Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I want to start, first of all, by thanking the chair and ranking member of the committee, Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Roe. I appreciate their work on this bill and the committee bringing this forward so early on in the year. I also want to thank Congresswoman Ann Kuster for cosponsoring this amendment. I offer this as one of many veterans who has depended on VA mental health services. Like so many other veterans, I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress after my service in Afghanistan and Iraq. When I returned home to Maine after completing my service, I struggled a bit. It took me over a year to accept that I actually needed help of any kind, but when I did finally get to that point, one thing that helped me was readjustment counseling at a local vet center. Readjustment counseling is another term for mental health services that help veterans and their families transition from the battlefield to civilian life. Readjustment counseling helped me to better understand that the physical and emotional reactions I had returning from Iraq were, in fact, normal. Once I understood this, it became easier for me to deal with these reactions head-on. I know firsthand how easy it is for real life to get in the way of seeking the mental healthcare that a veteran needs.…”