Retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North spoke at a tribute to the U.S. military and veterans at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 26, 2015. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)
“They need a commander-in-chief who knows our enemy and knows how to win. You can’t even say the word today,” North said.
North, who is on the National Rifle Association’s board of directors and founder of The Freedom Alliance, said the Vietnam War defined his generation, and the war against radical Islam defines this generation of military men and women.
“I’m talking about the 2.5 million young Americans who have deployed to difficult and dangerous places in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom,” North said.
“Many of them have served seven, eight, nine, even 10 or more deployments,” Oliver said. “That kind of optempo, as it’s called, has strained and often broken family relationships.
“Some 6,849 Americans lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan to an enemy this administration cannot even identify,” North said.
Saying that soldiers “have left a piece of their body or a part of their soul on those battlefields,” North said the military needs the country’s support more than ever.
“They need a Veterans Administration that cares and doesn’t lie about the treatment that they offer,” North said. “They need an economy that creates real jobs.
“They also need a head of state who knows that our country has made extraordinary sacrifices to defend us -- the American people -- and offer others the hope of freedom,” North said.
North’s Freedom Alliance raises funds to give scholarships to the sons and daughters of military members who were killed or wounded in the line of duty. To date, Oliver said his organization has raised some $9 million to that end.