President Joe Biden told U.S. service members Thursday, "Our country is counting on you" to "remember your oath" and uphold the Constitution.
The president attended a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, during which first lady Jill Biden received the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. The president's remarks to service members were part of his farewell tour in the waning days of his presidency.
"Our commitment to honor, to integrity, to unity, to protecting and defending not a person or a party or a place, but an idea — that's the idea that generations of service members have fought for, an idea you have sworn an oath to defend as a nation," he said, according to The Hill.
"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 that will always be true."
Vice President Kamala Harris and Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also were on hand to hear the president, who praised service members for representing "America's character, honesty, integrity, commitment."
"Every time I'm here, it's made me so damn proud to be an American," he said. "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."
The president noted many accomplishments during his term, including investing "record resources to fight the scourge of military suicide," helping to reduce veteran homelessness, changing the military justice system to reduce the rates of sexual assault, and ending the ban on transgender service members implemented during President-elect Donald Trump's first term.
He also spoke about passage of the PACT Act, which increases access to medical care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits and substances. The president's eldest child, Beau Biden, died in 2015 after being diagnosed with brain cancer believed to be caused from exposure to military burn pits while serving in Iraq.
The president then praised service members for their roles in the Afghanistan war in August 2021, a conflict which ended with a disastrous withdrawal orchestrated by his administration that resulted in 13 U.S. service members and more than 169 Afghan citizens being killed by a suicide bomber at a Kabul airport.
"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 added he carries the pain of losing 13 service members during the withdrawal "every single day."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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