[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 1455-1456]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         TRIBUTE TO JAMES BOYD

 Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I wish to speak today about the 
noble service of a great American from the State of Alabama, Mr. James 
Boyd. Mr. Boyd serves the city of Anniston as a police officer and has 
served as a civilian adviser to the Afghani Police Force in Khost and 
Kabul, Afghanistan, from November of 2009 to November of 2010. He is 
currently featured in the laudable project ``100 Faces of the War 
Experience.'' This exhibition displays portraits and brief stories of 
those who

[[Page 1456]]

have served in the multitude of possible ways in the theatres of war. 
The portraits are not for sale and not done at any cost to the 
participants. Mr. Boyd's story is as follows:

       January 7th was the day of my war experience. I was 
     embedded with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, advising the 
     Afghan border police. We returned to our combat outpost at 
     3:20 PM after a supply mission. Right away I noticed that the 
     local border police we lived with were all but gone and my 
     police instinct immediately told me something was wrong. My 
     partner and I were talking to the Lieutenant and Sergeant 
     outside our building and decided to change into cold weather 
     gear for the night. Just as it got dark, we started receiving 
     heavy enemy gunfire; it was relentless and was all at head 
     level. I could hear the Sergeant yelling, ``Incoming!'' A 
     suicide bomber drove a 4,000 lb vehicle- borne improvised 
     explosive device into our compound wall injuring 13 U.S. 
     soldiers. I ran to those who were calling for help and found 
     the Sergeant I had been speaking with moments before; he was 
     severely injured and later died. My partner and I ran back-
     and-forth across the compound under heavy gunfire to get 
     medical bags and stretchers, and to give combat aid. More 
     than a dozen Taliban tried to breach our compound throughout 
     the attack but the team held them back. The rush of emotions 
     throughout was unbelievable--the highest of highs and lowest 
     of lows. The carnage of war is horrendous. The valor of 
     warriors is inspiring. We should all be grateful to the 
     members of our military who defend our enduring freedom and I 
     am honored to support them in their mission.

  I thank Mr. Boyd and his family for their honorable contributions 
toward the goals of our great Nation. I wish him and his family only 
the best in their future endeavors.

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