To designate the outstation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in North Ogden, Utah, as the Major Brent Taylor Vet Center Outstation.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 54 To designate the outstation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in North Ogden, Utah, as the Major Brent Taylor Vet Center Outstation. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. BISHOP of Utah (for himself, Mr. STEWART, and Mr. CURTIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To designate the outstation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in North Ogden, Utah, as the Major Brent Tay- lor Vet Center Outstation. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3 Congress finds the following: 4 (1) Major Brent Taylor began his military serv- 5 ice following the attacks of September 11, 2001. He 6 joined the Army National Guard in 2003, three days 7 after his engagement to his wife, Jennie. Five of his 8 brothers would eventually serve in the Armed Forces 9 following the deadly attacks. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 54 IH (2) During his time in the Army National 1 Guard, Major Taylor distinguished himself in service 2 to the United States and the State of Utah. He re- 3 ceived a commission as a second lieutenant from the 4 Brigham Young University Reserve Officer Training 5 Corps in 2006, while graduating as a member of the 6 National Society of Collegiate Scholars. 7 (3) During his impressive career with the Utah 8 National Guard, Major Taylor distinguished himself 9 in multiple specialties, including Intelligence and 10 Military Police. One of his earliest assignments in- 11 cluded analyzing foreign language documents in sup- 12 port of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He also led 13 document exploitation efforts in multiple European 14 and South American languages for a variety of intel- 15 ligence community customers. Major Taylor also 16 managed a team that assessed security vulnerabili- 17 ties at high-profile facilities across the United 18 States, all while maintaining a successful private 19 sector career in Utah. 20 (4) Major Taylor was continuously ready to 21 take up his Nation’s call to arms and deployed four 22 times in support of operations in Iraq and Afghani- 23 stan. His deployed duties varied from Platoon Lead- 24 er and Combat Advisor to Chief of Staff to the Spe- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 54 IH cial Operations Advisory Group, responsible for lead- 1 ing a joint task force advising and assisting an elite 2 Afghan special operations unit. 3 (5) Throughout his deployments, Major Taylor 4 distinguished himself on several occasions, earning a 5 multitude of awards including the Bronze Star. The 6 citation credits Major Taylor’s ability to think calm- 7 ly and decisively with keeping his subordinates safe 8 while traversing 600,000 miles of roads in Iraq, 9 laden with improvised explosive devices (hereinafter, 10 ‘‘IED’’) and ripe for ambush. 11 (6) During one particularly harrowing mission, 12 Major Taylor’s vehicle was struck by an IED. While 13 he survived the attack, the wounds he received 14 earned him the Purple Heart. 15 (7) Major Taylor’s amazing record of service 16 was not limited to the battlefield. In 2010, he served 17 as a member of the North Ogden City Council and, 18 in 2013, Major Taylor was elected mayor. His stead- 19 fast leadership led to the city being recognized as 20 ‘‘Business Friendly’’ by the Governor of Utah, and 21 as one of the safest, freest cities in the United 22 States by several organizations. His initiatives in- 23 cluded improvements to public works and infrastruc- 24 ture, attracting businesses to the area, developing a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 54 IH local community center, and increasing trans- 1 parency. His action led his constituents to reelect 2 Major Taylor in 2017. 3 (8) In 2018, Major Taylor placed himself on a 4 leave of absence from his mayoral duties in order to 5 deploy to Afghanistan, explaining to his constituents, 6 ‘‘Service is what leadership is all about’’. 7 (9) While serving in Afghanistan, a dear col- 8 league, Afghani Lieutenant Kefayatullah, was killed 9 shortly before the Afghan elections. Major Taylor 10 wrote, ‘‘The strong turnout at that election, despite 11 the attacks and challenges, was a success for the 12 long-suffering people of Afghanistan, and for the 13 cause of human freedom. I am proud of the brave 14 Afghan and U.S. soldiers I serve with. Many Amer- 15 ican, NATO and Afghan troops have died to make 16 moments like this election possible.’’. He also 17 extolled the American public to embrace its civic 18 duty, stating, ‘‘I hope everyone back home exercises 19 their precious right to vote. And that whether the 20 Republicans or Democrats win, that we all remem- 21 ber that we have far more as Americans that unites 22 us than divides us.’’. 23 (10) Tragically, on Saturday, November 3rd, 24 2018, Major Taylor was killed in an attack in Af- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 54 IH ghanistan. He was survived by his wife, Jennie, and 1 his seven children, Megan, Lincoln, Alex, Jacob, 2 Ellie, Jonathan, and Caroline. 3 (11) The impression that Major Taylor left was 4 indelible. An Afghan officer who had served with 5 Major Taylor, penned a letter to his wife, stating, 6 ‘‘Your husband taught me to love my wife Hamida 7 as an equal and treat my children as treasured gifts, 8 to be a better father, to be a better husband, and 9 to be a better man.’’. That officer further com- 10 mented that, ‘‘He died on our soil but he died for 11 the success of freedom and democracy in both of our 12 countries.’’. 13 (12) It is only well and fitting that, as a tribute 14 to this man’s amazing life, Congress name a facility 15 in honor of Major Taylor’s shining example of serv- 16 ice and sacrifice. 17 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF MAJOR BRENT TAYLOR VET CEN- 18 TER OUTSTATION IN NORTH OGDEN, UTAH. 19 (a) DESIGNATION.—The outstation of the Depart- 20 ment of Veterans Affairs located at 2357 North 400 East 21 Washington Boulevard, North Ogden, Utah, shall, after 22 the date of the enactment of this Act, be known and des- 23 ignated as the ‘‘Major Brent Taylor Vet Center Out- 24 station’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 54 IH (b) REFERENCE.—Any reference in any law, regula- 1 tion, map, document, paper, or other record of the United 2 States to the facility referred to in subsection (a) shall 3 be considered to be a reference to the Major Brent Taylor 4 Vet Center Outstation. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Jan 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H54.IH H54 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS