[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 142 (Tuesday, October 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2024]]
                      TRIBUTE TO ARCHIE D. BARRETT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 1997

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I wish to congratulate and pay 
tribute to Archie D. Barrett, who recently retired from his position as 
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, Manpower and Reserve 
Affairs, Mr. Barrett served our Nation for 44 years, as an Air Force 
fighter pilot, a member of the professional staff of the Armed Services 
Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and finally in his most 
recent position where he was the principal advisor to the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army on all Department of the Army policy and 
activities pertaining to manpower and force structure.
  Archie D. Barrett was born in Paris, TX, on August 13, 1935. 
Following graduation from high school, he accepted an appointment to 
the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from West Point 
in 1957, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air 
Force. During his distinguished 24 year career in the Air Force, Mr. 
Barrett served in a variety of assignments, including an assignment as 
an F-4 fighter pilot in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. 
Along the way, he earned both a masters and a doctorate from Harvard 
University. He retired as a colonel in 1981.
  After retiring from the Air Force, Arch began 13 years of service as 
a professional staff member of the then House Armed Services Committee. 
He served on both the Subcommittee on Investigations and the 
Subcommittee on Military Forces and Personnel, where his 
responsibilities included participation in the investigation of the 
terrorist bombing of the Marine headquarters in Lebanon. I worked very 
closely with him when I chaired the panel on military education of the 
House Armed Services Committee. His thorough knowledge of the defense 
education system helped the panel formulate needed reforms in this 
area.
  Arch Barrett will be best remembered in Congress for his work on the 
hearings and legislative proposals on defense reorganization, 
culminating in the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense 
Reorganization Act of 1986. It was my privilege to work with Arch on 
this issue, and his expertise on Department of Defense organization 
proved invaluable to Congress and the Nation. Indeed, his book on this 
subject, ``Reappraising Defense Organizational,'' was published in 
1983. It is not overstating it to say that this legislation, which 
helped win the gulf war, would not have become law without the tireless 
and devoted efforts of Arch Barrett.
  Mr. Speaker, Archie D. Barrett is a national treasure. Although he is 
retiring from the Government, I am sure that he has many more 
productive years of service ahead of him, and that we will be able to 
call upon his wise counsel when needed. I know the Members of the House 
will join me in extending our heartfelt gratitude and best wishes in 
the years ahead to Arch and his family--his wife Miriam, who joins him 
in retirement from her position in the office of our colleague Martin 
Olav Sabo, and his three children, Julie Ann Heady, Cynthia Dawn 
Barrett, and Archie Don, Jr.

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