Retired General Tommy Franks Will Keynote
National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans

CHICAGO, Feb. 15— Retired Army Gen. Tommy Franks, the four-star general who served as commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be the keynote speaker at the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans, hosted by AMVETS in Chicago, Ill., Oct. 18-21, 2006.

“We are very pleased that General Franks has agreed to speak at the Symposium,” said AMVETS National Commander Ed Kemp. “With his distinguished career of military service and his recent experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, Franks is ideally suited to talk, not only about the sacrifices our young servicemen and women make each day for this country, but also about the need to ensure that our nation keeps its promise to provide for the needs of those who serve.”

The Veterans Affairs (VA) budget has not kept pace with demand. Last year the VA needed an emergency infusion of $1.5 billion to continue providing health care services. The shortfall was predicted by AMVETS and other veterans groups several months earlier. The growing number of new and younger veterans returning from service is expected to stretch the benefits system even more in the coming years. Illinois veterans received the lowest average disability payments of any state over a 20-year period according to a July 7, 2005 CHICAGO TRIBUNE report and have to wait unusually long to learn about their disability claims.

The Symposium will take place at Chicago’s Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel and will bring together a diverse and representative group of about 1,500 veterans to discuss new and innovative ways to ensure the long-term solvency of a system of earned benefits that is both adequate and relevant to the needs of younger veterans, including National Guard and Reserve members who currently serve our country both here and abroad. The Symposium will focus on ways to ensure that these new veterans as well as current ones have access to promised health care, education, civilian employment and job training benefits.

Gen. Franks, who is scheduled to speak Oct. 20, is the recipient of five Distinguished Service Medals, four Legions of Merit, four Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts, as well as the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Since his retirement in 2003, Gen. Franks has traveled the world speaking about leadership, character and the value of democracy.

AMVETS is the nation’s largest veterans service organization open to everyone who has honorably served or is still serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including those in the National Guard and Reserves regardless of when they have served. A leader since 1944 in preserving the freedoms secured by America’s Armed Forces, AMVETS has some 180,000 members, with nearly 1,300 posts and 40 departments nationwide. Visit www.amvets.org for more information on AMVETS.