[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[HO]
[Page 31798]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2210
                      LETTER FROM REBECCA SHOWERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in the people's House to give 
voice to the pain and courage of Rebecca Showers, one of my 
constituents. I do so, believing that we must take every opportunity in 
this Chamber to tell the stories of the American people.
  With Rebecca's permission, I would like to read part of a letter she 
sent to me earlier this month. Rebecca's husband had every expectation 
of completing his service in the Army after two tours in Iraq. But 
recently he received word that he now faces a third deployment, this 
one for 15 months.
  Speaking of her husband, Mrs. Showers writes this: ``I don't want him 
to miss a year and a half of our lives. Our son is 2, and he will miss 
the most important times in his life, the forming of sentences, 
learning new words, learning the alphabet, even 2 of his birthdays, 
which, by the way, he already missed him turning 2 on October 17.
  ``He will also miss two Christmases and two Thanksgivings. Just to 
let you know, in the last 6 years he has only been home twice for 
Christmas, and not once for Thanksgiving. I'm sure you hear this a lot 
from other Army spouses, but I just want my husband to be home with his 
family, where he belongs. I would like to know what the government is 
willing to do about getting our guys home sooner, or at least if they 
are willing to send them over for shorter tours. A year and a half is 
just too long, and I am not sure they understand that.
  ``Is there anything you can do for me and my son or know anything 
else that maybe I could do? Please help me, Mr. Sarbanes. He shouldn't 
have to go for so long. It's tearing me apart.''
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know whether it's possible to accelerate this 
young man's return, but I have contacted the Department of the Army, 
asking for its consideration based on these circumstances. In the 
meantime, my colleague, Ellen Tauscher, has introduced legislation to 
require that between these extended tours, our troops would at the very 
least receive the same amount of time home with their family that they 
have spent deployed in Iraq.
  I again salute Rebecca Showers's courage and her husband's service to 
our country.

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