[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TRIBUTE TO COL MICHAEL W. DeYOUNG, UNITED STATES ARMY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM OSBORNE

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 12, 2006

  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to a 
great American patriot, COL Mike DeYoung, who is retiring with over 27 
years of honorable service in the United States Army.
  Colonel DeYoung was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Then, as he says, he 
was given not only the normal baby inoculations of vitamin B, but also 
vitamin C for ``Cornhusker'' which began a lifelong passion for 
Nebraska football. He is well known to many Members of Congress in that 
for the last 4 years he has served as the chief of the House Liaison 
Division for the Army. In that time, many of us have had the privilege 
of working with Colonel DeYoung on a wide variety of legislative 
initiatives, programs and congressional travel. I can personally attest 
to his professionalism as it was Mike who escorted the delegations that 
I led to Iraq and other stops in the Middle East in the spring of 2005 
and again in December last year. Thus, it is my distinct honor to 
recognize his many accomplishments over the course of a distinguished 
career and I commend his superb service to the United States Army and 
this great Nation.
  Colonel De Young is an Army ``brat'' as they say, the son of retired 
COL Dee De Young and Anne DeYoung. He was commissioned a second 
lieutenant in the Air Defense Artillery after graduating from the 
College of William and Mary. He began his military career with the 4th 
Infantry Division, serving as a platoon leader and later battery 
executive officer in the 4th Battalion, 71st Air Defense Artillery. 
Over the course of the next two decades, Colonel DeYoung served in a 
variety of command and staff assignments, with increasing levels of 
responsibility. Highlights during this period include commanding 
companies both here in the United States and in Europe at the height of 
the cold war, chief of the Joint Intelligence Center's Crisis Action 
Support Center in the Pacific region and then again commanding a 
battalion in Germany.
  There are few officers who could even begin to rival Colonel 
DeYoung's expertise and experience in working with the United States 
Congress. He was selected as an American Political Science Association 
Foreign Affairs Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced 
International Studies and then served as a fellow in the office of 
former Senator Richard Bryan of Nevada, with subsequent assignments in 
the legislation liaison arena working for the Secretary of the Army and 
as a military assistant for the Secretary of Defense. Colonel DeYoung 
has played a significant role shaping the greatest Army on the planet. 
Upon graduating from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Mike 
expanded his legislative resume serving as the chief of the 
Congressional Inquiries Division for the Army and then finally, as was 
stated previously, the chief of Army Liaison to the House of 
Representatives.
  While Colonel DeYoung's duty titles and assignments sound impressive, 
what is far more impressive and more relevant is the character of this 
selfless soldier and the thousands of young men and women whose lives 
have been enriched by crossing paths with Mike DeYoung. This is his 
greatest legacy. Years after Colonel DeYoung is only a memory to the 
United States Army, the values that he imparted on those that he has 
served with will live on. These same values are what make our Army the 
most formidable military force on earth--loyalty, duty, respect, 
selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage.
  Mr. Speaker, as this great American patriot moves on, and as this 
invaluable friend of the House of Representatives begins the next 
chapter in his life, I know I speak for all the Members of the House, 
in thanking Colonel DeYoung for his many years of service to our Nation 
and extend my best wishes to him, his wife Deborah and their wonderful 
children Alex and Denia.

                          ____________________