110 HRES 276 IH: Honoring the 53,000 soldiers, sailors, U.S. House of Representatives 2007-03-27 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 276 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

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.