 I was so thrilled to see the team all front. I got kind of hung up. So I'm really just thrilled to be with you all. So thank you for making time for me. Will, for the very kind introduction. Thank you. My thanks, of course, to all the service officers and DAV members. It's great to see so many of you here today. And just good afternoon to everybody. It's a beautiful afternoon. It's always a great day to be with DAV. So thanks for the opportunity to be with you. Before I get into it, I want to shout out to my teammates manning the VA info booth today. They're here for you. That's because of a very simple fact. We work for you. I like to say that I know who nominated me. That's the president. And I know who confirmed me. That's the Senate. And I know who I work for. And that's you. So if you have any questions at all about our work at VA, about anything that's on your mind, on one of your members' minds, one of your buddy's minds, talk with them. They're here to help with any question you might have and maybe even some questions you don't know that you have. So let me now begin with a story. Jennifer Alvarado. I'm about to talk about three people. They're all in attendance. So let them be, serve, notice. She joined the Navy as a 19-year-old single mom. She served her country honorably before she was medically retired in 2006. But after years of intimate partner violence compounded by repeat military sexual trauma or MST, Jennifer left the military in survival mode. She tried VA years ago, but did not have a positive experience. So she left VA care disappointed and further traumatized. As the years passed, she struggled to hold down a job. She's at risk of homelessness, relied on food banks to keep a meal on her family's table. As her life continued to spiral, she found solace as so many of us do in times of trouble. And drinking. At one point, she considered suicide. But one fateful day, she decided to give VA a second chance. So where did she turn first? DAV. She walked straight into her local DAV office with a giant box of medical records. Jennifer dropped him on Joe Kaufman's desk, a DAV service officer out of Philly, and said that she would not leave until she was helped. And that's exactly what happened. While helping Jennifer, Joe connected her to Elizabeth de Pompey, one of DAV's fabulous comms people. And what happened next changed everything. Elizabeth listened, building a trust of bond, making Jennifer feel safe for the first time in years. Felt safe for the first time in years. So she opened up. She accepted help. And Elizabeth's here today, so I'll speak to her directly. Jennifer says that you might not realize the impact you had on her, the impact you have had on so many of her fellow women veterans. She shared her story with you, even cried with you, for hours. Most importantly, with your help alongside Joe and many others at DAV, Jennifer started receiving the care she needs, yes, and the care she earned, the care that was hers that she so richly deserves. She says that the care she gets today at the Philadelphia VAMC is phenomenal, that she can't imagine going anywhere else. There's so much to take away from this story, which I'll come back to later. But what really strikes me most is that Jennifer trusts VA again, and she's getting the care she earned, all because she connected with this incredible team at DAV. Her story shows the impact you're having in communities and neighborhoods across this awesome country, serving veterans, saving lives. This is what our work together is all about, getting the job done for vets, whether that means providing the best care in the world, benefits that vets have earned, or a dignified last resting place that honors their service and sacrifice. And that's exactly what you've been doing, what we've been doing. So let me quickly hit a few wave tops since the last time we talked. Last year, veterans submitted over 2.4 million claims in all-time record, 39% more than the prior year, 2022. Until that time of record, veterans submitted nearly 2.3 million intents to file a claim. Another all-time record, 62% more than in 2022. VA processed nearly 2 million claims, surpassing the previous record by nearly 16%. VA delivered $163 billion in earned benefits to over 1.5 million veterans in all-time record. Vets had 116 million health care appointments. That surpassing the previous record by 3 million appointments. And the Board of Veterans' Appeals processed over 103,000 appeals in all-time record. Over 46,500 veterans who had been homeless were permanently housed, surpassing our goal of 38,000. And 4.1 million vets now rest in VA national cemeteries. Now, look, behind each of those statistics are veterans, veterans like Jennifer and like so many of you in this room. And all of those accomplishments, those are yours. And you should be rightly proud of them. You play a critical role, the key enabler, to VA's mission in keeping our promise to veterans. And like I said, when I saw you last summer up in Atlantic City, we have no better partner than DAV. And this year, we're not letting up. Together, we're going to bring new vets to VA. We're going to expand access to VA. We're going to help vets thrive. We want to bring as many veterans as possible into our care, because VA has proven to be the best, most affordable health care in America for vets. That's why, beginning March 5, we're making, that is to say, Tuesday, two days ago, we're making three new groups of veterans eligible for VA health care. And we're doing this years earlier than envisioned in the PACT Act, which, by the way, wouldn't be law if it weren't for DAV. Those three groups of new veterans are veterans who are exposed to toxins or other hazards during military service, veterans who are assigned to certain duty stations in Southwest Asia or parts of Africa, and veterans who are deployed in support of certain operations after 9-11. But let me tell you what that means. If they served in Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, or Afghanistan, they can enroll. If they deployed to any combat zone after 9-11, they can enroll. If they deployed in support of the global war on terror, they can enroll. And even if they never deployed, but were exposed to toxins or hazards while training or serving on active duty here at home, by working with chemicals, pesticides, lead, asbestos, certain paints, nuclear weapons, x-rays, and more, they can enroll, too. This can be the biggest expansion of VA care in generations. And we want as many vets as possible to apply as soon as possible. It's quick and easy to enroll. They don't need to be sick. They don't need to file a claim to become eligible. All they have to do is show that they served in one of those locations or operations or participated in one of those activities that could have exposed them to toxins or hazards. Even if they don't think they need this care today, they might need it tomorrow, next week, or 30 years from now. And all they have to do is enroll. Then they have access for life. So let's not miss this opportunity. Better, more affordable health care is awaiting veterans. And they can go to va.gov forward slash P-A-C-T to begin that process. That's va.gov forward slash packed. I appreciate your help in spreading the word on it. Now, one more important request for help from our awesome partner before I finish. Starting April 20th, we will no longer send a veteran's or a family member's benefit payments to more than one bank account. We're making this change to help protect vets and families from fraud and to ensure that we're able to pay vets on time every time without error. This will require all vets and beneficiaries who receive GI bill benefits, GI bill payments, and other benefit payments across multiple bank accounts to select one account by April 20th. For example, if a vet receives GI bill payments to one of their bank accounts and disability payments to another, they'll need to select one account for all benefits by April 20th. This shift will impact nearly 50,000 of the 800,000 total GI bill beneficiaries. I can tell you actually that the number is now down to 36,000 because 14,000 have already changed their account since we started reaching out last week. Fortunately, we have all the contact information for these vets. We're aggressively reaching out to these student veterans through text, phone, and email on a weekly basis until April 20th. So if you've gotten one of these texts or emails or calls, it touches you. If you haven't gotten a call, don't worry. You're all set. They will continue to receive those messages until they've updated their information at va.gov. We're working with the schools, with DAV and other VSOs, and other relevant parties to make sure that vets meet the deadline. The easiest way for these vets to make this change is to log on to va.gov forward slash change dash direct dash deposit va.gov forward slash change dash direct dash deposit. Importantly, not a single veteran will miss a benefit payment of any type, even if they don't switch their account. You want to know why? Because any student who does not consolidate their account by April 20th will do it for them. We'll elect their non-education benefit pay account as their primary pay account. We will ensure that every single vet has access to the benefits they earned and they deserve, because those benefits are theirs. And no veteran will lose their education benefits as a result of these changes. So please, my last ask is between now and April 20th. Help us spread the word, or one of those vets comes to you and says, why am I still getting these texts from that pain in the ass McDonough? Just send them to va.gov forward slash change hyphen direct hyphen deposit. With that, let me just end with something I said at the annual conference in Atlantic City last summer. I said that the reason that I come to your meetings is to hold myself and all of VA accountable to you as individuals and as a team. I said that if we are not living up to the highest of standards, you need to let me know, because this work takes all of us. VA cannot and does not keep our country's promise to veterans alone. Partnerships like yours help us tackle some of our most pressing priorities, preventing veteran suicide, ending veteran homelessness, improving health care, improving timely access to your benefits, and more. We can't keep our promise to vets without you, because vets trust DAV. That's what Jennifer's story told. They talk to you when something's not working the way it should. So your work helps us better understand what veterans experience in uniform, what they're going through here at home, and how we can better help them, oftentimes bringing something to our attention that we didn't even know was happening. A particular challenge for me, a non-vet as secretary, we saw this in a very prominent way last week, with DAV's release of their report on women veterans. The report was the result of super hard work by my favorite DAV, Minnesotan Joya Lim, Naomi Mathis, Elizabeth Dipompe, and many other members of the DAV team. My only regret is I couldn't meet with you guys, because I was sicker than a dog on that Friday. Detailed how VA can be better, how VA must be better to support women veterans' mental health and to prevent suicide through gender-tailored care. That's like Jennifer. Her story and the stories of several other of her fellow sisters-in-arms are included in last week's report. This is appointment reading. Their stories, alongside the recommendations in this groundbreaking report, will make VA better, not just for women veterans, for all veterans. Jennifer says, I've prayed to God for nearly 20 years for myself and for other veterans that the VA would hear us. Shameful, sinful, that one of our vets had to pray to God that we would hear her. That the right person would hear the right voice to hold themselves accountable, to make the system better, and to do better for veterans. Someone is finally listening. She said, that's because of you. You help us serve veterans far better than we can alone, far better than we did alone. You make us better able to serve vets by holding us to account. You and your work has a direct and positive impact on the lives of veterans. Jennifer said it best. So I'm blessed to see your inspiring work every single day. And I thank God for each of you, each and every one of you. We still can, we still must be better, and do better for the veterans we serve. So when you hear from a vet who needs something, I want your first call to be to us. And by the way, not to Randy, because I choose our neck all the time. Together, we can solve any problem, big or small, with full transparency, holding nothing back, continuing to build trust by telling the whole story. We're proud of our accomplishments, but we're going to be candid about our failings. I'm a sinner. I've said that to you before. We'll be candid with ourselves, with you, with vets, with Congress, and with the American people, because America's vets deserve our very best. You deserve our very best, and nothing less. So God bless you all, and God bless our nation's service members, our veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. Thanks so much.