[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10327-10328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT WILLARVIS ``DEE'' SMITH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Kildee) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service of 
Chief Master Sergeant Willarvis ``Dee'' Smith, who, this week, will be 
retired after an illustrious 28-year career in the United States Air 
Force, a career that spanned many decades and took him to many 
continents across the globe.
  I am personally honored and grateful that Chief Smith is here in the 
House gallery today as we celebrate his outstanding career and service 
and congratulate him on his retirement from the U.S. Air Force.
  Mr. Speaker, Chief Smith was born and raised in the district that I 
now have the privilege to represent. In fact, he was raised in my 
hometown of Flint, Michigan, graduated from Northwestern High School, 
the school just to the north of Northern High School, my high school.
  Shortly after graduation, he entered the Air Force in 1986, where he 
completed his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Upon 
graduation from his technical training as an aircraft maintenance 
specialist for the B-52 in Texas, he was assigned to many stations, 
including New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, and 
Hawaii.
  During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he was deployed in 
Saudi Arabia, afterward also serving 2 years at Andersen Air Force Base 
in Guam. In 1991, Chief Smith held the rank of staff sergeant. Over his 
28-year career in the U.S. Air Force, he was promoted five times: 
first, to technical sergeant; then master sergeant; then senior master 
sergeant; and lastly, in 2010, he was promoted to chief master 
sergeant, the highest ranking enlisted position in the Air Force.
  As the chief enlisted manager of the Directorate of Communications of 
the Air Force District of Washington, Chief Smith served as senior 
adviser to the 844th communications group, which is made up of more 
than 900 military personnel. In this highly important and visible 
position, he helped to provide cyber support to the President of the 
United States and also to other senior officials at the Pentagon.
  During his 28 years of service to our country, Chief Smith's 
commitment and excellence as an outstanding airman did not go 
unnoticed. In 1989, he was recognized as the Air Mobility Command 
Student of the Year. In 2001 and 2003, Chief Smith earned the Defense 
Threat Reduction Agency's Information Management Senior Non-
Commissioned Officer of the Year Award. In 2005, he was named Air Force 
Senior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year and Air Force 
Communications and Information Professional of the Year.
  John Rogers, the deputy director of the 844th Communications Group, 
summed up Chief Smith's career by saying: ``He took care of our airmen

[[Page 10328]]

and he was phenomenal. He embodied our core value of service before 
self.''
  Chief Master Sergeant Smith, on behalf of the people of the Fifth 
Congressional District, on behalf of the Congress of the United States, 
thank you for your admirable service to our country. The motto of the 
Air Force is ``Aim High . . . Fly-Fight-Win.'' Chief Smith, throughout 
your career, you have aimed high and truly represented the best of the 
U.S. Air Force, and you have represented the best of our shared 
hometown of Flint, Michigan.
  On behalf of my constituents in the Fifth Congressional District and 
on behalf of my colleagues here in Congress, congratulations to you on 
your outstanding career in the Air Force and your outstanding service 
to our country.

                          ____________________