[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 103 (Monday, June 27, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4572-S4573]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         VIEQUES TRAINING RANGE

  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, on Wednesday we are going to be voting 
on something significant, which has been a source of discussion 
recently, and I wanted to put a little different perspective on the 
problems that are in Puerto Rico right now. Puerto Rico has $90 billion 
worth of debt right now. They say they can't repay it in full. I think 
a bunch of guys have done a good job in establishing a solution for 
that. Puerto Rico is scheduled--and is going to be missing--to have 
another debt payment, which is going to put that amount over $90 
billion.
  This week, the Senate will consider legislation that will impose an 
oversight board that will set up the bankruptcy court restructuring 
process. It is important citizens of Puerto Rico and the residents of 
Vieques realize they still have an opportunity to play a significant 
role in the nation's defense--a role that could bring an economic 
investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to Puerto Rico.
  In April of 1999, following an accident on the Vieques training 
range--Vieques is a little island off of Puerto Rico--that resulted in 
the death of a Navy civilian employee, all training activities on that 
range were suspended. They had been training on that range for 60 
years, and they suspended it. Despite the efforts of Congress and the 
Department of Defense leadership to include approving additional 
funding to hold a referendum on Vieques, as well as increased funding 
per year if Vieques remained open, the Navy was forced to end all 
training operations in 2003. After 60 years of that arrangement, they 
had to suspend it. When that happened, we had to close Roosevelt Roads.
  I remember when they were considering whether they were going to 
close Roosevelt Roads, I made the comment that they would be closing 
it. You guys need to quit rejoicing that you had the benefit of that 
because Roosevelt Roads was only there to support the Vieques training 
range. When the Navy left Vieques and closed Roosevelt Roads, they took 
with them over 2,500 uniformed military personnel, over 2,000 family 
members, and impacted more than 2,500 civilian employees. The total 
economic impact from the Navy was estimated to be over $300 million a 
year in 2003 when the Navy ended its operations. I recall when that 
happened. I was there, and I made the statement that you are going to 
have financial ruin on the island, and it all started when we were told 
we were not allowed to continue what we had been doing in Vieques.
  Today, as in 1999, our military is facing a readiness crisis and 
needs ranges like Vieques to train in full-spectrum joint operations.
  On September 2, 1999, as chairman of the subcommittee--at that time, 
I was the chairman of a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee called the Readiness Subcommittee--I held a hearing on the 
military requirement for Vieques and the assessment of alternative 
sites that could replace Vieques. During the hearing, ADM William 
Fallon, who was the commander of the Navy's Second Fleet at that time, 
and Gen. Peter Pace, who was the commander of the Marine Corps at that 
time, testified before the committee I chaired that Vieques was a 
unique facility. It was the only one located in the Atlantic where 
realistic combat training could be conducted in a combined and 
coordinated manner. The only Navy live-fire land, complete with day-
and-night capabilities, amphibious landing beach and maneuver areas, 
and the range had areas of low-traffic airspace and deepwater sea 
space, with underwater and electronic warfare ranges. That was the only 
one in the world.
  The Navy-Marine Corps study examined 18 alternative sites, evaluating 
the availability of the air-to-ground live ordnance range, with 
realistic targets and airspace for high-altitude deliveries, and for a 
naval surface fire support firing range, which permits the training of 
ships, forward spotters, and fire coordination teams, the ability for 
combat arms amphibious training, and nearby naval and air support 
facilities. We looked everywhere for that. We looked at 18 alternative 
sites. The study concluded that no single site evaluated was able to 
accomplish all of the training that was conducted at Vieques. The study 
also considered apportioning the training to various alternative 
locations but included the piecemeal approach--and this is using their 
language now--it ``significantly degrades training to support the 
effective integration and coordination of all combined arms.'' We are 
talking about the Marine Corps and the Navy. The Marine Corps is going 
in and bombing and the Navy has their planes up there and it is all 
taking place at one time.
  To fully understand the capabilities of Vieques and the potential to 
conduct Vieques training at other training sites, I visited Vieques and 
all 18 alternative sites around the world, as well as additional 
training sites that were used by the Department of Defense that are 
actually here in the United States. The sites I visited included Cape 
Wrath in northern Scotland; Capa Tulado in Sardinia; Mona and Dog 
Islands in the Caribbean; Kennedy County in Texas; Pinecastle, Avon 
Park, Pensacola, Eglin, and Tyndall in Florida; Cherry Point and Camp 
Lejeune in North Carolina; Townsend in Georgia; and San Clemente in 
California. That is a lot of sites, and I went to all of them. None of 
the locations had the capability to meet the training requirements of 
the Navy and Marine Corps and would have placed additional restrictions 
due to lack of training availability for training days, sea and 
airspace restrictions, proximity to large populated areas, live-fire 
restrictions, weather, and an inability to conduct combined operations, 
such as air, land, and sea operations simultaneously--no place.
  I also visited the John F. Kennedy Battle Group and the Wasp, and 
learned that live-fire training is essential for our Nation's ability 
to safely and effectively conduct combat operations, but by not 
allowing our forces to train using live ordnance in a realistic 
combined operation at sea, we are putting our military personnel at 
risk during actual combat operations.
  Numerous DOD officials have testified before our committee and 
reported that the loss of training at the Vieques range has resulted in 
the loss of critical combat training essential to the Nation's Navy and 
Marine forces and would increase the risk to our sailors and marines. 
In fact, it did. These very brilliant people, the top military 
officials, talked about how many of our troops and how many of our 
Americans had to die as a result of the loss of that training area.
  RADM Kevin Moran, the Navy commander who oversaw operations 
throughout the Caribbean, compared combined live training to practice 
for a football team. He explained that coaches could routinely do basic 
training for quarterbacks separate from the linemen and separate from 
the defense. They could train everybody individually, but--this is his 
quote--``at some point you have to bring them together before the big 
game. It's [Vieques] the only place we can do that.''
  Secretary Richard Danzig, who was then the Secretary of the Navy, 
said: ``Only by providing in preparation can we fairly ask our 
servicemembers to put their lives at risk.''
  Admiral Johnson, then-Chief of Naval Operations, and General Jones, 
who was the Commandant of the Marine Corps, said that Vieques provides 
integrated live-fire training ``critical to our readiness,'' and the 
failure to provide for adequate live-fire training for our naval forces 
before deployment will place those forces at an unacceptably high risk 
during the deployment.

[[Page S4573]]

  CAPT James Stark, Jr., who was at that time commanding officer of the 
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, said:

       When you steam off to battle you're either ready or you're 
     not. If you're not, that means casualties and that means more 
     POWs. That means less precision and longer campaigns. You pay 
     a price for all this in war, and that price is blood.

  Admiral Murphy, then commander of the Sixth Fleet in the Navy, said 
the loss of training on Vieques would ``cost American lives.''
  On March 12, 2001, five people died in Kuwait when a U.S. aviator 
dropped three 500-pound bombs off target. They missed their target, and 
some comments in the report of the incident point to the lack of live-
fire training. The commander and deputy commander state that they 
actively sought opportunities for that training, but the limiting 
factor was range availability. In other words, they took away the live-
fire capability at Vieques and we have five dead soldiers.
  What we were talking about then is true today. We put American lives 
at risk unnecessarily if they are not fully trained prior to combat 
operations. The success or failure of our military when sent into 
combat is a direct function of the degree of realistic training they 
receive before combat. Their ability to conduct live, joint operations 
is critical to battlefield success, and preservation of the ranges at 
which our military trains ensures that success.
  We have to ensure that our military is prepared for the next fight 
against a near-peer competitor. We have more near-peer competitors now 
than we have ever had in the history of this country. That will demand 
a full strength of our joint force.
  There is still no range like Vieques. This happened 15 years ago. It 
is still the only range with land and sea and airspace that could 
accommodate naval surface, aviation, and live artillery ordnance 
delivery with amphibious landings supported by naval fires, all 
conducted in a joint training environment.
  I understand firsthand both the importance and the significance of 
having a range in your home State.
  On May 3, there was a program--I keep forgetting the name of it, but 
it is Crossfire--where they had two different people, a liberal and a 
conservative. I have been on that program several times, but this was 
way back in 2000.
  I was debating a guy who was a Congressman from New York who was 
wanting to close the Vieques training site. As we went down to the end 
of that, he said: Well, look, Senator, how would you like to have a 
live fire training area in your State of Oklahoma?
  I said: Let me tell you about Fort Sill. At Fort Sill, we have 320 
days out of the year--24 hours a day--that we have a live range going. 
It is within a town of about 100,000 people, and nobody complains about 
it. In fact, they talk about the explosions, the ordnance that are 
going off all the time, and they say: ``It is the sound of freedom.''
  I will tell you something kind of interesting. It wasn't long ago 
that down in Lawton they built--that is the city right next to the live 
range at Fort Sill--they built what is declared to be the best 
elementary school in America. When you walk through it, you can't 
believe there could be a school like that. Well, anyway, there is, and 
they named it ``Freedom Elementary School'' after the sound of freedom. 
There are places where people in this country really want to do things 
that carry their end of it, and that was so significant.
  Anyway, Fort Sill has a live range that operates 320 days a year and 
nobody complains about it.
  So I think we have an opportunity to help Puerto Rico. We can do 
that--help them as a nation--and a program they put together for 
Wednesday is pretty decent. It is something that can be done. But at 
the same time--and I talked to the individuals who put that plan 
together. I said: As soon as we vote on that, let's go back and tell--
since Puerto Rico has had a shock treatment with the economic problems 
they have had--tell them: If you guys really want to make a 
contribution, you can do it. You can make a contribution of something 
that will save American lives.
  We have had people testify that when we went into Bosnia and Kosovo, 
that in both Bosnia and Kosovo, we lost American lives because we 
didn't have the training only the Vieques can give us. As I mentioned, 
all around the world--I will always remember when Governor Rossello 
came in and was complaining about all the environmental concerns and 
said: We are going to close Vieques as a range. And he said to me, 
because I was pushing it so hard--he made the statement: Don't ever 
come into Puerto Rico because you won't come out of there alive. And I 
went there the next day and I am alive.
  So, anyway, that is a serious thing, and I really do think we can 
support the bill on Wednesday and then after that talk to them in a 
very reasonable way to let them know what kind of a contribution they 
can make to the training of their people, as well as our people, to 
offset what we lost way back 15 years ago. I believe that is something 
we are now primed to talk to them about. They ought to be ready after 
all of this. So that is something to come, and I would like to have 
anyone thinking about the vote that takes place, which I will support 
on Wednesday, that now you have an opportunity to actually provide a 
service that is going to save American lives.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without Objection, it is so ordered.

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