[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 9974]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING LIEUTENANT COLONEL ALAN L. HINSON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SPENCER BACHUS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 27, 2010

  Mr. BACHUS. Madam Speaker, as we prepare to honor our veterans this 
Memorial Day, it is an appropriate time to recognize the service of 
Lieutenant Colonel Alan L. Hinson for his dedicated work as the 
Executive Director of Operation Grateful Heart in Alabama.
  Alabama has a proud heritage of supporting our troops in uniform and 
our returning veterans. Lieutenant Colonel Alan Hinson upheld this 
tradition when he was appointed by Governor Bob Riley to serve as the 
Executive Director of Operation Grateful Heart. He has been responsible 
for ensuring that all military personnel and their families receive 
appropriate recognition, tangible support, and neighborly care. The 
program provides caring assistance for our troops, both as they fight 
terrorism and defend freedom overseas and when they return home and 
require employment and veterans services in their communities.
  Lieutenant Colonel Alan Hinson's concern and compassion have come 
from his own experiences. He served in the U.S. Army from January 1969 
until June 1991. He was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, 
flying combat aerial missions for the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion, 
as well as direct support missions in support of ground troops in the 
III Corps and V Corps regions of South Vietnam. He also served several 
tours of duty at Fort Rucker, Alabama as both a flight and ground 
instructor. Later in his career, he returned to his basic branch of 
Field Artillery, where he served with the 2nd Infantry Division in 
Korea, 3rd Armored Division in Germany, 2nd Army in Atlanta, and Army 
Forces Command in Atlanta.
  In 1995, Lieutenant Colonel Alan Hinson returned to Alabama, where he 
served military veterans and their families for nine and a half years 
as counselor and case manager with the Alabama Intensive Veterans 
Employment (ALIVE) Program. The ALIVE program helped veterans 
encountering employment barriers return to the workforce by providing 
vocational assistance, job-specific training, work experience, and 
other supportive services. From 2005 through April 2007, Lieutenant 
Colonel Alan Hinson supplied assistance to Alabama citizens who had 
lost their jobs either from trade-related layoffs or as a result of 
disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.
  Lieutenant Colonel Alan Hinson is married to the former Celia Marie 
Sullivan of Troy, Alabama. They have one daughter, Rochelle Hughes, a 
nursing instructor at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, 
Mississippi; one son, Chief Warrant Officer Scott Hinson, currently 
serving with the 3rd Infantry Division at Forward Operating Base Falcon 
in Iraq; and five grandchildren.
  Lieutenant Colonel Alan Hinson has devoted his life to his family, 
his country, and our brave men and women in uniform. As he retires from 
his service as Executive Director of Operation Grateful Heart, it is 
now our welcome opportunity to salute him for his dedication to the 
United States of America and to the well-being of our troops and 
veterans.

                          ____________________