, and we made a promise to care for them after they serve . It is our job in the Department of Veterans Affairs to make sure that promise is kept . We at VA stand at a historic time with great opportunities to further our mission in caring for the nation 's 23.4 million veterans and their families . With the largest one-year percentage increase in VA 's budget in over three decades , President Obama has made it very clear that serving our nation 's veterans is a top priority in his administration . He wants to increase funding for VA by $ 25 billion above our current baseline over the next five years . He launched a new initiative to expand eligibility for veterans ' health care to as many as 500,000 Priority Group 8 Veterans who were previously denied care . And he wants us to invest in better technology to deliver services and benefits to veterans with the quality and efficiency they deserve . As commander in chief , President Obama has charged Secretary Eric Shinseki and all of VA 's leadership with a new mission : to transform VA into a 21st-century organization .
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In the Army you live by the Warrior Ethos , which states , `` I will always place the mission first . I will never quit . I will never accept defeat . I will never leave a fallen comrade behind . '' I am alive today because my helicopter crew lived by these words . When our aircraft was shot down in November 2004 , the injuries I sustained were devastating . The amount of blood I had lost in a matter of minutes was so vast that my crew thought I was dead . They could have left me in that dusty field in Iraq , but they did n't . Instead , they stood their ground in the face of approaching enemy , risked their lives , and carried me to safety . They did this regardless of whether I was dead or alive , because the American warrior does not leave a fallen comrade behind . My crew and all the men and women in the U.S. armed forces know what it means to be a part of something greater than themselves . They are America 's finest sons and daughters