[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 31, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H4215-H4216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




HONORING THE LIFE, SERVICE AND HEROISM OF ARMY SERGEANT SCOTT B. STREAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) is recognized for 5 minutes.

[[Page H4216]]

  Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, while recent weeks have brought about 
serious challenges here at home, we must not allow them to distract our 
thoughts and prayers from the brave men and women fighting the war on 
terrorism around the world. These men and women are proudly serving our 
country, and are facing challenges far greater than most of us could 
ever imagine.
  I rise today to pay tribute to Sergeant Scott B. Stream, 39. Sergeant 
Stream was killed on February 24, 2009, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 
support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
  I had the honor of attending the funeral for Sergeant Stream. As I 
walked in, they handed me a program of events for the funeral. Inside 
was an insert of an e-mail that Sergeant Stream had sent home to his 
family on December 31, 2008.
  As I sat there, waiting for the funeral to begin, I read it over and 
over, and I decided that I needed to share this with our grateful 
Nation because it says a lot about Sergeant Stream. Also, I think it 
says a lot about the men and women we have serving us overseas. I would 
like to read this e-mail and enter it into the Record.
  This is Sergeant Stream's e-mail:
  ``When I think about what surrounds me--the institutional corruption, 
the random violence, the fear and desperation--I feel the reasons why 
I'm here more and more sharply.
  ``As we grow in our soldier skills, surviving by finding the hidden 
dangers, seeing the secret motives in the shifting politics, we grow a 
set of skills that is unique and powerful in this situation.
  ``We also see what you cannot see in the States. You are surrounded 
by the love of Christ and faith in freedom and humanity. Like a fish, 
you think water is a `puff of air' because it is always there. You do 
not notice it. We who are out of water look back and see the world we 
love surrounded by enemies, poison and envy, that wants to fall on you 
like a storm of ruin. We who joined with vague notions of protecting 
our country see how desperate the peril, how hungry the enemy and how 
frail the security we have for you.
  ``The more I love and long for home the more right I feel here on the 
front lines standing between you and the seething madness that wants to 
suck the life and love out of our land. Does that mean I cannot go 
home? I hope not, because I want this just to be the postponement of 
the joy of life, not the sacrifice of mine. If it costs me my life to 
protect our land and people then that is a small thing. I just hope 
that fate lets me return to the promised land and remind people just 
how great our land is.
  ``War is a young man's game, and I am getting an old man's head. It's 
a strange thing. I just hope that I am not changed so that I cannot 
take joy in the land inside the wire when I make it home. I want to be 
with you all again and let my gun sit in the rack and float on my back 
in a tube down a lazy river.''
  Sergeant Stream didn't make it home, but he left behind a family. And 
I would like to read their names and let him know that we're all 
praying for him: His wife Rasa, his daughters Megan and Laura, his 
parents Sherman and Gayle Stream, his siblings and their mates, Shawn 
and Michelle Stream, and Shannon and Michael Pape and his grandmother 
Vera.
  When I read that e-mail, it so reminded me of the dedication and the 
love that these young men and women had for this country. Their 
willingness to fight, their willingness to sacrifice. And what struck 
me the most he says, ``If this cost me my life, that is a small gift.'' 
That is someone of maturity. That is someone of patriotism. And that is 
a hero.

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