Subject: MUST READ: Sec. Clinton joins hands with soldiers' families, listens, discusses VA and Veterans care
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2014 10:51:56 -0400
List-Id: <CTRFriendsFamily.americanbridge.org>

Yesterday, Secretary Clinton attended an event in New York City for TAPS,
the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. As you know, this issue is
near and dear to her heart, and I believe that it really shone through in
her interactions with the heroes' families. I know you will appreciate this
piece about Sec. Clinton's time with families of our greatest patriots.

And *CLICK HERE*
<http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2014/10/01/?entry=1338> to
watch a video of Secretary Clinton addressing military families at the TAPS
event in New York City.

Please share. God Bless.

*BuzzFeed: “Hillary Clinton Gets Close, Candid With Military Families”
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/hillary-clinton-gets-close-candid-with-military-families#2wk3999>*

By Ruby Cramer

October 1, 2014, 9:50 p.m. EDT

[Subtitle:] The event, honoring the families of fallen veterans, was
Clinton’s most intimate, unguarded public appearance since leaving State.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Hillary Clinton looked down at the photo of the man in uniform.

A woman had emerged from the crush of people around the former secretary of
state to present her with the picture of a young man — her son. Other
mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers gathered around Clinton as she
eyed the photo at a veterans event on Wednesday night in New York City’s
Herald Square.

“This is my son, who committed suicide,” the woman told Clinton.

“This is his year anniversary. Thirty-five.”

“I’m so sorry,” Clinton said. “I’m so, so sorry.”

She held the woman’s hand, held her elbow, rubbed her arm.

The scene played out again and again on Wednesday at Stella 34, the Italian
restaurant inside Macy’s department store, where Clinton accepted a
lifetime service award at an emotional and highly person event for TAPS,
the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. The 20-year-old organization,
the only veterans group dedicated exclusively to families, worked with
Clinton when she was a U.S. senator from New York. In 2006, she was TAPS’
honorary chair.

It was perhaps Clinton’s most intimate public gathering since she left the
State Department in February of last year — more like the local events she
used to hold as a senator than the large speeches and controlled,
choreographed book tour stops that have occupied the last six months or so
of her time.

When Clinton finished her speech before a crowd of about 150 people, the
TAPS families approached Clinton with their stories, getting close. The
security detail that follows the former secretary of state and first lady
at all of her events did not interfere, and reporters there were not
confined to a designated press area.

One man named Robert Meshanko, who described his nephew’s protracted
struggle with the Department of Veterans Affairs, urged Clinton to run for
president. “If you run, and I hope you do, fix the VA and fix the mental
health system,” he said. “My nephew was lost, and let me tell you
something…he really got screwed.”

“At the VA?” Clinton said, moving closer.

“At the VA. They need to help these people. They need to point them in the
right direction. They pointed him in the wrong direction. He tried to get
help.”

Clinton asked where — in what direction? The “wrong jurisdiction,” Meshanko
replied. “They sent him there, and he went there, and they said, ‘We can’t
help you. You’re out of our jurisdiction.’ Why didn’t someone know that?”

“I don’t know,” Clinton said, shaking her head.

Another woman approached Clinton and told her it had been two years since
her brother committed suicide. “Did he get any help at all?” Clinton asked.

“Not the right help,” the woman said. They took a picture together with the
woman’s cell phone, before Clinton squeezed her arm and said, “Thank you,
dear.”

As a senator, Clinton served on the Armed Services Committee and worked
with TAPS and other veterans groups to increase benefits for families of
fallen service members — a project she highlighted in her speech. “We
fought, we cajoled,” Clinton said, noting that immediate benefits for
families rose from $12,000 to $100,000. She also said she pushed the VA to
better assist survivors with health coverage, home loans, education, and
access to government housing.

Bonnie Carroll, the president and founder of TAPS, said the group had
worked with Clinton to expand its work with survivors to include families
who have lost people serving in the State Department, certain government
contractors, and other government agencies, including the CIA and National
Security Agency.

“We count you as family,” Carroll told Clinton, “and we love you a great
deal.”