[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 9219-9220]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING RICHARD J. SLOMA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOHN KATKO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 13, 2017

  Mr. KATKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Colonel Richard J. 
Sloma, a Syracuse native and second-generation Polish-American, who has 
dedicated much of his adult life to serving this great country and our 
community. Colonel Sloma enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve upon 
graduating high school and later went on to obtain his bachelor's 
degree from SUNY Oswego and his master's degree from the University at 
Albany. Colonel

[[Page 9220]]

Sloma is currently a member of the Polish Legion of American Veterans--
Post 14, the Syracuse Polish Home, the Polish American Historical 
Association, and serves as an Archivist for the New York State Archives 
in Albany.
  This year, Colonel Sloma will be honored at the 2017 Syracuse Polish 
Festival as the ``2017 Pole of the Year.'' He will be recognized for 
his dedicated service to our country.
  Colonel Sloma served on U.S. Army active duty assignments in New York 
State, North Dakota, and Italy. Colonel Sloma then joined the New York 
Army National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan with the 27th 
Infantry Brigade from Syracuse in 2008. There, Colonel Sloma served as 
the Director of Intelligence for the Task Force Phoenix in Kandahar. 
Colonel Sloma later retired in 2013 with the rank of Colonel as the New 
York State Counterdrug Task Force Commander. Colonel Sloma had over 20 
years of active duty experience and 31 years of total military 
experience, earning the Legion of Merit award, Bronze Star, Joint 
Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, three Meritorious 
Medals, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the Airborne Badge.
  I am honored to recognize Colonel Richard J. Sloma for his service to 
our great nation and upon being named ``2017 Pole of the Year'' by the 
Syracuse Polish Scholarship Fund, Inc.

                          ____________________