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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 305 Introduced in House (IH)]

110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 305

 Honoring the 53,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians 
    that comprise the Nation's special operations forces community.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 17, 2007

 Mrs. Drake (for herself, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Thornberry, Mr. 
Hayes, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Skelton, Mr. Hunter, Ms. Castor, Mr. Conaway, 
  Mr. Saxton, Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Ellsworth, Mr. 
 Ortiz, Mr. Turner, Mr. Miller of Florida, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Marshall, 
    Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Andrews, Ms. Shea-Porter, and Mr. Udall of 
Colorado) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Honoring the 53,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians 
    that comprise the Nation's special operations forces community.

Whereas the failure to organize, train, equip, and plan special operations 
        forces (SOF) missions in a joint environment ultimately led to the 
        aborted military operation Eagle Claw, more commonly referred to as 
        Desert One, where eight servicemembers lost their lives attempting to 
        rescue American hostages held in Tehran;
Whereas this failure led to Congressional passage of the Goldwater-Nichols 
        Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which established the 
        United States Special Operations Command and the principle legal 
        authority for the United States military to organize, train, equip, and 
        operate jointly;
Whereas April 16, 2007, marks the 20th year anniversary of the establishment of 
        United States Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, 
        Florida;
Whereas United States Special Operations Command is comprised of--

    (1) United States Army Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, North 
Carolina;

    (2) Naval Special Warfare Command at Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, 
California;

    (3) Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Florida;

    (4) Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command at Camp Lejeune, 
North Carolina; and

    (5) Joint Special Operations Command at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina;

Whereas the most visible SOF mission is direct action, but SOF missions also 
        extend across the vast operational spectrum to include unconventional 
        warfare, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, counterinsurgency, 
        strategic reconnaissance, civil-military operations, foreign internal 
        defense, psychological and information operations, humanitarian 
        assistance, and theater search and rescue;
Whereas the President, in the 2004 Unified Command Plan, expanded the role of 
        United States Special Operations Command to serve as the ``lead 
        combatant commander for planning, synchronizing, and as directed, 
        executing global operations against terrorist networks in coordination 
        with other combatant commanders'';
Whereas special operations forces are ideally suited to meet the asymmetric 
        threat posed by violent Islamists who promote intolerance, stifle 
        freedom, and destroy peace;
Whereas the United States has called on the special operations community to 
        promote freedom and democracy around the world in places such as--

    (1) the Island of Basilan in the Philippines, where Army Special Forces 
teams and Navy SEALs continue to successfully develop partner nation 
capacity that has significantly improved Philippine security and has 
furthered America's national security interests in the Pacific region;

    (2) South America, where SOF personnel continue to train and cooperate 
with local forces to thwart illicit drug trafficking and terrorist 
activity;

    (3) the Horn of Africa, where Marine special operations and other SOF 
personnel work closely with coalition partners to promote regional 
stability;

    (4) Afghanistan, where Air Force combat controllers and other SOF 
personnel significantly contributed to the liberation of a nation from an 
oppressive regime and continue efforts to maintain the peace and promote 
democracy in that country; and

    (5) Iraq, where SOF personnel have admirably served in support of 
coalition forces;

Whereas the SOF community consists of numerous individuals recognized for acts 
        of distinction and valor, including 48 Congressional Medal of Honor 
        recipients;
Whereas the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review recognized the importance of SOF and 
        the critical role that it plays in the War on Terror and called for an 
        increase of 15 percent in SOF beginning in fiscal year 2007; and
Whereas the core principles of the special operations community, known as the 
        SOF Truths, hold that--

    (1) humans are more important than hardware;

    (2) SOF cannot be mass produced;

    (3) quality is better than quantity; and

    (4) competent SOF cannot be created after emergencies occur: Now, 
therefore, be it

    Resolved,  That the House of Representatives--
            (1) honors the sacrifices and commitment of the 53,000 
        soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and civilians that comprise 
        the Nation's special operations forces community and recognizes 
        that it owes each and every one of them a debt of gratitude;
            (2) honors the families of the Nation's special operations 
        forces warriors who are there day-in and day-out while their 
        loved ones are deployed around the world; and
            (3) recognizes that the United States military should seek 
        to replicate the success that the special operations forces 
        community has achieved throughout the War on Terror.
                                 <all>
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