[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        GENERAL ERIC K. SHINSEKI

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. CURT WELDON

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 26, 2003

  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate 
the outstanding service of one of America's true heroes, General Eric 
K. Shinseki.
  General Shinseki retires from the Army after a career that spanned 
the globe and 38 years of service in peace and war. Let me be very 
clear, what General Shinseki has accomplished as chief is tied directly 
to the welfare of soldiers and their ability to remain the world's 
greatest warfighters and we owe him a debt of gratitude.
  General Shinseki was just a young cadet at West Point, when General 
of the Army Douglas MacArthur, gave his distinguished Farewell Speech 
on the banks of the Hudson to the Corps of Cadets. General MacArthur's 
words embodied the creed of military service:

       ``Duty,'' ``honor,'' ``country''--Those three hallowed 
     words reverently dictate what you want to be, what you can 
     be. They are your rallying points to build courage when 
     courage seems to fail, to regain faith when there seems to be 
     little cause for faith, to create hope when hope becomes 
     forlorn.--General Douglas MacArthur's Farewell Speech, May 
     12, 1962.

  These ideals--of duty, honor and country so eloquently expressed by 
General MacArthur that day have been personified in General Shinseki's 
distinguished career. General Shinseki graduated from the United States 
Military Academy in 1965 and later received a Master of Arts Degree in 
English Literature from Duke University.
  As a young officer, General Shinseki served two combat tours in 
Vietnam. He was twice wounded, and earned two Purple Hearts as well as 
four Bronze Star Medals. He then went on to serve for more than ten 
years throughout Europe in positions of increasing authority and 
responsibility. In 1996, General Shinseki was promoted to lieutenant 
general and returned to the Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Staff for 
Operations and Planning.
  General Shinseki's duties culminated with his promotion and 
assignment as Chief of Staff of the Army in 1999. Already, as Vice 
Chief of Staff, he had developed an innovative plan to prepare the Army 
to face the unique challenges of the 21st century. Soon after becoming 
Chief of Staff of the Army, General Shinseki embarked on a bold plan to 
transform the Army to a lighter, more lethal, more flexible and 
transportable force that would be fully capable of meeting the full 
range of threats that face today's Army. He was a visionary who began 
transformation long before the term became popular.
  Perhaps most poignantly, General Shinseki should be remembered as the 
gladiator President Roosevelt spoke of so long ago:

       It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out 
     how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could 
     have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is 
     actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat 
     and blood: who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short 
     again and again, because there is no effort without error and 
     shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; 
     who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who 
     spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows in the 
     end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if 
     he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his 
     place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know 
     neither victory nor defeat.--Address at the Sorbonne, Paris, 
     France, April 23, 1910.

  Throughout his thirty-eight years of service General Shinseki's first 
and primary focus has always been the men and women of the United 
States Army. Among his many accomplishments, General Shinseki 
revolutionized recruitment, training and education. Just one example of 
General Shinseki's innovative approach is eCybermission, a program that 
encourages young men and women to pursue education and careers in 
engineering and science, which he sees as fundamental to the future of 
the Army and the nation.
  General Shinseki attributes much of his success to the support of his 
wife Patty, who has also contributed greatly to aid the wives and 
families of our service men and women. Together, they have raised two 
wonderful children, Lori and Ken.
  This nation, the Congress, the Department of Defense, and the men and 
women of the Army, owe a debt of gratitude to General Shinseki and his 
wife Patty for their selfless service. They have given meaning to the 
timeless values that continue to reverberate across the plain at West 
Point--``Duty, Honor, Country.''

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