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to those who have valiantly served our 

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country . We thank you . There are 19 

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million living veterans today . Men and 

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women who wore the uniform for our 

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nation in peace and combat . These 

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brave Americans are symbol of what 

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makes America great the ability to 

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serve and defend knowing you could be 

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in harm's way for our veterans who have 

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deployed in support of operation 

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enduring freedom in Afghanistan for the 

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past 20 years . Your service and 

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sacrifice will always be remembered to 

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our nation's reserve Citizen Airmen who 

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I am honored to represent . You are 

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heroes . You only have to look at what 

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occurred in Afghanistan in august with 

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operations allies . Refuge . By the 

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time we were 24 hours into the 

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operation Reserve airmen were flying 34 

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cargo aircraft into the country with 80 

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Cruz volunteering to operate in that 

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environment . Volunteerism also 

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includes tanker crews , logistics , 

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intelligence , medical and personnel 

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services ready to provide care and 

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feeding for americans allies and the 

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afghan people and they were all 

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airlifted to safety . This is also 

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another opportunity to highlight 

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frontline workers who have been 

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fighting the pandemic for almost two 

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years now . They were reserved medical 

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professionals who deployed to New York 

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City within 48 hours of notification 

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and aerial medical evacuation medics 

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transporting patients globally . You 

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have kept americans safe . We salute 

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all veterans past and present for all 

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you've done for this nation