Each Veterans Day, I’m reminded of the decision I made to enlist in the Army — a decision that shaped the rest of my life. Just a few days after I graduated from high school, I boarded the first airplane ride of my life when I shipped out to basic combat training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. By Christmas Eve, I landed at my first duty assignment 9,000 miles from home in South Korea. Nine months later, everything changed when America came under attack from terrorists on 9/11. My service took me from the Korean DMZ to the cell blocks of Guantanamo Bay, the desert sands of Iraq and Kuwait, and ultimately into the cockpit of some of the most advanced helicopters in the world. Serving my country was the greatest adventure of my life.
After 9/11, the missions we trained for became reality. Then, I experienced firsthand how our wars dragged on for years, and even decades, without any sense of urgency or end goal. Through it all, heroes continued to serve and sacrifice. In the two decades following 9/11, we lost just over 7,000 American service members in conflicts across the Middle East. Each one of those losses represents a family forever changed, a future unrealized, and a debt our nation can never fully repay.
But there’s another statistic that haunts me even more: During that same twenty-year period, we lost 30,000 more troops and Global War on Terrorism-era veterans to suicide. We brought them home from the battlefield, only to lose them to an enemy within — one born of trauma, isolation, and a system that failed to catch them before they fell. That cost of conflict — the total human cost of war — is often overlooked by policymakers. They too easily outsource our war fighting to other people’s kids or have an unrealistic expectation that our technological advantage will prevent any risk of harm to our own warfighters.
My service took me from the Korean DMZ to the cell blocks of Guantanamo Bay, the desert sands of Iraq and Kuwait, and ultimately into the cockpit of some of the most advanced helicopters in the world.
I ran for Congress to prevent unnecessary wars, mission creep, and undefined end goals; to achieve peace through strength; and to make good on our commitment to care for our veterans. Earlier this year, I proudly voted to repeal the open-ended 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) in the Middle East as part of this year’s National Defense Authorization Act. Now, for those who do go abroad and fight for us, we must ensure they receive the health care, support, and opportunities they earned when they return home.
I’ve only been in Congress for less than a year, but I am proud that five of my bills have passed the House of Representatives to support our troops and our veterans. From the moment our young men and women sign the dotted line, to the day we lay them to rest and deliver a flag to their family, I’m committed to keeping our promise to them.
In basic training, we would recite the Soldier’s Creed every night. There is a line in the creed that says, “brave soldiers of the past would be proud of me.” On this Veterans Day, I can think of nothing better than to make them proud by upholding our mission for all veterans.
Tom Barrett represents the 7th District of Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives. He spent 22 years in the U.S. Army, serving in key locations around the world, including Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Kuwait, and the Korean DMZ. He also logged over 1,000 hours flying advanced helicopters, earning numerous awards and distinctions along the way.