[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15347-15348]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           IN HONOR OF OUR FALLEN HEROES IN THE ARMED FORCES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 7, 2007

  Mr. SHAYS. Madam Speaker, on May 28, 2007, millions of Americans 
across the country recognized the brave men and women who made the 
ultimate sacrifice while fighting to protect the citizens and freedom 
of our great Nation.
  In recognition of Memorial Day, LT. Zach Alessi-Friedlander gave an 
address at a Memorial Day Ceremony at Hillside Cemetery in Wilton, 
Connecticut. I submit the text of LT. Alessi-Friedlander's remarks to 
be entered into the Record.

       We come together on this solemn occasion to commemorate the 
     sacrifice and celebrate the legacy of those Soldiers, 
     Marines, Sailors, and Airmen who have lost their lives while 
     serving our great Nation.
       When the leaders of the Wilton Memorial Day parade 
     committee--especially Mr. Toothaker and Mr. Brautigam as well 
     as Mr. Dartley of the VFW--invited me to speak at this 
     ceremony, I embraced the opportunity because it would give me 
     a forum through which to speak with you all about service--a 
     truly timeless value that is integral to the vibrancy of our 
     society. My purpose here today is to provide a Soldiers'-eye-
     view on the value of service--drawn not only from my own 
     experiences but from those of the extraordinary Soldiers with 
     whom I have had the great privilege of serving alongside.
       Nine years ago, I was 17 years old and a week from my high 
     school graduation. To me, the world seemed pregnant with 
     opportunity and possibility. Over much of these last nine 
     years, my personal journey has been largely defined by 
     abstract intellectual pursuits--college, internships, and 
     even a semester of graduate school. But in early 2004, I felt 
     a growing sense of discomfort. So much was unfolding outside 
     the classrooms and libraries in which I spent so much of my 
     time. I was almost 23 and I felt the need to be a part of 
     something that was larger and more important than me. I then 
     made the decision to pursue a commission in the Army. At the 
     time, in response to the queries of friends and family, I 
     could only describe my motivations in an abstract sense. But 
     over the last two and half years, the reasons for my decision 
     to serve have been made clearer through the crucible of 
     experience.
       After attending Basic Training and Officer Candidate 
     School, I was commissioned as a Field Artillery lieutenant. 
     Sixty-five years ago, on the conventional battlefields of 
     World War II, I would have been responsible for planning and 
     coordinating the artillery, mortars, aerial firepower, and 
     naval gunfire needed to support my troop commander's scheme 
     of maneuver. However, the battlefields of Iraq are--at this 
     stage of the war--decidedly different from their World War II 
     counterparts. Conventional schemes of maneuver have been 
     replaced with the unconventional strategies and tactics 
     needed to manage an elusive and adaptive enemy within an 
     asymmetric and three-dimensional battlefield. Coalition 
     Forces are grappling with a multi-faceted insurgency--divided 
     along different ethno-sectarian and ideological lines. The 
     fight for key terrain and the push to force the enemy to 
     formally surrender have been replaced with the fight for the 
     hearts and minds of the Iraqi local nationals--the people 
     upon whom the burden of a free and secure Iraq will 
     ultimately rest.
       What I'm talking about is our effort to diversify the scope 
     of the ``fight'' in order to create a foundation upon which 
     the Iraqi people can rebuild a society less vulnerable to 
     virulent strands of militant Islam and sectarian antipathy. 
     More specifically, we now complement our combat operations 
     with four additional lines of operation: training Iraqi 
     Security Forces; promoting local governance; restoring 
     essential services; and developing the economy. This is a 
     long, tough, unpredictable process that is at times 
     frustrating and at other times exhilarating. Over the last 
     nine months, my troop has been able to develop our sector 
     through a strategy that depends fundamentally upon earning 
     the genuine trust of the local nationals living within our 
     sector. Many of you, I am sure, have heard about many of 
     these new emphases--especially after the recent appointment 
     of General David Petreaus as the new theater commander in 
     Iraq. However, experiencing it on the ground is a truly 
     perspective-altering experience. My unit's progress--
     especially over the past 5 months--has been startling. In 
     this period, we have poured several million dollars worth of 
     projects into the small villages dotting our sector--
     providing services like trash collection and replacing 
     dilapidated infrastructure such as a drinking-water tower and 
     power-line transformers. But our most successful-civil 
     military initiatives have been those which have integrated 
     our Soldiers, members of either the Iraqi Army or Iraqi 
     National Police, and the local nationals into combined 
     community projects. Examples of such initiatives include: Two 
     medical-assistance visits during which our medics and doctors 
     were able to provide medicine, care, diagnoses, and treatment 
     advice to almost 400 local nationals; as well as something 
     called a ``VET CAP'' during which an Army veterinarian was 
     able to treat and de-worm 150 sheep and 20 cows.
       But, the civil-military initiatives of which I am most 
     proud are the efforts that have enabled us to promote truly 
     indigenous forms of self-government. In December, when we 
     recognized that local nationals residing in our sector were 
     unwilling to participate in the regional branches of the 
     Iraqi government--called Nahia and Qada councils--we decided 
     to host a series of village-level town-hall meetings. At 
     these meetings, we were able to identify community leaders 
     with the initiative, technical expertise, and will to 
     represent the other members of the villages. These town-hall 
     meetings served as jumping-off points for two major 
     developments. A group of local nationals in our largest 
     village now regularly attend the Nahia council meetings, 
     which allows them to interface with the Iraqi government. 
     But, perhaps more impressively, this same group created a 
     Farmers' Cooperative, whose leaders now represent farmers 
     from throughout our entire area of operations.
       But, make no mistake, our unit has been forced to combat an 
     adaptive, innovative, patient, and committed insurgent threat 
     intent on disrupting our efforts through a series of 
     persistent attacks against us and--perhaps more ominously--by 
     casting a specter of fear over the local-national population 
     whom we are attempting to secure and whose trust we are 
     working to earn. Our military has been largely built and 
     trained to fight high-intensity conflicts using technological 
     superiority and mobility to combat nation states. My unit is 
     a cavalry troop composed of field artilleryman, cavalry 
     scouts, and infantrymen--all of whom were initially trained 
     to play specific roles in a conventional fight. But, every 
     day, I am amazed at how our Soldiers have been able to adapt 
     to the changing nature of the fight.
       My preceding remarks were an effort to provide the context 
     necessary for you all to appreciate the service of the 
     Soldiers alongside whom I proudly serve. General Robert E. 
     Lee once described duty--the close cousin of service--as the 
     most sublime word in the English language. I would argue that 
     he was trying to explain that duty and service as concepts 
     are impossible to understand in an abstract intellectual 
     sense; rather, in order to wrap our minds around this simple 
     but crucial civic value, we need to discuss specific 
     examples--and that will be the intent of the balance of my 
     remarks.
       The key to the success that my unit has experienced has 
     been the influence of our extraordinary non-commissioned 
     officers. For those of you with prior military experience, 
     you know that at troop or company levels, NCOs have 
     dramatically more time in service--and thus experience--than 
     their commissioned-officer counterparts. Therefore, the key 
     to a successful unit is to develop a synergy between the NCO 
     and Officer Corps. Each officer-NCO pair must understand the 
     role that the other plays in training, planning, and 
     operations and must then work to complement their counterpart 
     in every phase of mission preparation and execution. In my 
     troop, the only Soldiers with previous combat experience are 
     the NCOs. Two in particular come to mind: SFC Richardson and 
     SSG Mont-Eton, the platoon sergeant and senior scout for our 
     2nd platoon--the element whom I would argue has helped to 
     establish the model by which a counterinsurgency must be 
     fought. Perhaps the most illuminating parts of my deployment 
     have come while riding alongside SSG Monty in his truck. Over 
     the course of any given patrol, he spends time instructing 
     his gunner on how to more effectively scan the key pieces of 
     terrain with his optics; teaching his driver on how to scan 
     the road for the command-wire-IED initiators that are 
     carefully concealed alongside the routes in our sector; and 
     positioning his dismount on where he must stand to establish 
     the most effective security when the platoon gets out of the 
     trucks. But SSG Monty's true gift is his uncanny ability to 
     establish rapport with the local nationals upon whose trust 
     the entire troop depends in order to rebuild the communities 
     and counter the insurgent threats. Smoking cigarettes and 
     drinking coffee constantly, SSG Monty can approach any 
     individual in our sector, and, within a matter of minutes, 
     they are exchanging stories about their children or talking 
     about how to improve water flow in a nearby irrigation canal. 
     Never in my life, not at Columbia nor at Harvard, have I ever 
     encountered an individual with more practical intelligence--
     with the ability to adapt doctrine or theory to a real-world 
     operating environment, which, in our case, carries life and 
     death significance. As for SFC Richardson, he is simply a 
     force of nature. He is the tactical expert upon whom his 
     platoon leader relies to carefully plan any deliberate 
     operation. Riding in the 4-truck, the platoon's trail 
     vehicle, he has managed the evacuation of all

[[Page 15348]]

     Soldiers injured on patrol with a sense of calm and poise 
     that has allowed the platoon to address potentially 
     catastrophic situations with the speed and efficiency needed 
     to ensure the safety of all involved. The Soldiers in his 
     platoon trust him implicitly and would literally follow him 
     wherever he decided to go. He is the most senior Soldier in 
     the entire troop, with even more years in service than our 
     first sergeant; he has used this seniority to be the forceful 
     and articulate voice on all Soldier issues. When his guys are 
     smoked, he goes to my commander and first sergeant, and tells 
     them the platoon needs a day of refit . . . and they listen. 
     SFC Richardson was the one who insisted upon explaining to 
     the local-national children, who gathered to receive their 
     soccer balls, why Nick's name had been inscribed on each of 
     their gifts. Into his leadership style, SFC Richardson has 
     managed to fold toughness, moral authority, compassion, and 
     intelligence--or, more specifically, the ability to think 
     critically about and to respond swiftly to unpredictable and 
     challenging situations. And then there's the amazing 
     symbiosis that my commander and first sergeant have been able 
     to establish. They are the only command pair in my entire 
     squadron not to have previously deployed to either 
     Afghanistan or Iraq since combat operations began in those 
     places in 2001 and 2003, respectively. However, they have not 
     allowed this relative inexperience to adversely affect our 
     troop's operations. Rather, they have approached our campaign 
     plan with a refreshing open-mindedness, rigorous planning 
     process, and strict attention to detail that have helped to 
     keep our Soldiers safe and our unit mission effective.
       I have still only spoken in relatively general terms thus 
     far, but I want to share with you a specific example from our 
     deployment that I believe demonstrates the courage and 
     discipline of our Soldiers and, more generally, illuminates 
     the value of service. In mid-October, after only a month in 
     our sector, our infantry platoon was conducting dismounted 
     night-time reconnaissance of a piece of key terrain. The 8-
     man dismounted element had just embarked on their patrol when 
     their senior scout, SSG Hurlbutt, stepped on an anti-tank 
     mine. He was blown off the ground and sent hurtling 15 feet 
     through the air into a reed-choked and half-filled irrigation 
     canal. Without hesitating, the dismounted team leader, SGT 
     Love, and one of the other members of the patrol, SPC 
     Conolly, immediately jumped into the canal and extracted--up 
     its steep and slippery banks--their severely injured platoon 
     mate--who, between the weight of his body, protective armor, 
     weapon, and gear weighed more than 300 pounds. While they 
     administered first aid, the platoon leader, lLT Kimes, who 
     was the trail man in the patrol, positioned the balance of 
     the element in a security perimeter and coordinated for the 
     MEDEVAC. (And, this provides me with an opportunity to praise 
     again the technical skill and courage of Chief Reeves and the 
     other MEDEVAC pilots upon us guys on the ground constantly 
     rely.) Some people may be inclined to attribute the way in 
     which the ``rock lizards'' were able to handle this situation 
     to their training, but I am more inclined to attribute it to 
     their courage and commitment to one another. As for SSG 
     Hurlbutt, he is an extraordinary Soldier among many 
     extraordinary Soldiers. Just prior to the deployment, he was 
     given. the option of deploying late or not deploying at all 
     in order to care for his wife, who had only recently 
     recovered from a very serious illness. Despite his concern 
     for his wife, he declined the offer, understanding that his 
     previous combat experience and deep knowledge were essential 
     to helping his platoon transition to operations in theater. 
     And then, in January, when my commander returned to Fort 
     Drum, where my unit is based, for his mid-tour leave, he 
     visited SSG Hurlbutt, who is still recovering from his 
     injuries. In the months between sustaining the injury and my 
     commander's visit, SSG Hurlbutt had received skin grafts to 
     replace the skin and tissue destroyed by the mine's intense 
     heat and he was undergoing excruciating physical therapy to 
     recover from the chunk of flesh and muscle that he lost from 
     his left thigh. Despite all this and despite the fact that he 
     was barely ambulatory at the time of my commander's visit, he 
     amazingly started campaigning to return to sector before we 
     redeployed.
       And then there's SPC Jonathan Cadavero. SPC Cadavero was my 
     good friend and we were in the same company at Officer 
     Candidate School. Throughout the first half of the course, he 
     began to have reservations about continuing his pursuit of an 
     officer's commission--but never once questioned his desire to 
     serve. After successfully completing the land-navigation 
     course and receiving top marks on his academic testing and 
     leadership evaluations, he recognized that he had met and 
     exceeded the standards required to become an officer. He then 
     felt that he could leave Officer Candidate School without 
     feeling that he was dodging a challenge. He decided that he 
     preferred to fulfill his obligations to the Army as an 
     enlisted medic rather than as an officer, which meant less 
     pay and decision-making authority; but, he did not care about 
     that; he simply wanted to serve his country in Iraq. I 
     remember having long conversations with him about his 
     decision in our barracks at Ft Benning. I told him that he 
     needed to make the decision with which he felt most 
     comfortable; either way, he would have the opportunity to 
     serve--a motivation we both proudly shared and embraced. The 
     next time we met was at Bradley's, the tailor shop just 
     outside of Ft Drum; we were both having nametapes sewn on our 
     boonie caps, assault packs, and ruck sacks in preparation for 
     the deployment of our brigade. We talked informally about our 
     families; about finally being in the regular Army after more 
     than a year in various Army schools; about the long and 
     challenging deployment that hovered on the horizon. Over the 
     next 6 months, we met randomly on Camp Striker--at the gym, 
     at the chow hall, around our living quarters--each time 
     sharing warm conversation, sometimes about the Army, but 
     usually just about baseball. On February 27th, while acting 
     as the platoon medic for a route-clearance element operating 
     in support of my unit's sister troop, he was killed when an 
     IED detonated under the truck in which he was riding. This 
     device was buried deep under the paved surface of the road on 
     which he was traveling, and, when it detonated, it completely 
     destroyed his truck and killed all of the occupants. I 
     remember seeing his name listed among the casualties. At 
     first, everything seemed to collapse with the pain I felt for 
     his loss, for his family, friends, and fellow Soldiers. And 
     then everything seemed to explode in a rush of memories--
     wandering through the woods of Ft Benning in our desperate 
     attempts to find our points on the land-navigation course or 
     cracking jokes before the dreaded arrival of our supervisors 
     at the ridiculous light-out ritual each night. I remember his 
     distinctive New York accent, his infectious smile, his wit, 
     his intelligence, his unwavering desire to serve his country 
     as a Soldier during wartime. His sacrifice and sense of duty 
     should be an inspiration to his fellow Soldiers and to the 
     country he proudly served, but these are no comfort to his 
     family and friends. The memory of his loss is still too 
     fresh. The loss of each service member sends ripples of pain 
     throughout communities; those closest to him are touched in a 
     way that is impossible for most of us to imagine. Most can 
     sympathize but not really empathize. This is the fundamental 
     challenge of Memorial Day: once a year, we have the 
     opportunity to congregate as a community and as a society to 
     commemorate their sacrifice--but perhaps more importantly--to 
     celebrate their legacy. I would encourage everyone to find 
     the name of an individual Soldier, Marine, Airman, or Sailor, 
     who has lost their life while serving their country; give 
     that name and the magnitude of their sacrifice specific 
     attention. This will help us to humanize the sacrifice that 
     spans generations. This sacrifice and service connect us all 
     in a tragic but crucial narrative. Ours is a country built 
     upon the value of service and it should be celebrated--even 
     if it must be done with a somber tone and painful heart. I 
     know that on every Memorial Day from this day forward, I'll 
     take the opportunity to reflect on the life and sacrifice of 
     SPC Cadavero.
       Rare is this profession of arms for its whole essence is 
     built upon a foundation of specifically conceptualized values 
     that are intended to discipline individual Soldiers into a 
     coherent and selfless team. The only constants that Soldiers 
     will ever have are the support of their fellow Soldiers, the 
     value of their service, and the appreciation of the grateful 
     nation whom they serve. Soldiers have always been asked to 
     sacrifice their comforts and desires for the sake of the team 
     and for the mission. Unlike the civilian world, Soldiers are 
     required to see their commitment through to the end 
     regardless of the extenuating circumstances that may arise 
     after making the oath of enlistment or commission. I am awed 
     by the courage and service of my Soldiers, by their ability 
     to manage their myriad personal and family concerns while 
     negotiating the constant threats to their safety that lurk 
     ominously every time we leave the wire in Iraq. The purpose 
     of Memorial Day is for our nation to recognize and express 
     their appreciation for this service, in general, and the 
     sacrifice of those that have lost their lives while serving, 
     more specifically. I ask only that we, as a community, 
     embrace this opportunity to contemplate seriously what this 
     service and sacrifice have meant in the development of our 
     country and in the expression of our shared values.

                          ____________________