[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 276 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 276

 Honoring the 53,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians 
    that comprise the Nation's special operations forces community.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2007

  Mrs. Drake (for herself, Mr. Hayes, and Mr. McIntyre) submitted the 
  following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring the 53,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians 
    that comprise the Nation's special operations forces community.

Whereas the failure to organize, train, equip, and plan special operations 
        forces (SOF) missions in a joint environment ultimately led to the 
        aborted military operation Eagle Claw, more commonly referred to as 
        Desert One, where eight servicemembers lost their lives attempting to 
        rescue American hostages held in Tehran;
Whereas this failure led to Congressional passage of the Goldwater-Nichols 
        Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which established the 
        principle legal authority for the United States military to operate 
        jointly;
Whereas April 16, 2007, marks the 20th year anniversary of the establishment of 
        United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, 
        Florida;
Whereas United States Special Operations Command is comprised of--

    (1) United States Army Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, North 
Carolina;

    (2) Naval Special Warfare Command at Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, 
California;

    (3) Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Florida;

    (4) Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune, 
North Carolina; and

    (5) Joint Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina;

Whereas the most visible and recognized SOF mission is direct action, but SOF 
        missions also extend across the vast operational spectrum to include 
        unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, civil affairs, 
        psychological operations, information operations, special 
        reconnaissance, counter-proliferation, and counterterrorism;
Whereas the President, in the 2004 Unified Command Plan, expanded the role of 
        United States Special Operations Command to serve as the ``lead 
        combatant commander for planning, synchronizing, and as directed, 
        executing global operations against terrorist networks in coordination 
        with other combatant commanders'';
Whereas special operations forces are ideally suited to meet the asymmetric 
        threat posed by violent Islamists who promote intolerance, stifle 
        freedom, and destroy peace;
Whereas the United States has called on the special operations community to 
        promote freedom and democracy in such remote places as the Island of 
        Basilan in the Philippines, where Army Special Forces teams continue to 
        successfully develop partner nation capacity that has significantly 
        improved Philippine security and has furthered America's national 
        security interests in the Pacific region;
Whereas the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review recognized the importance of SOF and 
        the critical role that it plays in the War on Terror and called for an 
        increase of 15 percent in SOF beginning in fiscal year 2007; and
Whereas the core principles of the special operations community, known as the 
        SOF Truths, hold that--

    (1) humans are more important than hardware;

    (2) SOF cannot be mass produced;

    (3) quality is better than quantity; and

    (4) competent SOF cannot be created after emergencies occur: Now, 
therefore, be it

    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors the sacrifices and commitment of the 53,000 
        soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians that comprise 
        the Nation's special operations forces community and recognizes 
        that it owes each and every one of them a debt of gratitude;
            (2) honors the families of the Nation's special operations 
        forces warriors who are there day-in and day-out while their 
        loved ones are deployed around the world; and
            (3) recognizes that the United States military should seek 
        to replicate the success that the special operations forces 
        community has created on the Island of Basilan in the 
        Philippines on other fronts throughout the Global War on 
        Terror.
                                 <all>