[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24291]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            THE ADMINISTRATION HAS DEMORALIZED OUR MILITARY

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Washington Times detailed the 
story of Shane Walsh, a former first lieutenant in the United States 
Army. And I say former first lieutenant because Shane Walsh has left 
the Army. His reason for leaving? Well, the Army he thought it would be 
and the Army he found it to be were two completely different things.
  Lieutenant Walsh detailed the demoralizing situation facing our 
military today. For example, he said how M1A1 tanks sit abandoned with 
broken starter motors or unused simply because there is not enough 
money left to fuel them. His story is not unique. Our military is 
severely burdened by low morale and it continues to lose large numbers 
of servicemen and women today and every day.
  The refusal of the Clinton-Gore administration to recognize this and 
to provide the necessary resources for our military, while still 
deploying them far and wide, has caused this desperate and disturbing 
situation.
  Thankfully, this Republican Congress is truly committed to ensuring 
our military readiness today and in the future, and we are putting our 
military back on track with the needed resources to keep it strong and 
to keep qualified people like Shane Walsh in the military.

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