Fiscal Note
No fiscal impact.
Title
AMENDED - Honoring our employees who have been called to service with the United States Armed Services.
Body
PREAMBLE
On September 11, 2001 our nation was savagely and brutally attacked without warning by terrorists of Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist group. Our nation subsequently went to war with the Taliban forces in Afghanistan that had provided aid and comfort to our enemy. In March, 2003, our nation went to war with Iraq and toppled the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. U.S. military forces have remained in Iraq since that time helping restore that countries infrastructure and securing the country while the Iraqi people form their own democratic government.
The American military has always been unique in its employment of the citizen soldier concept. Officers of little or no formal military education led Washington's troops at Valley Forge; those troops themselves were farmers, tradesmen and common laborers, not professional soldiers. Today's citizen soldier is a member of the US Army Reserves or the US Army National Guard. In their civilian lives they are police officers, nurses, firefighters, store clerks, school teachers, construction workers, moms, dads, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, neighbors, friends, and yes - our coworkers, our City of Madison employees. Although today's American military is much more professional, it is still quite heavily reliant upon the volunteer citizen soldier.
In fact, 45 percent of the US Army's soldiers are members of the Army Reserves or the Army National Guard. Furthermore, the Army Reserves and the Army National Guard contribute to the Army's total force by providing 100 percent of the Army's chemical brigades, interment brigades, Judge Advocate General units, Medical Groups, Railway Units, Training and Exercise Divisions and Water Supply Battalions. The Army Reserve and Army National Guard supply more than 65 percent of the Army's Civil Affairs Units, Psychological Operations Units, Transportation Units, Motor Battalions, Chemical Battalions, Hospitals, Medical Brigades and Theater Signal Commands. Finally, the Reserve and the Guard supply more than 50 percent of the total Army's Petroleum Battalions, Adjutant General Units, Petroleum Groups, Transportation Commands, Terminal Battalions and Public Affairs Units. Together, the Reserve and the Guard supply nearly half of the Army's combat more than combat support assets. The Navy, Marines, Air Force and the Coast Guard are each as equally dependent upon their citizen service members as the Army is dependent upon its citizen soldiers.
President John F. Kennedy once observed, "A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers." And as a nation reveals itself, so does a city.
WHEREAS, the Common Council finds that the nation's military could not perform its missions without the service of these citizen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, and;
WHEREAS, Lieutenant General James R. Helmly, Commander of the US Army Reserves recently observed of these citizen service members that " Despite the strain and danger of daily combat operations, elusive enemies, long hours, the unforgiving desert
environment and separation from loved ones, deployed soldiers told me, time after time, that they are proud to serve our country. They are truly the American heroes of this generation", and;
WHEREAS, our freedoms, liberties and rights depend upon those willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of our ideals;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Common Council does hereby commend and thank those City of Madison employees who have answered their country's call to duty by their service in the Reserves and the Guard, those who have sacrificed so much on our behalf. We recognize that we owe them a debt that cannot be repaid nor fully appreciated.