[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Page 21599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           COMMENDING REAR ADMIRAL CHRISTINE M. BRUZEK-KOHLER

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I would like to recognize a great 
American and a dedicated naval officer who has diligently served for 
the past 35 years and most recently served as the Director, Navy Nurse 
Corps. Admiral Bruzek-Kohler, a native of Camden, New Jersey, entered 
the Navy in 1974 after earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from 
Villanova University. Admiral Bruzek-Kohler served in many nursing 
roles, obtained her master's and doctoral degrees, and was selected to 
serve in many distinguished senior health executive assignments 
including executive officer, commanding officer, and now regional 
commander and commander. However, the most rewarding role of her career 
was serving as the 21st Director Navy Nurse Corps, where she led more 
than 4100 Active-Duty and Reserve nurses to advance the role and 
relevance of nursing in the military and throughout our Nation. With 
visionary leadership, she championed initiatives that successfully 
increased nurse recruitment and retention through accession and 
specialty pay bonuses, loan repayment programs, and educational 
opportunities to both military and Federal civilian nurses. Seeing 
firsthand the physical and psychological wounds of war borne by our 
young servicemembers and their families, Admiral Bruzek-Kohler 
spearheaded nursing operational readiness improvements to include 
clinical sustainment policies and the expansion of mental health nurse 
specialists and mental health nurse practitioners within the Nurse 
Corps.
  Admiral Bruzek-Kohler served with passion and conviction and 
profoundly impacted Federal nursing issues within the Navy and our 
nation. Her performance reflects exceptionally on herself, the U.S. 
Navy, the Department of Defense, and the United States of America. I 
extend my deepest appreciation to Admiral Bruzek-Kohler on behalf of a 
grateful nation for her years of dedicated service to the Navy Nurse 
Corps.

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