To: POLITICAL EDITORS

Contact: Adrienne Willis, +1-202-557-7509, awillis@veteransforamerica.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- VFA can say without equivocation that the needs of members of the National Guard -- our citizen Soldiers -- and their families across the United States are daunting and growing. Unfortunately, judging by the silence of both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama in tonight's final presidential debate, many have forgotten these sacrifices.

But the members of the National Guard and their families have not forgotten, nor will they.

VFA cannot forget the mother of a special needs child in New Jersey who was nearly at her breaking point as she watched her husband go to war again. VFA cannot forget rural Native Alaskans we met who had returned to their homes after having been deployed to find their families crumbling and then to a post-combat care system that denies them proper coverage by putting quality care so far away from their homes that accessing even the minimal services available is impractical. VFA cannot forget the hundreds of members of the National Guard who have reached out to VFA for help.

Multiple members of VFA's National Guard Program are now working in Pennsylvania assessing the needs of the approximately 10,000 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard who have served abroad post 9/11 - and the thousands of members of the Pennsylvania National Guard who were, as the candidates debated tonight at Hofstra University, training in the woods of Mississippi for combat in Iraq.

As the candidates continue to crisscross Pennsylvania and the rest of the country, VFA will work to ensure that the needs of the National Guard are acknowledged and that support commensurate with their sacrifice is provided. While Senators McCain and Obama spoke repeatedly tonight about other important domestic issues, VFA calls upon them to address the needs of the men and women of the National Guard, who have seen the Guard deployed repeatedly without support systems in place to deal with the great needs that have been created.

For more information about VFAs work on behalf of the National Guard, please visit www.veteransforamerica.org.

SOURCE Veterans for America

-0-

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Printable View
• Yahoo! Buzz

Politics News

• McCain, Obama get tough, personal in final debateAP
• Ark. pastor challenges IRS with pro-McCain sermonAP
• Analysis: McCain puts Obama on the defensiveAP
• Warped facts in last presidential debateAP
• Analysis: McCain fails, Obama is not rattledPolitico

Most Viewed - Politics

• McCain, Obama get tough, personal in final debateAP
• Warped facts in last presidential debateAP
• About 200K Ohio voters have records discrepanciesAP
• Ohio plumber becomes focus of debateAP
• Murtha: Western Pa. 'racist' but Obama should winAP

  Add comment

Name:
E-Mail:
Comment:
Enter code: