Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2011
Mr. Speaker, I come to rise in support of this bill, but most of all, to tell the American people what a great man this bill is named after. Under his guidance, the House Armed Services Committee, the first hearing that was held under his…
Mr. Speaker, I come to rise in support of this bill, but most of all, to tell the American people what a great man this bill is named after. Under his guidance, the House Armed Services Committee, the first hearing that was held under his leadership was to address the problem of underbody explosions to American vehicles. Under Ike Skelton, the previous Secretary of Defense wanted to build 5,000 mine- resistant vehicles. The first hearing under Ike's watch was to discuss the possibility of building mine-resistant vehicles. We set the bar at 15,000. The next day, the new Secretary of Defense, Secretary Gates, said, No, it's not going to be 15,000. It's going to be 17,000. Now that number stands at about 19,000.
What has that accomplished? In 2005, the Mississippi Guard went to Iraq. Twenty-eight of my fellow Mississippians died from underbody explosions to vehicles. In 2009, the Mississippi Guard went back to Iraq. They were attacked 85 times. They did not lose a limb, they did not lose a life, because of the mine-resistant vehicles they were traveling in.
On Ike Skelton's watch, the fleet has grown by seven ships. We have a friendly game of one-upmanship in this Chamber, incoming Mr. Chairman. I've got believe Ike Skelton set the bar very high for you. I look forward to you doing even better.
Ike Skelton, thank you for the magnificent job you've done in saving the lives of our troops.