Everything that makes this country great comes at a  cost. This Sunday, September 27th, is Gold Star Mother's and Family's Day—the day we set aside to honor the families who paid the highest price of all.

When I deployed to Afghanistan as a bomb technician, my family knew the risks: they knew I might not come back. And every single soldier, sailor, airman, and marine's family faces that same reality the moment they watch their loved one raise their right hand and take the oath.

Knowing the risk doesn't make it any less painful to send your son or daughter off to foreign soil and see them come home in a flag-draped casket.

I was lucky enough to come home, but too many of my brothers and sisters-in-arms did not.

Being a Gold Star family is an honor no mother, father, husband, wife, or child ever wants to bear—and there's no way to repay them. We can make sure their sacrifice is never forgotten, along the Treasure Coast and in every corner of America.

To every Gold Star family in Martin, St. Lucie, and Palm Beach counties: we are forever indebted to you. I'll keep working to make sure this country honors that debt.