit my website here.

“The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you.” – General Dwight Eisenhower, D-Day, 1944.

On this day sixty eight years ago, Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy in a pivotal display of resilience.  Although the mission seemed impossible, General Dwight D. Eisenhower said we would “accept nothing less than full victory.”   More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies held Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

On that day, June 6, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a prayer to the nation.  The prayer began, “Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.  Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.  They will need Thy blessings.  Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong.  He may hurl back our forces.  Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph."

You can read the full text of President Roosevelt’s prayer, entitled, “Let Our Hearts Be Stout,” here.

Today, our nation pauses to honor those soldiers who were a part of D-Day.  I invite you to share a story of someone who served in WWII. 

As you may know, Arlington Cemetery has been under an ongoing investigation regarding burial mismanagement that was revealed in June 2010.

This week, two House Armed Services Subcommittees will hold a joint oversight hearing to review findings from the Army’s new “Arlington National Cemetery Gravesite Accountability Task Force” report provided to Congress at the end of last year. The hearing will also look at efforts to address accountability issues.   

The hearing will be streamed online tomorrow via a live webcast.

Joint Hearing: Update on Accountability at Arlington National Cemetery

Friday, February 3, 2012

11:30 a.m.

WATCH LIVE ONLINE

(Note: Timing of the hearing is subject to change if votes are called in the House.)

The Arlington Cemetery burial mismanagement reports continue to be tragic for us as a nation and for the families of the men and women who have selflessly and faithfully served our nation. I’m hopeful that this hearing will prove that the accountability issues are being rightfully addressed.

Last week, I had the opportunity to celebrate America's heroic lineage of veterans and Armed Forces members at a DAR luncheon in Chesapeake. We are grateful for the many years of service represented at that luncheon and throughout Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District.

Here’s a look at the luncheon.

Tell us in the comments section -- who in your lineage has served our nation as a member of the Armed Forces?

I want to share with you this editorial from the Virginian-Pilot that highlights the importance of the current military retirement system.

A Small Price for Freedom

Virginian-Pilot

September 1, 2011 

One of the defining characteristics of military bureaucracy, as any soldier or sailor will tell you, is a disposition toward caution. Safe solutions are unlikely to set off a superior or endanger a career. The downside of that caution, of course, is that it doesn’t exactly encourage innovation.

So the military has, in the military’s way, set up a variety of systems to circumvent its own tendency to play it safe. Among them is the Defense Business Board, chartered to provide “independent advice and recommendations on effective strategies for the implementation of best business practices on matters of interest to the Department of Defense.”

That creates problems of its own. Businesses exist to make profits. The military exists to fight wars - to break things and kill people, to quote the cliché. That difference creates a sometimes stark tension. It can also create major changes.

The DBB, for example, was the entity that recommended the end of Joint Forces Command, which it concluded had outlasted its usefulness. Now the DBB has turned its eye to the military’s pension system, which faces obligations so expensive that it may cripple the nation’s ability to fight.

There’s no dispute: When compared with the private sector, a soldier gets a generous retirement. As soon as age 38, a 20-year sailor can retire at 50 percent of his most recent salary. Health care is covered. Meantime, a military “retiree” is free to find a job or a second career.

Similar retirement benefits don’t exist anywhere else in the public or private sector. That’s because there are no other jobs like military service.

Soldiers and sailors have hazardous duty. People shoot at them. Try to blow them up. They handle dangerous equipment and work ridiculously long hours. They are forced to spend months away from their families in spartan conditions. They must follow orders, including ones given by fools.

They must adhere to strict rules, whether at work or at home. They are required to be physically fit. They must volunteer to live like that for 20 years before they can retire.

In exchange, the military pays a barely living wage, covers housing and food and necessities. And, at the end of 20 years, it promises to pay retirement and medical care and a few other benefits.

That makes the military different. Few businesses today provide pensions, which guarantee a retirement income based on a worker’s length of employment and salary. Businesses instead are more likely to offer 401(k)s and similar programs, which send money to an account to which a worker also contributes.

That money is then invested — usually in bonds or stocks — and the resulting nest egg can be used to finance retirement. If the stock market tanks, the money dwindles. If it explodes, it can mean more money. No retirement amount is guaranteed.

The DBB’s proposal would turn the military’s retirement into something similar, at a time when research shows most 401(k) accounts are going to be inadequate to fund their owners’ retirements. It’s a horrible idea.

If a worker chooses a company with a crummy retirement plan, that’s the way the free market works. He is free to choose another company, or to start his own.

A soldier has no such freedom. What’s more, the freedom of an entire nation depends on making sure military service remains attractive to the nation’s finest volunteers.

The Pentagon’s retirement system could certainly stand reform. Eligibility could be changed and probably should be.

But the men and women who guarantee America’s freedom shouldn’t be placed in the hands of a Wall Street incapable of keeping promises.