[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8195-8196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO MIKE BARKER

 Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this week in Bend, OR, the community 
will be honoring one of the great advocates for Oregon's veterans, Mike 
``Rocky'' Barker. Mike has been an incredible partner to me and my 
staff as we have worked to improve health and other services for 
central Oregon's military veterans.
  Mike's incredible service to our Nation began with 8 years in the 
U.S. Air Force as an air traffic controller. He went on to a career 
with the FAA at the Butte, MT, Flight Service Station and then moved to 
central Oregon where he ran the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program. In 
that post he became nationally recognized as the VA's

[[Page 8196]]

top service officer for 1999, and shortly thereafter he received 
similar national recognition from the VFW.
  Always looking for ways to help veterans in need, Mike ran the 
incarcerated vet program for a number of years. During his leadership, 
more than 95 percent of the veterans who came through his program 
stayed out of prison.
  He retired in 2003, and the hallmark of his career from 1970 to the 
present--whether as a professional or as a volunteer--has been his 
insight and leadership on issues that matter to military veterans.
  When I was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, Mike immediately 
rolled up his shirt sleeves to work with me and our staff to open up 
the VA's Central Oregon Community Based Outreach Clinic--the first of 
its kind to open up east of the Cascades. Before this clinic got off 
the ground, central Oregon veterans had to drive to the Portland VA 
Medical Center for the medical services our Nation promised them--a 6-
hour round trip. That hardship is now a thing of the past for Oregon's 
veterans. Today, the clinic is such a success that we are now in the 
process of expanding it.
  Throughout all of his work on veterans' issues, Mike had a particular 
feel for the challenges his fellow servicemembers faced with post 
traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. He had started working with people 
dealing with illness during the Vietnam era, and continues to this day. 
Three years ago, Mike brought together a diverse group of veterans' 
leaders and formed the Central Oregon Vet Center Task Force to find 
ways to support veterans in their community. Mike led the group's 
monthly meetings, as they brainstormed strategies to persuade the VA 
how important it was to create a vet center in eastern Oregon. Almost a 
year ago we finally achieved that goal, and the Central Oregon Vet 
Center is now open for service. It is a place where combat veterans can 
get counseling and, just as importantly, find a community of people who 
have a common experience as warriors for the United States.
  Thank you, Mike, for your friendship, your dedication, and your 
service to our veterans.

                          ____________________