Today, the U.S. Veterans Administration spends more than $163 billion annually on American veterans' financial, medical, and psychological needs. Nonetheless, argues Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL and Rhodes Scholar, there are important issues veterans face—and public misconceptions about veterans—which the VA, and government generally, fail to address.

A decorated officer, Greitens was deployed to Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Iraq. He is the author of three books: The Heart and the Fist (NYT bestseller); The Warrior's Heart (youth adaptation of The Heart and the Fist); and Strength and Compassion (New York Book Festival's Grand Prize winner). Greitens' fourth book, the soon-to-be released Resilience, is a collection of his letters to a former SEAL in the throes of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Greitens discussed how and why he founded and built, with his own combat pay, The Mission Continues—an organization now active in 28 cities, including New York, dedicated to helping America view its veterans not as problems but as a vital resource for civic life. 

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