Once a year, on the 11th day of the 11th month, Americans remember and give thanks to veterans past and present. It started as a tradition to celebrate those who fought in the First World War — the war to end all wars. But "Armistice Day," as it was known, was short lived. More wars followed and millions of Americans stepped forward to answer the call. "Veterans Day" is now a time when we recognize all of those who served their nation honorably.

Every gesture matters today, whether it is laying a wreath at Punchbowl Cemetery, marching in the Waianae Veterans Day Parade, or simply saying "thank you for your service." But our commitment to the more than 120,000 veterans who call Hawaii home requires more than a gesture. These veterans have real needs and we have a moral, social, and financial obligation to be there for them — an obligation that does not start and stop today.

We can start by fully funding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and continuing with reforms that will ensure that veterans get access to the care they need. The bipartisan budget agreement that Congress just passed is a first step that will help avoid the $1 billion in cuts that would have squeezed the VA and its workforce at a time when it is working hard to reduce patient wait times and expand services, including to rural veterans.

When we learned last year that the VA in Honolulu was taking an average of 144 days to schedule veterans a primary care appointment, we got angry — at home and in Washington. We passed legislation in Congress to improve accountability at the VA. Now wait times in Hawaii are down to about a week. But we cannot expect the VA to continue to make progress with one hand tied behind its back — we need to give it the resources it is asking for.

We also need to recognize the importance of mental health. A generation of veterans are coming home not only with the physical wounds of war, but the psychological ones, as well. In Hawaii, an estimated 80 percent of our veterans saw war and carry the scars of those experiences. Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder are wounds we are acquainted with, but veterans are still ashamed of getting the care they need to treat these injuries.

Many are suffering in silence, and some are driven to substance abuse. That is why it is ever more important that we work to eliminate the stigma associated with these injuries so that veterans can conquer them and become whole again.

We can all do more to promote veteran employment. There have been efforts to make the transition from a military career to a civilian one as least burdensome as possible by ensuring that military licenses are transferrable to civilian jobs, but there is still a gap. It is inconceivable, for example, that a boatswain’s mate with 20 years’ experience in the Navy is forced to choose between walking away from the career he or she loves or taking an entry-level job on a civilian vessel because his or her credentials will not satisfy the requirements of a senior position. We can do better than that.

Remember: We have an all-volunteer military. When our veterans answered the call to serve, the only expectation they had was that when the time came for them to take off the uniform, we would be there for them. Let’s carry that promise forward every day.