Bill Text: NJ SR34 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges the United States Department of Defense to adequately fund key agencies involved in accounting, recovery, and identification of military personnel who are MIA or POW.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-08 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee [SR34 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-SR34-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator FRED H. MADDEN, JR.
District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Urges the United States Department of Defense to adequately fund key agencies involved in accounting, recovery, and identification of military personnel who are MIA or POW.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the United States Department of Defense to adequately fund the key agencies involved in the accounting, recovery, and identification of military personnel who are prisoners of war or missing in action as a result of military actions in which the United States has been engaged.
Whereas, When American families say goodbye to their loved ones as they deploy to war, they do so knowing the grave dangers awaiting these brave soldiers, but they do so hoping their loved ones will return to them unharmed from the battlefield; and
Whereas, While many families of service men and women do experience the intense joy of reuniting with their beloved soldiers after war, other families of military personnel experience instead the deepest sadness that comes with that loved one being left behind in the combat theater because that soldier is declared missing in action, a prisoner of war, or is otherwise unaccounted for; and
Whereas, Thousands of military families grieve indefinitely as they suffer from not knowing the fate of their loved one, and when they do know the sobering reality that their loved one has died in battle and is not returning, their suffering continues when the remains of that soldier are not being found, identified, and returned to them for a final farewell; and
Whereas, The accounting, recovery, and identification of military personnel who are missing in action, prisoners of war, or otherwise unaccounted for in the combat theater has long been a high priority of the United States military, with key agencies such as the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, and the Life Sciences Equipment Lab, working together to accomplish this essential mission; and
Whereas, The Department of Defense must show that it continues to be committed to the accounting, recovery, and identification of these soldiers by providing adequate funding to these agencies now and in subsequent years; and
Whereas, The military families of this great nation deserve no less from our government than to be certain that America will do everything in its power to recover, identify, and return their loved ones to them so that, at least, they may pay their last respects and say a final farewell to that son or daughter, mother or father, brother or sister, or spouse, who along with them, risked so much and made the ultimate sacrifice for their country; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House urges the United States Department of Defense to provide adequate funding in this fiscal year and beyond to the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, and the Life Sciences Equipment Lab, the key agencies involved in the accounting, recovery, and identification of military personnel who are missing in action, prisoners of war, or who are otherwise unaccounted for.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary thereof, shall be transmitted to the United States Secretary of Defense and to each member of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the United States Department of Defense to adequately fund the key agencies involved in the accounting, identification, and recovery of military personnel who have been declared missing in action, prisoners of war, or who are otherwise unaccounted for. Namely, these key agencies are the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab (AFDIL), and the Life Sciences Equipment Lab (LSEL).
According to the DPMO, thousands of military personnel remain missing or unaccounted for collectively from Operation Desert Storm, Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, and World War II. From Operation Desert Storm in Iraq during the early 1990s, three American soldiers remain missing, as two were killed in action with their remains not recovered, and one was captured. From the Vietnam War, approximately 1,805 military personnel are still missing - 63 of these soldiers were from New Jersey, and are either known to have been killed in action with their body not recovered, or are presumed dead. Approximately 126 military personnel remain missing from Cold War military encounters, and about 8,178 are still missing from the Korean War. According to JPAC, about 78,000 soldiers are still missing and never returned from World War II.
While the accounting, recovery, and identification of United States military personnel has long been a high priority of the military, the government and the Defense Department in particular must continue its commitment to this very important mission by adequately funding these key agencies.
