Tulsi Gabbard Discusses Her Time Deployed In Iraq And Being In Elected Office At 21

Forbes Breaking News

At a Turning Point USA event in Tampa, Florida on Saturday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke about her time in elected office and the military.

Transcript

00:00now. Electing President Trump was just the first step to be able to get to work, to do this

00:08important work. It is tough, but it is our purpose that drives us. I'm grateful to have

00:19experienced from a young age that I found I was happiest when I was doing things for others,

00:25when I was trying to be of service to others, trying my best to be pleasing to God with my life

00:31by making a positive impact and being of service to God's children. And that's really what motivated

00:36me to choose service as a path for my life. I didn't know what form it would take or where it

00:41would take me, but I knew that this is what I wanted to do. And it's taken me through elected

00:46office in different arenas and through the military now for over 20 years and now as

00:53director of national intelligence. But I first started when I was 21 years old.

01:00And so for any of you who are thinking of running for office, maybe you're being told some of the

01:05things I was told. I was 21 and people said, oh, okay, you have a bright future, but you're too

01:09young. Maybe you should go and take some more college classes and I don't know, wait around

01:15until somebody feels like you're qualified to go. But I knew that the most important qualification

01:20was my desire to serve, to have that positive impact in my community. So I didn't listen to

01:26any of them and I ran and got elected at 21. They told me the same thing when I ran for Congress

01:31at 31. Tulsi, you're great. You got a bright future. It's not your time. Come back in 20 years.

01:38I had come back from multiple deployments at that point in time, understanding and feeling to my core,

01:44the cost of war and knowing that I needed to be in a place to make a greater impact.

01:49Where better than at that time in Congress where I could help to influence some of these decisions

01:54about peace and war and share the experiences of my brothers and sisters who I served alongside

02:01my experience and honor the memories every single day as I continue to do as Secretary Hegseth does.

02:08I know President Trump has the lives and well-being of our service members on his heart every day,

02:14knowing the sacrifice that's made.

02:28We must remain undeterred. For me, I have always turned to my faith in God.

02:35In those difficult moments and these challenging times.

02:42And finding that strength and that confidence and that peace and that shelter and that courage

02:51that can only come from having faith in God's unconditional love for me and knowing that all I have to do

02:58is do my very best every day to be pleasing to him and have faith that whatever the outcome,

03:06it will be his will that is done.

03:14So as we forge ahead together, I encourage you to stand strong, to be joyful warriors,

03:21to always remember that with God all things are possible, and knowing that we can change our mindset.

03:30Somebody brings me a problem, happens on a daily basis, I say thank you, good, now I can solve it.

03:39Hard challenge comes my way or maybe I am having a difficult day, awesome.

03:45It's my opportunity to say, yes, Lord, here I am. Send me.

03:57It is inspired by God's unconditional love that we are charged to live and lead and serve

04:04in a reflection of his love for all of us.

04:08With this eternal gratitude in our hearts for the blessings and the freedoms that he has

04:13and continues to bestow upon every one of us.

04:18When I was deployed to Iraq in 2005, I served in a medical unit

04:23where there was a sign at one of the main gates where our security patrols,

04:27infantry patrols went in and out of every day.

04:30And the first day that I saw it and many days thereafter,

04:33I was stopped in my tracks because that sign said in big block letters is today the day.

04:42And it was this ever-present reminder, certainly there in a war zone in 2005,

04:49during one of the height of that war in Iraq, that any day could be our last.

04:54And it was an opportunity to reflect and to pray and to know that I needed to do my best

05:01to make every single day count.

05:05We look to the tragedy that just happened in Texas.

05:11We're at a camp where girls were going, families who were camping over a long holiday weekend in a moment.

05:18That they lost their lives in this tragedy.

05:25Is today the day?

05:29Every single day that we wake up with breath in our bodies,

05:33we are blessed with the opportunity to take advantage and make the very most of that day.

05:43Today is the day.

05:45Today is the day for us to stand up for all that we believe in,

05:50stand up for each other, stand up for our country,

05:53stand up for our freedom,

05:55and a future that truly realizes the vision that our founders had for this great country.

06:01I'm grateful to stand alongside you in this honorable and just fight.

06:06We will make this happen together.

06:09Thank you so much, everybody.

06:10It's great to see you.

06:11God bless you.

06:12God bless America.

06:13Aloha.

06:15Thank you so much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended