I've been listening more to Rush than the floor. I'm just half listening to her for more ammo so I can yell nasty four letter "F" and "C" words at my TV. ;-)
WTF IS HE SAYING?!?!?!
WHERE ARE THESE 40,000 TROOPS HE'S TALKING ABOUT GOING TO COME FROM???
While reading this keep this in mind Kerry missed ANOTHER vote!!
S.Amdt. 3260 to S. 2400 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 )---- To authorize appropriations for a contingent emergency reserve fund for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
YEAs 95
Not Voting 5 ~ Kerry (D-MA)
John Kerry on Strengthening Our Military as Prepared for Delivery June 3 in Independence, Mo.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=133-06032004 In addition, we must secure our own democracy and our own borders. Homeland security must be a top priority of the president. Today, it's too often something this Administration just pays lip service to when the cameras are rolling.
We can't meet the new threats of this new century with a military from the last one. We must always be ready for strategic and conventional missions. But we must also be committed to build the strongest possible military to meet the new and greatest threats. I'm running for president to build a new military for a new time.
My first order of business as commander in chief will be to expand America's active duty forces. Not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to add 40,000 new soldiers to prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts. The fact is, the war in Iraq has taken a real toll on our armed services. Nine out of ten active duty Army divisions -- eighty percent of the Army's active duty combat divisions -- are committed to Iraq, either currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned. That is a dangerous and potentially disastrous course that limits our capacity to respond to other crises.
The war has been especially tough on the Army's critical post-war specialists. Civil affairs. Military police. Combat support units. Psychological operations units. All are in short supply. All are nearly exhausted.
To pick up the slack, since 9-11, we've called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. Currently there are more than 165,000 Guardsman and Reservists on active duty. In fact, 40 percent of our forces in Iraq are from the Reserve and the Guard. They are America's workers, doctors, mechanics, and first-responders. Some have been on the ground in Iraq for as many as 15 months -- much longer than was expected or promised. And many of these units are being pushed the limit.
The people of Missouri understand this situation well. More than 800 of your sons and daughters have had their deployments extended and their homecomings delayed. The Administration is even planning to send troops from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment to Iraq -- a unit whose primary mission has been to prepare other units for future deployments.
The effect is clear: our soldiers are stretched too thin.
The Administration's answer has been to put band-aids on the problem. They have effectively used a stop-loss policy as a back door draft. They have extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and prevented enlisted personnel from leaving the service. Just yesterday, the Army announced this would affect even more soldiers whose units are headed to Iraq and Afghanistan. By employing these expedients, they've increased the forces by 30,000 troops.
But this has happened on the backs of the men and women who've already fulfilled their obligation to the armed forces and to our country -- and it runs counter to the traditions of an all-volunteer military. Because they're serving one tour after another, our soldiers are not getting the training they need or the rest they deserve. Military families are under incredible strain as it becomes harder and harder to balance the demands of family life and military duty. This is especially true at a time when more than half of our military is married -- a dramatic increase since Vietnam. When you add it up, we are in danger of creating another hollow Army -- a grave concern that I've heard time and again over the last few months from active duty personnel. I heard it in Pittsburgh from an Army Reserve Captain who had just returned from Iraq. Like me, he fears that our military will not be ready for the next mission. That's not the way to make America safer.
The 40,000 new troops I am adding will not be soldiers who've already been on the front lines, but new volunteers trained and ready to defend their country. And this will help relieve the strain on our troops; it will bring more of our soldiers, guardsmen and reservists back home to their families and get them time for the new training they need.
But numbers alone won't win the war in Iraq or the war on terror. We need to create a "New Total Force." Our military must be prepared to defeat any enemy, anytime, any place. And our soldiers must be capable of success in any conflict.
As president, I will double our Special Forces capability to fight the war on terror. That's the second part of my plan to modernize the military. Our Special Forces are the troops who land behind enemy lines, conduct counter-terrorism operations, perform reconnaissance missions, and gather intelligence. In Afghanistan, after September 11th, they took the fight to the Taliban with remarkable creativity. They also train local forces to take on the responsibilities themselves and they build the relationships that are vital for our victory in the war on terror. We saw what they could do during the Iraq war, when two teams of American Green Berets totaling 31 men worked with Kurdish troops to defeat an Iraqi force numbering in the hundreds. The victory at the battle of Debecka Pass is a tribute to the flexibility, training, and courage of American Special Forces -- all essential to winning the war on terror.
We must also recognize that the battle itself is only half the mission. In any conflict, we need an expanded, well-trained force, with soldiers prepared for both war and its aftermath.
As President, I will also increase our civil affairs personnel - -- those who arrive on the scene after the conflict is over and help win the peace. They work with local leaders and officials to get the schools back in shape, the hospitals reopened, and banks up and running.
We also need -- and a Kerry Administration will provide -- more military police, because public order is a critical step to winning the peace. At the same time, we should move greater responsibility for non-military missions to civilian agencies to ease the burden on our troops.
As President, I will build a modern military, with the best trained troops and the most modern equipment and technology. That's the third part of my plan. The war in Iraq has left us with a hefty bill to pay. Our equipment is worn from the daily assault of battle and the harsh effects of an unforgiving desert. We must repair, replace, and upgrade it to maintain the highest level of readiness.
We can't have a 21st century military unless we're using 21st century technology and preparing our forces for 21st century threats. We need a military that is equipped for the next fight, not the last one. That means educating, training, and arming every soldier with state-of-the-art equipment, whether it's body armor or weapons. And it means employing the most sophisticated communications to help our troops prevail and protect themselves in battle. Right now, the technology exists to let a soldier see what's over the next hill or around the next bend in the road. Every soldier in every unit should have access to that modern breakthrough, which can be the difference between life and death. As president, I will see to it that they do.
I will also accelerate the development of non-lethal technologies, like directed energy weapons, that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders. The need for this technology is driven by pure military strategy. With more of the world's populations living in cities, it's more critical than ever that our military be able to carry out their missions with the least harm to civilians. As we saw in Fallujah and Najaf, our forces may advance on the ground, but innocent casualties can cost us victory in the minds of the people. This is especially true in the war on terror, where our forces must track down leaders and their cells no matter where they're hiding, even if it's in the center of a densely populated city.
Senate Floor Schedule for Friday, June 4, 2004.
9:30 a.m.: Resume consideration of S. 2400, the Department of Defense Authorization bill for Fiscal Year 2005.
KERRY MISSED ANOTHER VITAL VOTE!
How does he do it!??! He says "we must also be committed to build the strongest possible military to meet the new and greatest threats. I'm running for president to build a new military for a new time."
I guess he doesn't think FUNDING IS IMPORTANT!!!
S.Amdt. 3260 to S. 2400 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 )---- To authorize appropriations for a contingent emergency reserve fund for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. ($25,000,000,000, to be available only for activities in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.)
0010602-Jun
YEAs 95
Not Voting 5 ~ Kerry (D-MA)
