[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 27, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E24]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               A TRIBUTE TO COLONEL ILA METTEE-MCCUTCHON

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 27, 1998

  Mr. FARR of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to pay 
tribute to Colonel Ila Mettee-McCutchon, the Commander of the Defense 
Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Presidio of Monterey, 
and Commandant of DLIFLC, on the occasion of her retirement from the 
U.S. Army. Colonel Mettee-McCutchon has been an inspiration to all 
during her 26-year career in the armed forces, and her positions of 
successive command only further confirm her valued leadership within 
the Army and of the respect shown to her by the men and women serving 
under her command.
  Colonel Mettee-McCutchon is herself an esteemed graduate of the 
Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. She first earned 
both a B.A. and an M.S. in clinical psychology from Auburn University 
which prepared her well for her exceptional career in military 
intelligence. Later, she completed the WAC (Women's Army Corps) Officer 
Basic Course and the Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, and 
then graduated from the Command and General Staff College and the U.S. 
Army War College, true marks of distinction in the career of any 
military officer.
  For the first three years following Colonel Mettee-McCutchon's 
commissioning in 1971, she served as a psychologist at the Presidio of 
San Francisco responsible for drug and alcohol abuse rehabilitation. 
After displaying compassion and savvy in that assignment, she was 
transferred in 1974 to the Military Intelligence Branch and appointed a 
Regular Army Officer of Military Intelligence, which was the beginning 
of her extraordinary career in the field of military intelligence. 
Colonel Mettee-McCutchon was initially a strategic analyst at Fort 
Bragg, before moving up to the following posts: Commander, Headquarters 
and Operations Company, 525th Military Intelligence Brigade, Fort 
Bragg; Chief, Joint Intelligence Center, U.S. Southern Command Panama; 
Commander, 741st Military Intelligence Battalion, 704th Military 
Intelligence Brigade, Fort Meade; and Staffer in the Intelligence 
Division, International Military Staff of NATO, at NATO Headquarters, 
Brussels. Because of her superb record of accomplishment in these 
critical intelligence posts, she was chosen to be Commander of the 
Garrison at the Presidio of Monterey in October, 1994.
  Colonel Mettee-McCutchon has earned numerous awards during her career 
including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious 
Service Medal and the Army Meritorious Service Medal with 4 Oak Leaf 
Clusters. She is married to John R. McCutchon, Lieutenant Colonel of 
Infantry (Retired), and has one child, Erin T. Mettee-McCutchon. I am 
sure everyone who knows Colonel Mettee-McCutchon joins me in 
recognizing her career of exemplary service to her country, and 
expressing heartfelt wishes for a happy retirement.

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