The most sought-after clip from tonight's show (according to my Twitter feed) is the speech by Cpl. Aaron Mankin at the IAVA Sixth Annual Heroes Gala. Here is the full video of that speech.
Cpl. Aaron Mankin spoke at IAVA's Sixth Annual Heroes Gala on Tuesday, November 13th in New York City. Aaron, IAVA's 2011 Veteran Leadership Honoree, is an Iraq Veteran and spokespman for UCLA's Operation Mend. Visit IAVA.org to learn more about how you can support vets like Aaron: http://iava.org
Leave a Comment:
We could accomplish so much more if this were the type of story we covered instead of CIA sex scandals. Thank you Rachel. I am casting my vote for a @!#$% load more stories like this. There are so many of us out here who want stories that can inform and affect the truly critical issues of our nation. This is one of many valuable issues available to cover, that are hardly covered, and I appreciate all of your crew covering it the way it should be.
Simply Beautiful-----What a heart felt speech Cpl Mankin. Thank you for your service to Our Country both here, and abroad.
Thanks for the share Rachel. This speech was bursting at the seams with so much gratitude , and Courage
Letter #162
Dear Mr. President,
You may be surprised to learn that I support the 1%, even though I am part of the 99%. The 1% that I support are the 78,000 men and women still serving in Afghanistan, and their families still praying for their safety. I support bringing them home much sooner than the end of 2014. Move that timeline up by one year.
When you first announced that all troops would be out of Afghanistan by 2014, I thought, well, that's not too bad, one more year to wrap things up seemed reasonable. Upon reflection, my thoughts are that it is not reasonable. It's not reasonable because nothing further can be gained by keeping our men and women there. It is counter productive to keep forces there that are being attacked by the very people they are training to take over their own security. The Afghans.
What is the gain verses the cost of remaining where we are clearly not welcome? The gains are negligible compared to the losses. The loss of additional American lives, the loss of billions of dollars, thousands more injured requiring extensive medical rehabilitation, and mental rehabilitation, more marriages destroyed by long and multiple deployments, including the Generals. And hundreds of children living with single parents, some of them permanently due to the death of one parent. This is no longer acceptable, it time to end the charade of this terrible war.
What are the gains, war profiteers will continue to make billions while our young men and women who put their lives on the line, make pennies on the dollar compared to the war profiteers. The Afghans who profit by what we bring to their country, including millions of dollars given to corrupt Afghan politicians.
The election is over and the war in Afghanistan was hardly even mentioned during the campaign, let alone actually talked about. Why are we still committing our men and women to a war no one wants to talk about? It's not right and we need to end this travesty sooner rather than later.
I'm sorry Mr. President, the costs are too great, the loss of American lives is too great, and the sacrifices of the 1% are too numerous to justify continuing this war for another TWO years, because that's what you're really talking about.
Yes Mr. President, it's time for you to support the 1% now, it's time to bring our 78,000 men and women home from the longest war in our history, they have sacrificed enough, and so have their families. It’s time to move that timeline up by one year and it’s time to bring the 1% back to the country they fought for… America.
Most Respectfully,
Marcia Reimers,
Your Gadfly Granny
I was just reading this article last night. The U.K. also isn't seeing the benefit of staying for much longer... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20352134
Thank you.
I hope they don't spit on the veterans coming home from the war, like they did during the Vietnam era conflict, when I served in the Air Force in support, even though I did not personally believe in the war. Many of our troops, then, and now, are trapped in government mandated conflicts, with the volunteer service of today, much more repressive, and cruel, than during the Vietnam war, with the soldiers needing and requiring more help, and support, as a result.
No one spit on anyone except tea bagged republicans who spat on democratic congress members when ACA was passed. Really after years of searching for these spitting on soldiers stories not one iota of evidence has ever emerged from anywhere that it happened, except a Hollywood movie "Rambo". Now if you want real outrage where were you when wounded returning Vets from Iraq were being housed in rat infested buildings because as GWB was leading the charge into Iraq he was cutting back on Vet hospitals. Typical ignore reality and go with the fake outrage.
Sorry Eric, once again you're listening to wingnut disinformation. No one has ever found a first-person account of being spat on, though all sorts of people appear to have "known someone who knew someone who said they'd heard" such things happened. I say that as a Vietnam Veteran.
Sorry TC. I was one that was spat on. 2 buddies next to me were spat on in a parade. It's not made up stuff. We were looked at as "losers" when we came home. And God forbid if you put your service record on some job applications. I had one thrown in the trash while I was standing there and told he would never hire a God damn loser.
Again sounds like right wing war mongers not left wing anti war. Don't forget that Nixon had made an all out war against that anti war movement which included having infiltrators attending public events to make public support go against the anti war movement. How many hippies owned businesses. Guess getting spat on is worse then being picked up off the street thrown in jail and getting your head shaved because you wore your hair long. It was what the right called making America beautiful in action.
I agree 100%
Only by being mindful of what continues to be the life of each and every one of the people who manages to return from this war, can we even begin to comprehend the true cost of war. It isn't lives lost. It is lives lost and scars of lives not lost that extend forever and ripple throughout our communities and our country. Whether they are evident and we are aware, or they are hidden and we forget, they are still scars and they have enormous effects. This is a hugely important speech Rachael. Thank you for putting it out there for us, as you always do.
This made me cry. We owe our military and our veterans so much. They have given us everything.
Thank You
Until they are all home or truly safely based, until all who need medical treatment for wounds seen and unseen, DO NOT FORGET"the troops." -- Marshall Brown, USAF 1971-1974
I am always a bit saddened by reactions to things like this because people seem to miss a big part of the point. It's not just that the war has gone on for so long or that it has cost so much in Afghanistan, it's that it has just barely begun here in America.
Like the legacies of all wars this is something that is going to cost Hundreds of Billions of dollars and that we as a nation are going to have to deal with for many decades to come, and that's when it's most important to remember the debt to service members: When it's not on TV anymore.
I retired on April 2011 after 22 years of service in the
U.S. Army. I served in Desert Shield / Storm; and deployed to Iraq several
times. I stand with my brothers and sisters and the fellow Americans who
believe that Soldiers and Veterans should be treated better and not be subject
to political ideology. I am still waiting for my benefits and so many other
veterans of this great Nation, someone should do something about it and I am
glad that you and others from MSNBC is bringing attention to this problem.
Thanks.
JH, thank you.
Sometimes I want to give up on people, then I read of guys like Aaron. Aaron, thanks for what you are and what you've done. And to you as well, Rachel, for shining the spotlight on these men.
This was so incredible..I'm very moved by this eloquent young CPL. He has the amazing gift of conveying the horror of war, and the future for all of us to serve in the betterment of our country, by our efforts to help all of our returning veterans. To assure that they are loved and respected and that they receive their benefits, our time, energy and devotion, to helping them to heal and assimilate into their families, neighborhoods, and country.
Thank you to ALL of our veterans. This story moved me so deeply tonight. I agree with dragood21b, when he said the war does NOT end when we pull out of Afghanistan, it will just begin for those who come back home and need all of the services promised to them. I had 7 out of 8 brothers also serve in the military, many serving in Vietnam and several, who made the military their career. How disappointin to them, in their later years, when they began needing services, esp health services, many things were no longer available as promised. Tthe hardest one was health care coverage of their spouses....Spouses who fought their own private wars back home while they were deployed and the spouse had to deal with everything from kids to finances. Lets hope that the things promised vets during Iraq and Afghanistan arent cut bc of the "budget" twenty years down the road from now. A vet will always be a vet! Thanks Rachel for the coverage of stories of interest that you do on your show! I have loved you since i first began seeing you appear on Keith Olbermans show! I knew you'd be a star!
Brillo.
You never fail to find the best in reporting the news. Absolutely stopped time while viewing and hearing his words. Thank you Rachel!
That people want to help support our returning troops with causes like "Wounded Warriers" is admirable. That it is necessary is shameful. If we can afford to sacrifice our troops lives, we damned well better find a way to afford to care for them and their dependents when they return home. I was not seriously scarred emotionally and physically by VietNam thanks the skills of my flight crews, support of my peers and by luck and circumstance. So many others were not so lucky. We owe them a debt and if that debt is life-long, so be it. The support was earned in blood, tears and nearly unimaginable sacrifices. The greatness of this nation will be measured by how it treats its defenders. Remind your congress people. and those who you believe take these sacrifices for granted. Thank you all for your service.
This guy is awesome! A great speaker & has there ever been a more elegant & impressive dress uniform than that of the U.S. Marine Corps?
I've always loved the dress blues. My dad is a retired Marine; he always looked good in uniform, but the dress blues were the best.
Cpl. Mankin is an eloquent and expressive speaker with a very important message. I think that my dad, if he ever hears this speech (my folks do not have internet), would be very proud to see such an impressive young Marine.
Thank you Rachel for sharing this. Thank you Cpl. Mankin and all of our Service members for your service to our Country. I would like to say to those people who are selfishly petitioning to secede from the United States, just stop and think about all of those who have fought and many have died to protect your rights!! Instead of thinking about yourselves, think about these brave men and women and what you can do to help them!!!!
I haven't been as moved by a speech since Michele Obama at the convention. What an amazing young man, and a credit to the uniform. Spread it around, folks; everyone should see this.
Most of the men and women in the military are the cream of the crop of our country and to lose one of them is a tragedy. When we were fighting in Vietnam, my landlady told me "We are killing off the cream of the crop". Her son was going to Vietnam and like all mothers she was worried. Sometimes all you can do is pray. That's what we did. It is a shame that our country doesn't take care of its own. My brothers and exhusbands fought in Vietnam. My son was in the Navy for 22 years. When Mike retired from the Navy after 22 years he said in his retirement speech that only 1% of the country serves in the military these days.
That's we have multiple deployments. What a shame. We like the benefits of a free country, but we don't want to pay the price.
Let's do what it takes to get EVERYONE home now. The Iraq war was a mistake and the Afgan war served it's major purpose when OBL was found. We don't need any more of those in the US armed forces to give their lives or bodies or mental health. I don't believe there is a good way to leave anyone behind so why wait. Many of my era protested the Viet Nam war. I'm sorry we didn't honor those who fought and I appreciate and thank all of those who answered our country's call to serve. But war should be a last resort and should be ended as quickly as an opportunity becomes available. I believe that opportunity is now. Let the healing begin and let it begin with eliminating the VA's backlog of of applications for help from those who have served. Streamline this process Now. No applicant should wait years for processing of those applications. Thanks Rachel for putting this story front and center and keep it there until we are out of the war and those who served are given the help they need.
I cried. The humanity this young man exudes is infectious. Wars are so Sysephsyian. You can't "cure" or "beat" the hatred of planting a roadside bomb. What you can do is leave, now, right now...
I like the comment about the Navy... ;)