Transition Assistance for

Members of the National Guard

Field Hearing

before the

SubCommittee on 

Economic opportunity

of the

Committee on 

Veterans’ Affairs

House of Representatives

first session

September 19, 2005

hearing held in Manchester, NH

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Serial No. 109-23

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Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

Steve Buyer, Indiana, Chairman

Michael Bilirakis, Florida Lane Evans, Illinois, Ranking

Terry Everett, Alabama Bob Filner, California

Cliff Stearns, Florida Luis V. Gutierrez, Illinois

dan burton, Indiana Corrine Brown, Florida

Jerry Moran, Kansas Vic Snyder, Arkansas

richard H. baker, Louisiana Michael H. Michaud, Maine

Henry E. Brown, Jr., South Carolina Stephanie Herseth, South 

Jeff Miller, Florida Dakota

John Boozman, Arkansas Ted Strickland, Ohio

Jeb Bradley, New Hampshire Darlene Hooley, Oregon

Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida Silvestre Reyes, Texas

Michael R. Turner, Ohio ShellEy Berkley, Nevada

 Tom Udall, New Mexico

JAMES M. LARIVIERE, Staff Director

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity

John Boozman, Arkansas, Chairman Stephanie herseth, South 

Richard H. Baker, Louisiana Dakota, Ranking

Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida, Vice Chairwoman Darlene Hooley, Oregon

 Lane Evans, Illinois

 

Michael F. Brinck, Subcommittee Staff Director

(II)
CONTENTS

September 19, 2005

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Transition Assistance for Members of the National Guard ....

OPENING STATEMENTS

Chairman Boozman .................................................................... 

Prepared statement of Chairman Boozman ..............................

Hon. Michael H. Michaud .........................................................

Witnesses

Young, Ronald G., MG, Director, National Guard Bureau

Joint Staff .............................................................................. 

Prepared statement of MG Young ............................................

Carter, Deborah L., Col., Human Resource Officer, New

 Hampshire National Guard ..................................................

Prepared statement of Col. Carter ...........................................

Rice, Michael F., Command Sergeant, State Command 

Sergeant Major, New Hampshire Army National Guard ....

Prepared Statement of Command Sergeant Rice ....................

Fessenden, Erik A., Captain, Commander, 172nd Field Artillery Company, New Hampshire Army National Guard ......

Prepared statement of Captain Fessenden ..............................

Hennessey, Mary L., Captain, New Hampshire Army National Guard .................................................................................

Prepared statement of Captain Hennessey .............................

Bright, Mark O., SSG, New Hampshire Army National

 Guard .....................................................................................

Prepared statement of SSG Bright ..........................................

Beebe, Timothy L. M.A., Northeast Regional Manager, Readjustment Counseling Service, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ...............

Prepared statement of Mr. Beebe .............................................

Houle, David, Regional Administrator, Region I, Boston, U.S.

 Department of Labor, VETS .................................................

Prepared statement of Mr. Houle .............................................

(III)
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93

44

97

106

Collins, Mary, State Director, New Hampshire Small Business Development Center (SBDC) ........................................ 

Prepared statement of Ms. Collins ...........................................

Whitson, James A., Director, Eastern Area, Veterans Benefits

 Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs ................

Prepared statement of Mr. Whitson .........................................

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD

Shea, Robert, Staff Sergeant, Training NCO, 744th Transportation Cmpany, New Hampshire National Guard .........

(IV)
(1)

Transition Assistance for Members of the 

National Guard

Monday, September 19, 2005

U.S. House of Representatives, 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity,

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs,

Washington, D.C.

 The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in 157th Air 

Refueling Wing’s Maintenance Hangar, Pease Air National Guard 

Base, Hon. John Boozman [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.

Present: Representatives Boozman, Michaud, and Bradley.

Mr. Boozman. The meeting will come to order.

Good morning. It really is a pleasure to be here today. Before we 

begin, I understand that Pease has an outstanding ceremony I don’t 

ever get to do, I’m going to give the command to a military unit to 

post colors.

I want to thank the Color Guard very much for that, and then also 

I want to thank those of you that are here in attendance today.

This is a very special day for us on the House Veterans Affairs 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. In many ways, it is fitting 

that we hold our first field hearing on how we are assisting members 

of the Guard and Reserve to transition from active duty back to civilian life. It is also fitting that we come to New Hampshire, a state 

that has historically sent many of its sons and daughters to answer 

the Nation’s call to duty not only in times of war, but also in times of 

disaster elsewhere in the Nation. I hope we will hear about both commitments from witnesses today.

Today, New Hampshire is not only known for its quadrennial place 

in the presidential campaign spotlight, but also that spotlight shines 

on the special efforts that state and federal agencies are making to 

provide TAP services and how New Hampshire is setting the standard 

for ensuring that returning service members transition as smoothly 

as possible to their life out of uniform.

As we set this meeting up, I asked the staff to find the area that did 
2

the very best job of doing this, and so again, that’s why we are here 

in New Hampshire, and you all can be very pleased that you’ve got 

a tremendous reputation nationwide for providing this service in a 

manner as well as anybody in the country is doing it.

I’m especially pleased that Congressman Jeb Bradley, a member 

of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has brought New Hampshire’s 

TAP efforts to my attention, and I am very pleased that he has agreed 

to bring us here to his beautiful state and to a base that has a long 

history in the defense of America. Our thanks to him and his district 

staff for their help making this happen.

I also want to thank the 157th Air Refueling Wing for hosting us. 

I’m pleased that Congressman Mike Michaud from Maine is able to 

join us today. It shows that despite our occasional disagreements, 

that we, on the Veterans’ Committee, are united in a mission, and 

that is helping veterans, and I think we are probably one of the most 

bipartisan committees on Capitol Hill, and again, all of us have chosen to be on the Veterans’ Committee, not for partisan reasons, but 

because we are all very, very interested in helping veterans and the 

veterans’ community.

We’ve got a full day here, as we will visit the V.A. Regional Office 

in Manchester, which I’m told that you all call “”Manch-Vegas,’’ for 

whatever reason, after we finish the hearing.

So again, I want to recognize Jeb Bradley for any remarks that he 

may have, and then Mike Michaud.

Jeb?

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you very much, Chairman Boozman. It is certainly a pleasure to welcome you here, as well as everybody that’s going to participate in this panel this morning. I wish that you had the 

opportunity to come back in October when the foliage is so great, we 

were talking about the foliage in your state last night. We also have 

great foliage, the maple trees turn red.

Mr. Chairman, I also want to congratulate you and commend you 

on your steadfast support for veterans who are, not only -- and I thank 

you for, as well as the committee, selecting New Hampshire to hold 

the field hearing.

As you know, I wanted to sit on your Subcommittee, but it’s certainly a pleasure to be here with you today. I look forward to continuing to work with you.

Let me also say what an honor it is to be here with members of the 

New Hampshire National Guard, the very brave men and women 

who have been in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and most recently on the 

Gulf Coast helping the President, another primary contribution.

In addition, we have here with us today some people who made 

the New Hampshire National Guard reunion and rekindling program 

so successful. As you probably can imagine, successful transition of 

a soldier home from active duty is not a simple measure. Chances 
3

are even -- New Hampshire National Guard is not a solution for all 

things, but others at war, but -- National Guard indicates -- early 

support to soldiers, their family and the military.

When a soldier comes home from active duty, there are critically 

important administrative medical and family issues that have got to 

be addressed. Thankfully, the New Hampshire National Guard meets 

these needs with personal contact in individual -- 

 Once processing is complete, the intention of the program is to get 

the men and women back to their families as quickly as possible. 

After some days off, the soldiers participate in a three-day process 

-- face-to-face transitional counseling is provided, and the VA performs medical and dental assessments. In addition service members 

-- combat -- on -- 

The New Hampshire National Guard takes the time to educate, 

not only soldiers, but the families and employers as well. Over 850 

National Guard -- program, and I look forward to hearing a few of 

them today, and I’ll submit -- 

Thank you.

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

We will now hear from Congressman Michaud, who is the Ranking 

Member on the Health Subcommittee, and is one of the most active 

members on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you 

for arranging this hearing today on such an important and timely 

subject.

I also want to thank Representative Bradley for hosting us today, 

really appreciate that. Representative Bradley had mentioned if you 

want to come back in October you can see the foliage, well, actually, 

if you want to go in the northern part of my district in Maine you can 

actually start seeing the foliage right now, so you don’t have to wait 

until October.

But, it is great to be here today. The brave men and women and 

their families who make up the National Guard and Reserve forces 

have earned a top quality transition and demobilization of process. 

These citizen soldiers sacrifice a great deal to serve our country, and 

they and their families deserve our best efforts in providing meaningful assistance as they return to civilian life and employment.

So, Mr. Chairman, I’m pleased that we are here today to learn more 

about New Hampshire’s demobilization model, as I represent the 

neighboring State of Maine, which has a large number of National 

Guard and Reserve units activated in support of Operations in Iraq 

and Afghanistan.

Additionally, not unlike my colleagues on the panel today, I represent a state where much of our Guard and Reserve forces are made 

up of citizens from rural areas. So, as you might expect, I’m very 

interested in any process that can improve transition and demobiliza-
4

tion services for these members.

So, to close, I want to welcome all the witnesses here today and to 

thank you. I am looking forward to your insight and observation, and 

once again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you and the Committee 

staff for coming here to New Hampshire today.

I yield back the balance of my time.

 Mr. Boozman. Before we hear from the first panel, without objection all written statements will be made part of the official record, 

and I will ask the witnesses to summarize their written testimony 

during their allotted five minutes.

 Mr. Boozman. Our first panel includes Major General John Young, 

Acting Director of the National Guard Bureau Joint Staff in Washington, D.C.; Colonel Deborah Carter, Human Resources Officer for 

the New Hampshire National Guard; and last, but certainly not 

least, Command Sergeant Major Michael Rice, the State Command 

Sergeant Major for the New Hampshire National Guard.

Will you lead us off, General? 

STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL RONALD YOUNG, ACTING

 DIRECTOR, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU JOINT STAFF; 

 ACCOMPANIED BY COLONEL DEBORAH CARTER, HUMAN

 RESOURCES OFFICER, NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIONAL

 GUARD; AND COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR MICHAEL

 RICE, STATE COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR, NEW HAMPSHIRE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL RONALD YOUNG

General Young. Chairman Boozman, distinguished members of the 

Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today 

about the Transition Assistance Program.

Today, the National Guard has over 75,000 soldiers and airmen 

mobilized around the world, over 225,000 since 9/11. That is why the 

Transition Assistance Program is such a vital component in our efforts 

to take care of service members and their families. The information 

received during these TAP briefings, and the opportunity to enroll in 

these vital programs, has long-lasting effects on the men and women 

of the National Guard, their families, and their communities.

 I maintain that the effectiveness of the Transition Assistance Program will hold long-lasting implications on the long-term health of 

our entire organization. The Transition Assistance Program must be 

a comprehensive program, a continuum of care that begins before the 

service member deploys, continues while he or she is away, and follows through after their return.

TAP must provide for a seamless transition from active duty back 
5

into the citizen/soldier environment and thereafter. That is why the 

National Guard supports the recommendations contained in the recent GAO Report, and why we support programs such as the New 

Hampshire Reunion and Reentry Program. The New Hampshire program is a shining example of how the Guard is a family, and how we 

truly work hard to care for our soldiers, airmen and their families. 

The New Hampshire model clearly demonstrates the need to have 

home station Transition Assistance Programs for the Guard and Reserve.

Many of the decisions made during the TAP process are family 

based, not individual choices. This necessitates that the service member consults with family members during the TAP process.

In addition to the pressing need for a delivery of TAP information 

at or near home station, there exists a need for a more effective follow 

through support, follow through support, in the period immediately 

following demobilization.

To be truly effective, the follow-on support requires close coordination by TAP representatives at the state and local levels. These are 

aspects of the New Hampshire program that have proven to be of 

great value.

Earlier this year, the National Guard Bureau and the Department 

of Veterans Affairs signed a partnership agreement, whereby each 

organization commits to an improved seamless process of taking care 

of our service members and their families. The National Guard committed to hiring a States Benefit Advisor for each state, and to place 

them at the Joint Force Headquarters. These 54 specialists, along 

with our over 500 family assistance centers and Air National Guard 

Wing Family Program Coordinators across the country, are there to 

assist our members to access the benefits that they have earned.

As I’ve stated earlier this year, I believe that TAP is a readiness 

issue. The way we take care of service members and their families 

today will have a direct impact on how well we recruit and retain 

them in the future.

Working with members of this Committee, I believe that the Guard, 

along with DoD, the Department of Labor, and the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, as well as state and local agencies, can dramatically 

enhance the effectiveness of the Transition Assistance Program.

Sir, I thank you for this opportunity to speak here today, and I look 

forward to your questions.

[The statement of General Young appears on p. 59]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

Colonel Carter?
6

STATEMENT OF COLONEL DEBORAH L. CARTER

 Colonel Carter. Chairman Boozman, distinguished Members of 

the Subcommittee, my name is Colonel Debbie Carter. I’m the Human Resource Officer for the Guard, and I am honored to be here on 

behalf of the Adjutant General of the state, Major General Kenneth 

Clark, to discuss our Reunion & Reentry Program.

In December 2003, the New Hampshire National Guard deployed 

approximately 850 troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. At that point, if 

you came to one of our meetings you would have heard that reentry was, will it be a long ceremony or will it be a short ceremony? 

But, as the year went on and we started to see some difficulties with 

some soldiers and airmen coming back on R&R leave, they were the 

exception. One example, a young wife shared with us that her husband stayed in his bedroom for the two weeks, barely talked to her 

and their young child. Some time later, the Department of Health 

and Human Services came to meet with us and said that they had 

reviewed data after Desert Storm and they had seen increases in divorce, alcohol use, drug use, et cetera. They were there to lend a helping hand to be more preventative.

At that point, we realized that we needed to be more proactive 

in how we supported troops coming home from combat, and yet we 

were limited in our experience of combat in this organization, so we 

reached out to others that had multiple combat experience, like the 

82nd Airborne, the Navy, the Marines. We didn’t want to just brainstorm this, and we didn’t want to start learning here, we wanted to 

learn from somebody else’s learning, and that’s what we did.

Using the learning, we developed a model that addressed challenges 

specific to the Reserve. A major obstacle is the fact that returning soldiers and airmen are geographically separated from battle buddies, 

from services, and from their command, a command that is normally 

there to assess the soldiers and seek out treatment if they need that.

Additionally, if a Reserve commander sees that a soldier is struggling, he or she has limited ability, almost no ability, to mandate any 

kind of treatment.

We began by training the full-time force and the families. We estimated that we trained 300 full-time members in the organization, 

and 50 percent of the families of soldiers returning home. We trained 

them in PTSD, suicide prevention, and other issues. Because of the 

limited access of commanders, we were convinced that these would be 

points of entry for soldiers that needed help.

Once the soldiers get to New Hampshire, they participate in a 

three-day program. Day one is an administrative review, and it also 

includes a safety briefing, where we actually bring state troopers in 

and they learn, or they get a better awareness, how to drive in New 

Hampshire again versus driving in Iraq. Day two is actually held at 
7

the VA Center in Manchester, where they are enrolled in the VA and 

go through many processes, which I’ll discuss in my results. Day two 

also includes a one-hour mandatory counseling session with the Vet 

Center, and day three is called the Chaplain’s Day, which was based 

on the Navy and Marine Mandatory Warrior Transition Program, 

a program they developed after doing some research after Vietnam. 

This session is all about soldiers talking to soldiers. Soldiers talking to soldiers is something that we found that everybody that had 

multiple combat experience thought was a key element in healthy 

transition from combat.

Concerning the VA and the Vet Center, never in my career have 

I seen bureaucracies so flexible and accommodating. They provided 

thousands of hours of almost no-notice support. They didn’t break 

any laws, but they definitely bent some local policies.

About 10 percent of the soldiers returning were unemployed. Before we called them, the Department of Labor and Department of 

Employment Security reached out to us. They were already supporting us with our mob and our demob briefings, and now they added 

one-on-one counseling on our reentry line during that three days.

The New Hampshire community outreach was limited to employees, I mean to employers. Internally, our ESGR program had an aggressive outreach statewide. Yet, with everything else we were doing, 

we didn’t have the resources to do outreach beyond that. That’s where 

Governor Lynch saw the gap, stepped in and established Operation 

Welcome Home. It was a cross departmental effort of state agencies. 

It included Department of Health and Human Services, Education, 

Corrections, Employment Security, Labor, Public Health and the Department of Safety. It was a statewide outreach to what they called, 

“natural helpers.’’ Those in the community that people will naturally 

reach out for support, like primary care physicians, faith-based communities, school counselors, law enforcement, et cetera.

The overall result of the New Hampshire National Guard Reunion 

& Reentry Program has far exceeded our expectations. Here are some 

highlights. 100 percent who were enrolled in VA received dental assessment before their 90 days so they wouldn’t lose that benefit, had 

safe medical screening so that they were comfortable disclosing, made 

VA claims during the process, set up appointments for future physicals, were provided emergency care on the spot if needed, and they 

learned one on one about their VA benefits, plus much more.

The mandatory counseling with the Vet Center, if this was the only 

result that we had we would still do this process. 5 percent of the 

folks who went through that counseling actually had acute mental 

health issues, and some needed to be placed on medications during 

that process. For our initial group that went through, that was 48 

people.

All went through the one-hour counseling, and of that 48 percent 
8

asked for follow-up support at that initial counseling. Units involved 

in the most frequent and severe combat had the highest rates of requests for follow-up care during that initial counseling, and Governor Lynch’s Operation Welcome Home reached an estimated 10,000 

“natural helpers.’’

I’m not saying that New Hampshire has found the magic pill, but 

we do believe in introducing services, breaking down barriers, and 

encouraging early support is important. The mandatory counseling 

through an organization like the Vet Center, which knows and understands veterans, is the most profound thing that we believe we 

are doing for reentry. It is about early support and not waiting 30 

years like many Vietnam vets that have done so at great personal 

loss before reaching out.

New Hampshire’s program is all about partnerships. Just the 

three-day process for the initial 850 that came through took 300 people. Two-thirds of them were outside the New Hampshire National 

Guard. We definitely have some strong partners.

The transitional support normally provided when leaving routine 

active duty is important to returning troops from combat, and yet 

it is important to remember, combat reentry requires other types of 

transitional support as well.

Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to share our story.

[The statement of Colonel Carter appears on p. 64]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

Sergeant Major Rice.

STATEMENT OF SERGEANT MAJOR MICHAEL F. RICE

Sgt. Maj. Rice. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee, my 

name is Command Sergeant Major Michael Rice, and I’m the State 

Command Sergeant Major for the New Hampshire Army National 

Guard, and it is, indeed, an honor for me to be here today to discuss 

with you the New Hampshire National Guard’s “”Reunion & Reentry’’ from combat program. I will be addressing, primarily, the cultural aspects of the program and the third-day piece that Colonel 

Carter referenced.

My involvement and my interest in this program, and my knowing 

that it was a necessary program, dates back to much, much earlier in 

my career, as I grew up during the Vietnam Era, and I saw the way 

Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home. I’ve had the 

opportunity to work with many Vietnam Vets who later joined the 

Guard, and to see some of the reactions that they had, and how the 

war had affected them.

And so, when we sent over 800 soldiers off to combat in December/

January, ‘03-’04, I knew at that time that we had to start looking at 
9

how we would do a better job when they came back than had been 

done during the Vietnam Era. We had to work to give them as many 

tools as possible to assist them in getting back into civilian life.

Now, the two areas of greatest concern to me were Post Traumatic 

Stress Disorder, or PTSD, and the suicide issue, as these are not issues that the Reserve components normally deal with. We set out 

first to educate all of those that were involved, and this included the 

soldier, his or her family, and their employer.

The soldiers themselves started to receive briefs while they were 

still in theatre. They again received information at the mobilization 

stations, as they process off active duty. But, we were also very well 

aware that their main interest at the mobilization station was to 

punch whatever ticket necessary and to get home to their families, 

and that they probably did not pay full attention to what was going 

on.

During the out processing here in New Hampshire, each soldier 

that came through spent one day at the VA Hospital. We included 

many of the things that the Colonel just mentioned, but the biggest 

nugget in that whole process occurred when a soldier had an opportunity to meet one on one with a counselor for the Vet Center. These 

meetings served as a way for soldiers to get information on issues 

that they might face, along with a point of contact that they could 

reach out to if needed. It also provided them with an outlet to express 

some of their feelings at that time and to set up follow-on appointments.

I felt this piece to be so crucial that I personally briefed each group 

at their morning briefing about the importance of making sure that 

they took full advantage of that day’s briefings. A piece of that was 

the medical, emphasized to them that no matter how small the incident may have been if it had not been documented this was their last 

opportunity to do that, and that this was not just for them, but it was 

also for their families.

On the mental health side, I informed the soldiers that they would 

be meeting with representatives from the Vet Center. I acknowledged 

to them the fact that many, if not most, probably felt as though they 

were fine, they didn’t have any issues, and they didn’t really need 

to do that. But again, I told them if nothing else they would have a 

chance to meet person to person, eyeball to eyeball, identify a Vet 

Center representative, get his or her phone number, how they could 

contact him, so that if at some point in time down the road, whether it 

be a week from then, a month, or a year, that they woke some morning and realized that they were, in fact, having some problems, they 

did, in fact, need to talk to somebody, that it might not be having to go 

to a perfect stranger, that they would have already had some contact 

with our Vet Center.

Another important piece to our soldiers was confidentiality. There 
10

was a lot of concern out there because that’s kind of our culture, or it 

has been our culture, that if they were to go for counseling they might 

get thrown out of the guard, or if their full-time employer found out 

about it they might lose their job. And, I assured them that this process was 100 percent confidential, that neither their leadership, nor 

the state leadership, would receive anything but statistical reports 

from the Vet Center. Those statistical reports you’ve already heard 

some on this morning. None of us know who those soldiers were or 

what the situations might be.

 I did, during this time, also remind them, or gave them a caveat, 

that if during the process they indicated that they might hurt themselves or hurt somebody else that by law those counselors would have 

to report that, but that would be given to the authorities and still not 

to us.

I spoke with the soldiers about today’s culture that has changed a 

little from years past, that the stigma once associated with a person 

who seeks counseling or put on some sort of anti-depressant is no 

longer the issue that it used to be. I mentioned to them that probably 

many of them sitting there had young children, who already in their 

young lives had been seen by a doctor for some sort of depressant type 

issue, may even be on some sort of medication. I further explained 

that even the military has eased their entrance requirements over the 

last few years. At one time, any history of counseling, mental health, 

depressants, would be an automatic disqualification when they try to 

get into the military, whereas today it’s taken on a case-by-case basis, 

depending upon their current status, and how long that the person 

has dealt with a particular issue.

We were very fortunate during this time of this redeployment that 

few other states in the area were either welcoming soldiers home at 

the time, or had such a program, as we were able to get counselors 

from the Vet Centers throughout New England to assist us in allowing the opportunity for each of our 800 plus soldiers to be able to be 

seen by a counselor for up to one hour if that was necessary.

Since then, the small group of counselors that our Manchester Vet 

Center have definitely been tasked to the max, as well as those in 

White River Junction, Vermont, who have assisted many of our soldiers. One of the most difficult challenges we now face is in getting 

the counselors to the area of New Hampshire where there are none. 

If a soldier is on the fence trying to decide whether or not to ask for 

help, the proximity of a facility, or the availability of a counselor, 

could make the difference between him or her getting or not getting 

the help.

I truly believe that what we have done for our soldiers is the right 

thing to do, and the least that we should be doing for all military personnel returning from military combat situations. The sooner we get 

these tools and services to our soldiers the less time they, and their 
11

families, and employers, might spend suffering. We must all do what 

we can to make sure that no soldier, no warrior, is left behind. This is 

both a caring issue, and it is also a serious readiness issue.

I would like to thank you all for your concern in this issue.

[The statment of Major Rice appears on p. 70]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank all of you so much for your testimony. You 

know, there’s just so many things that enter into a soldier that comes 

back that’s unique to the Guard versus active duty. My Dad was in 

the military, and was a retired Master Sergeant after 20 years, and I 

just grew up expecting him to be gone, and yet, life went on, and then 

he came back, and yet he was still with his friends and things during 

the day, we still had our friends on the base. With the Guard, it’s just 

a totally different deal, it’s such a dislocation. 

One of the things that’s a real problem, certainly, is the financial 

aspect of it, and, if things aren’t going well financially, whether you 

are in the military or not, certainly that’s very hard on relationships, 

it’s very, very hard on the family.

Is there any time to insert a module that deals with, preparing 

businesses as you go out, I mean, how do you take the steps to prepare your business, your private life to insulate against the financial 

stuff as best you can? Are we doing anything along that line?

 Colonel Carter. We are not currently doing that. As we’ve been 

going through this process, though, what we’ve talked about is really 

the reentry, but it’s been very clear to us that we need a full life cycle, 

and that there are some things on the front end that we need to address, and that would be one of those, the financial piece, maybe some 

marriage retreats at the beginning, instead of just at the end. So, I

think that that would definitely be that case.

 We haven’t looked at the business piece on the other end, but I

think we really need to look at that as well.

Sgt. Maj. Rice. I think a couple of things that we did do, though, to 

try to help a little bit, is we did have some financial consulting type 

work done at some of the family support meetings after the soldiers 

were deployed, to try and offer the family members some help.

And then, the other service, again, we talk about the various partnerships we had with the community, is that the Certified Public Accountants Organization within the state, their association, stepped 

forward and agreed to do tax returns for the family members at no 

charge for anyone that was deployed, and that helped some of our 

folks out in that arena.

General Young. Mr. Chairman, my experience in Ohio, being Assistant Adjutant General there for about six years, is about the same. 

A lot of the financial type management discussions were conducted 

with the family support groups during the term of the deployment, 

where they would bring in some specialists.
12

On the outgoing phase, during the deployment phase, the ESGR 

Committee, and a couple of the organizations, SCORE, a Service 

Corps Retired Executives, works with our small business owners as 

they go outbound and offer assistance and expertise in that arena. 

There’s also a National Association of Small Business Development 

Centers, that is part of SBA that works with some of our small business owners. But, I’ve read the stories about some of our small business owners that have been deployed, and that have lost their businesses, so there is still quite a bit of work to do in this arena.

 Mr. Boozman. Very good.

You mentioned the soldier to soldier contact, how important that 

was, and the things that you are trying to do in that regard, and yet, 

the problems, being a rural state, not having the ability to provide the 

support in the different areas.

One of the things we found as we’ve gone out is the idea of the tele 

medicine type thing, where you’ve got a counselor that can counsel 

through tele medicine--being through video, and technology is so good 

these days, it is an inexpensive way to do those kind of things.

Another thing, kind of chat rooms set up, where these individuals 

can talk to each other on a regular basis, through the internet and 

things like that. I think that we found that a very high percentage of 

the individuals in this group are internet accessible.

Have we thought about any of those things or doing any of those 

things?

 Colonel Carter. We are actually working the chat room piece. We 

have had some commanders that have had open armory nights, because soldiers will come into those and we expect to expand those. 

We haven’t thought about the tele conferencing piece, but we’ve 

just recently got some experience on the bridge capability that the 

Guard Bureau has, and it’s a great opportunity to reach out to a lot 

of soldiers and have them be able to talk to each other once a week 

from their home.

Sgt. Maj. Rice. We did have a couple of the groups -- family groups 

during the deployment, that did have chat room types of things set 

up. Like anything like that, the advances in technology today were 

sometimes both a blessing and a curse, because it helps to fuel rumors 

and those types of things sometimes, and some of the chat groups 

sometimes got into some issues that, you know, needed to be kind of 

calmed down a little bit.

But, it worked, for the most part it worked very, very well. The 

families were very pleased with it, and it did give them that avenue 

to a website to be able to communicate better.

 Mr. Boozman. Very good.

Thank you.

Congressman Michaud?

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
13

General Young, you had mentioned in your testimony that retention of Guard members following mobilization is a critical component 

for the overall strength and management, clearly making sure that 

they have services is going to be a key component to whether or not 

they are going to reenlist.

Have you heard any concern among the Guard members who are 

not reenlisting because they feel they are not getting the services 

they need, and, hence, they are not going to reenlist, or that they 

are having pressure from their business that the business no longer 

can really afford to let them go off to do the service for their country? I know in Maine, and elsewhere in the country, in the high 90 

percentile of our businesses are small businesses, so, hence, there’s 

a lot of pressure that will be put on the business as it relates to their 

employees.

Have you heard any complaints or problems with that?

General Young. Congressman, that’s a very good question. Obviously, there’s lots of reasons why our soldiers and airmen do not reenlist. Some of them are the frequency of deployments. Clearly, there’s 

-- even though we have a USERRA law, and guarantees of reemployment, but there is that subtle pressure on employees in many ways 

to not reenlist, and I’m sure it’s there. I’m sure you could find lots of 

soldiers that probably did not extend their enlistments because they 

felt like that even though there are guarantees for employment, and 

they should get the promotion opportunities just like they would have 

got if they were there back with the company, but they felt like that 

they did not get them and it was going to, perhaps, lower their expectations of future promotions and those types of things.

And, there are family pressures, obviously, to not go and deploy 

again, or not -- getting to a point where we can have a predictability 

model, to where soldiers know that they are not going to have to return for at least an extended period of time, is vitally critically, and 

getting them and their families to understand that, that they will not 

have to.

I’ve talked to many soldiers that have deployed a couple of different times in a federal status, ones in the theatre, or ones here in the 

Continental United States, just to do missions for Operation Noble 

Eagle, and even though they’ve done two deployments since 9/11, and 

their possibility of being called up is quite remote here for the near 

future, they still think that in another year or so they are going to 

be called again. And, it’s just hard to convince soldiers and families 

that, in fact, they are not going to have to go for an extended period 

any time soon.

Mr. Michaud. Speaking of families, which are very important and 

we focus a lot on men and women who serve in the military, what 

are the Guard and Reserves doing? Do you encourage in the program 

here in New Hampshire, do you encourage the spouses to really par-
14

ticipate in every meeting that you have with the service men and 

women?

Sgt. Maj. Rice. Absolutely. And, we have our family support program, depending upon the unit deployed, was set up in a number of 

different ways, but we definitely encourage them to attend meetings. 

There were monthly meetings, and we had armories open for a period 

of time trying to keep armories open one night a week to see if we 

could get families to come in.

The goal was to get a phone call from either a lead volunteer or 

we’ve got some contractors, from the contractors to each family member at least once a month, check in on them, see how they are doing, 

you know, whether they were attending meetings or not we were trying to do that.

There were newsletters going out from each family support group. 

We tried to communicate with them as much as we could in all those 

venues, encouraging them to come into the meetings and get to be able 

to speak and talk to other family members that are going through the 

same thing they were and to get information that may be out there 

that would help them.

 Mr. Michaud. And, how has that encouragement been? Have you 

seen a large participation from spousal members?

Sgt. Maj. Rice. No where near what I would like to see, sir. I think 

if you get, you know, a third to a real good meeting once in a while, if 

you got 50 percent that showed up you were doing well.

General Young. Sir, could I say something about that. One of the -- 

my experience has been that with any mobilization for the first three 

or four months the participation is much higher, and it kind of wanes 

off as you go through the mobilization, and then as you get closer to 

the end of the mobilization attendance will pick back up, wanting to 

know the real facts and when folks are coming home, when they are 

redeploying back to the demob station.

One of the strongest family support groups, and the strongest family support group meetings, are those when the commander in theatre, or the senior NCO in theatre can do a teleconference back at 

that meeting, you will have great participation from family members 

wanting to ask questions during the teleconference.

 I’ve been to several of those, and just to be able to get the facts as 

they are from on the ground, from in theatre, from those people in a 

teleconference really adds great benefit to those meetings, and helps 

relay -- relieve a lot of the fears going on back home from the rumors 

and everything.

 Mr. Michaud. Great.

My last couple of questions are, and I’ve heard a lot about what 

you are doing here in New Hampshire, and I’m very appreciative of 

all the hard work, and reading some of the comments from Colonel 

Carter, as far as you are getting full-time people, and really getting 
15

other people involved, healthcare providers, I think is great.

My question is, when you look at, for instance, I’ll use the State of 

Maine for example, you can fit all of New England into the State of 

Maine. If you look at the clinics and the Togus Hospital that we have 

in Maine, we had the same number in New Hampshire. So, clearly, 

Maine is a rural state.

How do you make sure that the men and women in the Guard and 

Reserve, not only can get that quality assistance they need, but the 

access issue, which I think is extremely important -- it’s good to have 

programs available -- but if you do not have access to it, it definitely 

is a concern.

What would you suggest, or how can we improve the availability 

of the services in a rural state such as Maine, to have a comparable 

program as you do down here in New Hampshire?

 Colonel Carter. We had many soldiers that were not from New 

Hampshire when they came back on the reentry, and so to keep them 

there for the three days, some were actually out of state, we had them 

in hotels and their families stayed with them. So, we did have challenges there.

We are a small state, and so the VA Center that we have, or the VA 

Medical Hospital that we have, is pretty centrally located, and, you 

know, I think we really need to tweeze out what are those services 

that are critical that we need to have access to. And, I know, for example, in Maine you have five Vet Centers and they are pretty well 

distributed throughout.

We have less concern about our soldiers traveling two hours down 

to a medical facility to get them dental care than we do about them 

if they are, you know, going through some dark hours and need to 

get some counseling. So, we are more concerned with those, but I do 

think we need to tweeze those out and see where we need to provide 

those services, because, you know, a few issues could be taken care of 

if we need to, the right services, and the barriers, like what the Command Sergeant Major did, I think it has a lot to do with the response 

that we had from the soldiers, and actually seeking out support.

Sgt. Maj. Rice. The other thing I would add, sir, is the importance 

of getting, as I mentioned in my piece, more Vet Centers or satellite 

stations out there is extremely important. Yes, the soldiers will travel, but it comes back to, a little bit of it comes back to what we’ve also 

talked about with the issues with employers. If it was just them and 

they had to travel two hours to go for an hour counseling, they might 

do it, but in many cases if they’ve got to go that far it’s going to mean 

taking additional time off from their jobs, where they are already 

possibly being given, you know, some grief because of the fact they’ve 

been gone for a year and a half. So, there’s a number of reasons why 

if we can get more centers or satellite centers out there that we can 

better service our service members.
16

 Mr. Michaud. My last question, if I might, Mr. Chairman, in the 

testimony you talked about when the soldier comes home he has a 

very aggressive time frame, you know, three days they’ve got to go 

through, two days, three days, and they’ve got to go through this process, it’s very intensive at the beginning.

After the initial month or two months have gone by, are the people 

who need the services able to get access, you know, the Vet Clinics in 

a timely manner so they can get in there and get what they need? 

And, my second question is, as the Chairman had mentioned earlier, we are getting more into telemedicine, which is great, and in 

some cases it will be fantastic, but do you think telemedicine is going 

to be effective if someone has some mental illness or PTSD that they 

are going to be willing to do it looking at a TV screen? Is that really 

an effective way to treat our men and women?

 Colonel Carter. I think it’s probably unlikely that soldiers will 

reach out with the tele medicine for the counseling if they are really 

struggling, but I guess time will tell on that.

What we found with the Vet Center is that soldiers are surprised 

that they are not in white coats, and that they, you know, go to a 

home, and it’s a very comfortable, friendly environment, and so it’s 

more welcoming. And, they are accessing, but we are maxing them 

out as the Command Sergeant Major said.

 It appears to me that the Vet Center and the VA are based on a 

passive funding model, and when you have the military start to proactively bring you the market, the VA and the Vet Centers are not 

going to be able to support those.

I know we’ve pretty much maxed out the dental clinics for the VA, 

and we are not even sure that our 800 folks will get what they are 

supposed to get done in the next two years, as much as they are trying to do that at the VA. But, we really need to look at those funding 

models.

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Boozman. Congressman Bradley.

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I just have one question of Major General Young.

By all accounts, what the folks here in New Hampshire are doing 

is a model effort. How transferrable are some of the lessons learned 

here to other Guard and Reserve units around the country, and should 

that happen, and what can you take away from this, and what can we 

take away from that?

General Young. Sir, this program is very transferrable around the 

whole country, and as a matter of fact, I was talking to Colonel Carter 

here earlier, I talk about their program at all my conferences, and I 

use it as the model for the country.

And, as I talk to the other personnel officers in each of the states, I 
17

tell them that if you really want a model that works and does a great 

job you need to talk to Colonel Carter and the folks in New Hampshire.

 There are some other programs out there, and each Adjutant General in each state is going to do their program just a little bit different, 

but this model of bringing back the soldiers to the state, and doing 

this TAP process at the home station with all the local agencies, the 

local employment agencies, the local Veteran service organizations, 

having all those folks involved in a process, and prepping it before 

they get home by working with the families while the soldiers are 

still in theatre, or at the demobilization station, so that when they get 

home the spouse says, we are going to those days of -- those three or 

four extra days, I think is of great benefit.

And, I know she has received a lot of phone calls from across the 

country, wanting to come and talk about their program, wanting her 

to come and talk at some of their different states. And, our states accept other great ideas, and I think this New Hampshire model is a 

great idea.

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you.

 Mr. Boozman. I want to thank the panel so much for being here, 

especially General Young for traveling, I think this really shows the 

commitment of the Guard to this very, very important problem, and 

that we are not doing enough, but we are doing more than we ever 

have before, and looking for ways to do even more, and that’s why the 

Committee is here. I know that’s why General Young is here. It’s not 

as if the Guard doesn’t have a lot going on at this time with Katrina 

and Iraq and everything else, so again, I think it really does say a lot 

that somebody in your position is here to contribute and then also 

learn more of what’s going on.

Again, thank you all so much. As the General said, you all truly 

have a national reputation for trying to get this thing as right as it 

can be. So, we do appreciate you all.

Thank you very much.

General Young. Mr. Chairman, just one thing before I leave, the 

Chief of the National Guard Bureau, Lieutenant General Blum, sincerely would have liked to have been here today, but as you know 

with the Katrina response and everything that’s going on, he just 

could not be here.

 Mr. Boozman. Well, tell him we’d rather have you anyway.

General Young. He sincerely thanks you for holding this meeting, 

and we will look forward to working with the Committee to improve 

this process.

 Mr. Boozman. Well, thank you, sir. We appreciate it.

 Mr. Boozman. Our second panel is composed of members of the 

Guard who are on the front lines when the Guard is activated, and 

we really appreciate you being with us today.
18

 We have Captain Erik Fessenden, Commander of the 1st Battalion, 102nd Field Artillery, New Hampshire National Guard; Captain 

Mary Hennessy, Commander of the 744th Transportation Company, 

New Hampshire National Guard; and Staff Sergeant Mark Bright, of 

the 12th Civil Support Team, New Hampshire National Guard.

Captain Fessenden, would you lead off for us?

STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN ERIK FESSENDEN, BATTALION

COMMANDER, OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM, NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIONAL GUARD; ACCOMPANIED BY CAPTAIN

 MARY HENNESSY, COMPANY COMMANDER, OPERATION

 IRAQI FREEDOM, NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIONAL GUARD;

STAFF SERGEANT MARK BRIGHT, CIVIL SUPPORT TEAM,

 NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIONAL GUARD; AND STAFF SER-

 GEANT ROBERT SHEA, COMPANY TRAINING NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICER, NEW HAMPSHIRE NATIONAL GUARD

STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN ERIK FESSENDEN

Capt. Fessenden. Yes, sir, good morning.

Thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity to talk to you about the 

New Hampshire’s Reunion Program. What I’d like to do is just give 

you a quick summary, I think, of my written testimony that I provided. Two main points, really, that I would like to discuss.

The first point is that, and it was in my testimony, I think whenever you introduce a program like this there is initial skepticism, 

especially among the soldiers that are over there on the ground. I 

know when I first heard about this program I was very skeptical, for 

a number of reasons, but I believed that it was very repetitive, that 

we were, basically, going through some of the same type of programs 

that we were doing in both Iraq and Kuwait, and then through the 

mobilization site. And, I think that it was an extra few days away 

from our families and would hurt both morale of the soldiers and hurt 

our retention efforts back here in the States.

I luckily was completely wrong about that, and what I found out 

when I got here was that this was a program that was completely 

needed, for a number of reasons. One was that the briefings and demobilization process that we received from Iraq and from the demob 

site probably wasn’t as -- it wasn’t sufficient, it wasn’t what I thought 

my soldiers needed to prepare them to reenter civilian life. People 

trying to do the right thing, but it’s a big process, especially at the 

demob site, a lot of soldiers going through there. So, I felt like there 

were issues that weren’t addressed until we arrived back in New 

Hampshire, and I was completely surprised also with the number of 

emotional issues that soldiers brought back.
19

There were some people who I thought right from the beginning 

would need this sort of counseling when they returned, and then 

there were other people who I never would have guessed it as a Commander, and I commend them for getting that.

If they had asked me as a Commander, identify the people who 

you think need issues, it’s an inefficient way of doing it, and actually, 

that’s the first step back in Iraq, they asked me as the Commander, 

you know, please give us a list of the soldiers that you think need 

counseling. As a Commander, nobody ever tells the Commander that 

they need counseling. So, you ask how are you doing and everybody 

tells you I’m doing fine, I don’t have an issue, and soldiers generally 

see that as a weakness, especially when they are still in that environment, in the combat environment.

What this program provided, especially for the emotional issues, 

was an opportunity to pull them out of that environment and to ask 

them one on one away from their peers what are truly your issues, 

and a lot of them starting sprouting up.

So, I think my first point then is that this is an extremely valuable 

program, that no matter what state your roll it out to there will be 

some initial skepticism, but the state that rolled this program out, if 

they stay committed to it, it will be successful.

The second issue, which is really -- it’s very much related to that, 

is just as a Commander I think we owe it to these soldiers who have 

gone and given so much to their country, we owe them this to give 

them really, really, a small piece to try to address some of the issues 

that they have.

The combat or the deployment environment doesn’t end when you 

get on the plane in Kuwait, and that’s what you find out. You come 

back and some of the same thoughts go through your mind, that 

brotherhood, that closeness, is still there.

As you spoke about with the previous panel, what’s difficult is that 

all of a sudden now you get in your cars and go home, and you take 

your uniform off and everybody separates, and, you know, for the 

first few days all you are thinking about is, you know, what are my 

platoon sergeants doing right now, where are my platoon leaders, are 

they okay? And, at the same time, you are trying to get reintroduced, 

you know, to your families and your friends, and it becomes a very 

difficult process.

So, I think it’s just extremely critical that we provide our soldiers 

these avenues, both for their sake, and for their employers, and their 

families, and their friends that have also given up so much. You 

know, my wife and my kids sent out a somewhat normal person to go 

off to combat, and so they should get a somewhat normal person back, 

I guess, and the same with the employers. They have sent -- they 

have given up the employees for a year and a half, and they should 

get someone back who is able to handle the environment they’ve been 
20

put through.

So, I just think we owe it as a country, we put these soldiers in the 

difficult environment, and we need to do what we can to ensure that 

they remain productive members of society.

But, thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to your questions.

[The statement of Captain Fessenden appears on p. 74]

 Mr. Boozman. Captain Hennessy?

STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN MARY HENNESSY

 Capt. Hennessy. Good afternoon, Chairman Boozman, and Members of the Committee, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, my name 

is Captain Mary Hennessy. I guess I’m a little bit from a different 

spectrum as Captain Fessenden, I’m the over-worrisome commander, 

and there couldn’t be enough mental health issues or dealing with to 

give the soldiers, as far as I’m concerned.

I experienced the same thing, just to summarize my testimony a 

little bit, we were a transportation company, and, yes, we were a typical transportation company that you heard about or you continuously 

saw on the news, getting shot at, blown up, unfortunately, we also 

lost a soldier. So, we had a lot going on on a continued basis, as others 

that needed continuous care in country, just as well coming back.

Needless to say, the bottom line was, it was a pretty quick recognition, and I think Colonel Carter recognized that from getting a couple 

e-mails back here in the States from me, that we weren’t the same, 

and we weren’t going to be the same after being in these conditions 

for an extended period of time.

I, unfortunately, came back a little bit earlier, I was ten months in 

country, I got diagnosed with cancer and I had to return a little bit 

earlier, hardest thing in my life, so I can speak personally from needing counseling myself, you know, because of not only dealing with 

that, but also dealing with the way that I came back.

When I came back, my focus, after I realized that my second in 

charge had it well under control, along with the NCOs in my company, and I could stop playing couch commander, I put all my focus 

on, okay, how are we going to welcome them back home, and how are 

we going to deal with this.

And, right away, I’m rattling off a list back to the state, we need 

to do this, we need to that, we need to this, we need to that, and my 

contact is one of the main organizers back in the States, and I said, 

hey, here are my thoughts and what we need to do. And, she was 

like, you know, she told me, relax, relax, Captain Bergner, at the 

time, we’ve got it under control, and I was like, yeah, sure you do. 

Okay. How can you understand what we are going through or what 
21

we need? You know, you kind of get that mentality after a while of 

being in country.

And, she sent me the three block schedule, and I was pleasantly pleased. I was actually overwhelmed with just pride of being a 

Guardsman at that time, being from the State of New Hampshire, 

and just overwhelmed with the recognition of how much they realized 

that our lives were different and that we were going to need help once 

we got back to the States.

The program was outstanding. There was a numerous amount of 

things I referred to a lot in my written testimony, but there was a lot 

of things that I didn’t hit on, to include, you know, ESGR, which did 

an exceptional job with our employers, recognizing them. You know, 

you asked earlier if they were helping financially, they help financially, and they help show and showcase the employers that we did 

have back here who did extra benefits for employers, or made up price 

differences, or salary differences, they gave them special recognition 

so the rest of New Hampshire, you know, maybe the employers who 

weren’t doing that kind of stood up to be recognized of, well, maybe 

we could do something better for our employers. So, that was a huge 

piece.

Reentry was just wonderful, having the HR there, you know, from 

a full-time perspective, letting me know about my own full-time employment, my soldiers’ full-time employment, and because we had 

a lot of soldiers coming back that either didn’t want to go back to 

where they came from, where they were working from, because they 

had changed so much, or lost, you know, their job, which ESGR also 

helps with that, or they had a feeling they were going to lose their 

job. Whether all the legal things are in place or not, we realize that 

still happens, and they can legally do it. They were there to inform 

people of full-time opportunities within the National Guard, and a lot 

of soldiers took a serious look at that, and we’ve brought on a lot of 

soldiers that, you know, came back because they were so encouraged 

by the New Hampshire National Guard.

Also the State Police, they made a huge difference for us, because 

we were truck drivers, and we definitely drove a little bit different 

in country than you are supposed to drive back here. Some of us are 

still doing it, but the kind State Police, you know, will remind us 

that that’s not the way to do it, and they also informed my soldiers, 

which made a huge impact, on the difference in laws, and being from 

a Commander’s perspective, looking at my soldiers, I knew alcohol 

was more than likely going to be a huge equation, or could be a huge 

equation, if some of the soldiers, especially the younger soldiers, I’ve 

experienced the older ones really reach out and accept this, but it’s a 

little bit harder to reach the younger ones. So, it’s so important that 

it’s there, but they let them know, okay, the cause and effects, that 

they began to realize over in Iraq, in other words, if you don’t do your 
22

proper planning ahead of time you could get killed, and they kind of 

sent that message to our soldiers back here, that, hey, these are now 

the DWI laws, and they did a great job in New Hampshire, you know, 

enforcing those and making those stricter while we were gone, and 

letting them know what they were, and I know it woke up a few of 

my soldiers. You know, and I’m sure when they thought about that, if 

they’d had a few drinks. So, that made a huge difference for us.

Also, just to share with you the main thing that like it’s our major 

head on, with the Vet Center and the VA, that day was wonderful. 

The way that we were accepted everywhere first off was just amazing, 

but the Vet Center really made a difference because 100 percent of 

my soldiers did have to go through the counseling, or at least talk to 

the counselor, and I think that if they had the choice to do that, raise 

their hands, you know, they wouldn’t have wanted to necessarily be 

picked out of the crowd. Some of them would, though, I’m the type 

that everybody told me everything, a little bit too much sometimes, 

so I heard a lot of concerns once they came off the plane and when 

I was at the demob station with them, a lot of -- a lot of issues, a lot 

of family issues, a lot of employer issues, a lot of transitional issues, 

that they were really looking at me during the demob process like, 

ma’am, this isn’t giving us anything, how does this apply to us? And, I 

kept telling them, relax, you know, once you get to the States you are 

going to get face-to-face with the people who can make a difference in 

the state and all the partnerships that really has joined the National 

Guard while we were gone, are going to help provide services to you, 

and they kind of did the same thing, okay, ma’am. You know, okay.

So, they were pleasantly pleased to see, once we got back, all the 

partnerships from the fellow state organizations and faces of people 

who could help us in the state, that really made a difference.

Me, personally, you know, definitely changed by the experience. 

Do I know the depth of how I’m changed by the experience yet? Not 

completely. Am I very relieved that we have such a program in place 

and we possibly will grow our Vet Centers, make more counselors 

available, so that they can help me understand those depths of how 

much I changed? Very thankful for that, and I think you’ll find a lot of 

soldiers now don’t quite realize it until six months, you know, even a 

year, and a lot of my soldiers that I’ve talked to that were first coming 

off, oh, we are fine, we are fine, now are coming to me and saying, hey, 

this is going on with my family, this is going on with my employer, 

this is going on with my friends, and I just can’t quite figure it out, 

and they do reference those three days that we had. They may not 

remember much from those three days, because they were ready to 

get back to their family, but they do remember that they were cared 

for, and they do remember somewhere there are resources out there 

to help us, and now we are starting to see them reach out for it.

Just one last note, the difference between Vet Center and profes-
23

sional therapists from outside, I think it’s important when we kind 

of get our arms around this, and it seems like, you know, especially 

by so many important people being here, that this subject is being 

looked at and addressed, that it not to go off necessarily to a civilian 

professional counselors, because I tried that route, I tried seeing professionals, you know, therapists from outside of, you know, somebody 

who knows you, and it’s hard for them to even get a grasp of what 

you’ve been through. It’s hard for them to understand you, let alone 

for them to help you understand you, and that’s something that the 

Vet Center and the counselors that have actually been through, you 

know, war deployment, have been through a situation like this, can 

really, really hit home on, and I thank all of the Vet Center counselors, all the state partnerships, and organizations. I know you’ve truly 

made a difference, you know, with us coming back, not only me, but 

my soldiers.

So, thank you, and thank you for being here and allowing them this 

opportunity, and I look forward to your questions.

[The statement of Captain Hennessy appears on p. 78]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

Sergeant Bright.

STATEMENT OF STAFF SERGEANT MARK BRIGHT

Sgt. Bright. Good morning, Chairman Boozman, Congressman 

Bradley, Congressman Michaud, distinguished guests. My name is 

Staff Sergeant Mark Bright. I served for Captain Fessenden for 14 

months as an MP squad leader in Iraq.

I’m here today to speak of, I’ve been deployed several times in my 

career, and just to speak of the differences between this return compared to my other ones.

My first deployment was to Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Upon 

my return from Desert Shield/Desert Storm, after being in the country for nine months of combat conditions, we arrived on an aircraft, 

disembarked the aircraft, had a small ceremony, and we were sent 

home. That was the end of it.

Shortly after that, I watched too many of my peers that were expected just to integrate back into their families and the like, different day-to-day situations, they weren’t -- it wasn’t happening. They 

would jump at loud noises, they would hear fireworks and jump underneath tables. They were fighting with their families. Their families had dissolved while they were gone, there were new babies. They 

had just no idea had to cope with these things, and there was very 

little in place.

There was counseling if you would step up and you would go to it, 

but at that time it held a stigmatism that you could be kicked out of 
24

the military if that was there.

My second appointment was not too long after that into the Sinai 

Desert. Upon the return of that one, it was a little different, there was 

some counseling, but it seemed to fall more towards the basic counseling that we’re all given yearly, op sec briefing, SIERRA, things 

such as that, very little on reintroducing you to your family and to 

your normal life.

When we were coming home from Iraq this last deployment, we 

had some counseling, very basic stuff, start in country, kind of, what 

kind of problems are you having, basic medical screening such as 

that, and we told everything else we picked up at the mob station.

Most of my soldiers and the squad leader, I listened to them, have 

quims and quams about it, they just wanted to get back and get to 

their families. I, myself, was afraid it was going to be very repetitive, 

and was kind of concerned at what I was being -- having the -- that 

I’ve had before.

When we got to Dix, Ft. Dix, it was better than I expected it to be, 

but there were a lot of loopholes. You watched them bringing in civilian contractors that weren’t quite sure of their jobs yet, taking over 

military operations, a lot of things were falling through the cracks. 

And, it’s the small things in my career that I found that really come 

back to bite you in the long run.

I, myself, while at Ft. Dix, not knowing it, was removed from the 

Dear system. My families benefits for insurance were cut off. I’m an 

AGR, I’m a full-time soldier, my pay was shut off. These were things 

as I left this mob station I wasn’t aware of.

When we arrived in New Hampshire, we heard about the threeday program, again, my soldiers were -- we just did this, we want to 

go home. The program was incredible. We had representatives there 

from the SGR, from the Veterans Administration, from economic 

sources to help them find jobs, places to live. There were pay stations 

to go through where they caught my problem, it was a very quick, 

easy problem, they caught it before there was anything. The counseling from the VA, it’s about the most relaxing I could have ever seen in 

my life. You are talking to soldiers most of the time, you are talking 

to vets or people that have worked with veterans enough that they 

know -- you are not just talking to a face that can’t understand, they 

do understand.

I have soldiers of my own that are still going to this counseling, 

that are still part of this today, and this has been seven months since 

we’ve returned home. I can’t say enough about the program. They 

were there, they supported us, they picked up and they tightened 

up all these holes that were in the system. I think it’s vital that the 

states implement this, even if the soldier is protesting they don’t want 

to do it, to have this counseling go on, and have it continue. I mean, 

to this day the program is still in effect. They welcomed us, they took 
25

care of our families while we were gone. They had our families go to 

counseling and offered them, and tell our families what we were going through, so our spouses could understand that, on this day we’ll 

be talking to the chaplains, and these things will be discussed, and 

they had a good idea of what we were going through.

I’d like to thank the Committee for the opportunity to speak today, 

and I’m looking forward to answering any questions that you may 

have.

Thank you.

[The statement of Staff Sergeant Bright appears on p. 83]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you very much.

It sounds like you all are very appreciative as it was going on, but 

you’ve been gone a long time. I went over to Iraq, we had much of our 

state activated, the 39th Brigade, they were gone, and in the same 

manner you all were, and I went over to Ft. Hood when they came 

back in, and had this little ceremony, it was very nice, but you had 

many of these folks that had not seen children that were born while 

they were away and things like that, anxious to return back to normal life. So, there’s the pressure of getting back as quickly as possible, and yet the military pressure of, hey, you know, we need to go 

through these steps to ensure that you can get back like you want 

to.

I guess with all that said, you all have a wonderful program, and 

it’s maybe the best in the country. From your perspective, though, 

are there areas that we need to spend, as you go through are there 

areas that you need to spend more time, other areas that, perhaps, 

you need to emphasize less? I guess I’d like your comments concerning things like that.

 Capt. Fessenden. Yes, sir. 

From my opinion, personally, I think when you look at the entire 

demobilization process, which means both the demobilization site, we 

went through Ft. Dix, and here, my personal opinion is that many 

of the administrative tasks could have been done here. If they were 

done here, they were done better, they corrected many of the errors 

that had been created at the demob site. So, I would almost prefer 

that those days be taken out of the demob site. I spent five days at 

Ft. Dix, and it was just a very long, crowded, a lot of soldiers going 

through. People there tried to do the right thing, but there were too 

many people going through to give people the personal attention that 

they needed.

So, I would prefer that those administrative days are taken out and 

done here in the state with the people that know us, who in the end 

corrected many of the issues, and then I would turn around and with 

the days that we could save I would dedicate more time to that third 

day that we talked about, I think the Sergeant Major talked about 
26

it, because what you see, and I know Colonel Carter and myself have 

spoken about this, it takes a couple hours in the morning to get -- to 

break that ice, soldiers come in initially and say, you know, what the 

heck is this, people talking about suicide prevention and this other 

stuff, all this touchy-feely stuff, you know, and it takes a while to 

break the ice.

So, I would almost like to see that time expanded, and if you could 

do two or three days of that, because you can fill that time, and the 

soldiers will talk. So, I would personally like to see that, and I think 

some of the redundant areas, such as the administrative, finance, 

that sort of thing, that we went through at Ft. Dix, could be done one 

time, and it would be done right at the state.

 Capt. Hennessy. I would concur with definitely the third day. A 

lot of issues got brought up, a lot of heated issues. It got a lot of, you 

know, emotions flowing, and it was kind of like, okay, now we have 

to be done.

Not only that, but on the third day if we could extend that for two 

to three days, also having more of the Vet Center counselors on, you 

know, standby in that, you know, piece, what the soldiers call touchyfeely piece of the reentry program.

In addition to that, what I would like to see, and I know we are 

working on it, is also follow-up continuum from that, so at the sixmonth mark, at the year mark, we are doing the same thing maybe 

for two to three days, we are bringing them back into like a block, 

what ours was called, the Block C, that touchy-feely piece, because 

like I said, a lot of soldiers are just starting to now realize that.

Another thing, you talked about tele meds or something like that, 

through teleconference and video, but I would love to see a video that 

could be put in place for the families, and maybe also for the employers, maybe two separate ones, because I know I didn’t make it a big 

issue of bringing my whole entire family with me to the Block C, and 

now I wish I did, because to show them something, to show them 

that, yes, I’m changed, but it’s not exactly abnormal. You know, this 

is going to be part of the process, and to have somebody giving that to 

them, and I’d love to pop in a tape right now and sit my in-laws, especially, down and say, okay, this is part of what’s going on. You know, 

God bless them, but it’s hard for them to not see the same Mary that 

they saw when I left, and I think the soldiers have expressed a lot of 

the same thing, and those are the main two pieces.

 Sgt. Bright. I’d have to concur with what they said. I think one of 

the big parts is keeping the families involved with it, so they actually 

understand what’s going on, and let the families know, they’ve done 

a great job of letting us know that because we are acting in a certain 

way doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s against them, it’s just going to 

take us some time to adjust, just like it’s taken them time to adjust 

to us.
27

 Mr. Boozman. Congressman Michaud.

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

First of all, I want to thank each of you for your service to this country, really appreciate your service, as well as your family, to know 

that they are there, they give you their love, and I know at times it’s 

not easy. So, I want to thank each and every one of you, and also everyone who serves in the military.

Just a couple of questions. Captain Hennessy, you had mentioned 

that 100 percent -- I think you said 100 percent of your soldiers went 

to counseling at the Vet Center, a couple of questions relating to 

that.

Number one, how far of a distance did they have to travel to get to 

the Vet Center, but also, not only at the beginning, but near the end, 

it’s been a year since they left Iraq or Afghanistan, how has the waiting time been for them to get the services they need?

 Capt. Hennessy. I apologize if I miscommunicated. What I meant 

in the 100 percent is, in part of our process, like the Command Sergeant Major was covering, they had to sit down with a counselor.

 Mr. Michaud. Okay.

 Capt. Hennessy. So, I apologize, 100 percent of them went through 

sitting down with a counselor, and that counselor, you know, basically asking them, you know, how are you doing, they took care of 

some immediate needs that needed it, and then also asked them for 

a follow-up call.

And, I can say, hearing from the soldiers who asked for that follow-up call, myself included, the Vet Centers have done a great job 

providing those follow-up calls and making sure the soldiers are contacted, and I hope they continue that because now is the part where 

they are starting to recognize, and I guarantee if they call today they 

are going to have somebody that’s -- they are going to get more, yes, 

I’ll be in, I’m ready now.

And, I’m sorry, what was the second part?

 Mr. Michaud. As far as the distance, it sounds to me from what I’ve 

heard from the first panel, and from each of you, is that when they 

go for counseling, what have you, they are pleased with what they 

receive.

My second question is, how far do they have to travel in order to 

get that counseling, and do you think an individual, particularly, if 

someone has PTSD, or needs some assistance and they have to travel 

three or four hours, do you think that they would do that?

 Capt. Hennessy. Right. Some of them, you know, definitely have 

quite far to travel, because I have three different detachments, Claremont, Hillsboro and Summersworth, so we are kind of spread across 

the state, and living in the different areas where soldiers are.

So, some of them quite far, especially if they are in the north country, there’s not a lot of accessibility except for possibly going up to 
28

Vermont and using that center, and I know that center is used.

 As far as the time, like one of the panel members before pointed 

out, it’s hard, you know, on the employers, and I think a lot of them 

are just trying to get back into the groove, and it’s hard to ask for 

time, you know, to say, especially if somebody is having a hard time 

accepting counseling or admitting they are accepting counseling, to 

go to their employers and ask to, hey, I’ve got a VA counseling appointment, can I have three, four hours off work. I think if they were 

closer, if there was more satellite services, we’d see a much higher 

rate of return.

 Mr. Michaud. Now, when you say -- I hate to pinpoint, but when 

you say quite far, how far is quite far? And, the reason why I ask that, 

because I know when I was in the Maine Legislature, legislators from 

Portland had to travel 30 miles, that was quite a distance for them, 

yet, for those of us in the northern territory we’d be driving three 

hours, it’s really nothing.

 Capt. Hennessy. Right.

 Mr. Michaud. So, I was wondering what -- 

 Capt. Hennessy. I would say about two hours on average, two and a 

half hours, and that doesn’t seem like far, but whenever you are dealing with families, you know how that goes, it takes twice as much. So, 

two hours feels like four or five.

But, yeah, I apologize for not making that clear.

 Mr. Michaud. No problem. Thank you.

 Capt. Fessenden. One comment, sir, about that, is just what you’ll 

find is that the people who need the help, though, are not -- they 

are not going to drive, and they are not going to call and make an 

appointment. What’s going to happen, in fact, Sergeant Major Rice, 

we just had this experience two months ago, when out of the blue he 

called me, very involved with soldier issues, and said one of your soldiers is basically -- basically had a break down, and I think it was the 

girlfriend’s mother who called and said, I’m concerned, I’m concerned 

whether he’s going to get violent, and she’s the one who called the Sergeant Major, who then called us, and I actually had Sergeant Bright 

call this soldier and spoke with him, and he got off the phone and 

said, yeah, this guy needs help, he’s breaking down on the phone.

And then, it’s great to have this resource then that we can turn it 

over to the Vet Center and say, help us. We are not the experts, help 

us, and they say great, give it to us and we’ll run with it.

So, my point is, is that these Vet Centers work, and like a lot of 

things, it probably comes down to money and dollars, but they work, 

we need more of them, they have to be close and in the communities with the soldiers, because the soldiers who have issues will not 

raise their hand, you have to reach out into the communities and pull 

them out of their bedrooms and out of their houses, it’s a pull system, 

rather than a push.
29

Mr. Michaud. Do you think some of your soldiers who need help, because of PTSD, mental health issues, that telemedicine will be sufficient, or do you think that they’ll need that one-on-one, face-to-face?

Capt. Fessenden. Well, right, for mental health issues, it needs to be 

one on one, and it needs to start with the people that know them. The 

Sergeant Major called me, and I grabbed his Squad Leader, Sergeant 

Bright, who knows him. He called him and said, and at first he gets 

the typical, “”I’m fine, there’s not a problem, I’m doing great,’’ and 

Sergeant Bright says, cut it out, and they start talking about shared 

situations, and the guy broke right down. That’s how you do it.

And so, you need to find the people in the community who know 

these people, and what you’ll get from these Vet Centers, and, you 

know, if I’m pumping up the Vet Centers that’s good, because that’s 

what needs to happen, is that these Vet Centers are not just these 

guys sitting in an office, these Vet Centers, Sergeant Bright and I 

went on a motorcycle ride up to Laconia during Bike Week, the Vet 

Center put that on, and we had a group of, what, about 30, 40 of us 

on motorcycles. 

Iraqi veterans wore the BDU bottoms, with tee shirts, and rode up 

to Laconia Bike Week. These guys, they took a group during the Boston Marathon and backpacked it, and it was just a point of bringing 

veterans together, who can share experiences, because no matter how 

much I talk, you know, to my wife, she doesn’t understand that, and 

their spouses don’t understand that. Sergeant Bright knows what 

went on over there, and they don’t.

So, these Vet Centers work, obviously, they need to be funded, but 

they work.

Sgt. Bright. Sir, if I might add one thing to it.

And, Sergeant Major Rice has done this, as military leaders it’s our 

responsibility to when these soldiers do reach out for help, the states 

put it into place, but we have the resources, we have the tools.

And, you are asking about how do they get to these places, how do 

we get them there, it’s our duty and responsibility as non-commissioned officers and officers to make sure that we get them the means 

to get there. There is not a soldier in the New Hampshire National 

Guard, if they needed a ride to get to counseling, that there wouldn’t 

be somebody in the system somewhere to help them. 

So, as long as we keep those doors open, and hold up our responsibilities, and we know that there’s problems, we can get them there.

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you all very much for your statements.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Boozman. What do you all do in civilian life?

 Capt. Fessenden. We now work full time for the National Guard. 

We like it that much. Before I was a Program Manager with Thompson Financial in Boston, but I came back, like a lot of soldiers, and 

said I can’t go back to that. So, I now work for the 12th CST, I’m an 
30

Operations Officer for the Civil Support Team in New Hampshire.

 Mr. Boozman. Okay.

 Capt. Hennessy. I’m the AGR Program Manager for the Human 

Resource Office with the New Hampshire National Guard.

I can say the same thing as Captain Fessenden, but I was dealing 

with, I didn’t think I was going to be able to come back to the States, 

and I thought I was going to have to find a civilian job, and I did some 

serious reflection on, you know, because you are military, and not 

understanding, it may be a little bit harder than if it was a civilian 

employment. And, I can say that once again the Reentry and Reunion 

totally, totally switched my mind set, and said, I not only want to 

come back, but I am so honored and privileged that I can remain a 

full-time employer, and a lot of my soldiers started asking, hey, how 

do I get, you know, in the system as full time, because they are so 

encouraged.

Sgt. Bright. Sir, I’m a soldier full time, have been.

 Mr. Boozman. Congressman Bradley.

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I’d like to 

join with Congressmen Michaud and Boozman in thanking you, both 

for your service overseas, but, perhaps, just as importantly, your service home, and trying to help your colleagues and people under your 

command transition back into civilian life.

A couple of questions. How difficult is it to deal with some of the 

resistance that some people would have to this type of, you know, the 

mental health counseling, and the one-on-one session with a counselor, and what do you do to deal with that?

Capt. Fessenden. Well, I can tell you personally, it’s very difficult. 

Colonel Carter and I had a phone conversation one night, as she called 

me because there was a lot of resistance from one of my platoons. It’s 

difficult, I’ve found, because a lot of times it’s the leadership, it’s the 

leadership that makes incorrect assumptions about their soldiers. 

We assume as the leaders that the experience that we’re having is 

the same that all of our soldiers are having.

So, you know, I generally had a good transition back. I didn’t have 

major issues when I came back, but we have to remember that some 

soldiers come from different places in life than we do. So, there are 

a lot of issues out there, and there is still a mentality in the military 

that I am less of a soldier if I need some sort of counseling.

And, not only that, but every soldier, no matter what your mission 

is over there, every soldier says, well, I didn’t have it as bad as X. I 

didn’t have it as bad as those guys. So, if there were soldiers dying, 

then who am I to go get counseling when I come back alive. So, there’s 

somewhat of a guilt factor, but you have to overcome a lot of that.

So, it seems, I know, sitting here it seems, well, why wouldn’t a 

soldier go get help, but there’s a lot of feelings of letting down your 

fellow soldiers, and the fact that you are going to be less of a soldier, 
31

plus the realistic, not realistic, but some of the more just, you know, 

grounded issues that Sergeant Major talked about, about what if my 

commander finds out about this, what’s going to happen.

I think what needs to happen is, the issues that I talked about before, as a Sergeant Major, as a Colonel, as a Captain, we can’t be the 

ones selling the program. I mean, we have to set it up, but it needs 

to be the squad leaders, like Sergeant Bright, they are the ones who 

need to push this thing. They are the ones that need to say, because 

Sergeant Bright, you know, slept in that bunk bed right next to that 

guy, he went out on missions with that guy, and much more than I 

did, he knows those guys. So, those guys, you know, they look up to 

their officers, and senior NCOs, but it’s those E6s that they are working with that they say, gee, if that guys accepts it than I’m going to 

accept it.

So, you need to filter it down, I think, from the top leaders, and you 

need to sell those E6s, E5s, those junior leaders, on the program.

Capt. Hennessy. I think I would concur with that. I know that a lot 

of people are close minded to it. I think my community maybe accepts 

it maybe a little bit better than Captain Fessenden’s, just the nature 

of the type of units that we have.

And, I know what’s helped is, I shared openly, I’m a very open person, you can ask anyone, I share openly what I’ve gone through, experiences, that it’s okay, that it’s expected, and then also, like he said, 

you are getting, you know, the one or two soldiers that are at that 

rank level, or that live in the trucks with my soldiers on a daily basis, 

the ones who are using the program, because there are a lot using the 

program, to talk to the other ones.

And, like he said, soldier-to-soldier selling. I know Colonel Carter 

has got a great story about, I think it was an E5, or an E6, handing 

another soldier a Vet Center card, and that’s really the best sell, because -- open communication too, I mean, us even talking about it, 

even getting publicity, to the combat strike teams in Iraq, that them 

finding the importance of mental health issues even when we are in 

theatre. That mantra changing throughout the military is really how 

we are going to break down the barriers the most.

Sgt. Bright. I think one of the biggest things to do is, let them know 

that they are not going to be in problem, that it’s okay. And, working 

with them every day, you know, you can talk to them and you can 

bring it down to their level, to their understanding, somebody is not 

going to think less of them, they are not going to think they are any 

less of a soldier, any less of a person, if they go and get this help.

Sergeant Major, again, you know, it’s still out there that you go 

talk to somebody, it’s going to end up on your military record, you are 

done, you are not going to get a security clearance, you are not going 

to be considered for a promotion, it’s not true, but they don’t realize 

that, and they don’t understand that.
32

So, just talked about it, breaking that barrier down to start with is 

a good way to get theses soldiers in and get them talking.

And, I think also maybe taking their first line leaders, the people 

that are with them, immediately, not that I personally would want 

to go through 30 hours of training like that, but let’s help teach those 

people that this is a sign, this is a real sign that this person needs to 

get help. So, as I’m talking to Private Snuffy, I can pick up on some 

points that, okay, he really has an issue, you know, we need to get 

him in to see somebody, we need to get him -- I need to maybe push 

him in that direction a little bit.

Mr. Bradley. Thank you.

One of the other things that your testimony this morning has 

brought to mind is, the way the program is structured primarily 

has the three-day situation where, you know, there’s an awful lot 

crammed into three days when you first get back to the States.

What happens in a situation where people get through that, everything looks fine, but over the course of time problems develop that 

aren’t caught in that first three days, and how do you monitor that, 

and, you know, try to then get these people back into the situation?

Capt. Fessenden. Yes, I can actually talk to that. Sergeant Bright 

and I were just mentioning it. We were sitting out there listening.

The key for this, and what needs to be, I think, really enforced, what 

makes it difficult for a lot of National Guard units, is that the chain 

of command needs to stay together. The leadership needs to stay together when you get back. It doesn’t stop the day you get back.

And, it seems like a commonsense thing on active duty, because 

everybody comes back together, but my company came from four different units. We pulled them together to form my company. Capt. 

Bergner was the same, she had the same issue. 

So, a lot of times with the National Guard you don’t have one unit 

that deployed, you pull from all over. I had people, I had a soldier 

from Pennsylvania who came up and joined the Guard the day before 

we were getting ready to go. He joined to deploy with us. We had 

people from Maine, Connecticut, so you’ve got soldiers from all over 

the place. The chain of command needs to stay together.

Unfortunately, what happens is, these soldiers come back and they 

get split all back, and one of the things we learned is that those units 

have to stay together so that they can maintain that leadership and 

maintain the care of their soldiers.

The other point is that this three-day program is just the beginning 

of the process. So, we get back and we meet during drill weekend, I 

think throughout the state it’s been generally accepted that the first 

goal of the first couple drills is just to get the guys back. If you do 

nothing else but get everybody together and just talk about their experiences, get them back in uniform, get them talking to each other 

again, even if we don’t go to the field and train for that weekend, 
33

that’s okay, but get the guys back into uniform so they can start sharing their experiences again.

So, that’s important. This is an ongoing process -- it’s a process 

that’s still going on with a lot of soldiers, it hasn’t ended at the end of 

those three days.

Capt. Hennessy. I think how you reach out or you get that is, like I 

talked about, maybe creating a model over a period of time, so, you 

know, at that six months, at that 12 months mark, and also identifying, like I had seven soldiers from Vermont, 32, you know, from 

different units within New Hampshire, but the seven from Vermont 

were probably the hardest, because they are off into Vermont and I 

don’t know what Vermont’s program is, but from the feedback I’ve 

gotten in talking to a couple of the soldiers there’s not a whole lot 

there. So, just making sure these soldiers are tracked, and we do a 

six month, 12 month follow-up, because a lot of them won’t admit it 

until the six months. I’ve had those coming in, and I’m sure we’ll see 

more at the 12 month mark.

Capt. Fessenden. Going back to what we’ve alluded to earlier. In my 

eyes, it comes back to leadership checks. While you are in the theatre 

of operations, you constantly, as a leader, check on your men. If they 

are on night shift, you are on day shift, you make it a point, you get 

up in the middle of the night and you go out and you check on them 

and see how they are doing at the post. You make sure they are fed, 

make sure they are warm, you talk to them, you take a few minutes 

out of that.

I don’t necessarily think it needs to be set down and put on to a 

timetable where at six months you make a phone call to everybody. 

I think it’s important. They are my friends, and I miss them just as 

much as I hope that they miss me sometimes, and, you know, you 

always want to talk about things yourself. Pick up the phone, you 

know, every once in a while, go through you’re all alert roster, give 

them a call and ask them how they are doing. You know, and if somebody says I’m busy with the kids, I’m changing diapers, I’ve got to 

go right now, you can probably tell that they have reintegrated into 

their life pretty good. You know, if somebody gets on the phone and 

wants to talk about, you know, for two hours about the time when a 

rocket hit our camp, it gives you a pretty good indicator that there 

may be something there.

But, I think just following up, being a leader, even though you have 

moved out of your unit, or moved off to different places, you can still 

keep in contact with them. You know, you may come to a point that 

one of these guys says, don’t call me anymore, drive on with it, but, 

you know, you still do your part.

Mr. Bradley. One last question. There’s been, with the Guard and 

the Reserves nationwide, especially in light of the extended call-ups 

that so many of the folks such as yourselves have had to endure, and 
34

the families, and the sacrifice that’s involved. A number of individuals have chosen not to reenlist in the Guard, so my question is, you 

know, on a small basis that you have to have looked at the transitional programs, do you feel, number one, that it is helping to aid retention, and also for those that have stayed in how is it helping to improve the readiness of the units, in having, you know, this program, 

especially to get, you know, back to the question that I asked General 

Young about using this program as a model for other states, and the 

success in readiness and retention, I think, is something that, you 

know, the military leaders would look at as incredibly important for 

the country.

Capt. Fessenden. I think everybody in the military, certainly the 

leadership, recognizes that the number one key to keeping a soldier 

is to keep his family happy, keep his family involved, and give his 

family the knowledge and the predictability of when that soldier will 

be done, because in the end it’s that spouse, really, that I found that 

makes the decision as to whether a soldier stays in.

I’ve had soldiers that have not wanted to -- that have wanted to get 

out, and their wife has said, I enjoy the checks, they may enjoy the 

time away on the weekend when he’s gone, I don’t know, but they say 

you are not getting out, and I’ve had just the opposite, soldiers that 

come and say, you know, what, I love it, I love it, but unfortunately 

it’s too much on my wife, and she’s told me that I have to get out.

So, I think what this three-day program does is, as much as it takes 

care of the soldiers, it takes care of those family members, and it 

pulls those family members in, and it shows them that there’s a caring organization that cares about them, that they are not alone. Not 

only that, you have these young families, a lot of them are not tied 

into their community, so their best friend, and sometimes one of their 

only friends, is their husband who has now left for a year. So, now all 

of a sudden, through the family support group and then through programs like this, you are able to introduce them to a bigger network of 

people that care about their well-being.

So, in the end, when that soldier comes back, you would have sold 

that spouse more on the importance of the Guard. So, I think that’s 

the biggest thing about retention that it does.

I’ve completely forgotten your second question, sir, so I apologize.

 Capt. Hennessy. I think retention, definitely, readiness, definitely, 

the bottom line, like Captain Fessenden, you can sum it up in one 

word, and that’s caring, and, you know, if you have an organization 

that cares about you, and shows that they care about you and your 

family, you are going to have better retention and you are going to 

have better readiness, because if you show a soldier you care, they 

will do absolutely anything for you. It’s amazing.

So, yes, on both.

Sergeant. Bright. It’s definitely a necessity. When you leave the 
35

SRPs and the three-day program that you’ve gone through when you 

come back from deployment, everything is in order, or is very close 

to being that way, and it’s going to help it, and the retention, again, 

you know, if you have a soldier that comes back, and this is kind of 

reiterating what they said, that has pay problems, financial problems, home problems, and nobody is there to help them, they are not 

going to want to continue their career. They are just going to decide, 

I’ve done my time, this wasn’t for myself and my family, and they are 

going to move on.

Just one other quick point, sir, is that, and I think this gets forgotten a lot, is that a lot of these soldiers have deployed are typical 

soldiers that show up on Friday night or Saturday morning and they 

deploy, they drill their weekend, and then they go home, and they 

don’t -- some of them don’t care a whole lot about their career, career 

management. They get their drill pay and they go home.

But, then you take them out and have them committed for a year 

or year and a half to something, and all of a sudden now the Guard 

becomes more important to them. So, they come back from -- they’ll 

ask you questions that they never cared about before, what do I have 

to do to get promoted, and you say, the last five years I’ve been telling 

you, you know, do this, and you haven’t cared. They care now, all of a 

sudden now they know who the leaders are, you know. A lot of them 

would not have known who the leaders are in the state, they know 

their platoon sergeant, platoon leader, their company commander, 

and that’s it, but now all of a sudden they know the state leadership, 

and they feel like, and they are right, is that they are owed something 

now, this is as much their organization as anybody else.

So, when a soldier comes back, if you don’t make them feel part of 

the organization, they say, I’ve just deployed and given a whole lot, 

and this is how I’m treated. So, the soldiers become much more demanding, rightfully so, I think.

So, it’s great as an organization to have soldiers that care, but then 

it makes our challenge even higher. Now we need to provide them, 

you know, these type of services.

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you very much, great job.

 Mr. Boozman. I think, Captain, with a wife and three daughters I 

can relate to the families where the females have a great deal to do 

with the decision-making process.

I want to thank you all so much.

Do you have anything else, Michael?

 Mr. Michaud. No, thank you.

 Mr. Boozman. Again, we thank you so much for your service, for 

your willingness to go and do what you’ve done.

And, then as was provided by the rest of the Congressmen, your 

willingness to come back and then actually take care of the individuals that you went with.
36

And again, we truly do appreciate you all, and we appreciate the 

good job that you are doing. That’s why we are here, is to try and 

model what you’ve successfully done here throughout the rest of the 

country.

So, thank you again.

Our final panel doesn’t wear uniforms, but they represent many of 

the agencies that make TAP work. We have with us today Tim Beebe, Northeast Regional Manager, Readjustment Counseling Service, 

Veterans Health Administration; Mr. Dave Houle, Regional Administrator, for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment 

and Training Service; Ms. Mary Collins, from the New Hampshire 

Small Business Development Centers, and the Association of Small 

Business Development Centers; Mr. Jim Whitson, Eastern Director 

of the Veterans Benefits Administration; and he is accompanied by 

Ms. Maribeth Cully, Director of the Manchester Regional Office.

We want to welcome each of you, and let’s start out with Mr. Beebe.

STATEMENT OF MR. TIM BEEBE, NORTHEAST REGIONAL

 MANAGER, READJUSTMENT COUNSELING SERVICE, 

VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION; ACCOMPANIED BY

 DAVE HOULE, REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR FOR VETER-

 ANS’ EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICE, DEPART-

 MENT OF LABOR; MARY COLLINS, STATE DIRECTOR, NEW

 HAMPSHIRE SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS,

 ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CEN-

 TERS; AND JIM WHITSON, EASTERN AREA DIRECTOR, VET-

 ERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, ACCOMPANIED BY

 MARIBETH CULLY, MANCHESTER REGIONAL OFFICE

 DIRECTOR, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION

STATEMENT OF Mr. TIM BEEBE

 Mr. Beebe. Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the 

opportunity to appear before you today and discuss the activities -- 

 Mr. Boozman. Can you flip your -- I think your -- or turn it.

Mr. Beebe. -- on the VA Vet Centers program and the role it plays 

in providing outreach and care to veterans returning from Operating Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. I’ll also briefly 

describe the role of the Vet Centers in the recent New Hampshire 

National Guard Reverse Soldier Readiness Program. 

I’d like to also mention here with me today is Mr. Charles Flora, 

Associate Director of the Vet Center Program, and he’s here from 

Washington.

The Vet Center Program observed its 25th year serving veterans 
37

this year. The program was originally established by Congress in 

1979 to meet the readjustment needs of veterans returning from the 

Vietnam War.

From the outset, Vet Centers were designed to be communitybased, non-medical facilities, offering easy access to care for Vietnam 

veterans who were experiencing difficulty in resuming a normal life 

following their service in a combat zone.

Vet Centers then, as they are today, were intended to be entry 

points for healthcare services and counseling services for veterans.

We would also provide readjustment counseling and job counseling, benefits counseling, and referrals to community agencies, and 

other services as needed in particular localities.

Additionally, and by design, most Vet Center staff are veterans 

themselves and serve as counselors and role models to veterans in 

need. One of the “firsts” of the program in 1979 was the eligibility of 

family members for assistance at Vet Centers also, and that exists 

today. I think we were one of the first services within VA to offer 

eligibility for families of veterans.

Twenty-five years later, following the grassroots popularity of the 

program, eligibility for Vet Center readjustment counseling services 

has expanded to include all combat veterans. We’ve seen veterans 

from World War II, Korea and current wars and conflicts. I think our 

oldest veteran in care at the moment is 91 years old.

 The Vet Center program also provides bereavement counseling 

services for family members of those soldiers killed while on active 

duty in service to their country. In addition, the Vet Centers provide 

counseling to veterans who experienced sexual trauma while on active duty.

The program has grown from its original small number to 207 Vet 

Centers nationwide, located in all 50 states, and in Puerto Rico, the 

Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.

The Northeast Region is comprised of eight states, which is all of 

New England, New York and northern New Jersey, for which this 

regional office has administrative authority.

Last year, the Under Secretary for Health approved an additional 

50 positions for the Vet Center program to provide outreach and assistance, specifically, to returning OEF/OIF returnees. The Northeast Region received eight original positions from this nationwide allotment, and filled the positions with OEF/OIF veterans. 

This fiscal year, the region received another seven positions, and 

we have filled, or are interviewing for, seven veterans for these newly-created positions as well.

 As part of the program outreach campaign, Vet Center clinicians 

began providing education and outreach information for families of 

deployed Global War on Terrorism soldiers soon after the first National Guard and Reserve troops deployed almost two years ago. Part 
38

of this outreach effort was to inform National Guard leaders of Vet 

Center services, to facilitate early contact and a smooth transition for 

returning veterans.

Late last year, New Hampshire Guard leadership met with the 

Manchester, New Hampshire Vet Center’s team leader to discuss the 

potential Vet Center role in developing their RSRP program, for soon 

returning New Hampshire Guard men and women. In addition to 

VBA and VA participation, the National Guard in New Hampshire 

was seeking an organization that understood the military culture 

and could provide hour-long, individual counseling and assessment 

sessions for each returning soldier.

Following extensive consultation, which we heard about today, with 

their active duty counterparts, the National Guard in New Hampshire concluded that, in order to de-stigmatize the soldiers asking 

for help, individual counseling would be a core component of this initiative for all returnees. Successive planning meetings between New 

Hampshire Guard leadership and Vet Center Northeast Regional Office staff reinforced the need for a collaborative effort to meet New 

Hampshire National Guard goals.

The Vet Center’s 25-year history of working with combat vets to 

overcome the stigma associated with seeking professional help, plus 

the Vet Center program’s understanding of military culture and experience, helped contribute to the inclusion of Vet Centers in the Reentry Program.

During the implementation period of January 20th to March 7, 

2005, 31 Vet Center clinicians from 16 surrounding Vet Centers assembled at the Manchester VA Medical Center, over 18 work days, 

to provide individual, hour-long assessment sessions to over 810 New 

Hampshire veterans returning from duty in Iraq. Using an intake 

protocol specifically designed for this purpose, Vet Center counselors, many of whom were themselves combat veterans, assessed all 

returning veterans for depression, acute war stress reaction, suicidal/homicidal ideation, and any other readjustment issues to include 

emerging family issues.

Since completion of this primary phase of the project, the Manchester Vet Center has seen an additional 14 Afghanistan veteran returnees, and we continue at the Manchester Vet Center on a weekly 

basis to see small groups of returning veterans from the Global War 

on Terrorism who aren’t part of the main group that returned. So 

weekly, there are weekly assessment sessions going on there still.

So, as of this writing, our most current information as of about 30 

days ago was, a total of 838 New Hampshire Guard vets have been 

seen by Vet Center staff in individual, confidential counseling sessions. A service plan was developed for each veteran returning. It 

was reviewed with the soldier, during the course of the counseling 

session, to ask what their needs might be and how we could best help 
39

them in the future.

 Of the total number of veterans seen, 402 (or about 48 percent) 

asked for follow-up care within 30 days of being home. Most said, “I’m 

okay now, I’m not sure how I’ll be in a month or so, so give me a call. 

I would appreciate a phone call from the counselors to see how I’m 

doing then, but I’m anxious to be home,” and we did that.

Currently, there appears to be about 145 to 150 National Guard 

vets currently being seen on an ongoing basis at area Vet Centers (or 

about 17 to 18 percent of the returnees are currently in treatment), 

and we use the number three or more visits to quantify someone as 

being in treatment, as a vet in treatment, because there was an initial mandated visit that might have asked for follow-up call, which 

we completed, and we thought that three visits or more meant someone came back on their own to see us. So, the veterans we are seeing 

currently, the 18 percent or so, 17 to 18 percent, were folks with three 

visits or more at a Vet Center, the area Vet Center.

I want to say this publicly, because the roots of this, the origins of 

this, actually, the idea, came from the veterans that we see, the Vietnam veterans who implored us, as the soldiers were being deployed 

first in Persian Gulf I a decade ago, but now on the Global War on 

Terrorism. We at the Vet Centers, because the majority of us are veterans, hear it from the soldiers on what’s best for the soldiers returning, and they want to know in no uncertain terms in soldier language 

what we are doing (or what we plan to do) for those vets returning 

from overseas now, and because the majority of the veterans we see 

are Vietnam veterans, who had no homecoming whatsoever, as we 

know, our feet are being held to the fire, so to speak, by the very veterans we treat daily in the Vet Centers. So, we are held accountable 

in 360 degrees here, I would say, in many ways, and the individual 

veterans said to us long ago, “plan to do something that wasn’t available for us.”

And so, within the Vet Center program, we started to do that. We 

are working on this individual counseling notion, I think it’s by extreme good fortune that we met Colonel Carter, with her request for 

the National Guard. We are on that trail. We were thinking about 

doing that work, and it was fortunate for all of us, we think, most 

importantly for the returning soldiers, that we are able to work cooperatively to do this together, and it’s both an honor and a privilege, 

and I mean that sincerely from the Vet Center side, to do this.

Thank you for your time.

[The statement of Mr. Beebe appears on p. 86]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you, sir.

 Mr. Houle?

STATEMENT OF DAVID HOULE
40

 Mr. Houle. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Michaud, Congressman Bradley, the mission of the Veterans Employment and 

Training Service is to provide veterans and transitioning service 

members services to succeed in the 21st Century workforce.

One of the ways that we meet that mission is by providing employment workshops to the active duty as well as Guard and Reserve 

service members. This really is a collaborative effort, as you’ve heard 

already. DOL works closely with our partner agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of Veteran Affairs, State Workforce 

Agencies, the Vet Centers, et cetera, in providing TAP. Our goal is 

to provide employment workshops at every location requested by the 

Armed Forces.

DOL facilitated workshops, a comprehensive two and a half days, 

three days, participants learned about job search, career decisionmaking, current occupational and labor market information, resume 

cover preps, interviewing techniques, et cetera. Participants are also 

provided an evaluation of their employability relative to the job market, to maintain the high quality of service delivery. To ensure uniformity between these locations nationwide, all workshops use a common workbook and program with instructions and all facilitators are 

trained by the National Veteran Training Institute in Denver.

In Fiscal Year 2004, approximately 133,000 separating military 

personnel went through approximately 3,397 employment workshops, both nationally and globally. In Fiscal Year 2005, we expect 

that we are going to raise that number to approximately 140,000 and 

about 4,000 workshops.

Our state directors work directly with National Guard and Reserve 

component commanders, as you heard Colonel Carter mention earlier, 

to make special arrangements following demobilizations to present a 

modified TAP employment workshop to Guard and Reserve service 

members. We also contacted each of the state adjutant generals to 

offer outreach assistance to returning Guard and Reserve members 

during that demobilization process, and we will provide any unit with 

a workshop upon request.

We presently have pilot initiatives underway in places like Oregon, 

Michigan, Minnesota, and Massachusetts will be standing up their 

mini TAP initiative for approximately 150 Guard members on October 1st and 2nd.

VETS has supported the New Hampshire Joint Initiative called 

the Reunion and Reentry from Combat Program. The VETS role in 

this joint initiative was to collaborate with the New Hampshire National Guard, both Army and Air, the Department of Veteran Affairs, 

especially the Vet Centers, the Employers Support of the Guard and 

Reserve, as well as a key player for us, the New Hampshire Employment Security Agency, to develop a program to provide employmentrelated information to Guard and Reserve forces returning from de-
41

ployment.

 Information stations from each of these partner agencies are colocated in one central area during the demobilization process, to 

make information and services available, or to determine follow-up 

activity. These would include such areas as reemployment rights 

under USERRA, and in some instances complaints or forms are actually filled out at the time, guidance is provided. There’s also, as you 

heard, recognition of employer through the Employer Support of the 

Guard and Reserve and also informal mediation guidance provided 

by ESGR.

Employment-related services for those seeking jobs or seeking 

training, including spouses, is provided by the New Hampshire Employment Security Agency, as is unemployment compensation information, and in some cases claims can actually be taken at that site.

 During a mini TAP such as this for Guard and Reserves, all demobilizing service men and women and their spouses are given an 

assessment interview by State Veterans Employment staff, that’s our 

DVOP and LVERs. For job seekers seeking training opportunities an 

on-site assessment interview is conducted and follow-up interviews 

scheduled as needed.

DVOP and LVER facilitators are there, as well as our State Director, John Gonya, New Hampshire Employment Security Policy, as 

stated recently by the Commissioner, is that an employment-assistance workshop will be made available at any time and any location 

state wide to suit the needs of our returning troops.

And, Mr. Chairman, if I may offer just an aside, I believe after listening to the testimony this morning the success of the New Hampshire model is a reflection, I think, not only of the commitment and 

cooperation of the agencies that you’ve heard here this morning, that’s 

a key role, but I think most of all it’s a credit to the men and women 

who serve in uniform and who have once again stepped forward to 

acknowledge issues, to come forward and ask for the assistance that 

they need.

Coming from a generation where that was a little more difficult at 

times, I am ever so proud of the men and women who have done that 

and are doing that now. 

That concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I’ll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

[The statement of Mr. Houle appears on p. 88]

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

 Ms. Collins?

STATEMENT OF MARY COLLINS
42

 Ms. Collins. Thank you.

My name is Mary Collins, and I am State Director for the New 

Hampshire Small Business Development Center, and also I’m representing the Association of Small Business Development Centers.

 I’m speaking this morning regarding access to business and people 

that are involved in business. I have submitted my written testimony, and I have to admit I am going a bit off track with my remarks, 

based on some of the things I have heard here today.

Looking back 30 years ago, I was the spouse of an Army Reserve 

person. I can’t imagine in my home, having two young children at 

that time, what it would have done to us to have had someone deployed for the length of time that our Reserve units are going. I know 

that my husband was activated for a short two-week period, federally 

activated, and it made a huge difference in our life.

The New Hampshire Small Business Development Center offers 

confidential, one-on-one business counseling at no cost to the client. 

In the last year, we worked with more than 3,500 business owners 

and aspiring entrepreneurs in the state.

SBDCs provide full-time assistance. We spoke earlier of SCORE, 

our SBDC counselors are there full time to work with small business 

owners. In New Hampshire, more than 96 percent of our businesses 

are small businesses. We also work very closely with distance learning. We are activating many of our educational and training programs to be more tuned into that. In fact, it was at a National Guard 

Armory in Concord back a few years ago that I first learned about 

the distance learning network that is actually through the National 

Guard in New Hampshire.

The SBDC is part of a national program. Here in New Hampshire, 

we are an outreach program at the University of New Hampshire, and 

have offices located throughout the state. The Association of Small 

Business Development Centers represents SBDCs in every State of 

the Union, as well as the territories, Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa. I have a counterpart in each of those states, 

Arkansas, Maine, both being represented by those.

The SBDC network is the Federal Government’s largest small business management and technical assistance program, with approximately 1,000 service centers nationwide, serving more clients than 

all over Federal management and technical assistance programs 

combined. The SBDC’s network, last year approximately 8 percent of 

the clients served were veterans. This only counts the self-declared 

veteran. We serve between 50,000 and 60,000 self-declared veterans 

annually, and we know the numbers are larger because many of our 

clients who are veterans choose not to self-identify their veteran status. This would be on the Federal forms when they come in for counseling.

Last year, 12 percent of New Hampshire SBDC clients indicated 
43

that they were veterans, 4 percent greater than the national network.

The impact of activation of self-employed individuals and their 

families can be dramatic to small businesses. Imagine you are the 

owner of a firm employing ten or 20 employees, and you are called 

to active duty along with another of your employees. That business 

could well have a difficult time staying profitable. Sales are likely to 

decline, other employees seeing the firm struggling are likely to seek 

other more secure employment. You return to either a firm that is actually on the edge or a firm that has collapsed. The economic impact 

is staggering for the individuals involved.

We have a difficult time even planning our training and educational programs on a regular basis to really accommodate our small 

businesses, because they can’t be away for a great length of time during the day. So, imagine a small business owner who has left for ten 

months, 12 months, and what it may do to their business.

For employees who are called up, the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994, the primary statute governing 

service members’ employment rights, assures they will be employed 

by their civilian employer after serving on active duty. However, this 

Act provides no protection to a self-employed person who finds his or 

her business has gone out of business during active duty.

The SBDCs are highly capable of working with small businesses 

and in preparing people for time away from their businesses. When 

essential business owners are activated, one of the things that is left 

behind most needed is training. SBDCs can provide a wide array of 

management, financial and marketing training to those in the firm 

who shoulder the responsibility of keeping the firm going.

 The ASBDC, the Association of Small Business Development Centers, is considering a proposal to reduce all training fees for families 

and employees of small businesses whose owners or essential employees have been called to active duty. This could pose financial challenges for many SBDC service centers, many of whom have seen no 

increase in Federal funding or state funding since 1997. Here in New 

Hampshire, we try to serve from six regional locations. In the last 

three years we have reduced our staff of counselors by one half. The 

access to Federal dollars and state dollars, as all of us know, is much 

slimmer, but we are still serving those needs.

In an effort to try and prevent problems becoming even more widespread, we would recommend that the leadership of the Guard and 

Reserve units who have not been activated undertake a concerted 

effort to identify those in their units that are self-employed, and then 

work closely with those of us, the SBDC, and the SBDC network, to 

identify what we can do for these people.

 When a small business appears to be having problems, the all-tofrequent reaction is that increased access to capital will solve the 
44

problem. This is not necessarily the case. SBDCs have a long and successful history of helping small businesses gain access to capital, in 

fact, each week as State Director that is usually the phone call I take, 

someone looking for a grant, don’t have grants, but dollars. However, 

when you work with these businesses, you find out that what they really need is a long-term sustainable plan for their business, and that 

would consider stepping outside of their business for a short time and 

being able to have someone to take charge for them.

This involves training. Right now, the New Hampshire SBDC is 

offering the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac entrepreneurial training. Almost 14 years ago, I came to work for the SBDC right here out 

at Pease as a new person, I was hired with Department of Defense 

dollars that were for people transitioning out of the military, looking 

for new careers and entrepreneurship. Once again, we are looking at 

offering services to those of our military who are returning, and we 

can do this through many of our training programs.

Thank you all for allowing us to present our testimony, our written 

testimony, and I’m happy to take your questions.

[The statement of Ms. Collins appears on p. 93]

Mr. Boozman. Mr. Whitson.

STATEMENT OF JAMES A. WHITSON

 Mr. Whitson. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss 

the role of the Department of Veterans Affairs in providing transition 

assistance for members of the National Guard and Reserve. I am accompanied today by Ms. Maribeth Cully, Director of our Manchester 

Regional Office. My testimony will cover the transition assistance VA 

provides to all service members, and then focus on the comprehensive 

transition assistance provided to members of the National Guard and 

Reserves by the Manchester Regional Office.

Mr. Chairman, I respectfully request that my written testimony be 

submitted for the record and I’ll abbreviate my opening comments.

VA’s seamless transition program includes the delivery of TAP and 

DTAP briefings, as well as our Benefits Delivery and Discharge Program, outreach to the Reserve and National Guard members is a part 

of this overall outreach program.

While TAP briefings primarily emphasize employment preparation, extensive effort is devoted to a discussion of all VA benefits, 

access to VA healthcare, compensation for service-connected disabilities, the Montgomery GI Bill, VA home loans, life insurance, and our 

vocational rehabilitation and employment services, can all play a role 

in a service member’s successful transition to civilian life.
45

 In 2004, VA representatives conducted more than 7,200 TAP briefings attended by over 260,000 active duty personnel and their families residing in the United States. Under an MOA, between VA and 

DoD, VA representatives provide benefits briefings overseas as well, 

at bases in Europe and in Asia. During FY 2004, over 600 of these 

briefings were conducted in foreign countries, attended by more than 

15,000 active duty personnel.

In concert with the Military Services Outreach Program, VA continues our Benefits Delivery at Discharge program, through which 

service members can apply for service-connected compensation within 180 days prior to their discharge or retirement from service. The 

required physical examination is conducted, service medical records 

are reviewed, and a rating decision is made prior to separation. Upon 

receipt of the report of release from active service, benefits can be immediately authorized.

Currently, BDD is provided at 140 military installations, including 

two locations overseas at Landstuhl, Germany and Yongsan, Korea. 

In FY 2004, approximately 40,000 BDD claims were taken.

With the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi 

Freedom, VA expanded its efforts even further within our Seamless 

Transition Program. Outreach to Reserve and Guard members is a 

part of the overall VA outreach program. During peacetime, this outreach is generally accomplished on an on-call or as-requested basis. 

However, with the activation and deployment of large numbers of the 

Reserve and Guard members following 9/11, outreach to these members has been greatly expanded.

VA has made arrangements with Reserve and Guard officials to 

schedule briefings for members being mobilized and demobilized. In 

FY 2004, VA representatives conducted almost 1,400 pre and post 

deployment briefings attended by over 88,000 Guard and Reserve 

members.

VA has also published a brochure, a Summary of VA Benefits for 

National Guard and Reserve Personnel, which is widely distributed 

to Guard and Reserve units. A special page on VA’s main website is 

dedicated for use by Guard and Reserve members.

Now locally here in New Hampshire, since 9/11 more than 2,500 

New Hampshire service members have been activated, all but approximately 265 are now home. The Manchester Regional Office has 

established contacts with the National Guard and Reserve units 

throughout New Hampshire, to ensure transition assistance is provided to returning service members.

 When service members are due to return home, the Air National 

Guard and Reserve units contact the Manchester Regional Office’s 

OEF/OIF coordinator, and I might point out she is here in the audience today, Sherry Gianetsis is our OIF/OEF coordinator for the 

Manchester Regional Office, she has contacted to set up TAP brief-
46

ings here at Pease Air Force Base. In 2004 and 2005, the Manchester 

RO conducted 50 TAP briefings, with a combined attendance of over 

1,900 transitioning service members. Two hundred and five of these 

individuals requested and received formal interviews with our staff 

and assistance in processing their benefits applications.

The TAP briefings provide information on a full range of benefits, 

as well as benefits provided by the State of New Hampshire. While 

there, the OEF/OIF coordinator speaks to each individual service 

member and provides her business card to each participant.

Our VR&E counselors also extend their outreach to injured service 

members who are hospitalized or recuperating at home and cannot 

attend the TAP briefings. They inform them and their families about 

vocational and independent living services and help them complete 

an application for benefits. The counselors make eligibility determinations prior to release from active duty.

The Manchester RO’s OEF/OIF coordinator maintains regular contact with her counterpart at VA’s Manchester Medical Center. When 

OIF/OEF veterans go to the Manchester VA Medical Center for care, 

the coordinator refers them to our OIF/OEF coordinator for possible 

VBA benefits. Conversely, all veterans who come to our regional office are referred to the Manchester VA Medical Center.

 In addition to the Air National Guard and Reserve unit TAP briefings, the RO also provides transition assistance to returning Army 

National Guard service members. The Army National Guard requires 

that all service members attend reverse soldier readiness processing, 

RSRP. An agreement between the Manchester VA Medical Center 

and the National Guard established that the Medical Center will be 

the New Hampshire site for this RSRP program. Service members 

are required, during their RSRP, to have a VA employee verify that 

they received information on VA benefits before they can be released 

from active duty. Since January, 2005, almost 900 returning Army 

National Guard members have received information through this 

process.

Mr. Chairman, we at VA are proud of our continuing role in the 

transition of service members from military to civilian life and seek 

to continually improve on the quality and breadth of our outreach efforts to active duty Reserve and National Guard members.

Thank you for allowing us to appear today, and I would be pleased 

to respond to any questions.

[The statement of Mr. Whitson appears on p. 97] 

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you, thank all of the panel, we actually originally had another person that was going to testify, Sergeant Shea, 

and my understanding is that he’s on deployment in the Gulf Region, 

and his testimony will be submitted into the record, so we’ll be glad 

to do that.
47

[The statement of Mr. Sergeant Shea appears on p. 106]

 Mr. Boozman. Ms. Collins, you said really very well the problems 

that these people face, 94 percent small business, so many of these 

people are involved in those entities, and going for extended periods, 

a year from, I guess, when your boots hit the ground, but the pre and 

the post and all that, and many, many months. Again, it does seem 

to emphasize the importance on really dealing with things that you 

just don’t think about until you are deployed. 

And yet, you mentioned also that there’s a real problem. I mean, 

these people do have their own businesses, or employed in businesses 

where there’s not a lot of extras there and so it’s very difficult for 

them to get away.

Again, that does seem to indicate that it would be important if we 

could somehow, through your agency or, perhaps, a group of agencies, 

provide this sort of expertise to supply this type of support when they 

are drilling, that’s when you’ve got kind of a captive audience, on the 

weekend or during their drill time.

Is there any potential for doing that?

 Ms. Collins. Absolutely. Our biggest drawback to anything new 

that we take on is our lack of resources, frankly, with our SBDC 

program. SBDC counselors, as I said, are full time. They are either 

MBAs, CPAs, have owned their own business for a number of years, 

they live in the state, they are local, and throughout the nation there’s 

over 1,000 centers. This is something that absolutely SBDCs would 

be willing to work with the Committee or anyone on in developing a 

program. We are very interested.

We see many of these people in our centers anyhow. So, I think if 

we formalized it into a program, as you just said, in preparedness, 

ahead of time, so that you know how to sustain your business. I actually have a staff meeting going on in Concord right now, and we have 

some of our bankers in talking about the loan programs, and SBA

loan programs as well. And, one of the questions we’ll get from an entrepreneur or a statement will be, well, why do I need to really work 

on a business plan when they just do credit scoring anyhow.

So, you know, we always have to come back with just what we are 

talking about here today, how do you sustain long term that business, 

how can you step out of it and know that it will continue and somebody inside the business has the skills necessary to carry it forward, 

and I think that is the critical piece.

 Mr. Boozman. I agree, I think that’s excellent.

One of the things we are always interested in, in that this is the 

Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, is kind of what’s going on in 

the States. I don’t know what unemployment is in this particular 

part of the country, but maybe somebody can tell me a little bit about 

that, and then also, about the specific things that we are trying to 
48

do to, specifically, put veterans to work, and for those, getting them 

employed, and then those that are under employed, improving their 

life.

 Mr. Beebe. Mr. Chairman, it just so happens I have those figures 

for you. New Hampshire’s unemployment in July of “04 was at 3.8 

percent, July of “05 we are down 2/10s of a percent, 3.6. I understand 

the August figures just came out, but I didn’t get those for you this 

morning. The U.S., over the same time period, was about 5.5 in July 

of “04, and we are down to about 5 in July of “05. New England as 

a whole was at about 4.8 in July of “04, we are down to about 4.6 in 

July of “05.

So, in terms of New Hampshire especially, we are looking at a tight 

labor market, 3.8, 3.6 below national averages. We basically work 

through, and certainly through VETS, through our grant program 

for the disabled veteran outreach program, DVOPs, local veteran employment reps, LVERs, with the State Employment Security Agencies, in providing outreach and dedicated assistance to veterans of all 

eras, in terms of employment and training assistance.

One of the pieces, though, that we are encountering, and I think 

is part and parcel of what we’ve heard here this morning, is the disruption, especially for Guard and Reserves. You know, when you are 

active duty and you go away for three, four, five years, you are part 

of that unit and you are gone, but when you are going back and forth 

there is a disruption, whether you an entrepreneur or an employee. 

And, those have -- and I think that by and large we’ve seen employers 

step up and do some incredibly generous things. Employers support 

of the Guard and Reserve have been a key player in recognizing employers that have stepped forward and gone above and beyond what 

the USERRA law requires, for example, and that’s gone a long way.

But, into a second, and in some cases a third deployment since 9/11, 

this is becoming problematic, but we have -- we work through, also 

we work through the vocational rehabilitation and employment unit 

with the Department of Veteran Affairs, we work jointly with the Vet 

Centers, and just recently the Secretary has announced what we are 

calling real life lines, and that is an initiative that we’ve started within Labor to outreach to severely wounded returning Iraqi and Afghan 

vets. We have representatives at Bethesda and Walter Reed. We are 

tracking these individuals, and we are maintaining that contact.

There’s a fine line between intervention and intrusion, and when a 

severely wounded individual is recovering, balancing that, and making that contact at the right time, is absolutely critical.

So, we have taken those initiatives as well.

By and large, I think that the DVOP and LVERs have done, especially in New Hampshire, as a native son and so on, I’ve watched 

them work very, very hard, and the State Employment Service, the 

commitment by the Commissioner to do whatever, whenever, recently 
49

made publicly speaks to that kind of cooperation and commitment.

 Mr. Boozman. Have we had an increase in USERRA cases? Is that 

a problem?

 Mr. Beebe. I’m sorry?

 Mr. Boozman. Increase in USERRA cases?

 Mr. Beebe. What we’ve seen is, and I can speak region wide, what 

we’ve seen is a morphing, a changing of the issues that we’re dealing 

with. You know, prior to even Desert Storm and 9/11, it often times 

was, I can’t get time off to do my two weeks of annual training, or I 

can’t go in for a Mood of 5 on a Friday night. Those days are gone. 

Now what we are seeing is issues with, and again, in some cases 

stop loss issues, or retention issues, where an employer is expecting 

somebody back and then suddenly they are extended. We are seeing 

different changes to the issues that are coming forward.

But, essentially, they are still how does the employer, you know, 

either stop gap that position, and how do they then bring them back, 

and I think part of this too, and Colonel Carter and I were talking 

about this last week, is how do you address that reentry process, how 

do you, for the individual who is shedding the uniform for a while 

and stepping back into his civilian role, how do you address that, and 

how are they made ready, how can you better make them ready for 

returning?

And that, I think, is where, you know, individuals like Tim Beebe 

and the Vet Centers just play a key role.

I was going to nudge Tim, but he was in the room in back, and I 

think that this was deja vu for us. Back in the early “80s we were 

discussing many of these same issues, the Vietnam Era. But, the key, 

I think, is the pieces that have been put together, and your soldiers 

have told you, it’s one on one, soldier to soldier, it’s one on one, veteran to veteran, just like the DVOP and LVERs and our State Employment Service, there’s an instant credibility, there’s an interest 

in instant trust factor when they come in and speak to one who has 

walked in their boots, and you can’t get that anywhere else.

So, I think that the issues are changing. Some of the cases are becoming a little bit more complicated, from the standpoint of, again, 

the duration and the length, but we are seeing some increase overall, 

but again, I would look to the kind of complexity of the cases that 

we’re now getting relative to their number.

 Mr. Boozman. Congressman Michaud.

 Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

My first question goes to Ms. Collins. First of all, I appreciate all of 

the work the SBDC I know has done in the State of Maine, it’s a great 

organization, and does a fabulous job. My question is, even though it’s 

not directly dealing with SBDC, there is a Federal law that I believe 

that 3 percent of the procurement contracts are supposed to go to the 

Service Disabled Veterans small businesses. The Federal agencies 
50

have come no where near close to meeting that 3 percent goal.

Has your association taken a position on trying to encourage them 

to meet that goal, is my first question. My second question, when 

veterans come to you for assistance, do you look at how, not only to 

help them run their business, but actually grow their business by 

matching them up with some of the Federal procurement programs 

that are out there?

 Ms. Collins. Good question, and thank you. Yes, we do these various things. We run procurement conferences on a regular basis. It’s 

one of our goals this coming year, to provide access to all of our businesses for contract funding, anything that may be available through 

the Federal Government procurement system.

We also -- and that call comes to my office frequently from small 

businesses that may be veteran owned, I know that I am eligible for 

certain amounts of percentage that is set aside for us, how do I go 

about this? What I normally do, my process would be to put them in 

touch with the counselor in the region of the state where that business is located, they know all of the programs to then get in touch 

with, and make sure that each of these businesses has that opportunity.

So, yes, and I do know the State Director in Maine, he was actually 

just made Chairman of our National Board of Small Business Development Centers.

But, we do this on a regular basis. Many of the programs, as you 

know, after 9/11 there were a great number of small businesses that 

wanted access to some of that Homeland Security money and opportunities, and we ran, in conjunction with other groups in the state, 

the High-Tech Council and other groups of business and industry associations, we ran forums providing information to these businesses 

on all of these programs that we are talking about.

After 9/11, and I think one of the things that I think about now is, 

we had to work with businesses that had interruption of services for 

a variety of reasons, and we really came to hone in on our skills on 

what these businesses were facing at the time. It may be their market went away. It may be, as in this area of the country, many of our 

businesses were supplying the airline industry. They were affected. 

Some of the people that had food services, they were affected. Other 

companies that had to downsize because the market wasn’t there.

So, we learned to work with these individuals when there was an 

interruption of service, and I look forward to assisting in doing that 

again.

One of the other points that I’d like to make was brought up a few 

minutes ago to the gentleman to the right here, about relationships. 

Relationships to a small business are key, and a small business owner has relationships. When you step out of your business for a year, 

many of those people that you have relationships with and the pro-
51

grams have changed, so you need assistance in getting back in step 

with all of these issues that are going on.

So, I think that’s another way that we can help them.

 Mr. Michaud. Great, thank you.

 Ms. Collins. Thank you.

 Mr. Michaud. My next question is for Mr. Beebe?

 Mr. Beebe. Beebe, yes.

 Mr. Michaud. Yes.

You stated in your testimony that the Under Secretary of Health 

has approved an additional 50 staff positions for the Vet Center program and outreach, and the Northeast Region received eight positions. My question is, since there are eight states in your Northeast 

Region, are each one of these positions in each of the states? And, my 

second question, are all 50 of these staff positions, as well as all staff 

positions, currently filled?

 Mr. Beebe. Yes, sir, good questions.

The positions came to us in two groups of 50. Last year was our first 

group of 50, and our pressing need at that time, because the Northeast Region encompasses New York and New Jersey also, was to get 

Iraq vet returnees outreach workers to Dix and Drum right away, 

where hundreds and thousands of vets were returning.

So, some states were shorted an outreach clinician at that time, but 

the teams in Maine, in particular, the five teams there, assured me 

they had the outreach for the returning Guard and Reserves through 

Chaplain Gibson’s office covered, that if other outreach folks became 

available they would be more than happy to take that position, but 

they would be doing the outreach in the meantime. They had those 

bases covered for us. So, we could release the early staff to Dix and 

Drum where we had thousands of soldiers returning.

Now, at this point in time, each state will have such a position, and 

just last week the Lewiston position was filled. So, nationwide the 

program received 100 FTEE for 50 states.

 Mr. Michaud. Great.

My next question actually is for both of you, Mr. Beebe, and actually, Mr., is it Whitson?

 Mr. Whitson. Whitson.

 Mr. Michaud. Whitson.

We heard the previous panel talk about how very appreciative they 

are of these Vet Centers, and that the men and women are utilizing 

the Vet Centers and the counselors in them. And clearly, with the 

war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the whole War on Terrorism continued 

to move forward, have you had discussions with the Department of 

Defense, the National Guard Bureau, as far as what is happening 

out there in the field at these Vet Centers, are the needs being met in 

these areas? Do they need additional counselors? Have you had any 

discussions with DoD or the National Guard Bureau, is my first ques-
52

tion. And, if so, I’d like to know what those discussions have -- what 

the results of those discussions were.

 Mr. Whitson. With regard to outreach for Guard and Reserve, we 

do have a Memorandum of Understanding, as General Young pointed 

out, from the National Guard Bureau in Washington.

 We also have templates that have been provided for an MOA at the 

local level. So, our expectation is, at the state level the Guard and 

VHA components, VBA components, and other critical players will 

enter into an agreement on these local relationships.

I would offer to you that our execution of those MOUs or MOAs has 

been somewhat uneven and, clearly, here in New Hampshire we have 

a best practice that we can look to and try to export.

We have those MOAs in place and we do monitor reporting. We 

have standardized briefing packages, so we try to standardize our 

delivery of this service as much as possible, but I would offer to you 

that there is uneven execution at the local level.

 Mr. Beebe. If I may add to that response, the number referred to in 

the closing statement that I made of 18 percent of New Hampshire’s 

soldiers currently in treatment centers, it’s an interesting number 

and I’ll tell you why. It’s interesting because it’s preliminary, but it’s 

also interesting because about 20 years ago, 15 or 20 years ago, Congress commissioned the Research Triangle Institute, you might recall, to do the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study.

What that study was comprised of was the polling by Research Triangle Institute of thousands of Vietnam veterans who had been home 

ten to 15 years already from their war, and it was to ascertain, as 

best anybody could ascertain at the time, the PTSD or readjustment 

prevalence rate among Vietnam veterans. And, the study found two 

things. It found first of all, first and foremost, that lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD and readjustment issues among Vietnam veterans 

was somewhere between 30 to 50 percent overall, which was a large 

number, but distilled down over time, ten or 15 years of readjusting 

on one’s own, that number became 17 percent.

So, most folks had a difficult time adjusting from war, but somehow 

found a way, but those left afflicted, to the point of, perhaps, chronic 

disorder, without treatment or early intervention was in the 17 percent range, 15 to 21 percent actually, 15 percent for White people, 18 

percent for Black people, 21 percent for Hispanic people, and no one 

knows why there were cultural differences, but that’s the number. 

So, 30 to 50 percent lifetime prevalency boiled to around 18 percent.

Last year, Colonel Hoge wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine, in the July edition, that the DoD was estimating that there 

would be a prevalence rate of somewhere around 17 percent of PTSD 

with troops overseas, and readjustment rate issues of 30 to 50 percent. Interesting numbers.

We arrived at the numbers we have in New Hampshire just by 
53

that’s what they are, but it seems to be lining up here. 

So, the answer to your question, I think we are on the cusp presently with the New Hampshire model, perhaps, some projective tool 

here. We don’t know yet. This is very early. So, we are looking at it 

closely.

I can tell you at the moment, no Vet Center anywhere has a waiting list. Any veteran in need is seen immediately, just walk in the 

door and a counselor will see you, and we will maintain that as long 

as possible.

 Mr. Michaud. Okay.

We heard from the previous panel that when you look at retention 

and what the men and women in uniform are concerned about, at 

least their commanding office and caring for them. I guess the follow-up question is, as far as it being unevenly executed in different 

regions, do you think that’s a responsibility of the Adjutant General 

in each of the states, or should that be more of a responsibility for 

the National Guard Bureau to make sure that it’s implemented fairly 

and equally all across the country?

 Mr. Whitson. That’s a difficult question for me to answer. I certainly could say that, as was pointed out in the earlier panels, when 

local leadership is involved and committed to this type of program, 

that’s the difference. 

Generally, the other providers are -- we provide access, we are 

there, we are available, both from a VBA, and a VHA, Vet Center, 

DOL point of view. All the players are present in each locale, but I 

think here what we are seeing in New Hampshire is, the local Guard 

and Reserve leadership is fully engaged in working and providing 

that communication with the providers.

 Mr. Michaud. All right, thank you.

If I might, Mr. Chairman, one last question, moving on to Department of Labor. On page two of your testimony you had mentioned 

that 133,000 separating military personnel were trained. What type 

of training are you talking about there? Is it training for another 

job? 

And then, my second part of that question is, after the three days, 

as we heard what’s happening here in New Hampshire, is there any 

type of follow up that’s to occur if someone needs assistance, say, six 

months or a year down the road?

 Mr. Houle. The training referred to, Congressman Michaud, really 

is the training that they get within the formalized TAP program, and 

that is job search, resume prep, interviewing skills, and even though 

it is for the three days it’s a fairly intense process, and they learn 

about the resources, the other agencies that they can go to for help, 

and it’s gearing them so that they can, once they have actually separated they know where to go, who to see, what to expect, in terms of 

those services.
54

Things such as priority of service in the local employment agency. 

The continuum becomes, once they’ve separated, at that point we 

try to link them up with the Disabled Veteran Outreach Program 

Specialist, DVOP, the LVER, the Local Veteran Employment Rep, so 

that when they are separated they can go to them and get one-on-one 

dedicated service. Those folks are funded by you to serve exclusively 

veterans and provide priority of service.

So, in that sense, hopefully, the TAP gives them the basic tools 

about knowing where to go, where to get those resources, and then 

how to apply them, and then once they are actually out looking they 

know they have a base headquarters, if you will, for job counseling, 

and many of the DVOP and LVERs will also act as screeners. They 

will -- if an individual, for example, went through the whole process, 

and indicated I’m fine, one of the things that our generation learned 

was that coping mechanisms work as long as they work, and when 

they stop you can crash and burn pretty quickly.

So if, for example, an individual is out for a year or two years, and 

suddenly they come into the local DVOP and LVER, and they are filling out -- they are updating information, and they find that they had 

four jobs in the last year, their address has changed due to a divorce, 

et cetera, et cetera, there may be at that point some intervention 

taken by the DVOP and LVER to make sure that they are put back 

to maybe a Vet Center counselor, maybe voc rehab, because certainly 

if they have PTSD that’s a compensable disability, and if they are 

young, or old for that matter, and they are under voc rehab we can 

get them retrained through that process.

So, there is that continuum, but that first step is that TAP process, 

and that is a far cry from the separation briefings that some of us got 

at various times in our career.

So, I hope that that answers your question.

 Mr. Michaud. What does the Department of Labor do, for instance, 

in Maine where 16 percent of our population is veterans? We are 

near the highest percentage in the country, and I notice you had 

talked about some unemployment figures which don’t tell the true 

story because it’s usually always much higher than what’s actually 

there, because if you fall off the unemployment roles you are no longer counted, what does the Department of Labor do as far as helping 

veterans?

For instance, a couple years ago there was a certain region in the 

state of Maine where unemployment rates in that labor market area, 

I believe, was over 35 percent. There’s a paper mill that had shut 

down, and the big percentage was actually veterans, and that was 

before -- I’m not sure how many of those might have been in Iraq or 

Afghanistan, but in a situation where they are not veteran-owned 

business, but they are affected because their job is no longer there, 

what does the Department of Labor do as far as trying to help those 

veterans out?
55

 Mr. Houle. In a situation where you have a large central employer 

in a small town that suddenly ceases, and you put a significant portion of that population on the street, there are other programs within 

ETA, Employment Training Administration. You can have things like 

the Dislocated Worker Program. We also fund the Veterans Workforce Investment program, VWIP, and those kinds of initiatives.

We have rapid response teams, of which the DVOP and LVERs are 

prime players that are sent out from the local employment office, really, in order to -- and they set up shop often times right in the mill, if 

it is a mill, and will, you know, provide expedited service.

The real key at that point becomes if their livelihood and a generational job, perhaps, has ceased, then it becomes a question of retraining. So, we would look through our DVOP and LVERs at what kind of 

-- if they, for example, if they have a service-connected disability they 

may be eligible for vocational rehabilitation through the VA. And, if 

their primary skill or trade has gone away, and there’s nothing in 

the area, then they may, in fact, be ripe for a reassessment of that 

a rehab process again through the VA. We would look at that and, 

perhaps, provide a referral. 

 But, the intensive one-on-one services that the DVOP and LVERs 

would provide, they have access to the entire state, and actually they 

cross -- they often times will get job orders from the region.

So, if you are up in Presque Isle, and you need something that is 

going to be within that three-hour commuting distance, I know this 

because my State Director in Maine, John Gay, has one of the higher 

travel budgets in the region for that very reason, we will try to then 

cross borders on referrals and work with the DVOP and LVERs on 

just across a state border line.

So, we look at geographic, economic and the likelihood of employment scenarios in that area, and then try to do what we can to provide 

those kind of one-on-one intensive services. And, those are dedicated 

services, that’s a one-on-one relationship with the DVOP or LVER.

 Mr. Michaud. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Boozman. Congressman Bradley?

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I have no questions at this time, and I’d just like to thank the panel 

for their compelling testimony and for all the help that you provide, 

not only to folks here in New Hampshire, but around the region, and 

look forward to continuing to work with you.

Thank you.

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you all very much.

Today we’ve heard a lot of testimony about how states take a very 

proactive stance towards our men and women coming back from war, 

and transitioning back into civilian life, and we’ve heard a lot of good 

things, and then some areas that, perhaps, we could even do even 
56

better with our help.

So, I hope that General Young and our staff, the agencies represented here, will take those things back to Washington, and again, 

continue to make an improvement, that’s why we are here.

I really want to thank Congressman Bradley for his hospitality. As 

a guy from Arkansas, I would say that we’ve had tremendous southern hospitality, whatever your equivalent is for that up here. You’ve 

beared with me, we haven’t had to have an interpreter during this, 

so that’s been good.

 And then also, Congressman Michaud, for coming over again as 

Ranking Member on the Health Subcommittee, and both of these 

guys being some of the most active members on the VA Committee in 

general. We really do appreciate them, and all that they do.

So, do you guys have any other things?

 Mr. Michaud. No, I just want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing this committee hearing to happen in the Northeast. I really 

appreciate it, and that southern hospitality that you all give us up in 

Northeast, we really appreciate that.

So, thank you.

 Mr. Bradley. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.

 Mr. Boozman. Thank you.

Okay, then the hearing is adjourned, and I get to actually do my 

second command of the day, and we will retire the colors.

[Whereupon, at 1:00 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

 
(57)

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