[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 13013]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE TO BRIGADIER GENERAL PATRICK FINNEGAN

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to an extraordinary 
officer and gentleman--my dear friend BG Patrick Finnegan.
  Pat Finnegan and I go back a long way. We were classmates from the 
class of 1971 at West Point. We went to the Kennedy School of 
Government at Harvard University together. We went to the infantry 
officer basic course together, the airborne school. In fact, I was 
Lieutenant Finnegan's platoon leader.
  Pat went on to serve first as an infantry officer and then as a 
military intelligence officer. He was so talented and so obviously 
marked for big things that he was selected by the Army to attend the 
University of Virginia Law School. There he demonstrated his great 
legal mind and talent by his remarkable success in the classroom. He 
was a member of the Law Review, and then went into the Judge Advocate 
General Corps. He served with distinction, never serving a Washington 
billet, but always with the troops in the field, overseas in Germany, 
but particularly with the Special Operations Command, those warriors 
who are the tip of the spear for our military forces.
  Pat returned to West Point as a full colonel to become the head of 
the Department of Law. There he nurtured a generation of cadets. His 
success was such that he was the most obvious and the best choice to 
become the dean of the Military Academy, and he assumed those duties. 
For the last several years he has led the academic department at West 
Point with distinction.
  West Point has been selected by Forbes magazine as the best 
undergraduate institution in the country. It has been recognized in 
terms of the scholarships awarded to its students and in terms of the 
excellence of its academic programs.
  Pat contributed a lot more than just academic expertise. He and his 
wife Joan and their children and their grandchildren were a large part 
of the fabric of the West Point experience. They were there cheering on 
the cadets at their athletic events. They were there in the good times 
and the bad times of cadets. They were a source of inspiration and 
encouragement for class after class at West Point. Pat and Joan have 
left an indelible mark on the academy. They have done it with great 
learning and great character, and they have inspired all of us with 
their dedication to the Army, to the country, and a dedication to each 
other and to their children.
  It is with a great deal of pride that I salute BG Patrick Finnegan on 
his retirement from the U.S. Army and salute him also upon his 
appointment as president of Longwood University. Longwood will never 
regret their choice of a distinguished soldier and a great gentleman as 
their new president.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Franken). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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