[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1] [Senate] [Pages 512-513] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO MAJOR GENERAL DONALD C. STORM Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to honor a respected Kentuckian, MG Donald C. Storm, who has nobly served the United States and Kentucky for 37 years. In 1970, General Storm enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving with Military Assistance Command Vietnam. After 2 years of Active Duty, he continued to serve his country in the Kentucky National Guard. Years of accomplishment and experience earned General Storm the appointment to Adjutant General of the Kentucky National Guard by Governor Ernie Fletcher in 2003. Regretfully, after 37 years of service and 4 years in that post, General Storm has decided to retire. Because of his dignified and unwavering commitment to the citizens of this country and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I stand to honor him today. General Storm has served the Commonwealth and its citizens in superb ways. He was an advocate for the destruction of marijuana, supporting the Marijuana Eradication Program; he oversaw a recruitment program that exceeded its goals; and finally, he was a true leader and supporter of his troops. General Storm was known for his dedication to the care of his soldiers and their families, celebrating with them in times of victory and mourning with them in times of loss. Storm has clearly proved himself a man of honor and dignity who represents not only his country proudly but his State proudly. I wish General Storm and his family much happiness after retirement, and I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring General Storm for his dedication, patriotism, and willingness to give so much of himself for the good of his country and his fellow Kentuckians. Mr. President, recently the Lexington Herald-Leader published a story about Major General Storm, ``Generally Speaking; Retiring Guard chief's mission: `Take care of the troops.''' I ask unanimous consent to have the full article printed in the Congressional Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: [[Page 513]] [From the Lexington Herald-Leader, Jan. 13, 2008] Generally Speaking; Retiring Guard Chief's Mission: ``Take Care of the Troops'' (By Jim Warren) Lexington, KY.--The pace of life is slower these days around Donald Storm's Elizabethtown home. No more dashing to catch planes for Iraq. No more late- night phone calls about soldiers lost. No more need to put on the uniform. After a 37-year military career, Storm, the former Kentucky adjutant general, is relearning civilian life. Storm had hoped to be retained as adjutant general in the new administration of Gov. Steve Beshear. But the governor chose to replace him with Brig. Gen. Edward W. Tonini, 61, former chief of staff for the Kentucky Air National Guard. Storm could have elected to remain in uniform, but that would have required him to move to another state guard program with a slot for someone of his rank, or take a post at the National Guard Bureau in Washington. But he chose retirement, and respite from the stresses and strains of commanding the Kentucky National Guard during its most difficult period in more than 30 years. Storm did not escape controversy during his tenure, but is generally remembered for working hard to support the troops he led. During his watch, the Kentucky Guard sent thousands of soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan, losing troops in both countries. It sent units to Louisiana to help in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and dispatched about 1,000 soldiers to help monitor the U.S.-Mexico border in Operation Jump Start. Add peace-keeping duties in Bosnia, and Homeland Security assignments, and about 9,400 Kentucky Army and Air National Guard members were deployed over the course of Storm's tenure--more than the entire membership of the state guard when Storm became adjutant general. Storm was the guard's chief of staff in December 2003, when incoming Gov. Ernie Fletcher appointed him to be adjutant general, succeeding D. Allen Youngman. ``Little did I know then that I would face some of the things I had to face,'' Storm said. Sgt. Darrin Potter of Louisville, the first Kentucky National Guard member lost in combat since Vietnam, had died in Iraq about two months before Storm's promotion. Many others would follow during the next four years. Officially, 15 Kentucky Guard members were lost in combat while Storm was in command. He personally includes two others who were on inactive guard status when they were killed while working for private security firms in Iraq. Once a guard member, always a guard member, Storm believes. Today, he admits that losing soldiers was the one part of his job he wasn't prepared for. The period from March through September 2005 was particularly bloody, for example, with six guard members killed in action. That year also saw one of the Kentucky Guard's proudest moments, as members of the Richmond-based 617th Military Police Company fought off a furious insurgent attack on a convoy at Salman Pak on March 20, 2005. Three unit members, including a woman, were awarded the Silver Star. One of them, Sgt. Timothy Nein, later received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second-highest military decoration. But displays of undaunted courage could never offset the pain of lost lives. Attending funerals and consoling the families of lost soldiers became an all-too-common part of Storm's job. ``Sergeant Potter had died,'' he recalled, ``and then it was just one right after another.'' It was particularly painful because Storm, through his many years in the guard, personally knew many of those who were lost. ``I'm going to admit that it took a toll on me,'' Storm said. ``I don't think I fully understood how much of a toll it was at the time. But it was the toughest thing I ever went through . . . the losses of these soldiers and the tremendous sacrifices of their wonderful families. I just grieved with all of them.'' Storm, a native of Laurel County, began his military career as an enlisted man, serving in Vietnam in 1971-72. He never planned to be a soldier--he says he just wanted to get a college education--but he quickly found that he liked the regimentation and the values of life in uniform. He joined the Kentucky National Guard after his Army enlistment ended. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1981, beginning a steady rise through the ranks. By the time Storm took over the top job, he had held virtually every major post in the Kentucky Guard. Storm sometimes sounds like a social philosopher when he speaks on the importance of military service. ``Military power,'' he says, ``is one of the four types of power you must have to support a nation state--information power, diplomatic power, economic power and military power. The fifth common denominator is the will of the people.'' No one had to convince Storm that invading Afghanistan and Iraq were the right things to do. He said he had seen the plight of the common people in both lands and felt that liberating them was a proper use of American force. He admits that he didn't expect the war in Iraq to drag on this long, though he says he knew it would be ``a long hard road'' once the insurgency kicked into high gear in 2004. But he says he was never discouraged, even when polls began to show declining citizen support for the war. ``I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, which was something that our people here at home didn't have the opportunity to see,'' he said. ``I knew that if we stayed the course . . . that removing Saddam . . . would bode well for free people and the other countries in that part of the world.'' Storm says he personally saw off every Kentucky guard unit as it left for the war zone except one (he was on his way to Iraq himself at the time), and greeted every unit when it came home. He made eight trips to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait to visit Kentucky troops and encourage them. ``I tried to make it my business to meet as many of the soldiers as I could, and let them know how much the people of Kentucky appreciated their service,'' he said. ``You know, it's not about generals. It's about soldiers and airmen.'' Storm, however, drew some fire in April 2005, after a Kentucky Guard member in Iraq went public with complaints that his unit was saddled with old, inadequately armored trucks. It happened shortly after a Kentucky guardsman died when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle. Storm responded that he didn't agree with the soldier going outside channels to raise a complaint, but that he would work to get better equipment for Guard units in Iraq. The adjutant general found himself in hot water again in March 2007, after an usual appearance in the State Senate, where he made a last-minute appeal in support of an income- tax break for Kentucky military personnel that was stuck in the State House. Some House leaders, including Speaker Jody Richards, attacked Storm's comments as a ``shameless, partisan diatribe.'' The Louisville Courier-Journal ran an editorial saying Storm should be replaced as adjutant general. Storm maintains that his ``whole deal'' always was ``to take care of the troops.'' Nowadays, he believes the work and sacrifices of the soldiers in Iraq are beginning to pay off. He sees the decline in violence since last summer as proof that ``we have turned the corner.'' The question, he says, is whether the improvement can be sustained as U.S. troops sent over for the ``surge'' start returning home in coming weeks. ``I pray that we can sustain this,'' he said. ``You never know in that part of the world because there are so many factions to deal with. ``But, boy, it sure does look great now. And if we can pull it off, it would be one of the greatest accomplishments ever for world peace . . . because the enemy we face is real. They want to destroy the western world and all the freedoms we enjoy.'' Storm won't be in uniform to see the victory he hopes for. But he says the biggest thing he will miss is simply serving in the Kentucky National Guard. ``The Kentucky National Guard is probably the best Guard unit in America,'' he says. ``That's what some three- and four-star generals will tell you. And it's because of all these great Kentuckians who have stood up, particularly after 9/11, to serve the State and the Nation. I'm so proud of the way they answered the call.'' ____________________