[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 170 (Friday, October 12, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





 TEXAN: ARMY PRIVATE FIRST CLASS KRISTIAN MENCHACA--MEMBER OF THE BAND 
                              OF BROTHERS

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 12, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the 101st Airborne of the United 
States Army is otherwise known as the Band of Brothers. They were 
called the Screaming Eagles of World War II. They held off the Germans 
in the battle of the Bulge. Their legacy was continued, as the 101st 
remained on duty in the blistering heat of Iraq during Operation Iraqi 
Freedom. Once again fighting the forces of tyranny and terrorism.
  Twenty-three year old Kristian Menchaca was born May 29, 1983, in my 
hometown of Houston, Texas. He moved to Brownsville with his mother, 
Maria Guadalupe Vasquez, when he was a young boy. He attended Gary Job 
Corps center in San Marcos, TX, where he completed the correctional 
officers training program in six months and earned a certificate. 
Kristian Menchaca told his family Christmas Day, 2004 that he planned 
to enlist. They tried to talk him out of it, but Kristian Menchaca 
insisted, and his family came around.
  He had the goal of using his military experience to become a Border 
Patrol agent. He scored so high on his entrance test that he was given 
the option to bypass the infantry. He chose not to do that. Instead, he 
signed up in March 2005 and wound up in the 101st Airborne. He married 
his wife, Christina, three weeks before he was deployed with the United 
States Army. The Army turned Kristian Menchaca's life around. It gave 
him a greater purpose, a higher calling.
  In June of 2006, at an outpost near Baghdad, American volunteers of 
the 101st found themselves surrounded and attacked by the enemy. One 
soldier, Specialist David Babineau, was killed in the skirmish. Private 
First Class Kristian Menchaca and Private First Class Thomas Tucker 
were kidnapped, captured, and later, murdered.
  He left behind a wife, a family, and a lot of grateful Americans.
  This enemy we fought in the desert sands of Iraq and Afghanistan were 
evil villains who oppose our righteous and just cause to proclaim 
freedom throughout the world. These terrorists took no prisoners. They 
had no POW camps. News reports claimed the attackers of the outpost all 
wore masks to cover their faces.
  Mr. Speaker, outlaws and bandits of the Old West wore masks to 
disguise who they were because they, like these terrorists, covered up 
their wicked intentions of destruction of everything that is good and 
right. But just like those outlaws, these criminals were hunted, 
tracked, and brought to a speedy end, because the 101st brought justice 
to the hot hills of Iraq.
  Shakespeare said of the brothers in Henry V how they will be 
regarded. He said, ``From this day to the ending of the world, but we 
in it shall be remembered; we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 
for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.''
  Private First Class Kristian Menchaca was later awarded the Purple 
Heart, the Bronze Star and a Prisoner of War Medal.
  We continue to honor Private First Class Kristian Menchaca and the 
Band of Brothers--the unyielding warriors that proved strongest against 
terror.
  And that's just the way it is.

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