National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today I come to the floor on behalf of all our servicemen and -women. As a 29-year Air Force veteran and POW, I know something about what it takes to achieve mission success. For the military to be successful, troops need adequate funding so they can carry out their mission safely and effectively. Troops also need the support of their President, their Commander in Chief.

I speak from experience when I say this. I say it because, in Vietnam, we had neither. You see, due to consolidation at the Defense Department, the planes I flew in Vietnam were really Navy aircraft. They weren't equipped for air-to-air ground combat. The Pentagon hung gun pods on them, but its success rate was about 50 percent. That is just not the type of odds you want going into battle.

On my 25th mission in Vietnam, I was hit from ground fire and tried to fight back, but couldn't because the gun jammed. Enemy shots caught my right engine on fire, and I ejected just before the aircraft crashed. The Viet Cong caught me and eventually took me to the infamous Hanoi Hilton, where I spent the next almost 7 years of my life.

Sometimes I wonder if things would have turned out differently had the Air Force properly equipped planes and my gun hadn't jammed. But I can tell you this: it is a vital priority of mine to ensure our troops today don't run into the same problem I did. America can't defend its national security if our troops don't have what they need.

I urge the President to sign this bill today. It is the right thing to do for our deployed troops who are in harm's way.

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