[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16290-16297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   OUR SOLDIERS IN THE WAR ON TERROR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poe). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor and a great 
privilege to be here this evening. In the hour before I began to speak, 
we heard the names of young men and women who have shed their blood in 
the defense of this country. It is a sober business that we are about, 
a serious business and a critical business.
  As I have talked to hundreds of soldiers serving in Afghanistan, in 
Iraq, those coming back, those that I have spoken to in theater, they 
share one clear message, and that is that we have got to stay the 
course and finish a mission that they believe that we are winning and 
the only thing between ultimate victory and ultimate defeat is the will 
and the resolve of the American people.
  I believe that it is critically important that we hear their story 
and their perspective. Every soldier, every marine that I have talked 
to, every airman that I have spoken to in the last 6 months, many whom 
I brought into this Chamber, have shared with me their dismay, their 
disappointment, and, yes, even their disgust, Mr. Speaker, over the way 
the liberal media has misportrayed the actions of our men and women in 
the Middle East, have misportrayed the successes, have not reported 
those successes and have gone for tabloid spectacular attacks of what 
all the folks on the ground believe is a strategically irrelevant, 
though still dangerous, insurgency.
  Our military is winning. The Afghan people and the Iraqi people are 
beginning to taste freedom and are standing up.
  And I think it is important in this time tonight to bring to 
perspective some of the units in the words of some of the people who 
are participating in the actions right now. It is easy to stand in this 
Chamber and take a position for or against the war because we are 
living 10,000 miles away. For those of us who have carried a rucksack 
and lived in the mud or lived the desert, it brings back many memories. 
I have seen classmates of mine from the military academy who died in 
service to this Nation, buried. I know many friends who have been lost. 
In fact, 3 weeks ago I stood at a grave site in the Arlington National 
Cemetery as a member of America's premier counterterrorism force was 
buried. All around us, as we were going through these sober and 
grievous moments of remembering a man's life and country to this 
country, as his casket was lowered into the ground, as the mournful 
wail of Taps played over the cemetery, people went to and fro. There 
were cars on the expressway as I came back to Capitol Hill, and what 
did I see? People going throughout their lives oblivious to the 
tremendous sacrifices that are being made by our soldiers, sailors, 
airmen, and marines on the other side of the world so that we would be 
safe at home.
  I had a great privilege with several of my colleagues to lead a 
delegation into Southwest Asia over the July 4 recess. In many senses 
it was a reunion, seeing friends that I had known from the army, in 
some cases people I had been acquainted with on active duty 29 years 
ago.
  I would like to begin tonight by sharing a poignant e-mail. I 
traveled with the delegation to Kuwait. We will talk about that in a 
few moments. We moved to Baghdad in Iraq, visiting with units there and 
the command there, on to Kyrgyzstan with our men and women of the Air 
Force, maintaining the logistics in the transit center in Bishkek and 
Manas Air Base, finally down to Kabul, and then we flew 150 miles low 
level by helicopter to what I believe is a wonderful and stellar 
example of America's soldiers doing what they do best, advancing the 
cause of freedom, protecting us here at home and representing the 
values of this great Nation.
  So often the press nationally wants to point to the negative, to the 
\1/2\ of 1 percent that underperform or do not necessarily live up to 
the good name of this country. They totally neglect the carnage, the 
terror, the inhumanity, the abuse that was heaped on people, the 
kleptocracies that rob people of hope and opportunity and freedom. They 
do not tell the soldiers' stories. And one of the things I would like 
to begin with tonight is from that visit. We flew into Forward 
Operating Base Sharona and Paktika Province, where one of the great 
unsung stories of the War on Terror, really the war on Islamic 
extremists, is taking place.
  I want one thing to be clear for the record and for those who are 
watching overseas, we understand perfectly what this is about. This is 
not simply a War on Terror. This is a war by Islamic extremism against 
the rest of the world. It is a war that seeks to prevent people from 
pursuing individual opportunity and freedom. It is a war of suppression 
for those who simply do not want us out of the Middle East but want the 
Middle East out of the world.
  And one of the things that was most enjoyable for me was visiting a 
unit that I was affiliated with many years ago, the 1st of the 508th 
Parachute Infantry Regiment. The 1st Battalion of the 508th has a long 
and faithful history in serving this Nation in virtually every conflict 
since the Second World War. Having served in the Middle East with them 
myself, it was a great honor to travel back and see them in 
Afghanistan, see the young men and women who are carrying on a great 
tradition, a great tradition of advancing the values of this country 
and protecting citizens of this Nation.
  I would like to open this evening by sharing with the Members an e-
mail, a message that was tremendously powerful. One thing I love about 
infantry NCOs and infantry enlisted soldiers is they will always shoot 
straight with us. They will share the truth. They will not hold 
anything back, and they will tell us what is on their heart. The one 
thing that was missing were the statements that I see on the evening 
news here in the United States, and what I would like to do is, rather 
than share with what the command said, share what might come from the 
Pentagon, although it is a consistent story with what is shared on the 
front lines, I want the Members to hear the e-mail that was sent from 
Command Sergeant Major Jeff Hof of Task Force Fury, 1st of the 508th 
Parachute Infantry. He is a great, professional noncommissioned 
officer, served 22 years in the army, not his first time into that 
region of the world. He served in Operation Desert Storm. He served in 
the mountains of northern Iraq. And now he sent me this message, and I 
would like to share with the American people, I would like to share 
with every citizen in the world who values hope, values freedom, values 
opportunity for future generations, and I also want to share a message 
to the enemies of this Nation, to the enemies of all free people to 
hear this as they watch this broadcast tonight. This is quoting 
Sergeant Major Hof, who is out at the tip of the spear, making a 
tremendous difference tonight as

[[Page 16291]]

we speak. His NCOs, his enlisted soldiers are serving on the front 
lines of freedom, bringing reality that the rest of the world 
experiences, what we in America take for granted tonight to people who 
have never known it. He sent this to me. Mr. Speaker, this is an NCO 
speaking. This is the infantry sergeant major speaking, not the 
Secretary of Defense, not the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 
not the commander of combined forces in Afghanistan, but a battalion 
sergeant major whose principal purpose in life after carrying out his 
mission is caring for the welfare of the men and women under his 
command and under his leadership.
  ``Our national media has never expounded upon our success . . . ,'' 
Sergeant Major Hof begins. ``The soldiers of this task force understand 
that this fight we found ourselves in since the war on terrorism began 
is important, and they understand the nuances required to win.''
  Sergeant Major Hof tells his soldiers that they have two hammers in 
their tool box. The first one that the sergeant major points out is a 
Texas-size sledgehammer for their number one mission, which is to 
intercept terrorists, and I want to tell the Members something: They do 
that very well. There is a reason that the anti-government forces in 
Afghanistan and, for that matter, the anti-government forces in Iraq do 
not want direct confrontation with the American military. It is simple. 
They cannot win, and they have never won any sustained engagement at 
force of arms.
  Mr. Speaker, this is about the will of the American people to stand 
firm, to stand by our allies, to show resolve and accept simply the 
call to duty that every generation in the history of this Nation has 
accepted. Why should we shirk from that? This Nation has not been 
called upon to sacrifice in the way of the Second World War or in the 
First World War or in the Civil War, where our losses were measured in 
the hundreds of thousands of lives. Every loss is a tragedy, but these 
young men and women who are serving on the front lines understand the 
nature of this struggle, understand firsthand because they have seen it 
through their eyes. Our national media has done a disservice to our 
servicemembers by not reporting the truth.
  Sergeant Major Hof talks about a Texas-size sledgehammer to do what 
my friends in the military like to call the kinetic end of the 
business, but he also emphasizes the importance of the other tool in 
the toolbox, a New England-size carpenter's hammer to help the Afghans 
build their country so they will succeed in the long term.
  He goes on: ``Soldiers take this on with a sincere passion in the 
training of the local and the national police force, the border police, 
and our biggest mission is training and fighting alongside the 
Afghanistan national army.'' He continues: ``There is no apprehension 
in fighting alongside the security forces of Afghanistan, and the 
members truly appreciate everything we are doing for them in building 
skill sets to eventually defend themselves. All of our soldiers 
understand the training and fighting with the Afghan security forces is 
critical to long-term success, which is why we have all embraced the 
Afghans as one of our own in combating the terrorists.''
  When I was in Sharona Forward Operating Base, there were not simply 
Americans there. There were Afghans there. When our soldiers go out on 
patrol, they go out on patrol jointly with the Afghans, and we will 
talk some more about that later this evening.
  Sergeant Major Hof goes on and said: ``My junior NCOs work with local 
leaders . . . ,'' and I will tell the Members something that is shared 
not in the evening news again or in the New York Times or in the 
Washington Post, which seem to forget the fact that this is a war 
involving American soldiers and American leadership and fundamentally 
depends on American resolve. ``My junior NCOs work with local leaders 
building schools, mosques, distributing school supplies to some of the 
poorest in Afghanistan, explaining the intricacies of how democracy 
works, and educating hardened former mujahedin fighters on how to 
resolve simple tribal conflicts without the sound of a rifle fired in 
anger.''

                              {time}  2045

  This is all done to embolden local leaders and build long-term 
capacity to fight and secure these communities.''
  My friends, my fellow Americans, this is a professional infantry 
noncommissioned officer who is sharing these words, not written by a 
politician, certainly not written by a reporter in the national media, 
to tell you the heart of the American soldiers serving in the Middle 
East today.
  The Sergeant Major goes on. ``We have a program that school children 
from our home base sent school supplies and toys that ranged from 
stuffed animals and little dolls and even a few Frisbees to be 
distributed if we are out on patrol.''
  I had one soldier ask me to send soccer balls to Afghanistan so the 
kids could taste a side of life they had never experienced.
  Sergeant Major Hobbs said, ``I personally helped in passing out these 
gifts to the children, and if a mother in America who protests a 
military recruiting drive,'' and how I regret personally to see that, 
``if a mother in America who protests a military recruiting drive could 
only see the warm smile of joy that these little ones share when they 
are handed a little stuffed animal or a coloring book, they would truly 
understand we are winning, and their sons and daughters are making a 
difference, and it is well worth the sacrifice, if nothing more than to 
see the smile on these children's faces, if only for fleeting moment.
  Our young men and women understand that sacrifice of freedom in 
defending our Nation against those that would do our country harm, and 
they relish in the face of that that they are part of history, the 
history that we are making as we work to secure peace.''
  He continues, ``No reporter from the national media will do a story 
on the numbers of soldiers who have reenlisted to stay in and fight 
this Global War on Terror. We recently had a CNN reporter visit us, and 
we wanted for her to be part of a reenlistment ceremony that would show 
her firsthand the dedication our young men have in fighting. This 
reporter from CNN, I might add, who is an opinion influencer in the 
world media on national security affairs, refused to cover this.''
  This is what the Sergeant Major shares with my old unit the First of 
the 508th. ``She chose not to take part or even entertain the fact that 
we had over 45 soldiers reenlist to stay here and fight.''
  I ask the liberal pendants who refuse to go in theater to see the way 
this is actually being fought, to see the conduct of this, to live with 
our soldiers, who choose to use our soldiers as human shields to attack 
the administration, why they won't talk about the fact that in the 
active military unit serving in Iraq, the active military unit serving 
in Afghanistan and Kyrgystan and Kuwait why they are reenlisting at 
rates of over 100 percent.
  When I was a young man growing up at the end of the Vietnam conflict, 
that was not the case. The reason, Mr. Speaker, is simple: These young 
people believe in the mission. They have accepted a profound call to 
duty, a profound call to duty that is as important, if frankly not more 
important, than that that was accepted by the so-called greatest 
generation during the Second World War, and I say that to honor these 
young men, to honor these young women, to honor the chain of command 
that is putting their lives on the line while we sit here in comfort in 
the United States.
  The Sergeant Major continues. ``Here is a story that will never reach 
the national media. One of my forward operating bases took a direct 
rocket attack and they sustained several severe casualties in which 
three young men made the ultimate sacrifice. After the Medivac lifted 
off carrying away their platoon sergeant, who almost lost his life to 
rocket shrapnel that caused a severe leg injury and another close 
friend of the platoon, they were later notified that the friend of the 
platoon died on the operating table. Those soldiers requested we 
continue on with

[[Page 16292]]

the previously scheduled change of command and reenlistment ceremony.''
  Hear this. He writes, ``Three soldiers reenlisted on the same forward 
operating base where just hours before they rendered first-aid to save 
the lives of some, but saw three mortally wounded die.''
  Each of these young men had different reasons for reenlisting, but to 
a man each said they wanted to rededicate their service and sacrifice 
in the names of their brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice whose 
names were read in this Chamber tonight.
  That tells me, my friends, a very different perspective than the 
partisan rhetoric that is so troubling. More than that, the partisan 
rhetoric that does not encourage our soldiers, does not encourage the 
American people, does not give them a realistic perspective of what is 
happening, but discourages morale and emboldens the very people who are 
putting names on the list that was read in this Chamber in the last 
hour.
  That is something the American people need to understand and they 
need to contemplate. There are very few members of this Chamber who 
have carried the rifle and carried the rucksack and lived in the mud 
and been far away from home to understand the camaraderie and the 
bonding that takes place in one of these units. First they take care of 
themselves, but they understand the purpose of their mission, and this 
generation, I have to tell you, from my time enlisting nearly 29 years 
ago, understands in a way very different than any veterans I have ever 
spoken with the importance and the relevance of the mission that they 
are on right now.
  The Sergeant Major continues: ``These soldiers who reenlisted wanted 
to complete the mission they all started together and did not want to 
let down one of their own who was no longer in their physical presence 
but is resolved in spirit still lived among them. That story did not 
make headlines,'' he writes.
  And he finishes his message to me with this statement: ``I could go 
on and on in speaking about the men and women in our Nation's military 
and the sacrifice we are willingly making despite the fact that we make 
up less than 1 percent of the population in this Nation in carrying the 
load of this fight for an entire Nation of 280 million people, 
according to the latest national census, and we get minimal credit. I 
am here to tell you that we are winning now, and in time we will win 
the peace all of us so desperately seek.''
  That, my friends, was spoken not by me, not by a media consultant, 
certainly not by a liberal pundit in the national media. That was 
spoken, Mr. Speaker, by the Sergeant Major of First Battalion, 508th 
Parachute Infantry Regiment, serving under the 173rd Airborne Brigade 
in Patika Province in Afghanistan.
  It is a credit to the traditions of the United States military, of 
our citizen soldiers, and it is something that every citizen in this 
Nation should understand; this is the devotion, this is part of the 
story that needs to come out to the world. And, frankly, for our 
enemies who pay attention to our media, I want all of you to know on 
behalf of Task Force Fury they are there and you are never coming back 
into that territory again.
  We enjoyed a powerful time of fellowship with these soldiers and 
encouragement. We saw the reality on the ground.
  We will share during this hour some of the different perspectives 
that we had, but I would like to yield some time to my colleagues who 
are here tonight who had that opportunity to share. The first one whose 
perspective that I would like to give as he traveled with us is the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland).
  We traveled a long distance to get to these remote places and had an 
opportunity to go from the comfortable familiarity of the United States 
out to the tip of the spear, out to see countries that were raped by a 
kleptocracy, and now are there with American young people bringing 
hope, opportunity, stability and ultimately security to us here at 
home.
  I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland).
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Davis) for giving me that opportunity to travel with him 
and his delegation as we went to Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq, 
Kyrgystan and visited our troops.
  Also I want to thank the American people and the U.S. Army and all of 
our armed services for giving us as Members of the People's House the 
ability to go over and visit with them and to see the things that are 
going on over there, the things that we are asked to fund and the fact 
we are asked to keep them in the battle for liberty and justice and 
freedom throughout this world.
  It was quite a trip. Never having been outside the country except to 
go to a few islands on a cruise ship, it was quite an experience to 
travel the distances we did and then to meet with the young men and 
women of our Armed Forces as they serve us so greatly overseas.
  We visited a base in Kuwait where we visited the men and women that 
drive convoy trucks up into Iraq every day, where there are about 2,500 
trucks at any one day and probably 700 or 800 of those are American 
troops that put their lives on the line to take supplies to their 
comrades in Iraq. It was unbelievable when we went and saw the actual 
up-armor facility that we had funded through the supplemental budget 
and the thanks we got from the servicemen and women about the effect 
and benefits that this was bringing to our troops.
  We saw firsthand an up-armored vehicle that had been hit by an IED 
and the damage that it suffered, but every soldier inside of it made 
it. These are the things that we have got to continue to do in this 
Congress, is to make sure that our men and women have the best possible 
equipment that they can use to fight terror all across this world.
  We also had an opportunity to go to Iraq and to see the devastation 
of that country and what it is like to have 30 years of control by a 
dictator that was the sole justice. I am a simple thinking kind of guy, 
and I had thought a lot about this war before I was in Congress and 
since I have been in Congress, but there were a lot of things that I 
had never thought about. Some of those things is there is no judicial 
system over there. There are no prosecutors. There was no rule of law. 
They had a dictator that was the rule of law.
  We went and met with the Third ID from Fort Stewart in what was known 
as the torture chamber for Saddam, and they talked about the things 
that they saw in the basement of that building, the horrific site that 
they saw that just turned their stomachs. But it also made them realize 
why they were there, what kind of demon they were fighting.
  We also saw the building next door to it that was known as I guess 
the Iraqi CIA building and the devastation caused to it by a daisy 
cutter bomb that was dropped there, unbelievable devastation. But there 
again it was one of those signs that we have given our military the 
best tools known to man to fight this war.
  We saw at that same base members of the Third ID playing soccer with 
Iraqi troops, having a great time of fun. It is an international game, 
as one of the soldiers told me, the game of soccer. They enjoyed that 
fellowship in heat of about 115 degrees, but they are building 
relationships and they are letting the Iraqi people understand what it 
is like to live in freedom.
  It is a gift that is indescribable, when you give the people an 
opportunity to live in freedom. To see the electric grid, that it can 
only handle so much electricity, and we are producing that much 
electricity today. We have restored those generating plants to give an 
opportunity to the Iraqi people to enjoy electricity all day, every 
day; to have water, to be able to bathe their children, to be able to 
wash clothes. We are giving them that opportunity.
  Then as we went to Afghanistan, and as the gentleman from Kentucky 
(Mr. Davis) said, we went to Serrano, and we visited with those 
soldiers out there and we saw what they were going through and the 
patrols that they did

[[Page 16293]]

in the country. This was 150 miles southeast of Kabul.
  We were able to witness the conditions that these men live in every 
day, the heat and just the threat of terror and danger that they are 
under, but to see their spirit.
  I met one soldier, I believe was Sergeant Lightly, and he needs to be 
a general because he spends 24/7 embedded with Afghani troops. He said, 
``Do you know what I see in these men and women? The desire to live in 
a free country, to celebrate liberty. They want that for their country. 
And if something happens, they are right up to the speed. If some of 
their comrades get killed, they have more people waiting to enlist. In 
fact, we can't train those people fast enough to be in the military.''
  One of the other things that the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) 
mentioned was the reenlistment. We were told that the reenlistment 
goals in Iraq and Afghanistan have surpassed what their goal was. The 
men and women that are over there fighting, seeing the good things we 
are doing, the schools we are building, the grid system, the electric, 
the oil refineries, the colleges and the universities, they see the 
good that we are doing. And Sergeant Lightly told me, ``I am over here 
doing this, this is my second tour, because I don't want my two sons to 
be over here doing this. We need to finish the job today.''
  It was such a great honor to be over there, to visit with our men and 
women and get to visit with some soldiers from Georgia, and just to get 
to share with them our thanks from me and my family and all the 
American people for what they are doing. But it was also nice to see 
their gratitude for us coming over to visit them.
  One soldier commented to me, ``It was a great morale devastation when 
we heard that we had been compared to the Soviet gulags and the 
Nazis.'' I said, ``Well, they were talking about Guantanamo.'' He said, 
``No, they were talking about my brothers and sisters and they were 
talking about me when they were talking about them.''
  So we need to keep our tongues under control and understand that when 
we say things devastating to our troops it does hurt their morale. They 
hear that over there, and not only do they hear that, but the Iraqis 
and the Afghan soldiers that are putting their lives on the line every 
day hear that, too.
  He said, ``You know what? If we pull out of these countries, if we 
pull out without finishing what we started, we will lose our 
credibility to every freedom-loving, liberty-loving person in this 
world.''

                              {time}  2100

  Again, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding this time to me and 
giving me an opportunity to share some of the experiences that I have 
had.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Georgia; I thank him for his eloquent remarks and the perspective that 
he shared. One of my memories that will be lodged in my heart is you 
encouraging all of those Georgia soldiers who were so glad to see you, 
especially those who know you from Georgia politics to see a face from 
back home.
  I would encourage some of our colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle who refuse to travel, to visit the troops doing the work that 
they do so well, and perhaps they would have a slightly different 
perspective if they spent some time with them on the ground.
  Before I yield to the gentleman from Indiana, I would like to take a 
moment and recognize some of the human side of this. We had an 
experience in our media at one point a few months ago where one soldier 
had some negative things to say that ironically flew in the face of 99 
percent of his comrades and created a little bit of a challenge from 
back home with some of the soldiers from back home and their 
perspective on what was being done. I have a picture of two of them I 
would like to share. I am good friends with their fathers. They cast a 
very different perspective than what has been portrayed in some of the 
national media.
  The first gentleman that I would like to point to here tonight is a 
great patriot. He is not a political man; he is a soldier. He is 
committed to defend the Constitution. He is committed to honor his 
brothers and sisters in arms. His name is Art Cawman, and he is from 
Boone County, Kentucky. Art is a great soldier. He served as a Ranger 
in the special forces and decided that he wanted to go to flight 
school. He flies in the Third Infantry Division in the Third Aviation 
Brigade, and he is a Blackhawk pilot. In Operation Iraqi Freedom in 
March of 2003, he flew one of the fist Blackhawks over the line for the 
Third Infantry Division as they began the march to liberate Iraq.
  I had the tremendous privilege to spend some time being flown by a 
hometown pilot from my district whose family I know who shared a 
perspective candidly and openly about the sober nature of this 
struggle. Art Cawman is the kind of soldier whose face we need to have 
on this war. Art Cawman is the kind of soldier who went out and made a 
difference. Art Cawman is somebody who adapted to the changes in 
circumstances, who understands the nature of this mission, who 
understands that Islamic extremism is a threat to every person in the 
world regardless of faith or ethnicity or nationality. He is willing to 
serve. He has had comrades that he has lost in this struggle, but he 
understands the nature of it. He does not do it, he does not do it in a 
somber way, but with a commitment and understanding and excitement of 
being part of a great unit, a great heritage, a great tradition and, 
frankly, a great country that values freedom.
  One of my personal pleasures was being able to bring a taste of home 
to him and also to a soldier I will show my colleagues in just a 
moment. But we have a tradition back in the fourth district of Kentucky 
called Skyline chili or Cincinnati chili that is a unique regional 
taste, like many parts of the country have. My airfare for being flown 
by him and his fine crew that day on our flight of two, and also 
including the other aircraft, was a case of this chili. We wanted to 
pass that on to them, just a small way to say thank you.
  What I was most impressed with Art was his clear understanding of the 
nature of the mission, his clear understanding, Mr. Speaker, of the 
nature of the struggle, and a clear understanding that all it takes to 
win is to continue the mission.
  I heard from this young warrant officer, the same perspective, that 
this insurgency, though a threat to individuals, is strategically 
irrelevant. These elections are going to happen; this government is 
going to stand. It is going to be different than what we have here in 
the United States, but their work is bringing results. It is also 
bringing quality of life to people who have never known freedom, they 
have never known government as a friend, they have never known that the 
police are not your enemy, but they are there to protect you. He is 
setting that example, a high standard of American values. He represents 
a great unit with a great tradition and a great chain of command.
  There is another gentleman I would like to share with my colleagues 
as well. This young captain standing next to me on Forward Operating 
Base Sharana, I referenced our visit to Sharana before; this is as we 
came off the helicopters after flying 150 miles south of Kabul. This is 
Captain Joe Geraci. He is the class of 1997 from the United States 
Military Academy at West Point. His father, Joe Geraci, Sr., is an 
active member of our business community that I have known well for 
years. He has made a great contribution to our local community and his 
son is making a great contribution to our Nation. He is leading a 
tremendous operation in southeastern Afghanistan right now that is 
driving the Taliban out of eastern Paktika Province in Colonel Tim 
McGuire's 1st of the 508th.
  We also brought the taste of home to him; you can see it obscured 
behind the photograph there. But we brought that case of chili, and he 
sent me an e-mail the other night as he was eating it with his troops 
and said the only thing that was missing was a vanilla Coke to make the 
taste of home complete.

[[Page 16294]]

  They understand the seriousness of their business. Joe has a 5-year-
old son whose birthday he missed. He has a wife and parents who are 
worrying about him every day. But as we all talked on the phone the 
other day, the one thing they understand is that Captain Joe Geraci, 
who is a professional infantry officer, who is walking in the finest 
heritage and traditions of every generation that has come before us, as 
our young soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are, he is doing a 
tremendous job in winning a fight over there that is every bit as 
critical as the Greatest Generation's fight in the Second World War. It 
is every bit as critical to our national security now.
  I would like to yield the floor for a few minutes to another of my 
colleagues, the gentleman from Indiana, who joined me in the journey to 
Congress some 4 years ago. The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Sodrel) was 
a former noncommissioned officer in the Indiana National Guard who had 
a great opportunity to go in theater and visit some of his former 
comrades. I think he brings a unique perspective; and I would like him 
to share his views, his impressions, his experiences, and the story of 
his soldiers as they are experiencing this critical time and this call 
to duty for our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Sodrel).
  Mr. SODREL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. 
Davis), my good friend.
  Over the Memorial Day recess, I was fortunate to have the opportunity 
to go to Afghanistan. The main reason I wanted to make the trip was to 
visit my former unit, the 151st Infantry Battalion of the Indiana 
National Guard. I do not know whether it was by accident or design, but 
about 15 percent of the total force in Afghanistan are Hoosiers. I 
follow the 151st, even though it has been almost 3 decades now since I 
was a member. They were deployed in Bosnia, and they have been deployed 
in Afghanistan.
  But when I met with them over there, it was not just as a fellow 
Hoosier or a former Guardsman and neighbor, but as their Member of 
Congress. I decided if I am going to be voting to send these men and 
women to war, I should go to the front lines and see for myself the 
progress that they are making and the conditions under which they are 
doing their job. After spending time with them in Afghanistan both in 
Khandahar and Camp Phoenix, I can assure my colleagues that we owe them 
a debt of gratitude.
  These men and women operate under harsh conditions. They are seldom 
able to leave the confines of the bases unless they are on an official 
mission of some kind. In fact, the 151st lived in tents when they first 
arrived in Afghanistan. The dust, we talk about sand, this is not beach 
sand, this is dust; it is the consistency of talcum powder. It is very 
difficult to keep vehicles and aircraft operational. The heat, when you 
are walking around in body armor and carrying all of your weapons and 
pack and everything with you, it is hard work.
  I had an opportunity to meet with everybody from the commanding 
officer, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Grube, to his executive officer, Major 
Rick Graham, to Staff Sergeant Steve Springer from Brownstown, Indiana, 
to specialist Nick Geshwein from Corydon. They all told me they are 
proud of the work that they have done while they have been there. They 
took it upon themselves to start a humanitarian project.
  What Colonel Grube told me is that 25 percent of the children die 
before they are 10 years old in Afghanistan. They had a lot of poverty 
around Camp Phoenix and they worked with Graceland Baptist Church, a 
church there in southern Indiana, to get supplies and blankets and 
shoes for a lot of them who did not have shoes. They have worked with 
all of the local people, and they all assured me, when I heard from our 
diplomats and Vice President Khalili and from our troops, that the vast 
majority of Afghans really want peace. After a generation of warfare, 
they are tired of warfare.
  The attitude has changed a lot in the last year. When the 151st first 
arrived there, they said most of the locals just wanted to keep their 
heads on. Their attitude was the coalition was on one side and the 
terrorists were on the other side, and they just did not want to get 
involved. They are getting involved today. They tell our people where 
the bad folks are hanging out. They point out where the IEDs, 
improvised explosive devices, are. The relationship with the Afghan 
people has changed considerably during the last year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a difficult mission. It is a very inhospitable 
place. I personally think that, although it has been hard on the 
National Guard and hard on their families, I think, well, for example, 
they had one soldier who was a part-time magician, and I have a picture 
of him riding a unicycle with all the Afghan kids around him. They are 
just one step removed from civilian life, and they can relate very well 
to the local people.
  But I think the recent attacks in London underscore the fact that we 
must not let up. We have to keep prosecuting the war on terror.
  While much of my trip focused on Afghanistan and the meeting with the 
troops there, I also took the opportunity to go to Pakistan, and I 
spent about an hour with President Musharraf. He has started what he 
called a concept of enlightened moderation. Simply put, he understands 
that there are two challenges here. One is to defeat the terrorists 
militarily, but the other challenge is to stop creating terrorists and 
change the conditions that create terrorists.
  Part of that is the madrassa schools and their curriculum, which he 
is going through and causing all of the madrassas to register with the 
Pakistani government. He also understands that he has to grow his 
economy, that he has to change the socioeconomic conditions, and that 
the other countries there in Central Asia do as well.
  But the long-term prospects for peace and prosperity depend on the 
ability of democracy to take hold, and it depends on the abilities of 
those leaders to improve the living conditions of the average person. 
That means creating jobs, building roads, and generally enhancing the 
infrastructure of these countries. It means fostering opportunities for 
higher education.
  It is clear to me from spending time in Afghanistan that what began 
as a military mission to defeat the terrorists who attacked the United 
States on September 11 will not end as the majority of our military 
comes home. Afghanistan will require the assistance of U.S. Government 
agencies and NGOs until self-governance and the Afghan economy are well 
established. Winning the war on terror and improving the quality of 
life for the people of Central Asia are globally important objectives. 
We have to stay on course to ensure a lasting peace in Afghanistan. A 
peaceful, tolerant Afghanistan is important to the long-term 
elimination of terror as a weapon of intolerance, and I am confident 
our folks are up to the task. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for 
yielding to me.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from 
Indiana. I thank him for recounting those experiences with his Hoosier 
soldiers and the great job that they are doing in winning this war that 
our liberal media simply refuses to report, they refuse to report the 
successes.
  Before I introduce another distinguished Member of this body, a 
gentleman who has spent many hours on an airplane with me, I would like 
to comment on one personal friend. I have the photographs behind me of 
two of my constituents who are great American soldiers and, really, 
they represent great young Americans who are serving with them in many, 
many capacities in the war, a critical war, the most important fight 
this country has seen since the end of the Second World War.

                              {time}  2115

  My friend, Art Cawman, who is here on my right, flew us in the 
afternoon after we had had some meetings with some commanders and met 
with the embassy staff over to the Second Brigade Combat Team of the 
Third Infantry Division in east Baghdad. The Second Brigade Combat Team 
has their

[[Page 16295]]

headquarters in the former Ministry of Intelligence office complex. The 
main building was destroyed in the opening days of the war. Second 
brigade's headquarters is in an outbuilding that years ago was used for 
despicable, a heinous act perpetrated upon the Iraqi people in the name 
of raw power. Now that headquarters is commanded by a colonel named Joe 
DiSalvo. That name means a lot to me because I have known Joe DiSalvo 
for 28 years. We stood on the plane in July of 1997 at the United 
States Military Academy when we were inducted into the Corps of Cadets. 
We attended classes together and we played intramural sports together. 
We socialized together. After graduation we attended our Officer Basic 
Course together, a maintenance course together, and even went to ranger 
school and became rangers together. We had some interesting memories, 
being snap linked on to the side of a hill in a rainstorm many, many 
years ago as we were out to earn that coveted designation and many 
shared experiences. After that time we went our different ways in 
service to the country and our service to the Nation took different 
forms and different paths.
  One of the great humbling honors that I experienced on this trip was 
seeing my old friend who now commanded a 3,000-soldier brigade combat 
team that is doing great work. They are in a tough place. East Baghdad 
includes Sadr City, among other areas that are considered some of the 
great danger zones of Baghdad. When Joey drove his Humvees in the first 
day they took over he showed me these photographs of American vehicles 
that were axle deep in raw sewage running openly in the streets.
  Mr. Speaker, this was the Iraq that the Iraqi people experienced. 
This was the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. The national media refuses to 
report on what our soldiers have done since. Those streets are clear 
today and they are dry and there is a sewer system. There is running 
water that most of the citizens have never experienced before in their 
lives. Regular and predictable electric power, all the things that we 
take for granted in our comfortable familiarity here in the United 
States regardless virtually of our economic circumstances.
  They have paid a price serving on the front lines. They are defeating 
this insurgency. They are going on patrols with an Iraqi security force 
that is motivated, Ministry of Interior police who are motivated as 
Iraqis, who understand their identity as Iraqis. They are getting 
intelligence working together, they are solving problems with criminal 
elements, with those who are government rejectionists and with the 
terrible Islamic extremists who are out to do one thing which is to 
kill people.
  And I think the perfect contrast between Colonel DiSalvo's soldiers 
and those Islamic extremists that are a threat to every freedom loving 
person regardless of their background or ethnicity in the world was 
when our NCOs are out getting school supplies and our enlisted soldiers 
are getting school supplies for young people, giving candy to children, 
letting them know that they are there to protect them, not to be 
overlords like the prior regime was. They are seeing the opportunities 
to go back to school, receiving health care in many cases for the first 
time in their lives. They are seeing a side of life where the soldiers 
will play soccer with them. And you know what the insurgent response 
was last week, was to drive a car bomb into the midst of a group of 
children around some American soldiers. To take the life of one 
American they are willing to murder 24 little ones.
  I think this is a clash of world views, Mr. Speaker, and I think I 
know who is on the right side. And the Second Brigade Combat team whose 
primary mission is to defend those people and to defeat those 
terrorists, really criminal thugs and murders with no courage, no will 
and a unwillingness to openly take their battle against soldiers. They 
only turn on the harmless to rule by fear and terror, and that only 
comes from one place. And that pit of darkness is not represented by 
this Nation and by its values.
  I want to commend the soldiers of the Second Brigade Combat team. I 
want to commend those working in every area to keep those vehicles 
running, those who go out on patrols, those who invest in relationships 
locally, those who encourage one another. And also the same thing that 
I heard with the soldiers in the Second Brigade Combat team when they 
told me this: Tell our story to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the thing that is not heard by the national 
media. I challenge CBS and NBC and CNN and ABC for their purported 
fairness to broadcasting to actually report the truth. Talk to some 
soldiers who actually represent the overwhelming majority of those who 
are serving. I decry those producers of 60 Minutes who I personally 
believe do not represent the interests of the American people.
  You at 60 minutes know this: This Congressman served this country and 
the Second Brigade Combat team soldiers and the First of 508 soldiers 
serve now to defend your right to put the awful things on the air that 
you do. And you do not understand the freedoms that you have. I am so 
disappointed and my heart is broken when you go out of your way to 
embarrass and defame those who are serving this Nation and those who 
are leading this Nation.
  It is a travesty, Mr. Speaker. But I would rather have you have that 
freedom than to have the alternative of what Colonel DiSalvo and his 
soldiers had to clean up in East Baghdad because that really is the 
alternative when we think about it.
  My friend from Texas (Mr. Conaway) had so many unique perspectives 
and probably more than any other State of the Union of all of the 
soldiers that we saw in the four countries that we were in during this 
trip were soldiers from the great Republic of Texas. And I would like 
for him to take as much time as he would like to share his perspective 
on the trip, on this critical time in our Nation's history and just the 
great young men and women that we met. I yield to the gentleman from 
Texas.
  Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for 
yielding this time, giving me a chance to speak. True to his ranger 
training, the trip that we took was fast paced and there was precious 
little sleep involved. But the four of us who have spoken tonight are 
none the worse for wear. It was a wonderful experience that I will 
treasure as one of the highlights of my term here in Congress.
  I have had the opportunity this pass weekend to go back to Texas and 
to have a couple of different audiences that I was speaking to, giving 
them a legislative update, also letting them know about my trip. And as 
someone who speaks quite often to an awful lot of folks, you get a 
sense of whether or not the audience is paying attention, a sense of 
whether or not they are actually listening to you. And as I spoke about 
our experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Kuwait, the audience 
just hung on every word, not because of my eloquence, but more 
importantly because the message of what I was actually imparting to 
them.
  There is a hunger among the folks in America to understand and to 
know the truth. And the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) and I and 
my good colleagues from Georgia and from Indiana went over there for 
two reasons. One principal reason was to tell the troops that we came 
in contact with thank you, thank you for doing a job that you have been 
asked to do. You did not ask, you were not asked whether or not you 
agreed with the job. You were not asked whether or not it is a job you 
thought ought to be done. Your country simply asked you to go do a job 
in a tough, tough arena.
  We stepped off the plane in Baghdad on Friday a week or so ago. I 
grew up in West Texas, in the high plains of West Texas. It is an arid 
desert region. We are used to in the summer some really hot dry 
weather, sandstorms, dust storms in which the dust and the sand is 
blowing so hard that the electronic photocells on the street lights 
trigger the lights to come on during the middle of the day. So I am no 
stranger to hot desert weather.
  We stepped off the plane, the C-130 there in Baghdad at the airport 
and it

[[Page 16296]]

is probably not appropriate to personify weather, but when I stepped 
off that airplane I stepped into what felt like just angry, mean 
weather. The horizon was obliterated. You could not see any 
distinguishing characteristics except this brown cloud all the way 
around us. It was hot.
  About the best way that I think Americans who have not been there to 
help experience this, get a sense of what it was like is to go into 
your bathroom, pick up your hair dryer, turn it on, blow it straight 
into your face for about an hour, breathing that air, and it will give 
you a bit of a sense of what our young men and women who are serving 
this country so magnificently in the summers in Iraq. As the gentleman 
from Kentucky and I and others talked about going to Iraq this time of 
year, the aging veterans around, the folks who had been, said you guys 
could have picked a little better time of year to go than July because 
it is inhospitable.
  What we found when we got to all three countries is troops with the 
morale that was incredibly high. And these were not cherry picked 
troops that the leadership put us in contact with. Every single person 
we came in contact with, their morale is high. They know they are doing 
a job that is important to this country.
  The backdrop that our trip took was the bombings in London which 
happened on Thursday. We were there Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They 
understand the importance of what they are doing, that the work that 
they are doing in these three countries will help, not guarantee, but 
help keep those bombings from happening here in America. To a person 
they told us they would all rather fight whatever fight has to be 
fought in those countries rather than in the streets of America.
  We had some great briefings not only from the military but also from 
the State Department in both countries, Iraq and Afghanistan. Let me 
quickly comment on the briefing there in Iraq with the State Department 
folks there are confident that the Constitution will be drafted on time 
and with all three ethnic groups represented at the table, the Kurds, 
the Shiites and the Sunnis are drafting that Constitution. They are 
confident it will be done sometime near the 15th of August, which is 
the deadline that they set for themselves.
  This is an Iraqi constitution, not an American constitution. It is 
one that they will live with. It is one that will meet their needs, 
will share power in an environment that, quite frankly, our Founding 
Fathers would have found pretty foreign to try to deal with the ethnic 
diversity that they are dealing with. But that is going to happen.
  What happens next is a referendum will be held 60 days later, and 
then this December there will be general elections throughout the 
country. We are assured and coming from State Department guys who 
typically do not like to give a lot of assurances. We are assured that 
the insurgents and all of the violence that is going on right now will 
have no effect on the progress for creating a democracy in Iraq. This 
constitution, the referendum to adopt the constitution as well as the 
general elections in December, that is going to happen.
  Now, what we do expect is that the level of violence, the intensity 
of violence, the high profile publicity value violence will continue 
during this time frame and will in fact and probably in all likelihood 
increase.
  While we were there the Egyptian ambassador had been kidnapped and 
was killed. That was determined. My colleague from Kentucky has already 
spoken about the horrific incident this past week in which 24 young 
lives were snuffed out simply for being at the wrong spot at the wrong 
time. So this is going to continue. But the Iraqi people are going to 
see this through. What their main concern is, is that we will not see 
it through with them. Now they are out on a limb and we are giving 
great support to that limb and they are concerned that at the critical 
moment when democracy is in the breach that we will lose our resolve, 
that somehow public opinion will turn to the extent here in the United 
States that we will abandon them to the insurgents. And you know, as 
best as my colleagues and I could assure them or could convey some 
assurances to them, we said that was not going to happen.
  Much the same effort is going on in Afghanistan. Again a State 
Department briefing there on, quite frankly, the struggles that they 
have with the drug traffic, the opium production as well as the drug 
trade, drug economy. But their elections in September are also going to 
come off on time, September the 18th. The elections last January in 
Iraq are going to serve as the model for elections in both countries in 
that they will police them themselves. They will secure them 
themselves, and we will stand ready to assist them wherever that 
assistance is needed. But the Iraqis and the Afghans are going to be 
responsible for the security at these elections during that important 
time frame.
  A couple of events that happened. One was we landed there in Kabul 
and we drove several times down the same street going between the 
airport and the embassy. The first trip was early in the morning and we 
were driving it pretty fast in a relatively what appeared to be a 
reckless manner down a pretty narrow street. And there were hundreds of 
young Afghan children on the sides of the streets making their way to 
school. These children were clean, scrubbed up, had on what appeared to 
be Western clothes. Little girls were holding hands and skipping along. 
Little boys were roughhousing and wrestling as young children do all 
over the world. But they were on their way to school. And we were doing 
40, 50 miles an hour through this school zone and I was very 
uncomfortable. I kept wanting to say, hey, wait a minute. Let us slow 
down. We are in a school zone. These are children. But the children 
were oblivious to the race going down the middle of the street. They 
were just headed to school. And that is because of the work that is 
being done by our fine men and women. It is because of the work that is 
being done by the Afghan people because they understand the advantages 
as well.
  Another poignant moment, the most poignant moment for me occurred 
when we flew from Kyrgyzstan into Kabul. It was my turn to be on the 
flight deck of the C-130. If you are in a C-130 there are not a lot of 
places to look out. There are a few portholes but limited vision. So I 
had the chance to stay up on the flight deck with a headset on and I 
was talking to the pilots and the navigator, listening to what was 
going on. We got to Afghanistan and I began to hear the traffic, that 
radio traffic for the search and rescue mission that was going on to 
try to find our SEAL that at that point in time was on the run. In all 
likelihood he was already dead at that point in time. But we were 
probably 50 or so nautical miles from the area where the search was 
being conducted. It was an incredibly haunting, eerie feeling to be in 
the relative safety of a C-130 listening to that search. We had a full 
court press going to try to find this man and save him. And to hear 
that traffic and know that we had an American who was, we talk about 
being in harm's way, this man we thought was in a big time way in 
harm's way, and it was very haunting to hear that traffic and be that 
close to him and not really be able to do anything about it.

                              {time}  2130

  I came away from the overall trip, one, just incredibly proud of the 
young men and women we have serving this country, from the leadership, 
the generals we met all the way down to the E-2 who just got there. 
These are some of America's finest men and women. Are they perfect? No, 
of course not. They are men and women just like we are. And if one of 
them by chance does something he or she should not do, the good news 
about our system of justice is we will punish the folks who do things 
wrong, on occasion.
  By and large, the vast majority of them, their hearts are in the 
right area. I met one young man and young woman from Texas in 
Afghanistan. We had a dinner with them just before we left. Out of the 
clear blue sky they just mentioned that on Friday afternoons, on their 
days off, on their time off they

[[Page 16297]]

both go to the local orphanages to volunteer to go hug those kids, to 
play with them, to read to them, and do the kinds of things that good 
American GIs have done in every single war that we have ever been 
involved in. And they are carrying on that great tradition of the 
American spirit of helping the folks that they are there to protect and 
do just a wonderful job.
  I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for organizing a wonderful trip, 
a trip as I mentioned when I first started would be incredibly 
memorable. We have some great photographs of that time together. And 
you get to know people a little bit better when you spend collective 44 
hours on jets and C-130s and Chinooks and Blackhawk helicopters. You 
get a little bit different feel for that person. That is one of the 
pluses that travel together like that gives, particularly when you go 
to places as important to what is going on in America as Iraq and 
Afghanistan.
  We are doing the job that has to be done. The leadership has a plan 
in place to get it done. The young men and women that are doing the job 
are getting it done. The Iraqi army, the Iraqi police are training and 
becoming more and more capable every single day to take over the job 
and stand in the breach in place of America's youth to create this 
democracy in their country.
  The same thing has happened in Afghanistan, the Afghan National 
Police, the Afghan National Army. They are standing up, as the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) mentioned as well.
  One final comment and then I will close. Over the weekend we saw a 
suicide bomber who was associated with a car bomb that went off. Two 
suicide bombers had gotten out of this car and walked away from it. The 
car exploded with the suicide bomber in it. A crowd gathered to try to 
help the wounded, to try to care for those who were injured. And these 
two men on foot ran back at the crowd, one of whom set off an 
explosion, blew himself up, and killed some additional people.
  The Iraqis shot and wounded the second suicide bomber on foot. And as 
he lay on the ground struggling to reach his detonation button, an 
Iraqi EOD member disarmed him through a series of events where they 
grabbed the guy. They put him in the back of the pickup. The Iraqi EOD 
specialist went up to him wearing the big bulky protective gear that 
they are supposed to wear. He understood he could not reach the fellow 
in that gear so he took the gear off and then went back to the pickup 
truck. The insurgent was trying to get his hand on the switch, and the 
Iraqi EOD guy disarmed that bomb.
  That is a great anecdote to show that the Iraqis are doing the job 
that needs to be done.
  I thank the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) for a wonderful trip, 
and I look forward to additional experiences like that in the future. I 
thank him for letting me have time tonight.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Conaway) for his thorough description of many different aspects of 
the trip. We certainly saw some tremendous perspectives.
  As time winds down, I will leave the evening with Task Force Fury. I 
will talk more about it in future evenings.
  In one of the messages that was shared with me by Colonel Tim McGuire 
and Captain Sean McCray, the assistant operations officer for the 
battalion passed on some of their perspectives. We know these are 
America's paratroopers. They are combat infantry men and their 
supporting team members. But he wrote this. He said, On any given day, 
Task Force Fury soldiers mentor Afghan citizens and leaders in the 
establishment and management of democracy, capitalism, ethics, 
education, business ethics, law enforcement, and organizational skills, 
all the while ready to destroy those who would stand against the Afghan 
National Government when they are present on the battlefield.
  The keys are providing tangible hope, signs of improvement and 
stability. The best weapon they say that Task Force Fury maintains in 
its arsenal is the implementation of projects that build infrastructure 
in a region with little or none.
  The year I graduated from West Point, Ronald Reagan asked a question 
in his campaign. He said, Are you better off now than you were 4 years 
ago? I think the citizens of Paktika Province are better off now having 
a paved road that can withstand the weather. The first paved road in 
5,000 years.
  The final story was this: this task force was moving on a convoy. A 
young boy, 10-year-old boy, approached Colonel McGuire's vehicle, 
running towards it. The children were remarkable in their acceptance 
and kindness towards American soldiers in Afghanistan.
  This little boy was a little more agitated than normal. They stopped 
the convoy and they asked the little boy why he was concerned, and he 
said that there were a couple of bad folks had come into the village 
and planted an improvised explosive device. He pointed out in the road 
where that was. It was disabled.
  Colonel McGuire asked the young boy why he did that and his response 
was profound. He said, Before you Americans came, I could not go to 
school.
  I think right there shows the clash of world views and how our 
soldiers are paying off on the front lines. I challenge the national 
media, I challenge the punditocracy to tell the truth.
  George Orwell made a comment that certain things do not make sense to 
ordinary people, just to an intellectual. I would challenge the media 
that things that do not make sense in much of your reporting to us 
ordinary Americans maybe makes sense to you from your perspective; but 
I would challenge you to spend time with these soldiers, spend time 
with their command and see the fruits on the ground, the great things 
they are doing, and how we are winning this.
  Our young men and women are accepting a call to duty that is bringing 
great honor on the heritage and traditions of this Nation.

                          ____________________