[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       EQUIPMENT FOR OUR MILITARY

  (Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. BOYDA of Kansas. Madam Speaker, thanks to the long contributions 
of our soldiers and our veterans, America has amassed the most powerful 
military in the history of mankind. It is so powerful that we almost 
cannot imagine, we can almost imagine its resources are infinite, but 
they are not.
  They are limited, and due to the ever-expanding, ever-deteriorating 
war in Iraq, they are stretched dangerously thin. Our soldiers and our 
families, they will never complain, and that is why we must speak for 
them. We must ask, no, we must demand, that they have the equipment, 
the training and the support that they need to succeed, and today they 
do not.
  Since the Iraq war began in 2003, the Army has lost nearly 2,000 
wheeled vehicles and more than 100 armored vehicles. Almost half of the 
U.S. Army's entire supply of ground equipment is now deployed in the 
Middle East. The constant demands of combat and the treacherous terrain 
are wearing out equipment at up to nine times the usual rate.
  America's military is overburdened, and now our Nation must seriously 
discuss how to best deploy our depleted forces against the dangers of 
our day.

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