Two years ago, after having served four years in the United States Marine Corps and deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan, I found myself in Port-au-Prince, leading a team of veterans and medical professionals in some of the hardest-hit areas of that city, three days after the earthquake. We were going to the places that nobody else wanted to go, the places nobody else could go, and after three weeks, we realized something. Military veterans are very, very good at disaster response. And coming home, my cofounder and I, we looked at it, and we said, there are two problems. The first problem is there's inadequate disaster response. It's slow. It's antiquated. It's not using the best technology, and it's not using the best people. The second problem that we became aware of was a very inadequate veteran reintegration, and this is a topic that is front page news right now as veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're struggling to reintegrate into civilian life. And we sat here and we looked at these two problems, and finally we came to a realization. These aren't problems. These are actually solutions. And what do I mean by that?
Pre dve godine, nakon služenja 4 godine u Marincima SAD, i rasporeda u Iraku i Avganistanu, našao sam se u Port-o-Prensu, gde sam vodio tim veterana i medicinskih profesionalaca u nekim od najpogođenijih delova tog grada, tri dana nakon zemljotresa. Išli smo na mesta na koja niko drugi nije hteo da ide, gde niko drugi nije mogao da ide, i nakon tri nedelje, shvatili smo nešto. Vojni veterani su veoma, veoma dobri u reagovanju u vanrednim situacijama. Kada smo stigli kući, moj partner i ja, pogledali smo to i rekli, postoje dva problema. Prvi je to što je reagovanje u vanrednim situacijama neadekvatno. Sporo je, zastarelo. Ne koristi najbolje tehnologije i ne koristi najbolje ljude. Drugi problem kojeg smo postali svesni je veoma neadekvatna reintegracija veterana i ovo je veoma aktuelna tema trenutno dok se veterani vraćaju iz Iraka i Avganistana i muče se sa integrisanjem u život civila. Seli smo i pogledali ova dva problema i nešto smo shvatili. To nisu problemi. To su zapravo rešenja. Šta mislim ovim?
Well, we can use disaster response as an opportunity for service for the veterans coming home. Recent surveys show that 92 percent of veterans want to continue their service when they take off their uniform. And we can use veterans to improve disaster response. Now on the surface, this makes a lot of sense, and in 2010, we responded to the tsunami in Chile, the floods in Pakistan, we sent training teams to the Thai-Burma border. But it was earlier this year, when one of our original members caused us to shift focus in the organization.
Možemo iskoristiti reagovanje u vanrednim situacijama kao priliku da se u službu stave veterani povratnici. Skorašnje ankete pokazuju da 92% veterana želi da nastavi sa svojom službom nakon skidanja uniforme. I možemo iskoristiti veterane da poboljšamo reagovanje u vanrednim situacijama. Površno gledano, ovo ima dosta smisla i 2010. reagovali smo na cunami u Čileu, poplave u Pakistanu, poslali smo timove za obuku na granicu Tajlanda i Burme. Ali početkom ove godine, jedan od naših prvobitnih članova naterao nas je da promenimo fokus organizacije.
This is Clay Hunt. Clay was a Marine with me. We served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clay was with us in Port-au-Prince. He was also with us in Chile. Earlier this year, in March, Clay took his own life. This was a tragedy, but it really forced us to refocus what it is that we were doing. You know, Clay didn't kill himself because of what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clay killed himself because of what he lost when he came home. He lost purpose. He lost his community. And perhaps most tragically, he lost his self-worth.
Ovo je Klej Hant. On je bio u Marincima sa mnom. Zajedno smo služili u Iraku i Avganistanu. Klej je bio sa nama u Port-o-Prensu, kao i u Čileu. Početkom ove godine, u martu, Klej je oduzeo sebi život. Ovo je bila tragedija, ali nas je stvarno nateralo da prebacimo fokus onoga što smo radili. Znate, Klej se nije ubio zbog onoga što se desilo u Iraku i Avganistanu. Ubio se zbog onog što je izgubio po povratku. Izgubio je smisao. Svoju zajednicu. I možda najtragičnije, izgubio je samopoštovanje.
And so, as we evaluated, and as the dust settled from this tragedy, we realized that, of those two problems -- in the initial iteration of our organization, we were a disaster response organization that was using veteran service. We had a lot of success, and we really felt like we were changing the disaster response paradigm. But after Clay, we shifted that focus, and suddenly, now moving forward, we see ourselves as a veteran service organization that's using disaster response. Because we think that we can give that purpose and that community and that self-worth back to the veteran. And tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Joplin, and then later Hurricane Irene, gave us an opportunity to look at that.
Kako smo procenjivali sve i kako se slegala prašina od ove tragedije, shvatili smo da, od ta dva problema - iz prvobitnog plana naše organizacije, bili smo organizacija za reagovanje u vanrednim situacijama koja je koristila službu veterana. Imali smo dosta uspeha i osećali smo se kao da menjamo paradigmu reagovanja u vanrednim situacijama. Ali nakon Kleja smo prebacili fokus, i odjednom krećući se napred, vidimo sebe kao organizaciju veterana koja koristi reagovanje u vanrednim situacijama. Jer smatramo da možemo veteranima vratiti tu svrhu i tu zajednicu i samopoštovanje. Tornada u Taskalausi i Džoplinu i kasnije uragan Irena, dali su nam priliku da to i vidimo.
Now I want you to imagine for a second an 18-year-old boy who graduates from high school in Kansas City, Missouri. He joins the Army. The Army gives him a rifle. They send him to Iraq. Every day he leaves the wire with a mission. That mission is to defend the freedom of the family that he left at home. It's to keep the men around him alive. It's to pacify the village that he works in. He's got a purpose. But he comes home [to] Kansas City, Missouri, maybe he goes to college, maybe he's got a job, but he doesn't have that same sense of purpose. You give him a chainsaw. You send him to Joplin, Missouri after a tornado, he regains that.
Na trenutak želim da zamislite dečaka od 18 godina koji maturira u srednjoj školi u Kanzasu, u Misuriju. Stupi u vojsku. Vojska mu daje pušku. Pošalju ga za Irak. Svakog dana napušta bazu sa misijom. Misija je da brani slobodu porodice koju je ostavio kod kuće - da održi živim ljude oko sebe. Da smiri selo u kome radi. Ima svrhu. Ali kada se vrati u Kanzas u Misuriju, možda ode na koledž ili se zaposli, ali nema taj isti osećaj svrhe. Date mu motornu testeru. Pošaljete ga u Džoplin, Misuri nakon tornada i taj osećaj se vraća.
Going back, that same 18-year-old boy graduates from high school in Kansas City, Missouri, joins the Army, the Army gives him a rifle, they send him to Iraq. Every day he looks into the same sets of eyes around him. He leaves the wire. He knows that those people have his back. He's slept in the same sand. They've lived together. They've eaten together. They've bled together. He goes home to Kansas City, Missouri. He gets out of the military. He takes his uniform off. He doesn't have that community anymore. But you drop 25 of those veterans in Joplin, Missouri, they get that sense of community back.
Da se vratimo, taj isti osamnaestogodišnjak maturira u srednjoj školi u Kanzasu u Misuriju, stupi u vojsku, vojska mu daje pušku i šalje ga za Irak. Svakog dana gleda u iste oči oko njega. Napušta bazu. Zna da može da računa na te ljude. Spavali su u istom pesku. Živeli su zajedno. Zajedno su jeli. Zajedno su krvarili. Vraća se u Kanzas u Misuriju. Napušta vojsku i skida uniformu. Više nema tu zajednicu. Ali kada 25 takvih veterana ostavite u Džoplinu, Misuri, vraća im se osećaj te zajednice.
Again, you have an 18-year-old boy who graduates high school in Kansas City. He joins the Army. The Army gives him a rifle. They send him to Iraq. They pin a medal on his chest. He goes home to a ticker tape parade. He takes the uniform off. He's no longer Sergeant Jones in his community. He's now Dave from Kansas City. He doesn't have that same self-worth. But you send him to Joplin after a tornado, and somebody once again is walking up to him and shaking their hand and thanking them for their service, now they have self-worth again.
Još jednom, imate osamnaestogodišnjaka koji maturira u srednjoj školi u Kanzasu. Stupa u vojsku. Vojska mu daje pušku. Šalju ga za Irak. Na grudi mu stavljaju orden. Vraća se kući za paradu. Skida uniformu. Više nije narednik Džouns u svojoj zajednici. Sada je Dejv iz Kanzasa. Više nema to samopoštovanje. Ali kada pošaljete u Džoplin nakon tornada i opet mu neko prilazi i rukuje se s njim zahvaljujući mu za njegovu službu, opet ima to samopoštovanje.
I think it's very important, because right now somebody needs to step up, and this generation of veterans has the opportunity to do that if they are given the chance. Thank you very much. (Applause)
Mislim da je to veoma bitno, jer trenutno neko mora da istupi i ova generacija veterana ima priliku da uradi to ako im se pruži šansa. Hvala vam puno. (Aplauz)