[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15179]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING OUR ARMED FORCES


            A Colorado Hero: Army SFC Christopher W. Phelps

  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to take a moment to remember 
one of Colorado's fallen heroes: Army SFC Christopher W. Phelps. 
Sergeant Phelps was killed last week in Baghdad, Iraq, while serving 
this Nation. He was 39.
  Sergeant Phelps was a native of Louisville, KY. He graduated Male 
High School in 1984 where he was a standout athlete, helping to lead 
the Bulldogs to the State football playoffs. Sergeant Phelps went on to 
Kentucky State and a junior college in Mississippi before he enlisted 
in the Army.
  In the Army, Sergeant Phelps served in the first Gulf war, where he 
drove a tank. This past spring, he was deployed to Iraq as a member of 
the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment based out of Fort Carson in 
Colorado. He enjoyed serving in the Army and was proud to be serving 
his country so honorably. He was a natural leader, a trait reflected by 
the nickname the members of his platoon gave him: ``Dad.''
  While serving in Iraq, Sergeant Phelps was deeply moved by what he 
saw. He wrote home of the terrible poverty he witnessed and how much 
work was left to be done in Iraq. But Sergeant Phelps knew, as so all 
of our men and women in uniform, that our efforts were making Iraq a 
better place.
  In his high school yearbook, an 18-year-old Christopher Phelps 
selected as a quote: ``Do all you can while you can before it is too 
late.'' Sergeant Phelps embodied this sentiment in everything he did, 
from his days as a high school athlete to his exemplary service to our 
Nation and to the cause of freedom.
  SFC Christopher Phelps served this country with honor and distinction 
and we are all humbled by his sacrifice. To his wife, Bobbi, and his 
daughters and son, my prayers are with you, as are those of an entire 
nation. Christopher's service to and sacrifice on behalf of this Nation 
will never be forgotten.

                          ____________________