Brian Jones: “I want to thank 370 Members of the House of Representatives for joining me in an effort to rename the Department of Navy…”

“I want to thank 370 Members of the House of Representatives for joining me in an effort to rename the Department of Navy to be the Navy and Marine Corps. I would also like to share with the House that last Thursday was a very exciting day for this effort, the reason being that Mike Blum, a Marine Corps League executive director, was the MC at a news conference that was attended. One of the speakers was United States Marine General Tony Zinni. Senator Pat Roberts, from the Senate, introduced an identical bill to the bill H.R. 24, which 370 Members cosponsored. Also in attendance to speak was General Al Gray, a former commandant of the United States Marine Corps. There was a very impressive young man from Texas, Sergeant Eddie Wright, a marine veteran and Bronze Star recipient, who lost both hands in combat in Iraq in 2004. Despite his injuries, he became a Marine Corps hand-to-hand combat instructor. He later retired and is now a defense contractor. Sergeant Wright explained the importance of teamwork between the Navy and Marine Corps because he said at the news conference, if he had not had the Navy corpsman there, he would not have been living today to appear at the news conference, calling for this relationship to be publicly respected--the Navy and Marine Corps.”