As a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves and a graduate of the U.S. Army War College with a Masters of Strategic Studies, Dr. Heck has the first hand knowledge and experience to provide a specialized look at our nation’s security. Our world changed on September 11, 2001, and when his nation called, Dr. Heck responded to “Ground Zero” and witnessed the devastation firsthand. Since that time Dr. Heck has done a tour of duty in Iraq when he could have used an exemption to stay home.
Dr. Heck has been serving our nation in the military for the past 19 years. When it comes to the men and women who volunteer to protect our nation, Dr. Heck understands the issues facing our soldiers on the front line and their families back home. Dr. Heck will stand with our veterans and their families.
He will give our soldiers the tools and resources they need to perform their missions and keep our nation safe. Dr Heck will not put “pork projects” ahead of our troops. He recognizes that we need to spend wisely and direct taxpayer money to where it makes the most difference, not on perks for Congress or wasteful projects.
Today, our nation faces non-traditional threats and we must be prepared for unconventional actions. We cannot beat the terrorists who threaten our nation today with tanks and ‘traditional’ warfare. We must ensure our military is continuously anticipating these emerging threats in order to deter them from attacking our national interests. Our armed forces must constantly evolve to prevent our adversaries from employing asymmetric tactics and must be prepared to soundly defeat them should deterrence and prevention fail.
The security of our homeland is fundamental to our way of life. Securing our borders and ports of entry must take a higher priority. If we do not know who or what is coming into this nation we are failing at our most basic level of protection. Dr. Heck will fight for truly securing our borders and ports. Lip-service or feel-good measures will do nothing to keep dangerous individuals or materials from coming across our borders — we need genuine security.
Funding layer after layer of bureaucracy in the name of national security is not an effective use of taxpayer money. To keep our nation safe funds need to go toward operations and implementation of goals, not administration and paper-pushing in Washington DC. Dr. Heck values the chain of command and will always work to make sure the requests of those on the ground do not fall on deaf ears.
“The use of the military as an element of national power is not to be taken lightly. However, once we commit our sons and daughters to combat, we rely on those in command to give a frank assessment of the situation and what they need to accomplish the mission. Civilian leaders have the right and the duty to require justification for those requests, but ultimately the decision can only be to provide what is needed or to bring our troops home. There is no room for negotiating or compromise. We must give the commanders what they need to succeed or we needlessly risk the lives of those who chose to protect the American way of life.”
“Our military is made up of the best and brightest men and women our nation has to offer. I will work tirelessly to ensure they have the tools needed to complete their missions. I also will put our nation’s security above the interests of special interests in Washington. When it comes to national security, cutting corners is not an option.”