[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 107 (Wednesday, July 24, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1126-E1127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




A TRIBUTE TO CIVILIANS WHO HAVE SERVED IN DIFFICULT REGIONS AROUND THE 
                                 WORLD

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 24, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to personally thank and honor the 
civilians who faithfully serve in war zones and high threat security 
environments alongside our military in so doing further our national 
security and peacefully advance American interests.
  I am especially grateful to those civilians who served side-by-side 
with members of our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  These civilians, as well as contractors and former military who 
return as civilians work for and with the U.S. military and varied U.S. 
government agencies, deploy into conflict zones such as Iraq and 
Afghanistan and into high threat security posts.
  Dr. Peter R. Mansoor, the Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military 
History and the

[[Page E1127]]

former Executive Officer to Gen. David Petraeus, when he was commander 
of the multinational forces in Iraq had this to say about civilian 
service: ``The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been difficult 
ventures, but the nation could not have achieved its objectives in 
either conflict without the support of American civilians, who came to 
the fight with a number of critical specialties and who shouldered more 
of the load than their numbers would suggest. The Nation owes our 
civilian veterans a great deal of gratitude for their service in the 
nation's wars since 9/11.''
  In September 2007 there were actually more contractors in Iraq than 
combat troops. According to a 2013 report of the Special Inspector 
General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR): ``In September 2007, the 
United States had more than 170,000 combat personnel in Iraq as part of 
the counterinsurgency operation, with more than 171,000 contractors 
supporting the mission.'' These contractors are credited in the report 
for supporting ``the counterinsurgency mission in unstable, yet 
strategically significant, areas such as Baghdad, Anbar, and Babylon 
provinces.''
  More and more civilians are serving in conflict zone jobs 
traditionally held by the military. This proximity to dangerous and 
unstable security situations has come with a cost. The New York Times 
reported on February 11, 2012 that, ``More civilian contractors working 
for American companies than American soldiers died in Afghanistan last 
year for the first time during the war,'' reporting that ``at least 430 
employees of American contractors were reported killed in Afghanistan: 
386 working for the Defense Department, 43 for the United States Agency 
for International Development and one for the State Department.''
  More recently, just last year four of these civilians became 
household names--U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, information 
officer Sean Smith, and CIA security contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen 
Doherty--when they were killed in Benghazi, Libya. Other civilian 
contractors were seriously wounded.
  As with the military, casualties and serious injuries only tell part 
of the story. There are other costs associated with prolonged wars, 
including PTSD, depression and traumatic bereavement.
  I was pleased to learn of the recent formation of an organization 
called We Served Too--a group dedicated to honoring and supporting 
American and international civilian service in conflict zones and high 
threat security environments.
  Writing in the Huffington Post, author and professor Anne Speckhard 
reported that when Major General Arnie Fields was asked to comment on 
the founding of We Serve Too, he remarked on how the shift to 
asymmetrical warfare now places civilian workers in the same danger 
that front line soldiers traditionally faced:

       The dynamics of war have considerably changed in recent 
     years. The past ten years have been most significant. The 
     parameters that have heretofore defined the battlefield or 
     battle space have been dramatically altered. Military 
     commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan have learned early on that 
     the conventional `front' and `rear'', which in earlier wars 
     defined the most dangerous areas of the battlefield and the 
     safest, respectively, do not exist. The enemy's threat is 
     virtually omnipresent. Soldiers not in direct pursuit of the 
     enemy are in almost as much danger as those who are. This new 
     paradigm, often referred to as asymmetrical warfare, places 
     civilians assisting in the war effort in about as much 
     imminent danger as the traditional uniformed warrior . . . 
     For. example, as a civilian department of State employee in 
     Iraq and as the U.S. Special Inspector General for 
     Afghanistan Reconstruction, I wore my military flak jacket 
     and helmet with more consistency while conducting my work 
     than I did on active military duty in the Marine Corps.

  Unlike soldiers who are trained and prepared to face armed conflict, 
civilians who serve alongside them are often ill-equipped for what they 
experience. This can have lasting implications even after their return 
home.
  I am pleased to recognize We Served Too and commend their aim of 
supporting and honoring the civilians who served alongside their 
military counterparts.
  While we don't often remember the sacrifices of civilian workers in 
conflict zones, we have an obligation to recognize that they too 
sacrificially served this country and their service is worthy of our 
gratitude.

                          ____________________