Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank Mr. Rothfus for the amendment. Without this amendment, as he said, we will see the transfer of all National Guard Apache helicopters to the Active Component while, just last year, this Congress created the National Commission on the Future of the Army to deliberate this change in force, this restructuring issue. You say, why should we care? I mean, isn't this a squabble between one big brother and a little brother? And it kind of is. But we should care because the taxpayers have invested billions and billions of dollars over years to create the infrastructure within the Guard. But more importantly, this imposes on and weakens our national security because the Guard and the Reserve component is the repository for experience in Apache pilots. When you get tired of flying the Apache on deployment over and over again on Active Duty but want to continue to serve your country, what do you do? You join the Reserve component. You come to the Guard. And those pilots have the most experience because they have flown on Active Duty and they have flown in the Guard for years and years and years. So when they deploy, that is who you want to fly with. That is who units want to fly with because they have the experience. The operational depth is in the Guard. It is not that Governors need the Apache; it is that the United States needs the Apache. And should we transfer the Apache because the Army wants to pick on its little brother and can?…”