Roswell,
Apr 8, 2004 -
One of the ways Congressman Steve Pearce says he wants to show his appreciation for Holloman Air Force Base personnel is by improving access to medical care.
As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Pearce said he wants to spend money on Fairgrounds Road so people on base can use it as a connection to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center.
“This should be a project we do quickly,” he said.
Pearce, who was co-founder of the Transportation Equity Act, was one of the many who voted in favor of the act on March 24.
With this vote, he was able to secure $5 million in funding for the Fairgrounds Road project. In addition this roadwork, the act also provides funding to six other projects throughout southern New Mexico.
Access to medical care was just one of the topics that came up during Pearce’s informal visit with base leadership and spouses Wednesday morning.
Pearce stopped in Alamogordo as part of a two-week tour throughout southern New Mexico during the legislative recess.
He was greeted outside the Family Support Center by Brig. Gen. James Hunt and Col. Rich Treadway, Commander and Vice Commander of the 49th Fighter Wing, respectively.
Once inside the center, he was led on a tour by FSC Director Lenn Furrow.
Education, readiness/deployment assistance and quality of life issues were the topic of discussion during Pearce’s meeting with the invited spouses. The first was retention.
“Why stay in?” he asked.
The answer was job security and medical benefits.
“We do it because they believe in what they’re doing,” military spouse Silvi Sullivan said. “It’s not for the money or the fancy housing,” she joked.
Jules Hoehn’s husband, Mark, recently told a group of schoolchildren that he has a strong sense of duty and obligation to his country.
Their son, Josh, a fourth-grader at Holloman Elementary School, captured the community’s heart last winter when a story was published about their family’s separation during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Josh and his father set their wrist watches to go off the same time every day. Physically, they were a half a world away, but mentally and emotionally, they felt connected.
A Vietnam War air combat veteran himself, Pearce emphasized the importance of patriotism and staying behind the troops.
“Thank you for coming,” was the phrase he heard most during his October visit to Iraq.
Pearce compared the War on Terror to the Civil War where “you can’t have slavery and free states” and “you can’t have stable and unstable countries.”
“We must succeed because freedom and liberties are at stake,” he said.
Sometimes expensive issues occur at the same time and it’s better to spend the money now, Pearce said in reference to the budget deficit.
“We must fight and win the War on Terror,” he said. “So we’re going to spend the money.”
The legislature did not cut the budget on defense and homeland security.
“These are fights that we fight daily,” he said.
Pearce has also been behind military pay raises, weapon stockpiling, equipment and building maintenance and impact aid for Holloman.
Impact aid is used by the base for programs like “Give Parents a Break” day. In spouse Crystal Calloway’s opinion, the funds definitely make a difference. With four children, Calloway appreciates free child care and the opportunity to mingle with other adults.
Employment preference for military jobs is also an important issue, Furrow said.
With spouse preference tenth on the list, it’s hard for spouses to even achieve eligibility, she said.
“I know there’s plenty of qualified people,” FSC director Furrow said. “I’d like to see them make the list.”
To Sullivan, Holloman’s quality of life is important to her family and the base’s overall mission.
If the deployed personnel know their families are cared for, they can focus 100 percent of their attention and efforts on the job at hand, she said.
Good schools, a nice commissary and gym, new housing and places and people like the FSC and the Treadways make deployments easier, Sullivan said.
Pearce shows a lot of interest in Holloman’s quality of life, Hunt said. “He has very important, probing questions about how we’re doing, so it’s obvious he cares.”
“The fact that would take the time meant a lot to us and particularly to the spouses,” Treadway said.
“He’s able to bring Washington’s issues to us and take our issues back to Washington so that they can help make the changes for these families,” he said.
