Bidens Visit Wounded Warriors, Families at Pendleton

Bidens Visit Wounded Warriors, Families at Pendleton

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service

Vice President Joe Biden speaks with wounded warrior Marine Corps Sgt. James Amos during a visit to the Warrior Hope and Care Center on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Jan. 20, 2012. DOD photo by Elaine Sanchez

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., Jan. 21, 2012 – Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, thanked wounded warriors and their families for their service and sacrifice during a visit to the Warrior Hope and Care Center here yesterday.

The 30,000-square-foot center, part of the Wounded Warrior Battalion West, opened in October to offer counseling and transition services to wounded and ill Marines, sailors and their families.

The Bidens mingled with about a dozen wounded warriors -- some in wheelchairs and others seated alongside family members -- in a small room at the center.

The vice president said he and his wife visit service members and their families as often as possible for one reason: “To say thank you.”

“We only have one sacred obligation in the government,” Biden told the troops. “We have a lot of obligations -- to the old, to the young, to educate -- but we have only one sacred obligation, and that is to equip those we send to war and care for those we bring home from war.

“It is the single most significant obligation the United States of America has,” he added.

Biden said he’s been in and out of Afghanistan and Iraq 23 times, but “not like you,” he said, addressing a wounded Marine in front of him.
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