Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I begin today giving a tribute to a group of Navy reservists from Texas who are making history in Operation Iraqi…”

“I begin today giving a tribute to a group of Navy reservists from Texas who are making history in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit is the Strike Fighter Squadron that hails from the Joint Reserve base at Fort Worth. As we speak, the members of this outstanding unit are flying jet fighters in combat against Saddam Hussein's evil regime. They are best known by their nickname the ``Hunters.'' When President Bush ordered the Hunters to active duty last October, this distinguished squadron joined the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt for duty in the Persian Gulf--the first time since the Korean War that an entire Naval Air Reserve squadron has deployed aboard an aircraft carrier. Since then, the Hunters have exceeded all of the Navy's requirements. The 12 Hornets that comprise the squadron have flown 1,500 sorties over Iraq. The air crews have made more than 500 landings aboard the Theodore Roosevelt at night and nearly twice that number during the day. But it takes more than just remarkable statistics to truly tell how well the Hunters are serving our Nation.”