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Note: This is the text of the speech Veterans Secretary Eric K. Shinseki made to the 110th National Convention of the Vetrans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix, Arizona on August 18, 2009

Good morning. I am greatly honored to be here and to follow President Obama in thanking you and your families for your patriotism and service to the nation. We reaffirm our commitment to you and other Veterans by providing the benefits and services you have earned and on which you rely so heavily.

At your February mid-winter conference in Louisville, I told you that serving as secretary is a “calling,” one that allows me to give back to those who served with and for me in uniform, and to those Veterans of World War II and Korea, on whose shoulders I stood, as I grew up in the profession of arms.

From my first meeting with him, President Obama’s commitment to Veterans was clear. It runs deep; it is firm and unwavering. His vision to transform the Department of Veterans Affairs resonated with me, and I am here today, thankful for this opportunity to serve Veterans. Yesterday, you had the chance to hear first hand his commitment to all, who have steadfastly safeguarded our way of life.

Over the past seven months, I have visited VA facilities—large and small, urban and rural, complex and simple—all across the country. I’ve spoken with leaders, staffs, and Veterans. I also invited each of our 21 VISN directors to share with me their requirements; their priorities; their measurements for performance, quality, and safety; and their need for resources—people, money, time. I took the final, four-hour VISN presentation last Friday. This was time well invested—an invaluable learning experience.

Every day, 288,000 people come to work at VA to serve Veterans. We have only one mission—to care for our nation’s Veterans, wherever they live, by providing them the highest-quality benefits and services possible. We must do this faster, better, and more equitably.

VFW’s ministry of presence, whether to simply answer a Veteran’s question or provide bedside comfort and companionship or render honors at a final formation in one of our National Cemeteries, is remarkable devotion to comrades who have served and shared hardship with us. Simple acts of kindness performed by your 2.2 million members and the more than 500,000 members of the auxiliary reach out, lift up, and sustain Veterans and their families. The VFW has set the standard in this area for 110 years, and your auxiliary for 96 of them. Your century of achievements in Veterans affairs is the drumbeat we all salute.

VA’s own legacy of service is an unwavering pursuit of President Lincoln’s charge “to care for [those], who have borne the battle.” These words are as compelling for us today as when they were first delivered during Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

The Veterans I’ve met in my travels have been uplifting. Many struggle with conditions inevitable with old age; others live with uncertain consequences from exposures to environmental threats and chemicals; still others have recently returned from Afghanistan and Iraq bearing the fresh wounds of war—visible and invisible.

Out of my encounters with Veterans, three concerns kept coming through—access, the backlog, and homeless Veterans.