Military, Veterans on Davis' Short List
By Richard Powelson
Knoxville News Sentinel, DC Bureau
April 25, 2004

Veterans and military issues have become high priorities for U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., because of Tennessee soldiers' key contributions to national security and a new government in Iraq.

Being from rural Fentress County, he also has to represent the strong military spirit of Sgt. Alvin C. York, a World War I hero whose historic farm remains a landmark a short distance from the Davis farm. York in 1918 was credited with subduing an entire German machine gun regiment and living to talk about it.

There are about 500,000 veterans living in the state, and roughly 4,000 Tennessee National Guard troops have been activated to serve in Iraq or elsewhere overseas or to help with enhanced security somewhere in the United States.

Davis also thinks about the military a lot because he is a major in the Tennessee Defense Force, often called the State Guard. The unit trains at no salary and is paid only if activated for state service.

Davis filed legislation to encourage the 30 states without State Guard units to establish them so governors would have ample troops at the ready for any state emergency.

A former state legislator, farmer and general contractor, Davis was among a half dozen House members going to danger zones in Iraq in February to boost troop morale and check on progress in securing the country.

The House members had to wear body armor in Iraq in case of sniper fire and had to sleep nightly in a hotel in a safer bordering country.

Like other members of Congress there before him, he thanked the troops for their sacrifice and patriotism.

While he left believing that current troop levels could secure the country and make it safe for a democracy government, he said the United States might need to increase troop strength by up to 50 percent to restrict attacks by angry extremists quicker and with fewer American casualties.

U.S. officials, who insisted for months that there were enough troops in Iraq, recently ordered 20,000 troops to extend their tour by four months.

They also are considering sending more troops because Spain is removing its troops, other countries are concerned about their troop commitment, and small, well-armed militias continue to attack and kill U.S. troops.

There are about 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. By the middle of last week, more than 700 U.S. soldiers had died in Iraq since last year's invasion. Nearly 100 of those were killed in April alone.

Davis' congressional group flew out of Iraq with a few soldiers escorting a casket containing a comrade.

Davis decided that fallen veterans are not honored often enough and filed a bill to remember them the same day each month in part by flying the flag at the Capitol at half-staff. Congress would set the date.

He also has been thinking about veterans' complaints regarding their benefits.

He filed legislation to allow disabled veterans to receive both service-related disability pay and any retirement pay earned from 20 or more years of honorable service.

Soldiers now receive one or the other. He found that more than 13,000 Tennessee veterans receive disability pay.

Also, he learned that federal funding of health care for veterans varies year to year, so they remain concerned about which services will be available one year but not the next. A bill he supports guarantees adequate funding for the number of veterans in the program year to year.

Although Davis remains optimistic that democracy is possible in Iraq, the unrest, bombings and shootings there almost daily suggest it will take a lot more soldiers with Sgt. York's skills to bring peace to the region.