Town Hall Meeting at Soldiers and Sailors Addresses Vets Issues

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff and Principal Advisor to President Obama appeared at a town hall meeting at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on Monday.

The meeting focused on current issues affecting veterans such as employment but focused on physical and mental health care issues. Local leaders from different organizations that work with veterans participated, as did Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff. He spoke of his concerns for the problems the current group of veterans may face.

"I’m particularly concerned about generating another generation of homeless veterans, we didn’t do that very well in the first war I fought in which was Vietnam and I think we need to improve dramatically there as well," he said.

Physical and mental health issues came up repeatedly during the meeting. "The tragic downside of these injuries is extremely obvious, the upside is its put us in a place where we’ve invested in research in a way that we never would have," he said.

The meeting wasn’t the only stop Mullen made throughout the day – he visited organizations such as the Veteran’s Leadership Program of Western Pennsylvania and health care organizations including UPMC Hospitals and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.

He will be attending similar meetings in other parts of the country. He said its important to connect with as many leaders and learn all about all of the different regionalized efforts to help veterans. He hopes to work with local leaders