David Cay Johnston: “it is with a great sense of urgency that I speak today with my good friend, the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Breaux], to…”

“it is with a great sense of urgency that I speak today with my good friend, the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Breaux], to bring to the attention of my colleagues an extremely important issue in my State of Louisiana. Mr. President, since 1991, Fort Polk, Leesville, LA has been home to the Army's Joint Readiness Training Center, or the JRTC, and to elements of the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment. Fort Polk has the only combat training center in the continental United States dedicated to light infantry training. The National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA, provides a somewhat comparable service to our men and women who train for armored units combat. Each year, some 50,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines arrive at Fort Polk for rotational training in infantry maneuvers and joint operations. This involves special operation training, counterinsurgency operations, live fire, brigade defense, and brigade counterattack. The training received is unique, not only because of the terrain at Fort Polk, with its tree-covered grassy areas which are indigenous to western Louisiana, but the total realism this sort of training provides.”