Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday publicly addressed the Monday-night arrest of her son Track Palin on domestic violence charges, saying he came back from military deployment "a bit different" and tying President Barack Obama's treatment of veterans to soldiers struggling with PTSD.

Palin, who endorsed Donald Trump for the GOP presidential nomination Tuesday in Iowa, brought up the issue at the beginning of her appearance at a Trump campaign event at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Track Palin was arrested Monday night at his parents' Wasilla home after an altercation with a woman who claimed he punched her in the face and threatened suicide with an AR-15 rifle. Track Palin, who blew a blood-alcohol level of .189 when tested, also experienced bruising and swelling to the face, according to a charging document filed in the case.

Sarah Palin opened her speech Wednesday with a call to elect Trump, saying he would respect members of the military and veterans and that Obama had failed to do so.

"I can talk personally about this, I guess it's kind of the elephant in the room, because my own family, going through what we're going through today, with my son, a combat vet having served in a Stryker Brigade, fighting for you all, America, in the war zone," Palin said.

"But my son like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened," she said.

She said veterans returning from combat question whether their service is respected by the president.

"It starts from the top," she said.

"So when my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with, and it makes me realize more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we'll have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them."

Track Palin was deployed to Iraq for a 12-month tour in September 2008, when his mother was still campaigning as the vice-presidential candidate for GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Sarah Palin's comments from Wednesday's appearance are below:

"When I talk about a commander in chief who would never leave our men and our women behind, let me get a little personal about this -- I'm talking about not leaving our wounded warriors behind also. Our wounded warriors who come home from the battlefield bringing new battles with them.

"Our wounded warriors sometimes in body and in mind, coming back different than when they left for the war zone. I can talk personally about this, I guess it's kind of the elephant in the room, because my own family, going through what we're going through today, with my son, a combat vet having served in a Stryker Brigade, fighting for you all, America, in the war zone.

"But my son like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened. They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen -- and every other member of the military -- so sacrificially have given to this country, and that starts from the top. It's a shame that our military personnel even have to wonder, if they have to question, if they're respected anymore.

"It starts from the top. The question, though, that comes from our own president, where they have to look at him and wonder, 'Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we're trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?'