[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 736 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 736

   Affirming the importance of the Electronic Proving Ground at Fort 
   Huachuca, Arizona, to the United States Armed Forces and national 
                   security on its 60th anniversary.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2014

Mr. Barber (for himself, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Gosar, Mr. 
 Salmon, Mr. Schweikert, Mr. Pastor of Arizona, Mr. Franks of Arizona, 
and Ms. Sinema) submitted the following resolution; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Affirming the importance of the Electronic Proving Ground at Fort 
   Huachuca, Arizona, to the United States Armed Forces and national 
                   security on its 60th anniversary.

Whereas Fort Huachuca is a product of the Indian Wars in the late 19th century 
        in which Colonel August V. Kautz, commander of the Department of 
        Arizona, ordered that a camp be established in the Huachuca Mountains in 
        February 1877;
Whereas in 1913, the first African-American unit, 10th Calvary ``Buffalo 
        Soldiers'', arrived and remained almost 20 years, during which they 
        joined General John Pershing in the 1916 expedition into Mexico and 
        during World War I was assigned the mission of guarding the United 
        States-Mexico border;
Whereas the legacy of this famous unit was honored by naming Fort Huachuca's 
        testing range the Buffalo Soldier Electronic Testing Range;
Whereas in the 1930s, the 25th Infantry Regiment replaced the 10th Calvary in 
        Fort Huachuca and eventually sent up to 30,000 troops to fight in the 
        European theater of World War II;
Whereas in 1954, the Army's Chief Signal Officer realized the incredibly unique 
        environment located at Fort Huachuca for electronic and communications 
        equipment testing and since then, the Electronic Proving Ground has 
        tested many pieces of equipment that have enabled and strengthened our 
        military in the past 60 years;
Whereas Southern Arizona's unique geography containing a bowl shaped valley 
        enclosed by mountains more than 4,000 feet above sea level offers more 
        than 9,000 square miles of land protected and free from outside 
        electromagnetic interference which provides the best open-air electronic 
        test range in the world;
Whereas operations are routinely possible on the 70,000 acres and 964 square 
        miles of the Electronic Proving Grounds due to FAA restricted airspace 
        over this area;
Whereas the Electronic Proving Ground is the Army's premier C5ISR (Command, 
        Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and 
        Reconnaissance) validation and developmental tester under the Army Test 
        and Evaluation Command;
Whereas the mission of the Electronic Proving Ground is to plan, conduct, and 
        analyze the results of technical tests for C5ISR systems and Electronic 
        Combat and Electronic Warfare equipment for the Department of Defense, 
        other Federal agencies and private industry;
Whereas the pristine electromagnetic spectrum around Fort Huachuca's Electronic 
        Proving Grounds provides the necessary environment for the development 
        of a myriad of improvised explosive device-defeat technologies; and
Whereas over the past decade of testing, Fort Huachuca and the Electronic 
        Proving Ground have provided the Army indispensable expertise that 
        resulted in technological advances that have saved the lives of 
        countless United States warfighters: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the threats that members of the United 
        States Armed Forces face on the battlefield are changing and 
        the enemy will present unique challenges that call for proven 
        equipment tested at the Electronic Proving Ground;
            (2) recognizes and supports the missions and long term 
        viability of Fort Huachuca and its Electronic Proving Ground;
            (3) expresses the importance of real world testing at open 
        air ranges of electronic equipment in the Electronic Proving 
        Ground; and
            (4) expresses strong appreciation to the soldiers and 
        civilians, both past and present, for their 60 years of hard 
        work and dedication at the Electronic Proving Ground and for 
        their service to the United States.
                                 <all>