[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 6 (Saturday, January 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E30-E31]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO COL. PAULA E. KOUGEAS, AIR NATIONAL GUARD FOR HER 
                           DEDICATED SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. PAUL E. GILLMOR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, January 20, 2001

  Mr. GILLMOR. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise today to 
pay special tribute to an outstanding officer in the Air National 
Guard. Col. Paula E. Kougeas is retiring after a distinguished career 
in the United States Armed Forces, most recently with the National 
Guard Bureau's Office of Policy and Liaison. Throughout her career, 
Paula Kougeas has distinguished herself as articulate spokesperson, 
able administrator and extraordinary innovator. She began her service 
to her country as an Air Force ROTC cadet at the University of 
Massachusetts. Upon graduation from graduate school, she was 
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December, 1978. Her first duty 
assignment took her to Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, where she 
worked as the Public Affairs Officer for the 46th Aerospace Defense 
Wing. Upon the activation of the United States Space Command, she 
became the first Public Affairs Officer for the 1st Space Wing.
  During her first tour of duty with the National Guard Bureau, she was 
instrumental in telling the story of the National Guard's road building 
exercise in Central America, deploying to Panama for three months to 
oversee the Public Affairs Detachment training program. Col. Kougeas 
also helped with the administrative establishment of the first office 
of the Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau.
  While on active duty, Paula Kougeas worked as a key member of the 
hostage repatriation media team at Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany 
with the return of the American hostages from Lebanon. She also served

[[Page E31]]

as part of the Joint Information Bureau for Operation Provide Hope, 
which consisted of 52 humanitarian airlift missions into the former 
Soviet Union.
  Leaving active duty to become a member of the Massachusetts Air 
National Guard, Col. Kougeas served as the Air National Guard Advisor 
to the Secretary of Air Force Office of Legislative Liaison and as 
Deputy Chief and as Chief of the National Guard Bureau's Office of 
Policy and Liaison. She has received numerous well-deserved, military 
awards and decorations for her service to the nation. No award is more 
appropriate, nor more fulfilling for her, than the knowledge that her 
efforts helped give America a clearer understanding of the important 
work of America's men and women in uniform.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask each of my colleagues to join me in extending 
Paula Kougeas our very best wishes as she begins this exciting new 
chapter in her life's story. Paula Kougeas has earned, many times over, 
the title of citizen-airman and patriot. May she fully enjoy the 
blessings of very freedom she has so ably defended as an officer in the 
Air National Guard.

                          ____________________