News from the House Armed Services Committee

There's always a first time: from "Vows" in the New York Times:

Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly

“FRANK CAPRA would have had a field day with the life of Gabrielle Giffords,” Robert B. Reich mused as guests began to gather for the wedding on Nov. 10 of Representative Gabrielle Giffords [D-AZ] and Cmdr. Mark E. Kelly,[U.S. Navy].

Mr. Reich, the former Labor secretary, saw parallels in the breezy down-home sincerity of the films Capra directed and the lives of Ms. Giffords, 38, a Democratic congresswoman from her home state of Arizona, and Mr. Kelly, 43, a NASA astronaut and Navy pilot from New Jersey.

Only days before the wedding, Ms. Giffords, a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, was in Iraq with a delegation. Mr. Kelly, meanwhile, is in training to be mission commander for the shuttle flight to the International Space Station in April, so the honeymoon will have to wait.

“The longest amount of time we’ve spent together is probably a couple of weeks at a stretch,” Mr. Kelly said. “We won’t always live this way, but this is how we started. It’s what we’ve always done. It teaches you not to sweat the small stuff.”

OYE Comment: Wow.

We've always pushed the idea that it would be better for America if our national leaders, in and out of government, personally knew enlisted servicemembers and junior officers, who are most at risk in combat. Although Commander Kelly is a field-grade officer [O-5], the point is the same. We trust that, in representing her constituents in Congress, Rep. Giffords will keep herself fully informed of the impact of her, and America's, decisions on those who will carry them out.

We salute the happy couple for doing their part for civil-military relations and wish them all the best.