Date: 2004-07-13
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I thank the ranking member of the House Committee on Armed Services for taking this hour to discuss what Democrats- in particular * have been doing for our troops. The gentleman was so good in out"lining the fact that our troops are now in over 120 countries in the world. We have about 161.000 troops deployed in Iraq and Kuwait. Almost 40 percent of those are Reservists and National Guardsmen. The fact of the matter is there has been stoploss in these troops. which means that somebody who is ready to go out and has indicated that they are leaving the Armed Services are stopped from leaving because we need them to continue to serve. Just recently. about 10 days ago. this administration said that it would call in the Individual Ready Reserve. Those are people who have already gotten out and are into their fulltime lives and now are asked to continue back in. So we really are at the risk of breaking the force. Too many tours. our families are hurting. they do not see their loved ones. Especially if you are a National Guardsman or Reservist and you have got your regular life going on. and all of a sudden you are plucked up and sent somewhere 6 months. then it turns into 12 months. then 18 months. and your family suffers because you may not get the same paycheck that you did in civilian life. I know that Democrats on the committee. one of the things we have been doihg something to try to make up that gap. so financially speaking. our families are made whole. Unfortunately. that is not included in this bill that goes to conference. One thing that is included. however. is more troops to be trained for the future. We have 30.000 new positions that we have put into the bill for the Army and 10.000 new positions for the Marines. But. again. it takes time. That is over 3 years. It takes time to train these new members of the force to go and help us do the work that we have asked them to do. There are so many things that we have actually done. Initially when we deployed into Iraq. not everybody had body armor. for example. I know in my own area. in Costa Mesa. California. we have one of the premier companies that makes ceramic armor. and we are working three shifts. seven days a week in the factory to try to get the armor to our people out in Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess the last thing I would like to say is that our families. the families of the military. are hurting. I have been able now to go over to Korea and to Afghanistan and to Iraq and to Germany to see our families. and they ask. for how long? How much? Why do you bring my family member and take him back 2 weeks later? How long will he serve there? How long will she serve there? Why do you put them in Iraq for 6 months. and then tell them it is another 4 months. and pretty soon it is a year. and then you bring them back and you put them into Afghanistan. So one of the things we are trying to do is make sure that the Pentagon and this administration makes better schedules. begins to plan better for our troops and for our families. Mr. Speaker. I would just like to take the time to thank the gentleihan from Missouri for taking this time.