[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9698]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING WEST POINT CLASSMATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, I take this 5 minutes to talk about an 
historical trend in this country that ties together those who have come 
before us in the past and those who are serving today, and I speak 
about the long gray line and those individuals who have served at West 
Point.
  Many of us know that West Point celebrated its 200th anniversary last 
year, 200th anniversary of creating leaders of character to serve in 
our Nation and that commitment by this country to have a professional 
military institution that helps train leaders of character to lead our 
young men and women into battle but also understands how to deal with 
the current civil military operations that are occurring is a great 
credit to this country and one that we need to remember.
  Many of us know the great names of Lee and Grant and Eisenhower and 
Patton, MacArthur, those who have gone there before, but I want to 
brag, if I may, about my classmates, graduates of the class of 1980 who 
are serving so admirably currently now in Iraq. They probably would not 
like me to be doing this, but I take this opportunity as a Member of 
Congress to speak in pride about my classmates.
  I brought down my graduation yearbook, and although many of my 
colleagues cannot see it, I turn to a page and a familiar picture for 
those of us who have been following the briefings. We have a young 
Vince Brooks, first captain of the class of 1980. Yes, it is the same 
Vince Brooks who is giving the briefings over in Qatar on a daily basis 
talking about our command.
  The line of my classmates is long and very grand in their services, 
and I want to recognize them all here.
  Lieutenant Colonel (promotable) John Agoglia, J5 Plans CENTCOM; 
Colonel (promotable) Chuck Anderson, Chief of Staff, 32nd Army Air and 
Missile Defense Command. I mentioned Brigadier General Vince Brooks, 
Deputy for Operations and Coalition spokesman. Colonel Dave Brown, G3 
section, V Corp, Iraq; Lieutenant Colonel Curt Cheeseman, J5 Plans, 
CENTCOM; Colonel Perry Clawson, Commander of the 1186th Transportation 
Terminal Brigade; John Davis, who is in the CENTCOM area of operation; 
Pat Donahue; Lieutenant Colonel Bruce Dow, HQ, Stateside; Lieutenant 
Colonel Bill Duffy, Commander, Task Force 513 Military Intelligence.
  I want to pause here to say that many of my classmates are active 
duty and have served now over 20 years. Many of them are serving 
continually as reservists or members of the National Guard. We cannot 
tell the difference when I read this list because of the one Army 
philosophy that joins Active, Reserve and Guardsmen.
  Lieutenant Colonel Dale Egger, Commander of 3rd Battalion, 289th 
Training Support Brigade, Stateside; Jim Embrey, in Kuwait; Colonel 
Mark Eshelman, 3rd Army, CENTCOM; Lieutenant Colonel T.J. Farrell, 
Force Protection Officer, 143rd TRANSCOM in Kuwait; Colonel Tim 
Glaeser, Commander, 11th ADA Brigade, Kuwait; Major Curt Grayer, Deputy 
Commander, 310th Personnel Support Group; Lieutenant Colonel Vern 
Green, Commander, 1181st Transportation Terminal Battalion; Colonel Ben 
Hodges, Commander, 1st Battalion, 101st Airborne Division; Lieutenant 
Colonel Frank Hudson, assignment undisclosed, 5th Special Forces Group, 
somewhere in the area of operation; Lieutenant Colonel Doug Lobdell, 
commander, 361st Training Support Brigade; Lieutenant Colonel Jan 
Kozlowski, C7 engineer, Kuwait; Lieutenant Colonel Mark Kucera, Forward 
Engineer Support Team; Colonel Mike Linnington, Commander, 2nd Brigade, 
101st Airborne Division; Colonel Dave MacLean, J5-E, CENTCOM; Colonel 
Steve Mains, Chief, JFCOM J9, Lessons Learned Team, CENTCOM; Dr. Major 
Kathy Mathews, who is the wife of one of my classmates, Johnny Ham, who 
is a brigade surgeon in the 108th Brigade; Lieutenant Colonel Tom 
Miller, Civil Affairs Officer, en route to CENTCOM; Lieutenant Colonel 
Paul Oettinger, Commander of the 195th Contract Support Detachment, 
Kuwait; Colonel John Peabody, Commander, 3rd Infantry Division; Colonel 
Dave Perkins, Commander, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, Baghdad, 
Iraq; Colonel Tony Puckett, J5, Kuwait; Lieutenant Colonel Willie 
Ramos, Commander, 345th Rear Area Operations Center; CW3 Kathy Silvia, 
en route to CENTCOM; Colonel (promotable) Joe Votel, Commander of the 
75th Ranger Regiment, location undisclosed; Kurt Westerman, en route to 
CENTCOM.
  I am very proud of our classmates and those who are helping to 
support them here at home.
  The West Point Alma Mater reads like this. Actually it is a song, and 
it is appropriate.

     Hail, Alma Mater dear,
     To us be ever near,
     Help us thy motto bear
     Through all the years,
     Let Duty be well performed,
     Honor be e'er untarned,
     Country be ever armed,
     West Point, by thee.

     Guide us, thy sons, aright,
     Teach us by day, by night,
     To keep thine honor bright,
     For thee to fight.
     When we depart from thee,
     Serving on land or sea,
     May we still loyal be,
     West Point, to thee.

     And when our work is done,
     Our course on earth is run,
     May it be said, ``Well done;
     Be thou at peace.''
     E'er may that line of gray
     Increase from day to day,
     Live, serve and die, we pray,
     West Point, for thee.

  I am tremendously proud of my classmates who are serving in the area 
of operation and throughout the world. They have done great credit to 
this country, this Nation, the people of Iraq and our alma mater West 
Point. Their names will be etched in history with those who have served 
honorably and distinctively in service to their country.
  May God bless them all and may God bless the United States of 
America.

                          ____________________