Washington — Rep. Pat Ryan said Sunday that he sees the gap between the small share of Americans — less than 1% — who are on active duty in the U.S. military and the rest of the country as “deeply problematic as a democracy.”
“When you lose touch between those who fight our wars and their families and everyone else, it's so vital that we have to figure out how to bring people together and get more people to serve,” Ryan said on 'Face the Nation' . prior to Memorial Day.
Ryan, a veteran, said he and his colleagues in Congress have been working to prioritize recruitment within an annual defense bill, citing challenges in each branch of the military regarding recruitment numbers.
“We have applied pressure and given some guidance to say this is not acceptable to the Department of Defense,” Ryan said. “And we're starting to see the numbers come out.”
But for the New York Democrat, he said that “the most powerful thing he has done in Congress is to participate in a tradition of hand-washing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the occasion of Memorial Day. The bipartisan effort was started by Rep. Mike Waltz, who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
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Waltz, a Republican from Florida and also a veteran, said of the tradition that it is “important for the American people” to see lawmakers from different backgrounds “honoring our ancestors together” despite their differences.
“I saw the bitterness and the infighting and I said, let's get a group of veterans together,” Waltz said, explaining how the tradition got its start. “People who really play a role in the game.”
Ryan and Waltz touted their efforts to increase the number of veterans in Congress and said they hope to convince more people who have served in the military or in national service to represent Americans.
And Waltz noted that when it comes to serving the country, “service doesn't just have to happen in the military.”
“One of the things that we are both adamant and supportive of is that we as a country need to get back into service,” Waltz said. 'That doesn't necessarily have to be in uniform, but it can also be done with the national park, tutoring in the city center, elderly care. But how do we get young people outside in an environment where they learn leadership, discipline and followership? , who serve a cause bigger than themselves and with fellow Americans who may not look or come from the same background as them.”
Waltz suggested that the government boost services by proposing that young people could be employed and receive benefits for a year after graduation.
“I think we need to rethink service delivery as a country,” he added.
