[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24693-24694]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            IN HONOR OF THE 56TH STRYKER BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support 
of House Resolution 754. It was an emotional time in Pennsylvania as 
members of the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team came home from Iraq to 
a tribute of yellow ribbons and flying flags. The homecoming elation 
belies the fear that always accompanies soldiers at war.
  NBC correspondent Richard Engel described one of the uses of a 
Stryker vehicle now in Afghanistan: ``We're warned about IEDs, 
improvised explosive devices, a somewhat desensitized way of saying 
bombs that can blow you to pieces and throw your body 75 feet in the 
air.
  ``Some of the Strykers, the soldier's armored vehicles, are fitted 
with giant rollers. They stick out in front of the big armored trucks, 
making the Strykers look like the machines that pick up golf balls at a 
driving range. The Strykers push the heavy wheels of the rollers over 
the sand. If the wheels hit an IED, the device will blow up; if not, 
the ground is safe.
  ``We walk in a double-file line in the tracks left by the rollers. I 
try to walk in the footsteps of the soldier in front of me.''
  This is a stark reality of the job the Stryker Brigade performs in 
both Iraq and Afghanistan. It is just one of the reasons we honor their 
service today.

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