Steve Scalise: “for thousands of our Nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, the sacrifices of war far outlast the war itself.…”

“for thousands of our Nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, the sacrifices of war far outlast the war itself. There are more than 2 million veterans with service-connected injuries or illnesses, including thousands who have returned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks to advances in medical science, the vast majority of American servicemembers wounded in combat survive traumatic events that would have proven deadly in previous wars. Previous generations of veterans have come home wounded from battlefields in Europe, the Korean peninsula, and the jungles of Vietnam. They have returned to America with permanent damage to limb or spirit. Today's veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom are suffering tragic injuries from IED attacks and other hazards that are filling our military hospitals with victims who have lost limbs, with severe burns, and with head injuries. We owe a debt of gratitude to all of these veterans whose physical or psychological well-being was permanently damaged in service to their country. In my own district, disabled veterans have also had to endure the closing of the Southeast Louisiana VA Hospital due to damage from Hurricane Katrina. As a result, approximately 212,000 veterans in a 23-parish area in southeast Louisiana have to travel up to 4 hours to go to other VA hospitals just to receive basic care.”