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44–001 2009

TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

FIELD HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 28, 2008 

FIELD HEARING HELD IN RAPID CITY, SD 

Serial No. 110–99 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

( 

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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

BOB FILNER, California, Chairman 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

VIC SNYDER, Arkansas 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN, South 

Dakota 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

PHIL HARE, Illinois 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado 

CIRO D. RODRIGUEZ, Texas 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

ZACHARY T. SPACE, Ohio 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

DONALD J. CAZAYOUX JR., Louisiana 

STEVE BUYER, Indiana, Ranking 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

JEFF MILLER, Florida 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida 

MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio 

BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana 

MALCOM A. SHORTER, Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY 

STEPHANIE HERSETH SANDLIN, South Dakota, Chairwoman 

JOE DONNELLY, Indiana 

JERRY MCNERNEY, California 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas, Ranking 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

STEVE SCALISE, Louisiana 

Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records 

of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed 

hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to 

prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting 

between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process 

is further refined. 

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C O N T E N T S 

July 28, 2008 

Page 

Transition Assistance Program .............................................................................. 1 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin .............................................................. 1 

Prepared statement of Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin .................................. 56 

Hon. John Boozman, Ranking Republican Member ............................................. 3 

Prepared statement of Congressman Boozman ............................................. 57 

WITNESSES 

U.S. Department of Labor, John M. McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary, 

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service .................................................... 45 

Prepared statement of Mr. McWilliam ........................................................... 78 

U.S. Department of Defense, Don Keplin, State Chairman, South Dakota 

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve .................................................... 46 

Prepared statement of Mr. Keplin .................................................................. 80 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, William D. Fillman, Jr., Director, Central Area, Veterans Benefits Administration ..................................................... 48 

Prepared statement of Mr. Fillman ................................................................ 81 

American Legion, Department of South Dakota, Luverne L. Boes, District 

13 Commander ..................................................................................................... 35 

Prepared statement of Mr. Boes ...................................................................... 70 

American Legion Auxiliary, Doris Ann Werlinger, Past Department President 

of South Dakota .................................................................................................... 37 

Prepared statement of Ms. Werlinger ............................................................. 75 

Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD, Transition Assistance Program, Susan 

Machetta, Community Readiness Consultant, Transition Assistance Program Coordinator ................................................................................................. 18 

Prepared statement of Ms. Machetta .............................................................. 64 

Geffre, Kimberly S., Servicemember, Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD .................. 9 

Prepared statement of Ms. Geffre ................................................................... 60 

Krebs, Master Sergeant Roxanne, USAF, Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD .......... 8 

Prepared statement of Sergeant Krebs ........................................................... 59 

Koopman, Mark, Servicemember, Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD ........................ 9 

Prepared statement of Mr. Koopman .............................................................. 60 

Lassegard, Sergeant Ole D., USANG, Member, 235th Military Police Company, South Dakota Army National Guard ....................................................... 6 

Prepared statement of Sergeant Lassegard ................................................... 58 

Lassegard, Yvette S., Rapid City, SD .................................................................... 5 

Prepared statement of Ms. Lassegard ............................................................ 58 

South Dakota Department of Labor, Todd Kolden, Administrator ..................... 27 

Prepared statement of Mr. Kolden .................................................................. 68 

South Dakota National Guard, Major General Steven R. Doohen, Adjutant 

General, and Secretary, South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans 

Affairs .................................................................................................................... 17 

Prepared statement of General Doohen ......................................................... 61 

South Dakota State Approving Agency, Shane A. Olivier, Veterans Education 

Program Specialist ............................................................................................... 25 

Prepared statement of Mr. Olivier .................................................................. 65 

Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary, Department of South Dakota, 

Diane Hickenbotham, President ......................................................................... 39 

Prepared statement of Ms. Hickenbotham ..................................................... 76 

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iv 

SUBMISSION FOR THE RECORD 

U.S. Small Business Administration, William D. Elmore, Associate Administrator for Veterans Business Development, Office of Veterans Business 

Development, statement ...................................................................................... 84 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

Post-Hearing Questions and Responses for the Record: 

Hon. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Economic 

Opportunity, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, letter to John McWilliam, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, 

U.S. Department of Labor, letter dated August 1, 2008, and DoL response 

letter ...................................................................................................................... 86

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TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

MONDAY, JULY 28, 2008 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY, Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:00 a.m. MST, 

at Rapid City Central High School, 433 North Mount Rushmore 

Road, Rapid City, South Dakota, Hon. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin 

[Chairwoman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Herseth Sandlin and Boozman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRWOMAN HERSETH SANDLIN 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity hearing on the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) will 

come to order. 

It is an honor and privilege for me to be here with you today. 

I would like to thank our servicemembers, veterans and their families, in particular, and everyone in attendance this morning. I 

would also like to thank the distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. 

John Boozman of Arkansas, for joining us here in Rapid City. 

Like other States across the country, South Dakota has seen 

many of its servicemembers activated in support of operations in 

Iraq and Afghanistan. Over two-thirds of the South Dakota Air National Guard, 1,012 members, have actively supported the Global 

War on Terror (GWOT), since the September 11th attack on the 

United States, either at home or abroad, in 15 different countries. 

In addition, since the terrorist attacks on America, the South Dakota Army National Guard has mobilized more than 3,200 soldiers. 

Also, the airmen and women from Ellsworth Air Force Base have 

been supporting missions in the Middle East since September 11th 

in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), including the 200 servicemembers that have been deployed, as well as many others deployed in Southwest Asia. 

Many of our brave service men and women in South Dakota, and 

across the country, are returning in need of healthcare, employment, housing, educational, and other services. They deserve our 

best efforts in providing the resources to ensure a seamless transition from military service to civilian life. 

On June 19th, 2006, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, under the leadership of then-Chairman Boozman, held a 

field hearing nearby at Ellsworth Air Force Base to discuss the 

Transition Assistance Program and the Montgomery GI Bill. Durjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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ing that hearing, some of our panelists suggested expanding 

evening classes or on-line resources to accommodate servicemembers and their spouses’ work schedules. Others suggested making 

the program mandatory for separating servicemembers and expanding existing Montgomery GI Bill benefits. 

Today, we are gathered here to reexamine the Transition Assistance Program and the progress we’ve made from 2 years ago. We 

will also have the opportunity to learn how the program is assisting our veterans in the seamless transition into employment and 

community life. 

As the Subcommittee was taking testimony in Washington, DC, 

and elsewhere across the country, we learned: when and where 

transition assistance is most effective; how invaluable family support readiness is to servicemembers and their families; how National Guard leaders have worked to establish programs to assist 

families during deployment; how to ease the transition home following deployment for their members; and how more recent remobilization patterns often using small Reserve or Guard tactics 

pose many unique challenges. 

As many of you know, the Transition Assistance Program was established to meet the needs of separating servicemembers during 

their period of readjustment into civilian life. The program offers 

job-search assistance and related services, such as: workshops on 

resume writing; interview process; labor market overviews; personal appraisal; and VA benefits. The program seeks to provide 

veterans with the skills and services needed to transition into the 

workforce. 

During my time in office, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with 

many local government officials and veterans here, in South Dakota. In addition, this Subcommittee has received many recommendations from government, military officials, veteran service 

organizations, and concerned citizens from across the country. I’m 

glad to note that we have succeeded in making progress for our 

servicemembers and veterans during this Congress. 

For example, included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008, we were able to gain bipartisan 

support for language that would allow mobilized members of the 

Reserve Forces to use their Reserve Educational Assistance Program, also known as REAP, benefits for 10 years after they separate from the Guard or Reserves. 

Furthermore, we made progress in passing the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act, which was recently enacted into 

law. This act will enable most veterans to attend a public 4-year 

college or university, with benefits covering full tuition. It also provides a housing stipend, and helps pay the costs of books and other 

expenses associated with attending school. Many of their dependents may also be eligible to receive these benefits if the servicemember meets certain enlistment requirements. 

While this progress is long overdue, we must remain committed 

to reviewing all benefits and provide the oversight necessary to ensure effective administration of those benefits, which help meet the 

needs of our servicemembers and veterans. 

I’m glad to see some of our panelists here today who were with 

us 2 years ago. We hope to hear more, from all our panelists, with 

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regard to how the Transition Assistance Program can better serve 

our veterans. 

I look forward to working with Ranking Member Boozman, and 

other Members of our Subcommittee, to ensure that our servicemembers and veterans are provided proper benefits to help them 

succeed in life after the military. The men and women who serve 

our Nation honorably deserve and should receive the best our country has to offer. 

I now recognize Mr. Boozman for any opening statements he may 

have. 

[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin appears on p. 56.] 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BOOZMAN 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. 

A couple years ago I had the opportunity to meet with you, and 

I certainly remember the warm hospitality that was afforded us 

and is being afforded now. We really do appreciate that. We appreciate the staff, the district staff of the Chairs, who again have 

worked so hard to put all of these things on, as has staff in Washington. 

During that time I was the Chairman, and I’d like to announce 

that your Congresswoman did such a good job as my Ranking 

Member here in the 109th Congress that I thought she should get 

a chance to be Chairwoman for the 110th, and I need to start negotiating with her to get my old job back. She does a tremendous job. 

The Veterans’ Affairs Committee is a committee that people choose 

to serve on. It’s very bipartisan. We work hard, and she and her 

staff have done a tremendous job. 

We’re here to hear from South Dakotans about their experiences 

with the Transition Assistance Program. TAP is designed to provide servicemembers with the basic skills and knowledge to reenter 

the civilian work. As such, TAP appears to have mixed results. It’s 

successful because of the information being put out touches a wide 

variety of topics of importance to those in the military service. Unfortunately, a significant portion of servicemembers either choose 

not to attend or are not allowed to attend TAP scheduled training. 

According to the July 17, 2008, audit by the VA Inspector General (IG), entitled ‘‘Veterans Benefits Administration Transition 

Systems for Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom,’’ servicemembers and veterans in 2006 and 2007, only 43 percent and 47 percent of OEF/OIF servicemembers participated in that, falling short 

of the VA’s goal of 53 percent. Clearly the VBA needs to do a much 

better job in reaching out to your veterans. 

I’m also concerned with the same Inspector General report that 

shows that the highly touted Benefits Delivery at Discharge, or 

BDD, program is not meeting its goal to process benefit claims for 

severely wounded OEF/OIF veterans within 30 days. Imagine, of 

the nearly 5,000 claims received by regional offices, only 24 percent 

were processed within 30 days. The other 76 percent averaged 114 

days, with some taking as long as 504 days. 

Madam Chair, while oversight of the basic claims processing system falls outside of our Subcommittee, its performance certainly 

delays a disabled veteran’s ability to access programs within our 

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jurisdiction, such as vocational rehabilitation benefits and specially 

adaptive housing benefits. These two programs alone are essential 

to a smooth transition to civilian life. 

With most locations providing TAP over a two and one-half-day 

period, members are literally deluged with information, and if they 

don’t pay attention, they will likely miss something important. 

Members of the National Guard and Reserves pose a special 

challenge because of the dispersed nature of their duty stations. In 

my mind, we need to do a better job preparing members of the 

Guard, especially those who own businesses, prior to deployment. 

We need to ensure that they have full access to all benefits and 

programs for which they are eligible. 

Finally, many of those leaving military service will enter school 

or training programs under the GI Bill. I’m sure that most servicemembers are aware that the Congress passed, and the President 

signed into law, a new, much more generous GI education and 

training benefit. 

I want to recognize your efforts, Madam Chair, to improve education benefits by introducing H.R. 5684 that greatly improved the 

education benefit. And again, I appreciate you and your staff really 

leading the way as we did get a new GI Bill that was signed into 

law. 

You’ve brought together, Madam Chair, an excellent group of 

witnesses, and I look forward to the testimony. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Congressman Boozman appears on 

p. 57.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Boozman. It’s nice to 

have you back here in South Dakota. 

We will be in Arkansas later in the summer, having a field hearing for the Subcommittee. As Mr. Boozman mentioned in his opening statement, it’s a bipartisan committee and one in which we are 

squarely focused on the needs of our servicemembers in a bipartisan way. It allows the districts of our colleagues to hear from 

servicemembers, local and State officials who have been working 

hard, in partnership with Federal agencies to ensure that our servicemembers and veterans have the full scope of benefits and programs to which they’re entitled. 

I want to welcome all of our panels testifying before the Subcommittee today. Before I invite our first panel up, I would like to 

take a moment to express my disappointment in the absence of the 

U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) today. While I appreciate the 

participation of Mr. Don Kelpin, South Dakota Chairman, the continued absence of the DoD officials is disheartening. 

Ranking Member Boozman might recall the absence of a DoD official in our legislative hearing in Washington, DC. The participation of DoD officials would add tremendous value to these hearings, 

as we look to provide our servicemembers and veterans the resources they need and deserve. 

We strongly encourage the Department of Defense to take a more 

active role in participating in all hearings, especially these field 

hearings, where servicemembers, veterans and their families provide feedback regarding problems with military deployment. We’re 

concerned that one of the largest Federal agencies in our country 

couldn’t find a person from the Pentagon to attend this theater. 

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I would like to remind all our panelists that your statements will 

remain part of the record. Therefore, please limit your remarks to 

5 minutes so that we may have sufficient time to follow up with 

questions once everyone has had the opportunity to provide their 

testimony. We’ve set aside ample time for testimony and questions, 

but remember that full written statement is already a part of the 

written record. 

I’d like to invite the first panel up. Joining us on this first panel 

is Mrs. Yvette Lassegard, military spouse; Mr. Ole Lassegard, a 

member of the South Dakota National Guard; Ms. Roxanne Krebs, 

a servicemember from Ellsworth Air Force Base; Mr. Mark 

Koopman, a servicemember also from Ellsworth Air Force Base; 

and Ms. Kimberly Geffre, a servicemember from Ellsworth Air 

Force Base as well. 

Thank you all for joining us. Please have a seat. We look forward 

to hearing your testimony. 

Ms. Lassegard, I will begin with you. 

STATEMENTS OF YVETTE S. LASSEGARD, RAPID CITY, SD (VETERAN’S SPOUSE); SERGEANT OLE D. LASSEGARD, USANG, 

MEMBER, 235TH MILITARY POLICE COMPANY, SOUTH DAKOTA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD; MASTER SERGEANT ROXANNE KREBS, USAF, ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, SD; 

MARK KOOPMAN, SERVICEMEMBER, ELLSWORTH AIR 

FORCE BASE, SD (RECENT TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ATTENDEE); AND KIMBERLY S. GEFFRE, SERVICEMEMBER, ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, SD (RECENT TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ATTENDEE) 

STATEMENT OF YVETTE S. LASSEGARD 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. My testimony today reflects my personal 

views and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Army, the 

Department of Defense or the administration. 

Thank you, Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and other Subcommittee Members, for the opportunity to speak with you about 

my experiences of transition. 

My name is Yvette Lassegard. My husband Ole is a sergeant for 

the 235th Military Police Company in the South Dakota National 

Guard. We have one son Aric, who is 6 years old. 

Ole is a war veteran, having served twice in Operation Iraqi 

Freedom. His first deployment was a stateside mission at Fort Carson, Colorado, from February 2003 to January 2004. And most recently he served in Afghanistan from October 2006 to January 

2008. I served as the lead volunteer for the Family Readiness 

Group for our unit during both deployments. This job was not always very easy, but it will be an experience I will carry with me 

for a lifetime. 

During the first deployment, our soldiers were stateside, which, 

even though they were on home ground and it was not as stressful 

in the sense of the constant danger, it was no easier than their deployment overseas. They still were not home. 

The transition back into our family and civilian lives went pretty 

smoothly on a personal level; however, even though the soldiers 

were considered veterans, I don’t think they were always treated 

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as veterans by society. Oh, you were only stateside. That’s not so 

bad. It was no different in most ways. They were still away from 

their families, civilian jobs, homes, and they were treated as deployed soldiers by the military. These soldiers did have many of the 

same sacrifices, even though most people did not understand that. 

When our unit was activated to go to Afghanistan 2 years later, 

it was very different. The stress level was higher. They were in a 

war zone again, away from their families, jobs, home, but there 

was more support from the public. People were more accepting of 

this real deployment. 

When they came home this time, they were treated like veterans, 

even though most of them were already veterans before they were 

in foreign soil. The transition this time has been a little different. 

We both have become stronger, a little bit more independent in our 

time apart. Different things are more important to us, the most important being each other and our son. This time I worry about 

things like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and what other 

things they may experience, but I do know I feel more prepared to 

help with what he may need. 

I think our State does a wonderful job of helping the families of 

the soldiers both during deployment and transition back into civilian life. They work with me and the rest of the Family Readiness 

Group to help keep the families across our State informed about 

what’s going on with their soldiers during deployment as well as 

help them prepare for the returning soldiers. 

The program that—the programs that are offered are outstanding, Military OneSource, troop and family counseling, the 

TRICARE benefits, and the benefits that the VA offers. I think that 

continuing education for both the families as well as the soldiers 

about these programs is very important, especially after deployment. I also think that trying to continue educating the public is 

important. When a National Guard unit is deployed, it affects everyone in the community. Not only do loved ones leave, but employees, employers, community volunteers or friends. These deployments bring back changed soldiers, whether it is a stateside mission or an overseas mission. If more people are aware of the effects 

deployment has as a whole, I think transition will be easier for everyone, especially the soldiers. 

Thank you for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Lassegard appears on 

p. 58.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mrs. Lassegard. 

Sergeant Lassegard, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF SERGEANT OLE D. LASSEGARD 

Sergeant OLE LASSEGARD. My testimony is from personal views. 

It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Army, the Department of Defense or the administration. 

Thank you, Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and other Subcommittee Members, for the opportunity to speak with you today. 

My name is Ole Lassegard. I’m a sergeant in the 235th Military 

Police in the South Dakota National Guard. My wife Yvette and I 

have one son Aric. He is six. 

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I joined the Army National Guard in September of 1993 in order 

to pay for college. I’ll have completed 15 years of service this coming September, and I will have 191⁄2 years of service when my current enlistment is finished. I do plan to serve a minimum of 20 or 

more years. 

During my 14 years of service, I’ve been on State duty for one 

fire in the Black Hills, the Jasper fire. I have helped with snow and 

power pole removal in Watertown, South Dakota, after a major 

blizzard, and did security detail at Camp Rapid after 9/11. 

I’ve also served active duty. My first deployment was a stateside 

mission in Fort Carson, Colorado, from February of 2003 to January of 2004. During this deployment we conducted law-and-order 

missions while active-duty military police from Fort Carson went 

overseas. 

My second deployment was an overseas mission in Afghanistan 

from October of 2006 to February of 2008. During this deployment, 

my unit conducted several missions that consisted of detainee ops, 

which is enemy prisoners of war; convoy security; law and order on 

some—excuse me, law and order in some of the smaller forward observation bases (FOBs); customs missions on some of the smaller 

outlying FOBs; and also village assessments. Being away from our 

family was not easy either time. During my time at Fort Carson, 

it was very frustrating to be so close to home but yet not at home. 

My integration back into my family life and my civilian job was 

fairly smooth. While being deployed in Afghanistan, things were a 

lot different. I was halfway around the world from my family and 

home. Being in a war zone was stressful. This time when I came 

home, integration into my family life has been a little different. 

Yvette and I both became stronger. My son Aric has finished preschool, and he is almost done with kindergarten and has grown up 

so much while I was away. The most important part of our life now 

is our time together as a family. My transition back to my civilian 

job has gone good. 

Our demobilization was at Fort Carson, Colorado. The out-processing, including briefings and debriefings, were long and drawn 

out. A lot of us felt that some of it could be completed at our home 

station here in Camp Rapid so that we could have more time with 

our families, being gone for more than a year. 

Once I was home, I was able to get into the VA at Fort Meade 

for a dental appointment within a week; however, my post-deployment medical checkup before going back to work was not easy. I 

was told at first I should get an appointment within 30 days. This 

did not happen. I was told several times that they were full and 

that I would have to wait. When checking back in with them, I was 

getting several different stories, depending on whom I would talk 

to. Things were finally straightened out, and I was able to get the 

appointments I needed. It was very frustrating for me to have to 

deal with this. But in all, the VA has been a nice benefit in which 

I will continue to use as needed. 

Thank you for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Sergeant Lassegard appears on 

p. 58.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Sergeant Lassegard, for your 

testimony and sharing your experiences. 

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Ms. Krebs, you’re recognized. Thank you for being here. 

STATEMENT OF MASTER SERGEANT ROXANNE KREBS 

Sergeant KREBS. Madam Chairwoman and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity of presenting my experience. I’ve been in the Air Force for 21 years and 

will retire at the end of this year. Since the Air Force has been my 

only career since the age of 18, I’ve never had the opportunity to 

gain the experience my civilian counterparts have with conducting 

a job search, preparing a resume or going on a job interview. Although my military career has allowed me to grow and develop into 

a leader who will be successful in any job I hold, the TAP workshop 

provided me with the fine-tuning I needed to effectively market 

myself to an eventual employer. 

Over the past few years, I had numerous friends who went to 

TAP workshops here at Ellsworth Air Force Base and overseas, 

and every one couldn’t say enough about the program. Although 

I’ve heard wonderful things about TAP over the last few years, I 

kept putting it off because something else would come up. Finally, 

in May of this year, I needed to, so I finally signed up for the 3- 

day June workshop at the base Airmen and Family Readiness Center. 

This was the best decision of my career. Now I can’t stop talking 

about the workshop to everyone I know who is separated or even 

thinking about retiring. During the TAP workshop, we not only 

learned how to write a resume, conduct ourselves during a job 

interview and what veterans programs and vet benefits are available, but we were also provided an opportunity to speak with real 

civilian employers. 

The employers provided us opportunities to discuss with them 

what they were looking for in potential employees, how they view 

resumes, and their tips on conducting an interview. Once they finished briefing the whole group, they provided one-on-one opportunities to meet with the employers for further individualized feedback. 

One final aspect was the volume of reference materials we were 

provided, from Web sites to magazines to books, all covering different aspects of the job search. One of the most priceless reference 

sites showed me how to convert military terminology into the 

equivalent civilian terminology, which allows my resume to be competitive. 

Some people would argue why offer a career workshop, which 

costs time and money that the Department of Defense doesn’t have 

when an individual could just go to a local college and pay for a 

similar class? I would argue that a local college can’t design a class 

to meet the needs of our military culture. Only a program created 

for and run by both veterans and the military can meet the unique 

needs of transitioning military personnel. 

I truly believe this is one of the most comprehensive and informative workshops I have ever taken throughout my life. I believe it 

will continue to help make a big difference in the lives of all military personnel. 

Thank you again for allowing me an opportunity to present my 

experience with the Transition Assistance Program. 

[The prepared statement of Sergeant Krebs appears on p. 59.] 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Koopman, you are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF MARK KOOPMAN 

Mr. KOOPMAN. Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member 

Boozman, Members of the Subcommittee, on behalf of the Transition Assistance Program, I would like to thank you for allowing me 

to present my information and give you three reasons why I support it. 

After being out of the civilian workforce for 20-plus years, day 

one of TAP gave me a wealth of knowledge on getting back in the 

game. I no longer felt like an outsider looking in. Granted, I experienced information overload, but now felt that I had been given the 

competitive edge that I needed for my job search, with access to 

tools such as Web sites, job search, personal appraisal information 

and financial guidance. 

Day two of TAP was even more valuable. It consisted of teaching 

me how to fill out a job application, master application; understanding the five different types of resumes, chronological, functional, combination, Federal and targeted; the importance to know 

how to complete cover letters; and finally, writing my own resume. 

Day three was equally important as it consisted of the interview 

process. They taught us basic elements such as preparation, knowing the company, and know the job description—as basic as it 

sounds, we needed to be reminded of this; getting my 30-second 

commercial done, having to sell myself; finding out that there are 

so many different types of interviews, phone, board, one-on-one, email, and that I always had to be ready to interview. 

We discussed tough questions and how to handle them in interviews. I understood that I must be able to show the interviewer 

how I can contribute to this company by increasing their profits 

and satisfying their needs. Without the last half of the day to learn 

about personal veteran benefits, I know that I now have—that I 

would not have been able to protect my family and best use the 

benefits that are available to me. 

In summary, I’ve explained why the three-day TAP classes benefited me and why I believe it is invaluable for all veterans. Please 

continue to support it as I do. 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for taking the time to hear 

about my experience with the Transition Assistance Program. This 

concludes my testimony. I will be happy to answer any questions 

you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Koopman appears on p. 60.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you for your testimony, Mr. 

Koopman. 

Ms. Geffre, thank you for being here. You are recognized. 

STATEMENT OF KIMBERLY S. GEFFRE 

Ms. GEFFRE. Thank you. And, Members of the Subcommittee, 

thank you for the opportunity to present information concerning 

my experience with the Ellsworth Transition Assistance Program 

and the reasons I support it. 

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10 

I’m honored to have served my country for over 19 years. In May 

of 2007, I deployed to Iraq; shortly after my departure, my husband 

relocated also for a 1-year assignment in Central America. I’ve had 

the opportunity to benefit from many of the services provided at 

the Ellsworth Air Force Base, including pre-deployment and postdeployment services, and most recently the Transition Assistance 

Program. 

I’ve been out of the civilian workforce for almost 20 years. I was 

intimidated by the transition back into civilian life. This course 

provided me with the insight into areas I should consider prior to 

separating. I was given information to assist me in job search, to 

access the tools such as Web sites, personal appraisal information, 

financial guidance, et cetera. I only wish I had—would have attended earlier and had more time to get prepared. 

The training I received was very informative and presented in a 

logical format. Lessons included how to fill out job applications, understand different types of resumes, the importance of cover letters, 

and the instructors even provided assistance to me in drafting my 

own resume. 

I learned the keys to job search, such as preparation, knowing 

the job description and the different types of interviews. But lastly, 

I learned about the veterans benefits and specifically programs 

that I didn’t know were available to me. Every military member 

should attend this class. 

There is one area of concern that I have in applying for civil 

service following military service. Although benefits and preferences are available for veterans after separation, the hiring system for the civil service may not allow you to take advantage of the 

veterans preference until you receive the final DD–214 Form. In 

the past, a copy of this document was provided to the servicemember during their last appointment. A copy of this document at the 

outprocessing is now mailed to the servicemember and can take 

more than a month from the date of separation. Many members 

who are retired have spent up to 60 days on terminal leave attempting to secure employment, in some cases remaining unemployed for as long as 3 months before they can take advantage of 

the VA preferences because they have not received the DD–214 

Form. 

Compounding this problem is the complicated hiring system. In 

my current position, I have worked with this hiring process to hire 

a civilian employee. It took months. On USAJOBS.com, positions 

are listed that are not truly open. Two other civilian positions were 

listed within my own office that we were not hiring for, and there 

were positions open for months that remained unfilled because 

someone in the reviewing process determined the applicant was unqualified. This process was very difficult for the unit waiting for 

the position to be filled and frustrating for the applicants who 

needed employment and had applied, but had not received feedback 

on why they were found not to be qualified. This hiring system 

needs significant work. 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman and 

Members of the Subcommittee, I support your efforts to review and 

improve the Transition Assistance Programs offered throughout 

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our Nation, and hope that the information provided here today is 

helpful to you. 

This concludes my testimony. I’ll be glad to answer any questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Geffre appears on p. 60.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Ms. Geffre. 

Thank you, to all of you, for your testimony. 

If I could just start with a couple of questions. Let’s start with 

you, Ms. Lassegard. While your husband was deployed, either 

stateside or to Afghanistan, did the Department of Defense or the 

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ever contact you in any 

way? 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. No. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Do you think it would have been helpful 

to have heard from one or both of those agencies with regard to 

benefits, or just soliciting from you information, or the needs of certain services to make things easier? 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. I’m not sure. But like I said, our Families Assistance Center, they do what they can to train—you know, 

to train the family and soldiers coming home to provide as much 

information as they can, so that’s what information we did get. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Looking back, at both of those deployments, what information that you didn’t have at the time that you 

now have, would have been critical for you to know? Can you think 

of anything off the top of your head? 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. No, I can’t. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Is that something you could submit in 

writing? I know it’s hard to think back to both of those deployments, and the information you may not have had at the time. 

It goes a little bit to the question that I asked the three servicemembers from the Air Force Base. Each one of you said, in your 

testimony, that during that last day, your last half day, you 

learned of veterans benefits that you didn’t realize you were entitled to in the past, or didn’t have the full scope of information. The 

same would be true of our members of the Guard and Reserve, particularly those who—when they separate from service after deployment. 

But in light of the testimony from the three of you, would you 

recommend that the Transition Assistance Program be made mandatory? Or do you think that there are trade-offs in making it mandatory, where perhaps people wouldn’t get as much out of it if it 

were mandatory versus the word of mouth? Ms. Krebs, you described those who raved about how beneficial the program was. 

Could each of you respond about whether or not you think it 

would be good to make it mandatory? 

Sergeant KREBS. I think it would be good to make it mandatory. 

I think the problem comes in is that it is a three-day class, and 

then there’s another half-day class with the disabled veteran part. 

And it’s deployment rates. It’s really hard, I think, and I don’t 

know where you would target it. 

Because there’s a lot of—so much information given, it’s really 

recommended that you take it almost a year, a year and a half before you separate, and then 4 or 6 months before you separate. 

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I think it’s good. I just—ultimately, I think it should be mandatory. I just don’t know how you work it into—— 

Mr. KOOPMAN. I also vote for making it mandatory. I think we 

could implement it even as not a 31⁄2-day class, but lengthen it to 

5-or-more-day class with all the information that we’re bombarded 

with. Five is probably realistic, but we could make it like the Noncommissioned Officer Academy. Of course, it’s not a 6-week program, but a 1- or 2-week program where maybe at the 6- or 9- 

month point, it’s just part of the transitioning out program. 

It’s—I’m very much in favor of it. 

Ms. GEFFRE. I also feel it should be mandatory. In fact, I think 

it should be longer, and they also have up to 90 days of terminal 

leave. And so it’s very difficult for them to decide in a few months 

how they’re going to proceed from this point. 

Especially with the GI Bill changes, we don’t know how those 

benefits are going to play out. So it is helpful, and I think we 

should work it in somewhere within the Academy or within our 

service time. It is difficult to find the time, but time should be 

made for those. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Yes, Sergeant Krebs. 

Sergeant KREBS. Just one more thing. There was one other thing 

I’d like to see maybe added. When you leave the military, especially 

for retirees, there’s a lot of things that are specific to the military, 

such as the TRICARE, survivor benefit plan and a lot of those, just 

the retirement pay. A lot of those would be nice to see added, or 

just a specific class held. Or make it mandatory for military people, 

instead of having to go to 20 different offices, go to one location. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Be more efficient perhaps. 

Ms. Krebs, you had said something about the helpful information 

of converting military terminology to civilian terminology. I’ve 

heard this from other witnesses, either in DC or in my district. 

Are you familiar with anyone who didn’t take advantage of the 

TAP program that really struggled as it related to that terminology 

conversion? Now that this is on a Web site, is that more easily accessible for servicemembers as an assistance tool in preparing for 

finding employment in the civilian sector? 

Sergeant KREBS. I don’t know specifically of anybody who hasn’t 

taken the program. Like I said, Ellsworth has a great one. I did 

a year over in Korea, and they had a great one there. Pretty much 

word gets around, and you get into the program. Pretty much you 

figure it out, and the light goes on. 

Military—I talk about the military culture, and we do have terminology that if you don’t know, it just doesn’t translate easily. So 

the Web site is a great thing. But I don’t know of anybody specifically, unless you guys do, that maybe struggles. 

Mr. KOOPMAN. We had one member in our class last week who 

took out all the military acronyms and then had a civilian friend 

proof it. And that civilian friend found two acronyms that he had 

swore he had everything out of there, so it’s another world. 

Ms. GEFFRE. My husband, coming back from Central America, 

the TAPS program is not available at the base where he was at. 

And without this course, I know he would struggle, I would struggle trying to retire without having the knowledge gained in TAPS. 

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It’s invaluable, at least to have the ideas out there and available. 

I believe it should be available, because most of these people who 

are struggling when they separate don’t realize how difficult it is 

to find a job in the civilian sector. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. That is very helpful. 

I have one more question for Mr. Lassegard. But one comment, 

too. Mr. Koopman, you said TAP should be longer because you’re 

bombarded with all this information. I think that’s how all the 

members of the National Guard feel when they’re in their demobilization site, right? 

We’re going to have General Doohen testify about some steps 

that will be taken to try to follow up on some of this information 

at times where it’s versus TAP, which you’re sort of looking at retiring, perhaps, or looking at leaving, now we’re looking at a compressed timeframe after a deployment. 

I think, Ms. Geffre, you had mentioned pre-deployment and postdeployment in TAP. If you could comment. You had already specifically mentioned it would be nice if you could have more demobilization time at Camp Rapid than at Fort Carson. 

Do you think if you had more demobilization time at Camp 

Rapid, that it would make it easier for processing some information 

that they’re giving you about benefits and programs, and you had 

family there to help participate, versus being at Fort Carson and 

solely focused on getting home? 

Sergeant OLE LASSEGARD. I personally believe that the big problem was, okay, once we were stateside, even if you were stateside, 

we were just about home. It was real hard to sit and concentrate 

on some of the briefings that they were giving us. 

I feel that if we were at home being able to see our families, that 

it would have been easier to concentrate and maybe to integrate 

some of the briefings they were giving us with the family, because 

there’s a lot of that at that point in time I can honestly tell you 

I wasn’t concentrating on. And with the spouse there or other family member, they might have caught something that we wouldn’t 

and said, hey, this is what they said. This is what you need to do. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you. 

Mr. Boozman. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I think that’s one of the biggest problems of advice. Guys, members that are coming home, there are certain things that just have 

to be done to make sure that the proper information is gathered 

and given to you. And it’s really difficult. 

I’ve had the opportunity to go to the coming home ceremonies, 

and things were literally—people are there that maybe haven’t 

seen a child that was born while they were overseas or someplace 

else. So it’s very, very difficult. And that’s something that I think 

we’re doing a better job of it now than ever, but it’s just hard. 

So again, that’s something that we’re going to work on, and we 

appreciate your testimony. 

First of all, I appreciate all of your armed service. My dad did 

20 years in the Air Force and retired as a master sergeant. He was 

as good as he could be, and yet I learned very quickly that if he 

ever told me to do something, I needed to get it done. But nobody— 

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he didn’t attend the TAP program. That was never taken out in his 

demobilization, whatever. 

What good did you all—you went through the TAP program. 

What do you all do now? Where are you employed? 

Sergeant KREBS. Actually, I’m still in the military. I am not due 

to get out for another 2 months. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. What do you want to do? 

Sergeant KREBS. Actually, I really like what you did with the GI 

Bill. I’m actually going back to college full time to get my teaching 

certification. So I’m really looking forward to what you did. 

Mr. KOOPMAN. I’m seeking a management position in accounting 

and finance. So if there’s anyone out there hiring. 

Ms. GEFFRE. I have a year left. Right now I’m a paralegal, and 

I’m going back to being a mom for a while. My kids are still at 

school age, and I want to enjoy that while they still want me 

around, and hopefully get into a job that is more flexible as a parent. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. I think your argument about why the DoD versus 

community college or some other, whatever, was very valid. These 

things, they’re so much easier, you know, when you’re listening. I 

know a lot of the stuff that you were hearing that you probably 

hadn’t heard since you were recruited, you just don’t hear that 

stuff anymore. And really, it’s—some people don’t really realize 

these are the benefits that you have and you’re going to lose. 

I’m also in agreement with Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, and I 

think it needs to be mandatory. I think it needs to be in some way 

encouraged to take your extra career, because in a lot of ways, you 

know, you’re transitioning to wanting to teach and the other professions, the accounting stuff or whatever. But it would be good if 

you were taking it 5 years before you got out so that you can start 

what you’re doing, ancillary education, and pushing in that direction. 

But it’s hard. We’re in situations that are difficult. We are doing 

a better job than we were doing before. But one of the concerns in 

the IG report that I talked about was again the fact that in some 

cases, and this probably is an example, and Reserve with the regular military as far as the number of people taking it, but this is 

something that I think we really need to continue to get those 

numbers up as best we can. 

So thank you very much for your testimony. It’s very helpful, and 

I’m glad that you had a good experience, it sounds like, going 

through the program. I think the important thing is that hopefully 

after you got done with it, that you had the ability to have sites 

to go to in the future and people to contact, you know, so that as 

you ran into a snag, you know, you’ll be able to continue to get the 

information. So thanks again very much. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I want one or two quick follow-up questions for the Lassegards. Yvette, you said you were lead volunteer 

for the Family Readiness Group, and you also said to stress the importance of continued education about the programs and benefits, 

especially after deployment. 

Does the Family Readiness Group stay pretty cohesive after deployment? Are you aware of anyone who sought assistance from 

any of the agencies for that type of continued education and inforjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

15 

mation you utilized in the Family Readiness Group as a vehicle to 

deliver information? 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. I’m not aware of any, no, at this point. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Is that something that you think would 

be helpful, or would it be too difficult to keep it active, the Family 

Readiness Group versus those who don’t separate from service at 

the 40-day, 45-day, during some of the training for National Guard 

members? 

Ms. YVETTE LASSEGARD. You know, we always have the information for them, or we can always direct them to where they need to 

go to get the information. So I don’t know how it—I guess it will 

work. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Then on the healthcare issue, Sergeant 

Lassegard, you had mentioned there was sort of some frustration 

that you understand you felt, as it related to some initial medical 

appointments. 

Sergeant OLE LASSEGARD. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Do you have any idea? It sounds like you 

were talking to a number of different people telling you a number 

of different things about why there was a delay. Were you ever 

given a justification or rationale that made sense to you as to why 

it was delayed? It sounds like you’ve worked through that now, but 

we need some information, we’re charged as a full Committee, not 

just as a Subcommittee. But as a full Committee, we work closely 

with the VA to make sure we address issues that they need and 

resources to make sure that we don’t have long waiting times, and 

especially when we focus on the OEF veterans receiving their care 

from the VA for a period of time. 

Sergeant OLE LASSEGARD. When I first got in contact with the 

VA, it was in regards to the DD–214. I forget the name of the— 

the lady I talked to, but it would have been in the—anyways, basically what it boils down to is that she told me that within 30 days 

I should be getting an appointment for the post-deployment checkup. 

And I called again to set up an appointment, and the individual 

that I talked to that made the appointments, scheduled the appointments, had told me the doctor that I see or I need to see is 

full, and he doesn’t have any appointments open. And basically at 

that point in time it was 2, 21⁄2 months. 

And I told her, I’m an OEF veteran, and I was instructed that 

I should be able to get in and see you within 30 days, and she 

wouldn’t work with me. After going back and talking to a couple 

other people, I was eventually helped to get it straightened out, 

and they got me in within—basically within the 30 days, and I was 

able to be seen. 

But it just seemed that someone wasn’t getting the proper information within the VA at Fort Meade, and it—it kind of grated on 

my nerves, I guess you would say. It was real disappointing in that 

regard. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate you sharing that with us, because one of the things that we’ve focused on over the last couple 

years is the seamless transition, whether that’s a seamless transition from being in the military as a career, retiring and 

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16 

transitioning out. Or it’s a seamless transition of being deployed 

and post-deployment and the readjustment period with families. 

We appreciate you sharing that experience, and we appreciate all 

of your testimony today. Thank you. We’re grateful for your service 

to the country. 

Mr. Boozman may have other follow-up comment or questions as 

well. 

I would just like to say I wish all of you the best of luck as you 

transition into the civilian sector, and we thank you for your additional commitment into the National Guard, and thank you very 

much. 

Mr. Boozman? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes, Miss Geffre. You mentioned the problem with 

the disabled? 

Ms. GEFFRE. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. And Mike was telling me that there’s a special 

hiring authority. Were you aware of it? 

Ms. GEFFRE. I am also aware of that, but you have to apply— 

if you don’t go to a Transitioning Assistance Program like the one 

we went to, you won’t know about those benefits to enable those 

servicemembers to take advantage of those, even if it’s a serviceconnected disability. They should know about those things as it 

gets closer. 

At the Academy, it could also be used as a recruitment tool. In 

some cases I understood that I would probably delay my retirement, because now I knew I could actually plan through these 

things. By waiting to attend, I had limited myself to that last year, 

so information about the disabled veterans preference is an informational tool that’s not always known to all of us and TAP is time 

to learn about these things, informational tools. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. And then even in the last year. 

Ms. GEFFRE. Yes, sir. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. How long—has that been going on for a long time? 

Ms. GEFFRE. That’s a fairly new process. The DD–214 forms were 

the last forms needed in order to apply and they are given to us 

in outprocessing at the base. That has been regionalized to Air 

Force Personnel Center (AFPC) back in Randolph Air Force Base 

(AFB), TX. It’s just one of those functions that they’ve taken back. 

My understanding is it will take 4 to 6 weeks. Unfortunately, we 

have no experience with this yet because the program hasn’t been 

running that long. One of the Airmen that is in my office is waiting 

for her paperwork to actually start this process since she’ll be 

starting leave next month. It could take some time to get that form 

in order to enable her to get veterans benefits. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. We need to see what’s going on, the GI Bill benefits, whatever benefits are out there. 

So, again, thank you very much for your time. Thank you for 

being here. I appreciate your testimony. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you. 

We’ll invite our second panel up. 

Joining us on the second panel is Major General Steve Doohen, 

Adjutant General of the South Dakota National Guard, who is accompanied by Captain Martin Yost, Program Manager of Family 

Support; and Miss Cynthia Porter, Advisor, of South Dakota Tranjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

17 

sition Assistance. Also joining us on this panel is Ms. Susan 

Machetta, Community Readiness Consultant at Ellsworth Air 

Force Base. 

We were going to take this off. Now we’re going to tack it up. 

So we apologize for the distraction. If the tacks don’t work, we’re 

just going to take it off. 

[Reference to a Banner.] 

We look forward to all of you being here. 

Major Doohen, we’ll go ahead and begin with you. You’re recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENTS OF MAJOR GENERAL STEVEN R. DOOHEN, ADJUTANT GENERAL, SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONAL GUARD, AND 

SECRETARY, SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY 

AND VETERANS AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY CAPTAIN MARTIN YOST, PROGRAM MANAGER, FAMILY READINESS, SOUTH 

DAKOTA NATIONAL GUARD; AND CYNTHIA PORTER, TRANSITION ASSISTANCE ADVISOR, SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONAL 

GUARD, AND CONTRACTOR, ARROWPOINT CORPORATION; 

AND SUSAN MACHETTA, COMMUNITY READINESS CONSULTANT, TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM COORDINATOR, 

ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, SD, TRANSITION ASSISTANCE 

PROGRAM 

STATEMENT OF MAJOR GENERAL STEVEN R. DOOHEN 

General DOOHEN. Good morning, Madam Chairwoman, other 

Members. It is a real honor and pleasure to be here this morning 

with you. I just want to take this opportunity to thank each and 

every one of you for what you have done for the veterans in the 

State and in the Nation. 

I’m fairly new to this position, but coming into this job and taking a look at the resources that you have given to our veterans, my 

hat’s off to you. On behalf of the members of the South Dakota 

Army National Guard, I thank you for all the work that you have 

done. 

I would just like to also mention this morning that my comments 

are my own, and I’m not representing the DoD or anything else. 

They’re just my own comments. 

From my perspective, my job is, as the Adjutant General for the 

National Guard of South Dakota, and also I’m the Secretary for the 

Military and Veterans Affairs, and I must say I’m very impressed 

with the reintegration program that the National Guard has in the 

State with Captain Martin Yost and Cynthia Porter and the Family Support Program. 

I must say that Minnesota gets all the recognition for having a 

great program, but I seem to think that South Dakota is very lucky 

to have such a great program. And I said that when I was first 

starting out that Minnesota benchmarked part of the program from 

South Dakota, so maybe we can get some recognition. But it’s an 

eight-day program, and I think that really it covers all the areas. 

They’ve fine-tuned it over the years. 

I’m also a Secretary for the Department of Military and Veterans 

Affairs, and I must say the active director and his staff, I feel, are 

really doing an outstanding job trying to reach out to different vetjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

18 

erans in the States. And they’re going to be hosting another mental 

health summit in Pierre here coming up this fall, and I feel that 

they have been very beneficial. 

One of the things that I’ve also been very impressed with is the 

cooperation between the different agencies in South Dakota, not 

only in the National Guard and on stateside, the VA and Employer 

Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), I really have found in 

the short time of my job is that there’s really good cooperation 

when we call all these summits or conferences, that people are 

working well together. 

Just one thing that I would like to mention. One of my concerns 

coming into this job, and it hit me a month or two after I got into 

this job, is the issue with PTSD. And it’s an issue that if you look 

into it, it’s really probably more serious than I really have thought. 

And it’s a tough—I think the resources are there, from what I’ve 

seen—is that in a lot of these guys on leadership is trying to take 

the stigma away from soldiers and airmen asking for help. And so 

that’s one area that I feel responsibility in and was trying to reach 

out, taking that stigma away. 

Also, it’s trying to educate the community employers and family 

members what PTSD is all about, and in a lot of instances where 

I’ve seen instances where family members and possibly employers 

see the symptoms in soldiers and airmen, and maybe encourage 

them to get help. So another emphasis on—I think we’re going to 

need to do is educating people about PTSD and maybe some of the 

symptoms, and then also encouraging them to maybe encourage 

their military member to get help. 

One of the things that I’ve run across is that they have a great 

program now in Hot Springs VA just specifically for PTSD, and 

they do an outstanding job down there in addressing this. It’s kind 

of a small program, but it’s known around the State that they have 

a good program. 

And just in conclusion, I flew airplanes for 35 years in my life. 

I can tell you taking over this job, it has really made me very appreciative of what our military servicemembers, the sacrifices that 

they go through. Another thing that’s really made an impression on 

me is that we are in the war, and the military men, women, all 

the sacrifices that they make and they’re continued to be asked to 

make. And we’re so fortunate to have the young people—and sometimes the Guard gets the old people like me—to have the people 

we do have in the military. 

Thank you for your time. 

[The prepared statement of General Doohen appears on p. 61.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, General Doohen, for your 

leadership and testimony today. 

Ms. Machetta, you are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN MACHETTA 

Ms. MACHETTA. Thank you, Chairman, and all of you here today. 

Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to speak to you. 

As the transition coordinator, I’ve found that deciding to leave the 

service, whether through retirement or separation, is an incredibly 

personal decision, and people really need to look at that. And it’s 

essential that they have 2 to 3 years to make those proper decijbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

19 

sions, whether it’s financially, emotionally, in job preparation, what 

am I going to do next. 

All of that is so critical for them to do what they need to do in 

that program. They can’t wait for the last 2 or 3 weeks or a month. 

And so we’ve really made a strong encouragement that people come 

much in advance of the 3-year timeframe. It’s actually a recruiting 

tool now in helping people stay and make better choices for themselves. If all you worried about is where you worked, it wouldn’t 

be a problem, but there’s so much more involved. 

We also found that so many times you can’t make that decision 

in a vacuum. If your spouse isn’t there to assist you or to capture 

all that data in the three and one-half-day class that we have, 

they’re not going to get the best out of it either. And so we’re really 

pushing for spouses to come. 

We’ve increased membership and attendance every single session 

since I started with this program over 2 years ago. We have many 

more spouses coming, and we’ve tried to increase the flexibility of 

the program so that now you can attend 3 years in advance. You 

can get assistance with resumes while you’re deployed to Iraq. We 

do a lot of that on line or through e-mails. 

We’ve built a Web site to pull together the most critical Web 

sites for job preparation, and we put them on a central Web site 

so they don’t have to go to 1,000 different places. They can capture 

it all in one location. They can do that from no matter what service 

they’re in while deployed. 

We’ll have folks from Army, Navy, calling back saying, hey, can 

we get involved? Can we do this? And then we’ll edit with them, 

so that really helps them make a decision a lot faster. 

A few years ago we had an individual from out in Oregon who 

was going to retire and had wanted to be a pilot out in Rapid City. 

So he heard of the program, so he came out and attended. On his 

way back to duty, he had a heart attack and luckily survived. But 

as a pilot, it totally changed what he might be wanting to do with 

his future. 

The most wonderful thing was that he brought his wife with him, 

and so the wife was here in Rapid City. And they were able to easily get into all of the resources that they might need and make a 

decision whether to do a standard retirement or go to a disability 

retirement. And without her attending, that wouldn’t have been 

possible. 

To make it flexible, because, again, you can’t have people going 

six times and getting that much out of a duty day forever and ever, 

we do encourage them to attend the full three and one-half-day 

program. And then we give them just-in-time training; whether it’s 

personally needed, or if they just want to come for an hour, they 

can get that refresher feedback that they need, and that’s been 

helpful. 

So I really appreciate Congress’ help. You’ve given us now four 

additional classes every year at Ellsworth that we wouldn’t have 

had without that help. The VA, all of the agencies in the local area, 

the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL), are tremendously beneficial, 

and that’s been a good team effort. And we couldn’t do it without 

all of them, so I dearly thank you for that. 

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We did do some changes. We found some statistics were not 

being kept, or they were being taken, but not monitored. And the 

other positive benefit of doing this has been we’ve been able to get 

a great deal more help out to the folks in the area of finances. They 

start 3 years early now, and they really know what they need to 

have saved if they want to go into their own business. We have different resources to help them, if that’s what they require, with 

finding those resources so that they can actually find their dream 

job and offer something to the community in the future. So that’s 

been really helpful to have 3 months to help them get that—3 

years to 3 months to help them get into that program. 

Thank you very much for your time. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Machetta appears on p. 64.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you for your time. 

Mr. Boozman, do you have any questions for them? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Ms. Machetta, what is the average time for people 

that attend class before they’re discharged? 

Ms. MACHETTA. It would be difficult to say. I know that we’ve 

had a huge increase. I still got some that are coming in 2 weeks 

before they get out. And it’s helpful in some ways, but I have most 

folks coming in with a year and a half to 3 years left, and it’s really 

helped us change the focus on the future of learning. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. So is it, I guess—again, I’m a guy that would like 

to see people when they’re trying to make a decision to stay or get 

out, to attend this type of program, because as you were talking, 

a lot of these people aren’t aware of some event that has begun in 

the military. Eventually, seeing a seminar where you tell them 

about some of the things that they’re getting in the military life 

that they’re not going to be—that they’re going to have to pay for 

on the outside. 

So is there a stigma attached with going through the TAP program if you stay in? 

Ms. MACHETTA. Not any longer. It’s actually turning into a tool. 

At our decision-time debriefing where people are looking at getting 

out after their first term, they’re encouraged to come and take a 

look at TAP. Many of the students attending the full transition program have found that there are benefits that affect the wives they 

didn’t know about. 

They’ve found that by taking—staying in, they can get their master’s or doctorate paid for, and then use that educational benefit 

with the family member now with the changes, or to get them into 

that dream area. For one gentleman it added an additional $11,000 

to his GI Bill by staying in one more term. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. See, I think that’s great. So that would be a reason to encourage them to get in earlier in the career. 

Ms. MACHETTA. We did have a visit recently, probably 6 months 

ago, with our first entrance of commanders, explained what they 

were trying to do with transition. And they’ve been very, very helpful now in encouraging people to come earlier, and that helps to 

have leadership pushing. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. So if you’re exposed to that stuff while you’re so 

far down the line, then it’s not as difficult to back up. Perfect. 

General, I appreciate your testimony, the really detailed description. I think you all are doing a great job. 

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Have you been able to put in place—you mentioned PTSD, your 

concern about that, your concern about suicide and stuff. And have 

you been able to collect data that basically shows effectiveness of 

some of the things that you’re doing? 

General DOOHEN. I’ll turn this over to Martin, but the one thing 

that I will say that I heard the other day, that initially there was 

some information coming out that the military was having a higher 

rate of suicide and—but then I’ve just heard some figures the other 

day, and I can’t confirm them. 

But actually, if you look at the age groups and the number of suicides, the military actually has a lower percentage of suicides than 

the civilian population. That’s the only different thing that I have. 

On the PTSD, it’s really hard—I’ve heard the word from 20 to 

40 percent of the members coming back have some form of PTSD, 

and some different opinion levels on it. 

But as far as our State, Martin, do you have any figures? 

Captain YOST. Thank you, General. 

Ms. Herseth Sandlin and General, we really don’t have the figures on that, but what we see is recognizing of PTSD is coming 

later; rather than at 30, 60, 90 days, sometimes it takes up to a 

year to identify PTSD. 

And General Doohen’s leadership in that has been to somehow 

have a counselor embedded with the units upon their return so 

when they are back at their normal drills on weekends, there’s 

someone there that if a commander or first sergeant or first line 

leader sees something, someone’s there maybe that they could directly meet with that individual to prevent and treat conditions. 

We currently don’t have that program right now. The Yellow Ribbon Program that Congress has passed is working with that right 

now, but I don’t see us having the trained individuals there so that 

we can give that servicemember the immediate response that may 

be needed at that point in time. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. I think that’s—I think it is helpful as you go forward, but it looks like you’re doing a very, very good job. What 

we’re trying to do, put best practices that work throughout the 

country, so having your views, sometimes that is helpful. I really 

like servicemembers opinions on things like that. Those things are 

very valuable. And if you just start beating that into their head 

from the very start—but again, we appreciate your testimony. 

Thank you very much. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. General Doohen, in fact, you or Captain 

Yost or Ms. Porter, who is accompanying you today, can answer the 

questions and explain to the Subcommittee how the reintegration 

programs recently revised and under eight phases. If you could explain how it was more recently revised, then also talk to us about 

how long it takes to complete all the phases of the program, and 

how many members have finished the program versus those who 

may start the reintegration program. 

Captain YOST. Ms. Sandlin, with the program just starting, we 

just received funds from Congress starting in 2008, late 2008, so 

we’re finally getting support funding right now. And so some of the 

units are backtracked a little bit and will be going forward with the 

new units coming back. 

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Right now we have a first drill back, which happens within 90 

days after the return of deployment. And at that program—that’s 

probably our seventh phase. And I just want to catch you up a little bit on what’s happening. 

Now, with the Yellow Ribbon Program funding, we will start out 

a year out from when the unit gets the alert. Then we will have 

programs up until the deployment. And then during deployment 

there will also be different levels of help that will go on. And then 

once the soldier returns back again, then there are several phases 

that we will address as far as reintegrating. There’s a 30-, 60-, and 

90-day program that will take effect. These programs will involve 

everything from job transition. We also do individual counseling. 

We have Department of Veterans Affairs there, everybody—all the 

providers are there to give the—the servicemembers and their families—and I think that’s the biggest key, that the funding comes 

down to help pay, because of our geographical size of our State, to 

help get the families together with the servicemember. 

As the other panel had stated, the wife needs to be there or the 

parent, because we sometimes forget our single soldiers. They have 

nobody to go to. They sometimes are the ones nudging the servicemember saying, hey, that’s you, or you need to get this. And that’s 

been very successful. So with the money that Congress has given 

us, this program will be a success. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. But you’ve had it in place. So, you’re saying with the additional funding, you’re going to start earlier than 

what you’ve been doing over the last few years as it relates to the 

Family Readiness Group. Then after deployment, the 30, 60, 90, 

this is just going to enhance enough time and services you’re able 

to provide to members and their families, correct? 

Captain YOST. That’s correct. South Dakota was one of the first 

States to start a family weekend within 30 days prior to deployment; that we brought all the families in, and we gave them the 

TRICARE classes so that they would be able to understand that 

medical process. We also had counselors come in that did small 

groups with the youth and also with the adults in transitioning 

with that separation, some of the key points on communicating and 

working with the kids so they understand Dad’s going or Mom’s 

going, and this is how you work with the people who are at home. 

We also had worked with all the different service organizations, 

the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the Legions. They worked 

well with us, giving the support to the families while they were 

there. 

The last thing we talked about, we talked about Red Cross messages and to prepare the families so that there aren’t as many 

questions with the Transition System Advisor, Ms. Porter, so there 

aren’t a lot of questions while a servicemember is deployed, so he 

or she can continue the mission without worrying about their families, that they are going to be taken care of. 

Again, now that the money has come down we’ll enhance that 

program with additional moneys and additional programs prior to 

deployment, the company and battery commanders, first sergeants, 

and the commands along with families together to make great 

plans for their services. 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Ms. Porter, do you think that there’s one 

common problem that stands out either for families during deployment or for servicemembers when they return? Is it PTSD? Is it a 

general readjustment period, employment issues? Is it some of the 

members who are small business owners that are causing problems 

during the deployment after? Any one thing that stands out, or a 

set of things that you think Congress can be of additional assistance, furthering the funding that we have allocated for the Yellow 

Ribbon Reintegration Program? 

Ms. PORTER. Ma’am, I had experience being that spouse left in 

the rear with the small children; and also being at the side of a 

deployed spouse twice, as Mrs. Lassegard. So I have a very interesting perspective because of my new job post, my husband’s deployment. 

And I think that that deployment time period enhanced my emotional intelligence, if you will, and it—I wanted to be the lead 

strength in our marriage. And I think that as my husband came 

home and we transitioned as a family, it seems to be that we have 

a lot of resources, and we are an excellent team in South Dakota. 

The State, the VA, the National Guard, Ellsworth, we’ve worked 

together as a team that I haven’t seen in my short professional life 

in years. It’s a wonderful experience to work and serve after having 

three deployments myself, and I don’t know how to solve this problem. 

I do know that I had the honor of being asked to participate in 

a public service announcement that was by General Doohen, and 

my husband and I also had the opportunity to lend our faces to create awareness faces of vet advance and the PTSD awareness. 

Now, PTSD is left to be diagnosed by the professionals, and I 

think that we need to give people the opportunity to grow as individuals so that they know how to best use the resources. And all 

of the resources in the world, if they’re not receptive to them, cannot be effectively used. So it’s very hard to say there’s this one 

thing that you can fund, because how can you fund opening someone’s mind to making them available to use all the avenues of approach for personal advancement available to them? 

So I guess unless you want to really pay for therapy, maybe, it 

would be hard to say that there’s this one thing. But I do know 

that the Committee, through TRICARE, that is, to go to therapy 

as a family, turned us around and put us very fast on the right 

track. And I would encourage every family I see, if they’re struggling, personally I encourage them to use that opportunity. And it’s 

okay to go to therapy. And we say that all the time, because you 

just don’t know what—you don’t know what you don’t know. How 

do you know? 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Did you have something you wanted to 

add? 

Captain YOST. Yes. As a caveat to that, being in the work with 

General Doohen, we are both Air and Army. We also have the 

Army Reserves in the State of South Dakota. Our Family Assistance Center and our family program assists any servicemember, 

whether it’s Navy or full-time or active duty, whatever it is. We 

will take the calls, and we will give them service. 

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But I see a point where the Army has really taken a forward 

step and done an outstanding job in obtaining the funding, and the 

Air Force is also on board now. But I think we’re forgetting about 

our Army Reserves. They’re small. They’re a smaller unit. They 

don’t have probably the budget, and we’ve been working greatly 

with those groups in eastern South Dakota and giving them some 

of the briefs that we have. 

We also let them know that we will support them, that we bring 

them on board with us so that they will be part of our programs, 

too. But I think a funding issue would be to fund those other sides. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate that, Captain Yost. This is 

one of the things that Mr. Boozman and I heard in Indiana. The 

Reserve component, especially when it’s not the full component of 

it, the individuals from different units in a smaller detachment 

going and mobilizing with others. They are falling through the 

cracks, the individual reservists, upon deployment in terms of access of information, in terms of their employment rights and their 

other issues. 

I appreciate what you are saying. I appreciate what the South 

Dakota National Guard and what your leadership has done to fill 

the gap that I think has existed for a number of years where the 

Department of Defense was really only communicating about these 

benefits of readjustment to their active-duty military and left it to 

all of you to make this up as we went along. 

You’ve done an outstanding job being proactive. Your outreach 

has been tremendous, and we appreciate it here in South Dakota. 

You’re also reaching out to the Reserve components. That’s something that we’re looking into further to see what else we can do to 

assist those efforts on a State level. 

One last question, and then I’ll turn it back to Mr. Boozman, for 

Ms. Machetta. You had talked about the individual who had come 

here and heard about how good the TAP program was at Ellsworth, 

and then he suffered the heart attack after the spouse had attended TAP. 

I failed to ask the three individuals on the prior panel if their 

spouse attended TAP with them. Is that something that you encourage or recommend? Are you stretched for resources and the 

spouses can’t attend on their own, they have to come with the servicemember? Also, is it a recent development where TAP has integrated the opportunities for servicemembers to meet with civilian 

employers that are coming in; is that something that has happened 

in the past, but not to the degree you’re integrating it now? 

Ms. MACHETTA. Okay. Thank you. 

As spouses, by regulation, they’ve always been told they can 

come. If they don’t know, they don’t attend. So we actively sought 

them through commander calls and weed them out. And we talk 

to them about specific benefits such as the Workforce Investment 

Act and Dislocated Spouse Program so that as we get them there, 

they see that there’s something for them, and they’re also listening 

better for the member. So that’s really been helpful. 

In fact, Mark Koopman’s wife was in attendance at the class, and 

Kim Geffre’s husband will be attending in the near future. So as 

active-duty couples, they’ll attend separately sometimes. That’s 

been really helpful. 

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When I took the program over 2 years ago, we offered in the 

class a 1-hour block where professionals could come in and do 

interviewing and help the folks with practice interviews. But what 

I found was that most people were terrified of doing an interview 

because they didn’t have the resume done, and they didn’t know 

what kind of job they were looking for. It was really not a positive 

experience. And so now at the beginning of TAP, we make available to them hundreds of jobs that are open, actual positions, descriptions they can write the job for. 

And then after TAP, during lunch hours and about 5 hours on 

Friday, we’ll invite many, many different companies, some from as 

far away as Texas, to come up and actually do interviews, review 

resumes and give them help. Some of the local businesses; some 

are from all over the country. And so they have that opportunity 

to visit privately with hiring professionals and make sure they’re 

ready. And that’s—that’s just so wonderful, the businesses that 

work with us and come up every 2 to 3 months. And they all take 

turns. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Mr. Boozman, any further questions for 

the panel? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. No. Thanks, Madam Chair. 

Again, I thank all of you for your service and your great job. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you for your work with the servicemembers, our Nation’s veterans, your support on transition assistance, and the efforts that you’ve put up. Thank you very much. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Joining us on this third panel is Mr. 

Shane Olivier, Education Program Specialist. He’s accompanied by 

Mr. George Summerside, Acting Director of the South Dakota Division of Veterans Affairs. Also joining us on the third panel is Mr. 

Todd Kolden, Veteran Services State Coordinator for the South Dakota Department of Labor. 

We appreciate your attendance and testimony this morning. 

Mr. Olivier, we’ll begin with you. Again, just a reminder to this 

and the remaining panels, your written testimony will be included 

in the printed record. So we’ll recognize Mr. Olivier for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENTS OF SHANE A. OLIVIER, VETERANS EDUCATION 

PROGRAM SPECIALIST, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE APPROVING 

AGENCY; ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE SUMMERSIDE, ACTING 

DIRECTOR, SOUTH DAKOTA DIVISION OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; AND TODD KOLDEN, ADMINISTRATOR, SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

STATEMENT OF SHANE A. OLIVIER 

Mr. OLIVIER. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member 

Boozman and Members of the Subcommittee. We’re pleased to appear before you today and provide some comments on the post-9/ 

11 GI Bill and kind of give you an idea of what the South Dakota 

State Approving Agency has been up to. 

We’re very pleased with the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, you know, it’s a good deal for the Total Force GI Bill, 

for people—that it’s really providing opportunities and benefits for 

people that are wanting to use it for college degrees. 

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The Chapter 33, the way it’s written right now, veterans cannot 

use their benefits at a non-college degree educational institution. 

Some examples of these institutions are business and trade schools, 

voc tech’s, cosmetology or barber schools. In addition, like flight 

training institutions and correspondence schools are also not included. The Chapter 33 veterans cannot use their benefits in crime 

or on-the-job training programs. In some of these examples are carpenters, electricians, automotive technician, truck drivers, et 

cetera. 

Since the original GI Bill, it’s an important component for all the 

educational benefits. We get a lot of the approval of job training 

programs. We do a lot of apprenticeship and job training. And some 

of the VA benefits that these kids use or people use, they learn better from on-the-job training or apprenticeship skills, and we do a 

lot of those approvals. We also recommend reconsideration of other 

GI Bill improvement measures that were introduced into the 110th 

Congress, but they haven’t been fully acted upon. And another aspect of our agency’s mission is customer service. We partner with 

all of the other agencies, kind of like the previous panel discussed. 

We work together. 

Our job is really to be the front-line responder for the vet and 

to help them get—if they contact our office, and it’s not regarding 

an educational issue, we will direct them to the right direction. 

And customer service is something that George really preaches 

and we all believe in. And we’re serving the people that have 

served our country, so we do our best to get them an answer or direct them to where they need to go to get their answer. 

When the new GI Bill came out, we didn’t have much information on them, but we got a lot of questions on it. So George got 

right on it, and we went to work immediately trying to find some 

information that we could get out to our vets we were getting all 

the questions from. We got a fact sheet from the VA that was electronically. We made sure we could get that out. It’s kind of a 

short—just a short fact sheet on the new GI Bill. And we got that 

out to our veterans services workers and provided a mailing electronically as well and got that out very rapidly. About—I think it 

was 18 days after we got—the bill was signed, we got that fact 

sheet out. 

We do a pretty extensive welcome home brochure, and I know, 

speaking as a veteran myself, that’s very helpful. But kind of like 

the first panel said, Sergeant Lassegard, you get inundated with a 

lot of information. It’s good to have these manuals as well as these 

brochures that George was instrumental in putting together. It has 

a ton of info, and you can take it home and read it. It’s pretty important. 

But to echo what the first panel member said, you want to get 

home and see your families. Benefits aren’t really on your mind 

when you’re coming back from a year and a half, wherever. But we 

do our best to get the information out to these people. 

We also—we printed 1,000 fact sheets on the new GI Bill, and 

we provided electronic copy out to the Veterans Service Network, 

also to our school certifying officials, and to our county and Tribal 

Service officers. 

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As you guys know, the new Chapter 33 GI Bill is very comprehensive and complex, and what we’re going to do is try to disseminate this information out to our vets as quickly as we can. 

Also, we try to respond, like I said, quickly to the demands of the 

veterans. The last fiscal year we had over 1,900 actions taken. We 

visited over 200 facilities. There was 1,100 approval actions that 

we completed just for our veterans educational benefits. 

That’s kind of just a quick run-down. As you said, this is all in 

the record, so I just kind of hit the high points. 

In closing, Madam Chairwoman, I’d like to thank you guys for 

allowing us to testify and kind of give you a short run-down on 

what we’re doing. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Olivier appears on p. 65.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Olivier. I appreciate your 

testimony. 

Mr. Kolden, you’re recognized. 

STATEMENT OF TODD KOLDEN 

Mr. KOLDEN. Thank you. My name is Todd Kolden, and I’m an 

Administrator of the South Dakota Department of Labor. And one 

of the programs that I administer for the Department is the Veterans Employment Services. I serve as an active member of the 

National Association of State Workforce Agencies, Veteran Affairs 

Committee, and I’m the State Employment Chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans (DAV). 

It is my honor to appear before this Subcommittee today on behalf of the South Dakota Department of Labor Secretary to present 

to you the views regarding the Transition Assistance Program 

workshop and to discuss any questions you may have. 

My testimony this morning will focus primarily on TAP. You 

heard earlier this morning that the partnerships are important for 

TAP to be successful, and I’m happy to say that the partnership 

we have with the Department of Defense, in this case Ellsworth 

Air Force Base, the VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, 

the South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the 

U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. DoL) and Veterans’ Employment 

and Training Service (VETS) and our Department are solidly in 

place. 

I think these are very important for TAP to be instrumental in 

the success of TAP facilitated at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Without 

these solid partnerships, servicemembers attending TAP would not 

be receiving the full benefit of transition services that they deserve. 

South Dakota’s current TAP Memorandum of Understanding, 

2008, which was signed by Ellsworth Air Force Base, the U.S. DoL, 

the South Dakota Department of Labor, is current. However, with 

these partnerships, even though they aren’t in writing, we do ask 

for your assistance in—to ensure that these departments can continue to function successfully. 

I want to note that the importance of our DVOPS, our Disabled 

Veterans Outreach Program Specialists, and our Local Veterans 

Employment Representatives (LVERs) is not only serving veterans 

in the local office, but also conducting outreach. One of the best opportunities for outreach is during the facilitation of TAP workshops. 

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In South Dakota, our DVOP specialists and LVERs facilitate approximately 80 percent of the TAP workshop and 25 percent of the 

disabled TAP workshop, which is conducted approximately 16 

times per year. On average, our workshops have about 30 personnel, 30 to 35 personnel, attending each workshop. 

The majority of our Air Force and members of the other services, 

including the National Guard and Reserve, often attend. TAP is 

also available to spouses, and they are strongly encouraged to attend as you heard Machetta state earlier. TAP workshop transition 

services develop a one-on-one relationship with the DoD or LVER, 

which, in my opinion, enhances a very successful transition. 

For those servicemembers who are leaving South Dakota, we do 

provide a contact, an EOT or LVER in the State that they are relocating to. 

As the Subcommittee is aware, and I think I heard some questions earlier of making TAP mandatory for active-duty servicemembers and to facilitate TAP workshops regarding their component 

before transitioning or retiring from military service. The Department of Labor and South Dakota Department of Labor strongly 

feels it should be mandatory for active-duty personnel. 

Many of these servicemembers have been in the military for 

more than 4 years, and most likely have been serving at a fairly 

young age. Many have probably never held a civilian job, and this 

transition will be a very abrupt change. This should be handled 

through the accounting or command level. 

In other words, we feel that the Adjutant General of each State 

should inform their units about the TAP workshop, allow them the 

opportunity to attend the TAP workshop if they desire by sending 

them on no cost, Temporary Duty (TDY) assignment, or Temporary 

Additional Duty (TAD) orders. 

As you know, many of these individuals already have jobs they 

are returning to and may not have a desire or need to attend TAP. 

But again, they should at least be given that opportunity. 

In South Dakota, the South Dakota Department of Labor made 

this request that nearly 5 years ago to the Adjutant General and 

thanks to the partnership we have established there is an informal 

agreement in place and this was recently affirmed with the new 

Adjutant General. And thanks to the partnerships we have established, there was an informal agreement in place as recently affirmed by General Doohen. 

Currently there are full-time Guard members attending TAP 

that are retired or separated. U.S. DoL reports that only 60 percent 

of our servicemembers are currently attending TAP with an ultimate goal of 85 percent. We support this initiative and feel that 

making TAP mandatory will reach this goal. 

More important, it will have increased the successful transition 

of servicemembers. Of note for all servicemembers who are assigned Ellsworth Air Force Base and unable to attend TAP prior 

to separation, one of our DOT specialists will provide an abbreviated TAP presentation at the mandatory pre-separation briefing. 

While this is not meant to replace TAP, it does provide valuable 

and needed information to separating personnel. We always encourage participation in the full TAP workshop. If this isn’t posjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

29 

sible, we will encourage them to attend TAP at the State where 

they’re relocating to. 

I would like to share my personal experience with TAP. When I 

retired from the military service, I was given the opportunity to attend TAP, and the information I learned and the resources I was 

provided helped me immensely, immediately. TAP assisted me into 

seamless transition from military civilian life as I had employment 

when I retired. It also assisted in ensuring that all of my benefits 

were in place prior to my transition, and what to do and where to 

go if further assistance was needed. 

I feel that the TAP workshop is one of the best resources we currently have for servicemembers who are making the transition 

from military to civilian life and for Guard and Reserve individuals 

who want to make a career change. 

Finally, I’d like to mention that oftentimes an important part of 

transition is training separated servicemembers so they can enter 

a particular employment field. Some of you might remember or are 

aware of the Service Member Occupational Training Act, 1992, 

often referred to as SMOCTA, which was an Act that provided 

funding for training servicemembers after separating from military 

service and was highly successful in South Dakota. 

Recently, H. R. 6272, which would re-authorize SMOCTA by the 

Subcommittee and forwarded to the full Committee for consideration. And I would urge your support on this bill. 

Again, I want to thank you for allowing me to testify. This does 

conclude my testimony. I would be happy to discuss or respond regarding TAP or services in South Dakota. And I would just like to 

add one more note that I feel these field hearings might be one of 

the best ideas that have happened in a long time to get out and 

really listen to the field and what’s going on in our State, so thank 

you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Kolden appears on p. 68.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Kolden. We appreciate 

your testimony and your insight that you have offered today. 

I will have some questions for you after Mr. Boozman has asked 

some questions regarding what you recommended in your testimony 2 years ago and again today. Let me start with Mr. Olivier. 

In terms of the post GI Bill, as Mr. Boozman mentioned during his 

opening remarks, the fact that this Subcommittee had taken the 

lead in working with various stakeholders, various State veterans 

organizations, and agencies to try to find ways to dramatically improve the benefit, at the same time making sure that VA was adequately resourced to effectively administer it. 

While I’m very pleased that we passed a dramatically improved 

GI Bill benefit for our servicemembers, I should say that what we 

passed wasn’t fully vetted in the Committees. There were provisions added late on transferability. It’s going to be a complicated 

new program to administer. 

Now, Mr. Summerside, I remember having conversations with 

you over the last few years about the people that are your contacts 

down in Saint Louis who you can count on, who you can rely on, 

who help you, help servicemembers and veterans get answers to 

questions they have about benefits, get things processed, making 

this as smooth as possible. But, I think that there are some conjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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cerns that you have expressed that I share about whether or not 

Saint Louis is always fully resourced to meet all of the demands 

that have been placed on them in the past, all the new demands 

that are going to be placed on them working with folks like you 

and the State Approving Agencies. 

Mr. Olivier, on the State level with you, and of course, the VA 

as a whole, and the education service being ready to administer 

this expansive, appropriately generous but expansive and very 

complicated benefit. I am going to be charged with Mr. Boozman, 

I’m sure, throughout the rest of this term, and we hope into future 

years, to make sure that we’re exercising the oversight the VA is 

going to need to make sure that our servicemembers have an ease 

of accessing this new benefit without bumps in the road. Also, by 

demonstrating some of the frustrations that occur when there are 

delays in processing claims and information that may not always 

be accurate that they’re getting from different sources. 

I appreciate the steps you’ve already taken shortly after we 

passed that bill to try to share as much information as you can 

that was available from the VA to our servicemembers. But Mr. 

Olivier, Mr. Summerside, could you speak with me a little bit about 

your thoughts on administering this new benefit, and the support 

that you will need from Congress and the support that you believe 

the VA will need from Congress to make sure it’s effectively administered? 

Mr. OLIVIER. I think as far as when we start the work with the 

veteran, we always have to get in touch with our regionalized employment liaison representative to find out exactly about their 

abilities and stuff like that. And that takes away quite a bit of time 

where we don’t have access to those records. And that’s for security 

issues, I’m sure. 

But we work—you know, it’s tough for us, because we’re kind of 

a liaison between the vets and the State and our veterans. And we 

try to get an answer back as quickly as we can, but they are very 

busy down in Saint Louis. And they do a really good job of getting 

back to us, you know, in a fairly short amount of time. Sometimes 

two, three days, but usually we tell the veterans a week. But they 

usually have a run-around, and then bounced to several different 

people or, you know, that it’s tough when we get them on the 

phone. 

We try to run it through as quick as we can. But I think George 

can speak better on that, because he’s got a lot more experience in 

that. 

Mr. SUMMERSIDE. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Members 

of the Subcommittee. 

Saint Louis, this process actually began, the regionalization, over 

a decade ago. And many of the things or the thoughts that I 

thought they would do through technology and the other initiatives 

really haven’t been realized, I don’t think, to the full benefit to the 

veterans or family members. 

You know, we’re very fortunate in South Dakota to have good relationships with some key people down in Saint Louis. But that 

was a hard-fought war here in South Dakota. We had to actually 

through a letter to our South Dakota veterans’ Commission and 

others to the director of Saint Louis just about a decade ago, and 

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he came up and visited. And from that meeting, he made a commitment to us and what we—the commitment back to him was this. 

We would do all the on-the-job-training (OJT) on the claims that 

would come right through our State improvement agency, which 

basically was unheard of. We would make sure that all the pieces 

are there to expedite any processing of the claim. 

We’ve held true to our part. But on the other side, what we always said to the veteran or the trainee, within 4 weeks of application, if you don’t hear anything, we want to know, and we want to 

put it in—you know, on any kind of new arrangement or agreement, usually right up front it’s usually pretty good, they respond 

back very quickly within a few days. But I still have a good working relationship with many of the key individuals down there. I 

think the main thing they need is they need resources available to 

them. 

And one other thing that they possibly could use is over in the 

comp and pension side, those individuals are paid at a higher rate. 

So when you open up the doors to comp and pension you get more 

claims examiners and those folks going over to comp and pen, 

you’re losing them from the education end. 

And the other thing I’ve seen in the last decade, the VA educational services have lost a lot of the experience they’ve had over 

the last decades. I believe in my heart the real experience as far 

as knowledge and experience about veterans’ programs really rests 

a lot with State approving agencies. 

My colleagues across the State, you know, Don Sweeney, he’s 

been involved since the seventies. He’s seen all these types of programs go through. Jim Bonaparte in New York, Jim Little, you 

know, most of the individuals I’m talking about have 10, 15, 20, 25 

years of experience. Most of the staff at the VA central office at 

this point in time, I think many of them have under 5 years of experience. A lot of the ELR’s that you’re bringing into play to work 

with our agencies have little or no experience when they come out, 

and they are the final say in a lot of these approval issues. 

My good friend down in Missouri, Chad Shotz, said to me the 

other day when we were talking about an OJT approval, we’re 

fighting fights we won 15, 20 years ago, and we’re fighting them 

today. A lot of these have to do with training programs. 

So I think if the VA Central Office, you know, educational services really looks to the resources, and that would be through your 

State approving agencies, I think every one would gain a lot as far 

as the new GI Bill, the Chapter 33. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you both for your response to that 

question. 

Mr. Boozman? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mr. Kolden, do we need a program that focuses on retraining 

vets with few skills? Do you see that as a problem? 

Mr. KOLDEN. I do see that. I don’t think it’s a full blown problem. 

I think it’s an even larger problem. But, you know, if you look at 

the new GI Bill which came out, it’s tremendous. I applaud that 

tremendously. That might even affect some of this legislation that’s 

been thrown about. 

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But a small State like South Dakota, we haven’t seen training 

there that a lot of the larger States and large metropolitan areas 

have. I’m talking specifically, I’m not trying to put down the VETS 

office, but the homeless veterans reintegration program and the 

veteran grant, the Veteran Workforce Improvement Program 

Grant, VWIP, have never received any training dollars. 

That’s probably another reason why that was successful in South 

Dakota, because we had a lot of servicemembers that did need the 

training. We currently have in South Dakota, approximately at this 

time today, 11,000 job openings. Our unemployment rate is about 

2.5 percent. 

A lot of people say that’s good, but there’s a lot of underemployment out there. And I think the dollars that will come through to 

train servicemembers or training servicemembers who don’t have 

the necessary skills in the workforce, civilian workforce, would benefit very highly from SMOCTA or a similar bill. 

I think our businesses in South Dakota would benefit from a bill 

similar to that. I just really can’t see anything that would belong 

with a bill like that. 

To answer your question, yes, again, there are a lot of servicemembers who do not have the skills that they have achieved in 

military service that would benefit them in civilian life. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Good. That’s under Miss Herseth Sandlin’s leadership and her staff, my staff. I guess most bills come down the bar, 

so we’re in the process of redoing that and trying to address that 

concern. And it is good that you’re—that’s why we’re out where the 

battle is being fought. You know, you guys are out on the front 

lines of these things, and we really are trying to give you some 

more tools to address those individuals. And so I think, hopefully 

we can get that passed at the arms level. 

What can you tell us about the number of veterans placed by the 

South Dakota Department of Labor this year? 

Mr. KOLDEN. What can I tell you about as far as numbers? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Are you getting referrals from the VA, from the 

voc rehab? 

Mr. KOLDEN. Yes. Again, that’s another great partnership in 

South Dakota. We have the voc rehab, and the VA voc rehab operates out of Sioux Falls and out of Rapid City. And it’s set up—I’d 

almost say that the Rapid City voc—VA voc rehab and our State 

was a model for a lot of other States. 

As I told you, I’m active with the National Association of State 

Workforce Agencies Veterans Affairs Committee. I think you hear 

a lot of the horror stories, if you will, of the relationships between 

other States and the Department of VA. And that just has not happened in South Dakota. We’ve had a few issues to work through. 

Kevin Roseland is the VA Regional Director out of Fargo. John 

Smith, we’ll hear from him later today, out of Sioux Falls. They 

were instrumental in approving some of the relationships, and a lot 

of them were personnel problems. And they’ve dealt with and we 

had to move on. 

Like I say, there have been some bumps through them, but 

based, again on Kevin Roseland and John Smith, Earl Schultz from 

U.S. DoL/VETS in my office, we’ve worked through those bumps, 

and we have a good relationship to be successful in South Dakota. 

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Mr. BOOZMAN. That’s the important thing. Thank you very much. 

Madam Chair, I appreciate you guys very much for your service 

to our vets. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Boozman. Mr. Kolden, 

I’m glad to hear that you think TAP should be mandatory. The 

servicemembers and the Air Force Base, all of them, felt it should 

be mandatory. 

Mr. Boozman and I have had discussions about getting what 

we’ve heard across the country, and how effective the program is 

for those who have participated, how we can best go about making 

sure that more people are able to participate. 

Now, the Marines have made TAP mandatory, and you have 

mentioned that you think that the encouragement or the requirement could come from the command level, from the Adjutant General to encourage more people to take advantage of the TAP program on the National Guard/Reserve. Correct? 

Mr. KOLDEN. Correct. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Separate from the National Guard Reserve to the other branches of the Armed Services, in your opinion, 

since the Marines have made it mandatory, but the other branches 

haven’t yet, do you think that this is a leadership issue that can 

be resolved there, or do you think it needs a legislative fix? 

Mr. KOLDEN. And you’re all aware that a lot of the obstructions 

to making it mandatory was commands felt they would be losing 

people. But I think in the last 10 years, it’s become very evident 

that TAP is a good recruitment tool. That’s one way to look at it. 

I personally, when I retired, my command, it was mandatory in 

my command to have TAP when you retired or separated. So I 

think in the Navy and a lot of other services, there are commands 

to make it mandatory before you separate. 

I think hearing the testimony of servicemembers today, you 

know, they talk about getting the word out. And I’m not sure that 

we require legislature, but I think if the Services, the very service 

organizations heard the testimony like they heard today from the 

servicemembers who say it should be mandatory because they benefited from it, I’m glad I went through it, because I benefited from 

it. 

Again, an example was I had employment waiting for me at a 

very good job in the Twin Cities. And quite frankly, when I decided 

to come back to South Dakota, because I was tired of life in the 

big city, I used my TAP resources again to complete my resume, 

et cetera. And I had a job, a very good job which I’m at now in no 

time. 

But requiring legislation, I’m not sure if that would be the right 

way. I think then some of the Services or servicemembers would 

feel like they’re being forced, and you know how people don’t like 

to be forced. But again, I think if they start hearing how good of 

a recruitment tool it is and hearing the testimony today that servicemembers think it should be mandatory because it really benefited them, I think we’d see more of it. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I know you have some TAP facilitators 

that have joined you here today. 

Mr. KOLDEN. Yes. 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Could you share with the Subcommittee, 

whether it’s from your perspective or something you’ve heard from 

them, have you received any suggestions from servicemembers or 

from members of the Guard of ways to improve TAP? Maybe the 

issue of the spousal participation that we heard from the prior 

panel. Any other suggestions, other than the mandatory issue or 

the command encouragement, any other suggestions about how 

best to improve it? 

Mr. KOLDEN. I would have to say that Ellsworth Air Force Base 

has done a great job in getting the word out so spouses do attend. 

We strongly encourage spouses to attend. 

I’m thinking about Sue Machetta, who testified earlier and 

talked about a program, and she has a very good feedback system 

in place. After every TAP workshop, every servicemember who 

went to the TAP workshop fills out a feedback sheet form, et 

cetera. She reviews them. She sends them on to Earl Schultz, our 

DoL staff State director, and myself and to the TAP facilitators so 

we can all review the feedback that we receive. And we have made 

some tweaks based on servicemembers’ feedback. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you very much. 

One last question and then I’ll see if Mr. Boozman has any further questions. 

I had mentioned that we had made some changes in the National 

Defense Authorization Act of 2008 where the REAP benefits are 

now available for 10 years post-separation. Mr. Olivier, has your office taken any proactive steps working with either Guard leadership or other resources to identify and communicate with men and 

women who may have been deployed in OIF or OEF, but who separated from service, who may not yet be aware that they’re entitled 

to utilize these REAP benefits? 

Mr. OLIVIER. Yes. I’ll let George answer that question as well. 

They started that process. I’ll let him address that. 

Mr. SUMMERSIDE. Madam Chairwoman, as we talked when we 

had our meeting in, I think it was late February with Tom Murphy 

and myself, when we received that information, we developed a fact 

sheet. We distributed it not only to—all through our veterans’ service network, all the Army and private service officers and certifying 

officials, and also we provided it electronically through the National Guard network and they provided it to their members. 

The one problem—and then we—we presented this very topic at 

some of the briefings or outreach briefings we had. The one issue 

we have is even the fact sheets that are available now are not very 

clear on who is actually eligible for what and how long. The response I received from Saint Louis is this: Tell them to apply to 

see if they will meet the requirements. And that isn’t a very easy 

thing to do when you’re trying to reach individuals on the simple 

facts of the program. And that was one of our National Guard 

group reports, and the administrator that we were working with, 

Cindy, she does an outstanding job. She’s called for two briefings. 

Part of it was on education. Part of it was on post traumatic stress. 

But that is the one thing that—similar to what happened when 

they had Chapter 1606 and they allowed that extension. Basically 

the VA was allowing that extension, but no one was willing to talk 

about it or tell anybody about it for 6 months after they made the 

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decision, so during that 6-month period there’s a lot of individuals 

that are missed. 

And so if we could get a comprehensive fact sheet and good direction from the VA that actually will pay the benefit, we have the 

resources to make that information known in a quicker—— 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you very much. I appreciate your 

testimony. 

Mr. Boozman, any further questions? 

Thank you for your insights and your expertise that you bring 

to the table. We appreciate it. We look forward to following up with 

you on some of your suggestions. Again, thank you for your testimony and service to our State and the Nation’s veterans. 

We’re going to take just a short 5- or 10-minute break before we 

start with our fourth panel. We’ll have two panels remaining, but 

we’ll just take a short 5- to 10-minute break. 

[Recess.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. We now go to our fourth panel. Joining 

us is Mr. Luverne Boes, District 13 Commander of the American 

Legion here in South Dakota; Ms. Doris Ann Werlinger, Past Department President of the American Legion Auxiliary in South Dakota; and Ms. Diane Hickenbothan, President of the Veterans of 

Foreign Wars Auxiliary in South Dakota. 

Thank you all for being here, for the great work you do on behalf 

of South Dakota’s veterans, and the members of the organizations, 

and their families. 

Mr. Boes, we’ll start with you. You are recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENTS OF LUVERNE L. BOES, DISTRICT 13 COMMANDER, AMERICAN LEGION, DEPARTMENT OF SOUTH DAKOTA; DORIS ANN WERLINGER, PAST DEPARTMENT PRESIDENT OF SOUTH DAKOTA, AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY; 

AND DIANE HICKENBOTHAM, PRESIDENT, VETERANS OF 

FOREIGN WARS LADIES AUXILIARY, DEPARTMENT OF 

SOUTH DAKOTA 

STATEMENT OF LUVERNE L. BOES 

Mr. BOES. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, Ranking Member 

Boozman, and Members of the Subcommittee. I am Luverne Boes, 

United States Navy Master Chief Petty Officer Retired and the 

American Legion Department of South Dakota District 13 Commander. 

Since we have a much smaller all voluntary military, the need 

for National Guard and Reserves to fight the Global War on Terror 

is unprecedented. They have become the central part of our current 

DoD operations. We need to attract and retain these well-qualified 

individuals so our National defense stays strong and viable. 

One major incentive is the servicemember knowing that when 

they return from the wars they still have a job waiting for them. 

This is not always the case. Numerous cases brought to the attention of the American Legion by veterans and other sources, many 

of these returning servicemembers have lost jobs, promotions or 

benefits, and even been demoted. 

According to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employers must, by law, protect the 

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old jobs of employee servicemembers or provide them with equivalent positions. From all accounts, most Reservists and those in the 

National Guard appear to be well-informed about their active-duty 

legal rights. However, in their loss of their job, the American Legion strongly endorses the belief that servicemembers would greatly benefit by having access to the resources and knowledge that 

TAP can provide, but the program should have a stronger employment, mental health, and small business component. 

The American Legion strongly endorses H.R. 6272, the ‘‘Service 

Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act (SMOCTA) 

Reauthorization Act of 2008,’’ along with the funding request. Veterans eligible for assistance are those with a primary or secondary 

military occupation specialty that the DoD determines is not readily transferrable to the civilian workforce, or those veterans with 

a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or higher. The 

program successfully returns veterans to the civilian workforce. 

The American Legion believes that the Small Business Administration should be part of any Reservist and National Guard TAP 

and act as an advisory capacity for businesses owned by veterans 

to assist them with the resources and information to help lessen 

the impact of activation on their bottom line. 

Also, most individuals who join the National Guard and Reserves 

enter straight out of high school. Many are full- and part-time students with a number of activations since 9/11. They are discovering 

that graduation will take much longer than once anticipated. 

The American Legion recommends that TAP have an education 

representative to provide the National Guard and Reservist members with up-to-date GI benefit information so they can have the 

option of making informed decisions on how they incorporate their 

military service with their civilian employment and education options. 

With the President’s signing into law a Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act, the veterans education will change significantly after it becomes effective in August 2009. TAP and the Disabled TAP Program, DTAP, are excellent venues to brief recently 

separated servicemembers, especially those in the National Guard 

and Reserves, on new, enhanced educational benefits. 

In the recent months, there have been a number of news articles 

reporting that some creditors make illegal demands on active-duty 

personnel. With the military’s increased reliance on National 

Guard and Reserve units, creditors residing in remote areas of the 

country outside of traditional military towns are not aware of the 

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which the President signed into 

law December of 2003. This Act helped ease the economic and legal 

burdens on military personnel called to active-duty status in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. 

Relief extends to actions terminating leases, evictions, foreclosures and repossessions, default judgments, and lower interest 

rates on credit cards and loans, and protects against lapses and 

termination of insurance policies. If TAP was mandatory, servicemembers and local community businesses would also know this 

program and a lot of frustration and time and misunderstandings 

could be avoided. 

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And finally, the American Legion recommends that Congress require Federal agencies that deliver TAP and DTAP services to develop a monitoring program to better assess how well services are 

being delivered to transitioning servicemembers and performance 

measures should be instituted to hold all Federal agencies accountable for their services rendered. 

The American Legion reaffirms its strong support in the TAP 

program but also encourages the Department of Defense to require 

that all separating active-duty servicemembers, including those in 

the Reserves and National Guard, be given an opportunity to participate in TAP training not more than 180 days prior to their separation or retirement from the armed services and follow-up counseling not later than 180 days after separation from active duty. 

The American Legion would also support any legislative initiatives to mandate that all servicemembers be given the opportunity 

to participate in TAP and DTAP. 

This concludes my statement. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Boes appears on p. 70.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Commander. Ms. Werlinger, 

you are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF DORIS ANN WERLINGER 

Ms. WERLINGER. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Mr. 

Boozman and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting the American Legion Auxiliary to appear before you today to 

discuss the Transition Assistance Program. 

Today I represent the American Legion Auxiliary, the world’s 

largest women’s patriotic service organization with 900,000 members in 8,900 communities across the country. Here in South Dakota, we have 18,000–16,000 members in 221 communities. Our 

mission is to serve veterans, their families, and their communities. 

The curriculum for TAP includes a narrowly defined yet broadbased agenda with the attempt to import as much information as 

possible to the active-duty component. Guard and Reserve members haven’t had the benefit of a comprehensive TAP. 

While there is little debate as to the value of the information 

being shared during TAP, we hear continually from servicemembers and their families that TAP is either too much or too little, 

given at the wrong time and in the wrong setting with the expectation that all servicemembers hear the same message at the same 

time and in the same way. 

So what changes need to be made for TAP to be more effective? 

First, one size doesn’t fit all. Even within the active component, not 

all servicemembers share the same career goals for civilian life. 

Guard and Reserve members face additional challenges as they return back to civilian lives that are now very different than when 

they left. 

Second, timing matters. Hitting a servicemember and his or her 

family too early or too late can dilute the message. 

Third, accuracy is not—no matter the delivery or message line is 

critical. We hear of miscommunication on important issues too 

many times. 

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Fourth, too much information during delivery at one time with 

a combination of any of the above issues means much of it gets lost 

or not absorbed. 

Fifth, while technically the civilian job of a Guard or Reserve 

member is covered under USERRA, we all know that in practice 

these servicemembers have difficulty re-entering the workforce or 

picking up their careers because of subtle hiring practices that 

don’t work in their favor. 

Following the example of Turbo TAP, which was designed with 

the National Guard in mind, any face-to-face program must be appropriately timed, relevant, and to the point. To oversimplify, the 

Auxiliary feels strongly that TAP needs a more contemporary face. 

Instead of giving servicemembers and their families what we think 

they need, we need to give them the option of choosing what they 

know they need. 

We recommend establishing a program that collectively is no 

more than 24 hours of content with an agenda flexible and varied 

enough so it appeals to participants at all stages of readiness for 

transition. The program should consist of a menu of presentations 

and/or workshops with minimum and mandatory requirements established for participation. The program should be established in 

such a way that one or two mandatory general sessions start TAP, 

followed by a diverse agenda of programs that would appeal to participants on a variety of levels and stages. 

If planned right, this format change would not require additional 

staff resources, would include much of the same content and material currently being used but focus on what’s important to the participant. 

The most current Department of Labor statistics report that 60 

to 65 percent of all separating active-duty servicemembers attend 

TAP seminars and 30 percent of all separating National Guard and 

Reservists attend a portion of TAP. DoD has set a goal of 85 percent of separating servicemembers. We recommend that each 

branch of the military make TAP a mandatory requirement for all 

transitioning servicemembers, bringing participation to 100 percent. 

The Auxiliary is further recommending that accountability and 

measurable standards be established for each agency and delivery 

component in the process to ensure excellence. It is only right that 

at the conclusion of military or active-duty service we provide a 

transition program that meets them on their terms, ensuring a 

seamless transition back to civilian life. 

The American Legion Auxiliary recommends reformatting TAP to 

fulfill the needs of specific servicemembers, including our Guard 

and Reserve; requiring TAP be mandatory for all separating servicemembers; creating measurable standards to gauge effectiveness 

and success. 

TAP is an essential component of reintegration for all of our 

members of our military regardless of branch or rank. TAP done 

right becomes an invaluable step in successful reintegration. 

Thank you again for allowing me to represent the opinions of the 

American Legion Auxiliary through this testimony. I’m happy to 

answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Werlinger appears on p. 75.] 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you very much for your testimony. 

Ms. Hickenbotham, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF DIANE HICKENBOTHAM 

Ms. HICKENBOTHAM. Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Mr. 

Boozman, and distinguished Members of this Subcommittee, I 

thank you for the opportunity to discuss what the Transition Assistance Program is doing to provide servicemembers and their 

families with the information and resources necessary to facilitate 

a successful transition from military to civilian life. 

I am honored to be asked to be here as the Department President 

of the State of South Dakota of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. We are the wives, widows, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, granddaughters, and sisters of persons who 

were or are eligible for membership in the Veterans of Foreign 

Wars by having served our great country in a foreign war or a hostile region. 

The Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars serves veterans and their families and are a strong advocate for all veterans 

and their families. I am from the city of Aberdeen, South Dakota, 

where many of our National Guard and Army Reserve have been 

deployed. I speak as a wife and advocate for all veterans and their 

families and as the President of the Department of South Dakota 

Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW. 

We express great appreciation and gratitude for what the VA 

and the Department of Labor has been doing to help their readjustment back into a civilian life. Having returning to civilian life is 

often not easy for a soldier and is not easy for their families. 

I am especially grateful that you have included the Ladies Auxiliary to both the VFW and the American Legion. It does let us know 

that you are considering the effect and opinions of the families involved in the lives of our returning troops. I strongly believe that 

the family is the foundation for a healthy readjustment to civilian 

life. 

In speaking with many of the returning National Guard and Reserve members, they have expressed that the Turbo TAP technology has been a valuable tool for those returning from Operation 

Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. This Web-based 

system seems to work very well for delivery of information and assistance. 

Servicemembers have rapid accessibility to locate One Stop Career Centers for employment assistance as well as medical care by 

locating the closest VA Medical Center. This program is helping returning servicemembers increase their participation and awareness 

of military benefits, allowing for an easier transition to civilian life. 

Now, what improvements and additions can be made that might 

make TAP more effective? This has come from talking to many 

troops and their families, and this is their opinion that they have 

expressed to me. 

I also would like to thank General Doohen and Captain Yost for 

their comment of PTSD and their dedication to take away any stigma from it, not only for the soldier but for the family, the spouses, 

the parents and the children of returning troops. 

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We know there has been significant progress in the efforts to provide transition assistance to the soldier and to the families since 

this program was implemented. However, like I said, these are 

some of the following—or some of the concerns. 

Families are asking for more assistance to emotionally support 

their family while their spouse is deployed. This includes readjustment to parenting jointly again for when the spouse returns. Many 

feel that the family readiness leader or group leader was all that 

they know about, and to these ladies like Mrs. Lassegard, the people that have stepped up and taken over the job as assistance and 

family readiness leaders, I don’t think we can thank them enough. 

I tell you, they are the backbone and they sit here very quietly. 

And they have been there for, you know, little things, from teenagers’ problems to, you know, what’s happening now, at that day 

I might possibly be deployed again. 

On some of the returning feedback with the TAP program, some 

spouses have felt that the returning soldiers are shuffled around 

too much for testing and receiving transitional assistance when 

they returned home. We had a soldier that was sent from Aberdeen 

to Fort Carson, Colorado, you know, for their testing and training, 

and the family felt like that was just another stress of another family separation. 

Many feel the need for credit counseling. And I know that was 

probably in some of the counseling, but it probably goes back to the 

communication, that maybe the readiness leaders aren’t—you 

know, up in northeastern North Dakota we’re not as close to a military base, and they really—there definitely is a definite need to 

have some of the counseling availability information sent home to 

the spouses and the families about the mandatory participation in 

TAP with the family member, whether it be the parent or the 

spouse would definitely be, I think, a great help. 

As far as the credit counseling, we often think that the spouse 

at home is in charge of the checkbook for the family and spending 

the money. One spouse related to me, though she got the bills all 

paid and her husband just worried about taking care of himself 

over there with what he had and when he returned home, the credit cards and the loans got really high from the person living at 

home. 

Many need assistance and support in dealing with the idea that 

their soldier may be called up again. It seems to hang over the 

heads of the children very intently. They know they’re on alert. 

Their parent has been gone once, and the fear of it happening 

again causes much anxiety to some within the family unit. This 

isn’t openly addressed, and it needs to be dealt with through the 

proper channels. 

There are things with PTSD that people—you know, transition 

is kind of almost not really a temporary word, but sometimes that 

transition into a well-adjusted foundation, signs and symptoms of 

PTSD may not show up for 15 years later, you know, and never 

have been addressed with it. Because, like I said, back here there 

are times where, you know, they just want to go back to their life. 

And just last week I had a young child call me. She was 15. She 

says, ‘‘You know, Diane,’’ she says, ‘‘my dad’s, you know, probably 

going to go again.’’ And she says, ‘‘I can’t wait until he goes because 

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41 

I’m so tired of the anger that he’s expressing at us.’’ So this is happening now. 

We’ve got wonderful assistance for our program through the TAP 

for the counseling, but it is kind of underlying. It’s not being—we 

definitely feel that the time line for this counseling for PTSD for 

the family, and we often know that the family becomes a battle 

buddy for the returning soldier. Families feel that the time to utilize the program is too short, doesn’t start soon enough before the 

soldier returns. I don’t know if it can be integrated or when you 

do actually start the readjustment with the families back home before their troops return. 

Many of the listed concerns seem to deal with communication 

with the TAP program and with the family. We recommend that 

communication with the families become a priority in a timely 

manner. The timetable of the transition assistance must be communicated frequently and soon enough to accommodate the soldier 

and family for smoother transition into civilian life. Family readiness leaders are an important tool in this program and they’re 

training needs to be comprehensive and supportive. 

I thank you for allowing me to present this testimony on behalf 

of our organization, the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign 

Wars. Know that we deeply appreciate the implementation of this 

program. The men and women that have worn the uniform of this 

great Nation deserve all the help and transitional assistance that 

we can give them to deal with the stress of war and separation. 

Every soldier deserves all the support that we as Americans can 

give them. Each and every soldier and each family member deserves help and support for the great sacrifice that they have all 

given. 

And I would be glad to respond to any of your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Hickenbotham appears on p. 76.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you all, for your testimony. We 

will start with Mr. Boozman’s questions. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I appreciate your testimony. Again, this is why we’re here, is you 

all are on the front lines and are very, very involved with what’s 

going on. 

I think you really have given us a lot of good suggestions, and 

it’s just difficult. We’ve got two things going on here. We’ve got people transitioning out of the military back into civilian life and then 

we’ve got people transitioning back as they come back from being 

gone in the theater and stuff and that’s a difficult situation, also. 

I don’t think sometimes we think enough about the—and you all 

have mentioned the stress in the family, the financial problems 

that come with deployment. You know, particularly in the case of 

the National Guard when you have a business and you go off and— 

it’s just a difficult situation. Sometimes the support mechanism, it’s 

just not there like it is in the regular military. 

Mike was mentioning earlier that possibly we could use the credit unions on base things like that, more to give advice and things. 

But I do think that’s an area and that’s something that we’ve 

looked at, that we’re trying to be more supportive, but I think that 

when you look at the—something that we don’t talk about, we talk 

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about PTSD, we talk about suicide rates, but we don’t talk about 

divorce rates, which is—you know, it’s been significant. 

So those are things that we really do need to do a better job of 

and its something I’m committed to and the Chair and her leadership understands. 

But—I really don’t have a question. I do appreciate you being 

here, and I appreciate your Auxiliary. 

I tell this story. I was at a ladies meeting several years ago, and 

I told them that my wife, Kathy, was with me. And I told them 

that I looked around and the auxiliary was doing all this work and 

that they were the backbone of the organization. 

And on the way home, Kathy looked at me and she said—my 

wife, Kathy, looked at me and she said, ‘‘They’re not only the backbone. They’re the brains, also.’’ So we do appreciate you very much. 

So thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Boozman. 

I have a couple of questions for the panel. Mr. Boes, if I could 

start with you. 

In making TAP mandatory, I asked this question of Mr. Kolden 

in the previous panel, the Marines have made it mandatory. In 

your experience and in your opinion, do you think that this is going 

to require Congress to act, to make it mandatory, or do you think 

that the Department of Defense can make it mandatory in each 

branch following the suit of the Marines? 

Mr. BOES. Madam Chairwoman, what I would say personally is 

it should be mandatory through DoD. 

I was visiting the other day with a retiring E6 from the Air 

Force, and since given this task to come onto this panel, I decided 

to ask people that I saw in uniform about the program. And this 

gal was just outstanding. Her positiveness was just great. When 

she gets out of the service, she’s going to do great things, and the 

TAP program is setting her up for that. 

And I said, ‘‘Well, that’s great for those of you that are retiring. 

How about that E3 or that E2 or even an E4 that’s getting out 

after 3 or 4 years?’’ And she was telling me that they really don’t 

care about it. They just want to get out and go home. 

The problem is that in a few years they’re going to say, ‘‘I wish 

I would have known about that.’’ And so many of them don’t even 

know to go check in with their local county offices to sign up for 

the veterans’ benefits, because, if nothing else, the veterans’ service 

officer there would be able to visit with them for a little while. 

While all of this discussion was going on, I was sitting back there 

thinking about something. I’m the brains of the organization. 

We talk about this being a great recruiting tool. Has there been 

any thought given to including a representative in a recruiting office so that people can see the veterans coming and going and what 

they are doing after service? Just a thought. 

But as far as making it mandatory, I think it needs to come from 

above. Because at the service level, if it isn’t mandatory, we’re 

going to have commanding officers or someone in command saying 

the job takes precedence over what you—wanting to get in TAP 

right now. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate your response. 

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Two years ago when we had this hearing, the field hearing focused on this topic in part, out at Ellsworth Air Force Base. They 

were going through a reduction in force, so you had some younger 

Airmen who may or may not take advantage of TAP. I think with 

Airmen in particular, that’s an additional obligation of the Department of Defense, to ensure that this information is shared with 

these younger individuals. 

But I do think—I appreciate your thoughts here even if one of 

the things we heard 2 years ago is if you make it mandatory, then 

it’s just like every other mandatory program. You’re not going to 

get much out of it. 

Well, that may be true in the short term for some of them. 

They’re still going to have certain information that they retain, or 

remember that it’s available, or that they will likely follow up or 

know where to follow up to get that information if they don’t go 

through the program. 

So I appreciate your response. 

One other thing, Mr. Boes. You recommended that TAP workshops should have a stronger employment, mental health, and 

small business component. Do you think that there should be workshops that address only one or two of those topics at a time so that 

there’s a stronger focus? Would you agree with the servicemember 

who testified earlier that there should be a longer duration to cover 

some of these other topics? Do you recommend that? 

Mr. BOES. Madam Chairwoman, I feel that the longer term of receiving that knowledge would be better. The idea that you get it 

in one fast blast, I heard Turbo TAP, a computer online system to 

get the information, that’s all good, but the first time, too, you’re 

going to pick up some information. The next time through you’re 

going to pick up a little more. 

So if we start out 6 months prior to somebody’s return or getting 

out of the service, start giving him that data, it will slowly sink in 

to where when they get out they say, ‘‘Oh, wait, I remember, it was 

said at TAP, and I need to go check in at that veterans’ service office.’’ 

One thing that the American Legion does also is we have a veterans’ forum. Each district within the American Legion puts on a 

forum once a year and we bring in all of these people. I would like 

to find a TAP representative to include in my district’s forum. It 

would just make sense to give out that extra information also. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you. 

To Ms. Werlinger and Ms. Hickenbotham, the Auxiliaries have 

been working with the Family Readiness Groups. Both of you 

talked about the importance of communication with the families, 

this time line of when you get the information to the family is too 

late and it will dilute its effectiveness. 

Could each of you elaborate in greater detail where you think 

TAP needs to be improved for Guardsmen and women and their 

families? In particular, having worked with the Family Readiness 

Groups to communicate to the National Guard leadership about the 

importance of encouraging not just full-time Guard but part-time 

Guard to participate in the Transition Assistance Program offered 

at Ellsworth, or looking to see if those types of programs could be 

offered in Sioux Falls or elsewhere in the State? 

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Ms. HICKENBOTHAM. In Aberdeen, it seems like there has been— 

I was just sharing with her earlier that we are not getting the communication out there like they seem to be getting out here. I don’t 

know if they’re sending a representative out here. 

Just a week or so ago a wife called me and her husband had to 

go to Greece, which allowed her to receive CHAMPVA. And she 

was—you know, he’d returned like 6 years ago. He was one of the 

first ones back. And so—everybody knows TRICARE and they all 

go to the hospitals and the doctors or CHAMP, but they weren’t 

aware of what CHAMPVA was and how she could get help with 

that. 

And we’re in the middle—Minot’s up there. You know, we’re 

there, but we need some help and support working up there with 

them. And being from Rapid City, I’m feeling like you’re getting the 

help you need, and I really think we need more help up in that 

northeast corner there. 

Ms. WERLINGER. The only other thing I can think of, Madam 

Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee, is these service 

men and women, they need whatever they can get, and the sooner 

they can get it, the better off they are. 

I know in my own personal life, when my husband retired from 

the Air Force, he had all the information available for him. I was 

not included as a spouse for that retirement separation. I could 

have been, but he did not want me there. Well, being the person 

I am, I got the information anyway, but that’s because that came 

within, what’s here. 

But I feel that some of those things should be mandatory, and 

I have not heard of anybody that I can think of right off the top 

of my head that has had any problems. But, like I said, when they 

need it, they need it, and they should have it. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. One quick followup. Is the accuracy of information you identified in your testimony, and some of the concerns of the accuracy of the information that they’re getting, not 

only do they need it and anything they can get, they need, we have 

to make sure it’s accurate. 

Does the American Legion Auxiliary have any specific recommendations? Is it an issue of training within the TAP program 

itself? Is it facilitating accurate information? The previous panel 

said that some of the fact sheets coming from the VA are not always as comprehensive as we need them to be and don’t fully explain the benefits. Do you have any specific recommendations on 

how we can improve the accuracy of the information? 

Ms. WERLINGER. Well, I have to go along with Mr. Boes. I think 

that if we can have a TAP representative at those meetings that 

we have for the veterans’ forum for the benefits, then we’ll get that 

information that we need. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Okay. Thank you. 

Thank you very much for your testimony today, for your leadership in your respective organizations. As a member of one of the 

Auxiliaries, I appreciate, very much, the role that both organizations play in supporting the American Legion and VFW. We appreciate, again, your leadership, Commander, and we’ll look forward 

to following up with you on your suggestions to better serve our 

Nation’s and our State’s men and women. Thank you. 

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We’ll now move to our fifth and final panel. 

Joining us is Mr. John McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary, 

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of 

Labor. He’s accompanied by Mr. Earl Schultz, Director of Veterans’ 

Employment and Training in South Dakota. Also, we have Mr. Don 

Kelpin, South Dakota Chairman, Employer Support of the Guard 

and Reserve, U.S. Department of Defense, and Mr. William 

Fillman, Central Area Director for the Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who is accompanied 

by Mr. John Smith, Director of the Dakota Regional Office, Fargo 

and Sioux Falls, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Thank you, gentlemen, for being with us today, traveling, most 

of you, to South Dakota or this part of the State, and we appreciate 

the written testimony you’ve submitted, which has been made part 

of this hearing record. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Mr. McWilliam, we will begin with you, 

and thanks for joining us in South Dakota. You are recognized for 

5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN M. MCWILLIAM, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

SECRETARY, VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING 

SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; ACCOMPANIED BY 

EARL R. SCHULTZ, DIRECTOR, VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT 

AND TRAINING, SOUTH DAKOTA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

LABOR; DON KEPLIN, STATE CHAIRMAN, SOUTH DAKOTA 

EMPLOYER SUPPORT OF THE GUARD AND RESERVE, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE; AND WILLIAM D. FILLMAN, JR., 

DIRECTOR, CENTRAL AREA, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN SMITH, DIRECTOR, SIOUX FALLS, SD, 

REGIONAL OFFICE, VETERANS BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

STATEMENT OF JOHN M. MCWILLIAM 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and Ranking 

Member Boozman. It’s a pleasure for us to be present here in 

South Dakota for this very important hearing on the Transition Assistance Program. 

The mission, as you know, of the Veterans’ Employment and 

Training Service is to assist veterans in the transitioning into the 

21st century workplace. One of the major ways that we do that is 

through the employment workshops provided through the Transition Assistance Program. 

We’re very proud of our role in helping people transition from 

military to civilian employment. As has been mentioned several 

times today, currently 65 percent of all active-duty transitioning 

servicemembers attend a TAP employment workshop. This has 

risen from 50 percent about 10 years ago. As a recommendation of 

the President’s Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes, each of the military services has established a goal of 85 percent participation. The DoL commitment to this is to provide the 

TAP employment workshop wherever and whenever requested by 

the Department of Defense and by the Department of Homeland 

Security. 

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As you know, Madam Chairwoman, to maintain a quality of service delivery, all our workshops use a common workbook and standard program of instruction. All facilitators are trained at the National Veterans’ Training Institute. 

We are currently in the process of beginning a redesign of the 

curriculum. A core aspect of that redesign will be customer surveys 

and follow-up afterward to provide a feedback loop so we can improve the program. 

Since 2001, VETS has provided transition services to over 

146,000 National Guard and Reservists. These transition services 

range in size and content from mobilization and demobilization 

briefings to the full-scale TAP employment workshop. In many 

cases, Guardsmen and Reservists are put on orders and are sent 

to an active-duty TAP workshop, and that is the case often in 

South Dakota. We have provided these services to 43 States and 

the District of Columbia. 

In particular for the Guardsmen and Reservists returning to 

South Dakota, we have long recognized the importance of providing 

them assistance. Since their mobilizations normally take place at 

Fort Sill or Fort Carson, when the presentations are made to the 

demobilizing servicemembers, they are given the contact information for our staff here in South Dakota. 

In closing, I’d like to thank you for allowing us to address you 

today, and Mr. Schultz and I look forward to answering any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. McWilliam appears on p. 78.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. McWilliam. Mr. Kelpin, 

thank you for being here. You are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF DON KELPIN 

Mr. KELPIN. Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and Members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to offer my perspective 

on issues relating to the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, or ESGR, as it applies to the South Dakota National Guard 

and Reserve members. 

I have volunteered with ESGR since 1996 and currently serve as 

the South Dakota State Chairman. South Dakota ESGR consists of 

40-volunteer members located throughout the State and two paid 

staff here in Rapid City. 

ESGR is a DoD agency that seeks to promote a culture in which 

all American employers support and value the military service of 

their employees. The ESGR volunteers recognize outstanding employer support, increased awareness of the law, and resolve conflicts through mediation. 

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights 

Act, or USERRA, Title 38, United States Code, Chapter 43, was enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton on October 13, 1994, to protect the rights of persons who voluntarily or 

involuntarily leave employment positions to undertake military 

service. 

There are two types of transitions for servicemembers, one when 

they transition after deployment and the other when they transition after enlistment obligations. 

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I will reference three significant sections of the Federal Regulations for USERRA, 20 CFR, Part 1002, that pertains to today’s 

hearing regarding the transition of servicemembers. 

The first section 1002.198. What efforts must the employer make 

to help the employee become qualified for their re-employment position? The employee must be qualified for the re-employment position. The employer must make reasonable efforts to help the employee become qualified to perform the duties of this position. 

These efforts include providing refresher training and any training 

necessary to update a returning employee’s skills in situations 

where the employee is no longer qualified due to technological advances. 

The second section I will cite is Section 1002.225. Is the employee 

entitled to any specific re-employment benefits if he or she has a 

disability that was incurred in or aggravated during the period of 

service? 

A disabled servicemember is entitled to the escalator position he 

or she would have obtained but for uniformed service. If the employee has a disability incurred in or aggravated during the period 

of service, the employer must make reasonable efforts to accommodate that disability and to help the employee become qualified to 

perform the duties. 

If the employee is not qualified for re-employment in the escalator position because of a disability, then a reasonable effort by 

the employer to accommodate the disability and to help the employee to become qualified, the employee must be re-employed in, 

A, a position that is equivalent in seniority, status, and pay to the 

escalated position or, B, a position that is the nearest approximation to the equivalent position consistent with the circumstances of 

the employee’s case. A position that is the nearest approximation 

to the equivalent position may be a higher or lower position, depending on circumstances. 

The last section being referenced is 1002.226. If the employee has 

a disability that was incurred or aggravated during the period of 

service, what evidence must the employer make to help him or her 

become qualified for the re-employment position? 

USERRA, A, requires that the employee be qualified for re-employment, regardless of any disability. The employer must make 

reasonable effort to help the employee to become qualified to perform the duties of his position. The employer is not required to reemploy the employee if, after reasonable efforts by the employer, 

the employee does not qualify for re-employment positions or, B, 

qualified has the same meaning here as it is in 1002.198, the first 

section I referenced. 

South Dakota ESGR has 16 trained ombudsmen throughout the 

State. These ombudsmen respond to inquiries and conflicts regarding USERRA presented by any employees or employers. Since October 1, 2007, South Dakota ombudsmen have fielded 116 information cases only and mediated 14 USERRA cases. South Dakota has 

not had a USERRA case go to the United States Department of 

Labor for the past 18 months. 

I hope this has been able to clarify the role played by the South 

Dakota ESGR in helping employers and servicemembers transition 

from military service to civilian employment. 

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Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Keplin appears on p. 80.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you for your testimony. Mr. 

Fillman, thank you for being here. We look forward to your testimony. You are now recognized. 

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM D. FILLMAN, JR. 

Mr. FILLMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chairwoman 

Herseth Sandlin and Ranking Member Boozman and Members of 

the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before 

you today to discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs Transition 

Assistance Program and local outreach efforts to support separating servicemembers and their families during the transition 

from military to civilian life. With me today is Mr. John Smith, Director of the Dakota Regional Office. 

The Transition Assistance Program is a joint effort of the VA, the 

Department of Defense, and the Department of Labor. TAP briefings are conducted nationwide and in Europe to prepare retiring or 

separating military personnel for return to civilian life. Members of 

the National Guard and Reserves may also elect to attend TAP. 

At these briefings, servicemembers are informed of the array of 

VA benefits and services available, instructed on how to complete 

VA application forms, and advised on what evidence is needed to 

support their claims. 

Following the general instruction segment, personal interviews 

are conducted with those servicemembers who would like assistance in preparing and submitting their applications for compensation and/or vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits. Additionally, servicemembers receive employment assistance, to include resume writing, skills marketing, job referral, and other transitional services. 

In fiscal year 2007, the VA conducted 3,778 TAP briefings with 

164,853 participants. As of June 30th of this year, we have conducted 3,083 TAP briefings for 128,600 participants. The participants included 111,113 active-duty members, 14,805 members of 

the Guard and Reserve, and 2,682 family members. 

The Sioux Falls VA Regional Office actively supports the commitment to provide a seamless transition for retiring military members. In fiscal year 2007, the office conducted 16 TAP briefings for 

467 participants. As of June 30th, the office has conducted 11 TAP 

briefings for 242 participants. The participants included 231 activeduty members, 6 members of the Guard and Reserve, and 5 family 

members. 

The Sioux Falls Regional Office is working diligently to ensure 

members of the Guard and Reserve understand the VA benefits to 

which they may be entitled. In addition to TAP, the office has completed six outreach events for the Army National Guard and for the 

South Dakota Air National Guard since October of 2006. These 

events provided benefit information to 517 members of the Guard. 

Madam Chairwoman, we at the VA are proud of our continuing 

role in serving this Nation’s veterans. We continually evaluate and 

seek opportunities to improve the quality and the scope of our outreach efforts to members of the military and their families. 

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I hope that my testimony today has provided you and the Subcommittee with a better understanding of the Transition Assistance Program. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you 

today. 

This concludes my testimony. Mr. Smith and I will be pleased to 

answer any questions from Members of the Subcommittee. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Fillman appears on p. 81.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Fillman. I’ll start with 

a question for you, based on some conversations I had during our 

short break, on the need to coordinate even more effectively in 

South Dakota. 

You do a very good job among agencies, and in coordination and 

partnership but to get more part-time Guard and Reserve into 

TAP. So the figures that you just mentioned in your testimony, 

since June of 2008 in South Dakota, the office has conducted 11 

TAP briefings for 242 participants in which six were members of 

the Guard and Reserve and five family members. Is this an average number of Guard, Reserve, and family members that participate in TAP on a monthly basis? 

Mr. FILLMAN. I think I would have to ask John to answer that 

question. 

Mr. SMITH. I would say that that represents an average of those. 

What we try to do when we have our scheduled TAP briefings at 

Ellsworth Air Force Base, we schedule it around them. If we have 

Guard units or Reserve units that are seeking assistance on one of 

their weekend drills, we do send a member from our office there 

to do some transitional briefings and also about what the VA can 

offer. 

As far as the statistics that you see, they are pretty accurate. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. That number seems low to me. What 

kind of outreach is your office doing? Are you taking any steps to 

increase the participation of Guard and Reserve beyond just sending a representative to a weekend drill versus maybe stronger partnership with General Doohen, with some of the other agencies that 

can be more active in encouraging part-time Guard and Reserve 

participation? Especially because there may be a desire for a career 

change after deployment. There may not be, but there very well 

may be. 

Any comments there? 

Mr. SMITH. Well, I would say that participation at this point is 

an individual choice; and anybody that needs assistance, we will be 

there. 

Now, I can tell you, a member of my staff was in the Naval Reserve; and he recognized the need to establish more of an outreach 

for benefit information at the VA office. He put together a package 

during one of his weekend drills after we sent it to him, and it was 

well received. Similar type of events we would welcome, but we 

would need to have some participation. 

I was listening through testimony today where they’re looking at 

mandatory TAP attendance; and I would say, from my perspective, 

it takes the same amount of energy and resources to talk about VA 

benefits to 5 people as it does to 50 or 500. But the more people 

that you have in attendance, the more efficient the programs become, the more they can understand and become aware. We’re not 

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going to teach in a very small period of time what all the VA does, 

but just so they’re aware that there’s a point of contact. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I don’t see her here, and I wish I would 

have asked her this question when she was on the prior panel, but 

Ms. Machetta said that there is room for more National Guard. Oh, 

is she still here? There she is. I just want that concern for the 

record. 

Ms. MACHETTA. Absolutely. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. So we’re going to have you come down 

here, perhaps? Do you mind if we have Ms. Machetta come back 

down? 

If there is room for more part-time Guards to participate? If 

there is a flexibility to provide those, not just at Ellsworth, but perhaps in Sioux Falls, I would think this is something, like you said, 

it increases the efficiency of the program. 

Mr. Fillman, you have a comment? 

Mr. FILLMAN. Yes, ma’am. This is not unique to South Dakota. 

This is a problem nationwide. When the Guard Reserve come back 

and they transition back from military service, as you heard earlier, they’re ready to go home. They don’t want to stay for the TAP 

briefings. 

In the Guards, that presents a unique problem, because they’re 

out in the various communities. And so we try to work with the Adjunct General’s office in each State to make sure they’re aware that 

we will provide service wherever—whenever it is requested, and if 

they would have a meeting on a weekend or would like us to bring 

a lobbyist over there, we would be very happy to do that. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate that, Mr. Fillman. 

Ms. Machetta, do you want to make a statement on the official 

record? 

Ms. MACHETTA. Yes. We put a lot of our Web sites—all of our information out on a Web site that is worldwide now. People can 

reach that. Having spent 8 years in the Guard in the beginning of 

my career, I’ve always felt that that was really important. 

We have room for at least 10 to 15 part-time Guard members 

and their spouses to come every month. Some months there’s even 

room for more. And we can afford the opportunity to maybe have 

some TDYs, if necessary. We can work out funding for that if that 

would be helpful to maybe provide one in Pierre once in a while, 

one in South Dakota, maybe over in Sioux Falls. 

If we put our heads together, I’m sure there are ways to reach 

it. But the big thing is the people have to know the benefits are 

out there, some of it, or there’s no reason to ever increase it. So 

the word of mouth is really a critical part, and then from there I 

think we can take care of it. Even just training our folks from the 

same, you know, sister agencies. It doesn’t have to be me. It doesn’t 

have to be any one of us teaching it. We just have to have good 

quality of information to get out. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate that. 

Mr. Boozman, did you have any questions for the panel? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Mr. McWilliam, I appreciate—we’ve been working on this now for 

several years, and I really do appreciate your working hard to try 

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and increase the numbers in the Transition Assistance Program. I 

know you’ve worked really hard at doing that. 

You mentioned that we have 60-percent active, but the goal is 80 

percent. I think the Marines is mandatory, and yet, theirs is not 

anywhere near a hundred percent. 

I guess my question is, where do we go from here? You know, 

we’ve—one of the major things that we’ve overcome that came up 

a few years ago was the retention thing. The military was very concerned that if you told them about civilian benefits, they were 

going to leave. 

And yet what we’re finding, Mike was saying that, in the Navy, 

they found a 30-percent retention rate once they went out and they 

were comparing what they had in the military versus when they 

got out, not realizing because they hadn’t heard of those benefits 

since they were recruited. 

I guess, like I said, my questions are: Where do we go from here? 

What do we need to do? What help can we give you to push it forward? Is it just the fact that we’re at war and stretched thin or is 

it—where do you see kind of the underlying structural things? It 

seems like everybody has bought into this now, but why aren’t we 

getting it done? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Mr. Boozman, as you mentioned, there has been 

an agreement with the Department of Defense to reach a goal of 

85 percent that has been briefed at the highest levels within DoD. 

The service secretaries or the service chiefs have all had to present 

a plan to the Deputy Secretary of Defense on how they will achieve 

that record, that number, and they are moving toward that. 

There is a Department of Defense memorandum that says once 

a servicemember elects to attend TAP, they have to be allowed to 

attend. So that’s very positive. That’s been out for over a year. 

I think, for the Reservists, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program is very good. It has the mandatory 30-, 60-, and 90-day unit 

assemblies; and TAP employment workshops are specifically mentioned as one of the services to be provided. 

I think the Department of Defense is working very hard on moving this forward; and I think it just takes a while, as you mentioned, to achieve the numbers. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. At the 85 percent level, do you have the staff to 

do that? I mean, do you all have to ramp up somewhat, you know, 

to get those kind of numbers done compared to 60 percent that 

you’re doing now? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Yes. Mr. Boozman, we are not interested in just 

doubling the class size. That’s too many participants in the class. 

We have in the President’s budget for 2009 included an increase 

specifically for TAP, which will allow us to support that higher figure. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Very good. 

Mr. Fillman, how does the VA know where to send the VA discharge packets? 

Mr. FILLMAN. They would come off the address from the DD– 

214s, I believe, sir, which is the discharge, and we would send 

those on out. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Is that a problem finding that and getting that 

done? 

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Mr. FILLMAN. It would all depend, I believe, on the address that’s 

listed on the DD–214. If it’s a current address, they should be able 

to receive it. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. How many members have been processed through 

the BDD program? 

Mr. FILLMAN. Sir, I’m not positive of the number. I think they 

have approximately 125 cases working their way through. There’s 

only been, I believe, two that have completed the process. I’m not 

exactly sure on that because I haven’t had a current briefing on 

that. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Tell us—tell me what’s going on with the call center. How is it—the new call center in Muskogee, how is that going? 

Mr. FILLMAN. The National Education Call Center in Muskogee, 

we got that implemented back in February. We were going to phase 

that in between February and July. We were able to move much 

quicker than that and had it totally implemented by the end of 

April. It’s working real well, I’m proud to say. 

The problem in education was we were not communicating—we 

didn’t have an effective communication system with the phones. 

The lost call rate varied from—the best for RPO was about 10 percent, and the worst was about 25 percent. That’s people who would 

hang up before they talked to a counselor. And the blocked call rate 

varied from, again, 10 percent to about 30 percent on calls not even 

able to get into the RPO they were trying to call. 

I’m proud to say that, with the advent of the National Call Center for Education, the lost call rate is less than three percent, and 

there is a blocked call rate of zero percent, so everyone is able to 

get in. So it’s working real well. We’re very, very proud of that. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Very good. 

Mr. Smith, does the staff in North Dakota Regional Office process BDD claims? And, if so, what’s the process of that? 

Mr. SMITH. On the BDD claims, we don’t currently process any. 

Those that are on the pre-discharge exams, the claims that we get, 

we are running about 3 months, about 90 days on average to process those. 

The members that are separating from active duty that have 

gone through the TAP program and are applying for benefits would 

be the types that can apply within 6 months to us for benefits. 

What we are finding is that they wait until about 2 to 3 weeks before their discharge and then give us their application at that time. 

If we had it sooner than before their discharge date—and, again, 

we mean 6 months—that would allow us some additional time to 

go through the process of that. We are obligated to approve his 

service notes that are done. 

That is our number one delay in processing our claims, is getting 

the military treatment records. Of everything that I’ve done, that’s 

been our biggest delay. 

And from what I’ve heard here, they’re not getting their DD–214 

at the time of discharge. That, again, will delay our processes, because we need to have certain proof to show that they are now discharged from active duty. 

But right now, South Dakota, on the total claims, we are running 

about 93 days on the average. And it’s almost the leader in the Nation. It’s number two in the Nation. That’s basically the service 

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we’re giving for our discharged members. We can improve our service if we can have better access to the military records. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Again, thank you, all of you all, for your service, working hard 

for veterans, and we really do appreciate the job that you’re doing 

and hopefully can continue to help you. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Thank you, Mr. Boozman. 

I have a couple of questions. 

Mr. McWilliam, you stated that in fiscal year 2007 almost 

146,000 separating military personnel and spouses were trained in 

4,715 TAPs worldwide. Is that active duty only? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. The majority of that is active duty only, yes, 

ma’am. There are some Reservists who attend those workshops. I 

don’t have the number in front of me, but it’s a very small number. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Could you follow up with us and get us 

the actual breakdown? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Certainly. 

[The information appears in the post-hearing questions and responses for the record, which appears on p. 86.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Can you tell us how many servicemembers separated in fiscal year 2007? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. It’s approximately 200,000, ma’am, but I’d have 

to ask DoD to get that back to you. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Okay. Do you have any numbers specific 

to South Dakota, or can you give that to us as well? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Both for separation and Reservists? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Yes, ma’am. 

[The information appears in the post-hearing questions and responses for the record, which appears on p. 86.] 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. On the veterans’ employment workshop 

that you mentioned, I think this is a great service, but I was wondering if you could identify what you think is the major reason that 

servicemembers and their families opt not to participate. 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Ma’am, I believe—and this is very anecdotal, 

based on trips that my Assistant Secretary and I have made to 

military installations. It was mentioned earlier the operational 

tempo of the military is very high right now. I think many people 

come back, especially from deployment and active duty, and they 

have one interest and that’s to leave the service and to get out as 

quickly as they can, and that’s what they do. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. A final question for you, Mr. McWilliam. 

You’ve mentioned that spouses have also received employment and 

job training assistance. Are families generally informed that these 

programs are available to them; and if so, how? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. Ma’am, spouses are eligible to attend the employment workshops. Approximately 3,100 have over the last year. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. How are they informed? 

Mr. MCWILLIAM. I don’t know, ma’am. I would assume they are 

through the Department of Defense and through the publicity for 

the TAP employment workshop, but I will ask the Department of 

Defense people and get back to you. 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Okay. It’s too bad we can’t ask them ourselves here today, but I appreciate that, Mr. McWilliam. 

Mr. KELPIN. Okay, so there are 16 trained ombudsmen here in 

South Dakota. Correct? That’s just here in South Dakota. 

Mr. KELPIN. Yes, ma’am. We have 16 trained in the State of 

South Dakota. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I think you said that there were 116 information request filings and 14 cases, but no cases had been sent 

on in 18 months, that those were fielded and mediated by the ombudsmen. 

Mr. KELPIN. That is correct. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Understanding the privacy concerns here, 

as it relates to employment and their rights, can you tell us generally for the Subcommittee’s edification, have you seen any trends 

identified in those information cases? Was it just generally an employer not being as familiar as they might otherwise be with 

USERRA rights? Anything related to the disability in combination 

that you mentioned specific to PTSD? Can you offer the Subcommittee anything, as to what the outcomes might have been of 

some of those cases that were fielded and mediated? 

Mr. KELPIN. The breakdown of fiscal year 2007 issues that our 

ombudsmen dealt with: We had five retirements. We ended up with 

seven seniority or status type positions, six termination for vacation, six dealt with benefits, and one was over promotions. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Okay. But those were all mediated over 

the last 18 months. 

Mr. KELPIN. That is correct, successfully. 

Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. Very good. 

One last question for you, Mr. Fillman. It’s helpful to hear that 

the VA and DoD are working together to ensure wider dissemination of information with regard to the array of benefits and services 

offered. One of the things that we learned in Indiana, at a field 

hearing there, is that—when we did have someone from DoD at 

that field hearing testifying—was some of the information that was 

being disseminated was only available to active-duty servicemembers. We had a spouse of a Reservist testifying firsthand of receiving no information, and the DoD witness acknowledged that that 

information about benefits wasn’t distributed, it was almost like 

DoD didn’t feel it was their responsibility to give it to National 

Guardsmen and women and Reservists. 

Can you share with us examples of the information that you are 

providing? I assume that this is going out to Guardsmen and 

women in terms of the information that the VA is sending out, understanding the issue of the delay and the questions Mr. Boozman 

posed about where you’re sending it and that’s the address put on 

the DD–214. 

Mr. SMITH. Well, I don’t know specifically how to answer that 

question, other than that, I do know that those that were activated 

when they are at the demobolization sites, there are people that 

are giving the TAP sessions, so they’re aware of that. 

And, as I mentioned before, we are available to go out to the various Guard units, but I would offer that they do need improvement 

on more information as to what is available, so I would offer any 

additional resources or invitations to them. 

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Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN. I appreciate that, Mr. Smith. You and 

Mr. Fillman may be aware that we have a legislative hearing in 

the Subcommittee on a bill introduced by Congressman Dennis 

Cardoza that would actually authorize a compact disc with that information being disseminated to every servicemember following deployment. We are working with Mr. Cardoza to try to move that 

bill. 

While it has been identified by the Congressional Budget Office 

having costs associated with it, we think it’s far worth whatever 

cost it is to be able to distribute and contact veterans with this 

benefit information for our military members and their families. 

We hope to be able to have some good news on that from this Congress early next Congress to facilitate the efforts of your office. 

Unless Mr. Boozman has any final questions? I want to thank all 

of you on this final panel as well for being here. The testimony 

you’ve offered and the insights that you’ve shared and your service 

to the Nation’s veterans and in your respective capacities with 

the—working with the employers, working with the VA, and certainly with the Department of Labor, all of them do great work on 

behalf of our servicemembers. 

I also want to take a moment to thank, again, Mr. Boozman for 

traveling to South Dakota once again. We like having our Arkansans in South Dakota, especially during the summer, so you can 

take the good word back to get out of the humidity and come up 

to South Dakota during your summer vacations, to your constituents down there. 

I want to thank those here at Rapid City Central High School 

for accommodating us, those in the auditorium to work these field 

hearings, the Rapid City community for always being so open and 

receptive to anything that we’re doing in our official capacity to 

help our servicemembers, and our veterans. 

And, of course, very strong words of appreciation for members of 

our Subcommittee staff who are here, who counsel us effectively, 

who help us prepare, who work during all of the preparation but 

also the important followup that we’ll be pursuing and all of the 

logistics associated, again, with getting us out of Washington, DC, 

and out in the field to be with all of you. 

We thank all of the folks that are here from our offices, as well 

as the folks from the community, and those of you with the TAP 

programs who have traveled here as well, and also those who 

served on our panels. Thank you very much. 

The hearing now stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 1:26 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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A P P E N D I X 

Prepared Statement of Hon. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Chairwoman, 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

It is an honor and a privilege to be here with you in South Dakota. I would like 

to thank our servicemembers, their families and everyone here with us today. I 

would also like to thank the distinguished Ranking Member John Boozman, of Arkansas, for joining us here in Rapid City. 

Like other States across the country, South Dakota has seen many of its servicemembers activated in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over twothirds of the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 1,012 members have actively supported the Global War on Terrorism, since the September 11 attacks on America, 

either at home or abroad in 15 countries. In addition, since the terrorist attacks on 

America, the South Dakota Army National Guard has mobilized more than 3,100 

soldiers. Also, 200 airmen and women from Ellsworth Air Force Base, which has 

been supporting missions in the Middle East since 9/11, and are currently preparing 

to deploy to Southwest Asia. 

Many of our brave service men and women in South Dakota are returning in need 

of healthcare, employment, housing, educational, and other services. They, like all 

our veterans across the country, deserve our best efforts in providing the resources 

to ensure a seamless transition from military service to civilian life. 

On June 19, 2006, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, under the leadership of then Chairman Boozman, held a field hearing nearby at Ellsworth Air Force 

Base to discuss the Transition Assistance Program and the Montgomery GI Bill. 

During that hearing, some of our panelists suggested expanding evening classes or 

online resources to accommodate servicemembers and their spouses’ working schedules. Others had brought up the prospect of making the program mandatory for separating servicemembers and expanding existing Montgomery G. I. Bill benefits. 

Today, we are gathered here again to reexamine the Transition Assistance Program and the progress we have made from two years ago. We will also have the 

opportunity to learn how the program is assisting our veterans in a seamless transition into employment and community life. 

As many of you know, the Transition Assistance Program was established to meet 

the needs of separating servicemembers during their period of readjustment into civilian life. The program offers job-search assistance and related services such as 

workshops on resume writing, interview process, labor market overviews, personal 

appraisal, and VA benefits. The program seeks to provide veterans with the skills 

and services needed to transition into the workforce. 

During my time in office, I have had the opportunity to meet with many local government officials and veterans here in South Dakota. In addition, this Subcommittee has received many recommendations from government and military officials, veteran service organizations, and concerned citizens from across the country. 

I am glad to note that we succeeded in making progress for our servicemembers and 

veterans. Included in the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act 

of 2008, we were able to gain bipartisan support for language that would allow mobilized members of the Reserve Forces to use their Reserve Educational Assistance 

Program, also known as REAP, benefits for 10 years after they separated from the 

Guard or Reserve. 

Furthermore, we made great progress in passing the Post 9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act that was recently enacted into law. This Act will enable 

most veterans to attend a public four-year school and provide a housing stipend 

based on the veteran’s zip-code. The new program will also help pay for the cost 

of books and other expenses associated with attending school. Many of their dependents will also be eligible to receive these benefits if the servicemember meets certain 

enlistment requirements. While this progress is long overdue, we must remain committed to reviewing all benefits to help meet the needs of our servicemembers and 

veterans. 

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We are glad to see some of our panelists here today who were with us two years 

ago. We hope to hear more from all our panelists with regards to how the Transition 

Assistance Program can better serve our veterans. 

I look forward to working with Ranking Member Boozman and other Members of 

this Subcommittee to ensure that our servicemembers and veterans are provided 

proper benefits to help them succeed in life after the military. The men and women 

who serve our Nation honorably deserve and should receive the best our country can 

offer. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Hon. John Boozman, Ranking Republican Member, 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

Good afternoon Madam Chairwoman. 

I believe we were here about 2 years ago and I remember the warm hospitality 

extended to me by the citizens of South Dakota and I greatly appreciate that. 

I would like to announce that your Congresswoman did such a good job as my 

Ranking Member during the 109th Congress that I thought she should get a chance 

to be the Chairwoman during the 110th Congress. I need to start negotiating with 

her to get my old job back. 

We are here to hear from South Dakotans about their experiences with the Transition Assistance Program or TAP. TAP is designed to provide servicemembers with 

the basic skills and knowledge to reenter the civilian world. As such, TAP appears 

to have mixed results. 

It is a success because the information being put out touches a wide variety of 

topics of importance to those leaving military service. Unfortunately, a significant 

portion of servicemembers either choose not to attend or are not allowed to attend 

TAP training. 

According to a July 17, 2008 audit by the VA Inspector General titled Veterans 

Benefits Administration Transition Assistance for Operations Enduring and Iraqi 

Freedom servicemembers and veterans, in 2006 and 2007, only 43 percent and 47 

percent of OEF/OIF servicemembers participated in TAP, falling short of VBA’s goal 

of 53 percent. Clearly VBA needs to do a much better job in reaching out to veterans. 

I am also very disturbed that the same Inspector General report shows that the 

highly touted Benefits Delivery at Discharge or BDD program is not meeting its 

goal to process benefit claims for severely wounded OEF/OIF veterans within 30 

days. The IG noted that of the nearly 5,000 claims received by Regional Offices, only 

24 percent were processed within 30 days. The other 76 percent of claims averaged 

114 days with some taking as long as 504 days. 

Madam Chairwoman, while oversight of the basic claims processing system falls 

outside of our Subcommittee, its performance certainly delays a disabled veteran’s 

ability to access programs within our jurisdiction such as vocational rehabilitation 

benefits and specially adapted housing benefits. These two programs alone are essential to a smooth transition to civilian life for disabled veterans. 

With most locations providing TAP over a two and a half day period, members 

are literally deluged with information and if they don’t pay attention, they will likely miss something important. 

Members of the National Guard and Reserves pose a special challenge because of 

the dispersed nature of their duty stations. In my mind, we need to do a better job 

preparing members of the Guard and Reserves, especially those who own businesses, prior to deployment. When those members return, we need to ensure they 

have full access to all benefits and programs for which they are eligible. 

Finally, many of those leaving military service will enter school or training programs under the GI Bill. I’m sure that most servicemembers are aware that Congress passed and the President signed into law a new, much more generous GI Bill 

education and training benefit. I want to recognize your efforts to improve education 

benefits by introducing and passing H.R. 5684, a greatly improved education benefit 

that I believe was superior in many ways to the new GI Bill program now signed 

into law. It did not make the final cut, but it was a great bill. 

Madam Chairwoman, you have brought us an excellent group of witnesses, even 

a husband a wife team and I am eager to hear from them. 

f 

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Prepared Statement of Yvette S. Lassegard Rapid City, SD 

(Veteran’s Spouse) 

Thank you, Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and other committee members for the 

opportunity to speak with you about my experiences with transition. My name is 

Yvette Lassegard. My husband Ole is a sergeant for the 235th Military Police Company in the South Dakota Army National Guard. We have one son Aric, he is 6 

years old. 

Ole is a war veteran, having served twice in support of Iraqi Freedom. His first 

deployment was a stateside mission at Ft. Carson Colorado from February 2003 to 

January 2004, and most recently he served in Afghanistan from October 2006 to 

January 2008 (12 months in country 3 months training). 

I served as the Lead-Volunteer for the Family Readiness Group of our unit during 

both deployments and through the down time in between. This job was not always 

very easy, but it will be an experience I will carry with me for a lifetime. 

During the first deployment, our soldiers were stateside, which even though they 

were on home ground and it was not as stressful in the sense of the constant danger, it was no easier than their deployment overseas. They still were not (home). 

The transition back into our family and civilian lives I think went pretty smoothly 

at a personal level. However, even though these soldiers were considered veterans, 

after this deployment, I don’t think they always were treated as veterans by society. 

They heard a lot of ‘‘Oh you were only stateside, that’s not so bad.’’ It was no different in most ways, they were still away from their families, civilian jobs, homes 

and they were treated as ‘‘deployed soldiers’’ by the military. These soldiers did have 

many of the same sacrifices, even though some people did not understand that. 

When our unit was activated to go to Afghanistan about two years later, it was 

very different. The stress level was higher, they were in a war zone, again away 

from families, jobs, and home, but there was more support from the public. People 

were more accepting of this ‘‘real deployment.’’ When they came home this time they 

were treated like veterans, even though most of them already were veterans before 

they were in foreign soil. Transition this time, I think has been different; we both 

have become stronger and a little more independent in our time apart. Different 

things are more important to us, the most important being each other and our son. 

This time I worry about things like PTSD, and what other things Ole might be experiencing but, I do know that I felt more prepared to help with what he may need. 

I think that our State does a wonderful job with helping the families and the soldiers both during deployments and transitions back into civilian life. Our State 

Family Assistance Center offers amazing support and information. They worked 

with me and the rest of the Family Readiness Group to help keep the families 

across our State informed about what was going on with their soldiers during deployment as well as help them prepare for the returning soldiers. The programs that 

are offered are outstanding, Military OneSource, Troop and Family Counseling, the 

TRICARE benefits, and the benefits that the VA offers. I think that continued education for both the families as well as the soldiers about these programs is very important, especially after a deployment. I also think that trying to continue to educate the public is important. When a National Guard unit is deployed it affects everyone in the community, not only do loved ones leave, but employees, employers, 

community volunteers, and friends. These deployments bring back changed soldiers, 

whether it is a stateside mission or an overseas mission if more people are aware 

of the effects deployments can have as a whole, I think that transitions would be 

easier for everyone especially the soldiers. 

Thank you for your time. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Sergeant Ole D. Lassegard, USANG, 

Member, 235th Military Police Company, 

South Dakota Army National Guard 

Thank you, Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and other committee members for the 

opportunity to speak with you. My name is Ole Lassegard I am a sergeant with the 

235th Military Police Company in the South Dakota Army National Guard. My wife 

Yvette and I have one son Aric, he is six. 

I joined the Army National Guard in September 1993 in order to pay for college. 

I will have completed 15 years of service in September of this year, and will have 

19 and a half years of service when my current enlistment is finished. I do plan 

to serve twenty or more years. 

During my 14 years of service I have been on State duty for 1 fire in the Black 

Hills (Jasper), helped with snow and power pole removal near Watertown South Dajbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

59 

kota after a major blizzard, and did security detail at Camp Rapid after 9/11. I have 

also serviced on active duty orders twice. 

My first deployment was a stateside mission in Ft. Carson Colorado from February 2003 to January 2004. During this deployment we conducted law and order 

missions while the active duty Military Police from Ft. Carson went overseas. 

My second deployment was an overseas mission to Afghanistan from October 2006 

to February 2008. During this deployment my unit conducted missions that consisted of detainee Ops (enemy prisoner of war), convoy security, law and order on 

some of the smaller forward observation bases (F.O.B.’s), customs missions on several smaller outlying F.O.B.’s, and village assessments. 

Being away from my family was not easy either time. During my time in Ft. Carson it was very frustrating to be so close to home, but not be at home. My integration back into my family life and my civilian job was fairly smooth. While deployed 

to Afghanistan, things were different. I was half way around the world from my 

family and home. Being in a war zone was very stressful. This time when I came 

home, integration back into my civilian life has been a little different. Yvette and 

I have both become stronger more independent people. My son Aric had finished 

preschool and was almost done with kindergarten and had grown up so much. The 

most important part of our lives now, is our time together as a family. My transition 

back to my civilian job has gone good without any major problems. 

Our demobilization was at Ft. Carson Colorado. The out processing including 

briefings/debriefings were long and drawn out. We felt that some of it could have 

been completed at our home station Camp Rapid so we could have been with our 

families after having been gone for more than a year. Once I was home, I was able 

to get into the VA at Ft. Meade for a dental appointment within a week. However 

my post deployment medical check up before going back to work was not as easy. 

I was told at first I should get an appointment in 30 days. This did not happen. 

I was told several different times that they were ‘‘full’’ and I would have to wait. 

When checking back in with them I was getting several different stories, depending 

on whom I would talk to. Things were finally straightened out and I was able to 

get the appointments I needed. It was very frustrating for me to have had to deal 

with this, but in all the VA has been a nice benefit in which I will continue to use 

as needed. 

Thank you for your time. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Master Sergeant Roxanne Krebs, USAF, 

Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD 

Madam Chairwoman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, thank you 

for the opportunity to present my experience with the Transition Assistance Program or TAP. 

I have been in the Air Force for 21 years and will be retiring at the end of this 

year. Since the Air Force has been my only career since the age of 18, I’ve never 

had the opportunity to gain the experience my civilian counterparts have with conducting a job search, preparing a resume or holding a job interview. Although my 

military career has allowed me to grow and develop into a leader who will be successful in any job I hold, the TAP workshop provided me with the fine tuning I 

needed to effectively market myself to a potential civilian employer. 

Over the past few years I had numerous friends who went to TAP workshops here 

at Ellsworth Air Force Base and overseas at Osan Air Base in the Republic of Korea 

and every one of them couldn’t say enough about the program. Although I had heard 

wonderful things about TAP over the past few years, I kept putting it off because 

something would come up. Finally in May of this year I realized I needed to figure 

out how I was going to start searching for a job after retirement, so I finally signed 

up for the 3-day June workshop through the Ellsworth Air Force Base Airmen and 

Family Readiness Center. This was the best decision of my career. Now I can’t stop 

talking about the workshop to everyone I know who is separating or even thinking 

about retiring. 

During the TAP workshop, we not only learned how to write a resume, conduct 

ourselves during a job interview, and what veterans programs and benefits are 

available, but we were also provided opportunities to speak with real civilian employers. The employers provided us opportunities to discuss with them what they 

are looking for in potential employees, how they view resumes and their tips on conducting an interview. Once they finished briefing the whole group, we were provided 

one-on-one opportunities to meet with the employers for further individualized feedback. One final aspect I really appreciated was the volume of reference materials 

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we were provided. From Web sites to magazines to books all covering different aspects of the job search. One of the most priceless reference Web sites showed me 

how to convert military terminology into the equivalent civilian terminology which 

allows my resume to be competitive. 

Some people would argue why offer a career workshop which costs time and 

money the Department of Defense doesn’t have when an individual could just go to 

a local college and pay for a similar class. I would argue that a local college can’t 

provide a class designed to meet the unique and specific needs of our military culture. Only a program created for and run by both veterans and the military can 

meet the unique needs of transitioning military personnel. I truly believe this was 

one of the most comprehensive and informative workshops I have ever taken 

throughout my life and believe it will continue to help make a big difference in the 

lives of all military personnel. Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to 

present my experience with the Transition Assistance Program. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Mark Koopman, Servicemember, Ellsworth Air 

Force Base, SD (Recent Transition Assistance Program Attendee) 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, on behalf of the Transition Assistance Program attendees and instructors for several governmental agencies, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present information concerning my experience with the Transition Assistance Program and give you three reasons why I support it. 

After being out of the civilian workforce for 20 plus years, day one of TAP gave 

me a wealth of knowledge on getting back ‘‘in the game.’’ I no longer felt like an 

outsider looking in. Granted, I experienced ‘‘information overload’’ but now felt like 

I had been given the competitive edge that I needed for my job search, with access 

to tools such as Web sites, job search, personal appraisal information, financial guidance, etc. 

Day two of TAP was even more valuable. It consisted of teaching me how to fill 

out a job application, understand the five different types of resumes (chronological, 

functional, combination, federal and targeted), the importance of and know-how on 

completing cover letters, and finally, writing my own resume. 

Day three was equally important as it consisted of the interview process. They 

taught us basic elements such as preparation (know the company), and knowing the 

job description. As basic as this sounds, we needed to be reminded of this. Getting 

my ‘‘30 second commercial’’ done—having to sell myself! Finding out that there are 

so many types of interviews: phone, board, one-on-one, e-mail—and that I had to 

always be ready to interview. We discussed tough questions and how to handle them 

in interviews. I understood that I must be able show in the interview how I can 

contribute to this company—by increasing their profits or satisfying their need. 

Without the last half of the day to learn about personal veteran benefits, I know 

that I would not have been able to protect my family and best use the benefits that 

are available to me. 

In summary, I’ve explained why the three day TAP class has benefited me and 

why I believe it is invaluable to all veterans. Please continue to support it as I do. 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for taking the time to hear about my experience with the 

Transition Assistance Program. This concludes my testimony. I would be happy to 

answer any questions you may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Kimberly S. Geffre, Servicemember, Ellsworth Air 

Force Base, SD (Recent Transition Assistance Program Attendee) 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present information concerning my 

experience with the Ellsworth Air Force Base’s Transition Assistance Program and 

reasons why I support it. 

I am honored to have served my country over 19 years. In May 2007, I deployed 

to Iraq and shortly after my departure, my husband was relocated for a one-year 

assignment in Central America. I have had the opportunity to benefit from many 

of the services provided at Ellsworth Air Force Base including pre-deployment and 

post-deployment services and most recently the Transition Assistance Program. 

I have been out of the civilian workforce for almost 20 years, and was intimidated 

on the transition back into civilian life. This course provided me great insight into 

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areas I should consider prior to separating. I was given information to assist me 

in job search, access to tools such as Web sites, personal appraisal information, financial guidance, etc. I only wish I would have attended earlier and had more time 

to get prepared. 

The training I received was very informative and presented in a logical format. 

Lessons included how to fill out job applications, understand different types of resumes, the importance of cover letters, and the instructors even provided assistance 

to me in drafting my own resume. I learned keys to job searching such as preparation (knowing the company), knowing the job description, and different types of 

interviews. The last day I learned about my veteran’s benefits and specifically about 

programs I didn’t know were available to me. Every military member should attend 

this class. 

There is one area of concern I have in applying for civil service following military 

service. Although benefits and preferences are available for veterans after separation, the hiring systems for civil service may not allow you to take advantage of veteran’s preferences until you receive the final DD Form 214. In the past, a copy of 

this document was provided to the member during their last appointment to outprocess. It is now mailed to the servicemember and can take more than a month 

from the date of separation. Many members who are retiring spend up to 60 days 

on terminal leave attempting to secure employment, and in some cases remain unemployed for as long as 3 months before they can take advantage of the VA preferences because they have not received the DD Form 214. Compounding this problem is the complicated hiring system. In my current position, I have worked through 

this difficult hiring process to hire a civilian employee and it took months. On 

USAJOBS.com, positions were listed that were not truly open (two other civilian positions in my office) and there were positions open for months that remained unfilled because someone in the reviewing process determined the applicant was unqualified. This process was very difficult for the unit waiting for the position to be 

filled, and frustrating for applicants who needed employment and had applied but 

did not receive feedback on why they were found to not be qualified. This hiring 

system needs significant work. 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, I support your efforts to review and improve the Transition Assistance Programs offered throughout our Nation and hope that the information provided here today is of help to you. This concludes my testimony. I would be happy 

to answer any questions you may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Major General Steven R. Doohen, 

Adjutant General, South Dakota National Guard, and Secretary, 

South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs 

Madam Chairwoman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak to the issues regarding the care, treatment and benefits of our Soldiers, Airmen and families. Soldiers and Airmen of the South Dakota National 

Guard continue to answer the call on behalf of our Nation and State of South Dakota. As you know, the National Guard is a dual mission organization. We have a 

State mission supporting the Governor and our citizens in their time of need, responding to man-made and natural disasters of our state. Our other mission is the 

Federal mission of reinforcing the Army and Air Force and their missions all over 

the world. Since 9/11, the South Dakota National Guard has and continues to do 

a superb job answering the call, supporting our great nation. We currently have 

over 4,100 Soldiers and Airmen assigned. Fortunately we are over 100 percent of 

personnel assigned and constantly rank within the top five states relating to recruiting and retention. The South Dakota Army National Guard has deployed over 3,200 

Soldiers which is over 94 percent of their personnel, while the South Dakota Air 

Guard has deployed over 900 Airmen which is over 90 percent fighting against the 

global war on terror. 

These unprecedented deployments required us to change the way we take care of 

our Soldiers, Airmen, and families. Before our units deployed, my predecessor determined we should prepare ourselves for the return of these heroes and provide better 

assistance for their families. They held several mental health summits with the 

State’s mental health professionals, Veteran’s Administration officials, State Health 

officials, and the Veteran’s service organization. These summits helped us organize 

a plan for the reunion and reintegration of our Soldier and Airman. We continue 

to enhance our programs providing the best possible services, recently we revised 

our Reintegration program. 

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Reintegration and transition is a process rather then an event. We pave the road 

to reintegration even before the service members are deployed. We emphasize communications to family members and supply letter writing kits, morale purpose computers and free software for Internet audio-visual sessions. 

During the deployment, we continue building strong families through family readiness group activities and positive youth programs. 

The program is most popular for the pre-deployment efforts but these could not 

be successful without a robust program that also addresses pre-mobilization and mobilization involvement. 

We have an eight phases, Yellow Ribbon Reunion and Reintegration program. 

PHASE 1—Preparation for the returning servicemembers. 

Phase to occur eight to twelve weeks in advance of Service Member Return. Focus 

on providing awareness to families about expectations of the return. 

• Send Families the Down Range to Iraq and Back Book or Courage After Fire 

Book 60–90 days prior to the returning unit. The book is accompanied with 

a letter encouraging the family to read and share with families both of the 

books which cover topics of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Transitional 

issues such as returning to community, employment, parental and spousal 

roles. The books offer insight on dealing with the challenges of deployment 

as well as resources available upon return to assist in the reintegration process. 

• Thirty to sixty days prior to the return of the deployed unit, a meeting for 

the awaiting Families is hosted by the Chaplain Team to discusses the emotional stages of reintegration. The focus of the meeting is to create awareness 

for all family dynamics; children, parents, significant others. The topics of discussion provide education and awareness of the signs and symptoms of PTSD. 

• After the prior steps have been conducted (separate meeting) our Family Assistance Center provides entitlement and benefit information to the awaiting 

Families. The meeting is set up to provide an introduction of entitlements, 

resources and service agencies available to support our returning Veterans 

and Families. The following topics make up the agenda and the message is 

provided by the representative responsible for the service. The concept is 

truly surrounding ‘‘community partnerships.’’ 

TRICARE—Health Care changes with reintegration 

Education—entitlements for Veterans both State and Federal 

Vet Center—services and resources available 

Family Assistance Center—‘‘easy button’’ easy access to support and resources 

County Veteran Service Officer—the CVSO responsible for the returning 

unit and overview of VA medical centers 

Employer Support—re-employment rights and contacts 

Troop & Family counseling service 

Military OneSource and community mental health clinics. 

PHASE 2—Preparing the Community for the return 

Reintegration extends beyond Families. The concept to offer training, awareness 

and support to our great South Dakota Communities building strength in our 

churches, employers and local businesses. WORK IN PROGRESS—working to identify solution and success. 

PHASE 3—WELCOME HOME—South Dakota READY 

Welcoming our returning Service Members home at the Demobilization Station. 

Sending South Dakota representation to greet and provide contacts to Service Members as they prepare to return to home station. Representation sent to de-mobilization site; County Veteran Service Officers, Chaplain, Family Readiness Staff, SD 

National Guard Medical Staff. Placing a name with a face. 

PHASE 4—Deactivation Ceremony 

The opportunity for South Dakota to reunite with returning Service Members 

through ceremony and local community events. 

PHASE 5—Outreach 

Thirty to forty-five days upon Service Member return a letter is sent to the Service Member and Family reminding of support available. The letter highlights services, resources and ‘‘easy button’’ options available. Enclosed with the letter handouts of Mental Wellness Offices, Strong Bonds advertisement and Family Assistance 

Center resources are included. 

PHASE 6—Wellness Call 

A phone call made to the Service Member thirty to sixty days from release of active duty. The purpose of the call is to touch base, ensure Service Member knows 

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support is a phone call away and offer answers to any pending questions, concerns 

or issues. 

PHASE 7—Reunion Drill 

MANDATORY PARTICIPATION—First drill back Service Member required and 

Family (spouse and parents) invited/strongly encouraged. The drill is family oriented and takes place away from the armory and at a hotel. The drill is a paid drill 

and reimbursement is provided to cover mileage, hotel expenses and child care is 

available to maximize participation from families. This event is all about the Military Family. The agenda of the weekend is as follows: 

Friday—travel day and social event in the evening. 

Saturday—9 am start only one hour of presentation with introduction of all supporting offices and representatives. 

Service Members and Families are provided with a checklist that has the following listed: 

TRICARE 

Family Assistance Center 

VA Hospital 

County Veteran Service Officer 

Chaplain Office 

Vet Center 

Employer Support 

Education 

Counseling and Mental Health—Military Family Life Consultants 

Community mental health clinics 

After the introductions are complete Service Members with Family Members go 

to each one of the stations. The concept is to minimize Service Members from feeling 

uneasy about visiting with any one provider by requiring everyone to go to each station. This also allows for both the Service Member and his/her family to address 

questions and concerns direct to individual need. Breaking down intimidation barriers and ensuring everyone leaves with a great knowledge of available support and 

resources. Based upon the size of the event creates the number of representatives 

at each station. The goal would be for the Service Mmembers and Families to continue to move freely from station to station and not a weekend of wait. 

The only other group presentation is the mental wellness brief. Through the services of Military Life Consultants a Counselor(s) are brought in to have an interactive group session. The goal is to create a comfortable setting for open discussion 

about the transitions of deployment thus far and potential issues to come. Attempt 

to set up in a circle setting with counselor sitting within the group. Open discussions hopefully providing comfort in knowing ‘‘you are not alone’’ as well as creating 

an atmosphere to feel comfortable with sharing and communicating. 

The First Drill Back occurs sixty to ninety days upon return from deployment. 

Loads of great information is available about resources, benefits and support. The 

most important function of the event is to provide our Service Members with the 

opportunity to reunite in a stress free environment with fellow Service Members, 

and just as important Families having the same opportunity to reunite with one another. 

PHASE 8—Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA) 

Medical Screening done at second drill back. Testing on many different levels 

from physical issues caused by deployment to mental wellness issues caused by deployment. Atmosphere is focused on confidentiality and encouragement to speak 

freely about needs. Matters brought up are identified and Soldiers are referred to 

the Veterans Administration. Education on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to recognize within self as well as others and seeking support to address matters. 

Prior to 9/11, the staffing of the South Dakota National Guard was either 1–2 people deep or non-existent concerning Veteran’s Services to Service Members and 

Families. Since 9/11 and the multiple deployments of our Guardsmen we have created a Family Wellness Branch. This branch consists of: our Family Programs, Veteran’s Transition Assistance, Chaplain, Funeral Honors, and Employer Support 

Guard/Reserve. 

The creation of the Wellness Branch was designed to assist Service Members, 

Families, and Employers during the entire period of service being performed by our 

Service member. This innovative approach to a combined effort lessened the administrative burdens on the traditional administrative personnel sections, and provides 

a unified focus for benefits and services for the Service Member and Family. 

I would be remised if I did not discuss a major issue facing our returning HEROES, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ever time I meet with Soldier, Airmen, and Veteran, I stress the important of obtaining help should you need assistjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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ance in regard to PTSD or any other reunion or reintegration issue. South Dakota 

is very fortunate that we have a wonderful Veteran Administration health care system and several Veterans Centers that provide outstanding service and support to 

our Veterans. 

We continue to work on the stigma our service members feel about obtaining the 

necessary mental health care they require. We are grateful that the Department of 

Defense’s decision to change a question on the government security clearance form 

referencing an applicant’s mental health history. ‘‘Question 21’’ on Standard Form 

86 specifically asked applicants whether they ever received treatment for mental 

health issues. This is a big step toward removing the stigma relating to mental 

health care, since service members often feel they place their security clearance at 

risk should they seek mental health care. 

I thank you, key members of Congress, for providing the funding for programs 

such as the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program. Programs such as these that care 

for our soldiers and families prior to deployment, during deployments and long after 

their return from deployment is critical to their proper reintegration back into their 

civilian careers. As a nation we have come along way of taking care of those that 

are serving our country. I thank all of you for the support you have given to our 

Heroes that have volunteered to serve their State and Country. I thank you for the 

privilege and opportunity to be with you today. I am very proud to wear the uniform 

and serve in the ranks of these great young men and women. 

Madam Chairwoman, this concludes my testimony. Are there any questions? 

f 

Prepared Statement of Susan Machetta, Community Readiness Consultant, 

Transition Assistance Program Coordinator, 

Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD, Transition Assistance Program 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, on behalf of the Transition Assistance Program attendees and instructors for several governmental agencies, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to present information concerning Ellsworth Air Force Base’s Transition Assistance Program. 

Deciding to leave the service, whether through retirement or separation, is an incredibly personal decision and it is essential that we make this program available 

early in the member’s decision-making process. For the program to do what it is intended to do, ease the transition to civilian life as well as ensure that the member 

is making a fully considered choice as to his or her career path, it is often needed 

two to three years prior to making the final decision. If the decision only involved 

where to work and what to wear, transition would be easy. But when you consider 

the financial and emotional aspects of this decision for the member and his or her 

family, how and where to settle, how to make best use of educational opportunities, 

how to best use the skills gained while in our service, and most importantly, how 

and when to access their benefits, this is a decision that should not be made in the 

last weeks or months of service. 

Each quarter, we have increased attendance at the Transition Assistance Program 

(TAP) classes and we feel this is due to the quality of service and the flexibility with 

which we provide our services. A strong cohesive team built with our Airman and 

Family Readiness Center, Ellsworth’s senior leadership and all of the partner agencies from the Department of Labor and Department of Veterans’ Affairs help to solidify and strengthen our program. When we asked that commander’s attention be 

given to the needs of the service members and that they be allowed to attend early 

in the decision process (up to 3 years before actual separation or retirement), our 

commanders and first sergeants concurred and are now, where possible, allowing 

members to attend early to begin planning. Members are highly encouraged to bring 

spouses to the class and we are seeing an increase in spouse attendance. Having 

two sets of ears to capture all of the information provided greatly eases family 

stress—and ensures the spouse knows of the benefits available to them as well. 

We encourage members to come back for refresher training and take advantage 

of just-in-time assistance with portions of the class as they reach the final stage of 

their career. Flexibility has been a must to make this happen. They may only need 

a private visit or an hour or two of the class—but if they need it, we make sure 

they have access to it. We see a huge concern of members is whether or not they 

will be prepared for employment as they leave the service. One individual attending 

class last year discovered that by staying in for an additional tour of duty, he could 

add $11,000.00 in benefit to his GI bill and begin working on a doctorate by finishing up his master’s degree while on active duty. In his case, attending the class 

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was a valuable recruiting tool for the Air Force. Many others struggled with not 

knowing what they were qualified to do, or how to begin writing their resumes. To 

ease that burden, we provide over 100 open and valid job announcements from a 

variety of sources each and every month so they are working on solid employer 

needs as they craft their resume—and they have, through our joined staff efforts, 

many individuals to assist with fine tuning their resume before the end of class. 

By attending the program early, they have a better understanding of what they 

will need, who can assist them, and immediate access to literally hundreds of employment and benefit Web sites and services. With attendance at the class taken 

care of, we have been able to assist many members from deployed locations with 

finalizing resumes, assisting them with search engines, preparing budgets that will 

actually work for them, ensuring insurance needs are taken care of, etc. Templates 

for cover letters, resumes, grammar tools, immediate access to detailed position descriptions, VA benefits—all are available through our local website—no matter who 

needs access or where they are located. When word got out at some of our deployed 

locations that Ellsworth members were able to work on resumes and benefits during 

down times, service members from sister agencies were able to immediately access 

the same information and receive assistance with editing or other needs. Members 

from other installations and services have specifically requested TDY orders to come 

from as far away as Oregon to attend our offering because of the personal service 

offered. An Air Force Reserve commander from Oregon recently brought his wife 

with him to a class as he knew he would be retiring near here in about six months. 

On the way back to Oregon from his TDY, he had a heart attack. His wife, who 

had stayed behind to assist family in the local area, found it tremendously helpful 

to have attended the program. She was able to assist him and his doctors in ensuring their lives would not be devastated by what had happened. He was able to finish 

his career and look into the benefits of regular or disability retirement and together, 

they made a decision that was right for them. 

We continually monitor statistics on attendance and quality of service provided. 

Our Department of Labor folks review all statistics as well and have quickly responded to our needs—adding four additional classes per year for the past two years 

so that we can confidently say we never turn away any veteran or spouse of a veteran wanting to attend. One of the most critical areas of statistics that I see is the 

need to ensure financial stability of the veteran and ensure they understand the difference between pay and entitlements while in the service and what will be received 

after separation. When first assuming responsibility for this program, I saw that 

three-quarters of our separating or retiring people were greatly concerned about 

their finances. Unfortunately, when we only saw them in the program during the 

last month or two of their careers, there was little we could do. Now that we have 

changed the emphasis on when to attend to at least one to three years before retirement, the member has time to fully comprehend what will be needed and make necessary adjustments. Individual assistance with debt load or assistance with planning can now be provided. The results are significant—members are seeking assistance early on and are much more aware of what they need. We see fewer people 

stressed over finances—and new attendees to the class are often indicating they are 

attending not because of orders or brochures, but because a friend or co-worker recommended the program to them. We help our members create solutions and minimize stress! 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and members of the 

Subcommittee, we support your efforts to review and improve the Transition Assistance Programs offered throughout our nation and hope that the information provided here today is of help to you. This concludes my testimony. I would be happy 

to answer any questions you may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Shane A. Olivier, Veterans Education Program 

Specialist, South Dakota State Approving Agency 

Introduction 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman and members of the 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, I am pleased to appear before you today 

on behalf of the South Dakota State Approving Agency to provide comments on the 

Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Chapter 33) and the value 

of the South Dakota State Approving Agency. 

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Remarks 

Public Law 110–252 

(Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008—Chapter 33) 

We are very pleased with the enactment of Public Law 110–252 (Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008—Chapter 33). The South Dakota State 

Approving Agency and the National Association of State Approving Agencies, of 

which we are a member, worked hard over the last several years to bring improvements to the educational assistance programs for those who defend the freedoms 

that we all so thoroughly enjoy. Our goal of attaining a Total Force GI Bill—one 

that truly provides equal opportunities and benefits for equal service rendered to 

the nation—will finally be realized on August 1, 2009, for those seeking a college 

degree. All service members, active duty and selected reserve will be equally recognized for their sacrifices and contributions. 

Additionally, our goal of having the ‘‘GI Bill’’ keep pace with the escalating costs 

of education also will be achieved. Veterans will no longer have to forgo the use of 

their education benefits because of family responsibilities or work a significant number of hours per week in order to enroll in an education or training program. The 

new law will provide greater opportunities to maintain a better balance between the 

pursuit of new or improved career opportunities and meeting family and community 

obligations. 

As I have stated, Chapter 33 is definitely a major improvement in the earned benefits for those serving in our current war on terrorism. The ‘‘new’’ GI Bill focuses 

only on degree programs. In fact there are several types of educational institutions 

as well as training establishments that are not included in Chapter 33. 

First, Chapter 33 veterans cannot use their benefits at non-college degree educational institutions. Some examples of these institutions are: business and trade 

schools, cosmetology schools, barber schools, public area vocational technical schools, 

etc. Although not as many in number as colleges/universities, a significant number 

of veterans do attend non-college degree institutions. They should have the same opportunity to use their Chapter 33 benefits. The training for many outstanding occupations is provided by these institutions. In addition, flight training institutions and 

correspondence schools are not included. 

Second, Chapter 33 veterans cannot use their benefits in apprenticeship/on-thejob training programs. On-the-job training programs must be at least 6 months in 

length and no longer than 2 years in length. Apprenticeship programs can vary from 

1 year to 5 years in length. The basic difference between apprenticeship training 

programs and on-the-job training programs is that apprenticeship programs have 

theoretical related instruction as a requirement. Some examples of training programs are: carpenter, electrician, plumber, automotive technician, truck driver, police officer, deputy sheriff, welder, etc. 

Since the original GI Bill, an important component for all VA educational programs has been the ability for approval of training programs so that eligible veterans/dependents can use their earned benefits while actually performing a job and 

earning wages. ‘‘VA educational benefits should not just be for classrooms.’’ Some individuals learn better from practical hands-on training. Training on the job assists 

employers in hiring and retaining skilled workers which will provide our country 

and State with a highly educated and productive workforce. South Dakota has had 

a long tradition of promoting this type of training opportunity for those eligible to 

receive VA educational benefits. This has enriched our citizens, their communities 

and our state’s economy. 

The basic concept is the payment of benefits while the individual is in a training 

status. Generally speaking, individuals begin at a trainee (lower) wage and progress 

in wages as their skills improve. This is also the rationale for benefits decreasing 

at periodic intervals. It needs to be noted that many of the training programs start 

at a relatively low wage. Since many veterans have family commitments, the beginning of their training program is where they need the greatest benefit. 

The last benefit for the trainee (and probably the most important) is a simple fact. 

The veteran already has the job. Once they finish the training program they continue their employment. It is not a case where the veteran spends a substantial 

amount of time and money in school and then must obtain employment after graduation. Also, some of the most utilized training programs are in career fields where 

there is a definite need for increased participation. These include: transportation occupations (heavy and light truck drivers); law enforcement (police officer, deputy 

sheriff, firefighter); construction trades (electricians, carpenters, plumbers, welders), 

and automotive technicians. The table below illustrates the growing demand in the 

above career fields. 

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Occupational Growth Demand (2006–2016) 

Industry Occupation Projected Demand 

Transportation Heavy Truck Driver 

Light Truck Driver 

523,000 

275,000 

Law Enforcement Police Officer/Deputy Sheriff 

Firefighters 

243,000 

142,000 

Construction Carpenters 

Electricians 

Plumbers 

Welders 

348,000 

234,000 

157,000 

107,000 

Automotive Automotive Technician 265,000 

Grand Total All Above Occupations 2,294,000 

Each of the above occupations would hold a bright future for our Nations’ 

veterans. They should have the opportunity to utilize their benefits in a way 

that will best suit their needs and aptitudes. 

There is no doubt that the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 

(Chapter 33) will have a positive effect on education and provide the benefits earned 

by the brave men and women who have served (and are currently serving) our country. These veterans should not be limited in the manner in which they can use their 

benefits. It is time to enhance the new GI Bill to include non-college degree programs, flight training, correspondence programs and apprenticeship/on-the-job training programs. 

We also would recommend reconsideration to other ‘‘GI Bill’’ improvement measures that were introduced in the 110th Congress, but have not been fully acted 

upon. Some great features were included in these bills and should receive the attention of the Congress before the end of the session. Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin’s 

bill, HR 5684, for example, addresses in addition to the costs of education, the importance of lifelong learning in the 21st century as one of the major forces to maintaining a skilled and viable workforce in our global economy. It also addresses GI 

Bill issues associated with Student Financial Aid under Title IV of the Higher Education Act 1965 as amended and provides additional financial support to the educational institutions which provide programs and services to our veterans. 

The new Chapter 33 is very comprehensive, but it also is complex. It will require 

a high level of cooperation and collaboration between all partners and stakeholders 

to achieve maximum success. The Congressional Veterans Affairs Committees, the 

federal Department of Veterans Affairs, State Approving Agencies, educational organizations and educational institutions will need to work closely with each other in 

order to ensure that all service members and veterans know of the opportunities 

available to them and that the operations of the new program are carried out in 

an effective and efficient manner with minimal disruption. Encouragement from the 

Congress in this regard could prove to be invaluable. There is an enormous amount 

of expertise outside the federal government that can be used to ensure the success 

of the program. The State Approving Agencies across this country stand ready to 

assist in any way possible; many of my associates have decades of experience with 

veterans educational programs and truly are an asset the Department of Veterans 

Affairs should not overlook. 

Value of the South Dakota State Approving Agency 

A key aspect of our agency’s mission is customer service; this is accomplished 

through outreach, using the Internet, promotional mailings, and networking with 

other agencies, organizations, and individuals. South Dakota has been a national 

leader in the outreach to the many troops activated, deployed, and returned from 

service overseas or within the states in recent times. Our agency continues to partner with other agencies in developing new and innovative ways to create and distribute information concerning programs and services that are available to our returning service personnel. Examples of these efforts follow: 

1. Our agency took the lead in the creation of our state’s Welcome Home brochure. To date over 15,000 copies have been distributed to our returning troops 

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since 2004. This is a comprehensive guide to programs and services available 

to our state’s veterans and their families. 

2. After the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act was signed into law, within 

30 days our agency had created a fact sheet on the changes relative to Chapter 

1606/1607. We then distributed this information electronically to the South Dakota Veterans Service Network, provided a mailing to our County/Tribal Veterans Service Officers and worked with the South Dakota National Guard to 

distribute this information to active Guard members. 

3. After the Post 9/11 GI Bill—Chapter 33 was signed into law, our agency printed 1,000 fact sheets from the electronic copy provided by the Veterans Administration. We then provided an electronic copy to our South Dakota Veterans 

Service Network and the South Dakota School Certifying Officials, a mailing 

to County/Tribal Veterans Service Officers and then had these fact sheets distributed at five outreach meetings. This was all completed within 18 days of 

the bill being signed. 

Our agency and our counterparts across the nation are able to respond quickly 

to the demands and needs of our customers, the veterans. We are the ‘‘Front Line 

Responders’’ to the GI Bill and have been for over 60 years. Our agency continues 

to be involved nationally, statewide, and locally to advance and promote the cause, 

and advocate for individuals who wish to utilize their GI Bill benefits. 

Our staff continues to provide technical and liaison assistance to schools, training 

establishments and veterans, guardsmen/reservists and dependents/survivors. Last 

fiscal year there were over 1,900 of these actions taken; additionally, over 200 facilities were visited and over 1,100 approval actions were completed. Our agency is the 

face of veterans’ educational programs in South Dakota. 

Our agency has developed a new database system. This new database system was 

designed with organization in mind, for ease of data entry and information retrieval 

and creating reports. This new system has combined five databases into one data 

system. This will improve productivity, data retrieval and provide a better reporting 

system. 

The statement Mr. Summerside made in his April 2007 testimony bears repeating 

today, ‘‘Our true value rests in the heart of each of the dedicated staff whose sole 

purpose is the approval of quality programs of education for those eligible for VA 

educational benefits. Our agencies’ worth is measured by this dedicated devotion to 

excellence, and our nation’s Veterans deserve no less.’’ 

The true solution to readjusting from the war zone to home is quality medical care 

and the availability of comprehensive counseling services for those that need someone to listen and understand their pain. After the veterans’ medical needs are met 

the bridge to their future would be the realization of their educational or vocational 

dreams. Schools and job training will bring our young men and women all the way 

back. These brave Americans deserve the very best programs and services this country can provide. 

Closing 

In closing, Madam Chairwoman, I would like to thank you again for the opportunity to discuss our views on the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act 

of 2008 (Chapter 33) and the value of the South Dakota State Approving Agency. 

I very much appreciate your efforts to make improvements to the educational assistance programs for those who defend the freedoms that we so often take for granted. 

From a grateful nation, they deserve no less. I would be happy to respond to any 

questions that you might have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Todd Kolden, Administrator, 

South Dakota Department of Labor 

Madam Chair Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and distinguished 

members of the Subcommittee: 

Good morning, my name is Todd Kolden, Administrator, with the South Dakota 

Department of Labor. One of the programs I administer for the department is Veterans’ Services. I also serve as an active member of the National Association of 

State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), Veterans Affairs Committee; and I am the 

State Employment Chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Disabled American Veterans (DAV). It is my honor to appear before this committee 

today on behalf of South Dakota Secretary of Labor Pamela Roberts to present the 

views of the South Dakota Department of Labor (SDDoL) regarding the Transition 

Assistance Program (TAP) workshop and to discuss any questions or issues you may 

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have. As we feel all benefits owed to veterans are important, my testimony this 

morning will focus primarily on TAP. 

In order for TAP to be successful the partnerships between the Department of Defense (Ellsworth AFB), VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E), 

South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of 

Labor/Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (U.S.DoL/VETS), and the SDDoL 

need to be solidly in place. I’m pleased to say these partnerships are well established in South Dakota and have been instrumental in the success of TAP facilitated 

at Ellsworth AFB. Without these solid partnerships, veterans attending TAP would 

not be receiving the full benefit of transition services they richly deserve. South Dakota’s current TAP Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), dated February 1, 2008 

includes Ellsworth AFB, U.S.DoL/VETS, SDDoL, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. However, we do ask your assistance to ensure these partnerships can 

continue to function successfully. 

The importance of our Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) Specialists 

and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVER) is not only serving veterans in the local office but also conducting outreach. One of the best opportunities 

for outreach is during the facilitation of TAP workshops. In South Dakota, our 

DVOP Specialists and LVER’s facilitate approximately 80 percent of the TAP workshop and 25 percent of the Disabled TAP (DTAP) workshop which is conducted approximately 16 times each year. On average our workshops average between 25–30 

participants. The majority are Air Force personnel, but members of other services, 

including the National Guard and Reserve often attend. TAP is also available to 

spouses and they are strongly encouraged to attend. Often through a TAP workshop, 

transitioning service members develop a one-on-one working relationship with a 

DVOP Specialist or LVER which enhances a successful transition. For those service 

members leaving South Dakota, we provide a DVOP/LVER contact for the States 

which they are relocating to. 

As this Subcommittee is aware, there has been discussion to make TAP workshops mandatory for active duty service members and to facilitate TAP workshops 

for Guard and Reserve components before transitioning or retiring from military 

service. SDDoL feels it should be mandatory for active duty personnel since many 

of these service members have been in the military for more than four years and 

most likely have been serving since a fairly young age. Many have probably never 

held a civilian job, and this transition will be an abrupt change. For Guard and Reserve components, SDDoL feels this should be made mandatory coming from the 

command level. In other words, it should be mandatory for the Adjutant Generals 

of each state to inform their units about the TAP workshops and allow them the 

opportunity to attend a TAP workshop if they desire by sending them on no-cost 

TDY (or TAD) orders. As you know, many of these individuals may already have 

jobs they are returning to and may not have a desire or need to attend TAP. But 

again, they should at least be given the opportunity. In South Dakota, SDDoL made 

this request nearly five years ago to the Adjutant General and thanks to the partnership we have established, there is an informal agreement in place and this was 

recently affirmed with the new Adjutant General. Currently, there are full-time 

Guard members attending TAP when they retire or separate. DoL/VETS reports 

that about 60 percent of our service members are attending TAP, and a goal of 80 

percent has been set to be achieved over the next few years. We support this initiative and feel making TAP mandatory by these means will help bolster this percentage and more importantly, the successful transition of service members. Of note, for 

those service members who are assigned to Ellsworth AFB and unable to attend 

TAP prior to separation, one of our DVOP’s will provide an abbreviated TAP presentation at the mandatory Pre-Separation briefing. While this is not meant to replace 

TAP, it does provide valuable and needed information to separating personnel. We 

always encourage participation in the full TAP workshop. If this is not possible, usually due to individual time constraints or short-notice separations, we recommend 

attendance at a TAP workshop at the nearest military facility when they complete 

their move. 

Another example of the strong partnership is reflected by who facilitates a TAP 

workshop. Being job-ready after attending TAP and leaving the military is very important, but it’s not the only service that takes place. During the TAP workshop we 

have the following services presented: 

• Finances 

• Labor Market/Services Overview 

• Personal Appraisal 

• Job Search Techniques 

• Employment Applications 

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• Resume/Cover Letter (including work groups and each servicemember leaves 

the workshop with a resume in hand) • Interview Process (including the opportunity for mock interviews) • VA Benefits • County Veterans Services • Vet Center • A one-half day Disabled TAP workshop is facilitated for service members who 

have or may have service-connected disabilities, focusing on the benefits available to them (including Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, etc). 

As you can see, TAP informs service members not only about how to get ready 

to make the transition and receive benefits, but also what they are entitled to and 

how to go about receiving these benefits. Again, we feel this instills the importance 

of the partnerships involved to successfully assist in the transition of our service 

members. 

I would like to share my personal experience with TAP. When I retired from military service, I was given the opportunity to attend TAP. The information I learned 

and the resources I was provided helped me immensely and immediately. TAP assisted me in the seamless transition from military to civilian life as I had employment waiting for me when I retired. It also assisted in ensuring all of my benefits 

were in place prior to my transition and what to do and where to go if I required 

further assistance. I feel the TAP workshop is one of the best resources we currently 

have for our service members who are making the transition from military to civilian life and for Guard and Reserve individuals who want to make a career change. 

Finally, I would like to mention that often times an important part of transition 

is training separated service members so they can enter a particular employment 

field. Some of you might remember or are aware of, the service members Occupational Conversion and Training Act (SMOCTA) 1992, which was an act that provided funding for training service members after separating from military service 

and was highly successful in South Dakota. Recently, H.R. 6272, which would reauthorize SMOCTA was marked up by this Subcommittee and forwarded to the Full 

Committee for consideration, I urge your continued support. 

Again, I want to thank the Subcommittee for allowing me to testify. This concludes my testimony and I would be happy to discuss or respond to any questions 

you may have regarding TAP or Veterans’ Services in South Dakota. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Luverne L. Boes, District 13 Commander, 

American Legion, Department of South Dakota 

Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

The American Legion would like to begin this hearing by expressing our gratitude 

to you and your colleagues for holding this hearing on such an important issue. 

With the ending of the Cold War, the Department of Defense (DoD) dramatically 

downsized its personnel strength. In 1990, in an attempt to assist separating service 

members in making a successful transition back into the civilian workforce, Congress enacted Public Law (P.L.) 101–510 which authorized the creation of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and Disabled Transition Assistance Program 

(DTAP). This law was intended to assist service members who possessed certain 

critical military specialties that could not be easily transferred to a civilian work 

environment and to assist others, especially those with service-connected medical 

conditions, with educational and career choices. 

DoD’s TAP and DTAP programs are designed, in conjunction with Department of 

Labor (DoL) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to help prepare not only 

separating service members, but also their families for a seamless transition to civilian life. Last year in FY 2007, more than 386,200 service members were discharged 

from active duty status and over 500, 534 service members demobilized from active 

duty service. Public Law (P.L.) 101–510 (Chapter 58, section 1142) mandates preseparation counseling for transitioning service members. These programs consist of 

specific components: pre-separation counseling; employment assistance; relocation 

assistance; education, training, health and life insurance counseling; finance counseling; reserve affiliation; and disabled transition assistance seminars. DTAP is designed to educate and facilitate disabled veterans to overcome potential barriers to 

meaningful employment. Currently, VA, DoL, and DoD operate 215 transition offices around the world. 

While the TAP program assists transitioning service members leaving the military under their own accord, the DTAP program focuses on the specialized needs 

of the service members who are separating for medical reasons. The DTAP workjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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shop is a half-day seminar sponsored jointly by DoL, DoD and VA. The workshop 

provides specialized information on VA’s many disability benefits: 

• Medical Care • CHAMPVA • Disability Compensation • Vocational Rehabilitation • Disabled Veterans Insurance 

In this current era of a significantly smaller all-volunteer military, the reliance 

on the National Guard and Reserves to fight the present Global War on Terror is 

unprecedented. The Reserve Forces have become an essential part of all current 

DoD operations. Reservists in Iraq and Afghanistan make up close to 40 percent of 

the total force in any given month, and DoD reports that continued reliance on the 

1.8 million Reserves and National Guard will continue well into the foreseeable future. Attracting and retaining well qualified individuals to execute the fundamental 

functions of a strong and viable national defense is paramount. Without providing 

proper incentives for service members to enlist and reenlist, the military will continue to be hard pressed to effectively accomplish their Global War on Terror mission. 

Reservists Return to Find No Jobs 

Countless numbers of National Guard and Reserve troops have returned from the 

wars in Iraq and Afghanistan only to encounter difficulties with their Federal and 

civilian employers at home. In numerous cases brought to the attention of The 

American Legion by veterans and other sources, many of these returning service 

members have lost jobs, lost promotions or benefits, and in a few rare cases, they 

have encountered job demotions. According to the Uniformed Services Employment 

and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), employers must by law protect the old 

jobs of deployed service members, or provide them with equivalent positions. Benefits, raises, and promotions must be protected, as if the service member had never 

left. For whatever reasons, in many cases this law has not been able to protect 

many returning service members across the country. From all accounts most Reservists and those in the National Guard appear to be well informed about their active 

duty legal rights due to the Department of Labor’s efforts. However, in the loss of 

a job, The American Legion strongly endorses the belief that service members would 

greatly benefit by having access to the resources and knowledge that the Transitional Assistance Program (TAP) can provide, but the program should have a 

stronger employment, mental health, and small business component. 

H.R. 6272, The SMOCTA Reauthorization Act of 2008 

This proposed legislation would authorize discretionary appropriations to carry 

out the Service Members Occupational Conversion and Training Act 1992 

(SMOCTA). SMOCTA was developed as a transitional tool designed to provide job 

training and employment to eligible veterans discharged after August 1, 1990. When 

created, SMOCTA was the only Federal job training program available strictly for 

veterans and the only Federal job training program specifically designed for use by 

State veterans’ employment personnel to assist veterans with barriers to employment. Veterans eligible for assistance under SMOCTA were those with primary or 

secondary military occupational specialty that DoD determined was not readily 

transferable to the civilian workforce or those veterans with a service-connected disability rating of 30 percent or higher. SMOCTA is a unique job-training program 

because it successfully returned veterans to the civilian workforce. 

The American Legion strongly endorses this bill along with the proposed funding 

request. 

The Effects of Reserve Call-ups on Civilian Employers and Veteran Owned 

Business 

The impact of deployment on self-employed Reservists is tragic with a reported 

40 percent of all businesses owned by veterans suffering financial losses and in 

some cases bankruptcies. Many small businesses have discovered they are unable 

to operate and suffer some form of financial loss when key employees are activated. 

The Congressional Budget Office in a report ‘‘The Effects of Reserve Call-Ups on Civilian Employers’’ stated that it ‘‘expects that as many as 30,000 small businesses 

and 55,000 self-employed individuals may be more severely affected if their Reservist employee or owner is activated.’’ The American Legion is a strong supporter of 

the ‘‘Hope at Home Act of 2005,’’ which is a bipartisan bill that would not only require the Federal government to close the pay gap between the Reserves and National Guard service member’s civilian and military pay, but it would additionally 

provide tax credits up to $30,000 for small businesses with service members who 

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are activated. Currently, the Small Business Administration (SBA) offers a program 

billed as the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loans. This program offers businesses that meet certain eligibility criteria loans that help them to offset 

the economic consequences of the loss of their Reservist personnel. To qualify, a 

company must be able to show that the activated Reservist is critical to the success 

of the company. The American Legion recommends that the SBA should be part of 

any Reservist and National Guard TAP, and act in an advisory capacity to businesses owned by veterans, to assist them with resources and information to help 

lessen the impact of activation on their bottom line. 

Education and the GI Bill 

Historically, The American Legion has encouraged the development of essential 

benefits to help attract and retain service members into the Armed Services, as well 

as to assist them in making the best possible transition back to the civilian community. On June 22, 1944, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, which later became known as the GI Bill of Rights. 

This historic piece of legislation, authored by the leadership of The American Legion, enabled veterans to purchase their first homes, attend college, and start private businesses. The emergence of the American middle class, the suburbs, civil 

rights, and finally a worldwide economic boom can be attributed to this important 

legislation. The majority of individuals who join the National Guard or Reserves 

enter the Armed Forces straight out of high school, and many are full and part time 

students. With the number of activations since September 11, these same Reservists 

are discovering that their graduation will take longer than once anticipated. 

Currently, the Montgomery GI Bill pays the average Reservist $317.00 a month 

compared to the active duty counterpart who is paid $1,321.00 a month. With the 

rising cost of tuition many Reservists feel forced to apply for commercial loans and 

other sources of loans or grants to supplement the GI Bill. Unit activations generally take place during the middle or end of a school semester. When a service 

member withdraws from school the commercial loan must still be paid regardless 

of whether the student finishes the course or courses, adding to the accumulated 

debt of that service member. Most service members are not aware of other programs 

or ways of paying for school; for example, currently, if a service member serves 24 

months on active duty their GI benefits become comparable to active duty. The 

American Legion recommends that TAP have an education representative to provide 

National Guard and Reservist members this kind of information so they can have 

the option to make informed decisions on how to best incorporate their military 

service with their civilian employment and education options. 

According to a 2004 survey conducted by GFK Custom Research, the leading reason why people enlist, despite the Global War on Terror, is the desire for an affordable education. The American Legion is currently consulting with VA’s Advisory 

Committee on Education to discuss pursuing one education program for both active 

duty and Reserves. If it is true that young people enlist or reenlist primarily for 

an education, instead of giving them bonuses ($35,000 bonus and up to get people 

to enlist and reenlist) we should promise them an education. 

Recently the President signed into law the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act which will significantly change veterans’ education in August 2009. The 

American Legion strongly supported this much needed change and deeply appreciated the bipartisan support this bill received. It truly represents the thanks of a 

grateful nation. Once the final rules and regulations have been finalized, TAP/DTAP 

will serve as an excellent venue to brief recently separated service members, especially those in the National Guard and Reserves, on the new enhanced educational 

benefits. 

The Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA) 

On December 19, 2003, the President signed into law a complete update of the 

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act 1940. This helps ease the economic and legal 

burdens on military personnel called to active duty status in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. SCRA provides certain legal protections for 

individuals called to active duty. Relief extends to actions terminating leases, evictions, foreclosures and repossessions, default judgments, lower interest rates on 

credit cards and loans and protects against lapses or termination of insurance policies. 

In recent months, there have been a number of news articles reporting that some 

creditors make illegal demands on active duty soldiers. With the military’s increased 

reliance on National Guard and Reserve units, creditors residing in remote areas 

of the country outside of the traditional military towns are not aware of this act, 

including members of the Reserve component. Therefore, service members are expejbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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riencing serious financial difficulties while on active duty—their cars are repossessed, homes foreclosed and credit histories ruined because this piece of legislation 

is unknown. 

The American Legion has produced a brochure on active duty legal rights, copies 

of which will be distributed across the country. If TAP was mandatory, service members and local community businesses would also know of this program, and a lot 

of frustration, time and misunderstandings could be avoided. A few services, such 

as the Navy, discuss personal financial planning during workshops and seminars. 

However, the Reserve components need to have this issue addressed during TAP. 

Make TAP/DTAP a Mandatory Program 

DoL estimates that 60 percent to 65 percent of all separating active duty service 

members attend the employment TAP seminars and 30 percent of all separating National Guard and Reservists attend a portion of TAP. The American Legion believes 

this low attendance number is a disservice to all transitioning service members. 

Many service members and most National Guard and Reservists are unaware of the 

assistance and resources offered by TAP. Without this program, service members 

who have served their country bravely return to the civilian workforce less equipped 

than their counterparts who took advantage of the information provided by TAP. 

According to written testimony from John M. McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Employment and Training, Department of Labor, May 12, 2005, 

‘‘we have been working with the National Guard and Reserve on providing TAP 

services to these returning service members in many states on an informal and as 

needed basis. In this regard, three Reserve Component TAP demonstration programs are underway in Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota.’’ As a present day follow 

up with Mr. McWilliam ‘‘those demonstration projects went well, we learned a lot 

and we are currently offering segments of our program to any Reserve or National 

Guard command requesting them.’’ 

The American Legion was informed during that period by representatives of DoD 

and DoL that in Oregon, 40 percent of those part time service members who attended the TAP session were looking for employment. The American Legion recognizes the value of this program and recommends that it become a mandatory requirement for all transitioning service members. 

Access to TAP 

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Enhanced Services Could Improve Transition Assistance for Reserves and National Guard, May 2005, reports 

TAP is not made available to the National Guard and Reserves. ‘‘TAP managers 

with DoD and the military services explained that the chief problem is lack of time 

during demobilization, which is often completed in 5 days.’’ 

The American Legion recommends that TAP be instituted in the following ways: 

• Incorporate TAP into the unit’s training schedule months before activation; 

• Have a TAP briefing during a unit’s organization day that includes spouses; 

• Activate a unit for a weekend either before or after a deployment; 

• Most units spend three to eight weeks at an installation site preparing to move 

into theater; therefore, include TAP; and 

• Spend extra day or two at a demobilization site to include TAP. 

The GAO report also states that many service members are not interested in the 

employment segment because they believe they have jobs waiting for them once they 

return home. That might have been true with the first rotations into theater; however, that is not the case now for many veterans, especially with back to back deployments. A number of complaints have surfaced from service members around the 

country that some businesses are reluctant to hire veterans still in the military and 

businesses have allegedly started putting pressure on veterans who have deployed 

once not to deploy a second time. 

Transitional Assistance Program for National Guard and Reserves: 

Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland 

The TAP program located at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, has been 

called a unique program and still highly regarded as a model for all the Army. It 

is currently the only program that offers transition assistance to Guard and Reserves with an 8-hour presentation, that consists of full range of services and benefits briefing. A list of the benefits briefing are in the fields of Finance, Education, 

USERRA, VA compensation and disability claims, Employment assistance, Mental 

Health Counseling Services, and TRICARE. The program also has a number of 

unique partnerships with many Federal, State and local agencies. Some of those 

partnerships include: the Maryland Division of Workforce Development, The Perry 

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Point VA Hospital, Department of Labor, Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the 

Ft. Monmouth, N.J., Transition Office. The program has a pro-active philosophy. 

Some examples include: 

• Service members needing employment are given immediate assistance. In some 

cases this has led to immediate hires, and those service members returned 

home with a job while avoiding unemployment. If the veteran lives outside the 

state, a point of contact is given for that individual to ensure there is a Veteran 

Representative waiting with job service resources. 

• The Perry Point VA Hospital offers immediate shelter to service members who 

may be homeless, which lessens the numbers of homeless veterans on the nation’s streets. VA reports that more than 175,000 veterans are currently homeless and another 250,000 are homeless over a period of time. VA has also reported that the number of homeless veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan is increasing, especially among women with children. The American 

Legion believes the first line in defense in preventing additional homeless cases 

is to have a strong and pro-active transitional assistance program. 

• Service members who need assistance with filling out compensation and disability claims are offered immediate assistance by visiting VA representatives. 

The program has received positive feedback by service members and commanders. 

Assessing Services Rendered 

The American Legion recommends that Congress require Federal agencies that 

deliver TAP/DTAP services to develop a management-monitoring program to better 

assess how well services are being delivered to transitioning service members. Currently, the effectiveness of services provided by TAP agencies is unknown because 

adequate performance goals and benchmarking measures have never been instituted. Consequently, there is a lack of any verifiable outcome data. Performance 

measures should be instituted to hold all Federal agencies involved in TAP/DTAP 

accountable for services rendered. 

Summary 

America asks her young people to serve in her armed forces to guard and defend 

this great Nation and its way of life. Their selfless service provides millions of their 

fellow Americans with the opportunity to pursue their vocational endeavors. The 

successful transition of that service member back into the civilian workforce must 

be a shared responsibility, especially if that service member has suffered serviceconnected disabilities. There is much talk about ‘‘seamless transition’’ between DoD 

and VA, but it goes beyond that. It should be a ‘‘seamless transition’’ between all 

Federal agencies involved in a transition assistance program. That means: 

• Ensuring service members know their active duty legal rights and that those 

Federal agencies involved should monitor and assist in the compliance with 

those rights; 

• Prompt adjudication of disability claims; 

• Prompt adjudication of educational claims; 

• Timely access to TRICARE and VA quality healthcare; 

• Housing of the homeless; 

• Employment assistance; 

• Small business assistance; 

• Vocational training for veterans; and 

• Any other Federal assistance as needed. 

The American Legion reaffirms its strong support of the Transition Assistance 

Program, but also encourages the Department of Defense to require that all separating, active-duty service members, including those from the Reserves and the National Guard, be given an opportunity to participate in Transition Assistance Program training not more than 180 days prior to their separation or retirement from 

the Armed Forces, and follow-up counseling not later than 180 days after separation 

from active duty. The American Legion will also support any legislative initiatives 

to mandate that all service members be given the opportunity to participate in TAP/ 

DTAP. 

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Prepared Statement of Doris Ann Werlinger, Past Department President 

of South Dakota, American Legion Auxiliary 

Madam Chairwoman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting 

the American Legion Auxiliary to appear before you today to discuss the Transition 

Assistance Program (TAP.) 

Today I represent the American Legion Auxiliary (Auxiliary), the world’s largest 

women’s patriotic service organization with 900,000 members in 8,900 communities 

across the country. Here in South Dakota we have 16,000 members in 221 communities. We are an 89-year-old organization whose members are female veterans and 

mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, granddaughters or great-granddaughters of 

American Legion members. Our mission is to serve veterans, their families and 

their communities. Personally, I have four nephews serving on active duty. Two 

serving in the Air Force, one in the Navy and one with the Marine Corps. 

Reformat TAP 

The goal of TAP is to provide those separating from military service, including 

Guard and Reserve, and their families the tools to make a seamless transition to 

civilian life. The curriculum for this program has included a narrowly defined yet 

broad-based agenda with the intent to impart as much information as possible to 

the active duty component. Guard and Reserve members haven’t had the benefit of 

a comprehensive TAP. While there is little debate as to the value of the information 

being shared during TAP, we hear continually from service members and their families that TAP is either too much or too little given at the wrong time and in the 

wrong setting with the expectation that all service members hear the same message 

at the same time and in the same way. So, what changes need to be made for TAP 

to be more effective? 

First, one size doesn’t fit all. The retiree may need different information than the 

three year enlistee; a degreed service member who may have a variety of professions 

to chose from needs different resource options from the service member entering a 

trade, going back to school or who is undecided. If you’re not disabled, why sit 

through two hours of DTAP briefings? Guard and Reserve members are further 

alienated as they return back to civilian lives that are now very different then when 

they left. 

Second, timing matters. Hitting a service member and his or her family too early 

or too late can dilute the message. Delivering any message in anticipation of or immediately following a deployment that isn’t directly related to ‘‘getting back to home 

and family’’ has no chance of sticking. 

Third, accuracy, no matter the delivery or message line is critical. We hear of 

miscommunication too many times. Hearing you’re not eligible for the GI Bill because your high school GPA isn’t high enough is just wrong. Not being given clear 

and compelling reasons to enroll in the VA immediately upon separation to claim 

the five-years eligibility for VA healthcare is wrong. 

Fourth, too much information being delivered at one time in combination of any 

of the above issues means much of it gets lost or not absorbed. We all know what 

happens to brochures, CD’s, workbooks—they get lost or tossed. 

Fifth, while technically the civilian job of a Guard or Reserve member is covered 

under USERRA, we all know that in practice, these service members have difficulty 

re-entering the workforce or picking up their careers because of subtle hiring practices that don’t work in their favor. Employers don’t want to hire someone who may 

be leaving again in a year. 

What changes might make TAP effective? 

Following the example of Turbo TAP, which was designed with the National 

Guard in mind, any face-to-face program must be appropriately timed, relevant and 

to the point. It must take into consideration that one size doesn’t fit all. To over 

simplify, the Auxiliary feels strongly that TAP needs a more contemporary face. Instead of giving service members and their families what we think they need, we 

need to give them the option of choosing what they know they need. 

We recommend establishing a program that collectively is no more than 24 hours 

of content with an agenda flexible and varied enough to appeal to participants at 

all stages of readiness for transition. The program should consist of a menu of presentations and/or workshops with minimum and mandatory requirements established 

for participation. The program should be established in such a way that one or two 

mandatory general sessions start TAP followed by a diverse agenda of programs 

that would appeal to participants on a variety of levels and stages. If planned right, 

this format change would not require additional staff resources, would include much 

of the same content and material currently being used but focus on what’s important to the participant. 

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The Model of Turbo TAP 

In an effort to better serve our Guard and Reserve forces, Turbo TAP was created 

to assist service members and their families handle the multiple and rapid transitions to and from civilian life. Online, interactive and available 24/7, Turbo TAP has 

become one of the most robust and popular tools for reintegration available to service members and their families. Its well-organized content contains valuable up-todate information on resources and earned benefits. 

Since its debut, we have heard nothing but positive response to the program. 

Make TAP a Mandatory Program 

The most current Department of Labor statistics report that 60 to 65 percent of 

all separating active duty service members attend TAP seminars and 30 percent of 

all separating National Guard and Reservists attend a portion of TAP. According 

to written testimony from John M. McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Employment and Training, Department of Labor, May 16, 2008, the DoD has 

adopted the recommendation from the Task Force on Returning Global War of Terror Heroes to increase attendance at TAP sessions to 85 percent of separating service members. 

We wholeheartedly support this DoD initiative but believe that they should take 

it one step further. Currently, the only branch of the military to make TAP required 

is the Marine Corps. The American Legion Auxiliary recommends that each branch 

of the military make TAP a mandatory requirement for all transitioning service 

members bringing participation to 100 percent. 

Creation of Measurable Outcomes 

The Auxiliary is further recommending that a clear set of measurable standards 

be established at multiple levels of the program to ensure excellence. 

• The DoL is accountable for a high standard of delivery and therefore outcome; • DoD must hold each branch accountable for administration and implementation 

of TAP; • Uniform performance goals need to be established for commanding officers responsible for TAP, regardless of branch; • Measurement outcomes need to be established to gauge the effectiveness of the 

program on its participant’s ability to successfully reintegrate after service. 

Summary 

Our men and women in uniform have made tremendous sacrifices defending our 

Nation. They go through initial training to prepare them to endure unique stress 

and perform actions that are not present in civilian life. It is only right that at the 

conclusion of their service, they go through a transition program that meets them 

on their terms ensuring a seamless transition back to civilian life. The American 

Legion Auxiliary recommends: 

• Reformatting TAP to fulfill the needs of specific service members—including our 

Guard and Reserve; 

• Requiring TAP mandatory for all separating service members; 

• Creating measurable standards to gauge effectiveness and success. 

TAP is an essential component of reintegration for all members of our military 

regardless of branch or rank. TAP done right becomes an invaluable step in successful reintegration. 

Thank you again for allowing me to represent the opinions of the American Legion Auxiliary through this testimony. I am happy to answer any questions you may 

have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Diane Hickenbotham, President, Veterans of 

Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary, Department of South Dakota 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and distinguished Members of the Committee: 

I thank-you for the opportunity to discuss what the Transition Assistance Program is doing to provide Service members and their families with the information 

and resources necessary to facilitate a successful transition from military to civilian 

life. I am honored to be asked to be here as the Department President of the State 

of South Dakota of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. We are 

the wives, widows, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, granddaughters, and sisters 

(this includes all half, step, and foster (who attained that status prior to age sixteen 

and for whom the duties of parent were performed) of persons who were or are eligible for membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars by having served our great 

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country in a Foreign war/hostile region. The Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of 

Foreign Wars serves Veterans and their families as our primary function. I am the 

wife of a 100 percent combat disabled Vietnam veteran and a strong advocate for 

all veterans and their families. I am from the city of Aberdeen, SD where many of 

our National Guard and Army Reserve Units have been deployed. I speak as a wife, 

advocate for all veterans and our troops and their families, and as the President 

of the Department of SD Ladies Auxiliary to the VFW, representing more than 8000 

Auxiliary members in our State. 

Collaboration 

I express great appreciation and gratitude that the VA, DoD, DoL are working 

together to provide needed and desirable transition programs for our returning 

troops and their families. I am especially grateful that you have included the Ladies 

Auxiliary to both the VFW and American Legion. It does let us know that you are 

considering the effect and opinions of the families involved in the lives of our returning troops. 

Turbo TAP 

In speaking with some returning National Guard and Reserve members they have 

expressed that this technology has been a valuable tool for those returning from Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. This web-based system seems 

to work well for delivery of transition information and assistance. Service members 

have rapid accessibility to locate One-Stop Career Centers for employment assistance and well as medical care by locating the closest VA Medical Center. This program is helping returning service members increase their participation and awareness of military benefits allowing for a easier transition to civilian life. 

What improvements and additions can be made that might make TAP more 

effective? 

There has been significant progress in the efforts to provide transition assistance 

to the soldier and their families since this program was implemented. However, I 

have spent much time visiting with families of soldiers as to how they can be better 

served by the TAP program; the following are some of their concerns. 

• Families need more assistance to emotionally support their families while their 

spouse is deployed. This includes readjustment to parenting jointly again for 

when the spouse returns. Many feel the Family Readiness Leader or group was 

all they know about. When another parent returns there is often conflict in discipline with their children. 

• Some spouses feel the returning soldier is shuffled around too much for testing 

and receiving Transitional assistance when they return home. Sending from Aberdeen to Fort Carson, CO only causes another separation for the family. 

• Many feel a need for Credit Counseling. We often think of the spouse at home 

in charge of the checkbook for the family and spending the money. There are 

times when the soldier has only been in charge of their needs and is unaware 

of the financial situation at home. 

• Many need assistance and support in dealing with the idea that the soldier will 

be called up again. This seems to hang over the heads of the children very intently. The parent was gone once and the fear of it happening again causes 

much anxiety to some within the family unit. This isn’t openly addressed and 

dealt with through the proper channels. 

• Families feel the time to utilize the program is too short and doesn’t start soon 

enough with those at home to make for a easier transition into civilian life once 

again. Spouse often become ‘‘battle buddies’’ and their knowledge of support 

services such as counseling must be known to them as soon as possible. 

Summary 

Many of the above listed concerns seem to deal with the communication within 

the TAP program with the family. We recommend that Communication with the 

families become a priority in a timely manner. The time table and availability of 

transition assistance must be communicated frequently and soon enough to accommodate the soldier and family for smoother transition into civilian life. Family Readiness leaders are an important tool in this program and their training needs to be 

comprehensive and supportive. 

I thank you for allowing me to present this testimony on behalf of our organization the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Know that we deeply 

appreciate the implementation of this program. The men and women that have 

worn the uniform of this great Nation deserve all the help and transitional assistance that we can give them to deal with the stress of war and separation. Every 

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soldier deserves all the support that we as Americans can give them. Each and 

every soldier and family member deserves for the great sacrifice they all have given. 

f 

Prepared Statement of John M. McWilliam, Deputy Assistant Secretary, 

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor 

Madam Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin, Ranking Member Boozman, and Members 

of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee to discuss the 

role of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DoL) Veterans’ Employment and Training 

Service (VETS) in providing transition assistance to our returning servicemembers. 

The mission of VETS is to provide veterans and transitioning servicemembers 

with the resources and services to succeed in the 21st century workforce. One of the 

most important ways that we meet that mission is by providing employment workshops to separating active, Guard, and Reserve servicemembers as part of their 

transition to civilian life. Our services are provided through the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). 

TAP is a Department of Defense (DoD) program that partners with DoL, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Department of Homeland Security. TAP 

has four components: 

1. Pre-separation counseling—this is mandatory for all transitioning servicemembers and is provided by the military services; 

2. TAP employment workshops—these are voluntary on the part of the 

transitioning servicemember and are administered through DoL and its State 

partners; 

3. VA benefits briefing—these briefings are also voluntary and administered by 

the VA; and 

4. Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP)—also voluntary and administered by the VA. 

Sixty to 65 percent of active-duty transitioning servicemembers have attended the 

TAP employment workshops. This has risen from a 50 percent participation rate in 

2001. As a result of recommendations of the President’s Task Force on Returning 

Global War on Terror Heroes, each of the military services has established a goal 

of 85 percent attendance. 

Since 1991, when DoL began providing employment workshops pursuant to section 502 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 (P.L. 101– 

510), over one million separating and retiring military members and their spouses 

have been provided employment and job training assistance and other transitional 

services. DoL was further directed to provide these services at overseas locations by 

section 309 of the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003 (P.L. 108–183). Before this law took 

effect, VETS began facilitating TAP workshops at overseas military installations 

where, by previous interagency agreement, the DoD had provided TAP workshops 

since the program’s inception. VETS continued to expand to additional overseas 

sites and we are extending efforts to provide workshops whenever requested to 

those Guard and Reserve units returning from the Global War on Terror. We are 

currently conducting TAP employment workshops at 55 sites overseas including 

Germany, Japan, Italy, Korea, Guam and the United Kingdom. Our mission is to 

provide TAP at every location requested by the Armed Services or National Guard 

and Reserve Component. 

Employment Workshop Overview 

DoL is authorized by Chapter 58 of title 10, U.S. Code, to assist the DoD and VA 

in providing transition assistance services to separating servicemembers and their 

spouses. The role of VETS in this effort is to conduct employment workshops based 

on projections made by each of the armed services and the Department of Homeland 

Security for the U.S. Coast Guard. DoL funded Disabled Veteran Outreach Program 

(DVOP) specialists and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVER) lead 

most employment workshops that take place in the United States. In some cases, 

due to the distances from State employment offices to the military installations, and 

to assist with the rapid growth of the program, contract facilitators were added in 

early Fiscal Year (FY) 1992 and Federal staff in FY 1996. In overseas locations, contract staff leads most workshops. 

To maintain a quality of service delivery and ensure uniformity between locations, 

all workshops use a common workbook and standard program of instruction. In adjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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dition, all facilitators, whether DVOP/LVER, Federal staff, or contract, are trained 

and certified by the National Veterans’ Training Institute. 

In FY 2007, over 146,000 separating military personnel and spouses were trained 

in 4,716 employment workshops at military installations worldwide. In FY 2008, 

VETS plans to provide employment workshops to over 150,000 servicemembers and 

spouses at military installations around the world. 

The DoL facilitated transition employment workshop is a comprehensive two and 

one-half day session where participants learn about job searches, career decision 

making and current occupational and labor market conditions. Practical exercises 

are conducted in resume writing and interviewing techniques. Participants are also 

provided an evaluation of their employability relative to the job market and receive 

information on the most current veterans’ benefits. Components of an employment 

workshop include: career self-assessment; resume development; job search and 

interview techniques; U.S. labor market information; civilian workplace requirements; and documentation of military skills. 

Reserve Component (RC) and National Guard (NG) Employment Workshop 

Global military commitments have necessitated a mobilization of Guard and Reserve members that is unprecedented in modern times. The longer mobilization periods result in these servicemembers now being eligible for veterans’ benefits, including TAP. The employment workshop is available for most servicemembers at one of 

the 215 transition offices located on military installations in the United States as 

well as overseas locations. 

However, Reserve and Guard members usually transition at fewer locations, referred to as demobilization sites. Typically the demobilization process is rapid, taking a matter of days once the servicemembers arrive back in the United States from 

overseas. During demobilization, servicemembers may be expected to participate in 

many separate briefings and activities. This leaves little or no time for a full two 

and one-half day employment workshop. Nevertheless, we have found that many 

Guard and Reserve service members would benefit from such transition assistance. 

Our State Directors have coordinated with each State Adjutant General and they 

work directly with the individual reserve and guard commanders to make special 

arrangements following demobilization in order to present a modified TAP employment workshop to Guard and Reserve service members on an ‘as requested’ basis. 

Based on requests from Reserve Component Commanders or Adjutant Generals and 

through coordination with our VETS’ state directors, VETS has offered to tailor the 

workshops to the identified needs of the transitioning Reserve and Guard members. 

In fact, since 2001 VETS has provided transition services to over 146,000 National 

Guard and Reservists. These transition services range in size and content from mobilization and demobilization briefings to the full scale TAP employment workshops. 

They are provided in 43 States and the District of Columbia. In some States, National Guardsmen and Reservists have been allowed to attend the regular TAP for 

Active Component servicemembers. The services provided to the Guard and Reserve 

are tailored to the needs and requests by the DoD. 

To meet the transition needs of the National Guard and Reserves, in FY 2007, 

DoL directed the National Veterans’ Training Institute (NVTI) to develop a modular 

version of the TAP employment workshop. The traditional TAP employment workshop was turned into a 15-module menu that Reserve/National Guard commanders 

may choose from in providing these services to their unit members. This training 

includes a mandatory module that covers local labor market information, USERRA, 

the One-Stop Career Center system, small business opportunities, and the risks of 

homelessness. The other 14 modules consist of the current TAP employment workshop curriculum broken down into logical and connected blocks of instruction. This 

is not a new or separate curriculum for the Reserves and National Guard; rather 

it has been packaged to better serve this community. 

South Dakota Programs 

I have provided an overview of what is being done to assist those servicemembers 

transitioning from the military to civilian life. I would now like to focus on what 

we are doing in the State of South Dakota. 

VETS recognizes the need to provide employment transition assistance and has 

taken the initiative to provide employment based briefings at demobilization sites 

for National Guard and Reserve Units. These briefings are held along with our 

other Federal and State partners. The two major demobilization locations in the 

Dallas Region, which South Dakota is part of, are Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma 

and Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

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VETS State directors in Oklahoma and Colorado conduct these briefings and 

make sure each and every returning service member from South Dakota has the 

VETS South Dakota office contact information so we can schedule demobilization 

briefings and discuss other employment transition assistance needs. Since September 11, 2001, for Guard and Reserve units, we have conducted eight TAP workshops in South Dakota with 345 participants. In FY 2007 alone we conducted 14 

active-duty TAP workshops in South Dakota that included 403 total participants, 

including some Reserve and National Guard members. In FY 2008, through June 

2008, we have conducted 11 workshops that included 299 participants. 

In closing, I again thank you for allowing me to address you today on this very 

important issue and program. I would be pleased to respond to any questions you 

may have. 

f 

Prepared Statement of Don Keplin, State Chairman, South Dakota 

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, U.S. Department of Defense 

Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin and members of the committee: thank you for the 

invitation to offer my perspective on issues relating to the Employer Support of the 

Guard and Reserve (ESGR), as it applies to South Dakota National Guard and Reserve members. 

I have volunteered with ESGR since 1996. I served as the Acting State Chairman 

from May 2005 until the National Chairman for the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve appointed me as the State Chairman in 

October 2005. 

The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve was established in 1972 by Presidential proclamation, as an operational Committee under 

the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 

The Vietnam War had ended and the all-volunteer military became a reality. In 

1978, ESGR was expanded to include a community-based volunteer network. Today, 

that network has expanded to include more than 4,400 ESGR volunteers in 55 Committees—one in each State (California with 2 Committees), the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the District of Columbia. South Dakota ESGR consists of 40 volunteer members located throughout the State and two paid staff in Rapid City. Our 

volunteers are leaders in business, government, academia and senior military representatives. 

ESGR is a Department of Defense agency that seeks to promote a culture in 

which all American employers support and value the military service of their employees. ESGR volunteers recognize outstanding employer support, increase awareness of the law, and resolve conflicts through mediation. 

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), 

title 38, United States Code, chapter 43, was enacted by Congress and signed into 

law by President Clinton on October 13, 1994. Congress amended the law in 1996, 

1998, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006. Congress enacted USERRA to protect the rights 

of persons who voluntarily or involuntarily leave employment positions to undertake 

military service. The law establishes certain rights and benefits for employees and 

duties for employers. USERRA affects employment, reemployment, and retention in 

employment, when employees serve or have served in the uniformed services. 

There are two types of transitions for servicemembers; one when they transition 

after deployment and the other when the transition after enlistment obligations. I 

will reference three significant sections of the Federal Regulations for USERRA, 20 

CFR Part 1002, that pertain to today’s hearing regarding the transition of servicemembers. 

The first is 1002.198; What efforts must the employer make to help the employee 

become qualified for the reemployment position? 

The employee must be qualified for the reemployment position. The employer 

must make reasonable efforts to help the employee become qualified to perform the 

duties of this position. These efforts include providing refresher training, and any 

training necessary to update a returning employee’s skills in situations where the 

employee is no longer qualified due to technological advances. 

The second section I will cite is section 1002.225; Is the employee entitled to any 

specific reemployment benefits if he or she has a disability that was incurred in, or 

aggravated during, the period of service? 

A disabled servicemember is entitled, to the same extent as any other individual, 

to the escalator position he or she would have attained but for uniformed service. 

If the employee has a disability incurred in, or aggravated during, the period of 

service in the uniformed services, the employer must make reasonable efforts to acjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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commodate that disability and to help the employee become qualified to perform the 

duties of his or her reemployment position. If the employee is not qualified for reemployment in the escalator position because of a disability after reasonable efforts by 

the employer to accommodate the disability and to help the employee to become 

qualified, the employee must be reemployed in a position according to the following 

priority. The employer must make reasonable efforts to accommodate the employee’s 

disability and to help him or her to become qualified to perform the duties of one 

of these positions: 

(a) A position that is equivalent in seniority, status, and pay to the escalator position; or, 

(b) A position that is the nearest approximation to the equivalent position, consistent with the circumstances of the employee’s case, in terms of seniority, 

status, and pay. A position that is the nearest approximation to the equivalent 

position may be a higher or lower position, depending on the circumstances. 

The last section being referenced is 1002.226; If the employee has a disability that 

was incurred in, or aggravated during, the period of service, what efforts must the 

employer make to help him or her become qualified for the reemployment position? 

(a) USERRA requires that the employee be qualified for the reemployment position regardless of any disability. The employer must make reasonable efforts 

to help the employee to become qualified to perform the duties of this position. 

The employer is not required to reemploy the employee on his or her return 

from service if he or she cannot, after reasonable efforts by the employer, qualify for the appropriate reemployment position. 

(b) ‘‘Qualified’’ has the same meaning here as in § 1002.198, the first section I referenced. 

South Dakota ESGR helps to ensure that servicemembers transitioning from military service back to civilian employment, and the employers that hire them, understand their rights and responsibilities under USERRA. South Dakota ESGR has 16 

trained ombudsmen throughout the State. These ombudsmen respond to inquiries 

and conflicts regarding USERRA presented by employees or employers. Since Oct 

1, 2007, South Dakota ombudsmen have fielded 116 information-only cases and mediated 14 USERRA cases. South Dakota has not had a USERRA case go to the 

United States Department of Labor for the past 18 months. 

I hope that I have been able to clarify the role played by the South Dakota ESGR 

in helping employers and servicemembers transitioning from military service to civilian employment. Thank you. 

f 

Prepared Statement of William D. Fillman, Jr., Director, Central Area, 

Veterans Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Madam Chairwoman and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the Department of Veterans Affairs 

(VA) Transition Assistance Program (TAP) and other outreach efforts to support 

separating servicemembers and their families during their transition from military 

to civilian life. I am accompanied by Mr. John Smith, Director of the Sioux Falls 

Regional Office. My testimony today will cover the comprehensive transitional assistance VA provides to all servicemembers, including members of the National 

Guard and Reserves, as well as the current outreach efforts by the Sioux Falls Regional Office. 

VA Outreach Efforts 

VA currently conducts outreach initiatives to servicemembers that explain VA 

benefits at various stages of enlistment, as well as following discharge. Many of 

these activities are done in conjunction with the Department of Defense (DoD) and 

Department of Labor. VA and DoD are working through joint initiatives to ensure 

wide dissemination of information on the array of benefits and services available to 

servicemembers; including healthcare, educational assistance, home loans, vocational rehabilitation and employment, disability compensation, pension, insurance, 

burial, and memorial services. 

Transition Assistance Program (TAP) 

Transition Assistance Program (TAP) briefings are conducted nationwide and in 

Europe to prepare retiring or separating military personnel for return to civilian 

life. At these briefings, servicemembers are informed of the array of VA benefits and 

services available, instructed on how to complete VA application forms, and advised 

on what evidence is needed to support their claims. Following the general instrucjbell on PROD1PC69 with HEARING

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tion segment, personal interviews are conducted with those servicemembers who 

would like assistance in preparing and submitting their applications for compensation and/or vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits. 

Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP) 

Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP) is an integral component of transition assistance for servicemembers who may be released because of disability. 

Through VA’s DTAP briefings, VBA advises transitioning servicemembers about the 

benefits available through VBA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program (VR&E). The goal of DTAP is to encourage and assist potentially eligible servicemembers to make an informed decision about the VR&E program and expedite 

delivery of these services to eligible persons. 

While TAP and DTAP briefings are central to VA’s efforts to inform servicemembers about VA benefits and services, VA also provides briefings to servicemembers 

about military separation and retirement services programs, military medical facilities, Physical Evaluation Boards, Casualty Assistance Services, and various other 

military liaison activities. 

The chart below reflects the number of briefings and personal interviews conducted by VBA representatives for the past five years. This includes briefings conducted for regular active duty military members, pre- and post-deployment briefings 

for Reserve and National Guard members, and briefings conducted overseas. VA has 

increased the number of briefings presented by 39.6 percent since 2003. 

Fiscal Year Briefings Attendees Interviews 

2003 5,840 210,015 102,402 

2004 7,834 276,574 122,120 

2005 8,184 326,664 124,092 

2006 8,541 393,345 93,431 

2007 8,154 296,855 100,976 

2008 (Through June) 6,363 248,452 67,726 

Veterans Assistance at Discharge System (VADS) 

VA also distributes information on benefits and services through the Veterans Assistance at Discharge System (VADS), which generates a ‘‘Welcome Home Package’’ 

for all recently separated veterans (including Reserve and National Guard members). The package contains a letter from the Secretary, pamphlets describing VA 

benefits and services, and a benefits timetable. In addition to the VADS mailings, 

a separate personal letter from the Secretary, along with benefits information, is 

sent to each returning OEF/OIF veteran. 

Vocational Rehabilitation (VR&E) ‘‘Five Tracks to Employment’’ 

Based on the 2004 Secretary’s Task Force on Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, VA redesigned the delivery of VR&E benefits into a program that emphasizes veterans’ informed choice and employment at the beginning of the process. 

This redesign, entitled the ‘‘Five Tracks to Employment’’ process, included the development and implementation of a standardized orientation program, training for the 

new Employment Coordinators, training for all field staff on the Five Tracks to Employment process, creation of an online employment services Web site— 

www.Vetsuccess.gov, and the establishment of Job Resource Labs in all regional offices. 

Additionally, the Employment Specialist position, created in 1999, was redesigned 

and renamed Employment Coordinator (EC). The re-design streamlined the duties 

and focused the position on employment-related outreach and education. The EC 

serves as an expert in the VR&E program to provide services to enhance veterans’ 

job readiness and assist veterans to become employed within their interests, aptitudes, and abilities. The EC also serves as an expert about the local labor market, 

assisting Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors to develop rehabilitation plans that 

match current employer hiring demands. The EC works collaboratively with the Department of Labor VETS’ program Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) 

specialists and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVERS) in the provision of direct job placement services for veterans and also partners with community 

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employers to develop future career opportunities for veterans served through the 

VR&E program. Combined, all of these activities serve to focus the VR&E program 

on its most vital outcome goal of assisting veterans to obtain and maintain suitable 

employment. 

Benefits Delivery at Discharge 

The Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program is an initiative jointly sponsored by VA and DoD. The program provides transition assistance to separating or 

retiring servicemembers who have disabilities related to their military service. VA 

began accepting disability compensation claims from servicemembers in the BDD 

program at three VA regional offices and three Army installations in 1995. National 

expansion of the program began in 1998. In November 2004, VA and DoD signed 

a national memorandum of agreement to establish a single cooperative examination 

that meets the requirements of a military separation examination and a VA disability rating examination. 

Current BDD program participants include 40 regional offices and 153 military 

installations (142 DoD sites and 11 Homeland Security Coast Guard sites). This 

number includes five locations overseas (three in Korea and two in Germany). Participation in the BDD program is offered to servicemembers who are within 60 to 

180 days of release from active duty and who remain in the area in order to complete the medical examinations. 

Disability Evaluation System (DES) 

In response to recommendations by the Dole-Shalala Commission, West/Marsh 

Independent Review Group, Secretary Nicholson’s Global War on Terrorism Returning Heroes Commission and the anticipated recommendations of the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission, VA and DoD launched a Disability Evaluation System 

(DES) pilot in the fall of 2007, scheduled to run for one year. The pilot program differs from the existing DoD DES process in the following significant ways: 1. VA is 

brought into the process at the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) stage, assisting the 

servicemember and taking a claim for disability compensation; 2. One examination 

is performed according to VA protocols, normally done by VA, which forms the basis 

for the MEB and Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) decision making as well as the 

VA disability rating, should the member be found unfit. If the PEB determines that 

the member is unfit, VA evaluates the extent of disability caused by the unfitting 

condition(s) as well as any other claimed conditions. The VA rating for the unfit condition is used by DoD for purposes of determining the amount of severance pay or 

placement on the temporary or permanent disability retired list. In conjunction with 

the DES pilot, VA is also initiating enhanced data sharing between DoD and VA 

regarding medical information. 

Seamless Transition Program 

With the onset of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), VA expanded its outreach efforts even further with the Seamless Transition Program. In 2003, VA began to assign permanent, full-time representatives at 

key military treatment facilities where seriously injured OEF/OIF returnees are 

hospitalized; including Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda Naval Medical 

Center, Eisenhower Medical Center, Brooke Medical Center, and Madigan Army 

Medical Center. 

VA representatives at these facilities provide benefits information and assist in 

filing claims. They monitor patient progress and coordinate the submission and 

smooth transfer of claims to VA regional offices. Each veteran’s claim is then casemanaged at the appropriate regional office of jurisdiction to expedite processing. Additionally, VA assigns special benefits counselors, social workers, and case-managers 

to work with these servicemembers and their families throughout the transition to 

VA care and benefits systems to ensure expedited delivery of all benefits. 

VA also began hiring Recovery Care Coordinators, who are charged with assisting 

seriously ill, injured, or wounded servicemembers navigate the various systems and 

benefits programs to which they may be entitled. 

National Guard and Reserve Members 

In peacetime, outreach to Reserve and National Guard members is generally accomplished on an ‘‘on call’’ or ‘‘as requested’’ basis. But, with the onset of Operations 

Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) and the activation and deployment of large numbers of Reserve and National Guard members, VBA’s outreach to 

this group has been greatly expanded. VA has made arrangements with Reserve 

and Guard officials to schedule briefings for members being mobilized and demobilized. These benefits briefings for Guard and Reserve members increased from 821 

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briefings for more than 46,000 attendees in FY 2003 to over 1,800 briefings for more 

than 96,000 attendees in FY 2007. 

RESERVE/GUARD BRIEFINGS 

Fiscal Year Briefings Attendees Interviews 

2003 821 46,675 N/A 

2004 1,399 88,366 N/A 

2005 1,984 118,658 N/A 

2006 1,298 93,361 10,515 

2007 1,868 96,355 11,488 

2008 (Through June) 1,280 66,404 12,447 

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 Web site is dedicated for use by Guard and Reserve members. 

Transition Assistance Advisors (TAAs) 

A memorandum of agreement was signed in 2005 between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Guard Bureau to institutionalize a partnership and 

to support better communication between the two. VA is encouraging State National 

Guard Coalitions to improve local communication and coordination of benefits briefings to assure that National Guard and Reserve members are fully aware of benefits. As a part of this partnership, the National Guard Bureau employs 57 Transition Assistance Advisors (TAA) for the 50 States and 4 territories. 

The TAA’s primary function is to serve as the statewide point of contact and coordinator. They also provide advice regarding VA benefits and services to Guard members and their families and assist in resolving problems with VA healthcare, benefits, and TRICARE. VA and the National Guard Bureau teamed up at the beginning 

of the program in February 2006 to provide training to the TAAs on VA services 

and benefits as well as define their role as VA advocates. In addition, VA has participated in annual refresher training and monthly TAA conference calls. 

TAP in South Dakota 

The Sioux Falls VA Regional Office (RO) actively supports the commitment to provide a seamless transition for returning military members. In FY 2007, the office 

conducted 16 TAP briefings for 467 participants. As of June 30, 2008, the office has 

conducted 11 TAP briefings for 242 participants. The participants included 231 active-duty members, 6 members of the Guard and Reserve, and 5 family members. 

Outreach to the Guard in South Dakota 

The Sioux Falls Regional Office is working diligently to ensure members of the 

Guard and Reserve understand the VA benefits to which they may be entitled. In 

addition to TAP, the office has completed 6 outreach events for the Army National 

Guard and the SD Air National Guard since October 2006. These events provided 

benefit information to 517 members of the Guard. 

Madam Chairwoman, we at VA are proud of our continuing role in the transition 

of servicemembers from military to civilian life, and seek to continually improve the 

quality and breadth of our outreach efforts to active duty, Reserve, and National 

Guard members. 

Thank you for allowing me to appear before you today. I would be pleased to respond to any questions from members of the Subcommittee. 

f 

Statement of William D. Elmore, Associate Administrator for 

Veterans Business Development, Office of Veterans Business Development, 

U.S. Small Business Administration 

I want to thank Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, other distinguished 

members of the Committee, and members of the National Guard and Reserves for 

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this opportunity to inform you of SBA’s efforts to support service members and reservists participating in the Transition Assistance Program. 

First, I would like to express the personal gratitude of SBA Acting Administrator 

Carranza, myself and all SBA employees, to those members of the National Guard 

and Reserves who are with us today not only for their service, but also for the sacrifices their families make when their loved one is activated for military service. We 

thank you for your service in defense of our great Nation. 

As the Associate Administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development 

(OVBD), I am the lead official at the Small Business Administration (SBA) responsible for our veteran outreach initiatives. I am happy to report to this Committee 

the tremendous level of work that the SBA has done for our nation’s veterans and 

our work with the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). TAP was established to 

meet the needs of separating service members during their period of transition into 

civilian life by offering job-search and career assistance and related services. 

There are four components of TAP, and I will address two in my testimony. The 

first is the segment for TAP-eligible service members who meet with a DoD counselor after filling out DD Form 2648 (for Active Component Service Member), or DD 

Form 2648–1 (for Reserve Component Service Member). Today, DD Forms 2648 and 

2648–1 both now include information relating to SBA services, which are also available through our Web site (http://www.sba.gov), and contain information about 

available SBA Loans. 

The second component of the TAP program I will address is the actual multi-day 

DoL-TAP seminar managed by DoL field staff or contractors. SBA is continually 

working with DoL in an effort to increase SBA’s participation, utilizing both SBA 

district offices staff (which includes Veteran Business Development Officers) and 

SBA Resource Partners like SCORE, SBDC and VBOC’s. SBA currently participates 

in TAP seminars nationwide. 

We have also taken a number of other significant steps beyond TAP to ensure 

that discharging and deactivating service members and reservists have access to, or 

are informed about SBA services, and are provided information necessary to consider entrepreneurship as a potential vocation. 

In 2001, SBA initiated the Military Reservists Economic Injury Disaster Loan 

(MREIDL) program which provides low interest disaster loans with very flexible 

terms to small businesses suffering economic injury when a Reservist who is an essential employee is activated. 

Additionally, the OVBD implemented the Self Employed Reserve and Guard 

(SERG) initiative as we realized that small business owners in the reserves may be 

called to Title 10 duty in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11. As part of 

that initiative, OVBD established a Web site specifically for Reservists (http:// 

www.sba.gov/reservists), and we began working with the Department of Defense’s 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Reserve Affairs, as well as the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) to conduct outreach 

to Reserve component members. 

Also, as part of SERG, we have distributed hundreds of thousands of the SBA Reservist Fact Sheets and designed and produced comprehensive Pre and Post Mobilization Business Planning Guides, disabled veteran procurement guides, SBA Program Guides, and Patriot Express Loan Program Guides to organizations and individuals that interact with Reserve component members. This has included Reservists Mobilization and De-Mobilization sites, DoD-TAP program sites, Military Family Support Centers, ESGR State offices, SBDCs, SCORE Chapters, SBA district offices, State Departments of Veterans Services, veteran service organization service 

officers, State National Guard Adjutants General and hundreds of other locations. 

In the last year alone, OVBD has received requests for and has distributed more 

than 100,000 ‘‘Reserve and Guard Kits,’’ containing all the above information and 

more. 

In 2007, SBA launched the Patriot Express Pilot Loan initiative (Patriot Express), 

and has distributed hundreds of thousands of Patriot Express brochures nationwide, 

including to DoD-TAP locations. 

Patriot Express specifically targets veterans, service-disabled veterans, Reserve 

Component members, discharging service members eligible for TAP, spouses of the 

above, spouses of all active service members and widows of service members who 

died in service or who died of a service-connected disability. 

In the first year of the Patriot Express, more than 850 lending partners signed 

up to offer the program and SBA guaranteed more than 1,600 loans totaling more 

than $164,000,000. 

In cooperation with the Department of Labor and the Department of Defense, we 

are providing discharging service members and spouses with information regarding 

entrepreneurship, SBA services, SBA programs and SBA resource partners. These 

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86 

materials are contained in both the DoL TAP Manual and in a number of different 

sections in the TurboTAP online system. 

With the cooperation of the Department of Labor, we included a special section 

in its National Hire Veterans First Web site which specifically targeted to entrepreneurship and highlighting SBA services and programs for veterans and reservists. 

Our program materials are also included on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 

Center for Veteran Enterprise Web site and we have recently initiated a more formative relationship with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Services program. This will give us access to a pool of 100,000 

service disabled veterans some of whom have the desire and potential to become entrepreneurs. 

In closing, the SBA is dedicated to continually improve and increase assistance 

for veterans and reservists. We are working to improve our programs, and will be 

announcing additional program enhancements in MREIDL, SBDC and Veterans 

Business Development programs in the near future. 

While we are proud of the work we have done, and the improvements we have 

made, we also recognize that we can never do enough to fully repay the sacrifices 

that our service members and their families make. We will continue to improve the 

depth of our programs for veterans and reservists and we will continue to grow our 

ability to reach, offer and provide assistance to America’s true patriots as they 

choose to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. 

Thank you for the opportunity to present this information. 

f 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

Washington, DC. 

August 1, 2008 

Mr. John McWilliam 

Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service 

U.S. Department of Labor 

200 Constitution Ave., NW 

Room S-2220 

Washington, DC 20210 

Dear Mr. McWilliam: 

In reference to our House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Field Hearing on ‘‘Transition Assistance Program’’ on July 28, 

2008, I would appreciate it if you could answer the enclosed hearing questions by 

no later than August 29, 2008. 

In an effort to reduce printing costs, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, in cooperation with the Joint Committee on Printing, is implementing some formatting 

changes for material for all full committee and subcommittee hearings. Therefore, 

it would be appreciated if you could provide your answers consecutively on letter 

size paper, single-spaced. In addition, please restate the question in its entirety before the answer. 

Due to the delay in receiving mail, please provide your response to Ms. Orfa 

Torres by fax at (202) 225–2034. If you have any questions, please call (202) 226– 

4150. 

Sincerely, 

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin 

Chairwoman 

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87 

U.S. Department of Labor 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Veterans’ Employment and Training 

Washington, DC. 

Hon. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin 

Chairwoman 

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

United States House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515 

Dear Chairwoman Herseth Sandlin: 

This is in response to your inquiry following the House Committee on Veterans’ 

Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Field Hearing on ‘‘Transition Assistance Program’’ on July 28, 2008. Your questions and our responses are listed on the 

following pages. 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Subcommittee and for your 

continued support of employment services for America’s veterans. 

Sincerely, 

John M. McWilliam 

Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Enclosure 

Questions from the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity 

Hearing on Transition Assistance Program 

July 28, 2008 

Question 1: In your written testimony, you state that in fiscal year 2007, over 

146,000 separating military personnel and spouses were trained in 4,716 workshops 

worldwide. Is this active duty only? 

Response: Of the 146,000 participants in TAP Employment Workshops in Fiscal 

Year 2007, there were 3,535 reservists (National Guard or Reserve Component servicemembers) and 3,182 spouses. 

Question 1(a): Can you tell us how many servicemembers separated in fiscal 

year 2007? 

Response: The Department of Defense has informed us that in Fiscal Year 2007 

there were 213,305 active duty transitions worldwide. 

Question 1(b): Do you have numbers specific to South Dakota? (separation and 

participation) 

Response: The Department of Defense has informed us that in Fiscal Year 2007 

there were 424 active duty transitions in South Dakota. 

There were 403 participants in TAP Employment Workshops in Fiscal Year 2007, 

of which 8 were reservists (National Guard or Reserve Component servicemembers) 

and 16 were spouses. 

Question 2: You mentioned in your written testimony that spouses have also received employment and job training assistance. Are families generally informed that 

these programs are available to them? 

Question 2(a): If so, how? 

Response: As mentioned in my testimony, spouses have been provided employment and job training services through the TAP Employment Workshops. The Department of Defense has informed us that while spouses are eligible and encouraged 

to attend any and all TAP sessions which are advertised via normal means (Family 

Centers, newcomer’s orientations, etc.), the servicemember is primarily responsible 

for informing the spouse. 

During pre-separation counseling, which is the only portion of the TAP process 

that is mandatory by law, the servicemember is briefed on the range of topics available during TAP sessions. On the pre-separation counseling form (DD Form 2648/ 

2648–1), the servicemember is required to check a block by each applicable presentation topic whether his/her spouse will also attend with the member. Spouses are 

encouraged to attend presentations on veterans benefits, health and life insurance, 

finances, education/training, and relocation and employment assistance. 

Æ 

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