William M. ``Mac'' Thornberry: “I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, Will Rogers was quoted as having said, ``It ain't so much what a…”

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chair, Will Rogers was quoted as having said, ``It ain't so much what a man doesn't know that causes him so many problems but what he thinks he knows that just ain't so.'' And there have been so many arguments today and in the past about the V-22 that are just ain't so that I suggest that Members have some responsibility to learn the facts themselves. Some of those facts are that as of February 2011, V-22 has exceeded 100,000 total flight hours since the program's inception. For the Marines, over the last 10 years the V-22 has the lowest Class A mishap rate of any currently fielded tactical rotor craft. The unrefueled combat radius of the V-22 is more than twice that of the helicopter it's replacing, and it flies at more than 100 miles an hour faster. On March 22 this year it was V-22s that went in to rescue the Air Force pilot who went down over Libya. And the list goes on and on. The V-22 is performing very well, previously in Iraq and right now in Afghanistan. Madam Chair, I don't know if any of the Members are particularly interested in learning the ground truth of what's going on with the V- 22 or have talked with marines or Special Operations Forces about how it's performing; but I'd suggest if they want to know the real facts, they ought to go talk to the people who really fly it because that way they will learn about what is really happening.…”