[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5059]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHIES ARE EXTENDED TO THE FAMILIES OF MAJOR GRUBER AND 
                       ALSO STAFF SERGEANT NELSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I have been coming to the 
floor once a week for the last 2\1/2\ months to talk about our men and 
women in uniform that are on food stamps and how I think it is 
unacceptable that this Congress, and this government quite frankly, 
would ask anyone that would be willing to die for this Nation to be on 
food stamps; but tonight, Mr. Speaker, I am here on the floor because 
there was a tragedy on Saturday night. I think we all know that a V-22 
Osprey on a training mission in Arizona went down and 19 Marines were 
killed. It so happens that two of those Marines were from eastern North 
Carolina.
  Major Brooks Gruber was a pilot on the mission and also there was a 
Staff Sergeant William B. Nelson, who was stationed at New River Air 
Station in Onslow County, North Carolina.
  I just started thinking, as I heard about the terrible tragedy, that 
many of us, not just talking about Members of Congress but those of us 
around this Nation, we do take our military for granted. I do not think 
we intend to do that, but it is just maybe because out of sight out of 
mind. But when we hear about a training accident where men and women 
are killed, in this case it was 19 men, that it does remind us that our 
freedoms are guaranteed by those who are willing to serve.
  I just wanted to come to the floor tonight, and I am sure all Members 
of Congress would join me in extending our deepest sympathy to the 
families of Major Gruber and also Staff Sergeant Nelson, as well as the 
other 17 men that were killed on this training flight in Arizona.
  I think that it is a reminder to all Americans that the members of 
the United States military make the ultimate sacrifice on a daily 
basis, whether it is here in this country or outside of the borders of 
the United States of America. It is a tragedy, because we think that 
our men and women in training are always going to be safe and 
protected, but it does not always happen that way. Certainly there is 
an investigation going on now. We will find out soon what happened to 
the V-22 that made it fail in the air and kill these wonderful, brave 
American military Marines, it happens to be in this case.
  I am going to cut my remarks short tonight because, again, I sense 
the sadness from talking to the Marines in the liaison office today as 
I am saddened myself; and again I am sure each and every Member on the 
floor tonight is saddened. I do hope, as I close, after extending my 
deepest sympathy to the families of these 19 Marines, that those of us 
in the House will remember that we do have those on food stamps and 
that we will do something before this session of Congress ends to make 
sure that we do show those 7,000 men and women in uniform on food 
stamps that we care about them and we are going to do something to help 
them so they will not be so dependent on food stamps.
  Mr. Speaker, I do again extend to the families of these 19 my deepest 
sympathies on behalf of my colleagues who serve on the floor of the 
United States, the House of Representatives, and while words are 
trivial at this time, we thank you for giving your sons to this country 
and may God be with you and God bless you through this time of sadness.

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