Regardless of personal views on conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, communities must rally around men and women returning from serving overseas, U.S. Senator Patty Murray told Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce members and guests at a luncheon last Thursday.

“Everybody shares the same mission and that is that our troops are successful and they can come home safely,” she said. “And I hope we can all focus on that.”

Murray, who in 1992 became the first woman to represent the state in the U.S. Senate, emphasized that the war in Iraq is having a tremendous impact on the country and will shape, in part, the future of the United States.

“For me, the most important thing is that we are there to make sure the men and women who are serving us today in Iraq and in Afghanistan have the support and services that they need,” said Murray, the daughter of a disabled World War II veteran.

Having recently returned from an inter-parliamentary conference in Beijing, China, Murray was grateful to be back on Whidbey Island, where she owns a home. She praised the community for supporting the troops, and specifically for the successful effort to save the local naval air station when it faced closure.

“This community came together, from the education community, to the business community, to the families who live here, and presented such a strong case there was no way that this base was going to be closed,” she said. “And that’s a real tribute to all of you who live here.”

Some activists have been unhappy with Murray’s support of appropriations for what has become a very costly war. The senator, however, is unwavering in her convictions.

“I tell them, once you send our men and women overseas, it is our responsibility as the nation’s leaders to make sure they have the training and the equipment and the support and the services they need, and I will vote for that every single time,” she said, encouraging luncheon attendees to offer jobs to returning veterans.

Murray visited Iraq 15 months ago and spoke with soldiers from Washington state. The question haunting the troops was whether their communities would be there for them when they returned.

“I think if there’s one thing we have learned from previous wars and Vietnam, it is that our communities have to be there for these soldiers in a positive way when they come home,” she said.

The senator was exposed to the psychological impacts of warfare on soldiers during an internship in college at the Seattle VA Hospital, where she worked with young men who had returned from Vietnam afflicted with shell shock, post traumatic stress disorder, and other serious psychological maladies. Murray realized that when the veterans returned to society, nobody could empathize or begin to fathom what each person was enduring.

Many years later, she is the first woman to serve on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and in a position to keep the country “focused like a laser beam” on caring for veterans returning home.

Providing funding for veterans suffering from lifetime maladies is an exorbitant expense, but a promise the government must keep.

“We have a long way to go and I want you to know that I’m back there in Washington D.C. kicking with my boots, not my tennis shoes, to make sure this country lives up to that promise,” Murray said.

The popular senator repeated the joy she felt being back on Whidbey Island. She encouraged the community to continue putting up signs in support of troops and helping ease their transition back into society once returning from service.

Murray’s recent trip to China also provided her perspective on the importance of working with other countries.

“We are lucky to be here, but I will tell you that engagement is absolutely critical,” she said. “When we can sit down across the table from our counterparts in other countries and put on discussion items that are difficult for us to talk about but also find common ground, it is so essential to the future of our nation.”