Representing Wisconsin State Assembly District 93

This week America will be observing Nov. 11,_ 2021 as Veterans Day._We take this day to honor veterans at home and abroad that have served our state and country. President Reagan summarized it quite well back in 1985 as to why we take a pause from our busy routines and honor all of our military veterans who answered the call to arms on this day: “We celebrate Veterans Day on the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I, the armistice that began on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. And I wonder, in fact, if all Americans' prayers aren't the same as those I mentioned a moment ago. The timing of this holiday is quite deliberate in terms of historical fact but somehow it always seems quite fitting to me that this day comes deep in autumn when the colors are muted and the days seem to invite contemplation.”

With over 18 million living veterans in the United States who have served in at least one war and over 371,000 veterans living in Wisconsin, we have so much to be thankful for. And in Wisconsin, we have a long tradition of thanking our veterans for their service._As a member of the Assembly Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, I continue to work to ensure that we as a state live up to honoring our true heroes.

In the last state budget, we were able to help expand the number of veteran outreach and recovery specialists to connect veterans to community services while providing support with a focus on treatment and recovery._In addition, the state increased funding to promote suicide awareness among this community while increasing grants to our local county and tribal veterans service staff to provide outreach to them to help them get access to needed care.

I’m also pleased to see that our local higher education schools continue to help our military veterans by investing in them to advance their careers in our state. The Universities of Eau Claire, River Falls, and Stout, along with Chippewa Valley Tech College were again designated as Military Friendly organizations by militaryfriendly.com. Organizations can receive this coveted designation by “shown progress in growing both the number of civilian organizations interesting in recruiting veterans and in improving the individual performance metrics of those programs.”

I am proud of what we have done on the state level and what our educational institutions have done to support our veterans._This level of support tells veterans that we hold them in the highest regard and that we will continue to help them in the future as well._ If you have any questions or want to learn more about services available for veterans, please contact my office at 608-266-0660 or email at_ [email protected] gov