[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11370-11371]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              AFGHANISTAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I am once again on the floor of the House 
with a picture of children who have lost a loved one in Afghanistan. 
Eden and Stephanie Balduf, shown here at Arlington Cemetery, lost their 
father, Sergeant Kevin Balduf, on May 12 of this year.
  Sergeant Balduf, who was stationed at Camp Lejeune Marine Base, and 
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Palmer, stationed at Cherry Point Marine 
Base, were sent with the mission to train Afghan citizens to become 
police. The men had just sat down to dinner when a rogue trainee opened 
fire, killing both men.
  In an e-mail to his wife the day before he died, Sergeant Balduf 
said: ``I don't trust them. I don't trust them for anything, not for 
anything at all.''
  This brings me to a quote from AC Snow's recent column in the Raleigh 
News and Observer, titled, ``Time to Bring Them Home. Let Them Live.'' 
Mr. Snow is a well-known and respected correspondent in North Carolina.
  ``It seems we never run out of wars. It is as if one small country 
after another sends out engraved invitations reading: `We're having a 
war. Please come.'
  ``And Uncle Sam goes, lugging borrowed billions and thousands of 
young men and women to sacrifice on the altar of so-called `freedom' or 
`nation-building.'''
  Mr. Speaker, I go back to the two little girls in this picture. How 
many more children will be at the graveside of a loved one? How many 
more will have to know the pain of war?
  I further quote from AC Snow's article, which is quoted from the play 
Les Miserables: ``He is young. He is only a boy. You can take. You can 
give. Let him be. Let him live. Bring him home. Bring him home. It's 
way past time to stop playing politics with the lives of America's 
youth. Bring them home. Let them live, not just 30,000 of them--all of 
them.''
  I agree with Mr. Snow and many others across this Nation who are 
calling for our troops to come home. Bin Laden is dead, and there are 
fewer than 30 al Qaeda remaining in Afghanistan, according to 
intelligence reports. We have done our job. We have won. It is time to 
bring them home.

[[Page 11371]]

  The reason I continue to come down here on the floor is because of a 
statement former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates made before the Armed 
Services Committee in February, and I sit on that committee:
  ``That is why we believe that, beginning in fiscal year 2015, the 
United States can, with minimal risk, begin reducing Army active duty 
end strength by 27,000 and the Marine Corps by somewhere between 15,000 
and 20,000. These projections assume that the number of troops in 
Afghanistan would be significantly reduced by the end of 2014, in 
accordance with the President's strategy.''
  I share this because I believe we are still in a black hole even with 
the President withdrawing 10,000 troops this year. Let's not wait until 
2014 or 2015. Let's not bring any more pain to our military families. 
Our job is done. Let's bring them home.
  Mr. Speaker, before closing, one more time, on the faces of these 
little girls is the face of pain, of a daddy they will never grow up to 
know. It is time to bring them home, Mr. Speaker. It is time to bring 
them home.
  On behalf of Eden and Stephanie and all the children across this 
country who have lost loved ones, may God bless you and your families. 
May God bless our men and women in uniform, and may God continue to 
bless America.

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