WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) today questioned the nominee for commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, on how to improve operations in the Indo-Pacific theater and prepare for emerging threats in the region. Excerpts from Sen. Tuberville’s line of questioning can be found below and the full video can be found here.
TUBERVILLE: “As Marines are operating in smaller units in the Pacific, how do you plan to afloat medical support? The Mercy and the Comfort are large, you know, and they’re slow to deploy. Would a smaller forward-based hospital ship, capable of quicker and faster engagement — do you think that would be better served for what you all do in the Pacific?”
ADM. AQUILINO: “Senator, we’ve done a lot over the last three years on generating concept of operations and how to ensure we can provide medical support to our forces in times of crisis and conflict. And it looks a lot different when you look at an area that covers half the globe, most of it has water on it. We are looking at all options to be able to quickly pick up, care for, and return our joint forces that may have been wounded. One of those things that’s being looked at is a different form of hospital ship than were used to.”
TUBERVILLE: “I’m from Alabama, and we have Huntsville; we build all the missiles and the rockets and have 800 defense contractors. We build ships and boats down in Mobile… I’m a common-sense guy, and I just want you to be prepared, you know, and I see you’re going to be hit from all different directions. And I just hope… you’re able to get what you need to protect this country and protect our kids and our grandkids from future attacks, because they’re coming and you’re going to be the first line of defense.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, and HELP Committees.
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