From March 25, 2022 post.
After successfully getting her bipartisan effort to create a Global War on Terrorism Memorial on the National Mall signed into law, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)—a veteran of the Global War on Terrorism herself—attended the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) Memorial Foundation’s inaugural “Ruck the Reserve” event marking the authorization of the construction of the memorial. After delivering remarks, Ernst joined veterans, Gold Star families, leaders of veterans’ service organizations, advocates, and others for a ruck march along the Reserve on the National Mall.
Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate, said the GWOT Memorial will be a place of reflection for all Americans and for the families of those who fought and died in our nation’s longest war.
Background :
The Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation hosted the inaugural “Ruck the Reserve” event to mark the authorization of the memorial’s construction. Ernst joined Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.), and Alston Arrechaga, Gold Star Son of Army Sfc. Ofren Arrechaga, for the ruck march.
After a years-long, hard fought effort, Ernst’s bipartisan legislation to build a memorial on the National Mall honoring the veterans of the Global War on Terrorism was signed into law late last year. Ernst teamed up with Hassan on the bill and garnered strong support for the effort from more than 50 Democrats and Republicans in Congress, influential public figures, and the six surviving secretaries of Defense—spanning Democratic and Republican administrations.
Their bill, the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Location Act, which proposes three locations for the memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was included as a part of the annual defense bill, the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2022, and is now law.
Original source can be found here
