Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague for joining us tonight. He makes me think of a lot of things. I want to make sure that we don't forget the staff and faculty, the Department of Army civilians, and the spouses and the families who make up the whole West Point experience. A lot of times, staff and faculty will adopt a cadet to be their family while they are away. I am from Illinois, and New York was a pretty long distance. I was fortunate to be, in essence, adopted by Colonel Woodard and Mary Ellen Woodard. They were my pseudo family there, and, boy, did I need it. That was kind of joked about. I also remember going and visiting many times instructors after hours on a program we called additional instruction. I thought I was smart in high school. I found out in college-level engineering school, I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. I needed a lot of assistance to get through the academic program there, so I appreciated it. Many of those staff and faculty teachers were West Point graduates, so they not only had the book learning, but they knew the experience we were all going through. I brought down my yearbook and paged through it. General Omar Bradley attended our graduation, which shows you the length, depth, and width of The Long Gray Line. It was a special time to be able to see that connection. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Watkins), our most junior graduate--maybe we would call him a plebe in our lexicon-- but a freshman Member of Congress.”