On the recordNovember 17, 2014
In closing, I have no doubt that this will pass, as rightfully it should, but if I can take a moment, looking at that picture of the young lieutenant wearing his cavalry insignia, Armor is the only branch that I know of that has two insignias: one when you are stationed when you have heavy armor, one for the cav. The fact is, in most wars, the enemy is ahead of you and you look for the enemy. In World War II and Korea, people talked about going to the front. In Iraq, there is no front. So every day Lieutenant Riordan knew he was at the front. Every day he knew in the light-armored vehicle he was riding in that, in fact, an IED could be cranked off either remotely or on his vehicle nearing it at any time. Our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are not faced by an enemy who has a front. They are faced by an enemy that almost to a person hides behind improvised explosives. More of our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have died because of these devices, not by an enemy at a front, but by a bomb on the road. Lieutenant Riordan was no different. So when you look at his awards and you look at the way he lived and died, he wasn't fighting a war in which he went to the front to face an enemy; he faced that enemy, and at any moment his life could end, as it did end, by a sneak attack that had no face on it.…
