Kevin Patrick for House of Delegates

Firstly, "thank you for your service." 

We owe a debt of gratitude to our veterans, as well as other, more tangible, benefits.  Collectively we have made certain agreements, and we should be held to them.  The responsibility our political leaders have for the service of our fellow Citizens is to only send them into harm's way when absolutely necessary.  Washington has not done a good job of this for the past 75 years.  For that, We, the People are sorry.

When one joins the military, they take an Oath.  A similar Oath as the one public servants take when they take office.  It varies, but most simply can be boiled down to:

 "I swear (or affirm) to support and defend the Constitution for the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

It's a powerful Oath.  An overwhelming majority take it before G-d. 

It does not have a statute of limitations.  It is a lifetime Oath.  It doesn't go away when one retires, or when one is discharged.  It is not an Oath to the government, to Washington DC, to the President or to Congress.  It is an Oath to protect the Constitution.... from all enemies, foreign and domestic.  That last bit is the tricky one.

So when the time comes; I hope you realize what that Oath really means.

There are a lot of problems with the V.A. system.  There is a lot of good there too.  I'm told Tri-Care is incredibly difficult for our veterans to deal with.  I don't have any personal experience with the V.A. system: so I need the help of our veterans to understand the situation.  It is a priority for me to help in this arena, but I cannot do it alone.  I will need advice, to hear your experiences, and much help.

I still think the single best thing we can do to support our troops, is to bring them home to their families.

This is a truism.  However, I don't believe that in my lifetime a war has been fought for "our freedom" here at home.  While Washington sends our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters to foreign lands; our freedoms here at home are eroded with unceasing regularity.  The Constitution is relegated to a position of "obsolete antiques"

The Wars and "conflicts" which Washington has gotten our people involved in for the past 50+ years have been to further policy and profit.  We haven't had a lawfully declared War (excepting Afghanistan, which was authorized, just not declared) since WWII.

Why do we send our fellow Citizens to fight and die in foreign lands when we let the apparatchiks in Washington take away our freedom here? 

There is an anger in this country.  There is a fear.  The lines are drawn, and some have chosen sides.  There are lot of people on the fence, however.  I hope and pray we can avoid a shooting war here at home, but we are losing the soft-war.  That means it's time to double-down on winning this conflict, the political and social one, so we can avoid a hard-conflict in the future.

Once again, I hope if the time comes, you remember what your Oath really means.