President Biden on Thursday continued his farewell tour of Washington, D.C., with wide-ranging final remarks to U.S. service members, touting his defense record while praising the military and urging them to remember their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
“Our commitment to honor, to integrity, to unity, to protecting and defending not a person or a party or a place, but an idea,” Biden said. “That’s the idea that generations of service members have fought for, an idea you have sworn an oath to defend as a nation. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never, ever, ever walked away from it. Our country is counting on you to ensure that will always be true.”
Biden — addressing a crowd of service members and officials including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Charles Q. Brown Jr., Vice President Harris and first lady Jill Biden — moments earlier had received a Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal.
He then took to the podium to praise troops, sailors and airmen for representing “America’s character, honesty, integrity, [and] commitment.”
“Every time I’m here, it’s made me so damn proud to be an American,” Biden said at the farewell ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Fort Myer in Arlington, Va.
“Serving as your commander in chief has been the greatest honor of my life. While I’m deeply grateful for your thanks and affection, I’m here to thank you. Thank you for your service to our nation, for allowing me to bear witness to your courage, your commitment, your character.”
He went on to highlight myriad actions during his time in the White House, including investing “record resources to fight the scourge of military suicide,” bringing veteran homelessness to new lows, changes in the military justice system — which he said has reduced the rates of sexual assault for the first time in nearly a decade — ending President-elect Trump’s enacted ban on transgender service members, creating more economic opportunities for military spouses, and expanding opportunities for women in combat roles.
Biden devoted several minutes to his administration’s effort to enact the PACT Act, legislation that increases access to medical care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits and substances. The issue is particularly close to his heart given his eldest son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 after being diagnosed with brain cancer believed to be a consequence of exposure to military burn pits while serving in Iraq.
He also praised troops for their role in the ending of the Afghanistan War in August 2021 — a chaotic and deadly withdrawal that his adversaries have often attacked his handling of.
“When I asked you to end our nation’s longest war, you rose to the occasion … accomplishing the largest airlift in military history in any war,” he said. “I believe history will reflect it was right thing to do, but I know it was hard.” He noted that he carries the pain of losing 13 service members during the withdrawal “every single day.”
And just six months after that war ended, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Biden called on the U.S. military to help Kyiv, “you didn’t hesitate. You kept Ukraine in the fight, trained Ukrainian soldiers and pilots, troops bolstered NATO’s eastern flank, and above all, you showed the world America stands up for freedom.”
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
