[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    RETIREMENT OF GENERAL JOHN ALLEN

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, today I honor an exceptional warrior. 
After a lifetime of service to our Nation, Gen. John R. Allen is 
retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps. On this occasion I believe it is 
fitting to recognize General Allen's years of uniformed service to our 
Nation.
  The general was commissioned a second lieutenant following graduation 
from the Naval Academy with the class of 1976. He has led at every 
level from platoon to theater command, including being the first Marine 
Commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy. He spent 2 years in Iraq's Anbar 
province, where he led an effort to reach out to Sunni tribal leaders 
to try to persuade them to stand against al-Qaida militants--a shift 
that helped turn the course of the war in western Iraq. And during his 
recent command in Afghanistan, which he proclaimed to be ``the honor of 
a lifetime,'' he spent 19 months winding down America's longest war 
while strengthening Afghanistan's military to fight insurgency.
  General Allen's record of service is remarkable and highly decorated. 
He has distinguished himself in every aspect from graduating with 
academic honors to receiving some of the highest military awards of the 
U.S. and foreign armed forces. However, he recognizes the most 
important distinction, and that is his family. In the last decade he 
has spent plenty of time away from his family in service to our Nation. 
He said that his family had not vacationed since his two adult 
daughters were young. His service and sacrifice will truly be missed by 
a grateful nation, and we hope that he gets that vacation he so clearly 
deserves and more.
  Our Nation will feel the loss of this distinguished officer, warrior 
and patriot; however, I have the utmost respect for his decision to put 
his family first. I join many members of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee in expressing my respect and gratitude to General Allen for 
his outstanding service to our Nation. I wish him and his wife Kathy 
``fair winds and following seas.''

                          ____________________