[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 25 (Thursday, February 14, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E191-E192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING AN ADVOCATE FOR ARMY QUALITY OF LIFE, WILLIAM A. ARMBRUSTER

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                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 14, 2008

  Mr. FARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a tireless public 
servant who has dedicated much of his career to improving the quality 
of life for our soldiers and their families. William A. Armbruster 
shortly will be retiring from the Army as he steps down from his role 
as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Privatization and 
Partnerships.
  I first came to know Bill through the Army's collaboration with 
myself and local officials over re-use issues at the former Fort Ord, 
which was closed in a BRAC action in 1991. More importantly, Bill was 
pivotal in shepherding plans to privatize Army housing at the Presidio 
of Monterey--now known as the Ord Military Community--in one of the 
most successful Residential Community Initiatives ever undertaken in 
the United States. In Monterey there is a strong military presence 
including the Army and Navy and related agencies. Both services were in 
dire need of upgrading their housing to accommodate growing numbers of 
personnel. Rather than expend millions of dollars in rehabbing 
inadequate barracks and family quarters for soldiers and their families 
who are attached to the Defense Language Institute, Bill helped craft a 
first-in-the-nation joint RCI project between the Army and the Navy 
using private capital to leverage new and improved housing stock. Now 
not only do both the DLI and the Naval Postgraduate School have premier 
housing for their personnel, they have it at minimal cost to the 
Federal government.
  This is the sort of creative thinker Bill Armbruster is. He uses the 
power of his office to make positive changes in his department and for 
the men and women who serve our military.
  Even more recently Bill has been front-and-center on negotiating a 
complicated land swap at the former Fort Ord that, again, will result 
in much needed housing for Army personnel and for the first time will 
make available this housing to essential personnel attached to the DLI 
and other Federal agencies. This deal, colloquially known as the 
Stilwell Kidney exchange, involves the Army, the City of Seaside, the 
California State Parks system and the American Youth Hostel. It has 
taken 4 years to accomplish. But Bill stuck with it because he knew it 
was the right thing to do to advance the mission of the Army and the 
nation.
  Madam Speaker, I will miss Bill Armbruster for his creativity, his 
dedication and especially his humaneness. He was always looking out for 
our service men and women's quality of life. It has been a joy to work 
with a man of such integrity, and I wish him well in the years ahead.

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