Wayne Gilchrest: “I want to say as a marine combat veteran 40 years ago in Vietnam, I sometimes wonder, as I look around this Chamber…”

“I want to say as a marine combat veteran 40 years ago in Vietnam, I sometimes wonder, as I look around this Chamber, which Members would I follow into combat. Those of you who are sitting here now, are you competent enough to lead soldiers into this very difficult human endeavor? The troops are doing a stunningly competent job and they continue to do so. Are we as Members of this House doing a stunningly competent job to be thoroughly informed about the problems of the war in Iraq and the Middle East? Part of our competence must be to understand the psychological and physical stress our soldiers in real combat must endure. Experience in combat, those of us who have been there, know how valuable that is to one soldier and the next soldier. But we as policymakers must come up with a policy, and we weigh that experience that is necessary with the physical and psychological endurance of those soldiers that is necessary. Respecting the troops means we are responsible and competent in developing a policy that is worthy of those young men and women. I urge support for this legislation.”