[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 17035]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO GENERAL RICHARD A. CODY

 Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I commend GEN Richard A. Cody, Vice 
Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, for his outstanding service and 
commitment to excellence throughout his 36 years of distinguished 
military service to our Nation. General Cody will retire in August 2008 
with the gratitude and well wishes of the Nation and particularly of 
the soldiers and families to whom he has devoted his life.
  General Cody is originally from Montpelier, VT, and began his service 
as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated from West Point 
in 1972 and became an Army aviator. General Cody has long been widely 
regarded as the Army's premier attack helicopter warrior and pilot with 
over 5,000 flying hours.
  For more than 20 of his 36 years as a soldier General Cody has been 
entrusted with the command of troops in well known combat units 
including the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and several 
assignments with the 101st Airborne Division . Most notably, in 1991 
then-Lieutenant Colonel Cody personally led the Apache attack 
helicopters of Task Force Normandy, the joint aviation task force that 
fired the opening salvoes of the gulf war, that destroyed Iraqi air 
defense sites and, as GEN H. Norman Schwarzkopf recounted, ``plucked 
out the eyes'' of Sadaam Hussein's air defenses.
  Over the last 6 years, as one of the most senior leaders of the Army, 
General Cody has dedicated himself to ensuring that American soldiers 
are the best-trained, best-equipped and best-led force ready for the 
complex challenges of the global war on terror. As a result, in part of 
his determined leadership and uncompromising support, soldiers deployed 
in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world have met those challenges.
  General Cody's insight and leadership has also been a force behind 
the Army's transformation, which has set the Army on a path to provide 
the Nation with an Army that is more lethal, agile, deployable, and 
flexible; capable of fighting and winning this Nation's wars in the 
21st century.
  General Cody has been an example to soldiers throughout his great 
career; an example shared by his proud Army family as well. His wife 
Vicki will forever be a strong voice and tireless worker for soldiers 
and their families. Their brave sons Tyler and Clint, also Army 
officers and attack helicopter aviators with six combat tours between 
them, have answered the same call to duty and continue to serve the 
Nation.
  General Cody is an American hero, unflinching in war and tireless in 
peace. President John F. Kennedy once said, ``When at some future date 
the high court of history sits in judgment of each one of us-recording 
whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities, 
we will be measured by our answers to 4 questions-were we truly men of 
courage were we truly men of judgment were we truly men of integrity 
were we truly men of dedication?'' I believe that when history judges 
the service of General Cody, the Army's 31st Vice Chief of Staff, it 
will be clear that this was truly a man of courage, judgment, 
integrity, and dedication.
  The Nation is honored and grateful to have had the service of GEN 
Richard Cody and his family. As he and his wife start this next chapter 
of their lives, we wish them all the best for a day of rest well 
deserved and earned.

                          ____________________