Joe Biden to veterans and their families: We owe you

Vice President Biden thanked the nation's veterans and the family members that support them in a Veterans Day address at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday.

"No one knows better than this audience that it's not just the veteran that has been asked to sacrifice and service, it's his or her family. His mother or father, children, especially the husbands and wives," Biden said.

The vice president has personal experience with the topic: his son, Beau Biden, was deployed to Iraq for a year as a major in the Delaware National Guard. He recalled the regular scene he witnessed where his wife, Jill, would be standing by the sink, coffee cup in hand, mouthing a prayer.

"You've all done that," Biden said. "You spouses, you moms, you dads, you children. When they were deployed, there wasn't three hours that went by that they didn't cross your mind. You all know what its like and we owe you. We owe you as much as we owe your sons and daughters, your husbands and wives."

He had special praise for the generation of men and women who enlisted after the 9/11 attacks, noting that America had never before asked an all-volunteer force for such a massive, sustained commitment.

These "absolutely remarkable" veterans that Biden has visited in hospitals around the world almost uniformly ask when they can get back to their units to help fight again. It is "stunning," Biden said.

He also talked about the importance of providing for those who have served the country.

"We have an obligation to care for and equip those who we send to war and care for them and their families when they come home," Biden said. "As I said earlier it's the only sacred obligation a government has and we're honor bound to keep it."