Full Text of HJR0115 95th General Assembly
HJ0115 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the | 3 |
| members of the Illinois House of Representatives and the | 4 |
| Illinois Senate are pleased to welcome Vernice Armour as she | 5 |
| speaks in honor of Women's History Month; and
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| WHEREAS, She was born in Chicago in 1973 and grew up in | 7 |
| Memphis, Tennessee; in 1991, she graduated from John Overton | 8 |
| High School for Creative and Performing Arts, where she was | 9 |
| very active in the music program, class Vice President, and a | 10 |
| member of Mu Alpha Theta (the mathematics honor society) and | 11 |
| The National Honor Society; and
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| WHEREAS, Vernice marched in the military boot steps of both | 13 |
| her dad, Clarence Jackson, a former Marine, who married | 14 |
| Vernice's mother, Authurine, and her father, Gaston C. Armour | 15 |
| Jr. of Chicago, a retired major in the U.S. Army Reserves; in | 16 |
| 1993, the future combat pilot enlisted in the Army Reserves and | 17 |
| a few months later joined the Army ROTC program while enrolled | 18 |
| at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU); during an Army | 19 |
| ROTC career day, the seed of becoming a pilot was planted when | 20 |
| Vernice saw the image of a young black female in an Army flight | 21 |
| suit; "Now why didn't I think of that," was her first thought; | 22 |
| from this experience, Vernice knows the power of an "image" and | 23 |
| a positive role model; and
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| WHEREAS, In June of 1996, after a brief stint as a | 2 |
| Nashville Sheriff's Department Correction Officer, Vernice | 3 |
| took additional time off from college to accept an invitation | 4 |
| to the Nashville Police Academy and graduated as a police | 5 |
| officer in December 1996; Vernice was the second woman and | 6 |
| first African American woman on the Nashville Police | 7 |
| Department's motorcycle squad; and
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| WHEREAS, She graduated from MTSU in December of 1997 with | 9 |
| her B.S. in Physical Education: Emphasis in Exercise Science; | 10 |
| in 1998 Vernice was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the | 11 |
| Marine Corps on December 12, 1998 and on her way to flight | 12 |
| school; and
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| WHEREAS, When Vernice earned her wings in July 2001, the | 14 |
| ambitious pilot ranked No. 1 out her class of 12 and of the | 15 |
| last 200 to graduate from flight school; as the top graduate, | 16 |
| she made the Naval Air Station's prestigious Commodore's List, | 17 |
| received the Academic Achievement Award, and subsequently made | 18 |
| history as the Marine Corps' first African-American female | 19 |
| pilot;
and
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| WHEREAS, After flight school, Vernice was stationed at | 21 |
| Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California, | 22 |
| and honed her skills piloting the famed AH-1 W Super Cobra; she |
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| was named Camp Pendleton's 2001 Female Athlete of the Year, | 2 |
| two-time titleholder in Camp Pendleton's annual Strongest | 3 |
| Warrior Competition, and was a running back for the San Diego | 4 |
| Sunfire women's professional football team; and
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| WHEREAS, One of the few and the proud, during the start of | 6 |
| the war in March 2003, United States Marine Corps captain | 7 |
| Armour was one of 1,500 female Marines in the Persian Gulf | 8 |
| fighting to dismantle the regime of Saddam Hussein in Operation | 9 |
| Iraqi Freedom; during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Vernice flew | 10 |
| above the deserts of Iraq in her missile-equipped attack | 11 |
| helicopter, engaging the enemy and scouting the roads from her | 12 |
| cockpit, making sure they were safe for her fellow Marines and | 13 |
| soldiers on the ground; she has completed 2 combat tours of | 14 |
| duty in the Gulf; and
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| WHEREAS, With her departure out of the Marine Corps in June | 16 |
| 2007, Vernice continues to pursue her passions as an author, | 17 |
| professional speaker, and trainer; addressing professional | 18 |
| organizations, businesses, and schools, she emphasizes | 19 |
| leadership, pursuing your passion in life, education, and | 20 |
| taking positive steps to reach goals; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 22 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE | 23 |
| SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we congratulate Vernice Armour |
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| for her many accomplishments and thank her for speaking to the | 2 |
| Illinois House of Representatives; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 4 |
| presented to Vernice Armour as a symbol of our respect and | 5 |
| esteem.
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