President Barack Obama, seeking to reassure a nation shaken by the mass shooting on an Army post in Texas, praised what he called heroism that ended the gunfire.

In his weekly radio and Internet address on the weekend before Veterans Day, Obama praised those who serve or have served in uniform and reminded the public of their diversity.

“They are Americans of every race, faith and station. They are Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and nonbelievers,” Obama said. “They are descendants of immigrants and immigrants themselves. They reflect the diversity that makes this America. But what they share is a patriotism like no other.”

“We cannot fully know what leads a man to do such a thing,” Obama said. “But what we do know is that our thoughts are with every one of the men and women who were injured at Fort Hood. Our thoughts are with all the families who’ve lost a loved one in this national tragedy.”

“We saw soldiers bringing to bear on our own soil the skills they had been trained to use abroad— skills that been honed through years of determined effort for one purpose and one purpose only: to protect and defend the United States of America.”