Last night I participated in a conference call with Senator John Cornyn. Most of the time was spent on answering questions asked by the callers. Many topics were covered from Illegal Immigration to the Economy and Senator Cornyn’s responses lined up with my own opinion regarding the subject. I was most impressed with his unscripted replies but what impressed me most is this. He gave out an email address for us to use to contact him with questions and comments. I sent a few questions to him and expected an auto response with a form letter covering my issue. I was surprised when I received a personal response from the Senator in less than 18 hours and I am very pleased with the response he gave.

As most of you know, one of my target issues is our Military and their ability to protect us. Here is one of the comment/questions I sent.

The other issue I am very concerned about is: Our Military equipment especially our Aircraft. The bicker match between Northrop Grumman and Boeing over the Tanker Aircraft contract is completely childish on Boeing’s part. Northrup won because they have a better deal for the taxpayers. Help put an end to this tantrum. Our Military aircraft are in pretty bad shape sir, the F-16 fleet is 25+ years old. This is just one example out of many. We are not coming close to a responsible program for replacing the aging aircraft. We are on the verge of loosing our Air Superiority and no one seems to care or even see it other than some retired Generals who actually know what they are talking about. Brig. General Jim Cash wrote an assessment of our Military Readiness that scares the hell out of me. He was in command at Cheyenne Mountain years ago and I trust this mans judgment when it comes to Air Force matters. Here is the article, please read it. http://melissapehle.com/blog1/archives/91

Senator Cornyn, our Nation is facing many threats to our security and without a comprehensive plan to rebuild our Military Fleet, our position in the world will be greatly compromised. I am deeply concerned about many aspects of our situation today and I can relate to most of the areas covered by the teleconference. But all of the other issues will not matter if we can’t protect ourselves or our interest from an attack.

To end this, I fully support our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan and know in my heart that we must see both of these conflicts through until the end when Democracy is practiced freely in both nations.

His response to my comment and one of the other comments I made follows.

I think you are right on the tanker issue, and I believe the matter will settle out fairly quickly. We have interests in Texas on both sides of the controversy, but the award seems to have been made on the merits. Thanks for your advise and willingness to provide input on the military side of things; your views seem quite similar to mine, and it’s good to know that knowledgeable people think I’m on the right track. I’m checking into why the Pentagon canceled that briefing program; it appears to me to be a worthwhile effort.

Time will tell if is listening to the people he represents. I hope I am right in my assessment of him.
David Hill
www.johncornyn.com