[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 2 (Tuesday, January 12, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E12]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO THE USASOC

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE McINTYRE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 12, 2010

  Mr. McINTYRE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the U.S. 
Army Special Operations Command, USASOC, which celebrates 20 years of 
service to the Army and Nation. Having been at war for over one-third 
of that time, the men and women of USASOC continue to make great 
contributions worldwide with an operations tempo that has never been 
greater.Operating with a strong roadmap for development, USASOC remains 
committed to maintaining the world's finest ground special operations 
force. USASOC's personnel take quiet professional pride in executing 
each mission with excellence, honor and valor.
  Since its inception on December 1, 1989, the pace of USASOC's 
operations has been extraordinary; operating around the world, often 
behind-the-lines, in some of the most remote and hostile regions on the 
planet. The command's operations and range of military contributions 
reads like a travel guide to America's foreign policy; Eastern Europe, 
the Balkans, Rwanda, Haiti, the Philippines, Somalia, Columbia, 
Afghanistan and Iraq--to name just a few.
  At more than 27,000 personnel, USASOC is only 5 percent of the U.S. 
Army. However, USASOC is the largest of the service components that 
make up U.S. Special Operations Command, USSOCOM, and provides 
approximately 70 percent of the special operations personnel in Central 
Command's theater and approximately 63 percent of America's total 
overseas military commitments. USASOC provides trained and ready Army 
special operations forces to support the Geographic Combatant 
Commanders, GCC, the Theater Special Operations Commands, TSOC, and 
Ambassadors throughout the world.
  Today the operations tempo for Army Special Operations has never been 
greater, and is unlikely to decrease in the near future. USASOC 
currently has soldiers deployed on 103 missions in 56 countries around 
the world, and is operating across the spectrum of lethality and 
influence. On any given day elements of 3 of the 5 active duty Special 
Forces groups, units from the 2 National Guard Special Forces Groups, 1 
ranger battalion, some 36 special operations aircraft, and more than 35 
civil affairs teams and 35 Psychological Operations Teams and 
Sustainment Brigade logistics units are deployed around the world.
  Currently 222 of the Army's 228 CONUS-based Special Forces 
operational detachments ``A'', ODA, are committed to supporting 
operations worldwide, either deployed or preparing for deployment. 
USASOC's ability to manage the high operations tempo is directly 
attributable to the caliber of its personnel, currently the best the 
Nation has ever seen and at the heart of Army Special Operations' 
extraordinary capabilities.
  That range of skills within USASOC is embraced by a spectrum of Army 
unconventional units, with legendary bloodlines running back to Roger's 
Rangers, the Devil's Brigade and the OSS, among others. The seven 
principle units that make up today's USASOC include the John F. Kennedy 
Special Warfare Center and School, U.S. Army Special Forces Command, 
75th Ranger Regiment, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, 4th 
Psychological Operations Group, 95th Civil Affairs Brigade, and the 
528th Sustainment Brigade.
  President Barack Obama has stated in his agenda for defense, ``We 
must build up our special operations forces, civil affairs, information 
operations and other units and capabilities.'' The demand for special 
operations personnel, skills and training remain high. Faced with often 
desperate, unconventional enemies our approaches for defeating them 
involve unwavering commitment combined with unique unconventional 
skills.
  That range of USASOC's expertise ensures the Army's special 
operations forces can execute the most lethal, highly complex and 
sensitive special operations, wage unconventional warfare, conduct high 
risk helicopter operations, or prosecute civil military and influence 
operations.
  Few commands can match USASOC's contributions over the past two 
decades, its countless mission most often quietly executed and 
unheralded. For those in today's USASOC, the pace is fast, the 
challenges great, and morale and job satisfaction have seldom been 
greater. The command's motto, ``Without Equal'', captures the spirit of 
its personnel and their commitment to maintaining the world's finest 
ground special operations force.
  The command's missions, however, have not come without a sizable cost 
in lives lost. In the eight years since the start of Operation Enduring 
Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, 244 of USASOC's personnel have 
made the ultimate sacrifice. Their names are cast in bronze on a wall 
in USASOC's Memorial Plaza at Fort Bragg, NC.
  In summary, the performance and contributions of Army Special 
Operations Forces in the Central Command theater of operations and 
around the world have been nothing short of magnificent. Whether in the 
combat theaters, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Philippines, Trans-Sahara 
Africa or wherever friends and partners find themselves challenged by 
the forces of disintegration, oppression and extremism, Army Special 
Operators from across the Command's formations are unquestionably among 
America's most relevant answer to the threats our Nation faces.
  U.S. Army Special Operations Command is honored to play its role 
within the finest, most capable Army and Joint Special Operations Force 
ever to serve our great Country. May God bless them all.

                          ____________________