[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    TRIBUTE TO COLONEL JOHN R. SMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2007

  Mr. SKELTON. Madam Speaker, let me take this means to pay tribute to 
COL John R. Smith, Chief of the Air Force Programs and Legislation 
Division, for his 25 years of service to the U.S. Air Force and our 
country. A command pilot with over 3,600 flight hours, Colonel Smith 
has supported combat operations around the world to include Operations 
Desert Storm, Restore Hope, Allied Force, Northern and Southern Watch, 
and Desert Fox. He has also flown numerous presidential support 
missions as well as humanitarian missions in relief of the devastation 
from hurricanes George and Mitch, flood relief in Mozambique, and 
earthquake relief in Turkey.
  COL John R. Smith was born into the Air Force, the son of a World War 
II pilot and former prisoner of war COL Darrell Smith (ret.) and his 
wife Helen. Following his father into the Air Force, after high school 
he earned an appointment to the Air Force Academy and graduated in 1982 
as a distinguished graduate. Upon completion of pilot training, he 
returned as a T-37 instructor pilot to teach and mentor future aviators 
first at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and then at Randolph Air Force 
Base, Texas, home of the Pilot Instructor Training School. In 1987, he 
was selected as Randolph's Instructor Pilot of the Year. Following his 
tour in Air Training Command, Colonel Smith was selected to represent 
the United States Air Force as an exchange officer with the United 
Kingdom's Royal Air Force. In 1992, Colonel Smith was selected to fly 
the C-5 at Travis Air Force Base, California. From the C-5, Colonel 
Smith was assigned to the Pentagon in the Air and Space Operations 
directorate where he served as the C-5 and C-141 Program Element 
Monitor directing over $1.5 billion in funding for these two fleets. He 
was then reassigned as a Joint Warfighting Capabilities Analyst where 
he prepared recommendations on Department of Defense budgets, programs, 
and force structure alternatives for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs 
of Staff.
  Colonel Smith was selected to command the Third Airlift Squadron, 
flying C-5s out of Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. Under his 
leadership, the Third overcame low aircraft maintenance reliability 
rates to support 17 major contingencies, exercises, and relief 
operations including critical taskings in support of operations in 
Iraq, Bosnia, and the Far East. The squadron was twice selected as the 
best operations squadron of the year at Dover, garnered 18 higher 
headquarter aircrew awards, and earned the year 2000 nomination for the 
best airlift squadron in Air Mobility Command. Following command, 
Colonel Smith attended Air War College and was then selected for a tour 
in the Secretary of the Air Force's Office of Legislative Liaison where 
he served as the Deputy Chief of the Weapons Systems Division. For the 
last 2 years Colonel Smith has served as the Chief of the Programs and 
Legislation Division. There he is responsible for Air Force legislative 
engagement with the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
  Madam Speaker, I know the members of the House will join me in 
offering our sincere thanks to Colonel Smith, his wife Jana, their four 
daughters, Renae, Elayne, Claire, and Pamela, and four sons Benjamin, 
Zane, Chad, and Kyle, for their service to our Nation. I would like to 
especially remember Zane, their second son, who died from leukemia at 
the age of 2. We wish the Smith family the best of luck in all future 
endeavors and congratulate Colonel Smith on the completion of an 
outstanding and successful active-duty career.

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