Leadership Quote by Ellen Tauscher

Patriotism is doing a lot of work here, and that is precisely the point. “Our brave men and women” is a moral down payment: once you grant the premise of bravery, the conclusion (“they deserve relief”) starts to sound less like a policy preference and more like basic decency. Tauscher’s phrasing reaches for bipartisan terrain by centering troops rather than ideology. It’s a rhetorical move built for Washington’s most reliable consensus: even when lawmakers can’t agree on the war, they can agree on the people asked to carry it out.

The intent is protective and practical. “Fighting around the world” widens the frame beyond any single conflict, suggesting a permanent, global posture that demands permanent care. “Relief” is strategically elastic. It can mean better armor, improved veterans’ benefits, family support, mental health services, rotations that make deployments survivable, or even debt relief and job protections back home. The word doesn’t box her into a particular program; it invites listeners to fill in the remedy they already believe in.

The subtext is a subtle rebuke of political complacency: if the country is willing to project force worldwide, it has a duty to absorb the costs that follow soldiers back to their kitchens and hospital rooms. It also nudges responsibility upward. By claiming “our” service members, she implies “our” obligation, a shared ownership that makes neglect look like betrayal. In the era of post-9/11 operations and recurring deployments, the line functions as both shield and lever: shield the troops from partisan crossfire, lever the public’s gratitude into material commitments.