| OVATION |
Rep.
Heather Wilson, (R-N.M.) |
How does your military background impact your work as a congresswoman?
[It] gives me a context in which to understand and do my work, particularly on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Also, there’s a core of values you learn in the service … integrity, service beyond self, [and] duty to country are as appropriate for a member of Congress as they are for a young officer.
What is your relationship to other veterans in Congress?
We’re pretty close. There’s a sense of shared experience. I feel a special responsibility toward women in the service, because so often other members of Congress will come to me and say, “Well, what do you think about this?” I am known, I think, in Congress as being a veteran, being an [Air Force] Academy graduate; and I’m very pleased to serve as a kind of a resource for other members.
Do you come from a flying family?
My grandfather was a military pilot in World War I [with Scotland’s Royal Flying Corps] and then came to America and was a courier pilot in World War II. My father was in the Air Force, and I went to the Air Force Academy at the age of 17 as one of the third class to include women.
What three things must the government do for military officers?
We’ve narrowed the pay gaps and
[might] pay better. I think that’s important. Secondly, our military
is stretched very thin, and I don’t think we can afford that long
term. We’ll see over the next three years . . . the increase in
active duty end strength to help reduce some of the pressure on the
Guard and Reserve, and on our active forces. In this year’s defense
authorization bill, we expanded the size of the military by 39,000
Army and Marine Corps troops over the next three years. And of
course we’ve got to get the funding to the services so they can buy
the equipment and the armor that they need and train the troops so
we have the best equipped, best trained, and most capable force in
the world.