[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 14, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H353-H354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REGARDING AMERICA'S MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, Washington sometimes speaks with its own 
language. We talk in this town of taking risks, laying it on the line, 
or getting out on the edge, when the only cost of failure is to our 
pride or perceived prestige.
  Out there beyond the Beltway, in many cases beyond America's shores, 
are people who really do take risks. They lay their lives on the line 
every day and they do so because we ask them to. They are, of course, 
America's finest, our men and women in uniform. And while some in this 
town may spare them a passing thought now and again, they are thinking 
of us, and Americans like us, every day. That is what devotion to duty 
means.
  It is unfortunate but correct to note that those soldiers, sailors, 
airmen and Marines are never more prominent in our thoughts than when 
something goes wrong. Our hearts went out to the families of the 
sterling sailors aboard the U.S.S. Cole. We mourned the loss of brave 
Marines lost in recent aviation mishaps. And today our thoughts are 
with the families of soldiers killed and injured in an Army helicopter 
accident.
  There is a message in these events, if we care to hear it. It is that 
even in times of greatest peace, the profession of arms is fraught with 
hazard. The world demands that we train hard, and realistic training 
brings real dangers. American interests require that our forces be 
forward, and those distant waters can mask unseen threats. And the 
requirement for technological leadership means that flaws in new 
systems can occasionally take a fearsome price.
  So let us give thought on this Valentine's Day, this day dedicated to 
love,

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to those men and women who put love of country above all. We are free 
to speak our minds in this Chamber because, out there, they have 
accepted the job of keeping us free. We are able to run what we call 
political risks because they take on mortal risks.
  We talk at some length about how to properly compensate our men and 
women in uniform. That debate goes on. But I would suggest, Mr. 
Speaker, that we owe a humbling debt to America's servicepeople that 
goes far beyond the monetary. Indeed, it is not too much to say that, 
in the framers' phrase, they defend our lives and our sacred honor. 
Such a gift is truly beyond price.

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