Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this important issue. Just so everyone will know, HAATS stands for the High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site. There is only one such site in the United States, and that is in the mountains of western Colorado, and it happens to be in Representative Tipton's district. A lot of the people who train there with rotary aircraft come from Fort Carson, which is in my district. I know there is interest from other members of the Colorado delegation. They have had legislation that would designate nearby areas, or even that area, as a wilderness site. But I want to talk about the importance of this to the Army. This is high-altitude training. So, for rotary wing pilots who are going to be going to places like Afghanistan, this is a unique training opportunity. The high altitude, the change of weather, the mountainous conditions, and the valleys and hills and mountain peaks really make for an amazing training experience. And it has saved lives. I know Representative Tipton is going to have one story. I will give another. Just in this last couple of months, a couple of skiers from Vail were lost, and there was a search and rescue effort that was undertaken. With the help of helicopter pilots who had been trained, who were in the Army National Guard, I believe, they were able to find those skiers and rescue them without loss of life or injury, even, and it was a great success story.…”