Gene Taylor: “I thank Chairman Skelton, the ranking member, and Chairman Hunter for the great work they have done. I also want to…”

“I thank Chairman Skelton, the ranking member, and Chairman Hunter for the great work they have done. I also want to thank Lieutenant Commander Kevin Aanestad, who the Navy was nice enough to let work in my office for a year. Just a while back Kevin was flying combat missions in Iraq. He has been assigned to this office, as was last year Captain Randy Edwards, and let us not forget that that is what this bill is all about. It is for the Kevins, the Randys and the people serving in Iraq now, the people who have been there, and the people who are going there. I want to thank Chairman Bartlett for the great work he has done on the dual-lead strategy for the DDX. I think the DDGs have served our Nation very well, but it is time to move on to another platform, and it is great we are finally getting started on that. I want to thank Chairman McHugh for including TRICARE for guardsmen and reservists in this bill. It was kind of a contentious vote last year. I wish we could have prevailed last year, but the good news is it is going to happen this year. Our guardsmen and reservists are called upon increasingly to serve our Nation. At the time I made my pitch on the floor, 40 percent of the all people serving in Iraq were guardsmen or reservists. Since I made that pitch, we actually lost, I regret to say, a young National Guardsman by the name of Josh Russell. He died the night of Hurricane Katrina on a search and rescue mission only 30 miles from his home.…”