[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 75]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    OUR TROOPS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN

  (Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HUIZENGA of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this time to come 
and report back to this body and to the people of the Second District 
about my very quick but very informative weekend trip to Afghanistan 
where I was able to be cautiously encouraged by the progress that the 
Afghan National Army is making there. Mainly, my goal was to go and say 
``thank you'' to the men and women of all the different branches and to 
let them know that they will not be forgotten by me, by my constituents 
or by the rest of us here in this body.
  I especially want to say ``thank you'' to our international 
partners--the Brits, the Aussies, the Germans, the Dutch, the 
Romanians--who are there with us along with many others who are pushing 
this effort forward. I also want to say ``thank you'' to the Embassy 
staff for their fine work and to the men and women of the Air National 
Guard, who are there sacrificing, especially those men and women from 
the 82nd Airborne, who hosted us in Kandahar. I also thank the marines 
at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand province.
  I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, I now proudly carry this challenge 
coin given to me by a new friend, a sergeant major from Michigan. I 
carry this in my pocket every day, and I want them to know that they 
will not be forgotten.

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