five minutes. mr. miller: this friday, october 7, marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the war in afghanistan. our men and women in uniform have fought valiantly in this war over the last decade at great cost. more than 1,700 american soldiers have lost their lives that they fought to destroy al qaeda and hunt down osama bin laden, 1,000 more have come home with very serious lifelong injuries. when i'm at home in california and talk with veterans and their families, i can see how much our soldiers have sacrificed. i want to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to all the men and women in uniform who have carried out their duty in afghanistan. as the anniversary approaches, i am thinking particularly of the army captain john hawlis of california in my congressional district. he was killed in action in southern afghanistan on august 25, 2009. i was honored to have provided him a congressional nomination to the west point academy.