|
 Printer-Friendly Version
Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Announcement of the Recovery & Employment
Assistance Lifelines Program
Joel
Auditorium, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Washington, D.C.
Monday, October 4, 2004
Thank you, General Farmer [Commanding General, Walter Reed Army Medical
Center], for hosting this event. Your hospitality is matched only
by the extraordinary care you show your patients and their families.
I also want to thank Admiral Robinson [Commanding Officer, National
Naval Medical Center at Bethesda], and recognize John Wasilisin [Deputy
Secretary] from the Maryland Department of Labor and Greg Irish from
the D.C. Department of Employment Services. And from the U.S. Department
of Labor, let me introduce Fred Juarbe, Assistant Secretary for Veterans'
Employment and Training; Deputy Assistant Secretary Chick Ciccolella
and Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.
Thank you all—and your staffs—for everything
you are doing to help our nation's wounded veterans.
It was an honor to visit with the young Americans in the Physical Therapy
Wards upstairs a few moments ago. We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to
these brave young men and women, who have defended our nation in the Global
War on Terrorism with such honor.
Many of them will be unable to return to military service.
So today, we are launching a new beginning for these brave veterans—the
first phase of Recovery and Employment Assistance Lifelines—or the REAL
Life Lines Program. This is a joint commitment between the
U.S. Department of Labor, the National Military Medical Centers and our
partners in Maryland and the District to help wounded veterans heal and transition
to successful career paths in the private sector.
This Administration is committed to ensuring
that our nation's wounded veterans are treated with the honor and respect
they deserve.
If you left a job behind to go on active duty, this Administration stands
ready to ensure that your job and benefits are waiting for you when you return.
If your time in the armed services is coming to an end, this Administration
stands ready with a broad range of resources to help you succeed in a private-sector
career.
If your family has suffered an active duty casualty, or if you are sacrificing
your livelihood to be with a family member during recovery, the nationwide
network of 3,500 One-Stop Career Centers stands ready to help you find job
training and rewarding new career opportunities.
And if you have been wounded or injured serving this nation, real people
are going to meet you face to face, with the personalized help you need to
recover and to succeed in a career you love.
This Administration has created a new team to work full time, on
site with wounded veterans at Walter Reed and Bethesda
Naval hospitals. These dedicated professionals will meet personally with each wounded
veteran. They will help each person discover
his or her special interests and unique talents. They will help each veteran
find the right career path to suit his or her special needs. And they
will be there to answer questions and provide insight into the sometimes
challenging process of choosing job-training opportunities and career
paths.
To ensure that we reach everyone, a new national follow-up system will be
established to ensure that each wounded veteran
receives personalized assistance as he or she
returns home and transitions to the private sector.
In addition, a new national call center will soon be available to answer
questions and provide employment guidance to wounded veterans all across
the country.
There are no words equal to the sacrifices that our brave men and women
in uniform are making for us.
As our wounded veterans heal, they will inevitably ask the question: What's
next?
Thanks to the initiative announced today, no wounded
American veteran will have to face that question alone.
Now I would like to ask General Farmer and Admiral Robinson to join me in
signing a Partnership Certificate that affirms our commitment to the REAL
Life Lines Program.
# # #
_________________________________________________________________
| 
