[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 84 (Monday, June 2, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S3336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TRIBUTE TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL MATTHEW B. RYTTING

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to honor and thank Lt. Col. 
Matthew Rytting for over two decades of service in the U.S. Air Force. 
Colonel Rytting will be retiring on June 13, 2014, and I am grateful 
for his service and dedication to our Nation.
  Colonel Rytting's career with the U.S. Air Force has been diverse and 
impressive, and it has included service as a combat control team 
officer, an F-15C fighter pilot, an F-4 instructor pilot, a chief of 
flight safety, a Civil Air Patrol commander, an Air Force One advance 
agent responsible for logistical and security support for Presidential 
travel, and most recently as a UV-18B instructor pilot, director of 
operations and cofounder of the Wings of Blue Association at the U.S. 
Air Force Academy. Within just a few years of his graduation from the 
Air Force Academy, while serving as a combat control team officer and 
squadron commander during Haiti's ``Uphold Democracy,'' he led a 
special operations team in providing communications and air traffic 
control in nonpermissive environments, specializing in parachute 
insertion techniques. Shortly thereafter, he won accolades as the top 
Air Force graduate in undergraduate pilot training at Columbus Air 
Force Base in Mississippi. His many accomplishments since then include 
Distinguished Graduate of the Air Force's Squadron Officer School, Top-
Wingman Awards in Singapore and Alaska as an F-15C Pilot, a Chief of 
Staff of the Air Force Safety Award in May 2007, Outstanding Graduate 
in the top 1 percent of his class from the U.S. Air Force Air War 
College, a Civil Air Pilot Meritorious Service Award, and a Big 
Brothers Big Sisters Big Brother of the Year Award in Fairbanks, AK.
  Colonel Rytting's many accomplishments serve as a representation of 
his strong sense of duty and commitment to our great Nation. I am 
particularly impressed by Colonel Rytting's commitment to enhancing the 
capabilities of our Nation's airmen, both through investigating 
catastrophic aircraft mishaps in order to prevent future losses and 
through devoting years of service to the instruction of students and 
airmen in employing their aircraft and supporting joint, coalition and 
multinational forces. As recently as 2013, as a safety officer and a 
BD-700 instructor pilot in Afghanistan, Colonel Rytting trained pilots 
on how to provide the needed airborne communication bridges to ground 
forces entrenched in enemy areas, ultimately saving American lives. He 
also instructed German Luftwaffe students in F-4 basic flight and air-
to-air combat at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, led successful 
safety programs for 250 aircrew at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, 
established a facility to train combat aircrews in advanced techniques 
at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, and directed 19,000 skydives and 
2,400 accident-free flight hours annually for the U.S. Air Force's 
parachute team Wings of Blue. Throughout his time in the Air Force, 
Colonel Rytting set a wonderful example for his family and for the men 
and women who served with him in the Air Force. His commitment to the 
United States and his leadership within the Air Force is truly 
commendable.
  Colonel Rytting was proud to serve our country, and today I am proud 
to thank Colonel Rytting for his service to this Nation. I congratulate 
him on his well-earned retirement.

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