[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 27481]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CARING FOR OUR VETERANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, others have spoken tonight 
on specific issues before Congress that affect our Nation's veterans. I 
rise to say how proud I am of the men and women now serving in our 
Nation's Armed Forces in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, as you know, I spent 3 days last week in Iraq as part of 
a Congressional delegation. I ate lunch and supper with our soldiers in 
Bagdad on Friday. Sunday morning I attended a worship service with our 
soldiers in Kirkuk. That day, I had lunch with our soldiers in Kirkuk 
and supper with our soldiers in Tikrit.
  They slept on cots. They used port-a-johns, but their spirits were 
high and their dedication undimmed.
  Our delegation stopped briefly in Germany on the way home. We visited 
soldiers at a military hospital in Landstuhl. Our military escorts told 
us what to expect. Regardless of the pain they were in, regardless of 
how their lives would be changed by their injuries, the patients we had 
talked to were soldiers, and when they spoke with us, they would 
soldier up.
  I spoke with men who had grievous injuries. I heard not one word of 
complaint. I visited several of the soldiers who were on the Chinook 
helicopter that was shot down Sunday near Falujah. The medical 
personnel told us that it would help to encourage them to talk about 
what had happened. I will spare you the details of the injuries they 
suffered and that they saw their buddies suffer.
  The gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case) and I asked them what message 
they would have us deliver, what they wanted us to tell the folks back 
home. They said to tell folks back home to support our soldiers when 
they got home. And one told me to tell the soldiers in his unit that he 
loved them.
  Another young man was wounded when his convoy was ambushed. They were 
ambushed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. A grenade 
landed near him and caused a traumatic amputation of his arm. A buddy 
applied a tourniquet and two of his buddies commandeered an Iraqi truck 
and evacuated him from the fire fight.
  In the truck he said two prayers. The first is that he would live to 
be a father, that he would help his children with their homework, that 
he would take them to ball games, that he would watch them grow up. The 
second prayer was that the eight soldiers who remained behind would 
survive. And they all did. The young man had lost his arm, but he was 
grateful that the Lord had answered his prayers.
  My visit to our soldiers in Iraq and in the hospital in Landstuhl 
reminded me of the duty our men and women in uniform feel in defending 
our Nation and of the sacrifices they are making in answering that 
call.
  The benefits our Nation provides, our Nation's veterans are well-
earned. They are the least we can do for those who defended our freedom 
at the risk of their lives.
  Mr. Speaker, as a Member of Congress, I will do all that I can to 
honor our Nation's debt to those men and women.

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