This whole concept of boots on the ground, we've got a phobia about boots on the ground. If our military experts say, we need boots on the ground, we should put boots on the ground and recognize that there will be boots on the ground and they'll be over here, and they'll be their boots if we don't get out of there now.
And while I am talking to you mothers and fathers, I give you one more assurance. I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
I can tell you this: If I'm ever in a position to call the shots, I'm not going to rush to send somebody else's kids into a war.
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
Mattis has been sharply critical of President Barack Obama's policies on Iran and Obama's capping of troop numbers and campaign end-dates in theaters of war such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Mattis also appears to be a skeptic of the Obama-era policy of putting women into combat roles.
Let me make my point about Vietnam. When the Nixon initiation came into office, there were 550,000 Americans in combat. And ending the war was not a question of turning off a television channel. And so, debating on how we got there and what judgments were made was not going to help us.
It's possible that in the future, women could be drafted not only into the military... but actually drafted into combat. I'm very uncomfortable with that.
Our military should be trained and structured around missions, not the elements of air, water, and land.
We know we want to support our troops. We want to make sure that they have all the equipment they need.
Against the wishes of my family, I gave up my legal career, and I volunteered for the Army. I became an infantryman. I went to Iraq and Afghanistan.
I have never once claimed that I have a Combat Action Badge. I have never claimed that I have a Purple Heart. What I have claimed is that I have served in a combat zone.
No country in history ever sent mothers of toddlers off to fight enemy soldiers until the United States did this in the Iraq war.
The hardest thing for me in Vietnam wasn't seeing the wounded and dead. It was watching the big transport jets come in, bringing loads of fresh new boys for the war.
I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle.
I can't see any hope but a second front. The psychological effect would be great, even if they could not wade all the way to Berlin in 15 to 20 minutes.
Now what do you get in the Army? Bad helmets and Basra. Your guns don't work and everyone hates you when you come back.
We watch our sons go to war, disagree with the rationale for sending them, loathe the men who ordered them to battle, and then, when the veterans come home, beg and plead with the local V.A. to ensure they have access to proper care.
As a reporter, I embedded for modest stints with American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. When I'm asked about those experiences, I always say - and mean - that we civilians don't deserve the soldiers we have.
A few weeks after the planes hit the World Trade Center, I applied for a direct commission in the U.S. Army Reserve and ultimately served three active duty tours, including overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. Really, my whole family served three tours.
So we have a group within the office that is devoted to support for the war fighter. That's, of necessity, an operational and tactical level of concern.
I believe that the issue of mental health services for our troops deploying or returning from combat is one that demands the attention of this body, if only for a few minutes today.
I think if people really listened to what our families who serve go through, we could have a realistic discussion of what it means to send young people to war.
I am very proud of my service, and by law, I am defined as a combat veteran.
For every man who has learned to fight in arms will desire to learn the proper arrangement of an army, which is the sequel of the lesson.
As far as this citizen is concerned, the decision to commit men and women, who are also sons and daughters, to combat is an extraordinarily important one, and not to be done to just feel good; to be done to absolutely accomplish a mission.
