Tulsi Gabbard, the first female combat veteran ever to run for president, spoke at the LA Memorial Coliseum near USC for the first Veterans Day event hosted by the city.
During the event, Gabbard gave a brief history about her career in the military and the reasons why she wanted to join.
“For me, like so many Americans, the terrorist attack on 9/11 completely changed my life. It's what motivated my decision to enlist in the military to go after and to defeat and destroy the evil that visited us on that day,” she said.
“I served in Iraq during my first deployment in 2005. We were based in a camp about 40 miles north of Baghdad, and I served in a field medical unit, where the very first task that I had every day was to go through a list, name by name of every American service member who had been injured or hurt in the previous 24 hours,” Gabbard said.
The task was emotionally daunting for Gabbard, who enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard in April 2003, she said.
“It was heart wrenching every day because I knew that…their names were not just words on a page — [they] were my brothers and sisters, and behind every single one of them are moms and dads, husbands and wives, children, brothers and sisters [waiting anxiously at home].”
The representative from Hawaii comes to LA at a contentious time in her presidential run, amid recent allegations pointing to her as a Russian asset. Gabbard currently competes against a crowded pool of democratic candidates including Pete Buttigieg who has also served in the military.
Other notable candidates that have come to the USC area include Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who hosted a town hall at the Shrine Auditorium in August. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ stop at the university in early October was cancelled due to his heart attack. Sanders will host a rally in East LA on Saturday.
Veterans Day is a federal holiday intended to celebrate those who have served in the military. At its creation, the day was meant to commemorate the end of World War I, but today it serves as a celebration of veterans from all American service. Monday’s events mark the first time in LA’s history that the city has officially celebrated the holiday.
During a brief speech, Gabbard took aim at leaders “looking out for their own selfish interests, or power, or fame, or profits.” She said that Veterans Day is a “shining example of what service really needs for the leaders of our country to follow.”
Uyen Nguyen, a senior at Troy High School and a member of NJROTC who participated in Monday’s event explained the meaning of today’s celebration. “I think it’s important to honor Veterans Day,” Nguyen said, “to make sure that every citizen has a reminder of what veterans’ sacrifice is in order to serve our country, and just to make sure we appreciate all the hard work and effort that they’ve been through.”
Gabbard’s town hall will take place Monday evening at the Proud Bird Grand Ballroom near the Los Angeles International Airport.