[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 22, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S66-S67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TRIBUTE TO MAJOR GENERAL DONALD C. STORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to honor a respected Kentuckian, 
MG Donald C. Storm, who has nobly served the United States and Kentucky 
for 37 years.
  In 1970, General Storm enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving with 
Military Assistance Command Vietnam. After 2 years of Active Duty, he 
continued to serve his country in the Kentucky National Guard. Years of 
accomplishment and experience earned General Storm the appointment to 
Adjutant General of the Kentucky National Guard by Governor Ernie 
Fletcher in 2003. Regretfully, after 37 years of service and 4 years in 
that post, General Storm has decided to retire. Because of his 
dignified and unwavering commitment to the citizens of this country and 
the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I stand to honor him today.
  General Storm has served the Commonwealth and its citizens in superb 
ways. He was an advocate for the destruction of marijuana, supporting 
the Marijuana Eradication Program; he oversaw a recruitment program 
that exceeded its goals; and finally, he was a true leader and 
supporter of his troops. General Storm was known for his dedication to 
the care of his soldiers and their families, celebrating with them in 
times of victory and mourning with them in times of loss.
  Storm has clearly proved himself a man of honor and dignity who 
represents not only his country proudly but his State proudly. I wish 
General Storm and his family much happiness after retirement, and I ask 
my colleagues to join me in honoring General Storm for his dedication, 
patriotism, and willingness to give so much of himself for the good of 
his country and his fellow Kentuckians.
  Mr. President, recently the Lexington Herald-Leader published a story 
about Major General Storm, ``Generally Speaking; Retiring Guard chief's 
mission: `Take care of the troops.''' I ask unanimous consent to have 
the full article printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

[[Page S67]]

           [From the Lexington Herald-Leader, Jan. 13, 2008]

Generally Speaking; Retiring Guard Chief's Mission: ``Take Care of the 
                                Troops''

                            (By Jim Warren)

       Lexington, KY.--The pace of life is slower these days 
     around Donald Storm's Elizabethtown home.
       No more dashing to catch planes for Iraq. No more late-
     night phone calls about soldiers lost. No more need to put on 
     the uniform.
       After a 37-year military career, Storm, the former Kentucky 
     adjutant general, is relearning civilian life.
       Storm had hoped to be retained as adjutant general in the 
     new administration of Gov. Steve Beshear. But the governor 
     chose to replace him with Brig. Gen. Edward W. Tonini, 61, 
     former chief of staff for the Kentucky Air National Guard.
       Storm could have elected to remain in uniform, but that 
     would have required him to move to another state guard 
     program with a slot for someone of his rank, or take a post 
     at the National Guard Bureau in Washington. But he chose 
     retirement, and respite from the stresses and strains of 
     commanding the Kentucky National Guard during its most 
     difficult period in more than 30 years.
       Storm did not escape controversy during his tenure, but is 
     generally remembered for working hard to support the troops 
     he led.
       During his watch, the Kentucky Guard sent thousands of 
     soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan, losing troops in both 
     countries. It sent units to Louisiana to help in the recovery 
     from Hurricane Katrina, and dispatched about 1,000 soldiers 
     to help monitor the U.S.-Mexico border in Operation Jump 
     Start. Add peace-keeping duties in Bosnia, and Homeland 
     Security assignments, and about 9,400 Kentucky Army and Air 
     National Guard members were deployed over the course of 
     Storm's tenure--more than the entire membership of the state 
     guard when Storm became adjutant general.
       Storm was the guard's chief of staff in December 2003, when 
     incoming Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed him to be adjutant 
     general, succeeding D. Allen Youngman.
       ``Little did I know then that I would face some of the 
     things I had to face,'' Storm said.
       Sgt. Darrin Potter of Louisville, the first Kentucky 
     National Guard member lost in combat since Vietnam, had died 
     in Iraq about two months before Storm's promotion. Many 
     others would follow during the next four years. Officially, 
     15 Kentucky Guard members were lost in combat while Storm was 
     in command. He personally includes two others who were on 
     inactive guard status when they were killed while working for 
     private security firms in Iraq. Once a guard member, always a 
     guard member, Storm believes.
       Today, he admits that losing soldiers was the one part of 
     his job he wasn't prepared for.
       The period from March through September 2005 was 
     particularly bloody, for example, with six guard members 
     killed in action. That year also saw one of the Kentucky 
     Guard's proudest moments, as members of the Richmond-based 
     617th Military Police Company fought off a furious insurgent 
     attack on a convoy at Salman Pak on March 20, 2005. Three 
     unit members, including a woman, were awarded the Silver 
     Star. One of them, Sgt. Timothy Nein, later received the 
     Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest 
     military decoration.
       But displays of undaunted courage could never offset the 
     pain of lost lives. Attending funerals and consoling the 
     families of lost soldiers became an all-too-common part of 
     Storm's job.
       ``Sergeant Potter had died,'' he recalled, ``and then it 
     was just one right after another.''
       It was particularly painful because Storm, through his many 
     years in the guard, personally knew many of those who were 
     lost.
       ``I'm going to admit that it took a toll on me,'' Storm 
     said. ``I don't think I fully understood how much of a toll 
     it was at the time. But it was the toughest thing I ever went 
     through . . . the losses of these soldiers and the tremendous 
     sacrifices of their wonderful families. I just grieved with 
     all of them.''
       Storm, a native of Laurel County, began his military career 
     as an enlisted man, serving in Vietnam in 1971-72. He never 
     planned to be a soldier--he says he just wanted to get a 
     college education--but he quickly found that he liked the 
     regimentation and the values of life in uniform. He joined 
     the Kentucky National Guard after his Army enlistment ended. 
     He was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1981, beginning a 
     steady rise through the ranks. By the time Storm took over 
     the top job, he had held virtually every major post in the 
     Kentucky Guard.
       Storm sometimes sounds like a social philosopher when he 
     speaks on the importance of military service.
       ``Military power,'' he says, ``is one of the four types of 
     power you must have to support a nation state--information 
     power, diplomatic power, economic power and military power. 
     The fifth common denominator is the will of the people.''
       No one had to convince Storm that invading Afghanistan and 
     Iraq were the right things to do. He said he had seen the 
     plight of the common people in both lands and felt that 
     liberating them was a proper use of American force.
       He admits that he didn't expect the war in Iraq to drag on 
     this long, though he says he knew it would be ``a long hard 
     road'' once the insurgency kicked into high gear in 2004. But 
     he says he was never discouraged, even when polls began to 
     show declining citizen support for the war.
       ``I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, which was 
     something that our people here at home didn't have the 
     opportunity to see,'' he said. ``I knew that if we stayed the 
     course . . . that removing Saddam . . . would bode well for 
     free people and the other countries in that part of the 
     world.''
       Storm says he personally saw off every Kentucky guard unit 
     as it left for the war zone except one (he was on his way to 
     Iraq himself at the time), and greeted every unit when it 
     came home. He made eight trips to Iraq, Afghanistan and 
     Kuwait to visit Kentucky troops and encourage them.
       ``I tried to make it my business to meet as many of the 
     soldiers as I could, and let them know how much the people of 
     Kentucky appreciated their service,'' he said. ``You know, 
     it's not about generals. It's about soldiers and airmen.''
       Storm, however, drew some fire in April 2005, after a 
     Kentucky Guard member in Iraq went public with complaints 
     that his unit was saddled with old, inadequately armored 
     trucks. It happened shortly after a Kentucky guardsman died 
     when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Storm 
     responded that he didn't agree with the soldier going outside 
     channels to raise a complaint, but that he would work to get 
     better equipment for Guard units in Iraq.
       The adjutant general found himself in hot water again in 
     March 2007, after an usual appearance in the State Senate, 
     where he made a last-minute appeal in support of an income-
     tax break for Kentucky military personnel that was stuck in 
     the State House. Some House leaders, including Speaker Jody 
     Richards, attacked Storm's comments as a ``shameless, 
     partisan diatribe.'' The Louisville Courier-Journal ran an 
     editorial saying Storm should be replaced as adjutant 
     general.
       Storm maintains that his ``whole deal'' always was ``to 
     take care of the troops.''
       Nowadays, he believes the work and sacrifices of the 
     soldiers in Iraq are beginning to pay off. He sees the 
     decline in violence since last summer as proof that ``we have 
     turned the corner.'' The question, he says, is whether the 
     improvement can be sustained as U.S. troops sent over for the 
     ``surge'' start returning home in coming weeks.
       ``I pray that we can sustain this,'' he said. ``You never 
     know in that part of the world because there are so many 
     factions to deal with.
       ``But, boy, it sure does look great now. And if we can pull 
     it off, it would be one of the greatest accomplishments ever 
     for world peace . . . because the enemy we face is real. They 
     want to destroy the western world and all the freedoms we 
     enjoy.''
       Storm won't be in uniform to see the victory he hopes for. 
     But he says the biggest thing he will miss is simply serving 
     in the Kentucky National Guard.
       ``The Kentucky National Guard is probably the best Guard 
     unit in America,'' he says. ``That's what some three- and 
     four-star generals will tell you. And it's because of all 
     these great Kentuckians who have stood up, particularly after 
     9/11, to serve the State and the Nation. I'm so proud of the 
     way they answered the call.''

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