[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 8 (Wednesday, February 6, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E102-E103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    HISTORIAN STEPHEN AMBROSE PRAISES MISSISSIPPI NATIONAL GUARDSMEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE TAYLOR

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 6, 2002

  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, my hometown newspaper, The 
Sun-Herald, based in Biloxi, Mississippi, recently printed a feature by 
noted historian Stephen E. Ambrose. I found Mr. Ambrose's words to be 
especially insightful at this time when our American troops are at war 
in Afghanistan. It is a ringing endorsement of the dedication of our 
men and women in uniform, as well as a testament to the new American 
diplomacy--one that encourages cooperation among nations and 
perseverance in rebuilding communities and restoring peace.
  Most importantly, though, Mr. Ambrose pays tribute to a group of men 
and women who are often over-looked as defenders of our Nation, 
protectors of freedom and some of America's finest diplomats abroad--
our National Guardsmen. Each day our nation's guardsmen are performing 
missions on or above every continent in the world. They are serving 
alongside their active-duty counterparts in Operations Northern and 
Southern Watch. They are also playing a vital role in helping, serving, 
and supporting peacekeeping operations, a vital part of our National 
Military Strategy. As stated by former Secretary of Defense Cohen, 
``Today, we cannot undertake sustained operations anywhere in the world 
without calling on the Guard.''
  And, I am particularly proud that Mr. Ambrose chose to acknowledge 
the citizen-soldiers from my state, the State of Mississippi. Their 
work has been tireless, but not thankless. Today, I would like to thank 
those guardsmen, who continue to represent Mississippi and the United 
States so well.

                  [From the Sun-Herald, Dec. 10, 2001]

                   Unity Can Restore War-Torn Country

                        (By Stephen E. Ambrose)

       Tuzla, Bosnia.--My wife, Moira, and I, along with a squad-
     sized group of veterans of the 29th Division who hit Omaha 
     Beach on D-Day, went to Bosnia for Thanksgiving week. As part 
     of the USO-sponsored trip, we spoke with U.S. Army troops, 
     attended briefings, meals and engagements, and watched former 
     members of the 29th meet the newest members of the 29th here.
       But mainly we learned.
       We learned how soldiers of different races, backgrounds, 
     and countries can set aside past enmities and work together 
     to rebuild a region. And while we were reminded that American 
     troops served similar functions in the last century, we 
     realized they will serve those roles in this new century with 
     new methods, new aims and new partners from around the globe.


       It is a lesson our allies in the war against terrorism 
     would do well to grasp; one we can only hope is soon played 
     out in such Afghan cities as Kabul or Kandahar or Mazar-e-
     Sharif.
       Because of all we learned, and the promise for the future 
     it held, this was the best trip ever.
       We witnessed things we never imagined possible. One day, we 
     stood at Eagle Base, headquarters for the 29th Division, 
     surrounded by Black Hawk helicopters, ready to take off but 
     waiting for two other birds coming in.
       With us was Major General Steven Blum, the American 
     commander of the NATO peacekeeping operation force here. The 
     troops around us were fully armed. The incoming birds landed. 
     They were Russian, part of the air-landing brigade that 
     serves under Blum's command. They landed about 50 meters away 
     from the Black Hawks. Russian soldiers emerged combat ready 
     in the presence of American soldiers just as ready. But there 
     were greetings, not shooting.
       The last time that happened was at the German city of 
     Torgau on the banks of the Elbe River in 1945. With this 
     difference: Now, for the first time ever, an American general 
     was commanding a Russian unit.
       There are fighting men and women from 30 nations under 
     Blum's command. I saw Greek and Turk soldiers patrolling, 
     side-by-side, armed and working together. Germans and 
     Frenchmen. Poles and Estonians. Latvians and Swedes. 
     Lithuanians and Brits. Irishmen and Austrians. They serve in 
     the Stabilization Force, SFOR for short. The large curved 
     sign over Eagle Base's gate proclaims: ``Home of the 
     Peacekeepers.'' Blum's NATO command, the Multi-National 
     Division North (4700 troops) is anchored by the 2672 
     Americans (down from 20,000 in 1995), part of the 29th 
     Division. It includes regular, reserve and National Guard 
     units.


                          Defending the future

       The next day we drove to Forward Observation Base Connor, a 
     small outpost of 120 men, 65 of whom were from the 
     Mississippi National Guard. They were young, professional and 
     spoke with charming accents. They come from a state known for 
     its defense of the past. But they are now preparing for the 
     future.
       The Guardsmen wore American flag shoulder patches. They 
     were black, brown, yellow, red, pink, white. All religions 
     and ancestors. When off duty, they wore baseball caps that 
     proclaim on the front, ``Hard Rock Cafe: SFOR Bosnia,'' and 
     on the back, ``Love All. Serve All.'' That is not how things 
     used to be in the Mississippi National Guard, but it is now.
       The Guard is helping rebuild and restore peace while 
     setting an example for Bosnia's Croats, Serbs, and Muslims on 
     how different people can work, serve, live and survive 
     together.
       ``That American flag on the troops' shoulders is what the 
     people of Bosnia respect--and they don't mess with them,'' 
     Blum said. ``Our soldiers have been social workers one 
     minute, combat soldiers the next . . . No other army in the 
     world could do this.''
       What these soldiers and their foreign counterparts are 
     doing--all of it--is wholly new. An international force 
     working to keep peace and commanded by an American was a 
     dream of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower a half century ago. Now it 
     is here.
       These troops are setting the precedent for much of what 
     lies ahead in modern American foreign and military policy. A 
     similar base in Afghanistan might be built. There will be 
     many others. In Bosnia, American troops are protecting Muslim 
     civilians. While not very far away, in Afghanistan, we are 
     attacking Muslim terrorists.


                        Under strong leadership

       Blum has a unique task. He is 55. He has made 1500 airdrops 
     and has had open-heart surgery. He speaks so well, thinks so 
     swiftly and knows so much that he reminds me of Eisenhower in 
     1945, when Ike was 55. At all times, Blum was at full 
     concentration. He is an outstanding military commander and 
     diplomat, as good as Ike was in Germany at the same age--but 
     on a much smaller scale.
       ``Bosnia has more weapons per person than anywhere else in 
     the world. So many, that to celebrate a wedding they throw 
     grenades and shoot their AK-47s,'' Blum said of the region, 
     divided by three peoples and three armies: Muslim, Croat and 
     Serb . . . ``Our aim is one country, one army.''
       Eagle Base is Tuzla's largest employer, providing 
     construction and service jobs, as well as others, at fair 
     wages. Muslim works beside Serb works beside Croat.
       They see in their own eyes, black and white, yellow and 
     brown Americans working together. Clearing mines, for 
     example. The American teams go out to remove them using mine-
     sniffing dog teams. The fields are everywhere, with mines 
     killing or maiming a civilian a day.
       Blum showed us the site of the Visoko airfield raid, called 
     Operation Dragnet. On September 27, elements from the 10th 
     Mountain division of urban warfare specialists carried out a 
     search-and-seize mission. Along with confiscating illegal 
     arms. They arrested six Algerian associates of Osama bin 
     Laden.
       On October 28, in Operation Omaha, Blum's troops made a 
     ground-air assault on two sites, where the found illegal 
     weapons, including an underground cache of six surface-to-air 
     missiles.
       He also took us to a mass gravesite. ``Same thing as 
     1945,'' he said, ``just new names.'' More than 200,000 people 
     were killed in Bosnia. No one knows how many others were 
     injured. There are now more than a million refugees. To 
     escape shelling, women, children and elderly fled by 
     following the power lines from the cities across the roughest 
     mountains. This was Europe's worst fighting in 50 years.
       The 1995 Serb assault on Srebrenica killed more than 7000 
     people. The town was shelled--including a mortar round that 
     exploded on a soccer filed filled with boys. That impelled 
     Western powers to take action, and put the troops there under 
     U.S. command.


                       Restoration and liberation

       The American presence in war-torn countries and its role in 
     helping rebuild, restore, and democratize them goes back to 
     1945 and Japan, West Germany, and later South Korea. Now it 
     is being carried out in Bosnia with a multinational force. 
     America sends her best young men not to conquer, not to 
     destroy, but to liberate. The American military presence had 
     a most remarkable effect in Japan and Germany from 1945 on, 
     and in South Korea after 1953.
       It wasn't the Coke or the blue jeans that left lasting 
     impressions, but rather the understanding of right and wrong, 
     the safeguarding of rights for women and the encouragement to 
     create free and prosperous societies.
       The U.S. Army's role in these countries is one of the great 
     success stories of the 20th century. A sequel is happening 
     right now, at the beginning of the 21st century, in Bosnia. 
     And one hope and prays, soon in Afghanistan, Iraq and 
     elsewhere.


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