[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5410-S5412]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING ADM. JEREMY M. ``MIKE'' BOORDA

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed 
to the immediate consideration of a Senate resolution I now send to the 
desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 255) to honor Admiral Jeremy M. 
     ``Mike'' Boorda.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the immediate 
consideration of the resolution?
  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, today a grateful nation pays its final 
tribute to a true patriot and hero, Admiral Jeremy ``Mike'' Boorda, who 
died on

[[Page S5411]]

Thursday, May 16, 1996, at the age of 56. There will be a memorial 
service today at the Washington Cathedral to honor Admiral Boorda. I 
want to take this opportunity, on behalf of many of my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle, to honor this man and his truly vital 
contributions to our Navy. His service to our Nation was a model to 
which every American could aspire.
  Admiral Boorda was a high school dropout who joined the Navy at the 
young age of 16 as a seaman recruit. After rising to become a petty 
officer first class in 1961, at the urging of a chief petty officer, 
Mike Boorda applied for admission to an enlisted commissioning program, 
but he had no confidence of success. He was selected on his second 
application and commissioned an officer in 1962.
  In 1991 he received his fourth star and became the commander-in-chief 
of Allied forces in Southern Europe. As CINCSOUTH, he was in charge of 
an air strike in February 1994 against four Bosnian Serb aircraft 
flying in violation of the U.N. ban on fixed-wing flights. This was the 
first time that a NATO commander had ordered alliance forces to use 
deadly force on an offensive mission in the organization's 44-year 
history.
  On April 23, 1994, Admiral Boorda became the 25th Chief of Naval 
Operations. He assumed command of the world's greatest Navy while it 
was still suffering from the aftermath of the Tailhook scandal. Despite 
Tailhook, a rash of cases of sexual misconduct, and several plane 
crashes, Mike Boorda tackled all these problems with energy that many 
of us could not match. Why? Because Mike Boorda loved the Navy.
  He once said, ``I stayed in the Navy because I love going to sea. I 
hope everybody is experiencing that. If you're fortunate enough to be 
at that stage in your career where you still get to go to sea, relish 
it. Enjoy it and have fun. Realize that you are a part of a long line 
of people who have gone down to the sea in ships, and it's a special 
thing to do.''

  Mike Boorda was a ``Sailor's Sailor.'' He devoted his life to making 
our Nation more secure and to securing a better life for those who 
serve our country. As the only sailor to rise from E-1 to become Chief 
of Naval Operations, he knew what it meant to be at the bottom and top 
of the chain of command. This experience instilled in him an unwavering 
desire to help sailors and their families serve proudly and live in a 
manner in which they could be proud.
  He was a man of both physical and moral courage. From Southeast Asia 
to Bosnia, he was willing to put his life on the line to serve his 
Nation, but he was also willing to put his career on the line for the 
sailors he loved and the principles he stood for: duty, honor, and 
commitment.
  Admiral Boorda's entire Navy career was marked by a single 
characteristic--compassion. He cared more for others than he ever cared 
for himself. He cared more for his Navy than he ever cared for his Navy 
career. All that he did and all that he gave will live on forever in 
the men and women that he loved so much.
  More than anything, he loved being around sailors. When he went on 
board a ship or walked into a room full of sailors, you could see the 
twinkle in his eyes and a caring smile come across his face. He made 
sailors and their families feel better about themselves and better 
about what they did. He used to say almost everyday, ``we have the best 
sailors in the world, let's treat them that way.'' His love of sailors 
drove him to personally talk with more than 200,000 sailors, and visit 
more than 100 of the 360 ships in the fleet in his 2 years as CNO.
  As I said earlier, he was a man of the sea, he believed that going to 
sea, getting underway, was about the most special thing one could do. 
He used to joke that he would like to change places with the younger 
officers so he could return to driving ships and personally leading 
sailors. He prided himself on his ship handling skills and talked often 
about how much it meant to him to be considered one of the best ship 
drivers in our Navy.

  Like most sailors, he was a storyteller. He loved to captivate an 
audience with a yarn about his days at sea, or about his family, 
especially his grandchildren. Almost everyday at his office, he would 
come in with a new tale about what one of his grandchildren had done or 
how something reminded him of when he was a young seaman or junior 
officer. He had a way about him, so that when he spoke, everyone would 
instinctively rise and fall on his every word.
  He was a man of great humor and of great humility. At serious 
meetings or in tense congressional hearings, he would break the tension 
with his dry and self-effacing sense of humor. He also never spoke of 
``I''--he only spoke of ``we''--when talking about what our Navy had 
accomplished. He would go to great lengths to ensure that others were 
not embarrassed or publicly humiliated when things went wrong. He 
always took responsibility for the bad, and always avoided praise for 
the good.
  Admiral Boorda was a visionary in naval strategy. When he became CNO, 
he recognized that the post-cold-war era required a strategy that 
retained the Navy's tradition of forward presence, but he also knew 
that it was much more likely that we were going to fight near land, in 
the world's littorals. He transformed the Navy's approach to meet this 
new strategy situation in ``Forward . . . From the Sea,'' the strategy 
that will carry the Navy into the 21st century.
  He was a visionary in technology. He spearheaded such projects as the 
arsenal ship, the new attack submarine, theater ballistic missile 
defense, and cooperative engagement capability. These programs, and 
many others, put the Navy on the cutting edge of technology and did so 
in a way that was efficient, affordable, and flexible. He also 
recognized our Navy needed a strategy to accompany emerging technology, 
so he developed ``2020 Vision,'' a long range plan for acquiring and 
using future technology to achieve our strategic objectives.

  Because he cared so much about his sailors, he took real steps to 
improve their lives: He significantly increased military housing 
starts. He fought for and achieved pay raises and increases in BAQ 
amounts and eligibility. Despite significant cuts in ships and sailors, 
he was able to prevent a rise in the deployment time of sailors. He 
revamped the officer and enlisted evaluation system so that it provided 
clear standards and accurately reflected performance, and he 
successfully integrated women into combatant ships and aircraft 
squadrons.
  Like many of my colleagues, I have had the privilege of working 
closely with Adm. Mike Boorda for several years. I came to admire him 
immensely--his intelligence, common sense, energy, sense of humor, and 
most important, his commitment to our Navy, our country, and his 
family.
  Admiral Boorda once said of Adm. Arleigh Burke, ``he defined what it 
means to be a naval officer: relentless in combat, resourceful in 
command, and revered by his crews. He was, indeed, `a sailor's 
sailor'.'' I think Admiral Boorda also exemplifies these words.
  Adm. Mike Boorda was a man who loved his country and served it with 
distinction from the age of 16 to the day he died. He was an American 
success story and a hero who will be missed by all of us.
  Mr. President, I submit this resolution and ask for its immediate 
consideration.
  Mr. EXON. Mr. President, I yield myself as much time as I am in need 
of off the resolution.
  I thank Senator Lott. I am a cosponsor of the amendment. It is very 
appropriate. We, on this side, join in and thank him for honoring the 
memory of Mike Boorda, our dear and departed colleague who we shall all 
miss very much. Thank you, Senator Lott, for the excellent statement in 
behalf of all of us in the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be 
agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table and any statements relating to the resolution appear at 
the appropriate place in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 255) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 255

       Whereas Admiral Jeremy M. ``Mike'' Boorda was the 25th 
     Chief of Naval Operations;

[[Page S5412]]

       Whereas as the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Boorda 
     commanded the foremost Navy in the World;
       Whereas Admiral Boorda's career in the Navy reflected his 
     lifelong dedication to the United States and to the 
     principles he held dear--duty, honor, and commitment;
       Whereas Admiral Boorda is the only member of the Navy ever 
     to rise from the lowest enlisted grade to the position of 
     Chief of Naval Operations, and his rise gave him a full and 
     unique perspective on the opportunities and obligations of 
     command;
       Whereas this perspective instilled in Admiral Boorda an 
     unwavering concern for the members of the Navy and their 
     families;
       Whereas as Commander-in-Chief of NATO forces in Southern 
     Europe, Admiral Boorda ordered the first offensive use of 
     deadly force in the history of NATO, an air strike in 
     February 1994 against four Bosnian Serb aircraft flying in 
     violation of a United Nations ban on such flights;
       Whereas Admiral Boorda was a visionary in naval strategy 
     who recognized that circumstances in the post-Cold War era 
     made necessary a strategy that retained a forward presence 
     for the Navy even as it recognized that future Navy 
     operations would most likely occur in the littoral zones of 
     the world;
       Whereas this strategy, which Admiral Boorda called 
     ``Forward . . . From the Sea'', will serve as the basis for 
     Navy strategy well into the 21st century;
       Whereas Admiral Boorda was a visionary in naval technology 
     who spearheaded programs for the development of the arsenal 
     ship, the new attack submarine, theater ballistic missile 
     defense, and cooperative engagement capabilities;
       Whereas these programs, and many others spearheaded by 
     Admiral Boorda, put the Navy on the cutting edge of 
     technology and did so in an efficient, affordable, flexible 
     manner;
       Whereas Admiral Boorda recognized the need for the Navy to 
     develop a strategy for utilizing emerging technology 
     effectively and developed in response to that need the plan 
     known as ``20/20 Vision'', a long-range plan for the 
     acquisition and utilization of technology in the future in 
     order to achieve the strategic objectives of the United 
     States; and
       Whereas it is fitting that Admiral Boorda be remembered as 
     he described Admiral Arleigh Burke when saying that ``. . . 
     he defined what it means to be a naval officer: relentless in 
     combat, resourceful in command, and revered by his crews . . 
     . He was, indeed, a sailor's sailor.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate honors Admiral Jeremy M. ``Mike'' 
     Boorda for a career that included extraordinary contributions 
     to the defense of the United States and a singular commitment 
     to the members of the Navy and thereby exemplified all the 
     best qualities in an officer in the United States Navy.

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who yields time?

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