CLEVELAND — Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas), a 2016 presidential candidate, said he is “very comfortable” with GOP nominee Donald Trump as commander in chief of the military, arguing that the Obama administration has “corroded our military.”
“They’ve corroded them from the standpoint of the financial side. I think they have corroded them from the leadership side in all too many cases,” he said at a Family Research Council Action and Susan B. Anthony List event in Cleveland during the GOP convention.
“They have corroded them with rules of engagement that send the message to those young men and women that ‘listen, we may put your life in jeopardy so that we can be politically correct,’ and it is time to send a powerful message across this country and say, ‘No more. Not again,'” he added.
Perry said he “built a powerful bond” with Marcus Luttrell, who received a Purple Heart for his service overseas during the war in Afghanistan. Referring to Luttrell as his “second son,” Perry said Luttrell came home from Afghanistan and could not get the care he needed from the VA.
“I had to intervene with the Department of Defense all the way to the Secretary of the Navy’s office so that he didn’t have to rely just on the Veterans Administration for some incredibly technical surgeries,” he said.
“There are thousands, tens of thousands of young Americans who unfortunately don’t have a governor that can go to bat for them, who today some 20-plus a day commit suicide partly because our federal government has failed to live up to their responsibility to these young people and a Veterans Administration that has failed them,” he added.
According to a recent survey, active-duty service members prefer GOP nominee Donald Trump over presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
Perry called on Americans to tell President Obama they will not accept the poor management of the VA. Referring to the VA scandal, Perry said Obama “failed” the veterans who died while waiting for care.
“It is on his watch that we’re having to clean this mess up. I am very comfortable, very comfortable that Donald Trump will bring men and women around him. He will follow up every day to make sure that those young men and women who have earned our great respect and their health — bring it back to where it should be in this country,” Perry said.
“Those active-duty military individuals — they will know that there is an individual in the White House when they get in a sling halfway around the world – they don’t have to wonder whether or not the United States government will do everything in its power to bring them home safety, and this administration has failed that test,” he added.
“It’s time for leadership in this country that loves our veterans.”
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