Senate Bill sb2822

    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SR 2822

    By Senator Bullard





    39-2218-03

  1                    Senate Resolution No. ____

  2         A resolution supporting the safe return of

  3         America's Women Prisoners of War/Missing in

  4         Action (POW/MIA) held in "Operation Iraqi

  5         Freedom."

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  7         WHEREAS, more than 200,000 women are currently serving

  8  in the armed forces, constituting 15 percent of both the

  9  enlisted ranks and the officer corps, making up more than 15

10  percent of the Army, 14 percent of the Navy, 6 percent of the

11  Marine Corps, and 19 percent of the Air Force, and

12         WHEREAS, in 1994 the so-called Risk Rule was lifted,

13  opening nearly 90 percent of all military jobs to women, which

14  means that women must now follow their male counterparts into

15  hostile zones, and

16         WHEREAS, on March 23, the 507th Maintenance Battalion

17  based at Fort Bliss, Texas, ran into a heavily armed Iraqi

18  combat unit, which included two tanks and automatic weapons,

19  near the city of An Nasiriyah, Iraq, and

20         WHEREAS, Private First Class Jessica Lynch, 19, of

21  Palestine, West Virginia, first believed missing in action,

22  then found to have become a prisoner of war, was safely

23  rescued on April 1, and

24         WHEREAS, Private First Class Lori Ann Piestewa, 22, of

25  Tuba City, Arizona, a Hopi Indian, was missing in action since

26  being ambushed while on a supply mission, and is now confirmed

27  killed in action, and

28         WHEREAS, Specialist Shoshana Nyree Johnson, 30, of El

29  Paso, Texas, remains a prisoner of war since the ambush, an

30  African-American, single mother with a 2-year-old daughter,

31  who is a cook, and

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    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SR 2822
    39-2218-03




 1         WHEREAS, the United States House of Representatives

 2  unanimously passed a resolution on March 27 demanding that

 3  Iraq obey the Geneva Conventions, condemning violations of

 4  those rules to date, and calling for the Red Cross to have

 5  access to Americans held captive, and

 6         WHEREAS, we express pride and support for the women of

 7  the Armed Forces as they respond to the call to duty and

 8  bravely answer their country's call to serve, NOW, THEREFORE,

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10  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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12         That this legislative body proudly honors and supports

13  the women of our Armed Forces for their valor, unselfish

14  sacrifices, and dedication to duty, and calls upon this state

15  and the people of Florida to remember these women in their

16  thoughts and prayers as we await their safe rescue and return

17  to United States soil.

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