[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 60 (Thursday, April 29, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E818]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL MARK L. HAALAND

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 1999

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform the 
Congress of the imminent retirement of Lieutenant Colonel Mark L. 
Haaland, a truly outstanding soldier in the United States Army. His 
service to the nation has been perfectly honorable and faithful for 20 
years. The story of Mark's service reflects the devotion to duty, 
family and nation that keeps America strong and free.
  The son of a military family, Mark graduated from the United States 
Military Academy at West Point on June 6, 1979 and was commissioned a 
Second Lieutenant of Armor. Upon completion of the Ranger and Armor 
Officer Basic courses, Mark flew to Germany to serve with the glorious 
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. His bride, Toni, joined him a few months 
later. Mark served as a platoon leader, executive officer, and troop 
commander with this famous regiment, frequently deploying to the East-
West German border areas to guard against communist aggression during 
the height of the Cold War.
  Mark and Toni returned from Germany in late 1984, to attend the 
Infantry Officer Advanced Course at Fort Benning, Georgia followed by 
graduate school toward an MBA at Syracuse University. Upon completion 
of graduate school, Mark served as a comptroller at the Army's Training 
and Doctrine Command headquarters at Fort Monroe, Virginia. While 
serving at Training and Doctrine Command, Mark provided important 
analytical assistance with the Army's long-range strategic and program 
planning, and the command budget. During these quiet years between 
graduate school and serving as a junior comptroller, Mark and Toni 
started their family with the birth of Robyn in 1985 and Patrick in 
1987.
  In 1988, Mark was selected for promotion to the rank of Major and 
attendance at the prestigious Army Command and General Staff College at 
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon graduation in 1990, Mark's next 
assignment took the Haaland's to the Army's Armor Center at Fort Knox, 
Kentucky, for duties with the 194th Separate Armored Brigade. Two 
months after their arrival in Kentucky, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. 
For the next year, Mark trained and assisted in the preparation of Army 
active and reserves units and soldiers for deployment to the Kuwait 
Theater of Operations. At the same time, Toni helped families and the 
communities of Fort Knox and Radcliff, Kentucky cope with the 
challenges of an Army at war far from home. During the war and for the 
following two years, Mark served as the Brigade operations officer for 
planning, then as a battalion/task force operations officer, and 
finally as the Brigade operations officer.
  Following his very rewarding three-year experience with the soldiers 
and families of the 194th Separate Armor Brigade, Mark was ordered to 
the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. where he was assigned to the Army's 
Budget Office. Although somewhat hesitant about moving to the major 
metropolitan area of Washington, D.C., Mark, Toni, Robyn, and Patrick 
were glad to return to their home state, the Commonwealth of Virginia. 
Soon after the Haalands' arrival in the summer of 1993, the Army 
selected Mark for promotion to lieutenant colonel and he pinned on his 
new rank in 1994. During his almost six years in Washington with the 
Department of the Army, Mark has served as the Army's budget analyst 
for counter-drug operations and has managed the nearly $9 billion 
budget and financial operations for the Army's operating forces. Most 
noteworthy, Mr. Speaker, during the past three years, Mark Haaland has 
supported the House and Senate Appropriations Committees as Deputy 
Chief of the Army's Congressional Budget Liaison Office. I am pleased 
to have had Lieutenant Colonel Mark Haaland serving in this position. 
His experience with our Army's operational units together with his 
comptroller experience has been of immeasurable importance toward 
ensuring that America's Army has been well represented on Capitol Hill. 
Mark's dedication to the Army and the Congress, technical competence, 
intellectual capacity, boundless energy, and irrepressible good humor 
have earned Mark the respect and admiration of the Members and staffs 
of both Chambers' appropriations committees. His contributions to our 
success over the years have been great and will be missed.
  Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank this officer and his family for their 
service to our nation--truly a standard of duty, honor and country. And 
I wish for them all God`s blessings and success in the future.

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