[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 2 (Thursday, January 24, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H50]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING THE BRAVE SAILORS OF THE USS ``CARL VINSON''

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DICKS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had the opportunity with the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) to fly out on a helicopter and 
go aboard the Carl Vinson as it came through the Straits of Juan de 
Fuca into Puget Sound into the Bremerton shipyard in my hometown. It 
was a great honor for the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) and I 
to have an opportunity to address the crew of the Carl Vinson. They had 
let the air wing off in San Diego, but still over 3,000 sailors, 12 
percent of which were women, were coming home to Bremerton, were coming 
home to meet their families. I believe that the Carl Vinson, which was 
the first aircraft carrier into the North Arabian Sea, performed 
heroically on behalf of our country in Operation Enduring Freedom.
  In looking over their record over this last 111 days when they were 
fully operational, they conducted 4,200 sorties flying F-14s and F-18s 
into Afghanistan using the smart weapons like JDAMs and the satellite 
weapons to destroy Taliban and al Qaeda targets in the area, and helped 
to contribute to the quick demise of the Taliban government.
  I was pleased to be aboard and talk to the crew. They were extremely 
excited about coming home; but they were very, very proud of the 
service that they had rendered on behalf of our country. I want Members 
to know that we assured them that this Congress, this administration, 
strongly supports what they have done. There was bipartisan support in 
the Congress for the President's operations in Afghanistan.
  I think we should reiterate the importance of these large big-deck 
carriers, 4.5 acres of American sovereignty. As we all know, we do not 
always get the bases that we need in any area of the world where we 
have to have American actions. In this case, we were not able to use 
airfields, as we were in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, in the region 
so these aircraft carriers became paramount.
  Mr. Speaker, there were 48 attack aircraft coming off these carriers, 
and those attack aircraft flew these missions, having to have several 
airline refuelings, which also points out the importance of why we have 
to have tankers in order to provide the fuel for these planes on their 
missions, also for the bombers, the B-1s, the B-52s and the B-2s that 
were all used successfully in this endeavor.
  It was also exciting to see the crew of the ship reunite with their 
families. Seventy-six of the men on board were fathers during the time 
they were gone, 6 months of deployment. In fact, I saw one woman who 
had delivered her baby on the day of the deployment, the first day, so 
the child was 6 months old. And to see all of them reunited on the pier 
in Bremerton, Washington, my hometown, is truly something I will never 
forget.
  Mr. Speaker, I think we all should recognize the important 
contribution of the men and women who serve us daily in the military. 
This Congress has a responsibility to make certain that we give them 
the benefits, that we give them the support, that we give them the 
equipment so that they can conduct these operations in the future.
  But those large aircraft carriers were crucial in giving us the 
ability to make these attacks early on and to win this war decisively 
with very minimal loss of American life. I also would say that while 
they were operational, they conducted 37 replenishments while they were 
underway. This is when another ship comes up and provides supplies to 
the aircraft carrier when it is operational and moving. I think that is 
rather remarkable. Over 16,000 airplanes landed and took off on the 
Carl Vinson during this deployment; and they went 51,000 miles, which 
is almost two times around the Earth.
  I was proud to be there, proud as a member of the Committee on 
Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and to see the men and women 
serving on the Carl Vinson.
  We also learned in this war, 90 percent of the weapons that were used 
were smart bombs like JDAMs, and we almost ran out of those weapons. So 
we have got a lot of work to do here in the Congress to support the 
President to make sure that we have the equipment for the future. But 
it was a great day in Bremerton, Washington, and I am proud of the work 
of these great sailors and of our United States Navy.

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