Ted Poe: “This is about our troops. This is about Americans who have been willing to protect the rest of us when duty calls and in…”

“This is about our troops. This is about Americans who have been willing to protect the rest of us when duty calls and in time of war. Army Specialist Jarrett Griemel was one of those noble Americans. He was a patriot. He joined the United States Army right out of high school. He had completed basic training before he graduated from high school in his junior year at La Porte High School in Texas. In 2008, Jarrett married his high school sweetheart, Candice, in a small ceremony before the justice of the peace. She joined him in Alaska, where he was deployed by the Army, to begin their young married lives together. He was a petroleum supply specialist assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Battalion. Last June, Jarrett was killed at the age of 20 years in Afghanistan. This is his photograph. He is on this board--the board with 27 other Texans from our congressional district area. He is the latest to have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan as a volunteer to go overseas and protect the rest of us in time of war. He believed in protecting our country. He believed in it so much he was willing to leave his wife and go halfway around the world to fight an enemy on the enemy's own turf. And he believed in it so much that he was willing to give his life for the rest of us. So if we pass this resolution, what message do we send to Jarrett's family or Jarrett's young bride--that his sacrifice just wasn't enough?”