Sen. Ben Nelson And Sen. Daniel K. Akaka Hold A Joint Hearing On Active
Duty Military Family Support Programs  \
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                            TRANSCRIPT\
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                          April 18, 2007\
                                    \
                         COMMITTEE HEARING\
                                    \
                                  \
                                     \
             SEN. BEN NELSON AND SEN. DANIEL K. AKAKA\
                                    \
                             CHAIRMEN\
                                     \
  SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL AND\
           SUBCOMMITTEE ON READINESS AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT\
                                    \
                         WASHINGTON, D.C.\
                                     \
SEN. BEN NELSON AND SEN. DANIEL K. AKAKA HOLD A JOINT HEARING ON\
             ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAMS\
\
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     U.S. SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON  \
     PERSONNEL AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON READINESS AND MANAGEMENT  \
     SUPPORT HOLD A JOINT HEARING ON ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY  \
     FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAMS\
\
     APRIL 18, 2007\
\
               SPEAKERS:\
     SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL  \
               SEN. BEN NELSON, D-NEB.\
                         CHAIRMAN\
               SEN. EDWARD M. KENNEDY, D-MASS.\
               SEN. JIM WEBB, D-VA.\
               SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, D-MO.\
               SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH.\
                         EX OFFICIO\
\
               SEN. JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, I-CONN.\
\
               SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, R-S.C.\
                         RANKING MEMBER\
               SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, R-MAINE\
               SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, R-GA.\
               SEN. ELIZABETH DOLE, R-N.C.\
               SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.\
                         EX OFFICIO\
\
     SUBCOMMITTEE ON READINESS AND MANAGEMENT SUPPORT  \
               SEN. DANIEL K. AKAKA, D-HAWAII\
                         CHAIRMAN\
               SEN. ROBERT C. BYRD, D-W.VA.\
               SEN. EVAN BAYH, D-IND.\
               SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, D-N.Y.\
               SEN. MARK PRYOR, D-ARK.\
               SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL, D-MO.\
               SEN. CARL LEVIN, D-MICH.\
                         EX OFFICIO\
\
               SEN. JOHN ENSIGN, R-NEV.\
                         RANKING MEMBER       \
               SEN. JAMES M. INHOFE, R-OKLA.\
               SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, R-ALA.\
               SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, R-GA.\
               SEN. ELIZABETH DOLE, R-N.C.\
               SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.\
                         EX OFFICIO\
\
               WITNESSES:\
               MICHAEL DOMINGUEZ,  \
               PRINCIPAL DEPUTY UNDERSECRETARY,\
               PERSONNEL AND READINESS,\
               DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE\
\
               LYNDA DAVIS,  \
               DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY,\
               MILITARY PERSONNEL POLICY\
\
               JOHN MCLAURIN,  \
               DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ARMY,\
               HUMAN RESOURCES\
\
               LIEUTENANT GENERAL ROGER BRADY (USAF),  \
               DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR MANPOWER AND PERSONNEL,  \
               U.S. AIR FORCE\
\
               JOYCE RAEZER,  \
               COO,\
               NATIONAL MILITARY FAMILY ASSOCIATION\
               CONNIE MCDONALD,  \
               WIFE OF AN ARMY SERVICEMEMBER\
\
               PAULA SUMERALL,  \
               WIFE OF A NATIONAL GUARD SERVICEMEMBER\
\
               LAUNA HAL,  \
               WIFE OF AN AIR FORCE SERVICEMEMBER\
\
               MARY PIACENTINI,  \
               WIFE OF AN ARMY RESERVE SERVICEMEMBER\
\
     NELSON:  The Personnel and Readiness and Management Support\
Subcommittees of the Senate Armed Services Committee meet together\
this afternoon to consider the impact of quality of life and family\
support programs on the readiness of active-duty National Guard and\
Reserve personnel.\
\
     We\'re holding this joint hearing of our two subcommittees at the\
recommendation of Senator Akaka, who\'s chairman of the Subcommittee on\
Readiness and Management Support.   \
\
     And I think, Senator Akaka, this is a great idea, and I\
appreciate very much your suggesting it.\
\
     We all understand that our military personnel cannot focus on the\
mission at hand if they\'re distracted with worries about whether their\
families are being taken care of.  Taking good care of military\
families translates directly to improved readiness, military\
readiness.  It\'s our intent to support policies and programs that\
foster a family-friendly environment for our military families.\
\
     So, Senator Akaka, thank you for your leadership on this.\
\
     It\'s certainly appropriate that we hold this hearing on family\
readiness during April, as April was the month of the military child.\
Military parents have the very difficult and challenging task of\
raising children during these highly stressful times of deployment,\
redeployment, extended deployment and reintegration into home life\
upon return from deployment.\
\
     The secretary of defense just recently announced that the Army\
combat tours will be extended from 12 to 15 months.  What impact will\
this have on our military families?  I\'ll be interested in hearing\
whether the Army is making a special effort to address the needs of\
the families of the service members who just learned that they will be\
coming home three months later than they had planned.\
\
     What will the families have to say about this recent change?\
Parenting is challenging enough without these additional stresses.\
Military parents need help, especially during these trying times, and\
that\'s what this hearing is all about.\
\
     Today we\'ll hear from Senator Chambliss about his proposal to\
reduce the age at which certain National Guard and Reserve retirees\
are eligible to receive retired military pay.  Next, we will hear from\
the Department of Defense and from the military services about\
programs and policies that they have in place to help our military\
families.   \
\
     Following their testimony, we will hear from military spouses who\
have a great deal of experience in dealing with the challenges faced\
by military families and the National Military Family Association, as\
well.  We hope to hear from them about the effectiveness of the\
various programs for dealing with the unique stresses of military\
life, especially during deployments.  We also would like to hear about\
other programs, including programs sponsored by civilian communities\
that reach out to our military families and contribute to their\
quality of life and financial readiness.  And then, finally, we\'d like\
to know if there are any gaps, areas that these programs don\'t\
address.  \
\
     I plan to introduce our witnesses as their panel is called to\
testify.   \
\
     Senator Akaka, do you have an opening statement?\
\
     AKAKA:  Yes, Mr. Chairman, but I\'d be willing to go after the\
ranking member.\
\
     Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.  Chairman Nelson, I want to\
thank you for agreeing to hold this joint Personnel and Readiness\
hearing today.  I\'m very, very pleased that the members of the\
Readiness Subcommittee are joining today with Senator Graham, the\
ranking member, and Senator Inhofe here, and the witness, Senator\
Chambliss, to participate in this hearing in support of our military\
families, in order to illustrate how important families readiness is\
to the readiness of our military forces and to examine what we can do\
to improve family readiness.\
\
     We have a large military population from all four services living\
in Hawaii, and I was glad to see that four services and National Guard\
and Reserves are represented here by spouses.  They are valued members\
of our community.  And I know that it is not only our men and women in\
uniform, but also their families who serve our nation and who bear the\
brunt of the heavy demands placed on our military.\
\
     Just as we are responsible for the well-being of our\
servicemembers, likewise we have a responsibility for their families.\
As chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, I asked that we hold this\
hearing today, because I\'m convinced that how we care for the families\
of our servicemembers directly affects the quality of our military.  I\
really believe our military leaders understand this, as well.  \
\
      Two days ago, the Army announced a series of belt-tightening\
measures to deal with the unexpected costs of the president\'s so-\
called plus-up of forces to Iraq.  The Army specifically exempted\
family support programs from any reductions.   \
\
     I also know that our Personnel Subcommittee, chaired by Senator\
Nelson, has the most expertise on the programs that affect our\
families.  So I\'m very pleased that we could work out this joint\
hearing with them and want to thank again Senator Ben Nelson and\
Senator Graham for agreeing to hold this hearing with us.\
\
     I want to welcome the witnesses for all of our panels this\
afternoon, especially those of you that have traveled far to be with\
us today.  There are three panels and many witnesses today, so I will\
not take up valuable time by mentioning everyone individually, but I\
want you all to know, especially our witnesses on the final panel, how\
much we appreciate both your being with us today and how much you do\
for your country through your families.\
\
     I look forward to hearing from our colleague, Senator Chambliss,\
our witnesses from the Department of Defense, and spouses on our third\
panel.  We have a wide range of issues to discuss today, from child\
care and schools, to counseling services, to housing, and I could list\
many more.   \
\
     I hope that our witnesses today will be able to speak to two\
topics of particular interest to me.  First, the unique financial\
stresses that military families, active-duty personnel, National Guard\
and Reserves, may face, in particular due to deployments and whether\
financial planning services are widely available to these military\
families to meet these challenges.\
\
     Second, I think we need to discuss not only what is the\
Department of Defense doing for military families, but what role does\
the local community play in supporting military families, both in the\
active duty, as well as National Guard and Reserves.  What role should\
it play?  And how much community involvement do military families\
really want?\
\
     I will be especially interested in hearing from our panel on\
this.  Do all military families want as much interaction with and\
assistance from the civilian community as possible?  Or do they prefer\
to take care of their own?\
\
     So, with these questions, let me say that I look forward to\
discussing this with our witnesses during the course of this
hearing.   \
\
     And, again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you so much for holding\
this hearing.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Akaka.\
\
     Senator Graham, you\'re no stranger to this.  But for the change\
in November, you would still be the chairman and I would be the\
ranking member.  And Senator Chambliss has also been the chairman when\
I was the ranking member, so you certainly are no stranger, either.\
\
     So, Senator Graham, do you have some opening remarks?\
\
     GRAHAM:  To our panel members, welcome.  And I look forward to\
hearing from you and having some questions.  \
\
     To Senator Akaka and Nelson, congratulations for taking over the\
respected subcommittee gavels.  And it was an honor and a pleasure to\
have chaired the Personnel Subcommittee and to work very closely with\
Senator Nelson, who is an absolute joy to work with.  And I have the\
feeling that our titles may have switched, but the work product will\
be the same.\
\
     We accomplished a lot in the 109th Congress, and I look forward\
to continuing that, because the fight is stronger.  The pressure on\
families is stronger in this Congress than it was in the last\
Congress, with no end in sight.  So that\'s why this hearing is so\
important, that we have a ready force, and you can\'t have a ready\
force without their families being well taken care of.  The two go\
together.\
\
     And as to Senator Chambliss, I am very pleased that he was able\
to come here to today to talk about a measure that he\'s been\
championing.  He\'s the co-chairman of the Senate Reserves Caucus with\
Senator Pryor, and it\'s about the dilemma the country faces with our\
National Guard and Reserves.   \
\
     They\'re being used in historic numbers and multiple deployments\
akin only to World War II, and we have a system that hasn\'t changed in\
30 years in many ways, and now\'s the time to look at the retirement\
system for the Guard and Reserve, in light of the war that\'s going to\
go on for a very long time.  And Iraq, I believe, is just one\
battlefront on this war, and you could not win the way, maintain our\
national security without Guard and Reserves.  And it\'s long overdue\
that we\'ve looked at changing the benefits.\
\
     The commission, the Guard commission has been formed, and they\'ve\
made recommendations, but Senator Chambliss\'s idea of lowering the\
retirement age based on participation by the Guard member and\
reservist is a great idea, and we need to embrace it as a Congress.\
\
     It\'s been five years since the attack of September 11th.  We have\
an all-volunteer force.  There\'s 16,000 citizens of South Carolina \--\
excuse me, 1,600 citizens of South Carolina in the 218th Brigade\
Combat Team, Army National Guard, going off to Afghanistan.  I was in\
Iraq recently, and there\'s a lot of South Carolina roots in our\
military, both civilian and military members serving.  \
\
     Every state has been touched.  The Guard and Reserve is\
indispensable, but the active-duty families have gone through very\
difficult times, multiple deployments, no end in sight, and this is\
the opportunity for this country \-- I\'m always asked, \"What can we
do?\
What can we do?  How can we help the military?\"  Well, today is about\
finding out what we can do better than we\'re already doing.  And if it\
takes more money, so be it.  This is the best investment America will\
ever make.\
\
     Keeping families in tact and safe and secure, while their loved\
ones are off on the battlefield.  That\'s the least we can do, and I am\
committed, working with my colleagues, to make sure we do it in a way\
that will make America proud.  \
\
     Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Graham.\
\
     Senator Inhofe, do you have an opening statement?\
     INHOFE:  Just very brief.  And adding up the number of witnesses,\
I think I\'ll end up having to leave before my questions would come, so\
I\'m hoping that \-- you know, what Senator Graham said I agree with,
in\
that we have that commitment to the quality of life.  I\'ve chaired the\
Readiness Subcommittee with Danny Akaka back in a previous life when\
we were a majority, and so we\'ve been living with these issues for a\
long time.  The personnel issues, the quality of life issues are, in\
fact, readiness issues, very, very significant.   \
\
     But what I want our witnesses, particularly on the second panel,\
to address is two things.  First of all, in the beginning of this\
administration, what, six years ago-plus, one of the commitments was\
to do something about the family housing, eliminate inadequate family\
housing, revitalize housing and all this.  Then along came 9/11.\
\
     And we then had to make up for what we lost back in the \'90s,\
when we dramatically cut back on our funding.  I can remember \-- they\
call them SRM accounts now.  It used to be RPM accounts, where we\'d\
actually be \-- they were actually robbing those accounts, not putting\
roofs on barracks in order to buy enough bullets to train with.  And\
so that\'s how critical it was.\
\
     And so I think a lot of times where you have to take the money\
from is quality of life, and we can\'t afford to do it.  But I hope the\
second panel will address that, because the funding is not \-- it\'s\
going to be very, very difficult to increase funding there, because\
everything else is bleeding at the same time, our modernization\
program, our force strength, and other accounts that have to be\
funded.   \
\
     So it\'s a difficult task.  And I think all of us, all four of us,\
all five of us realize how important quality of life is to sustain\
this force that we have.\
\
     Thank you, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Inhofe.\
\
     Our first witness today has already been introduced, but not\
sufficiently.  Senator Chambliss has special status here today,\
because he\'s a member of both the Personnel and the Readiness\
Subcommittees.  And as I mentioned, one time he chaired the Personnel\
Subcommittee.  In fact, I understand that, in June 2003, he actually\
chaired a hearing on family issues very similar to this hearing,\
except that that hearing was held at Warner Robins Air Force Base in\
Georgia.\
\
     So, Senator Chambliss, we\'re glad to have you here as a\
witnesses, and we\'re very anxious to learn about your legislation.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Well, Chairman Nelson, thank you very much for that\
generous introduction there.  And I\'m just very pleased to be here on\
the same dais today with these other two panelists, particularly this\
third panel.\
\
     All of us who serve on the Armed Services Committee know and\
understand that the commitment by individuals who join the military is\
a family commitment, and certainly these spouses here are military\
heroes just like their husbands.  So I\'m very pleased to have the\
opportunity just to be in their presence.\
\
     Ladies, thank you all very much for what you do for America.  \
\
     Chairman Nelson, Chairman Akaka, Senator Ensign, Senator Graham,\
Senator Inhofe, I do remember our days on the Personnel Subcommittee\
together, Ben.  You were a great ally, and we got an awful lot\
accomplished back then.  And you\'re a terrific job in starting out in\
the right direction here as the new chairman.\
\
     And, Dan, congratulations to you, also.  As a member of the\
Readiness Committee, I have significant interest, parochially and\
otherwise, in readiness issues.  So you\'ve been a great ally, and I\
certainly look forward to working with you.\
\
     I\'m here today to talk about my bill, which is S. 648, the\
National Guard and Reserve Retirement Modernization Act.  The\
retirement benefit for members of the Reserve components is a\
readiness issue, and it is a family issue, and it is appropriate that\
we discuss this issue today at this joint hearing.\
  \
     During the Cold War and up until 1989, the Reserve components\
were activated for an average of approximately 1 million man-days per\
year.  This represented the steady state for our reservists who\
contributed primarily through weekend and two-week drills, with\
occasional longer deployments in support of operational missions.   \
\
     During the 1990s, the Reserve components were activated for an\
average of 13 million man-days a year.  This increase reflected\
President Clinton\'s focus on global peacekeeping and peace enforcement\
in places like Bosnia and Haiti, but also Operations Northern and\
Southern Watch, patrolling the no-fly zones in Iraq.  The Air Force in\
particular was taxed during this time and began during that time to\
transition from a strategic to an operational Reserve force.  \
\
     In his statement before this committee on March 28 of this year,\
Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Dr. David Chu\
stated, \"Since September 11, 2001, an annual average of about 60\
million duty days have been performed by Reserve component members,\
the equivalent of adding over 164,000 personnel to the active strength\
each year.\"\
\
     This represents almost a five-fold increase since the \'90s and a\
6,000 percent increase since the end of the Cold War.  Almost 565,000\
Reserve component members have served in support of the current\
contingency since September 11, 2001.   \
\
     The department\'s decision to increase the active force in the\
Army and Marine Corps might relieve some of this stress on the Guard\
and Reserve.  However, no one \-- including myself \-- believes that
the\
way we use our Guard and Reserve forces is going to return to anywhere\
close to its previous levels.  In fact, yesterday, General Barry\
McCaffrey testified that we cannot view our Reserve forces as an\
alternative force that is not engaged in operational missions, as we\
did in the past.  They are part of the fight and, according to General\
McCaffrey, will likely grow to 20 percent to 30 percent of our\
deployed combat forces over the long term.\
  \
     Individuals who sign up to join the Guard and Reserve today do so\
knowing that they are going to combat.  They sign up expecting that\
their Reserve assignments will call them away from their home for\
significant periods of time.  That was not true 15, nor even 5 years\
ago.   \
\
     It is a testament to the quality of people in our nation and to\
the leadership of the Department of Defense that, generally speaking,\
the military has done an admirable job of managing recruiting and\
retention in the Reserve components since the beginning of the global\
war on terrorism.  However, I believe the Reserve components will be\
operating in an extremely challenging recruiting and retention\
environment from now on, and I believe that it is going to get harder\
and harder to recruit and retain the necessary personnel that our\
nation requires in the National Guard and Reserve.  \
  \
     As recent studies on this issue have articulated, the long-term\
effects on the increased deployments and utilization will have on\
Guard and Reserve recruiting and retention are almost completely\
unknown, but I would wager that the effect will be a significant\
increase in the difficulty of attracting new recruits, as well as an\
increase in retaining mid-career personnel, over the long haul.  \
\
     Given these factors, it would be short-sighted and irresponsible\
for us not to plan ahead.  Several defense experts have testified\
before the full committee that we must use every tool at our disposal\
to recruit and retain the troops we need to defend our nation.  Now is\
the time to do that, not several years from now when we are trying to\
fix a problem that could have been fixed if we had been proactive when\
we should have been.\
  \
     Conceptually, the nature of the Reserve retirement benefit is\
based on at least two factors.  The first factor is:  What is the\
adequate compensation in terms of a financial annuity and non-\
financial benefits for those servicemembers who have successfully\
completed 20 years of service in the Reserve component?  This is\
basically a question of what is fair, given the role we have asked\
these personnel to play and the role they have carried out in service\
to our nation.  \
  \
     The second factor is:  What kind of benefit will effectively\
shape the Reserve force in a way that allows us to meet the\
requirements we have placed on the Reserve components without creating\
any unintended side effects, such as negatively affecting the make-up\
of the active-duty force?  This is a pragmatic question that is based\
largely on what we want the force to look like and who and what kind\
of people we want to retain.   \
\
     In this new world of an operational versus a strategic Reserve,\
the answer to both of these questions has changed, and that is why we\
need to modernize the retirement benefit for National Guard and\
Reserve personnel.  \
     First \-- and as I stated earlier \-- the rate at which our nation\
is using members of the Guard and Reserve has not increased linearly\
over the last 15 years, it has increased exponentially.  The role of\
the Guard and Reserve has fundamentally changed, and what constitutes\
a fair compensation should fundamentally change as a result.\
  \
     Second, the Guard and Reserve force structure is clearly being\
shaped by our servicemembers\' response to deployments and the risk of\
deployments.  When deciding whether to stay in the Reserve component\
or not, servicemembers are asking a different set of questions, such\
as, \"Will I be deployed?  How often will I be deployed?  For how long\
will I be deployed?\"\
\
     Members of the Guard and Reserve serve voluntarily, but they\
expect compensation for their service, and they expect compensation\
that takes into account the disruption in their personal and\
professional lives.  As this disruption grows, which it has, the\
compensation should grow, as well.\
  \
     Some studies have indicated that the most effective tool to\
attract and retain personnel, particularly more junior personnel, is\
through cash bonuses.  In fact, these bonuses have been effective in\
recent years in helping the services meet their recruiting and\
retention goals.  I support continuing cash payments to these folks,\
in order to sign them up, as well to retain them.\
\
     However, in terms of a long-term strategy that is good for our\
military and good for our country, I have fundamental problems with\
this approach.  Cash bonuses can motivate behavior; however, I would\
much rather motivate behavior over the long term by providing an early\
retirement benefit based on continuous service and deployments than\
motivate it by appealing to someone\'s impulses.   \
\
     In my mind, a deferred benefit that incentivizes participation\
and retention over the long term and rewards personnel for extended\
separations from their jobs and family is the right approach.  This\
will have the added benefit of retaining the people who we truly need\
to retain, and that is mid-career, experienced personnel who have been\
deployed and whose experience we need to keep in the Guard and\
Reserve, the people who, in all likelihood, have competing demands on\
their life and, without an additional incentive, will leave the\
service.\
\
     Currently, National Guard and Reserve members are the only\
federal retirees \-- and I emphasize this \-- they are the only federal\
retirees who must wait until age 60 to collect retirement pay.  My\
bill would reduce the age for receipt of retirement pay by three\
months, for every 90 days a Guard or Reserve member spends on active\
duty in support of a contingency operation, or on active duty for\
purposes of responding to a national emergency.  The maximum age\
reduction would be down to age 50, and the adjustment would include\
volunteers, as well as those involuntarily activated.  The bill would\
include any duty performed since September 11, 2001.   \
\
     As you can see, this is a targeted benefit which rewards those\
who have served for significant periods in support of a contingency\
operation.  It is not a handout to members of the Guard and Reserve\
for simply showing up.\
\
     Soon after he was sworn in as Secretary of Defense, Secretary\
Gates announced that he would mobilize Guard and Reserve personnel as\
units rather than individuals and that it would be the department\'s\
policy to not mobilize them for more than two consecutive years rather\
than two cumulative years, as the policy had been under Secretary\
Rumsfeld.  In light of this fundamental change in policy, we don\'t\
really know \-- and, more importantly, reservists themselves don\'t\
really know \-- how often they\'re going to be used.  This uncertainty\
will clearly have an effect on both recruiting and retention,\
something my bill aims to address.  \
\
     There is an additional reason why an enhanced retirement benefit\
is the right approach, and that is because the Guard and Reserve\
members who we are mobilizing are sacrificing their civilian careers,\
including their retirement benefit, by being called away from their\
civilian jobs.  I believe that, in large part, employers are\
understanding and supporters of Guard and Reserve members.   \
\
     But, nevertheless, for a Reserve member who spends significant\
time away from his or her civilian job, that job is going to be\
affected.  The right compensation for that effect is an improvement in\
the Reserve retirement benefit to offset the long-term effect on a\
servicemember\'s civilian career.\
  \
     The largest source of recruits for the Reserve components has\
historically been people leaving active duty.  However, given the\
current role of the Reserve components, many personnel leaving active\
duty are going to choose not to affiliate with the Guard and Reserve\
because they simply stand to be deployed again.  My bill addresses\
this problem by providing an additional incentive in the event a\
member does get deployed.   \
\
     This is especially essential for older servicemembers, who are\
not as incentivized by cash bonuses and are instead looking for a\
longer term benefit.  For members with significant time in the active\
force, my bill will provide an additional incentive for them to join\
the Reserve component and stick with it over the long haul so our\
nation will not lose the benefit of their experience.\
  \
     One argument I have heard against this bill from DOD, and even\
from some of my fellow senators, is that we should not equalize the\
benefits of the active and the Reserve components.  I agree that these\
benefits should not be equalized.   \
\
     However, I think that any objective observer would, without\
question, conclude that my bill does not even come close to doing\
this.  For example, under my bill, a servicemember who completes 20\
years of total service \-- 10 of them in the Reserve \-- would have to\
deploy for 5 years to collect a retirement annuity at age 55.   \
\
     The same person who spent 20 years of total service, all in the\
active component, could retire as early as age 40 and would receive\
almost twice the annuity the Reserve member would receive.  And that\
is the case for a reservist who is mobilized for 5 years.  The average\
reservist would get a far lesser retirement benefit.   \
     My bill would not equalize the benefits, but would instead\
provide an incentive for prior active-duty personnel to join the\
Reserve and for current reservists to stick with it, until at least\
the 20-year point.\
  \
     And, gentlemen, I would have to tell you that, since we have been\
actively promoting this, I cannot go anywhere, either inside of\
Georgia or outside of Georgia, that a member of the Guard and Reserve\
does not come up to me, introduce themselves, and say, \"I know what\
you\'re trying to do to help out our Guard and Reserve from a early\
retirement standpoint.  I\'m in the Guard or Reserve, and it is the\
number-one issue for me and my family.\"\
\
     Mr. Chairman, the topic of today\'s joint subcommittee hearing is\
the readiness impact of quality of life and family support programs to\
assist families of active-duty, National Guard, and Reserve military\
personnel.  In the end, we are here today to determine how we can best\
support our military personnel and their families.  That is what my\
bill does.   \
\
     An improved retirement benefit for the National Guard and Reserve\
will produce a higher quality of life, leading to better recruiting\
and retention trends, and a better shaped Guard and Reserve force.\
Cash bonuses can be effective, and they are effective, but they are\
not the way to provide a better quality of life over the long term for\
our Reserve component personnel who, today, are sacrificing their\
civilian careers, and the benefits they accrue through those careers,\
for the sake of our nation.  This legislation represents the right\
approach at the right time.\
  \
     The Naval Reserve Association, the Reserve Enlisted Association,\
the Reserve Officers Association, and the National Guard Association\
of the United States have all extended support for this bill.  And for\
the record, Mr. Chairman, I would like to include a copy of a letter\
signed by the 33 members of the Military Coalition in support of my\
bill.\
  \
     NELSON:  Without objection.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to\
testify.  I\'m happy to answer any questions that you or any member of\
the committee might have.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Chambliss.\
\
     Do any of the members of the committee have any questions?   \
\
     I think you\'ve laid it out very well.  I think we fully\
understand it and appreciate very much your leadership in this area.\
Thank you for your kind comments, and we appreciate your being here\
with us today.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     NELSON:  And Senator Ensign\'s absence due to a prior obligation,\
without objection, I\'m adding his statement and questions to be\
submitted to the record.\
\
     Now, let\'s see, the second panel will be coming forward now, I\
guess, getting it all set up.   \
\
     Today we have witnesses from the Department of Defense and from\
the military services to describe the programs that are available for\
military families.  We welcome the Honorable Mike Dominguez, the\
principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and\
readiness; Dr. Lynda Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for\
military personnel policy; Mr. John McLaurin, deputy assistant\
secretary of the Army for human resources; and Lieutenant General\
Brady, deputy chief of staff of the Air Force for manpower and\
personnel.\
\
     We have your prepared statements, which will be included in the\
record.  And what we would like is, if you would, take an opportunity\
to make a brief opening statement and we will go to the questions.\
\
     Secretary Dominguez?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Chairman Nelson, Chairman Akaka, thank you, and\
distinguished members of the committees, thank you for the opportunity\
to meet with you today and discuss the programs we have to support\
military families.\
\
     I want to start, first, with some current events.  Earlier today,\
I held a press conference announcing Secretary Gates\' decisions on the\
rewarding of administrative absence to numbers of the Armed Forces\
that are deployed or mobilized in advance of the one year \-- for the\
active service, one year deployed and two years back home standard,\
and for the Guard and Reserve, it was the standard he set of one year\
mobilized for every five years back home.\
\
     So he committed to doing a program to recognize people when he\
was forced through national security demands to break that contract.\
And I announced that today.  I had given a heads up to your staff that\
that was happening.\
\
     The second is that, as Senator Chambliss recognized, we have a\
recent decision to extend the active-duty Army deployments in Iraq and\
Afghanistan to 15 months.  The thing that did for military families\
was to provide predictability.  Predictability is important to our\
servicemembers, and this decision provides that plan and stability for\
our families.\
\
     Next, as you know, we are fully investigating the care provided\
to our wounded, including the component of that care that is outreach\
and support for their family members.  We\'re taking measures to\
correct problems as we identify them, and we are working with and\
supporting the reviews of the presidential commission, Secretary\
Gates\' independent review group, Secretary Nicholson\'s task force,
and\
General Scott\'s veterans disability commission.\
\
     Now, so that\'s the summary of current events.  I just wanted to\
get you up to date on those.\
     The Social Compact, which we published in 2002 and modernized in\
2004, describes the array of programs we have in place to support the\
men and women in uniform and their families.  The department has\
worked aggressively to transform services to families facing the\
challenges of war.  We understand how hard it is for military families\
to cope with the high pace of deployments and extensions.  And\
communications between troops and families back home have been made\
more affordable and more available.\
\
     Military OneSource is an incredible, toll-free Internet resource\
that offers both troops and family members the option to speaking to a\
qualified counselor or consultant, 24 by seven, from any location in\
the world.  And it is a portal providing access to a vast array of\
useful information, tools and assistance.\
\
     We have addressed the stressful effects of repeated deployments\
and extensions through increased availability of family assistance\
counseling to include financial counseling.  For the families back\
home, we have moved forward with an emergency intervention strategy to\
address the most pressing child care needs at locations affected the\
most by high deployments and re-basing.\
\
     Providing the same level of support to the geographically\
dispersed Guard and Reserve component families, as we provide the\
families living or near military installations, is challenging.\
Technology is a part of the solution, as so many military families\
obtain information over the Internet.  Military OneSource has been an\
enormous support to the Guard and Reserve families.   \
\
     A joint family readiness program is being implemented, modeled\
after Minnesota and New Hampshire National Guard programs.  Six pilot\
programs are in progress.  States are forming integrated inner-service\
family system committees to facilitate access to information services\
and resources.\
\
     The recently announced extension of current and future tours to\
15 months will be hard on families.  And we are stepping up the\
availability of training and counseling support for volunteers to\
ameliorate that challenge and deal with it.  Much of this has been\
made possible by your support of the emergency supplemental funding\
for the war effort, and we particularly appreciated the expanded\
authority to build child care centers that you have provided in the\
past.\
\
     In the past year, we also fielded special surveys to military\
spouses, so we could more fully understand the impact of deployments\
on families.  Results indicate that 61 percent of active-duty spouses\
and 75 percent of Reserve component spouses support their husband or\
wife staying the military.  These results are encouraging.  They\'re\
not adequate, but they are encouraging.\
\
     The partnership between the American people and the noble\
warfighters and their families is built on the understanding that\
families also serve.  We appreciate the service and sacrifice of our\
military families, and they sustain our troops on the battlefield.\
     And before I close, I want you to know that we are in the process\
of implementing the predatory lending law that you have been so\
instrumental in establishing.  We appreciate your strong support, and\
it will make a difference to the financial well-being of the force.\
\
     Sir, I look forward to your questions.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.\
\
     Dr. Davis?  \
\
     DAVIS:  Thank you, Senator.\
\
     Chairman Nelson, Chairman Akaka, Senators Graham and Chambliss,\
thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today on behalf of the\
Department of the Navy.  I\'ll be speaking to you about the Navy and\
the Marine Corps, as I have responsibility for oversight of both\
services, their active-duty personnel, and the support for their\
families.\
\
     I\'d like to mention, also, that I\'m speaking as a former soldier\
who was deployed and had to have the experience of my son, and at that\
time my two sons and my spouse, react to my deployment.  Also, as\
someone who chose to curtail her military career at the point at which\
we adopted a child, and as someone who\'s a very proud mother of a\
member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, it\'s my honor to be\
here today.\
\
     You raise several questions about the effectiveness of our\
quality of life programs.  And I\'d like to address those just briefly.\
But, first of all, I think it\'s important to discuss something Senator\
Akaka alluded to, in terms of the community support and what\
constitutes family support.\
\
     We believe in the Department of the Navy that support services\
are important to be delivered before, during and after deployment,\
depending on the specific needs of the family.  But they\'re delivered\
in concentric circles of care.   \
\
     They start at the unit level.  That is the level, after all, at\
which the commander is the most aware of the requirements of the\
individual sailor, soldier, in our case, a Marine, and also at which\
we have unique special programs, like the Navy ombudsman program and\
the Marine Corps Key Volunteer programs.  Our commanders are very\
engaged in family support, in fact extending letters regularly to the\
family members from Iraq with a variety of information, including some\
on predatory lending.\
\
     As we move out from this concentric circle of family support\
beyond the unit, it extends to the installation, and that\'s where you\
have the excellent programs through fleet and family support services\
or the Marine Corps service centers.  We also draw on the support\
that\'s provided through the Navy or the Marine Corps generally for\
things such as our 145 Navy Reserve centers that are in every single\
state, and we have several \-- each of your states have one of those\
centers, that serve not only the Navy reservists who are\
geographically remote \-- their families are oftentimes \-- but it also\
serves the Marine Corps.  And we consider them to be purple assets, in\
that they\'re available to any servicemembers.\
\
     We certainly see that these concentric circles of support for the\
family would not be possible without all the assets Mr. Dominguez\
mentioned, in terms of those directly from the DOD.  Also, we feel\
that the support is essential to the family from the other federal\
agencies, such as the V.A. and DOL, and also from state agencies, such\
as the state rehabilitative directors, if that becomes necessary\
during a member\'s service.\
\
     And, finally, our partnership in these concentric circles of\
care, or what I like to allude to as a web of inclusion for the\
family, can\'t be achieved without our veterans benefit organizations,\
our veteran service organizations, and our community-based\
organizations.  So they are essential for us to provide the full\
continuum of care to our family members.\
\
     Addressing the effectiveness of our quality of life programs, we\
also had a recent Navy spouse survey that showed that 59 percent of\
enlisted spouses and 81 percent of officer spouses, their family\
members felt that they were prepared for deployment.   \
\
     However, those numbers are not quite sufficient to what we\'d\
like, and we are engaging in making sure that our deployment support\
is especially strong for unique communities that experience a high\
OPTEMPO/PERSTEMPO or our high-impact communities.  That would be\
groups like the corpsmen, the 8404s, who deploy with the Marines, our\
SEAL communities, and our individual augmentees.  Those and a few\
others are experiencing high stress, and we need to make sure they\
receive all of the support they need.\
\
     In keeping with looking at our effectiveness, our secretary has\
recently, in March, instituted a department I.G. assessment of all\
facilities, health care, medical care, and administrative activities\
that relate to support for those in combat, during deployment, for\
those wounded, and for the families.  And that is ongoing, in addition\
to the I.G. reviews of the quality of life programs when they visit\
the installations.\
\
     The Marine Corps is also doing a quality of life survey this\
year, which they administer regularly, to make sure that we\'re keeping\
pace with the effectiveness of our programs.\
\
     The stresses of deployments was another issue you raised in your\
letter of invitation.  And to effectively operate this web of\
inclusion for quality of life I referred to, we recognize that there\
are special stresses during deployment, and those stresses have to do\
with, not only the general cycle of life issues, like, are you aware\
of your benefits?  But, because of the high OPTEMPO and PERSTEMPO,\
there\'s additional stresses, particularly to the dependent children\
and the spouse.\
\
     And so we have programs that we have \-- for instance, Senator\
Inhofe mentioned the child care issue.  And I\'m conducting an\
assessment of the MILCON prioritization of funds for child care and\
other quality of life programs right now, to make sure that it does\
not get shortchanged in our requirements for our primary mission,\
which is defense.\
\
     Also, when there is a deployment, we recognize that the children\
oftentimes do exhibit stress reactions.  We have, at our military\
treatment facilities, our 60 fleet family support centers, and our 18\
Marine Corps installations, we have a triage approach to making sure\
that, if we haven\'t thoroughly been able to prevent challenge to the\
child, in terms of a stress reaction, that they\'re seen immediately by\
the mental health, civilian and military professionals in the mental\
health.  And, if necessary, they\'re referred to TRICARE to specialists\
in the community.\
\
     The Marine Corps LINKS program also provides assistance to family\
dependents for preparation for the 15- to 17-year-old children for the\
challenges of deployment.  And the Navy and Marine Corps are partners\
with the Boys and Girls clubs to provide youth programs for them so\
that they\'re active and engaged with peers during the deployment\
cycle.\
\
     We also are very appreciative with the relationship with the\
Association for Child care Resources and Referral Agency, which as\
allowed us to have additional child care for the spouse, to support\
the spouse of the deployed individual during the times when they may\
be employed or just need a break.\
\
     Financial hardships was an issue that was mentioned.  We\
recognize this is a great challenge during deployment, oftentimes.\
Our Navy and Marine Corps Relief Society is an essential partner with\
us, and they provide grants to parents of the wounded, for instance,\
on invitational travel orders.  They provide support for spouses and\
families who have lost wages.\
\
     In Hawaii, for instance, the fleet family support at Pearl\
Harbor, to address financial hardships, has a million-dollar sailor\
program, that they have a special two-day program to provide education\
and consumer awareness issues.  And predatory lending is one of the\
issues they specifically address.  And the Navy leads in enrollment of\
active-duty sailors in the Thrift Savings Plan.\
\
     Finally, I\'d just like to wrap up my comments by saying that,\
when we discuss families, I\'d like to emphasize that families are not\
simply the spouses and dependent children.  As I\'ve been able to\
visit, especially those who are combat wounded at Bethesda and other\
medical treatment facilities, I\'ve been able to see the parents.  A\
lot of our Marines are single, and the family is their nondependent\
parent.   \
\
     And sometimes in our community of care, for the family or the\
wounded individual, that may even extend to siblings or to close\
friends.  So I think we have to look at what constitutes the notion of\
a family.\
\
     I thank you very much for your leadership and your caring and our\
joint commitment, as we work to make sure families\' support services\
are quality and delivered on time.\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Dr. Davis.\
\
     Mr. McLaurin?\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Chairman Nelson, Chairman Akaka, Senator Graham,\
Senator Chambliss, good afternoon.\
\
     I appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today to\
discuss family readiness.  In an all-volunteer force, caring for Army\
families plays a vital role in sustaining the commitment of our\
soldiers.  For deployed soldiers, it is essential they know that their\
families have strong support networks while they\'re away.   \
\
     Our leaders, from an installation level to the chief of staff of\
the Army, recognize the importance to not only sustain our robust\
family programs, but also to augment them as necessary to address\
emerging needs.  We continuously analyze feedback from a variety of\
soldier and family surveys, senior spouses and commanders to ensure\
our soldiers\' and families\' needs are met.\
\
     Recognized as a driving force behind hundreds of legislative,\
regulatory and policy changes, as well as program and service\
improvements over the last 24 years, the Army Family Action Plan is\
one of our most significant and effective ways for soldiers and\
families to raise issues to senior leadership for resolution.  At the\
November 2006 worldwide conference, we added another workgroup to this\
vital process that would emphasize the concerns and issues of our\
wounded warriors and their families.\
\
     Recognizing the significant impact of deployment extensions on\
families, the Army is dedicated to providing the highest level of\
support to soldiers and family members upon the announcement of\
involuntary extensions.  In light of the recent policy change to\
extend all Army tours to 15 months, General Casey has directed an\
immediate assessment of the impact of this extension on all Army\
programs and policies.\
\
     When troops deployments were extended on very short notice last\
year, headquarters Army quickly established and deployed a\
multidisciplinary Tiger Team to Fort Wainwright, Alaska, and Fort\
Drum, New York, to support commanders\' efforts to successfully deal\
with the resulting myriad of soldier and family issues.  Incorporating\
lessons learned, the Tiger Team\'s Smart Book is now used as a tool by\
commanders at every level to anticipate and determine the support\
necessary in the event of a deployment extension.  The headquarters\
Tiger Team stands ready to immediately assist commands faced with\
extended deployments.\
\
     As articulated in the 2007 Army Posture Statement, the Army\
honors our commitment to care for our soldiers and their families and\
to continually work to match the quality of life that our soldiers and\
families enjoy to the highest quality of service that they now provide\
to the nation.  I\'d like to highlight a few of our key programs and\
services.\
\
     Our Army Community Service Organization has the primary\
responsibility to provide personal and family readiness support to\
commanders, soldiers and families.  Proactive in preparing and\
sustaining families, family readiness groups provide mutual support\
and assistance and a network of communications among the family\
members, chain of command and community leaders.  For geographically\
dispersed units, the Virtual Family Readiness Group Web system\
provides all the functionality of a traditional family readiness group\
in an ad hoc, online setting.   \
\
     We recognize our programs and services cannot be solely\
installation-centric.  By consolidating active and Reserve component\
program information and cross-training staff, we seek to reduce\
duplication and confusion.  When fully implemented, the integrated,\
multi-component Family Support Network will provide a comprehensive\
approach for community support and services to meet the diverse needs\
of active and mobilized Guard and Reserve families.\
\
     By utilizing the wealth of resources available in the civilian\
sector, we have established partnerships with 26 corporate and\
military employers through the Army Spouse Employment Partnership.\
This initiative focuses on improving spouse employment opportunities,\
especially for our career spouses, who often must quit their jobs to\
accompany their soldier spouse to the next assignment.   \
\
     We believe increase spouse employment opportunities support\
soldier retention and contribute to families\' financial stability by\
helping spouses maintain careers.  One partner, Dell Inc., established\
a virtual call center pilot at Fort Hood, Texas, back in 2005,\
allowing spouses to work from home.  Dell has now implemented a from-\
home program, hiring 29 spouses to provide customer service from their\
homes.  In 2006, our partners hired over 5,000 military spouses,\
bringing the total number employed by the partners to 16,000.   \
\
      Family readiness, Senator Akaka, also entails providing soldiers\
with financial readiness training and counseling.  Classes in personal\
financial management are provided during basic and advanced training\
and again at a soldier\'s first duty station.  During 2006, the Army\
Community Service conducted over 14,000 classes, with close to 320,000\
in attendance.  Soldiers who completed this course were significantly\
less likely to need financial counseling.  And those who completed the\
counseling showed a significant decrease in indebtedness and increased\
savings.\
\
     Taking care of families includes ensuring access to quality,\
affordable, available and predictable child and youth programs.\
Soldiers can focus on the mission knowing their children are thriving\
in our child and youth programs and are adjusting as they move from\
school to school.   \
\
     As the need for child and youth programs continues to increase,\
the Army has taken a number of actions to assist in meeting this need.\
We have provided over two million hours of free and reduced patron fee\
hourly and respite child care to families of deployed soldiers.\
Installation child development centers and family child care homes\
have extended operating hours, beginning as early as 4:30 in the\
morning and ending late in the evening and even into the weekends.\
     Active-duty, geographically dispersed and Reserve component\
deployed families are able to access child care support and pay\
reduced child care fees.  Operation Military Child care helps families\
locate child care at reduced rates in their local community, when\
they\'re unable to access child care on the installations.  At present,\
the Army has over 2,200 children receiving the child care subsidy.\
\
     In closing, I thank you for this opportunity to appear before you\
today to discuss family readiness.  On behalf of the acting secretary\
of the Army, the chief of staff of the Army, myself and, most\
especially, Army families all over the world, I thank you for your\
already strong support.  On all of our behalfs, I ask only for your\
continued strong support.  I look forward to answering your questions.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Mr. McLaurin.  \
\
     General Brady?\
\
     BRADY:  Chairman Akaka, Chairman Nelson, distinguished committee\
members, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to\
talk about Air Force family readiness programs.  Let me begin by\
thanking you for the tremendous support you\'ve consistently provided\
for our airmen and their families.   \
\
     The sacrifices our airmen, their spouses and children make\
throughout a typical career are enormous, as you know.  As our\
operations tempo increases and deployments lengthen, our Air Force\
families are presented with many unique challenges not often\
experienced by their civilian counterparts.\
\
     We have over 30,000 total force airmen deployed in support of the\
global war on terror.  In many respects, the families of their\
deployed airmen are at war, also.  To meet their needs, we support our\
Air Force community with programs and services for both married and\
single total force airmen, whether at home or deployed.\
\
     From child care and youth programs to reintegration programs for\
returning deployers and their families, your Air Force remains\
committed to ensuring our airmen and their families have the right\
tools to cope with the many challenges they face.   \
\
     I would agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Davis, that support to\
families is important before, during and after deployments.  In fact,\
it\'s my belief that the programs that we provide after deployment are\
sometimes the most important in dealing with the stresses that\
reunited families have.   \
\
     I\'m extremely proud of the hard work and dedication put forth by\
our support personnel to make our mission and, therefore, the Air\
Force mission happen every day all over the world.  We recognize this\
would not be possible without the tremendous support from these\
subcommittees, and we thank you.\
\
     You have my written statement, and I welcome your questions.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, General Brady.\
     Senator Akaka, I think I\'d like to have you start with your\
questions first.\
\
     AKAKA:  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     I would like to ask some questions about cost-saving measures\
with the Army.  As I mentioned in my opening statement, earlier this\
week, the Army announced it was beginning a series of cost-saving\
measures to deal with the needed cost of plus-up forces in Iraq, until\
additional supplemental funding is enacted.  The Army took similar\
measures last year, when its supplemental was not enacted until mid-\
June.\
\
     The notice to Congress we received two days ago stated that the\
Army would ensure, and I quote, \"uninterrupted support for the\
families of our deployed soldiers.\"  This could be read in two
ways.   \
\
     Mr. McLaurin, is the Army position that these belt-tightening\
measures will exempt only family support programs for deployed\
soldiers?  Or does the Army intend to exempt family support programs\
for all Army families from funding cuts and restrictions?\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Senator Akaka, it is my understanding that, in fact,\
we are exempting the family support programs, as I think everyone\
understands and appreciates.  All of our force supports the global war\
on terrorism, and it\'s just a question of when, and not particularly\
now, they\'re going to be deployed.\
\
     It is almost impossible, in my view, to maintain an effective\
family support readiness program if you have to ratchet it up and down\
depending on who is involved with it.  Those programs need to be there\
for all our soldiers and their families all of the time.\
\
     AKAKA:  Yes, I\'m concerned that the Department of Defense, in\
particular the Army, is developing a habit of making major changes in\
force structure and basing without adequate planning.  We have seen\
this in the so-called modular conversion of brigades and the\
relocation of forces from overseas, and we\'re seeing it again in the\
Army and Marine Corps grow the force proposals before us now.\
\
     At best, facilities such as schools and housing may be ready just\
in time, but the Department of Defense now seems to view the use of\
temporary facilities as normal and even preferable to taking time to\
build permanent facilities and new housing before the troops arrive.   \
\
     Mr. McLaurin, what input does the family support and human\
resources and community have on the Army\'s planning for such actions?\
Are the Army\'s plans based entirely on operational needs?  Or is any\
consideration given to the impact on families?   \
\
     Can you give us an example of how any of the basing and force\
structure plans I just mentioned was changed to take in account of\
family considerations?  And, finally, did your office attempt to put\
family considerations on the table inside the Army?\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Sir, those family considerations are and have been on\
the table for quite some time.  Both the previous and now the current\
chief of staff of the Army are very family-oriented, and they actually\
personally ensured that those items are taken into consideration.\
\
     I cannot give you a specific example, as you request.  However, I\
can assure you that, from the installation management command, C.G.\
(ph), to the G-4 of the Army and the G-1 of the Army, as well as the\
family and MWR command representatives all have their voices heard.\
When the considerations were given to what the requirements were for\
the new brigades, for example, there is a specific component in there\
for quality of life programs.  So they are, in fact, taken into\
consideration.\
\
     AKAKA:  My final question, Mr. Chairman.  I understand that the\
services do provide some family assistance to the National Guard and\
Reserves.  However, what I have noticed is that this support tends to\
be in the form of brochures, pamphlets, or Web sites.  What method or\
methods are being used by the department and services to ensure that\
active-duty personnel, National Guard and Reserves know about this\
information?\
\
     For instance, it\'s my understanding that some families are\
unaware that there were programs and organizations that may be of\
assistance to them, as their servicemember is deployed, even though\
there are these informational documents and Web sites available.\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Sir, I can answer it for the Army, and I\'m sure my\
colleagues here can answer of the other services.  We make a very\
concerted effort to ensure that the Reserve components are included in\
our planning.  The integrated, multi-component family support network\
that is being put together now has representatives from both the\
Reserve and the Guard on it, to ensure, in fact, that not only are\
they part of the planning process, but the goodness that they offer,\
because they have very good, robust programs themselves out there, and\
they can actually reach out to the various states who have\
individualized programs and find the best practices out there, and\
hopefully we can incorporated them into the overall Army support,\
because, after all, sir, we are one Army.\
\
     AKAKA:  Thank you for your responses.\
\
     Mr. Chairman?\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Akaka.\
\
     Secretary Dominguez, in August 2006, a DOD report identified\
several types of lending practices it considered predatory, and one is\
a military installment loan.   \
\
     Now, DOD asked for legislative authority to regulate predatory\
lending practices that target military personnel and their families,\
and Congress gave DOD that authority.  DOD has just published draft\
regulations implementing this authority.  However, these draft\
regulations will still permit military installment loans.\
\
     So my question is fairly simple:  Why do the DOD draft\
regulations allow military installment loans, a practice that DOD has\
described previously as predatory?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Sir, we, in compliance with the legislation,\
consulted with the federal agencies that regulate the financial\
industry and with them drafted regulations which are in the federal\
register now for comment.  So we\'re in the process of receiving those\
comments and considering them.\
\
     It\'s important to understand that, in the regulations we drafted,\
it also put the issue of predatory lending and predatory practice on\
the agenda for oversight by the federal agencies that have regulatory\
oversight.  So this is now one of the things they must check and will\
check in the industries that they regulate.  And it allows for us to\
go back and tighten the regulations if we miss something or if the\
behavior out there warrants it.\
\
     Now, we had to walk a pretty fine line to try and preclude people\
exploiting servicemembers, at the same allow and enable the financial\
services industry to offer products that were of use to members of the\
Armed Forces and their wider consumer community.  There are places\
where that\'s a fine line to walk, and we tried to strike that balance.\
\
     The bottom line is, you know, the regulations are still amenable\
to change, and we designed into the regulatory process our ability to\
go back and tighten the hole if the behavior in the financial services\
industry warrants it.\
\
     NELSON:  Well, I understand that, but doesn\'t it seem a bit\
inconsistent to identify installment loans as a predatory practice or\
a practice to probably avoid for your own financial security, and yet\
you\'re treating them as OK?  I guess maybe I\'m still confused.\
\
     I know what your authority is, and I know regulatory bodies try\
to work with it, as well, banking regulations, insurance regulations\
on insurance products.  But what did the DOD find out about the\
installment loans that they didn\'t know when they thought they were\
bad?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Sir, I\'ll take that one for the record\...\
\
     NELSON:  Yes, if you could get back to me on that.\
\
     (CROSSTALK)\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  \... on that.\
\
     NELSON:  I don\'t want to burn all of our time.  I\'d appreciate\
it.  I\'m not trying to put you on the spot.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  That\'s quite all right, sir.\
\
     NELSON:  Mr. McLaurin, the secretary of defense recently\
announced this extension of service for Iraq and Afghanistan.  Can you\
tell me how the families were notified of the decision?  Were they\
told before the secretary of defense announced it in a press\
conference?  And just let me know exactly how they were informed.\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Sir, it\'s my understanding that\...\
\
     NELSON:  I\'m sure they\'ll tell me when they get here, but I just\
wanted\...\
\
     MCLAURIN:  I have no doubt whatsoever, sir.  To my knowledge, I\
don\'t believe that they were informed beforehand.  And I know that,\
afterwards, there was communication directly with the commanders in\
the field.\
\
     I would presume, although I do not know and I would not want to\
misstate, that the commanders in the field were the ones that informed\
them.  However, the news networks are very good, so it would not\
surprise me if they did not learn from the news sources before they\
actually learned from unit commanders.\
\
     NELSON:  Yes, they are very good.  Either that, or we\'re very\
bad.\
\
     MCLAURIN:  There are a few ways to look at that.\
\
     NELSON:  General Brady and Dr. Davis, as both the Air Force and\
Navy reduced the size of your active and Reserve forces, airmen and\
sailors will face unique stress as their military careers come to an\
end much earlier than many of them expected or hoped would happen.\
What programs do you have in the Air Force and Navy to address the\
needs that this early out has created?\
\
     BRADY:  Go ahead, ma\'am.\
\
     DAVIS:  One of the things we\'re doing, Senator, is accelerating\
the participation of the members in the TAP program, Transition\
Assistance Program, that we have now available for them, so they get\
career counseling, they get financial advice, they get housing, they\
get job placement support, resume, et cetera, et cetera, to help them.\
\
     Also, for those who might be Navy personnel who are wounded, we\
have special relations with the Department of Labor and with employers\
such as Northrop Grumman to make sure that we are giving them every\
opportunity to develop skills, have the access to the employment and\
training that they need, and then to be able to be placed in a\
partnership with an industry like Northrop Grumman, or in Cisco.\
We\'ve just established a relationship last week with Cisco for that\
type of training.\
\
     NELSON:  Is there a follow-up to see how many of them are\
actually placed or find additional employment once they leave?  Do we\
have any statistics as to how\...\
\
     DAVIS:  I do not have those statistics yet, sir.  It may be too\
early, but I will make sure that you have that as we move along with\
this, as we have the drawdown and we deliver the services, to see if\
they\'re effective in what the outcome is for the individual sailors.\
\
     NELSON:  I\'d like to know how that works.  There are placement\
programs, and there are placement programs.  So we want to be able to\
evaluate it.\
     And, General Brady, what about yours?\
\
     BRADY:  Chairman Nelson, much like Dr. Davis said, we have\
transition assistance programs, as well, that provide all kinds of\
counseling, resume preparation, all of that sort of thing that you\
would expect in a transition program, which has been very effective.\
\
     Regarding our wounded, we have also committed to any of our\
wounded that \-- when it is finally determined that they cannot\
medically stay on active duty, if they want to stay with us and work,\
they can.  And several of them have.  Several of our seriously wounded\
airmen are now serving with us as civilians, some of them in very\
close to the same capacity that they were on active duty, security\
forces, et cetera, so that\'s been a successful program that some of\
our young folks that have been wounded have taken us up on.\
\
     We have also, as the personnel guy in the Air Force, I get calls\
from all kinds of retired generals who want to hire bright, young\
people that are getting out, and so they\'re always trying to get me to\
put me in touch with those.  Obviously, there are Privacy Act issues\
there, but what we have done is, we have made sure that our young\
people who may be leaving, if they are willing to put their contact\
information on a Web site where industry can find them, we are doing\
that.  And that\'s working, as well.\
\
     Just like the Navy does, we\'ve got some very bright people who\
are leaving, and they\'re going to continue to serve in the civilian\
community.  And there are employers out there who want them.   \
\
     Again, we do not, either, at this point, I think it is, as Dr.\
Davis suggested.  We don\'t have statistics really on employment, but\
we\'ll provide them as we get them.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  One of the employers who wants these people is the\
Department of Defense.\
\
     NELSON:  I know, the Blue to Green, I know.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Yes, sir, that\'s what I was going to mention, is that\
the Blue to Green option is available.  The Congress provided\
financial incentives to do that.  We have some fabulous people who\
want to continue to serve and want to make the Armed Forces a career\
and have made the transition and are making great contributions to the\
Army and the Marine Corps, and we\'re very grateful for their\
willingness to take that extra challenge.\
\
     NELSON:  Dr. Davis, do you know about, from the Marine Corps\'\
point of view?\
\
     DAVIS:  Yes, sir, and I do not have the statistics on that Blue\
to Green effort, but I will provide those for you, sir.\
\
     The other thing \-- another employer is the civilian side of the\
Department of Defense, as well as the other federal agencies.  And\
we\'re working on a program with that.  Of course, as veterans or in a\
veteran capacity, they get special points for employability.  We\'re\
also watching, sir, the effect of the drawdown on our diversity\
missions within the department.\
\
     NELSON:  And, Secretary Dominguez, could you get us the\
information from the Army, so that we could have both the\...\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  On the Blue to Green, sir?\
\
     NELSON:  Blue to Green.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Yes, sir, we\'ll be able to provide the total\
statistics.  I think the last time I looked at it, it was somewhere\
around 300 people that had transitioned.  So it\'s not a huge number.\
Is it more than that now?\
\
     (CROSSTALK)\
\
     MCLAURIN:  \... for the Army now, that\'s around \-- the last time
I\
looked \-- about 320 captains and lieutenants.  I personally signed off\
on each one of those, so I do keep track of that.  But there is a\
great number that have volunteered to come over to the Army, and we\'re\
proud to have them.\
\
     NELSON:  As the transition has occurred, it is not over yet.  And\
so you would expect that there would be more, as you get toward the\
end, that they might be willing to take it, too.\
\
     MCLAURIN:  Yes, sir, we welcome them.\
\
     BRADY:  Senator Nelson, for the Air Force, there is a whole range\
of things that people can do.  Obviously, we would like for them to go\
to our Guard and Reserve, and some of them are.  Some of them are\
going to other government agencies, other agencies in the government\
who like people who show up on time, and they\'re drug free, and have a\
security clearance, are attractive to lots of government agencies.\
\
     And as well as the Blue to Green program, which several hundred\
of our people have taken, so there are a range of options, and civil\
service, as was mentioned, that are available to our people.\
\
     NELSON:  Any further questions, Senator Akaka?\
\
     Thank you.  I appreciate it very much.\
\
     Oh, excuse me.  I didn\'t see \-- Senator Chambliss?\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  I was trying to be obscure over here, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     NELSON:  You were.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  I just have a couple of questions.\
\
     Secretary Dominguez, the Army requires each soldier who redeploys\
from theater to undergo a post-deployment health reassessment, 90 to\
180 days after they return.  These health assessments are not always\
done in person, but can be done over the phone and by contractors\
versus military personnel.  This is not ideal and allows for many\
conditions to be overlooked and go unreported, which might surface\
months or years later.\
\
     Specifically related to some of the most common conditions, such\
as PTSD and traumatic brain injury, it is hard, if not impossible, to\
diagnose those conditions over the phone.  Do you believe DOD should\
require these assessments to be conducted in person by military\
personnel?  How can we ensure that soldiers actually complete these\
health assessments?  And should DOD require a pre-deployment screening\
for PTSD and TBI, in an attempt to determine which personnel might be\
predisposed to these conditions?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Senator, let me start with all the facts as I know\
them.  We do a pre-deployment screening, so that pre-deployment health\
assessment is accomplished for everyone before they go over, and\
that\'s a face-to-face, nose-to-nose thing.\
\
     Then, they get a post-deployment assessment, so that\'s as they\
come back, you know, very shortly after their return, there is that.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  And that\'s face-to-face?  \
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  To my knowledge, sir, it is face-to-face.  Now, I\'ll\
have to take this, you know, for the record and get back to you on\
this, because it was my understanding that these programs were face-\
to-face, that there was a human being talking to another human being\
and evaluating them against several criteria that are contained on\
that health assessment form.\
\
     The one you\'re particularly speaking of is the one that\'s a \--\
again, it\'s a post-deployment reassessment, done up to six months\
later.  And it was specifically in place in order to be able to pick\
up those items that might take longer to mature.\
\
     Now, I think the more important issue is that the reassessments\
are done by, you know, someone who\'s got the clinical skills to be\
able to pick that up, whether they\'re a military person, government\
civilian, or a contractor, as long as they are capable of\
understanding what\'s presenting themselves in this human being that\
they\'re engaged with.  It does seem to me that the face-to-face piece\
of this is important, and I was under the impression that that is, in\
fact, how that was conducted.  \
\
     I do want to point out that we have deployed recently a self-\
assessment that\'s available to people over the Internet, that\'s\
actually been used, because it\'s private and confidential, and it can\
help you understand yourself what you\'re feeling, what\'s happening,\
and whether or not you need help.  And then it, you know, guides you\
to where you can get.  And that\'s turned out to be a tool that, you\
know, many of our people are using.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Well, if you will check that, because my\
understanding that what you refer to as the reassessment in a number\
of instances is being done by telephone versus face-to-face.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Dr. Davis may know something more about that, sir.\
\
     DAVIS:  Sir, the screening tools themselves can be done online or\
by the individual, paper-to-pencil, but they are not a diagnostic\
tool.  They are the first screen that the individual completes, so we\
have a continuity of record of change in behavior, and so the\
individual is able to identify some symptoms for themselves.\
\
     As soon as anyone identifies a \"yes\" that would indicate they\
have a problem sleeping, they have a problem with loss of memory, that\
individual is immediately referred to a licensed, certified clinician,\
who then has a face-to-face meeting with them to start the process of\
diagnosis and treatment referral, et cetera.  So we do not rely on\
that as the only method for\...\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  All right.  Well, my main point is, I want to make\
sure we\'ve got confidence in that system and that we\'re not letting\
something slip through the cracks there and somebody\'s not \-- I
don\'t\
know how you would respond, if somebody looking at it over the\
Internet or a response over the Internet might not pick it up, but I\
sure want to make sure that we have all the confidence in the world\
that\'s going to work and is working.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Yes, sir, you were right on that target with that,\
Senator.  The chain of command is important here, including for Guard\
and Reserve members, right, so that one of the concerns of commanders\
is making sure you\'re coming to muster after your time away, so that\
we can get eyes on you, and we can talk to you.   \
\
     And so there\'s been a lot of talk in the department about making\
sure we have commanders and first sergeants and whatever reaching out\
and talking to people after they have been deployed, particularly\
important in the Guard and Reserve, where, you know, you\'re not coming\
to work everyday for us.  So we share your concern there that that\'s\
working.  I think we have reasonable confidence, but I\'ll get more\
information for you, sir.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  OK.\
\
     Apparently DOD does not offer attractive enough incentives to\
hire the doctors and nurses in need to execute their mission, and it\
has an overly burdensome bureaucratic hiring and contracting process\
that prevents military bases from getting the military, civilian and\
contractor health providers they need when they need them.\
\
     My staff visited three Army hospitals in Georgia the week before\
Easter, and every hospital commander mentioned this as a major problem\
that limits their ability to treat soldiers at their posts.  Do you\
agree that this is a problem and that a fundamental change is\
necessary?  What recommendations do you have for streamlining this\
process and providing the necessary authorities to get the personnel\
required?  And do you believe that existing law regarding service\
obligations for nurse positions should be changed?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Sir, let\'s see.  There\'s many different aspects to\
that question, but the \-- Congress recently helped us with the ability\
to do bonuses for members of the medical profession.  So this is\
something we do watch pretty carefully.  It is a challenge to get the\
positions and nurses and these medical professionals in, and that\'s\
our challenge.\
     But we do have some tools, and I think it\'s just\...\
\
     (CROSSTALK)\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  \... it\'s up to us to use those aggressively.  Now,
we\
are looking at this issue right now in the department, haven\'t come to\
any particular conclusions on it.\
\
     With regard to hiring federal civilians, we are excited about the\
prospect of converging to the National Security Personnel System,\
because that system allows us to move to market-sensitive pay.  It\'s\
much more flexible, in terms of being able to pay a market rate in a\
specific locale for a shortage specialty.  So we\'re hopeful that the\
conversion in NSPS will actually help us with the federal civilian\
side of the thing.\
\
     I\'ve not heard any problems with our ability to contract, to get\
contract help.  And in addition to that, I think commanders of\
hospitals all across this country have established extraordinarily\
imaginative and innovative relationships with the health care network\
around the base to try and tap into that network through the TRICARE,\
to be able to take advantage of health care, when there\'s a shortfall\
in our internal military treatment facilities.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Now, as I say, my staff picked up on this when they\
were down at Benning, Gordon and Stewart, so you might touch base with\
those medical commanders.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Sir, I\'d be willing to make one point, is that this\
came up in the discussion of the secretary\'s independent review group\
yesterday and their testimony over in the House.  And this is an idea\
we\'ve been intrigued by for a while, which is this issue of allowing\
medical professionals to join the armed services with shorter service\
obligation and, you know, not worry about being able to service to a\
20-year retirement, because for many of them that\'s not what they\'re\
after.  They\'ve already had their successful profession, and now\
they\'re seeking an opportunity to give service back to the nation.\
And our rules can preclude them from doing that.\
\
     And that\'s something that I think does need some thought, and I\
promise to work with you on that, Senator, to find a way to enable\
those patriots to help us out where we need it.\
\
     DAVIS:  Senator, the Department of the Navy, our retiree council\
is looking at a way in which we can return medical personnel to some\
form of service to the country, and one of them is modeling after the\
Department of Health and Human Services\' retiree medical corps, to\
specifically use them to augment the services we provide.\
\
     But I would just \-- even though the bonuses and additional\
incentive pay for high-skill, stressed specializations, child\
psychiatry, have been very beneficial, I think it\'s incumbent upon all\
of us to look at the personnel needs that will go along with your\
first question about the diagnosis and sufficient treatment of the\
post-traumatic stress and the PTSD.\
     And it\'s luckily that the department has \-- the Navy surgeon\
general is heading a service-wide group, with the V.A., to look at all\
mental health issues and how we can recommend to make sure that we\'re\
adequately screening pre and post, that we have the baselines, and\
that we\'re treating with the right number of personnel.  But it is a\
challenge.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Clearly one of the largest problems confronting our\
wounded troops returning from theater is diagnosing and treating the\
traumatic brain injury.  I\'m concerned that no established procedures\
or validation process exist for effectively diagnosing TBI.  Would it\
be helpful for health care providers conducting post-deployment health\
screening to ask a list of specific questions to ascertain whether a\
servicemember is suffering from TBI?  Or what else can DOD do to more\
effectively detect, monitor and treat TBI?\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  The first item is that this is an area that will\
require a lot more research.  We are way into the leading edge of our\
science and knowledge right now about TBI, and there\'s a lot of work\
that has to be done.   \
\
     Dr. Winkenwerder, the former assistant secretary of health\
affairs, initiated a lot of things, took action to get some of this\
underway.  What he had done already is, together with the Department\
of Veterans Affairs, he has promulgated some clinical practice\
guidelines for PTSD assessments and for TBI assessments.  So those\
guidelines for, \"Here\'s what you look for,\" have been put out in the\
field to physicians in both V.A. and the DOD to do exactly what you\
think and have said, which is to help cue them into what to look for,\
so they can begin to make an assessment about the potential for mild\
TBI and PTSD.\
\
     We have established a TBI task force, you know, to look this.\
And then there\'s a mental health task force that the Congress\
commissioned a year ago that\'s report is due out in May.  The TBI task\
force is to try and coordinate, integrate all of the things we\'re\
doing across DOD and V.A. and other federal agencies to make sure that\
the research is aligned, and the best practices in the current\
clinical practices are disseminated, and that we have a feedback loop,\
that we know that what we\'re doing is effective, and we\'re growing
and\
learning as we understand more about this particular injury.  \
\
     A lot of work to be done yet, sir.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Well, as I have had the privilege of visiting\
Bethesda and Walter Reed from time to time, it seemed like every one\
of those soldiers, Marines I talked to has either a low-grade or\
severe TBI.  And when you hear how they got injured, it\'s pretty easy\
to understand why.\
\
     And I would just caution us to make sure that, particularly on\
this reassessment online that we\'re doing, that we make sure that\
we\'re doing everything possible there to plug in the right kinds of\
questions for symptoms on late-developing TBI.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Yes, indeed.  Now, one of the things that we\'re also\
doing is trying to capture and record in theater when you are subject\
to an event that might have produced TBI.  So that is a hard thing to\
do, and battlefield is chaotic and stuff, but we\'re trying to\
implement procedures now so, you know, we know that Private Dominguez\
was subjected to a blast.  We\'ll know if, you know, we had a\
concussion, or if he was knocked out, and if it just rang his bell for\
a while and now he\'s back into the fight.\
\
     So we\'re trying to capture that and document that stuff about the\
servicemember, so that goes back in and gets incorporated into the\
medical record.  A tough challenge, but it\'s one of those things we\
need to do, because those are \-- that\'s a trigger or cue to the
health\
professionals, say, OK, this person is at risk for maybe demonstrating\
some of these symptoms, so get your antennae out here and watch this\
person.\
\
     CHAMBLISS:  Thank you, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Chambliss.\
\
     Secretary Dominguez, Senator Ensign, who was unable to be here\
because of the prior commitment, has asked that a couple of his\
questions be submitted for the record, and they\'ll be sent to you.\
One is on the funding for schools.  He notes that the sustainment,\
restoration, modernization of schools has fallen short by up to 67\
percent of the goals established by the Department of Defense.  And,\
obviously, he\'s asking, why?\
\
     And on military construction funding for schools, the actual\
funding for the military construction, as opposed to the \-- excuse me,\
modernization, has decreased by over 60 percent, from \$99.4 million in\
2006 to \$37.9 million in the budget request for fiscal \'08.  So these\
will be submitted to you for a response.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  I\'d be glad to answer those, Senator.\
\
     NELSON:  Sure.   \
\
     Well, I thank the panel for your indulgence today and for your\
questions.  And, Dr. Dominguez, it seems like you were in the barrel\
for a little while this afternoon, but I\'m sure you\'ll acquit
yourself\
very well on these answers that you submit for the record.\
\
     DOMINGUEZ:  Oh, yes, sir.  I look forward to it.  I really\
appreciate the opportunity to be here, sir.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     Thank you, General.\
\
     Now, our third panel of spouses consists of Ms. Joyce Raezer, who\
is the recently promoted chief operating officer of the National\
Military Family Association.   \
\
     Congratulations, Ms. Raezer, on your promotion.  I\'m delighted\
that you\'re willing to be here to testify today, even though your role\
in the National Military Family Association has changed.  The NMFA is\
one of the most active organizations focused on the needs of military\
families, and we give great credence to your views.  So we\'re looking\
forward to that.\
\
     We also have several spouses of servicemembers who have a great\
deal of experience in dealing with the kinds of issues our military\
families are facing today.  Mrs. Connie McDonald is an Army spouse of\
27 years and currently lives at Fort Hood, Texas.  The McDonalds have\
two children.  Connie has served as a volunteer and as a staff member\
for several Army community service programs, including Army Family\
Action Plan, Army Family Team Building, and Family Readiness Groups.\
Her husband is a brigadier general on his second deployment to Iraq.\
\
     Welcome.\
\
     MCDONALD:  Thank you.\
\
     NELSON:  Mrs. Paula Sumerall is the wife of an Alabama National\
Guardsmen who currently serves as the assistant to the chairman of the\
Joint Chiefs of Staff for National Guard matters.  Ms. Sumerall brings\
a career\'s worth of experience as a National Guard family member.\
\
     Welcome.\
\
     Mrs. Launa Hal grew up as a family member in the Air Force and is\
married to an Air Force officer currently assigned to the Pentagon.\
Mrs. Hal is an active family member volunteer.  Her husband has just\
returned from his second deployment, so she\'ll have some, I think,\
really current experiences that she may be willing to share with us.\
\
     Mrs. Mary Piacentini \-- welcome, Mary.\
\
     (LAUGHTER)\
\
     She is the spouse of an Army Reserve command sergeant major and\
is also the mother of a servicemember.  She\'ll be able to give us a\
great deal of perspective on the issues facing Army Reserve families\
based on her long association with the Army Reserve at many levels.\
\
     Now, Ms. Raezer has submitted a prepared statement on behalf of\
the NMFA, and it will be included in the record.  In light of their\
volunteer status, we didn\'t ask the other witnesses to submit written\
statements, but if anyone has a written statement, certainly we might\
ask and mention that it can be submitted for the record.\
\
     Mrs. McDonald, you\'re first up.\
\
     MCDONALD:  Thank you very much, Senator Nelson.  It\'s a privilege\
to be here.\
\
     And, Senator Akaka, I appreciate your interest in Army families,\
for sure.\
\
     Thanks for the introduction.  I\'m going to add a little caveat,\
that in that 27 years, that\'s consisted of 17 moves to 10 different\
Army installations, three outside the United States.  And currently,\
Fort Hood is home.   \
     But I will tell you, amongst all of those changes, one thing\
hasn\'t changed, and that\'s the Army is people, and how the Army cares\
for its people has remained a top priority.  You\'ve heard from\
previous testimony that the Army has an extensive array of support and\
services refined over the years as a result of lessons learned from\
prior deployments and other family separations.\
\
     Our Army family programs work very effectively and remain a\
mainstay in the family support network.  One of the most important\
sources of support for families comes from the imaginative ideas of\
family members working with support of garrison command staff at\
installations across the Army.  Army communities service staff at each\
installation provide training to support family readiness groups, rear\
detachment commanders, and some deployment briefings to reunion\
training, ACS programs and services assist family readiness groups and\
rear detachment commanders and their support to families.\
\
     The addition of the family readiness support assistance has been\
crucial in helping to alleviate the strain on these dedicated folks.\
The power of this collective creative strength, combined with a\
willingness to serve others, is making a positive difference each and\
every day.  Family members and community staff are readily assisting\
each other and families during this difficult and challenging time.\
\
     I do want to reiterate that Mr. McLaurin\'s testimony spoke to\
many of the programs that we have within the Army Community Service\
and outside of that, as well.  One in particular that he spoke of was\
the Army Family Action Plan, and that\'s where I have a lot of\
background.  It\'s a proponent for change and progress, and that\
proponent \-- it\'s interesting, in the testimonies today, you hear
that\
some of the things that \-- questions that you have all have asked\
actually have come up through the Army Family Action Plan.\
\
     One of those examples is, our last conference, we included our\
great heroes, the American wounded warriors.  And in the first issue,\
that came up as a priority for our delegation, and our delegation\
comes across the Army and represents the demographics of our Army\
family, is the traumatic brain injury rehabilitation program was our\
number-one issue.  That was Army delegation-wide considers this an\
important issue.\
\
     Among those other traumatic servicemembers, group life insurance,\
annual supplement, a co-pay for replacement parts for our wounded\
soldiers who have lost their limbs.  And there\'s also an issue on\
convicted sex offender registry for CONUS (ph) specifically.  And our\
list of strengths and challenges we look at that are \-- we do at the\
conference, where we ask for our constituency to turn around say,\
\"What is good now?  And what is hard now?\"  We have a list of those,\
as well, and we have that in the packet for you.  And, indeed, we have\
a written statement for you that I have on my impressions on how the\
programs are going.\
\
     I do want to tell you that our process in the Army Family Action\
Plan starts at the installation that comes all the way up to a general\
offices steering community that is chaired by our vice chief of staff\
of the Army.  And in that process, it\'s always interesting to see the\
passion that comes up with prioritization.  It\'s not asking for the\
moon.  It\'s, \"This is what we\'d like most.\"\
\
     And each conference also identifies four most valuable services\
provided by the Army.  The most critical issues that are currently\
being worked, again, the strengths and weaknesses of what we\'ve been\
going through with deployments, and this information is given to the\
commanders as a snapshot of how things are right now.  What does it\
look like, a dipstick, to say a customer\'s comment card?  And that\
information is used, and it\'s brought to the forefront.\
\
     Because this program is set up the way it is, it\'s one of the few\
programs \-- and I think maybe the Army may be unique in this \-- that\
it\'s a grassroots program, where the customer talks directly to senior\
leadership.  And senior leadership responds back.  It\'s a wonderful\
program, and we\'re very thrilled with it.  I\'m glad to hear that a
lot\
of the things that you have concerns about, we also have, involved in\
that program.\
\
     It\'s recognized across the Army as a vital program for\
leadership.  The folks who are the constituents of it know that they\
have a voice to leadership, and that is important (inaudible) again,\
in your packet, there\'s some information about that program.\
\
     One of the other programs we have that meets twice yearly is the\
Army Family Readiness Advisory Council, AFRAC.  It\'s consistent of\
senior spouses from \-- to include the spouse of the chief of staff in\
the Army and the vice chief of staff of the Army, spouses of Army\
commands and command sergeant majors\' spouses, Reserve component\
included.  And that program does a lot of looking into how are we\
doing and giving back feedback.  It\'s a two-way street.\
\
     Again, I want to reiterate Mr. McLaurin\'s testimony about the\
many programs we have, and it is an impressive list.  But one thing I\
would like to let you know is that, although Army families are\
resilient and have a great history of getting things done, we can\'t do\
it alone, and we shouldn\'t have to.  Army family programs enhance that\
resiliency by providing care, support, training and meaningful\
opportunities for social bonding.  There must be a sufficient\
infrastructure, independent of volunteer support, properly resourced\
to deliver consistent, quality services to all components in a\
seamless manner.\
\
     Our families and family programs staffs are doing heroes\' work,\
and they are tired.  Continued support from our country is imperative.\
Every day, I see the toll this OPTEMPO is taking on families and\
supportive staffs.  I have concern about compassion fatigue among our\
families and our invaluable family program staff members.  Everyone\'s\
heart is with us, and family program staff continue to do what they\
can with what is available, but their fight should be for our soldiers\
and our families, not for resources.\
\
     I did want to let you know that there are a lot of community\
supports.  Senator Akaka, you had questioned about that, and I will\
tell you, the great town of Kaleen (ph) has a grouping of programs\
called Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.  One of the things that is a great\
initiative that they\'ve taken on that is very useful is, the local\
water company on their bill every month sends out the ACS programs\
that are available to Army families, and that was just an initiative\
on their part.\
\
     The great town of Lawton, Oklahoma, is a phenomenal support for\
the military families at Fort Sill, as well.  So there\'s tremendous\
community resources out there, and I do believe that our families do\
want to be a part of the community, as well as a part of the\
installation.\
\
     I appreciate your interest in Army families, and I look forward\
to any questions you may have.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.  And the packets you mentioned will be made\
part of the record, without objection.\
\
     Mrs. Sumerall?\
\
     SUMERALL:  First, let me say that I come from a background that\
is perhaps a little bit different from a lot of the folks here, who\
are full-time military spouses.  My husband is a full-time guardsman\
at this point, but previously he was a traditional guardsman.  He\'s\
been in the Guard for 40 years.\
\
     During that time \-- we\'ve been married 19 years \-- we\'ve moved
11\
times because he\'s been full-time Guard.  I taught school for 30\
years.  A good number of those years was Department of Defense schools\
in Germany, so I\'m very familiar with military children, both from the\
active component, as well as working in the public school system with\
Reserve component children.\
\
     I am the training coordinator for the Northern Virginia ESGR, so\
that means employer support for Guard and Reserves, and that means\
that I have also dealt somewhat with the job issues of our military\
members Reserve components who are coming back, looking for employment\
or looking to change jobs.\
\
     I\'m also in contact with a lot of parents of guardsmen, in that\
I\'m currently writing the book for the parents of guardsmen, like\
Vickie Coatie (ph) for big Army.  So I have had a tremendous influx of\
e-mails from a lot of these folks, especially from the Red Bull\
Brigade out of Minnesota extended.  So I get it from all angles here.\
\
     I\'m a little concerned that I hear Guard mentioned in a lot of\
things, but I don\'t really know that their concerns and that their\
problems are fully understood, much less addressed.  Geography always\
creates a big problem for the National Guard members.   \
\
     We may have people \-- for example, in the 20th Special Forces, we\
draw people from nine different states.  And when they first deployed\
in 2002 to Afghanistan, it was very, very difficult to stay in touch\
with all of the family members, just simply because of the wide spread\
of where they were.  Even within states, you may have someone say they\
have drills in Montgomery, Alabama, but they live in Mobile, and that\
means that those families probably have never even met.\
\
     So when you talk about the continuity and the flow of what goes\
on within the active component family programs, in the Guard, we just\
simply don\'t have that, and probably never will, despite the fact that\
we tend to pull together and make the best of a bad situation.\
\
     I will give you an example of some of the things I\'ve seen the\
Guard have to go through.  Prior to my husband\'s current position, he\
was at CENTCOM, Central Command, in Florida, deployed most of the\
time.  I had the privilege of sitting in Tampa with four hurricanes,\
one right after the other, Charlie, Frances, Jeanne and Ivan.  I saw\
any number of Florida guardsmen who were activated for this, whichever\
one, sent off.  Their families were left wherever they were, no power,\
the trees dumped across the cars, the roof missing.  They were unable\
to get to their families to assist them.\
\
     Now, I point this out, because a lot of the focus is on\
deployment, which is, of course, a very significant and important\
thing.  But the Guard serves another function.  And when you stop and\
you think that you\'ve got families that are sitting there with no\
power, they can\'t keep the baby\'s milk cool, all of this kind of\
stuff, this impacts on our families.   \
\
     And if you come from an area where you\'ve had to go and deal with\
the tornadoes or the floods or the snow storms or the forest fires,\
it\'s not just, you know, a certain area of our country that\'s\
impacted.  It\'s all of our guardsmen.   \
\
     When you look at most of the programs that focus on the families,\
the focus is the spouse and the kids, not the parents.  This is the\
reason I\'m writing the book, and there\'s obviously a big need for\
this, to include, not only the immediate family that\'s right there\
physically with the soldier or the airman, but the extended family.\
This is another issue that Guard faces.\
\
     And I will tell you right now that one of the primary things I\
think that I would say that needs to be fixed is that we hear a lot\
about the coming back, the transition assistance, when our soldiers\
and airmen first come back.  One of the biggest problems that the\
National Guard has is that the time spent at the demob station is\
simply too brief.  They don\'t have people there who understand the\
situation in the area that they\'re coming from.\
\
     For example, Fort Dix, New Jersey, you arrive, maybe 4 in the\
morning.  By 7 or 8 o\'clock, they\'re starting briefings.  Someone at\
Fort Dix, New Jersey, cannot tell you what the job opportunities are\
in Wycombe, Alabama (ph).  They don\'t know.   \
\
     We need someone back at the home level that can address job\
issues, that can address medical issues that are pertinent for that\
area.  We need an extended time for that.  Now, this would require\
money, of course.  And one of the things, too, that I\'ve heard big\
complaints amount is that at least 50 percent \-- and that\'s a modest\
estimate, because I have heard it\'s as high as 85 percent \-- at least\
50 percent of the DD-214s are incorrectly, incompletely done at that\
demob site.  So that creates another problem when our guardsmen return\
home.\
\
     The fact that that soldier is not usually right there located\
immediately with their family members, they\'re unable to make the best\
decisions with regard to health and dental care.  I don\'t know who\
handles that type of thing at your house, but I guarantee you, at my\
house, I do it.  And if I were not there to tell my husband, \"Oh, no,\
honey, you\'d better sign up for this or you\'d better look at this,\"\
there could be a problem.  So that\'s another one of the problems about\
that.\
\
     When you\'ve got people coming in, especially Guard folks who are\
not used to this military mindset, the main thing they want to do is\
get home.  They\'re tired.  I frankly don\'t see how the active\
components manage to digest all of what they need to when they come\
back at a demob, you know, so the Guard really has it tough, because\
it\'s just a different thing.\
\
     And, recently, there was a poll taken of Guard families, and most\
of them, surprisingly to us even, but they don\'t consider themselves\
military families.  They\'re part of communities.  Their churches,\
their schools, their places of business are somewhere other than Fort\
Hood, Fort Dix, Fort Campbell.  They\'re part of a community, and\
they\'re feeling a disconnect there when they come in, because their\
coming home is different from when the active component does.\
\
     And I think that\'s probably about the most that I could say.  I\
mean, I would like to be able to tell you great and wonderful things,\
and I can tell you some great and wonderful things, but I\'d rather you\
know what needs to be fixed.  \
\
     Thank you.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     Mrs. Hall?\
\
     HAL:  Good afternoon, senators, and thank you so much for this\
opportunity to speak with you.  I\'m very honored to be here.\
\
     My name is Launa Hall.  I\'ve seen military life from a lot of\
angles, beginning with my birth at Webb Air Force Base.  My father\
flew C-130s in Vietnam and went on to serve for 20 years.  I served\
myself for almost six years as a junior officer.  I met my husband in\
ROTC, and he\'s currently an active-duty Air Force officer.  He\'s\
deployed twice and has just returned from one of those deployments.\
\
     The Air Force has moved me 19 times in my life.  I\'ve lived on-\
base, off-base, in geographically remote locations, stateside, and\
overseas.  I\'ve used the facilities and services at scores of bases.\
My friends, neighbors, the people I work with and volunteer with are\
largely military families.  I\'m comfortable saying that I know this\
lifestyle; in fact, it\'s the only life I\'ve known.\
\
     This lifestyle is increasingly characterized by deployments, as I\
don\'t need to tell you.  The more our airmen deploy, the more likely\
they are to miss major events in their families\' lives, such as the\
birth of their children.  And that\'s my special area of concern, is\
women giving birth while their servicemembers are deployed.\
\
     Typically, this woman is not only separated from her husband, but\
she\'s far from her own family, too.  Also, typically, Air Force\
spouses will rally to her side with meals, babysitting for any older\
children, and maybe even labor support during her birth, because\
that\'s the way we care for each other.   \
\
     But I feel that this is too important an issue to rely upon the\
big-heartedness of volunteers.  It\'s too much to assume other military\
spouses are just going to cover it, when they\'re dealing with the\
deployment of their own airmen, or they\'re in the middle of a move, or\
they\'re at least enduring a scorching operations tempo.   \
\
     A pregnant, deployed military spouse needs a doula \-- new term,\
very old concept.  It\'s a labor assistant to be with that woman when\
we\'ve taken her husband away.  A birth doula is a certified labor\
support professional, trained and experienced in childbirth, who\
accompanies the mother in birth and provides emotional support,\
physical comfort, and information.\
\
     Studies after studies show that parents who receive doula support\
feel more secure and cared for during their birth.  They\'re more\
successful in adapting to their new family dynamics.  And they have\
less post-partum depression.  Ask a woman who\'s employed the services\
of a doula, and she\'s likely to tell you that her doula was essential.\
\
     The unusually high stress of a birth in a family divided by\
deployments demands the professional, quality support of a birth\
doula, and furthermore a post-partum doula who\'s trained and certified\
to assist that new mother in baby care and self care, and identify a\
mom who needs treatment for post-partum depression.\
\
     If this sounds like a lot of support, I agree it is.  And spouses\
in these special circumstances need no less.\
\
     I\'m not the first one to think of this.  Naval Hospital\
Charleston trained corpsmen to be doulas.  The reports I read\
indicated great success with that program, though it was eventually\
discontinued, as many good ideas are, for lack of staffing.   \
\
     Operation Special Delivery is a network of certified doulas who\
give away their professional services for free for pregnant spouses of\
deployed servicemembers.  Because military spouses who are also doulas\
tend to be the ones whose hearts lead them to this kind of volunteer\
work, what we\'re basically talking about here is military spouses\
giving away their income as doulas.  While this group does phenomenal\
work for free \-- and we should send flowers to every last one of them\
\-- they are too few to meet the number of requests they receive.  In\
fact, in the larger military communities, they don\'t come anywhere\
close.   \
\
     It\'s an unmet need, Senators.  Instead of expecting a pregnant\
spouse to cobble together a supported birth with volunteers and\
untrained friends, and maybe her mom flying in for a few days, let\'s\
fund a doula for her.  Let\'s mitigate the stress she\'s under.  Let\'s\
allow the father-to-be, that deployed airman to relax and to focus on\
his mission, knowing that a trained labor support professional is at\
his wife\'s side before, during and after the birth of their baby.\
\
     On a different note, my personal experience of base support\
during my husband\'s deployment was outstanding.  Programs at the\
airmen and family readiness center and the youth center kept me well\
informed of resources available to me and kept my husband, our two\
children and me in contact with calling cards, and access to morale\
calls, and an Internet cafe at his deployed location, where we could\
hook up our Web cams.\
\
     While I didn\'t end up needing a lot of the resources available to\
me, I absolutely knew that I could have picked up the phone with any\
issue, and I knew who to call, and I would have been flooded with\
assistance.  More to the point, my husband knew that, allowing him to\
focus on his mission.\
\
     The Air Force has a reputation of solid support for their\
families, and it\'s well deserved.  I\'d like to see it furthered in
the\
special circumstances of deployed families having babies.\
\
     Thanks for listening.  I\'d be honored to answer any questions\
about this issue I brought up regarding doulas, a specific military\
hospital issue that I\'d like to let you know about if I have the\
chance, and any other family support topics.\
\
     Thanks again.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.   \
\
     I\'m going to try it again.  Mrs. Piacentini?\
\
     PIACENTINI:  Perfect.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     PIACENTINI:  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here\
this afternoon.  I appreciate that.\
\
     I am the spouse of an active Reserve soldier, CSM, for the\
military intelligence reserve command.  He is at Fort Belvoir.  We\'ve\
been here for six months.  Prior to our coming to the Virginia area,\
he was the command sergeant major at the United States Army Reserve\
Command in Atlanta, Georgia, Fort McPherson.\
\
     At that time, I was given the opportunity to be a full-fledged\
volunteer and part of the family programs for the Army Reserve, being\
a representative for them, and also for the families.  I was able to\
come in contact with family members, not just spouses, but parents,\
grandparents, and uncles and siblings.  And, over four years, I\
traveled extensively to meet with them, to see what their issues were,\
how things were going, what was good, what was not good.\
\
     From all of my travels, I found that, in the Army Reserve, we\'re\
geographically dispersed, as the Guard is, and we don\'t have access to\
the same facilities and resources that the active Army has and the\
other military institutions.   \
\
     The family programs office does the best they can with the\
resources that they have, of having personnel out there, but I\'ve\
found, in the field, that communication wasn\'t the best, because they\
just cannot stretch their arms far enough and wide enough.  And that\
does come down to resources in the way of money, of getting enough\
personnel out there.   \
\
     The Army Reserve has recently been able to bring on board in\
their family programs about 100 or so new individuals to help with\
family programs, and that will be a tremendous boost for families, but\
my concern is, as the families\' concern, is that the information and\
the one-on-one contact with the Army Reserve is not being made with\
the families, because there aren\'t enough people, bottom line, face-\
to-face.\
\
     Another issue that affects them is the medical resources and not\
understanding the medical resources.  And I have also had a current\
experience with the Army medical system.  I\'m a medical professional\
myself, and working in the private sector, and I found that dealing\
with the military health institution is not quite user-friendly, not\
only for the soldier \-- but they\'re used to it \-- but for the
civilian\
and family member.\
\
     And being a health professional, I feel that standard of care is\
the same, whether it\'s an Army hospital or a private hospital, and I\
think the Army falls short there.\
\
     I\'m also the mother of a first lieutenant, and he is with the 4th\
Infantry Division out of Fort Hood.  And his last deployment was a\
very stressful time for me, but I got through it with a lot of\
communication.  As a seasoned Army Reserve spouse and now Army mother,\
I was able to ask my son the questions I needed to get the resources I\
needed, but those questions aren\'t out there for the average Army,\
military family to use and to get the help they need.\
\
     We need to do a much better job in getting information out to\
everyone, not just active Army, but the Army Reserve, National Guard,\
everyone, and it\'s not always getting out there.\
\
     As I have noticed living on an Army installation through\
different periods of our active Army life, that resources are\
dwindling on the installations, and I\'m seeing quality of life\
activities cut or curtailed.  And I see that as being unfortunate for\
the military families.  So much is being taken away from them to fund\
other things \-- and that\'s understandable \-- but when you do cut the\
available resources and activities for military families, you are\
actually cutting off the leg or the line that will connect the soldier\
to the military.  Family readiness is soldier retention.\
\
     I want to thank you for your time today, and I, too, didn\'t want\
to be a downer on important issues, but these are the major issues.  A\
lot of good is being done, but there is also a lot of work to be done.\
And I hope that the funds are there and they increase for both the\
soldier and the families.  We need to keep our families intact so our\
soldiers can do their mission.\
\
     Thank you.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     Ms. Raezer, welcome back, and congratulations.\
\
     RAEZER:  Thank you, Senator Nelson, and I appreciate the kind\
words.   \
\
     And I also appreciate this invitation from you and Senator Akaka\
on behalf of the National Military Family Association and the families\
we serve to sit on this panel with these wonderful spouses to talk to\
you about the state of military family readiness today.\
\
     These spouses, and, in fact, all the other military families\
volunteers are on the front lines of family readiness.  As they\
prepare for deployment, endure the challenges of deployment, which\
include deaths and injuries in the unit, and then recover from a\
deployment, even while they know it\'s soon time to prepare for another\
deployment, they remain the glue that holds their community together.\
\
     They and all families are force multipliers.  And as such,\
families need and deserve a military support structure that ensures a\
consistent level of resources to provide robust quality of life,\
family health and family readiness.   \
\
     I\'d like to echo Connie McDonald\'s remarks about the importance\
of the community.  Families also need the help and comfort of their\
local communities and, indeed, the whole nation so that everyone\
understands and supports their sacrifice.\
\
     NMFA\'s extensive written statement details many things that we\
hear from families about what programs are working well, what gaps\
must be filled, what new challenges are emerging.  NMFA has been\
gratified to see the emergence of a broad spectrum of programs and\
initiatives designed to improve family readiness and reach out to\
families.  And you\'ve heard about many of those today.  Military\
OneSource, expanded access to child care services, increased\
counseling resources, outreach to National Guard and Reserve families\
are making a difference in connecting families with each other and\
appropriate support, not reaching everybody, but definitely making a\
difference.\
\
     But while wonderful, many of these programs and the offices and\
agencies responsible for them are not yet well coordinated, often\
leaving families confused about where to go for the appropriate\
information and assistance.  Multiple deployments, repeated\
extensions, a lack of predictability, and diminished time at home\
between deployments continue to take their toll on military families.\
\
     In measuring that toll, NMFA often looks at two segments of our\
community:  family volunteers, and the children of servicemembers.  We\
believe the training the support system for volunteers, like these\
spouses we have here today, has not kept pace with the demands placed\
on them by our military, by other families, and by our volunteers\
themselves.  In addition to a more robust training and support\
structure, these military officer and enlisted spouses, and the\
parents who volunteer with many of our Guard and Reserve units, must\
be able to depend on professional support personnel casts to back them\
up and ensure families in crisis receive appropriate assistance.\
     Military parents are increasingly concerned, not just for the\
well being of their children today while dealing with deployment, but\
also for the unknown in the future.  They ask:  What will the long-\
term effects, with multiple deployments, frequent separations from\
their parents, and the worry for their deployed parents\' safety be for\
military children?   \
\
     NMFA is doing its small part to support the children of deployed\
servicemembers through its Operation Purple camp.  This summer, we\
will be serving 3,500 children of deployed servicemembers in 26\
states.   \
\
     We\'re pleased the military services have stepped up their child\
and youth support services, but we need more research to help all of\
us understand the effects of deployment on children, anticipate the\
long-term issues, and develop better support programs to help parents\
help their children.   \
\
     Parents and children need better access to the full spectrum of\
mental health services.  These services must also be available for the\
most vulnerable of our families, those whose servicemember has been\
injured or wounded or whose servicemember has paid the ultimate\
sacrifice for our nation.\
\
     While all of us in the family readiness arena must focus on\
deployment and crucial family needs related to a long war, we cannot\
forget that, in times of war, the military\'s bedrock quality of life\
programs become even more vital to families and contribute to their\
readiness.  To ensure servicemembers remain focused on the mission,\
families must have quality, affordable housing, in a safe\
neighborhood, high-quality, caring schools for their children, access\
to a doctor\'s appointment when they need it \-- and I\'m sorry Senator\
Chambliss is gone, because we, too, have heard problems about\
contracting issues in military hospitals and believe that\'s why so\
many of our families have such a hard time getting an appointment when\
they need it.   \
\
     So we congratulate him for his work in researching this issue.\
\
     Families also need top notch affordable child care and education\
and career opportunities for the military spouse.  They must be\
assured that, when the military orders them to move, their valued\
possessions will be handled with care and their out-of-pocket costs\
are low.  The not only must have opportunities to improve their\
financial savvy, but also be protected from the predators who take\
advantage of their youth, arrogance and trusting nature to separate\
them from their hard-earned pay.\
\
     And, Senator Nelson, we, too, share the concerns you voiced about\
the proposed regulations for the Talent-Nelson act, and we appreciate\
your continued interests in that.  We\'ve included some of our thoughts\
on those regulations in our statement on page 11.\
\
     We especially ask you to see that critical base operations and\
quality of life programs are not robbed to meet war needs.  Please\
ensure that the measures undertaken today in the interests of cutting\
costs and improved efficiency do not also destroy the military\
community.\
\
     Given that our military has been in war status for more than five\
years, NMFA also thinks it\'s time for OSD and the services to evaluate\
all those new programs and initiatives that they\'ve created to meet\
wartime needs and that they currently fund through those wartime\
supplemental appropriations.   \
\
     Military family readiness programs and quality of life facilities\
require dedicated, ongoing funding, not emergency funding.  Thus, we\
hope DOD would incorporate the most effective of the initiatives\
created to meet war emergencies into the ongoing array of military\
quality of life programs and budget for them through the regular DOD\
budget process.  NMFA is concerned that, if these programs remain tied\
to wartime funding, they might go away, while families still need\
them.\
\
     The National Military Family Association appreciates your\
understanding that strong families equals strong force and that family\
readiness is integral to servicemember readiness.  The cost of that\
readiness is a cost of the war and a national responsibility, and we\
thank you for shouldering that responsibility, just as servicemembers\
and their families are shouldering theirs.\
\
     Thank you again.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.   \
\
     And I want to personally thank all of you for being here and\
sharing your experiences, because they are not simply unique, but\
they\'re terribly important for us to understand, as we look at the\
family part of the service.  So I just want to thank you for your\
articulate presentations of your experiences.\
\
     And I\'m going to ask my colleague, Senator Akaka, to start with\
the questions again.\
\
     AKAKA:  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.\
\
     I, too, want to echo what you just said about the responses, the\
statements that have been made.  And we wanted to hear directly from\
you and people who have the experience.   \
\
     My first question is to Mrs. Hall.  And, well, I would invite\
other witnesses to comment, if they wish.  But because you were a\
dependent of a servicemember growing up, and before becoming a\
servicemember yourself a military spouse later in life, whether you\
feel the stresses military families are facing today are new or\
unique?  Or are today\'s challenges similar in kind, though perhaps not\
in degree, to the stresses you have seen throughout your lifelong\
connection with the military?\
\
     In other words, do we have new problems now which require new\
solutions?  Or are you seeing the same issues that you have seen\
before, in which case we should expect that we should have effective\
family support programs in place?\
\
     HAL:  Thank you for your question, Senator.\
\
     Of course, I\'m a parent now, and I didn\'t use to be when I was a\
military brat, and that makes these issues feel more pertinent.  But\
my perception is that the OPTEMPO is higher and the need is greater.\
And it feels much more pertinent for family support than even when I\
was active duty several years back, not even going back to my\
childhood, but just from early adult years, the need for good, solid\
family support.  To meet the tempo that we\'re at right now feels more\
pertinent than ever, sir.\
\
     AKAKA:  Does anyone want to comment on that?\
\
     PIACENTINI:  I would, Mr. Akaka.  I was also raised in the\
military.  My mother had a great support system with the spouses\
around her, and she became a great mentor for those around her.  But\
she didn\'t face again the OPTEMPO that our soldiers are facing.\
\
     My father, of course, was through the Second World War, Korean\
War, the Cold War, and Vietnam, but the OPTEMPO was different, and I\
think that our families now, especially engaging so many Reserve and\
Guard members, the resources are not there for them to maintain and be\
successful military families.\
\
     So I feel it\'s much more difficult now, even with a lot of the\
Internet, the resources.  People are still people.  They still need\
other people to communicate with to get the information that they\
need.\
\
     AKAKA:  Thank you for that, Mrs. Piacentini.   \
\
     And as I mentioned in my opening statement, I wanted to know your\
feelings about involving community, whether caring for military\
families is strictly the role of DOD and the military services, or is\
there not also a role for the larger civilian community, as citizens\
and especially in cities, and counties with military installations as\
neighbors?\
\
     Ms. Raezer, you did mention the community in your testimony, and\
you quote a master chief petty officer who used the phrase, and I\
quote, \"self-reliant, yet well connected,\" unquote.  So let me start\
with you.  Are the issues we are discussing today issues the\
Department of Defense, the Congress, the military families and groups\
like yours should solve by taking care of their own or is there a role\
for the larger community?  Do we need more help from the rest of our\
fellow citizens?  And do military families want more help from their\
fellow citizens?\
\
     RAEZER:  Senator Akaka, the military community does a wonderful\
job of taking care of its own.  These spouses here are a good example\
of military families taking care of their own.  But military families\
to us are our nation\'s families.  Military children are our nation\'s\
children.  Military families are a part of the greater community.\
\
     Most of our military families live off the installation.  Our\
Guard and Reserve folks are scattered throughout the nation.  Over 80\
percent of our military children go to civilian public schools.  We\
need those schools to embrace our children, and they have.\
\
     One of the initiatives that our association has praised is the\
Department of Defense\'s America Supports You program that highlights\
all of those community organizations, corporations, kids groups, mom\
and pop initiatives to support our troops.  I talked to families.\
These outpouring of support that help, whether it\'s quilts, whether\
it\'s people having a bake sale to support families and buy phone\
cards, it means a lot, because military families are a part of this\
nation, and they want to feel that the rest of the nation is behind\
what they do.\
\
     Whether or not they agree with the war, they are that connection\
with our larger community, and they need that connection with the\
larger community.  So it\'s our responsibility as a nation to reach out\
to these folks.\
\
     AKAKA:  Let me ask another question.  I don\'t know if we\'ll have\
a second round.\
\
     But military families have some unique challenges in financial\
planning, and that was mentioned, too, especially during deployments,\
when the servicemembers\' allowances go up, but so do the family\'s\
expenses.   \
\
     And you also mentioned the word predatory lenders.  This is\
especially true for Guard and Reserve families who may see their\
health care coverage change depending on their deployment status.\
Recently, I organized a seminar on financial planning assistance just\
for military families in Hawaii.  And with an admiral, we worked this\
out, and it was a huge success.  We had a huge turnout, which\
confirmed my belief that there is a big demand for help in managing\
finances.\
\
     Do you have access to quality financial planning assistance from\
people who are familiar with the best practices in this area as a\
whole, as well as the unique issues military families face?   \
\
     Mrs. Piacentini, let me start with you on that, because as a\
Reserve component family, you may not have had the support structure\
an active-duty installation provides.  Would you make some comment\
about this?\
\
     PIACENTINI:  Well, absolutely.  Since we are so geographically\
dispersed, we don\'t have access to military installations that often.\
Some areas do, but for the most part we don\'t, and we have to rely on\
our family programs offices to send out that information.  They would\
have deployment briefings, where they would bring in the financial\
experts to the units to educate those that would attend.\
\
     But, for the most part, so many of them wouldn\'t attend, because\
there\'s a part of them that\'s in denial as to the fact that there are\
soldiers being mobilized and deployed.  They just don\'t always \-- at\
the time that you have the resources, they\'re not always there to take\
the information in.  And, unfortunately, we don\'t have that continual\
follow-up to reinforce all the time.\
     The smaller communities embrace the military, I have found, in a\
much larger way throughout the community than larger communities, and\
because they are small.  They know their people, and they take care of\
them from all areas.  So the Army Reserve, unfortunately, we don\'t\
always connect often enough with those, and we do need the resources\
out there.\
\
     AKAKA:  Thank you.\
\
     Mr. Chairman?\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you, Senator Akaka.\
\
     I want to ask a question about Military OneSource.  I\'ve been\
told it\'s a very valuable resource, and it\'s accessible by military\
families, no matter where they\'re located or what service they belong\
to.  NMFA reports that Military OneSource is underutilized by military\
families; Ms. Raezer\'s already told us that.\
\
     So, Ms. McDonald, have you used Military OneSource, or is part of\
the tools that you use with your fellow spouses?\
\
     MCDONALD:  It\'s absolutely part of the kit bag, but I don\'t dial\
the phone for them.  I do reference.  We have military life\
consultants on Fort Hood, as well, who use it as a reference, as well.\
\
     I will tell you \-- I\'ve got a chart in front of me that can
break\
down for you what kind of calls I get, but I\'ll tell you that, what\
I\'m impressed with the chart is that not as many of them are about\
deployment questions as they are about living life questions, some of\
them health care, some of them mental health care.\
\
     Where they get referenced is not necessarily a phone call that I\
get and a reference Military OneSource.  It\'s when Specialist Jones\'\
wife calls and gets a success story for herself, and she tells\
Specialist Smith\'s wife that she had a success.  So it\'s mouth-to-\
mouth marketing on Military OneSource.\
\
     Flooding the market with the information is absolutely the first\
step.  The competence in the program is a second step, and that\
happens customer to customer.  And I think the senior leadership is\
very aware of it and references it often, but I think it\'s actually\
kind of an impressive thing, that you can call them from how to look\
for scholarships to how to change your tire in a rainstorm on the\
highway by yourself.\
\
     It\'s an impressive program.  I will tell you that I agree that\
it\'s underutilized, but I think, as we continue with this, it\'s going\
to be mouth-to-mouth-to-mouth-to-mouth success stories that is going\
to make the next person call.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     Ms. Sumerall, you\'re stranded by comparison.  Have you had any\
experience with Military OneSource?\
     SUMERALL:  As a matter of fact, I have.  Military OneSource is\
probably the most often-mentioned resource that some of these parents\
that have been e-mailing have said, \"You know, I\'m unable to because\
of \-- you know, I\'m not close to my son or my daughter\'s unit to be\
able to participate in their family readiness group.\"  And even though\
they try and do this via e-mail, you know, to stay in touch, they have\
been going onto Military OneSource, because the word has gotten out.   \
\
     The Guard really pushes Military OneSource.  And they\'ve been\
able to access a lot of different things, and they\'re really, I think,\
intrigued by the fact, just like Connie said, that we\'ve got \-- you\
know, if you need to find somebody to groom your dog, you know, you\
can go on there and do that.   \
\
     And I was in a meeting recently with Secretary Hall and some of\
the senior Reserve component spouses, and he asked, he said, \"Well, is\
it true that they have to answer by the third ring?\"  And so we tested\
it.  And, sure enough, the phone was answered by the third ring.  And\
so I would say it\'s a valuable resource, especially for Guard, where\
you\'ve got people who are in isolated communities.\
\
     NELSON:  Thank you.\
\
     Anybody else have a comment about it, Military OneSource, or a\
different experience?\
\
     PIACENTINI:  I\'ve not used it, but I know \-- I talked to many\
individuals who have, and they\'ve appreciated the fact that they have\
it available to them.\
\
     NELSON:  Ms. Raezer?\
\
     RAEZER:  What we hear from families who have used OneSource is\
that they\'ve been very satisfied.  We still encounter families who\
have never heard of it or have not used it.  And we haven\'t seen usage\
numbers in a while, but that may be something you could ask the\
services for, for the record, because it\'s a wonderful resource, but\
the marketing seems to go slow, and I think a lot of folks don\'t\
realize it\'s there.\
\
     I think it\'s interesting, in terms of some of the things that\
folks have talked about, that people use it, and that gets back to\
that bedrock support for families.  It might not be a deployment\
question that\'s prompting them to call this time for Military\
OneSource; it may be just that life skill issue.  But if the\
deployment spouse is the one who handled the life skill issue, who\
handled finding the vet for the dog, then having that resource for\
that family is very important.\
\
     And if they\'re satisfied with the finding the dog groomer, they\
may call back when they have another deployment-related or more\
serious problem.  So we encourage folks to us, but continue to be\
disappointed that we still here from many families who don\'t know\
about it.\
\
     NELSON:  I hope you\'ll share that number with me before I leave.\
     HAL:  I just wanted to say, I knew about it is, as well, when my\
husband recently deployed.  I knew about it.  I was briefed on it\
shortly before he went.  And not this deployment, but previously, I\
had gone on the online and surfed around and checked it out, and I see\
as a great resource.\
\
     I\'m inclined to think that perhaps younger troops who are more\
used to getting information by surfing for it might be more interested\
in it and more excited about it.\
\
     NELSON:  Better than the yellow pages sometimes, huh?\
\
     I\'ve been hearing that there are \-- and you\'ve all mentioned
many\
shortfalls in the military services, resulting in cutting funds, in\
some cases, for family programs on military installations.\
\
     Mrs. McDonald, have you noticed any cutbacks at Fort Hood?\
\
     MCDONALD:  Sure.  \
\
     (LAUGHTER)\
\
     It\'s the Army\'s largest installation, and I am sure going to see\
them.  I came into Fort Hood as a new person.  In 26 years, we hadn\'t\
been at Fort Hood, so I\'d come with a lot of experiences as an Army\
spouse, but a new place to me, and so I guess, coming in with new\
eyeballs, you know, it adds a good thing to it.\
\
     Some of the cuts, the intent is that families don\'t see the cuts,\
but what I do is, as a volunteer, is work with family programs.  So\
I\'m in there with them.  And the staff members \-- if you reference\
something that you knew was there before as a volunteer, and the\
answer is, \"Oh, we can no longer get that,\" or, \"We don\'t have a
staff\
member who does that anymore, someone else has taken on that hat,\" my\
concern \-- big word, \"my concern\" \-- is that the ACS staff members
are\
wearing way too many hats for the one person that they may be.\
\
     We have a lot of one-person programs that need to be deeper.  And\
as you\'re getting into \-- and with that becomes (inaudible) I mean,\
they\'ve got a heavy rucksack, and they refuse to put it down, but\
they\'re starting to droop.  And as volunteers coming in, they\'ve got\
the same thing.  They\'re living it and breathing it personally and\
then coming in to help the programs that help folks like themselves.\
\
     And with that, I can definitely see it.  But I think I see it\
maybe a little quicker than someone who\'s coming in to use the\
program, because they\'re coming in to use the program and, as soon as\
they walk in the door, they\'re greeted, their questions are answered,\
but I\'m in the wings and can see what\'s going on behind stage.  And,\
yes, I see the cuts.  They\'re definitely there.  \
\
     NELSON:  That\'s just generally what your thoughts are, as well?\
Anyone else like to comment on it?\
\
     MCDONALD:  Our installation volunteers from across all the\
services report things such as Mrs. McDonald mentioned, that family\
center staff that\'s not replaced when somebody leaves so that people\
are wearing multiple hats, cutbacks in janitorial services and routine\
maintenance, and hours that are changed or diminished.  And, when\
you\'re dealing with communities under as much stress as our\
communities are under, that can be very hard for a community.\
\
     NELSON:  I think Senator Akaka has some other questions.  And as\
the co-chair here today, I\'m going to turn it over to him, because I\
have to be somewhere else at 6:00 p.m., and it\'s going to stress me to\
get there.\
\
     But I want to thank all of you for being so frank and candid, but\
I also want to thank you for your service, for your spouses\' service,\
as well.  The American people support our military, and we want to be\
sure that the budget and the resources reflect that, as well as the\
attitude of the American people.  And there probably is no better way\
to do it than to be sure that the resources are there and the programs\
are there for families, that compensation is appropriate for families,\
and we\'re committed, with the Readiness and the Personnel\
Subcommittees, to do our level best to get that done.\
\
     Thank you very, very much, and God bless you and keep you.  And\
thank you as I walk out the door here.  Thank you.\
\
     All yours.\
\
     AKAKA:  Yes, let me say thank you very much, Mr. Chairman Nelson,\
for agreeing to hold this hearing and for creating it so that it has\
been such a success at this time.  So thank you very much.\
\
     I just have a few questions.  This is something that has been on\
my mind, and this has to do with mental health counseling and the\
stigma that\'s attached to it.  I would like to ask any of you who can\
respond, do you think servicemembers\' spouses or dependents feel free\
to seek mental health counseling when they\'re needed?  Or is there\
still a stigma in our society our in our military culture that\
inhibits people from asking for this kind of help?\
\
     MCDONALD:  At Fort Hood, where I should tell you that Fort Hood\
puts the \"Hoo\" in \"Hoo-ah\"\...\
\
     (LAUGHTER)\
\
     \... we\'ve got military family life counselors.  We call them\
MFLCs.  Of course, we can\'t use regular words.  We have to create an\
acronym.  And we have a pilot program at Fort Hood, as well, on\
coaching young families that\'s come in.  Both of those are non-medical\
models for support and counseling.\
\
     I will tell you that the answer \-- I would love to tell you,\
Senator Akaka, the answer is simple on that, but I think it\'s as\
varied as our military families themselves are.  I don\'t think it\'s a\
stigma within the military community alone; it will also be the stigma\
that maybe they have grown up with in the community they\'re from.\
\
     We are very diverse, and there could be the idea that \-- I spend\
time as a staff member at Fort Bragg and went through the assessments\
of what it was like for \-- mental health assessments, and what did\
that mean for the soldier, the idea that, if you can\'t keep your\
family happy, how can you do your mission?  I think we\'ve come a long,\
long way from that.\
\
     I won\'t say we\'re done by a long shot, but I do believe that the\
military family life consultants are a step in the right direction.\
And the fact that it is a non-medical model and I can call one of\
these folks who rotates every 45 days \-- we have three of them at Fort\
Hood, but we would like to have more \-- I can call one of them, and\
they will meet me at Starbucks downtown.  I don\'t have to go on the\
installation, and they will chat with me.  And they are almost like\
traffic cops, to decide whether or not what I need is support or I\
need medical model help.\
\
     It\'s the first step, and it\'s instigated by me, and no one would\
know it but me.  They do not keep records.  I think it\'s a step in the\
right direction for I think maybe what your concern is, but, again,\
that answer is very difficult, because we are so very different as\
human beings.  And the community that we work within, live within\
would know if one of these counselors stayed with us the whole time.\
Then, if I do happen to meet them at Starbucks for coffee, they\'re\
going to want to know, \"Does Connie, you know, got problems or does\
Connie got a friend that she\'s having coffee with?\"\
\
     One of the nice things about this is the rotation.  This program\
doesn\'t have a face; it has a reputation.  And I think that\'s a step\
in the right direction.  It\'s just the way it\'s sounding like at Fort\
Hood.   \
\
     We\'ve just been working with this, but I do know this program \--\
and, Joyce, I don\'t know if I\'m right on this \-- but this program
had\
great, great strengths coming out of Alaska, with the extension notice\
there.\
\
     RAEZER:  We still see and hear about the stigma, but we also hear\
even more often that the issue is access to mental health providers.\
There\'s a national shortage of child and adolescent psych providers,\
so that\'s been a concern for many of our families.\
\
     We agree with Connie\'s assessment of the military and family life\
consultants.  They\'re a wonderful addition to that mix on an\
installation to provide support.   \
\
     One thing that we hear, in terms of the servicemembers seeking\
help, is the tone is set by the command.  If the general comes back\
from deployment and says, \"I\'m going to go see a counselor just to\
talk things out,\" there\'s no stigma for his subordinates, because, if\
the general can do it, it\'s OK for the captain, and the colonel, and\
the sergeant, and the specialist to do it.  \
\
     And so we\'ve been really excited when we hear a general say,\
\"When my folks and I come back from deployment, we\'re all going to\
seek counseling, just to talk to someone.\"  So the command has a big\
influence on that stigma and getting rid of that stigma.\
\
     (UNKNOWN):  I concur.\
     AKAKA:  Another interest that I had \-- I would like to ask anyone\
on our panel who can respond \-- with your views on programs such as\
contracting out and military civilian conversions.  What is the\
impact, if any, on the families who depend on these services, if the\
provider of those services is a military member or government civilian\
or a contractor?  Does it matter to you?\
\
     Does service get better or worse when service provider positions\
are connected and converted from a military to a civilian person or\
from a government civilian to a contractor?  I think you understand\
what I\'m asking here and would like to have your comments on that.\
\
     PIACENTINI:  If I might comment, yes, there is a difference.  If\
you have a civilian contract to fill positions for a family program\
office, to slot in those civilian contractors, if those civilian\
contractors have no military experience, no education in the military,\
they can\'t communicate with military families appropriately.  They\
don\'t understand the lifestyle and where they\'re coming from.\
\
     So it can be a real disaster, if they aren\'t the right people for\
those jobs.  And many times, they aren\'t, and the families suffer.\
\
     AKAKA:  Any other comments?\
\
     MCDONALD:  There are some things that have been a benefit because\
of the contracting out or the privatization.  There\'s a lot of new\
housing on military installations that wouldn\'t have been there if\
we\'d have waited for MILCON dollars to build that housing.  The\
privatization initiative has helped.\
\
     And many of the family centers, as they\'ve done a conversion from\
DOD or service civilian employees, they\'ve gone to contractors, we\
have many military spouses who are working as contractors.  There are\
sometimes some issues for them in learning how to be a contractor, but\
that has helped.\
\
     What I said about mental health also applies to contracting.  It\
goes back to the oversight and the willingness of the person in charge\
to set and enforce standards in those contracts.   \
\
     AKAKA:  Yes.\
\
     Ms. Sumerall, would you make a comment on that?\
\
     SUMERALL:  I would have to say that, having lived on military\
installations and had the services of military facilities and military\
personnel, and then to make that transition either of necessity or by\
choice, in some cases, I would have to say that, going with someone\
who is not totally familiar with the military and how things work, it\
does pose a problem sometimes.   \
\
     They don\'t understand, for example, to the TRICARE.  They may\
have signed up for TRICARE and may not understand the difference\
between TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard, and then you\'ve got a\
hatful about your medical claim, or if you\'ve got \-- I know of one\
person who went to her private physician, and she made the comment\
about, \"Well, my husband is now deployed as a guardsmen.\"  And the\
doctor immediately said, \"Oh, well, let me give you some type of\
tranquilizer or whatever, because I know you\'re having a rough time.\"\
\
     And so I would say that \-- and, you know, to me, this ought to
\--\
someone who might be dispensing drugs to calm someone\'s nerves is\
perhaps not the best thing, especially if the person doesn\'t need\
them.  And so I think there that, even with Guard, that having that\
connection with someone who at least does understand the military,\
perhaps with prior military service themselves or military family\
members or something, does make a difference.\
\
     That\'s not to say that all contractors would do things like that,\
and I\'m sure there\'s some excellent ones out there.  But I think it
is\
something that we do need to be concerned about.  The privatization in\
some cases of things, say, like the medical, is maybe a little bit\
scary.\
\
     AKAKA:  Well, this has been excellent, and I just want to open it\
up in case any of you want to make any closing statements.  I would\
certainly ask for that, if you do.\
\
     Otherwise, let me tell you that this has been a great hearing for\
us.  The Subcommittees on Personnel and Armed Services and the\
Subcommittee on Readiness and Government Management has set up this\
hearing to hear directly from you.  This has been helpful to us.   \
\
     I want to also tell you that we commend you for your spirit and\
for your sacrifices and for the support that you give our military,\
because you have made a huge difference in the successes that we\'ve\
had.   \
\
     And what\'s coming about now is that I feel that families are so\
important to the life of our troops that we need to pay attention to\
it.  And this is what we\'re trying to do.  And what has happened here\
will help us determine what to do next.   \
\
     And I look forward to your continuing contact, in case you do\
have other offers to make to us about helping families, but this is\
what it\'s all about.  And I want to thank you again.\
\
     And I thank Chairman Nelson for his part in this.  I want to\
still \-- we may have another hearing on this, but I\'m not certain\
about that.  But because we\'re looking at particular points in areas\
here, and let me finish with this one.  And this is about the\
predictability of deployments.\
\
     The Army has just, as you know, changed its policy on deployments\
to Iraq or Afghanistan from 12 months to 15 months.  I would like to\
ask anyone on this panel to give me your view as to the importance of\
predictability of deployments.  If you know upfront that it will be 15\
months, does that help?  Or does that not really make that much\
difference in meeting all the challenges of that separation?\
\
     HAL:  Senator Akaka, if you don\'t mind, I\'m a spouse of exactly\
one of those soldiers.  He will be gone two Christmases, which wasn\'t\
the original plan.   \
     I will tell you, living at Fort Hood, with two divisions that are\
on a rotating basis \-- they replace each other \-- I will tell you
that\
I would rather right now that my servicemember be extended to 15\
months than ask the 4th Infantry Division to turn around and go back\
in less than nine.  I think mental health, the physical health of the\
soldier first, the family members second, and the overall health of\
the post is going to have to call for that.\
\
     The original plan was not to rotate every year.  If I have this\
right, it was two years home, one year down, two years home, one year\
down.  At Fort Hood, we\'re not getting two years down.  At this point,\
they\'re not getting one year down, if we don\'t do this extension.\
\
     So if that\'s the answer, if that\'s the purpose of this, I think\
the guys downrange, the guys and gals downrange would rather be where\
they are, let the folks rest who need to rest, because one day they\'re\
going to be the ones who need to rest.   \
\
     And if the predictability factor is that you tell me, as a family\
member, that there\'s a possible extension \-- which, by the way, no\
surprise \-- that, if we got that, I would rather know that that\
extension is a possibility, and you turn around and guarantee me on\
predictability that he\'s home for 12 months, where I can give him\
chicken noodle soup, and I can get him off on R&R, and we can use our\
camper, and he can be at home, you know, and see some of the kids\'\
stuff, absolutely.   \
\
     The predictability for me is more of when he\'s home than how long\
he\'s deployed.  That is personal, my view, but I\'m sitting in that
hot\
seat.  So I\'m taking it on.\
\
     AKAKA:  Ms. Sumerall?\
\
     SUMERALL:  From the standpoint of the National Guard and from my\
volunteer service with the ESGR, I can tell you that knowing that the\
Guard and the Reserves are now going to have a designated time to be\
deployed makes a tremendous difference, from the standpoint of the\
employer.   \
\
     And, of course, that impacts on the family, because so many of\
our employers \-- and we\'ve got some that are absolutely wonderful and\
totally supportive \-- but we have people who own small businesses.  We\
have people who are afraid their company\'s going to downsize.  We have\
farmers.  We have a lot of people that, being gone for extended\
periods of time and not knowing for sure how long that will be, if and\
when they do deploy the next time, is a very frightening factor in the\
security of the family and how they are provided for.\
\
     And like I say, some of the employers are not happy at all about\
it, and we are running into situations where they\'re somewhat leery of\
hiring people who have any type of affiliation with the Guard or\
Reserves.  So I would say, from the standpoint of the financial\
security of the family, as well as job security of the deployed\
servicemember, that knowing how long a deployment is going to be is\
just a tremendous gift to that family, to know what to expect.\
\
     AKAKA:  Ms. Hall?\
\
     HAL:  When you hear about anyone else being extended, you think\
it might happen to your servicemember, too.\
\
     (UNKNOWN):  Absolutely.\
\
     HAL:  And the entire time my husband is gone, people have asked\
me, \"Oh, so when is he coming back?\"  And every single time, I say,\
\"Well, we think January,\" because that\'s the best you can do, when
you\
know that the possibility of an extension is out there.\
\
     And I think it has a larger effect on just your ability to plan\
the future and your ability to think your way through what this\
deployment\'s going to mean to your family.  It has a larger effect\
than you even realize at the time.  I think only in retrospect do you\
realize, \"Wow, I really had no idea when that was going to end.\"\
\
     That might be overstating it.  I had a good idea, but I wasn\'t\
certain when it was going to end.  In our case, he came home on time,\
but we certainly know lots and lots of Air Force people who did not\
come home on time.  It sounds to me like the Air Force has a slightly\
different model and that, instead of large battalions going out, we\
tend to go out one person at a time from different shops.   \
\
     And so that deployment, if it\'s extended, has an effect more on\
that individual family, perhaps, than in the larger community.  Just a\
perspective from the Air Force there.  Yes, extensions, big impact on\
family feeling about how that deployment is going.\
\
     AKAKA:  Ms. Piacentini?\
\
     PIACENTINI:  Predictability is essential.  And if the Army\
Reserve can use the model that they are trying to develop, then the\
families can certainly count on when that soldier\'s going, when he or\
she will be home, and what they\'ll be doing in that period when they\
are home.\
\
     As a mother of a 4th Infantry Division soldier, I don\'t want him\
over there longer, because he\'s my son.  But if he has to go, he goes.\
So as a parent, I think I look at it a little bit different than as a\
spouse, probably.\
\
     AKAKA:  Mrs. Raezer?\
\
     RAEZER:  The only thing predictable for our families since this\
war started is that the tour length is unpredictable.  And I think,\
you know, it has been hard.   \
\
     Families have been promised in the past this war length will be\
this long.  The savvy families aren\'t circling that end date anymore.\
They\'re counting off the number of days that servicemembers have been\
gone, but they\'re not circling the end date.  They are still going to\
be looking for the other shoe to drop, even with this latest\
extension.\
\
     We are concerned about predictability.  We are also concerned\
about tour length.  In our surveys, families have told us long tour\
lengths, missing the two Christmases, is hard.  We\'ve seen information\
that was presented on some of the Army mental health studies that\
graphs problems in theater with servicemembers and their concerns.\
And those mental health issues affecting servicemembers in theater go\
up dramatically the longer the tour is.\
\
     So we are worried about tour length and what that will do to the\
servicemembers.  How long will those servicemembers need to recover\
after being gone for 15 months?  So I think we have to be really\
careful about announcing an extension and saying, \"This is going to\
make us more predictable,\" because I think the families are very wary.\
And we have to be careful about expectations.  And somebody needs to\
be looking at tour lengths.\
\
     AKAKA:  Well, again, I want to say thank you to all of you.  This\
has been tremendous.  It will be helpful, again, as I said.  And this\
hearing is adjourned.\
\
     END