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88–152 PDF 2003

S. HRG. 108–123

UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN AND

FAMILIES ESPECIALLY DURING TIMES OF MILITARY DEPLOYMENT

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,

LABOR, AND PENSIONS

UNITED STATES SENATE

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

ON

EXAMINING HOW EFFECTIVE THE ARMY HAS BEEN IN MAKING IT

EASIER FOR MILITARY FAMILIES RAISING CHILDREN AND TO DETERMINE WHAT ADDITIONAL CHANGES CAN BE MADE TO FURTHER ASSIST MILITARY FAMILIES

JUNE 2, 2003 (FT. CAMPBELL, TN)

Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

(

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS

JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire, Chairman

BILL FRIST, Tennessee

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee

CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina

JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

TOM HARKIN, Iowa

BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland

JAMES M. JEFFORDS (I), Vermont

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico

PATTY MURRAY, Washington

JACK REED, Rhode Island

JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York

SHARON R. SODERSTROM, Staff Director

J. MICHAEL MYERS, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee, Chairman

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming

CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri

MIKE DEWINE, Ohio

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada

LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina

JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

TOM HARKIN, Iowa

JAMES M. JEFFORDS (I), Vermont

JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico

PATTY MURRAY, Washington

JACK REED, Rhode Island

JOHN EDWARDS, North Carolina

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York

MARGUERITE SALLEE, Staff Director

GRACE A. REEF, Minority Staff Director

(II)

CONTENTS

STATEMENTS

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2003

Page

Alexander, Hon. Lamar, a U.S. Senator from the State of Tennessee ................ 1

Summers, Col. Kim, U.S. Army, Garrison Commander, Ft. Campbell, TN;

Holly Petraeus, Spouse of Commander, 101st Airborne Division, Ft. Campbell, TN; Maj. Josie Fees, Deputy Director, Child and Youth Services,

Ft. Campbell, TN; Willa Garrett, Youth and Family Services, Ft. Campbell,

TN; and Robert Vail, Director, Community Activities Business Center, Ft.

Campbell, TN ....................................................................................................... 4

Dolinish, Maj. Joyce, U.S. Army (Ret.), 101st Corps Support Group; Gricell

Medley, Family Readiness Group (FRG) Volunteer, Spouse of Deployed

Soldier, Clarksville, TN; and First Sergeant Hughes, National Guard Representative, 776th Maintenance Company, Ft. Campbell, TN ......................... 18

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.:

Col. Summers .................................................................................................... 34

Ms. Petraeus ..................................................................................................... 35

Maj. Fees ........................................................................................................... 37

Willa Garrett ..................................................................................................... 38

Mr. Vail ............................................................................................................. 40

Maj. Dolonish .................................................................................................... 43

Ms. Medley ........................................................................................................ 44

Ms. Taylor ......................................................................................................... 45

(III)

(1)

UNDERSTANDING THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN

AND FAMILIES ESPECIALLY DURING TIMES

OF MILITARY DEPLOYMENT

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2003

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES,

OF THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND

PENSIONS,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee was convened, pursuant to notice, at 1 p.m.,

at the Eagles Conference Room, Building 2607, Tennessee Ave., Ft.

Campbell, TN, the Senator Alexander, (Chairman of the Subcommittee), presiding.

Present: Senator Alexander.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ALEXANDER

Senator ALEXANDER. Welcome. I’m Lamar Alexander and this is

a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families. I’m delighted to be at Fort Campbell today and I want to

thank the witnesses who are here today. I want to thank Colonel

Ruggley particularly. He has been Garrison Commander for 3

hours.

So we’ve come on a very busy day for him and I’m delighted that

he’s here. And we’ve had a chance to have lunch together with

Colonel Summers and I thank you very much for that.

The way we will proceed is we have two panels of witnesses. And

what I would like to do is to make a brief opening statement, which

won’t take long, and then I’d like to just go right down the list. We

will start with Colonel Summers. Colonel Summers and Mrs. Summers have a 9-hour drive to Fort Leavenworth, which they’re to

begin as soon as he finishes testifying today.

When he finishes, I may ask him two or three questions and then

excuse him so he can get started on that long drive. And then I’ll

ask the four of you to give just your testimonies, and when you’re

finished, I’ll listen to all four, and then after that will give us some

time for back and forth. I think that will make for the best discussion.

And we will end the first panel by 2:00 and then we will go to

the second panel at 3:00, and we will finish the entire hearing at

least by 4:00 if that fits everyone’s schedule.

I’d like to introduce a couple of people who are here with me.

Margarite Sallee is the staff director for the Children and Families

Subcommittee and she is right here. Kristin Bannerman is a legisVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
2

lative assistant on my Senate Staff specializing in education. I’m

going to make my opening statement now, and then we will proceed to Colonel Summers.

The United States Army is today more of a married Army. Over

half our active duty service members are married, and nearly half

of the men and women in the military today are parents raising

children. Three-quarters of married families have dependent children living at home.

So what I guess we could say about today’s Army is that there

are more missions, there are fewer soldiers, there are more women,

there are more spouses working away from home, and there are

more children. And we’re here today to talk about that, about military parents raising children.

Military men and women choose their profession, they choose to

marry, but as Colonel Summers said to us a little earlier today at

lunch, this is a matter of readiness. Family readiness has everything to do with military readiness. In order to continue to attract

and retain the most talented men and women in our volunteer

Army and all of our Armed Services, we need to do whatever we

can to make it easier for military parents raising children. And all

of society benefits when children grow up in a strong, nurturing,

and attentive family.

We’re holding the hearing here at Fort Campbell to see how well

the Army has done in making it easier for military families raising

children and to see what can be done better. And I want to compliment each of you for your very honest and direct testimony.

You’re very proud of what has been done and you have some suggestions about what can be done better.

We will be talking about schooling, housing, child care, health

care, pay, taxes, frequent moves, deployment, reintegration, that is

when men and women come back from lengthy tours, and how they

integrate with their families and in the communities. All of these

issues impact on our services’ readiness, as well as just the individual family.

We have to remember that when we’re talking about just under

a half million men and women in the active duty Army, 1.2 million

family members are affected by every policy and every decision.

Today we will hear from several members of this family. We will

hear from Colonel Kim Summers who was Garrison Commander at

Fort Campbell until today. We will hear from those involved in

child care and education.

I had an opportunity this morning to visit the child care center

which is a superb center, obviously quality child care, and to visit

the Family Assistant Center. We will have family members of those

who are currently overseas. Holly Petraeus, who is the wife of the

Commander of 101st Airborne and I might add has a significant

background in her own right, will testify. It’s important to come

here to hear from those who are living the military life and to hear

from those who are working to provide for military families.

Let me say a word about our larger mission here. The Children

and Families Subcommittee intends over the next couple of years

to take a broad look at how Federal policies, laws, and regulations

affect all Americans raising children, because we’re all served better if families are strong and parents are healthy. Too many FedVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
3

eral policies from taxation to work life have made it harder for parents raising children and not easier. We’re starting with military

families raising children first because the military usually does

things better than the rest of American society, and second, because it’s a big integrated unit that’s been in the news over the last

several months and we want to focus on military families as a unit.

We have four United States Senators who are doing what I’m

doing. Senator Saxby Chambliss who is chairman of the Personnel

Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee is at Warner Robins Air Force Base in Georgia today having this similar hearing.

Then our two subcommittees, the Personnel Committee and our

Children and Families Subcommittees will join together on June

19th in Washington DC. to compare what we have found and to

further advance the discussion. The ranking Democrats on those

two committees, Senator Dodd of Connecticut and Senator Nelson

of Nebraska are also going to be holding hearings between now and

June 19th.

So we will have four United States Senators holding hearings in

their home states on the issues that affect parents raising children,

then bringing all that to Washington DC. on June 19th to see what

we can put the spotlight on and what we can do to improve things.

Senator ALEXANDER. I want to thank you for having me on the

post here today and for the courtesy that you’ve already shown,

and now I want to call on Colonel Summers. I suggested, by the

way, and I hope this is all right with all the witnesses, I have your

statements, I’ve read them all, I’ve commented on them. I would

suggest that you spend about five to 7 minutes on your statement,

and that will leave us some time for questions back and forth. We

will put your full statement in the record, but if you could summarize it in five or 7 minutes, that would be a big help.

Colonel Summers has served on multiple bases, both here in the

United States, as well as in Korea. He’s been to Fort Leavenworth

before, where he is going today. How many places did you say you

had served?

Colonel SUMMERS. This will be our 22nd move.

Senator ALEXANDER. 22nd move in how many years?

Colonel SUMMERS. In 25 years, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. 22nd move in 25 years. So compliments to

Mrs. Summers. In addition to his studies at the University of Nebraska and Colorado, he attended the Army War College, served in

Desert Storm and Shield, he’s Commander of the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Campbell, or has been until today, and he has served

as a Master Army Aviator and Parachutist. Colonel Summers,

thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to your comments.

4

STATEMENTS OF COLONEL KIM SUMMERS, U.S. ARMY, GARRISON COMMANDER, FORT CAMPBELL, TN; HOLLY PETRAEUS,

SPOUSE OF COMMANDER, 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION, FORT

CAMPBELL, TN; MAJOR JOSIE FEES, DEPUTY DIRECTOR,

CHILD AND YOUTH SERVICES, FORT CAMPBELL, TN; WILLA

GARRETT, YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES, FT. CAMPBELL,

TN; AND ROBERT VAIL, DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES

BUSINESS CENTER, FORT CAMPBELL, TN

Colonel SUMMERS. Thank you, sir. Senator Alexander, I’d like to

take this opportunity to thank you for allowing me to speak to

these critical issues. As the Garrison Commander of Fort Campbell

for the past 2 years, I have observed many facets of these questions

and hope to provide an informative perspective.

Fort Campbell is the home to some 24,916 soldiers and supports

14,700 Reservists and National Guardsmen, 46,177 family members, and over 124,000 retirees. The Installation encompasses a little over 105,000 acres and borders two states and four counties.

Our association and relationship with the local communities is top

notch. In my 25 years of service, I have seen none better. As a result of the extraordinary relationship and these communities’ genuine care for soldiers, our community support structure is second to

none. An example is the joint commitment of both the Christian

County and Montgomery County school systems who teamed up

with our own on-post schools in adopting the Secondary Education

Transition Study Program more than a year ago. This program has

made it much simpler and smoother for high school students of

military families to transfer between duty stations and duty assignments and associated schools without disadvantaging the student

academically.

The Chain of Command. That Chain of Command, better known

as the Rear Detachment, is staffed with dedicated leaders at every

level. The Rear Detachment structure and its high quality soldiers

illustrate the steadfast dedication to excellence our deployed commanders place on insuring our families are properly cared for.

But with all the successes and magnificent support from Congress, our communities, the Army, the Post systems, we do have

areas that need attention, specifically, respite care availability and

facilities. Due to deployments, families become single-parent households instantly. Even though our systems and facilities are in place

to support the family, we lack enough capability to handle shortterm child care on a recurring basis. Before the deployment, both

parents would work the schedule. During deployments, that flexibility is gone. The problem is magnified with special needs children. We have one parent doing the job of two is the bottom line.

If we could enhance the availability of respite care resources, it

would qualitatively and quantitatively improve our family support.

The second area is that of resources to facilitate improvement in

our family support system. Dedicated facilities on Fort Campbell

are at a premium, but dedicated family support facilities are necessary in order to provide a place for the myriad of family readiness/family support tasks to be accomplished. From FRG flyers to

producing event calendars, having meeting space and providing

child care are all requirements for successful programs. The InstalVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
5

lation provides for these needs, but not to the level we would expect for such an important part of soldier readiness.

Unit areas are restrictive and often not available. Even though

the Installation provides space for our Family Readiness Groups,

the competition to support units and other priorities is so intense

that it makes sense to consider a new facility for family support.

Sir, in conclusion, our support structure is critical in maintaining

soldier readiness. I personally and professionally am very proud of

what Fort Campbell does in that effort. Our surrounding communities have embraced our soldiers and families like none other.

This teamwork and mutual support is proof we are progressing in

this effort. Fort Campbell is a wonderful place to live, work, and

play. When our soldiers are called to duty in a distant land, with

the continued help from all, Fort Campbell will rise to the occasion

and insure our family readiness will be every bit as high as the

readiness of our soldiers. Thank you

[The prepared statement of Colonel Summers may be found in

additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Colonel. If I may ask a couple

of questions. You partly answered this and let me give you a

chance to talk a little bit more about it. You’ve been here now a

couple of years.

Colonel SUMMERS. Yes, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. You’ve seen the needs here of a very active

post. If you had to wave a magic wand and do one thing, would it

be the resources that you’ve talked about in your statement, would

it have to do with the Family Resource Center, and explain what

you have in mind why that would be needed.

Colonel SUMMERS. Yes, sir. To answer the first part of your question, absolutely. The Family Readiness Center is solely devoted to

the Family Readiness Groups and their multi tasks and their missions, as well as resources available to them provided by our Army

would be one area where I think it would have a tremendous benefit to not only family readiness, but obviously the soldier readiness.

Family Readiness is a tremendous program, and a facility dedicated to that would help with the efficiency of execution of that

program insuring that we do provide all the services in a manner

in which the Family Readiness Group, as well as the soldiers,

would meet and use in the future.

Senator ALEXANDER. Talk a little bit, if you will, about the need

for what you call respite care. That’s for parents who need a break,

need a little time off. It may be—an hour, or a half day, or a day;

is that my understanding of it?

Colonel SUMMERS. Yes, sir. And that’s right on target. Respite

care is a program in which a family member, as I said in the testimony, where they become instant single-parent families, where it

becomes necessary for them to have some sort of an outlet for

whatever reason to include appointments, those kind of taskings.

So respite care is absolutely critical for providing not only the

time, but also the capability to be able to handle and continue with

their family functions as a single parent.

Senator ALEXANDER. In respite care, who pays for the respite

care?

Colonel SUMMERS. Currently we provide it free of charge.

6

Senator ALEXANDER. As you’ve looked over the last 10 years, let’s

say from the previous Gulf War, Desert Storm, to today, have you

seen changes in the Army’s attitude toward family support efforts?

Colonel SUMMERS. Sir, I think it’s been a continual evolution of

that support structure. From that, we took some very significant

lessons learned very early on, especially from the first Gulf War,

and applied those across our Army. The Army itself obviously takes

family support and family readiness very, very seriously, and as a

portion of our soldier readiness.

The programs that they have instituted over time have everything from the Family Assistance Center, which is in fact part of

our deployment process, to Family Readiness Centers that devote

themselves solely to the support of Family Readiness Groups. I

think it’s proof positive of how serious and supportive that our

Army really is in those kinds of programs.

Senator ALEXANDER. You said yourself—others might say, if you

join the Army, you choose to do that, it’s a volunteer Army, and

if you choose to marry, that’s volunteer, you would expect that

there would be perhaps long deployment, separation from a family.

What do you say in response to those who might say that we’re

putting too much emphasis on the issue of family readiness, long

deployments, and the effect of other aspects that surface in the

Army on parents raising children?

Colonel SUMMERS. Sir, I would say the first portion of that is

that I don’t think we can put too much emphasis on the family

readiness in and of itself because of its criticality to our overall soldier and unit readiness. I think it’s a constant effort in order to

make sure that we’re basically getting at those needs of our soldiers and our families.

As far as the Army and its deployments, I think that it’s a wonderful place to work, it’s a wonderful place to live. The Army truly

does take care of its own and we will continue to make improvements over time as to—obviously with meetings like this and hearings like this, but continue to make improvements over time to continue our evolution on supporting our families. It is critical and it

is something that we need to continue on with.

Senator ALEXANDER. Colonel Summers, thank you very much for

your testimony. We will make your whole statement part of the

record and your answers and suggestions have been very helpful.

And I know that in your new post command at Fort Leavenworth,

that you’ll continue this interest. I look forward to hearing from

you if you have further suggestions about what we should be doing.

Colonel SUMMERS. Thank you very much, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. Drive safely.

Colonel SUMMERS. I appreciate that very much.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you.

We will move your chair out and I’ll go to Ms. Petraeus. I’ll ask

Holly Petraeus to say in her own words how many places she has

lived when she begins her testimony. But there’s been a lot of

places and I’ve been impressed how each of those places she has

taken on a leadership role at her station.

She has been awarded the Department of Army’s Outstanding

Civilian Service Medal, she’s the wife of the Commanding General

of this post, who’s being honored for his service in Iraq, and last

7

I heard, still there. I saw her a few weeks ago at a luncheon here

in honor of volunteers who helped with family support.

So Ms. Holly Petraeus, thank you for being here, and particularly

because of your background and the number of posts that you’ve

seen, I look forward to your testimony,

Could you tell us how many different places that you have lived

in the Army.

Ms. PETRAEUS. Well, since I’ve married, I’ve moved about 16

times in 29 years, but I was also an Army daughter growing up,

so I think the total is somewhere around 25 or 26 moves total.

Senator ALEXANDER. Does anyone keep up with the records?

Ms. PETRAEUS. The only time we have to remember is when my

husband does his security clearances. We have to go look up all

those old addresses.

Senator ALEXANDER. Oh, that’s right. Well, thank you very much

for being here. I look forward to hearing your testimony.

Ms. PETRAEUS. Thank you, Senator Alexander. I am here today

to speak to you as an Army wife of almost 29 years. You’ve asked,

‘‘How has the Army taken care of its soldiers’ families during this

deployment?’’ My experience here at Fort Campbell has been a very

positive one. The key element has been good communication between the deploying units, the military and civilian staff remaining

here at Fort Campbell, and the volunteer Family Readiness Group

or FRG leaders.

Among the military remaining here on post, the Installation commander has conducted bi-weekly information meetings with senior

spouses and key FRG leaders. These have been a great venue for

bringing up issues that concern us, and for hearing what the Installation is doing to address those issues.

Also, the post hospital has been very responsive to family concerns. The five chaplains who remain here have done a wonderful

job offering deployment-related counseling and also running a very

successful charitable effort, Operation Helping Hand, which is used

to help family members where Army Emergency Relief cannot.

On the DOD civilian side, the people in Army Community Services have been super. They run our Family Assistance Center, a

one-stop shopping for family members who need assistance while

the soldiers are deployed. They also coordinate deployment-related

training, such as Army Family Team Building.

Morale, Welfare, and Recreation has worked with local charities

and sponsors to provide some very well-attended free family functions, such as monthly family fun fairs. Our Fort Campbell schools

have not only addressed deployment-related issues with their own

students, but have provided the local off-post school systems with

training.

I have to mention also the invaluable service of our volunteer

FRG leaders. They are the command’s link to the families, and although they are dealing at home with the same deployment issues

as everyone else, they dedicate a substantial portion of their free

time to reaching out to help others.

Now, as to the question of what could be done better: I do feel

that the Army is asking a great deal of our FRG leaders. They

have no official status, but they bear a lot of responsibility.

8

When Secretary of the Army White was here in April, he suggested that some of the key FRG positions should be salaried.

These volunteers dedicate their time, and often their own money,

too, keeping in communication with family members over a farflung area, and they should have the status and protection of being

official DOD employees.

I’d also like to see more money available for child care during deployments. The young soldiers’ spouses will not come out for meetings and social functions if they cannot bring their children. And

if we are to reach them with the information they need, we must

ensure that free child care is available on site.

As deployments go on, respite care is also important. We are

stretching our dollars and using charitable donations, as well, but

more funding in this area would be great.

Another thing I think the Army and all the services can improve

on is casualty notification for seriously and very serious injured.

This has causes a lot of heartburn for us here during this deployment, because of the lack of timely information coming from overseas. Sometimes the first notice the family has received has been

a call directly from a military hospital overseas, although there has

been no information about the casualty sent to the division casualty office. On one occasion, a soldier who had been sent home for

convalescent leave called from the Nashville Airport looking for a

ride—and that was our first indication that he had returned to the

United States.

The problem has been particularly bad with soldiers treated in

the Navy system. It has been almost impossible to get information

on their status or their whereabouts. As you can imagine, this has

been very upsetting for the families. In this automated age, we

should be able to do better of tracking who is where and letting the

family members know in a timely manner.

On a larger scale, I’d like to address what Congress can do for

us. No. 1 in the minds of many here is that we need more soldiers

on active duty, particularly in certain key specialties. In recent

years, the Army has downsized while adding on more and more

overseas missions. The obvious result of this is that many of our

soldiers have been deployed repeatedly over the last few years. In

this group, for example, my husband has been deployed 16 of the

last 24 months, and Gricell Medley’s has been deployed 15 of the

last 17 months.

Many families in our Chinook helicopter battalion, our Military

Police Battalion, our logistics and special operations units can tell

the same story. This unrelenting pace of deployment is a retention

issue. Families will not be willing to go it alone forever with little

relief in sight.

I would also ask Congress to let us keep our on-post schools.

They provide a high quality and consistent education for our children who move from State to State, where the quality of education

varies and where the local school districts are underfunded in the

area of impact aid. A number of our schools here at Fort Campbell

have achieved Blue Ribbon status, and they are valued accordingly

by the families.

In closing, I’d like to thank Senator Alexander for coming here

today. I’m proud of the way our military, our families, and our local

9

communities have worked together during this deployment, and I

would like that to be the main message that you take away today.

Thank you.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you very much, Ms. Petraeus, and I

appreciate very much your being with us.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Petraeus may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Josie Fees is our next witness, daughter of

retired Army veteran. Her husband is currently out of the country

while she’s a mother working with Child Youth Services; is that

right and has for the last 15 years.

What we will do is, if we may proceed right down the line, and

then when the testimony is finished, I’ll ask questions of all four

of you. Welcome.

Major FEES. Good afternoon. I’m Josie Fees, Programs Operation

Specialist, and I am here today to speak to you on behalf of Fort

Campbell’s Child and Youth Services Program.

I am pleased to say that I am a military family member and

have been for over 33 years and with Child and Youth Services for

15. I have been with Fort Campbell’s Child and Youth Services for

3 years, and I speak to you with a tremendous sense of pride. I

first noticed Child and Youth Services’ commitment to quality and

high standards for families because the Child and Youth Services’

programs obtained national accreditation to include Family Child

Care homes. I then witnessed the overwhelming kindness on 9/11

when the U.S. was under attack and the Installation immediately

went into action to protect soldiers, the families, and the civilian

workforce.

It was very difficult that day to get on and off the Installation.

And without hesitation, the Child and Youth Services’ staff volunteered to stay and do whatever was necessary to ensure that all the

children were safe and their needs were met until their parents

could pick them up. Child and Youth Services’ staff stayed past

midnight and arrived back at 5:00 in the morning to receive the

children. The staff never once complained. There is a saying that

‘‘the Army takes care of its own.’’ Fort Campbell has proven that

to me time and time again.

Now, with the division deployed, how has Child and Youth Services supported deployed families? Beginning with the mobilization

phase, a parent notified the Child and Youth Services that they

had a need for extended child care due to mobilization requirements. Extended care for evening, weekends, and holidays at no

cost to the parent was immediately implemented the same day so

that the soldiers could focus on the mission.

Since the deployment, Child and Youth Services continues to provide contingency services so that soldiers and family members are

at ease knowing their child care needs are met. Child and Youth

Services provides on-site child care for Family Readiness Group

meetings, we offer respite care to family members due to deployment issues.

The Family Assistance Center offers child care and it’s being provided by the staff of Child and Youth Services. The Family Child

Care Program provides emergency care for military families due to

10

deployment. Emergency care providers are available 24 hours a

day.

Child and Youth Services provides many family services, ‘‘Pamper the Parents’’ day so that the parents can get a break, participate in Fort Campbell’s Family Fun Fairs, America’s Kids Run,

and there was an essay contest titled, ‘‘I am a Military Child.’’ The

winners were invited to read their essays at the Volunteer-of-theMonth ceremony.

The staff of the child care centers is helping the children put together scrapbooks so the parents will have pictures of the events

that they missed out on while they were deployed. The teen program takes an active lead on mentoring the young children and

volunteering in the community in support of deployed families.

The Sports and Fitness program depends largely on volunteer

coaches, and since many of them are soldiers, spouses, along with

some staff, have stepped up to ensure that the program isn’t interrupted and provide service for the children.

These are just a few of many examples of the partnerships with

Child and Youth Services and other Community Activity Based

Centers strong sense of commitment and dedication to our military

families during deployment.

Child and Youth Services is a large employer of family members.

We recognize that the support internally, as well as externally, is

very important during deployment and I have to say Fort Campbell

does a fantastic job. We provide training for the staff so they can

recognize and understand the effects deployment has on children,

we provide stress training since many of our staff are family members facing the same deployment issues themselves.

What type of support does Child and Youth Services need in

order to meet the needs of deployed families? Well, we certainly appreciate the support Congress has provided to the Child and Youth

Services Program and we will continue to maintain our ‘‘model for

the nation’’ status with your support. We continue to be able to

provide a safe, healthy, and nurturing program for young children

and offer our youth a safe and fun place to go instead of being

home alone.

In closing, I’d like to say as a very proud Fort Campbell family

member and a representative of Child and Youth Services, thank

you for allowing us the opportunity to tell you about our fantastic

installation and some of the things we do to show that families

come first. As well as what we need to do to improve the quality

of life for military families during deployment, the genuine concern

that Congress has shown for our military community means more

than I can express.

[The prepared statement of Major Fees may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Ms. Fees. Willa Garrett taught

elementary school for 10 years at home and abroad and is married

to a 101st Airborne retiree. As an Army civilian, she has been involved with many children, Youth and Family Services. Welcome,

and we look forward to your testimony.

Ms. GARRETT. Thank you, Senator Alexander.

I have been a part of the Fort Campbell Child and Youth Services for the past 13-and-a-half years, and am certainly honored to

11

address you today, sir, on the support services that were offered to

families during this deployment.

As the school liaison officer, I enjoy the privilege of serving as

a vehicle for information for parents, schools, and students, as well

as collaborating with local schools and installation organizations to

facilitate the education transition for our children.

Currently, the majority of our school age population is educated

mainly by three school districts; one, our own host school district,

the Fort Campbell Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary Secondary Schools, sometimes called DDESS schools,

serve about 4,200 children that reside on the Installation.

Clarksville-Montgomery County School System of Tennessee educates approximately 5,600 of our students that reside in the city of

Clarksville, TN. Christian County Public Schools of Kentucky educates about 1,100 of our students each year who reside in Hopkinsville and Oak Grove, KY.

Continuity of education when family is transferred to and from

the Fort Campbell area has improved greatly over the past 3 years.

Through the positive relations and continuous communication, the

local school districts have developed a greater understanding and

sensitivity about the challenges that our children incur as a result

of transitioning from one school district to another.

Fort Campbell schools is a part of the original nine school systems involved in the study commissioned by the Army and conducted by the Military Child Education Coalition Secondary Education Transition Study, mainly the SETS study.

Since the initial study, the School Liaison Officer and the Fort

Campbell schools have been working closely with the local school

districts of Clarksville and Christian County to develop a local action plan that makes the transition for all our mobile students a

more seamless venture for students and their families.

Each one of these school districts consistently worked to ensure

children who move have the same advantages and opportunities as

those students who remain in one location for their entire school

career. Efforts are being made to help families move with greater

ease and remain in the area when it seemed that the move is

harmful to children.

In support of a recent deployment, the Fort Campbell schools did

an excellent job of providing training for their counselors and the

neighboring school districts. The School Liaison Officer partnered

with the post hospital’s chief of psychology and the psychologist for

the Soldier/Family Health Readiness Program to offer training to

counselors, teachers, and administrators to off-post schools. These

half-day training sessions included a presentation on ‘‘Deployment,

Stress, Families and School’’ that addressed identifying stress in

adults and children, as well as ways to assist children in dealing

with such frustrations.

Other information provided to school during these training sessions included information on the Family Assistance Centers, current child care opportunities, and youth activities sponsored by

Child and Youth Services, along with many other support services

on the Installation. Suggestions for dealing with the reunion cycle

of the deployment, as well as what to expect during this phase, was

also presented.

12

Fort Campbell, Clarksville and Christian County schools offer

periodic parent sessions and family involvement opportunities

throughout the school year, such as Parent/Teacher Organization,

as well as site-based council meetings to assist in making meaningful decisions about how their schools are run.

Child and Youth Services’ staff coordinate briefings for parents

on child development and stress management. Parent advisory

groups for full day and preschool enrolled children have quarterly

meetings to look at the program improvements and share information. Training opportunities and family-oriented activities are frequently communicated to each school district.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak on behalf of our

children in schools. Fort Campbell continues to provide excellent

support services to families of our deployed soldiers. Each of our

school districts continue to be extremely positive and welcome as

much information as possible on what is needed to fully support

our children and their school districts.

The team work displayed by each one of our schools and other

installation support agencies is definitely commendable and is

what I consider to be a true demonstration of dedication and commitment.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you very much.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Garrett may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. I spent much of the morning with our next

witness, Bob Vail, who has had a distinguished career, he is currently the Director of the Community Activities Business Center at

Fort Campbell. Among other things, he has also been a past distinguished lieutenant governor in the Kiwanis Club, graduate of Leadership Clarksville, and currently active with Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

Mr. Vail, thank you for the tour this morning and the time you

spent with us today. We look forward to your testimony.

Mr. VAIL. Thank you, sir, for giving me this opportunity to talk

about the support we provide to our Army families.

I’m extremely proud of the support the families and children receive from the organizations on Fort Campbell that are chartered

to provide that service. I am also proud to be a part of the surrounding communities that support Fort Campbell so well.

One of the main benefits of providing superior support to the

families is keeping them in the area where we can better help

them in the event of need. We can keep them informed of what is

really going on and not have them rely on media and rumor for

their information.

Sir, you saw the Family Assistance Center that we set up to provide a one-stop shop for virtually all services that are provided.

That center has proven to be extremely beneficial and effective in

helping families. That they can go to one site and get everything

from emergency food supplies, financial aid, legal assistance, medical insurance information, and so on has filled a critical need.

Our family Readiness Center has also proven to be extremely

valuable. In terms of facilities, it provides classrooms, mail boxes

for over 200 Family Readiness Groups, public access to computers,

training materials, and the like. It is a resource center for the

13

Army Team Building Program and the Operation Ready Program.

It is also the focal point for our installation volunteer program. All

these services tie together to support the Family Readiness Groups

and individual family members and better prepare family members

for deployments.

The Child and Youth Services programs have proven why they

are recognized as a model for the Nation. The exceptional services

they provide have been invaluable in support of the family. We expanded our operating hours as needed, we provided many sessions

of child care in support of the Family Readiness Group meetings,

and emergency child care as needed. And the child care facility at

the Family Assistance Center have all been provided without

charge to the soldier or family. In addition, we have strived to provide special entertainment and recreation events on post free of

charge to the families.

As I mentioned, the community has embraced the family and

their outpouring of support has been incredible. Some groups have

focused on raising money and provided financial support where the

official channels cannot. Others have wanted to adopt a family, donate products, and so on. This support has been truly heartwarming and has done a lot to improve the morale of the family

members.

Overall, I feel the support to the families and children has been

outstanding and considerably better than during our last major deployment during Desert Storm. Still, there is room for improvement. The most important is to cover the incredible need for child

care by the parent left as the sole provider during a deployment.

Some of this is so the parent can do critical things such as doctor’s

appointments, house repairs, and so on. Other times, they just

need a break.

This is especially true of families with special needs children.

Care of a special needs child can become overwhelming for the remaining parent. While we have been providing some free respite

care, it has been on a fairly limited basis partly due to the cost,

partly due to the capacity to provide this care.

In conclusion, I am extremely proud of the role that community

activities has played in providing support to the families of the soldiers that defend our freedom. Many of the employees that provide

these services are family members themselves and can really relate

to the problems that their customers bring to them.

Thank you again for this opportunity and I stand ready to answer any questions that you might have.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. Vail. Thanks to the witnesses for being here. I think we have some time for questions or

for you to make further comments.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Vail may be found in additional

material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Now, let me ask of each of you the question

I asked of Colonel Summers. I’ll just start with Mr. Vail and move

down the table this way, if I may. If you had a magic wand and

could wave it for one item that would improve family readiness at

Fort Campbell, what would it be?

Mr. VAIL. Sir, I think I would have to echo Colonel Summers and

indicate the need for a Family Readiness Center that is more capaVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
14

ble of meeting the needs of the Family Readiness Groups and the

family members. The one we have is good, but it really needs to

have on-site child care, for example, as was mentioned earlier. It’s

very difficult to get people out, especially for evening classes, and

that’s oftentimes the only time available to the family members to

come to classes. They typically won’t come unless child care is

available. So a more comprehensive Family Readiness Center

would be my answer, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Fees?

Major FEES. Well, since the Army is more of a family organization, in order to provide quality child care to the family members

so they can focus on their mission, the Army has a great need for

more facilities, child care centers.

In Fort Campbell, we have a large need for two stand-alone

school age programs there. And as of right now, out of the five elementary schools, which are located all over the post, it is very difficult to provide the type of facility that these children deserve. It’s

at the cafeterias or the gyms, and so it’s a set-up and take-down

everyday procedure for the staff. And that also causes more physical labor on the staff, and they have to do that before the children

arrive after school. So facilities would be requested.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Petraeus?

Ms. PETRAEUS. I would like to see more money for the child care

programs. Obviously the facilities are needed, as well, but I know

that we have over 220 Family Readiness Groups on this post and

a number of them end up obliged to do a serious amount of their

fund-raising just to cover child care costs for their social functions.

There is some child care for them free of cost, but that’s only at

their informational meeting. So if they want to get folks to come

out and bond in a social setting, then they’re having to find the

money to pay for that child care. So that’s what I’d like to see. If

I had the choice, I’d love to see more money addressed to that area.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Garrett?

Ms. GARRETT. If I had a magic wand, I’d like to see money made

available to our off-post school districts to provide a transition lab

in each one of the high schools and middle schools that would allow

for an easier transition for students who are coming in. Maybe they

are just about to complete a particular course from the losing

school, maybe the school that they’re coming to is on a different

schedule.

A teacher in a transition lab would be able to help them get

through that particular course, maybe finish the one they were just

in at the previous school.

Senator ALEXANDER. This would be in, like, Montgomery County

School District and Christian County School District?

Ms. GARRETT. Yes, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. Since you brought up schools, let’s go back

the other way on schools. There has been some discussion in the

Congress about on-post schools; schools on the post and bases

around the country. I was hoping to come down last Friday when

Mrs. Bush came to be at the graduation here, but the votes were

close in the Senate, so the vice president and I and all the other

senators stayed to vote.

15

What advice would you have for members of the Congress about

the usefulness of on-post schools?

Ms. GARRETT. Sir, we value all of our local education activities

on post and off post, and I have to say because of that, we don’t

compare them at the moment. We’ve never done that because

they’re excellent educational institutions and we just have not compared them.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Petraeus, do you want to make any

comment about the schools?

Ms. PETRAEUS. Well, yes. As a parent, I’m willing to say that we

do value our on-post schools very much. As I mentioned in my

statement, that is a little bit of stability for us when we move. It’s

definitely a drawing point that attracts people to live on post, the

opportunity to go to an on-post school.

I know that impact aid is a question. Often the local communities

are not given the kind of money they need to support our school

children. And to me, if you got rid of on-post schools, that would

just compound that problem, make it worse. So I think they are

very valuable to us, and I would be very dismayed to see them go

away.

Senator ALEXANDER. May any family stationed here send their

child to the on-post school or do they have to be living on-post.

Ms. PETRAEUS. They have to be living on post, or within a certain

number of days of living on post.

Senator ALEXANDER. And if they live on post, may they send

their child to an off-post school?

Ms. PETRAEUS. To a private school, if they chose to.

Ms. GARRETT. Private schools. One off-post school in particular I

know will not except them because they have to reside in their

county.

Senator ALEXANDER. I see.

Ms. Fees, what about the schools?

Major FEES. As a parent myself, my children attended the Fort

Campbell schools for 2 years, and currently we’re off-post in Montgomery County. And during this deployment time, it has been as

you can see the big difference of Fort Campbell understanding the

deployment issues of these children and the teachers being family

members themselves. It provides that sense of security for the children because they have behavior issues or they have days where

they’re down and they’re not sure.

And I think the teachers here are so much more understanding

than the ones that are off post. As a parent, it’s very valuable.

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Vail, any comment?

Mr. VAIL. Sir, I would tell you my perception is from having children in the off-post schools that the on-post schools are superior.

I think that at least part of that is because of their funding stream.

It is typically more reliable. It’s not as reliant on the tax base or

property taxes in the area and may be a little less subject to political variances in the local community.

So I think they are typically viewed as being superior and though

that’s an opinion—and I do know it’s a pretty significant emotional

event for the folks that do live on post.

16

Senator ALEXANDER. I’ll ask one more question of this panel, so

if you want to throw in something I haven’t asked you, this is a

good chance to do it.

I wanted to talk a little bit because this comes up in almost all

of the comments, not in a critical way, but just as Colonel Summers said, Family Readiness is military readiness with more missions, and longer deployments. That’s bound to be having an effect

on families.

What would you say to the Congress and the American people

about the effect of more missions and longer deployments on our

ability to retain and keep talented people in the volunteer Army?

Mr. Vail, let’s start with you and then go back that way.

Mr. VAIL. I don’t think there’s any question that it is having impact. I think the continued separations for the families is causing

retention problems. You certainly hear about it in just day-to-day

conversations with folks that are impacted by that in the work

force. A lot of the work force is family members and so you do hear

it from that perspective. So I don’t think there’s any question that

it is having a very significant impact on retention.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Fees?

Major FEES. I think that what’s important is if we continue to

support the Family Readiness Programs and ensure that when the

family member is a single parent, that there is options for them because they are located so far from the family members that we rely

on one another for support.

If there are options for us to reach out and get that support, the

deployments wouldn’t be such a hardship.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Petraeus?

Ms. PETRAEUS. I have to agree with Mr. Vail that I think it is

a very significant thing to retention. No matter how good your family programs are, if you have your spouse continually deployed and

often in harm’s way, eventually people are going to say, enough.

And, unfortunately, you know, it takes a long time to train a soldier, especially one in a specialized field, and it’s not the ones who

have been in a year or two that may decide to get out after their

3 years are up, but these are family members that have been in

for some time. And when you lose them, you lose something very

valuable.

But I don’t think the families will be willing to just continually

go it alone, do it by themselves with the prospect of more and more

of the same in sight.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Garrett?

Ms. GARRETT. Sir, I agree with everything that’s been said by the

other witnesses. Our family members certainly have demonstrated

a lot of strength. Just since I’ve been here at Fort Campbell, I’ve

seen families hold it together when I know that their sponsor has

deployed several times and for long lengths of time.

We’ve also seen the negative effects of that on our children in

schools just by some of the phones calls that I get from school administrators and some teachers and so forth. I have to also say

that I agree that it’s very difficult for some of them to stay in the

Army and maintain their family connections. Sometimes it’s very

difficult for them to do.

17

Senator ALEXANDER. I said that was my last question, but I have

2 minutes left in this panel and I’m not going to let all this wisdom

get away from me. Plus, this question is related to the last one.

We talked about longer deployments, more frequent deployments.

But another aspect that can uproot a family is what Colonel Summers and Mrs. Summers are about to do, to drive nine hours to

Fort Leavenworth. And he was talking about the large number of

assignments he’s had over the years, and that’s been true with all

of you who have been in the military.

I heard Secretary Rumsfeld talk recently about looking at ways

to cut down on frequent moves by military personnel. Would you

have any comment about that, any insight you’d like to offer about

the wisdom of that or the effect that might have on, morale and

the ability to retain talented people? Ms. Garrett, I’ll start with

you.

Ms. GARRETT. A few years ago, the Army implemented a new stabilization policy for soldiers that had juniors in high school or those

who would be juniors, that if they wanted to stay at that particular

post to allow their child to graduate with the current graduating

class, they could do that.

And I know at Fort Campbell, we’ve had a number of requests

and they’ve all been approved. And it has really, really done a lot

for the family stability and the education of our children.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Petraeus?

Ms. PETRAEUS. I know one house committee was looking at one

way of stabilizing families would be to have unaccompanied unit

rotations to Europe and Korea. And I want to say very strongly,

I don’t think that’s the way to go. Again, to the family, that would

be perceived as one more deployment, not to mention, this may not

be the spot where they choose to be stabilized.

I know the Marines and the Navy—often the families do spend

long periods of time in one particular area, but often those are

major metropolitan areas that are on the coast. They offer a lot of

employment opportunities.

Army bases tend to be where you have lots of land for training.

They tend to be more rural areas with often less employment and

less career opportunities. I don’t know that it’s necessarily a virtue

to stabilize a family in that particular area, so I have some concerns about that. Yes, the frequent moves can be a challenge, but

again, I don’t think unaccompanied unit rotations are going to be

a way to make that better.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you. Ms. Fees?

Major FEES. I’m facing the issue with my husband being in the

Sinai, and he has orders to return to Fort Hood and has requested

to delete them to stay at Fort Campbell for our children, and they

have been approved.

It’s so difficult for military children, and being one myself my entire life growing up, when you move as a soldier, you take your

rank and you take your title and your status and you take it to the

next installation. As a child, you could have been the All-Star on

a soccer team or done really well on a baseball team, but you take

nothing with you.

So it’s very important, I feel that if family does request that they

can stabilize in an area, that they can.

18

Senator ALEXANDER. Mr. Vail, you get the last word.

Mr. VAIL. Well, sir, you mentioned a few minutes ago that some

things are perceived to perhaps come with the job or with the territory, and I don’t think that the numbers of moves has probably

dramatically changed over the years. I think it probably kind of

comes with the job.

I don’t think it has the same impact as does the frequent deployments, so I would—although it might be an issue and particularly

there may be needs to have some provisions under special circumstances to do more stabilization. I think it’s probably not as

key as deployments.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you very much for your candor and

for your help on this. Now, this is a continuing discussion. We will

have another hearing on June the 19th, as I mentioned, and we’re

going to continue to look at this for the next couple of years.

So if you have additional comments, I want to set up an easy

way for you to get in touch with me or with our staff and let us

know your suggestions. They’ll be welcome.

I’d like to invite the second panel to come forward, please.

Welcome. And we will try to follow the same procedure we did

before. I was saying to commanding officers a little earlier, I cannot

imagine an institution more different than the United States Military than the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Senate is completely undisciplined. If I were to have

asked four senators to speak for five or 6 minutes, the first one

would barely be through coffee. And here we got through that testimony beautifully and had time to discuss. Thank you for that.

And if you could submit your full statement for the record and

then it will be a part of our committee record for Congress. Please

keep your remarks to five to 7 minutes, then that will leave us

time to have the kind of discussion we did with the last panel.

Thank you very much for coming. I read your comments already

and I’m impressed with their directness and I look forward to questioning you about some of them. And we will start with Major

Joyce Dolinish. She began as Army ROTC at Western Michigan

University. She’s been stationed in the United States and Europe,

now a Family Readiness advisor. Her husband, who began in the

101st Airborne, now is a colonel with the 101st Corps Support

Group.

Major Dolinish, welcome. Thank you for being here.

STATEMENTS OF MAJOR JOYCE DOLINISH, U.S. ARMY (RET.),

101ST CORPS SUPPORT GROUP; GRICELL MEDLEY, FAMILY

READINESS GROUP (FRG) VOLUNTEER, SPOUSE OF DEPLOYED SOLDIER, CLARKSVILLE, TN; MICHELLE TAYLOR,

CARETAKER OF CHILDREN OF TWO DEPLOYED PARENTS,

CLARKSVILLE, TN; AND FIRST SERGEANT HUGHES, NATIONAL GUARD REPRESENTATIVE, 776TH MAINTENANCE

COMPANY, FORT CAMPBELL, TN

Major DOLINISH. Sir, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to

discuss the military family deployment with the committee today.

I am able to discuss these issues from a rather unique perspective

of 20 years of active duty, 19 years as an Army spouse, 12 as an

Army mom, and 2 years as a retiree and a disabled veteran. I’m

19

the Family Readiness Group Advisor, as you stated, for the 101st

Corps Support Group.

Deployment issues are a key topic to all military families. As

part of a volunteer force, individuals choose the life of a soldier because they believe that they are part of an organization that can

make a difference in the world and in them as individuals. Their

career choice is not an easy one for the soldier or for the family.

The money is not great, the housing often substandard, the relocation is difficult, and the time away from their family increases

yearly. Yet they remain on duty serving despite these hardships

proving again and again that they are the best Army in the world.

While the families feel nothing but pride and support for all soldiers, they all at some point begin to question when the constant

separation becomes too much to bear as a family. Within our

Group, units redeployed from Afghanistan only to begin preparation for deployment to Iraq. As we made plans for welcoming home

soldiers returning from Iraq, we’re simultaneously planning the departure ceremonies for units redeploying to a nine-month tour of

Afghanistan.

We continue to hear plans to further reduce the size of the Army

and know that our soldiers will spend even less time with their

family. We hear of efforts to change accompanied tours to Europe

to a rotation which we believe is a friendly euphemism for another

deployment.

Most Americans think that a military mission is done when the

press stops reporting it. Families know it takes years to complete

the job and bring everyone home. Pride and loyalty hold the military family together, but at some point in the near future, soldiers

may face ultimatums from their families as the amount of time together becomes less than the amount of time apart.

I’d like to address the issue of mothers facing deployment as

been in the news. I believe it’s being viewed from the wrong angle

by most observers. The Army, as you have stated, is a volunteer

career choice, and all single soldiers or dual military couples with

children are at all times aware of their potential for deployment

and they’re required to provide extensive legal documentation of a

valid family care plan. If they cannot provide this plan, they are

relieved from active duty.

The parents and mothers who are currently deployed are very

proud soldiers. They had plans in place and they executed those

plans. The real problem is the number of soldiers whose care plans,

when notified of deployment, suddenly were not valid. These soldiers knowingly, willingly lied to their commanders and provided

false legal documentation. The units then deployed without these

soldiers, perhaps compromising their mission.

Soldiers are informed adults who must make difficult decisions

regarding their families. Life as a soldier is not an easy one, especially for single parents or dual military couples. If they decide to

pursue it, they must be prepared for separations and have a valid

care plan for their children. If they do not have someone they trust

ready to assume the role of parent at any time, they must pursue

another career.

Civilians make hard decisions based on the amount of time

they’ll be away from their families and make job decisions based

20

on that. Soldiers must make the same tough decisions. The Army

life is not for everyone.

Contrary to popular belief, the return of a soldier from a long deployment is often more difficult than their departure. The redeployment briefings are normally offered at the Family Readiness Group

meetings when rumors start that soldiers are coming home. FRG

leaders hope that each family will attend at least one of those briefings, but we cannot enforce it.

FRG leaders, chaplains, and social workers from the hospital

jointly present these briefings, but there is currently no standard

format or books to use. The resources available on military installations are insufficient to provide the on-going support needed by

many soldiers and their families.

On-post schools are one of the positive aspects of deployment and

military life. Children are surrounded by peers going through the

same thing they are. Teachers and counselors are experienced with

deployments and are trained to watch children for signs of excessive stress. Teachers have constant access to the families and support from military units and the Installation. Exceptional discipline

is maintained, in part because the military parent can be held accountable for their child’s actions.

Fort Campbell is fortunate to have outstanding community support, but the off-post schools cannot compete with the on-post

schools’ ability to prepare children for the constant deployment and

redeployment of soldiers. Funding continues to be reduced for onpost school systems at a time of increasing soldier deployments,

when they can least afford to cut corners or reduce programs.

On-post schools are better prepared to ensure the continuity of

education for each child as a military family transfers throughout

their career. Department of Defense guidelines ensure that all

schools on military installations have similar curriculums. Improvements have been made and agreements coordinated with

many off-post schools near military bases to ease the transition of

military students; however, gaps continue to occur. Constant moves

are extremely difficult on children. Gaps in curriculums or the calculation of credits for graduation can make the move even more

traumatic. On-post schools are something we would not want to

lose.

The most positive aspect of this deployment has been the way

the Installation, military rear detachments, families, and the local

community have pulled together. Large-scale deployments are difficult on everyone. Communication and mutual support has been

outstanding. Most military families are extremely self-sufficient,

but they need to know what is going on. The relatively few families

that need support receive the help they need quickly and from

many sources.

The key negative areas of this deployment were casualty notification and the tracking of casualties in the medical system, as Ms.

Petraeus has already stated. Embedded media provided real-time

coverage of events. Families knew immediately that an accident or

casualty had occurred, and by watching closely, could often narrow

the event to a specific unit.

While no one argues that all casualty notification must be 100

percent accurate, the time from the incident until the time the DeVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
21

partment of the Army approves notification of next of kin is currently unacceptable given today’s media and communication capabilities. Soldiers are calling back and notifying spouses of a casualty before the assistance officers can get to the homes to do a notification.

Injured soldiers are nearly impossible to track in the multiservice

medical system. Today’s military family depends and deserves a

casualty notification system that recognizes the impact of instant

media and communication.

Basically the military family doesn’t want special treatment.

They’re very self-reliant and they’re proud of what they do, but

they do want uninterrupted support in critical areas, medical,

schooling, an on-going post support. And together, we can all do

that and do a very good job of it. I’d like to thank you for the opportunity for coming, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you for your comments.

[The prepared statement of Major Dolinish may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Gricell Medley has managed the Support Team Building and Readiness Groups for families at Fort

Campbell as well as in Panama. Welcome. We’re glad you’re here

and look forward to your testimony.

Ms. MEDLEY. Senator Alexander, good afternoon. Thank you for

allowing me this opportunity to talk to you about our family’s experience with the military.

My name, as you said, is Gricell Medley. My husband, Major Lee

Medley, is the commander of the CH47 Chinook Helicopter Company in the 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment.

We have been married 9 years and have been blessed with two

young daughters, Lia and Emma. I met my husband during his

service in Panama. We married in 1994. The challenges of being

newlyweds from two different cultures created a special bond between my husband and I. The main reason we have stayed in the

Army is because simply, my husband loves his job, and he loves the

fact that he is serving our Nation.

Some of the other reasons we stay in the Army is because of the

excellent medical care, career advancement, continued training, retirement benefits, on-post housing, DOD schools, and the great

sense of community. My husband took command of his Company in

2001. As the commander’s wife, I assumed the role as the unit’s

Family Readiness Group leader.

Since Desert Storm, the Army has continued to place emphasis

and importance on the Army’s FRG. I think this is one of the

things the Army has done well in the business of taking care of soldiers and their families. Simply defined, the FRG consists of volunteers, usually, the spouses of the soldiers, working together to provide assistance and information to all families and single soldiers

within the unit. It is important to remember that everyone is welcome to participate regardless of their rank.

Above the company level, we join with the FRG from our higher

headquarters supporting the larger efforts and beneficial projects.

Our FRG organizes informational briefings for the spouses, updates, and disseminates information about deployments, welcomes

22

new spouses, visits hospitalized family members and soldiers, plans

Easter egg hunts and many other special events.

In my opinion, the most important role of the FRG remains information management. Without our dedicated volunteers, the FRG

simply would not function. While the FRG is a great strength of

the Army, we could do better by actually funding the FRG with

paid personnel to continuity and stability for the unit.

One of the things the Army needs to take a closer look at is the

price the op tempo takes on its soldiers and family members. The

operational tempo of the Army has increased over the last decade,

while the divisional strength of the Army has decreased; in other

words, more missions, more deployments with fewer people, especially in certain fields like Chinook Helicopter Units.

I would like to take a moment to tell you how these increased

deployments have affected my family. Our youngest daughter,

Emma, is 17 months old. My husband has been deployed 15 of

those months. He has been deployed to Korea, 2 JRTC rotations to

Fort Polk, Afghanistan for 8 months, and finally Iraq since March

of this year. He was only home for 21 days between Afghanistan

and Iraq. The majority of that time was spent training and preparing his soldiers for redeployment.

While I am extremely proud of our soldiers and our families, this

number of separations and deployments to stressful environments

have taken an enormous toll on our Army families. I am afraid it’s

a retention issue for our young officers and enlisted personnel.

Many of them get out of the Army because simply they do not like

the repeated separations from their families.

As I mentioned before, my husband’s company spent 8 months in

Afghanistan. I would like to make sure that you know that the 7th

Battalion of the 101st has maintained all of the Chinook personnel

rotations in Afghanistan since January 2002.

C Company, currently in Afghanistan, was previously there for

4 months, home for two, and went back to Afghanistan in December of 2002. We do not know when they will return.

This unknown is one of the frustrations that soldiers and families face. We do not know when they will return or what their recovery time will be. In addition, I have read in the Army Times

about the Army’s plan to send fewer families to Europe and Korea

and instead, rotate battalions for six-month deployments. To our

family, this is one more deployment.

My family hopes that change never happens. We would much

rather go as a family for two or 3 years. It is very important to us

to keep our families together as much as possible.

Again, thank you for taking the time to listen to my comments

today. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to express my

thoughts to you and I deeply appreciate your interest in improving

the quality of life of our Army families.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Medley may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Ms. Medley. We have been talking some about there being more missions, fewer soldiers, longer

deployments, more women in the service, more families with children, and also, more spouses working at those assignments.

Michelle Taylor is one of those. She’s a military spouse, a dedicated

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volunteer, and she also is a sales director for Mary Kay Cosmetics.

We welcome your presence and look forward to your testimony.

Ms. TAYLOR. Good afternoon. As you mentioned, my name is

Michelle Taylor. My husband, Kirk, is a major in the division’s

plan section.

As an Army wife of 15 years and geographically a single parent

for two of the last 3 years, I’m here to share my thoughts and observations concerning support for the families of deployed soldiers.

Overall, I have to commend the efforts of the Installation staff

and leadership. I am convinced that they have put their best foot

forward in attempting to handle the myriad of issues that arise

when an entire Division deploys.

Army Community Service and the Family Assistance Center are

both examples of the larger effort to take care of the families and

communities left behind. In addition, the hospital has remained responsive, despite the deployment of many of its medical staff.

However, the lynchpin of support is provided through the Family

Readiness Groups that exist to support families at the grassroots

level. This is essentially a self-help resource in that the more a

spouse attends and participates, the greater the benefits he or she

will receive. Family Readiness Groups exist year-round and the familiarity it breeds amongst its members aids in the early identification of families who are in need. This early screening helps the

more experienced group members steer others to resources before

the situation becomes a crisis.

I have been frustrated at times by the seemingly lack of information flow down to the company level, but I suspect that the problem

resides largely in the adage, we don’t know what we don’t know.

Another source of enormous support resides in our church communities. As you might expect, many of the post chaplains, including all of the Catholic chaplains, deployed in support of the troops.

The foundation of community that resides uniquely in our church

community, regardless of faith, has truly helped the family members who fall through the Family Readiness safety net.

Last, the local communities of Clarksville, Oak Grove, and Hopkinsville have responded in their always gracious manner. The

knowledge that the community-at-large values the sacrifices of both

the soldiers and their family members is reassuring and takes a little of the sting out of the series of separations we’ve recently experienced.

The most obvious response as to how you and your fellow Members of Congress can help is easily summed up in one word, money.

More specifically, we need help in several areas to include improvement in the Tri-Care System and delivery of health care services.

The long wait for nonthreatening, yet essential to quality-of-life

care is unacceptable.

Changes to the maintenance and development of on-post housing

is also needed. As an off-post family, the result of a 12-month plus

waiting list upon arrival to Fort Campbell, gaining access to several of the available programs is problematic.

Funding for child care facilities is also needed. Spouses with

young children are far less likely to attend a family support group

meeting or other organizational meetings when they have to spend

their meager disposable funds for child care.

24

While the Government has relieved soldiers in the Iraqi theater

of war of the Federal tax burden, others are not so lucky. Many

hardship or unaccompanied tours do not enjoy the same relief. A

good example is our forces serving in Korea. Despite my husband’s

commitment to living a very Spartan lifestyle during his deployment there, the assignment was a financial hardship based solely

on the need to maintain two households. This additional financial

burden was managed on a Major’s salary and my additional income, but this can’t be said for all of our younger soldiers and families.

Last, I am tired. I would not trade the friends or experiences

that our family has enjoyed as a result of my husband’s service, but

the pace of deployments has reached a point that personally I find

unacceptable. I’m proud of Kirk’s service to our Nation. He is my

hero. But he is also a father and a husband.

The Army needs people like my husband to lead soldiers where

it matters most, at the tactical unit level. I will accompany Kirk

where the Army sees fit to assign him next, but I will not encourage another move to a tactical unit. I find this sad and a loss to

the Army. However, the bottom line is that an assignment to a Divisional unit right now is a near guarantee of prolonged separation

with little hope for change in the future.

Senator Alexander, thank you for joining us today and allowing

us to give voice to our concerns. The Army is a close-knit family,

and when possible, we take care of our own. Whatever help you

and the Members of Congress can provide for us is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you.

[The prepared statement of Ms. Taylor may be found in additional material.]

Senator ALEXANDER. First Sergeant Thomas Hughes is from

Carter County, Tennessee, and he is a representative of a phenomenon we’re increasingly seeing, served in active duty, now he’s

been in the Tennessee National Guard since 1985 or 1986.

Sergeant HUGHES. Yes, sir.

Senator ALEXANDER. He was deployed in Desert Storm and still

in the Guard. And we hear more and more that we’re thinking of

our Armed Services and our Guardsmen, and our Reservists as a

single unit, but at Fort Campbell, we’re very much aware of that.

And we welcome you here to hear your perspective.

Sergeant HUGHES. Thank you.

Good afternoon. I’m First Sergeant Thomas Hughes of the 776th

Maintenance Company stationed here at Fort Campbell. I feel privileged to be able to speak to Senator Alexander from my home

State on issues that have affected my National Guard Unit.

Answering your first question, ‘‘What has the Army done well for

our families?’’ Being from East Tennessee, many of our soldiers

have seen an increase in their salary. This has resulted in a better

lifestyle for their families. Some soldiers have struggled with bills

and medical payments prior to mobilization.

The housing allowance and family separation allowance has benefited greatly to their base salaries. These additional allowances

give the soldiers a chance at taking care of their bills and also any

extra expenses that has occurred during mobilization. This allows

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their families to receive proper medical care physicals and cover

any emergencies that might arise. This is an important issue with

the soldiers as long as they know their families are taken care of,

they perform their duties and maintain a higher level of morale.

Our Family Support Group has worked hard to keep the families

informed of their family members here at Fort Campbell, as well

as any changes that may affect the members of the family at Home

Station. We have developed a newsletter to mail to families due to

the fact that some are unable to attend scheduled meetings. Family

Support Groups play a critical role in mobilized units.

Second, ‘‘What can be done better for our families?’’ Having

served on active duty for 4 years in an infantry company, also 18

years in the Tennessee Army National Guard, I have experienced

many problems associated with the mobilization of troops. I’ve been

mobilized three times during my career in the National Guard.

More emphasis needs to be placed on the initial briefing for TriCare Health Insurance. Many issues have arisen about benefits

and providers. The soldiers do not understand how the system

works. It’s very complicated and it needs to be simplified. We need

to utilize representatives from Tri-Care to do the briefings making

sure families know whom to see for health care. We’ve had one soldier whose wife was dropped from Tri-Care since we’ve been here.

This is unacceptable. The soldier is present at Fort Campbell and

working in active-duty status.

I would like to add to that comment, that has been taken care

of since this was written.

One entire day needs to be spent during pre-mobilization to get

identification cards for families and all required forms filled out

correctly. This needs to be accomplished before the National Guard

Unit deploys to the mobilization station. Upon arrival at the mobilization station, it’s too late to help your spouse. Many of our soldiers worked at resolving issues for several weeks after arrival at

Fort Campbell. It takes time to prepare documents for Powers of

Attorney, Wills and required medical forms, birth certificates, social security cards.

More emphasis needs to be placed on supporting the Family Support Groups by the Army. Money needs to be allocated for materials, stamps, and any necessary equipment required by the elected

staff of the support group. The Family Support Group are the unsung heroes of this war. They must assume the role of both parents

in our absence.

In closing, thank you for allowing me to discuss the issues concerning National Guard deployment. By making these changes, you

will see highly motivated soldiers ready to go the extra distance to

accomplish any and all required duties.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Mr. Hughes. Now we have time

for some questions and further comments.

I’d like to start with the one about care plans. I think many civilians haven’t thought much about this, haven’t really thought about

what happens when military parents with children, suddenly receive orders to be deployed to Iraq or Korea, wherever, training,

and suddenly one parent is left with what two parents were doing.

Or sometimes it’s a single parent or occasionally, it might be both

parents.

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Last year when I was campaigning, I spent the night with Ted

and Jean Purtam here, both retired, both at Fort Campbell. I see

Ted at the back of the room. He was a colonel in Iraq 10 years ago

in Desert Storm. His wife, a lieutenant colonel, was in charge of

a nursing unit. They were both there. They had two young sons

and Grandma was their care plan, and they had that worked out.

But that caused me to think about the care plans. And then

Major Dolinish has pointed out that in some cases, servicemen and

women who were required to have a care plan, didn’t have one, and

that meant that their unit suffered when the unit was deployed.

Talk to me a little bit about the care plans and how that works

and whether there’s anything that Congress or the Services might

do to make it easier for military parents raising children to plan

for the times when one or—when the only parent or both parents

might be deployed.

Why don’t we start with you, Ms. Taylor, and we will go down

this direction.

Ms. TAYLOR. Well, I can only speak from a spouse’s perspective

because I’ve never been active duty. I read recently that the Army

is looking into possibly only allowing one active duty to deploy at

a time, and I don’t necessarily know that that’s the answer because

that’s asking the person that stays back to sacrifice their career or

to perhaps not advance.

I honestly don’t have an answer for that issue because although

it’s hard being a sole parent, I’m blessed that I’m flexible in my career and am able to be home for them when necessary.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Medley?

Ms. MEDLEY. The exposure that I have is limited as a spouse;

however, my thought would be definitely more challenging when

we have two active duty personnel going to war because they definitely count on the other parent, and I would focus on that. I definitely think that we do our best, but it’s by choice. It’s an Army

by choice. So definitely we have to be responsible for the choices

we make in life.

Senator ALEXANDER. Major Dolinish, you used some pretty

strong words. You said that some members of the service didn’t tell

the truth about having a care plan; therefore, when they were

called to go, they couldn’t go.

Major DOLINISH. Right. Sir, family care plans are provided from

the moment—for one thing, a single soldier with children is not

supposed to come into the Army. They may do so by transferring

guardianship. And then what happens, though, is that as soon as

a certain time period has passed, they regain that guardianship.

Any single parent in the Army or dual military couple has to

have a family care plan. It’s a very itemized legal document and

it deals with everything from—if you were to leave this instance

and you had 15 minutes, interim right here, who are you going to

leave your child with? And it’s notarized documents from that individual saying, I accept that responsibility, it includes financial documentation on how you’re going to take care of your child in your

absence, and includes long-term care in that extent.

It’s a voluntary service. It’s not a social institution. We come in

knowing the risks. I know I spent 12 years with one or the other

of us gone a lot of the time. Only one time did we both deploy, both

27

to Haiti, and in recognizing the Army Child Care System, my child

at that time opted to stay with her interim care provider at Fort

Bragg because she was more comfortable there with the other children. She thought it was just her turn to spend the night for a long

time.

But we were fully prepared, we knew that was an option. And

one of the reliefs of this deployment, it had been the first time

where that wasn’t a risk. But we made calculated decisions as a

family and executed our care plan and did that.

But there are families that provide all that legal documentation,

and then it has to be reviewed every year. It’s a very detailed legal

process. But then at the time they’re told they’re deploying, Aunt

so-and-so can’t take my kids or there’s a myriad of problems. And

many soldiers have done this many times and have avoided every

deployment.

It’s not right. It’s not fair to the units. They then deploy without

a soldier, without a skill, and there are not any excess soldiers running around. That hole doesn’t get filled up. Someone they’ve

trained with is now gone and is unavailable to the real-life mission,

perhaps compromising that mission. And in a volunteer Army,

that’s unacceptable.

They know the risks, they’ve planned it legally, they’re provided

legal documentation.

Senator ALEXANDER. Sergeant Hughes, for Guardsmen and Reservists, I guess the issue is a little different. At least at one time

it was a little bit more of a surprise to be called up for a long time,

and now it’s not so much of a surprise.

What would you have to say about the planning for the care of

children when a single parent or both parents are suddenly called

upon.

Sergeant HUGHES. Sir, we had a lot of issues, you know, once we

got called up and stuff in trying to assign—like she talked about,

assigning someone to take responsibility, whether it was going to

be an aunt or a family member or something like that. But, you

know, currently, we’ve got people to stay not only with their brothers or sisters or grandmother, grandfather, also with the neighbors,

friends. It’s not even a part of the family who’s got actual custody

of the children during the single parent deployment. It’s hard for

the single parent.

And what makes it really hard for my single parents is because

we’re at Fort Campbell, it’s only about 380 miles from home and

a lot of them can’t bring their kids up here. And I have a lot of

them that have asked that question and stuff. As of right now,

based on their housing needs, that’s impossible.

Senator ALEXANDER. There were some comments about what you

call reintegration. The one witness said that leaving is difficult,

coming home is more difficult sometimes. And sometimes that results in tragic incidents when soldiers come back from long periods

of time away and something happens in the family, including in

rare instances, spousal abuse. Maybe that’s gone on for a long time

and hasn’t been discussed—it’s just being more talked about today.

Maybe it’s a phenomenon of the long deployment.

Talk to me about reintegration and coming home and what the

Army can do and what we in Congress can do to make that easier

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on families. Sergeant Hughes, I’ll let you go first and we will go

this way this time, if I may do so.

Sergeant HUGHES. I think the best thing they can do is provide

counseling initially, you know, once they get back, or you can actually start the counseling in theater at that time. And I think keeping a good communication line open between them and their families maybe prior to coming home, you know, they don’t expect it

has changed drastically or anything like that.

You know, basically that’s about it, I think.

Senator ALEXANDER. Major Dolinish?

Major DOLINISH. The counseling I understand is improving and

they’re trying to standardize some of the briefings given on both

sides from the soldier leaving the area of operation and the family

here.

The Army has also recognized after the last incidents that a lot

of the families are not going to like it, but they’re not going to immediately come back home and go on block leave. The soldiers will

be reintegrated a little bit more slowly by spending about half a

day at work for the first couple of weeks so they’re not just thrown

in with the family. It’s very difficult.

Many of the wives never had much control, and then for expanded periods of time, they are in charge and the children start

to look to them. They’re doing the finances, they’re doing everything. Suddenly the husband is back and immediately thinks that,

I’m home, I’m back in charge, the kids are going to answer to me,

I’m going to take back over the checkbook.

But that’s got to happen slowly and they’ve got to think it

through and talk it out. The Army is good at talking to us about

that in counseling, but it’s not an easy process.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Medley?

Ms. MEDLEY. I do agree it’s not an easy process. I will say that

definitely we assume two different roles. We become single parents,

we become the household of the house. Our spouses, on the other

hand, are exposed to a lot of danger in performing their missions.

I definitely would say that we have been receiving reunion briefings now. The good news is that we do have a standard reunion

brief and it’s going to be given to the soldiers, as well as to the

spouses.

I definitely believe that probably the strongest or the most important process comparing the deployment process versus the redeployment process, definitely the reunion is going to be hard on the

families. What is important to me and I am very happy to learn

is that the initial brief, it will be definitely distracting to many

families that are really focused on having their spouses back.

That’s the only thing we can focus about. That is our source of joy.

However, my understanding is that the reunion process will be

taking a briefing prior of our soldiers coming back, and later on,

meeting again to see how we are doing. That will allow us to have

the tools and go back and say, okay. Probably I am okay because

that process, I understand. We are doing fine.

It’s definitely a challenge, but I do believe that if we have been

surviving until this point—if we have the right tools, we definitely

will survive.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Taylor?

29

Ms. TAYLOR. I agree with what’s been said. In our family, we call

it re-entry and we’ve had to do it quite often. The initial re-entry

was during Desert Storm and I think that the Army has come a

long way with assisting families with that part of the deployment

because we learned from past experiences.

However, on a personal note, I have tried to do some proactive

counseling, and in my statement, I mentioned the unacceptable

waiting periods. I called to receive counseling for myself and my

daughter because this has been an extremely difficult deployment

for the three of us. And because it was not life-threatening, as in,

you know, something’s going to happen in the next 24 hours, it was

a three-and-a-half week waiting period before we could be seen.

And to me, that’s unacceptable because the issues are ongoing.

And at the point where someone makes that phone call, it’s

reached a level where you need help now. Whether or not there’s

an issue of harm, the emotional phase, you’ve reached that point.

So I think that somehow maybe in working with Tri-Care and

the local civilian counseling centers, perhaps that could be addressed.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you, Ms. Taylor. Let me ask all of

you this question, and I’ll start with Ms. Taylor. I’ll come back with

you. My sense is that the family issues, the issues of parents raising children is at least being more talked about today within the

Army, within the Armed Services, than it was 5 years ago or 10

years ago.

I guess the first part of my question, is that true? And the second

part, why is it true? Is it because the Army is changing? Is it because there are more women in the Army, because of somewhat

more marriages, because there are more children, because there

are more women and husbands, each of whom has a career, as

many of you do, or is it just because we are becoming more open

and willing to talk about issues like this?

How do you look at the last 10 years, say, in the Army dealing

with issues of parents raising children, and to the extent there

have been changes, what do you think has caused that change?

Ms. TAYLOR. Absolutely, I do think that there have been changes

to the positive. My thoughts would be that it’s a necessity because

of the frequency of deployments.

When my husband and I went to our first assignment, he was

gone, but not the frequency that he is now. The Army is smaller,

there are more missions, and I think that out of necessity and because we’re an educated people, we have discovered that counseling—and maybe it is a pride thing, that, you know, before, people

just didn’t talk about it. And in today’s society, it’s something that’s

just common. There’s not as much negative stigma requesting

counseling as perhaps there was in the past.

But I would say the frequency of deployments has necessitated

the counseling and intervention.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Medley, you’ve been looking at this for

about 10 years. Have you seen any changes in the last 10 years,

and if so, what do you think has caused those changes in terms of

our attitude toward military families raising children?

Ms. MEDLEY. Well, I would start mentioning—what I mentioned

in the beginning of my statement, the military provides you with

30

a sense of community that is very unique. It is one to be proud to

be in the military. I think we are blessed by that.

And with that, I will link that with the FRG’s. I will definitely

say that it is a combat multiplier. What I will say is that the people are comfortable with their surroundings, the people that are

dealing with the same issues they are, they are more willing to

speak about their issues, definitely. That’s why it’s so important,

and we stress so much about the support to the FRG’s.

And people definitely are more willing to speak to others that are

dealing with the same situation. We all see ourselves being completely bonded with the people surrounding us, and not so much

with the civilian world, not because we do not feel their support,

but we definitely do not understand if they have a sense of reality,

of our own reality.

Parent raising children? Yes, it is an issue and we feel more open

when we have other mothers dealing with the same issues we are.

And I do believe that the reality is, true, we are improving in being

more open and the sense of community, too.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you. Major Dolinish?

Major DOLINISH. The demographics of the Army have definitely

changed, society has changed. Fathers are more and more demanding a place in their children’s lives where—even my father, just one

generation back, he basically went to work and came home. Mom

took care of us. Today’s fathers want to be a part of their children’s

lives and I think military fathers are no different.

I think the talk has definitely improved over the years, the programs have somewhat improved, the money has slightly improved.

So we’re going in the right direction and we’re making strides, but

there’s a lot that we can continue to work on with the military family.

Senator ALEXANDER. Sergeant Hughes?

Sergeant HUGHES. There’s been a big change between Desert

Storm—that’s when family groups really got initiated, I think, from

our aspect. The difference between there and now is a huge change.

And like you said, we’re going in the right direction, but it’s different for a National Guardsmen. Here at Fort Campbell, I think— from what I’ve seen and heard through Family Support Groups and

the programs they’ve set up and what I’ve seen here on base of all

the programs they do for the kids, it’s a role model for the Army,

I think. But for the National Guard, it’s a whole different picture

because we don’t have anything back home, you know.

It’s a challenge for our Family Support Groups to get stamps to

mail out our newsletters that we print off a little copy machine.

And, you know, we’ve got a long way to go still on the National

Guard aspect as far as helping the Family Support Groups, I think.

Major DOLINISH. If we ever get some kind of integrated system—

the support group has reserve components that fall under us. Trying to link my readiness groups with their readiness groups is extremely difficult because there’s no standard.

Sergeant HUGHES. And there needs to be a standard Army-wide

thing—don’t you agree with that—on the Family Support Groups?

Let’s all go on the same sheet of music.

Senator ALEXANDER. Am I correct that during Desert Storm,

many families went, quote, home, away from post to some other

31

place where they felt more comfortable, but during this war in

Iraq, that most families stayed at the post, or more families stayed

at the post. A, am I right about that impression and, B, if it’s true,

why do you think it’s true?

Sergeant HUGHES. More comfortable, I believe. You know, if their

parents—if their husband has gone overseas or something, it may

be more, and they get more comfort at home, you know, being

home with their family members.

Senator ALEXANDER. Well, is it true that more stayed here? More

families have stayed here?

Ms. MEDLEY. I will say I have been exposed to deployments back

to back, and I can say, the first deployment, I did see a lot of people just go home.

Senator ALEXANDER. When was the last one?

Ms. MEDLEY. Last summer.

Major DOLINISH. That’s part of the difference, though. This is a

winter deployment during school. And as school is letting out,

you’re starting to see some people starting to drift home, but kind

of afraid to because they keep hearing rumors, they’re coming

home, they’re coming home.

So I think a lot of people are kind of holding on waiting here

waiting for news. They’re afraid to leave, that they’re going to have

to turn around and come back.

Senator ALEXANDER. Desert Storm was in the winter, as well.

Ms. TAYLOR. I think the difference—having stayed in Germany

during Desert Storm and the majority of the spouses went home— what they learned is that if they stayed closer to the unit, they’ll

gain information as opposed to going home to Mom and Dad where

maybe they’re in a civilian community, there is no military understanding. What they found is it was better to stay to be around the

people who understood, they’re in the same situation. Even though

Mom and Dad were a comfort, here was where you were going to

gain information and have the real support structure.

Senator ALEXANDER. I’ve got a last question and I’m going to

make it an easy one. I’m going to ask you the magic wand question

and I’ll start with you, Sergeant.

If you had a magic wand and you could think of one thing that

would make life easier, in your case, for the National Guardsmen

and their families raising children, what would you do?

Sergeant HUGHES. I’d like to see the State of Tennessee get more

involved in the Family Support Groups funding-wise, facility-wise,

and better coordination between the State and the Family Support

Groups. I think that would be the biggest help, because I’m going

to tell you, if you support your families and the troops know their

family is being taken care of, they’ll do anything you ask them.

Senator ALEXANDER. Major Dolinish?

Major DOLINISH. A paid officer member to be the Family Readiness Group leader all the time, at least for Brigade level, to provide

the continuity so that no matter who’s moving, who’s coming, who’s

going, you maintain a steady keel.

And also, that office member needs to be in the National Guard

and Reserve components where we could link in. We would have

an established network of these folks to have some continuity, a

real-life address where we can coordinate with each other, mainVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:17 Sep 25, 2003 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 88152 SLABOR2 PsN: SLABOR2
32

tain the lessons learned and not—the FRG leadership and leaders

tend to operate on a wave. It depends on whether there’s a deployment or not.

Things get very low key and it’s hard to get rosters. And it will

peak up and you’re getting all kinds of information flow from a fire

hydrant and then it will back down again. And it’s very easy to lose

everything every time it dips. An office member would maintain

that throughout.

Senator ALEXANDER. That means a paid full-time person to do

what a volunteer now does?

Major DOLINISH. I know I put in probably three or four hours a

day on to military-related specifics.

Senator ALEXANDER. It’s usually true that volunteer organizations work better if there’s a full-time coordinator and volunteer.

Major DOLINISH. And not all the way down to Company levels.

At least at Brigade and up where everybody has access to that resource and can spread the wealth.

Senator ALEXANDER. Ms. Medley?

Ms. MEDLEY. I definitely would go for a sense of proportion,

which is a magic scenario anyway, but definitely allow our soldiers

to be soldiers. They are soldiers by choice and we cannot doubt that

they are in love with their mission, they really are, but they will

get discouraged if they don’t have the opportunity to become good

parents and good spouses.

So I would definitely focus on their sense of proportion to provide

the soldiers a healthy life, mentally and also emotionally.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you.

Ms. Taylor?

Ms. TAYLOR. My magic wand would involve housing. As someone

who has been researching for the past 2 months the area of Virginia because on-post housing is impossible, the ability to have onpost housing or maybe contracted housing.

And with that issue is the schools. The standards in every area

that we have been is so different, different than when we started

in New York to Kansas to now here, and again now to Virginia,

and trying to have all the necessary records for what they require

is a huge challenge.

And if every place that we went had a school available on post

and we could live on post, that would be ideal. I know that that

will probably never happen, however, that’s an issue that I would

like to see addressed.

Senator ALEXANDER. Thank you.

Let me thank all of you for your testimony. And let me just observe, I guess I should have expected this, but I am impressed with

the directness of your testimony and balance of your testimony.

You’ve looked hard to see things that have gone well, and you’ve

not been afraid to talk about things that need work. And that gives

those of us in the Congress a way to go about doing things.

Let me leave with an invitation to you. As I mentioned to the

first panel, this is an ongoing discussion. I’ll be getting together

with the three other senators who are holding hearings between

now and June 19th.

Four senators actually working on the same thing at once is

nearly a record, I want you to know that. So I want you to know

33

how important we believe it is, the subject of military parents raising children and supporting military families.

And we won’t stop with June 19th. We will continue to be interested, not just in Fort Campbell, but other places in the country,

and some of you are likely to be in those places in the country, so

I hope you’ll stay in touch with me or my staff and help us do a

better job.

I can’t come to Fort Campbell without saying to Colonel Ruggley

and Ms. Petraeus and General Petraeus how proud we are of all

the forces here, the Special Operation Forces, 101st Airborne, the

civilians, the National Guardsmen, and Reservists. It’s a great

source of pride to all of us from Tennessee and Kentucky to be associated with such terrific men and women, and you have represented them well today.

Thank you very much for your time.

[Additional material follows.]

34

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

PREPARED STATEMENT OF COL. KIM L. SUMMERS

Senator Alexander, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the

committee for allowing me to speak to these critical issues. As the Garrison Commander of Fort Campbell for the past two years, I have observed many facets of

these questions and hope to provide an informative perspective.

Fort Campbell is the home to some 24,916 soldiers and supports 14,700 Reserve

and National Guard soldiers, 46,177 family members, and over 124,000 retirees. The

installation encompasses 105,000 acres and borders two states and four counties.

Our association and relationship with the local communities is top notch. In my 25

years of service, I have seen none better. As a result of this extraordinary relationship and these communities’ genuine care for soldiers, our community support structure is second to none. An example is the joint commitment of both the Christian

County and Montgomery County school systems who teamed up with our own onpost schools in adopting the Secondary Education Transfer Study program more

than a year ago. This program has made it much simpler and smoother for high

school students of military families to transfer between duty assignments and associated schools without disadvantaging the student academically.

In order for our soldiers to properly prepare for missions when our nation calls,

we as an installation offer a variety of family support services to our soldiers and

families. This support allows the military member to train to the highest standard.

As part of that readiness preparation, the Garrison of Fort Campbell, as well as the

entire chain of command of our Army, know the importance and relationship family

readiness plays in each soldier’s ability to accomplish the mission. As with our community support programs, our family readiness operations are world class due to the

support we receive from Congress, the Army, and our own work force. Our programs

include such services as Family Readiness Center, Volunteer Coordinator, School Liaison, Child and Youth Services, Family Assistance Center, Army Emergency Relief,

Chaplains Helping Hand, to name but a few. The Family Readiness Group (FRG)

system is a key element in the support of families. This organization provides the

link between family requirements and the Chain of Command. That Chain of Command, better known as the Rear Detachment, is staffed with dedicated leaders at

every level. The Rear Detachment structure and its high quality soldiers illustrate

the steadfast dedication to excellence our deployed commanders place on insuring

our families are properly cared for.

Another vital program in supporting family readiness is providing child care services. Our continued expansion of child care opportunities is a daily challenge during

times of deployment. Respite care is at a premium. With the increased demands of

single parenting as a result of the deployment, it is evident that this is an area of

increasing need. Availability of child care services, from hourly to 24 hour service,

is ripe for enhancement.

It is not enough to bring services and make facilities available to our families. We

must also provide a means to assist in educating our families, spouses, and soldiers.

A key tool is the Army Family Team Building program. This program provides

training to family members on military environment, financial readiness and goods

and services available to them in order to function in the military structure. This

program proves itself every day during deployments. Families and soldiers are better prepared as a result of this training.

As we provide services and products to our families, none of this would work without a solid and regular communication process. Fort Campbell provides forums for

our families and Rear Detachments to not only communicate with each other

through family readiness group meetings, social settings and recreational opportunities, but through official channels as well. We hold a bi-weekly senior Family Readiness Group leader meeting. At this meeting are the primary representatives from

the service areas and the Installation Chain of Command. Also attending are the

Senior Spouses from the major units on post down to the Battalion level. These

spouses/representatives provide the link for information flow back to families. Even

though communicating official information is a command responsibility, this critical

aspect of family support is an excellent way to insure maximum information distribution. The process of keeping the families informed of unit activities, surfacing

issues in the family support arena, and providing a feedback loop is essential to sustaining current, accurate and timely information flow. Our Installation Rear Detachment Command and Staff meeting is a parallel effort that compliments our BiWeekly FRG. In this meeting, we focus on military business; but as previously stated, taking care of families is military business. As a result of these meetings and

procedures, we have harnessed the collective intelligence in order to prioritize issues

35

and redirect resources as needed. These meetings compliment our installation media

and communication methods, like Fort Campbell Channel 9, Courier Post Newspaper, and local media venues.

But with all the successes and magnificent support from Congress, our communities, Army, and Post systems; we do have areas that need attention. The most

prominent of these lies in the child care arena. Specifically, respite care availability

and facilities. Due to deployments, families become single parent households instantly. Even though our systems and facilities are in place to support the family,

we lack enough capability to handle short-term child care on a recurring basis. Before the deployment, both parents would work the schedule. During deployments,

that flexibility is gone. The problem is magnified with special needs children. We

have one parent doing the job of two is the bottom line. If we could enhance the

availability of respite care resources, it would qualitatively and quantitatively improve our family support.

The second area needing attention is that of resources to facilitate improvement

in our family support system. Dedicated facilities on Fort Campbell are at a premium, but dedicated family support facilities are necessary in order to provide a

place for the myriad of family readiness/family support tasks to be accomplished.

From FRG flyers to producing event calendars, having meeting space and providing

child care are all requirements for successful programs. The Installation provides

for these needs but not to the level we would expect for such an important part of

soldier readiness. Unit areas are restrictive and often not available. Even though

the installation provides space for our FRG’s, the competition to support units and

other priorities is so intense that it makes sense to consider a new facility for family

support.

Programs to leverage other sources of support are alive and well at Fort Campbell. An example of this is the support we receive from the Armed Forces YMCA.

Donations from charities are wonderful and very generous but do not cover the requirements. Volunteers give back to our Installation literally millions of dollars in

time each year, but we can do more. Dedicated full time support personnel in the

family readiness business would be a tremendous sign of commitment and progress.

Additionally, a family readiness facility certified for child care and having the ability to provide for the needs of our families and those that support them would be

tremendous.

In conclusion, our support structure is critical in maintaining soldier readiness.

I personally and professionally am very proud of what For Campbell does in that

effort. Our surrounding communities have embraced our soldiers and families like

none other. This teamwork and mutual support is proof we are progressing in this

effort. Fort Campbell is a wonderful place to live, work and play. When our soldiers

are called to duty in a distant land, with the continued help from all, Fort Campbell

will rise to the occasion and insure our family readiness will be every bit as high

as the readiness of our soldiers.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HOLLISTER K. PETRAEUS

Good afternoon. I’m Holly Petraeus, wife of Major General David H. Petraeus, the

Commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, and

I’m here today to speak to you as an Army wife of almost 29 years.

You have asked ‘‘how has the Army taken care of its soldiers’ families during this

deployment?’’ My experience here at Fort Campbell has been a very positive one.

The key element has been good communication between the deploying units, the

military and civilian staff remaining here at Fort Campbell, and the volunteer Family Readiness Group (FRG) leaders. There has been a commitment to leaving highquality officers back as Rear Detachment Commanders, and that has paid dividends. The Rear Detachment Commanders are our link to the units overseas, as

well as having the power to resolve many issues here at home.

Among the military remaining here on post, the Installation Commander has conducted bi-weekly information meetings with senior spouses and key FRG leaders.

These have been a great venue for bringing up issues that concern us, and for hearing what the installation is doing to address those issues. Also, the post hospital

has been very responsive to family concerns. They made every effort to bring in Reservists and civilians to quickly fill the gaps left by deploying doctors. They’ve done

some special things for the moms who give birth while the dads are deployed, and

they’ve also started up a fitness program for family members. The five chaplains

who remain here have also done a wonderful job, continuing to run the regular religious programs while offering deployment-related counseling and also running a

very successful charitable effort, Operation Helping Hand, which is used to help

family members where Army Emergency Relief cannot.

36

On the DoD civilian side, the people in Army Community Services (ACS) have

been super. They run our Family Assistance Center, a ‘‘one-stop shopping’’ for family members who need assistance while the soldiers are deployed. They also coordinate deployment-related training such as Army Family Team building. Other civilian activities which have played an important role have been: Morale Welfare and

Recreation (MWR), which has worked with local charities and sponsors to provide

some very well-attended free family functions such as monthly Family Fun Fairs;

Child Development Services which runs our post day and after-school care; and our

Fort Campbell Schools, which have not only addressed deployment-related issues

with their own students, but have provided the local off-post school systems with

training on how to handle deployment-related problems.

I have to mention also the invaluable service of our volunteer FRG leaders. They

are the command’s link to the families, and although they are dealing at home with

the same deployment issues as everyone else, they dedicate a substantial portion

of their free time to reaching out to help others.

Now, as to the question of what could be done better: I do feel that the Army is

asking a great deal of our FRG leaders. They have no official status, but they bear

a lot of responsibility. When Secretary of the Army White was here in April, he suggested that some of the key FRG positions should be salaried. These volunteers

dedicate their time and often their own money, too, keeping in communication with

family members over a far-flung area, and they should not only receive some reimbursement for that, but also have the status and protection of being official DoD

employees.

I’d also like to see more money available for child care during deployments. Young

soldiers’ spouses’ will not come out for meetings and social functions if they cannot

bring their children, and if we are to reach them with the information they need

we must ensure that free child care is available on-site. As deployments go on respite care is also important. We are stretching our dollars and using charitable donations as well, but more funding in this area would be great.

Another thing I think the Army (and all the services) can improve on is casualty

notification, not so much for fatalities but for seriously and very seriously injured.

This has caused a lot of heartburn for us here during this deployment, because of

the lack of timely information coming from overseas. Sometimes the first notice a

family has received has been a call directly from a doctor at a military hospital overseas, although there has been no information about the casualty sent to the division

casualty office. On one occasion, a soldier who had been sent home for convalescent

leave called from Nashville Airport looking for a ride—and that was our first indication that he had been returned to the United States! The problem has been particularly bad with soldiers treated in the Navy system. It has been almost impossible

to get information on their status or their whereabouts. As you can imagine this

has been very upsetting for the families. In this automated age we should be able

to do a better job of tracking who is where and letting the family members know

in a timely manner.

On a larger scale, I’d like to address what Congress can do for us. Number one

in the minds of many here is that we need more soldiers on active duty, particularly

in certain key specialties. In recent years the Army has downsized while adding on

more and more overseas missions. The obvious result of this is that many of our

soldiers have been deployed repeatedly over the last few years. In this group, for

example, my husband has been deployed 16 of the last 24 months and Gricell Medley’s has been deployed 15 of the last 17 months. Many families in our Chinook helicopter battalion, our Military Police battalion, our logistics and our special operations units can tell the same story. This unrelenting pace of deployments is a retention issue. Families will not be willing to go it alone forever, with little relief in

sight. By the way, I know that a House Committee is currently looking at the possibility of making some European and Korean tours unaccompanied unit rotations,

and I can tell you that to the families that will be perceived as just one more deployment added to the load that they already bear.

I would also ask Congress to let us keep our on-post schools. I know they are

being reviewed, and I would like to say that they provide a high-quality and consistent education for our children who move from State to State, where the quality of

education varies and where the local school districts are underfunded in the area

of impact aid. A number of our schools here at Fort Campbell have achieved Blue

Ribbon status, and they are valued accordingly by the families.

In closing, I’d like to thank Senator Alexander for coming here today to let our

voices be heard. I’m proud of the way our military, our families, and our local communities have worked together during this deployment, and I’d like that to be the

main message that you take away today. Thank you.

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PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAJ. JOSIE FEES

Good afternoon. I’m Josie Fees, Program Operations Specialist and I am here

today to speak to you on behalf of Ft Campbell’s Child and Youth Services Program.

I am pleased to say I am a military family member for over 33 years and with Child

and Youth Services for 15 years.

I have been with Ft Campbell’s Child and Youth Services for 3 years and I speak

to you with a tremendous sense of pride. I first noticed Child and Youth Service’s commitment to quality and high standards for families because the Child and Youth

Services programs obtain national accreditation status—and that includes the Family Child Care homes. I then witnessed the overwhelming kindness on 9-11 when

the U.S. was under attack and the installation immediately went into action to protect soldiers, their families and the civilian workforce.

It was very difficult to get on or off the installation that day. Without hesitation,

the Child and Youth Services staff volunteered to stay and to do whatever necessary

to ensure that all the children were safe and that their needs were met until parents could pick them up. The School Age Services staff gathered the children who

were remaining at the schools because parents not able to pick them up at the

scheduled time in order to allow the teachers to go home. All the children were fed

and involved in fun activities until the last child was safely picked up. Child and

Youth Services staff stayed past midnight and arrived back at 5 in the morning to

receive the children. The staff never once complained. There is a saying that ‘‘the

Army takes care of their own.’’ Ft Campbell has proven that to me time and time

again. I will share the one that really touched me.

My husband left for the Sinai in January and his commander, CPT Himes told

me before James left that if ever I need them just call. Just because James is gone

we will still be here for you. To my surprise I received a call in February from CPT

Himes letting me know he was deploying but wanted to give me the POC and number in his absence in case I needed anything. I know as a commander he had a lot

going on due to the deployment yet he remembered about a family member who was

no longer in his unit. It was such a wonderful feeling to be apart of such a great

installation. Now with the division deployed how has Child and Youth Services supported deployed families?

Beginning with the mobilization phase, a parent notified the Child and Youth

Services Manager on Feb 10, 2003 that they had a need for extended childcare due

to the mobilization mission requirements. Extended care was established immediately the same day. Child and Youth Services offered extended care evening weekends and holiday at no cost to the parent so that the soldiers could focus on their

mission requirements.

Since the deployment Child and Youth Services continue to provide contingency

services so that soldiers and family members are at ease knowing their child care

needs are met. Child and Youth Services provided on-site childcare for Family Readiness Group meetings both during the mobilization and the deployment. We also

provided many evening briefings to explain childcare options available to family

members. Child and Youth Services provided training for units that want to do their

own childcare through a program called Volunteer Child Care Unit Setting. We offer

respite care to family members due to deployment issues. The Family Assistance

Center offers childcare that is being provided by Child and Youth Services staff.

Family Child Care provides emergency care for military families due to deployment

issues. Social Work Services will coordinate placement of children with a provider

designated to providing emergency care. Emergency care providers are available 24

hours a day. All programs are allowing parents the flexibility to withdraw children

and take vacations as needed without the parent having to pay to hold their slot.

Child and Youth Services provided many family services in April during the

Month of the Military Child including a ‘‘Pamper the Parent’’ day where parents

were treated to free facials, haircuts, and manicures. Child and Youth Services participate in Fort Campbell’s Family Fun Fairs. School Age Services sponsored the

Americas Kids Run held 17 May 2003. The free event was a huge success for children and families at Fort Campbell. There was an essay contest titled ‘‘I am a Military Child’’. Winners received special prizes and were invited to read their essays

at the Volunteer of the Month Ceremony at the Eagle Conference Center. School

Age Services have implemented a program to help children with deployed parents

stay connected by setting up maps at all 6 satellite sites so that the children can

map where their parent are around the world. The staff at the childcare centers is

helping the children put together scrapbooks so the parents will have pictures of the

events they missed out on while they were deployed. The teen program has taken

an active lead on mentoring the younger children and volunteering in the community in support of deployed families.

38

Sports and Fitness program depends largely on volunteer coaches and since many

of them are soldiers the deployment has caused a shortage of coaches for the children/youth. Fortunately spouses along with some Child and Youth Services staff

stepped up and volunteered to coach the children/youth sports. This ensured no

interruption in the youth sports program. These are just a few of many examples

of the partnerships with Child and Youth Services and other Community Activity

Based Centers strong sense of commitment and dedication to our military families

during this deployment.

Child and Youth Services is a large employer of family members. We recognize

that the support internal as well as external is very important during deployments

and I have to say Ft Campbell has does a fantastic job. We provide training for the

staff so they can recognize and understand the affects deployment has on children.

We provide stress training for staff since many are family members facing the same

deployment issues themselves. Many such as myself who have been a spouse during

Desert Storm/Desert Shield and Just Cause, are able to support the younger family

members going through it the first time. We understand the unique challenges that

come with deployments.

What can Child and Youth Services do better to meet the need of our deployed

families and what type of support does Child and Youth Services need in order meet

their needs?

Because the Child and Youth Services program has a mobilization and contingency plan in place, we are able to implement it as soon as the need for need for

extended child care arises. With even more advanced notice from the command of

the mobilization of the division, we can implement sooner rather than later if parents express a need for the extended hours care.

We appreciate the support Congress has provided to the Child and Youth Service

Program and we will continue to maintain our ‘‘model for the nation’’ status with

your support. We continue to be able to provide a safe, healthy nurturing program

for young children and offer our youth a safe place with fun activities to go to instead of being home alone.

In closing I would like to say as a very proud Ft Campbell family member and

representative of Child and Youth Services thank you for allowing us the opportunity to tell you about our outstanding installation and some of the things we do

to show families come first. As well as what we need to do to improve the quality

of life for military families during deployments. The genuine concern that congress

has for our military communities means more than I can express.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WILLA GARRETT

Hello. I am Willa Garrett, Fort Campbell Child and Youth Services School Liaison

Officer (SLO). I feel quite honored to address you on the support services offered

to families during this deployment. Along with serving as a vehicle for information

for parents, students and schools, my responsibilities include collaborating with

local schools and installation organizations to facilitate the education transition experience for our children. Below I provided the following information on our schools

and the support offered to our families during the recent deployment.

SCHOOLS: At present, the majority of Fort Campbell married soldiers live off the

installation in cities located in Kentucky and Tennessee. Consequently, more than

half of Fort Campbell’s school-age children (averaging 8,000) are educated in off-post

schools.

Currently, the installation has five Department of Defense Domestic Dependent

Elementary Secondary Schools (DDESS) Schools located on the installation—five elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. Each year, the Fort

Campbell School District serves over 4200 students that reside on the installation.

Each of the schools offers a half-day 4-year old program and full day kindergarten

based on National Association of Education for Young Children standards. The

schools utilize the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) curriculum

that is based on national standards.

Fort Campbell Schools have received several distinguished awards such as the US

Department of Education School of Excellence Award—the Blue Ribbon Award for

overall achievement. Fort Campbell’s Parent Partnership Program is considered one

of the best in the nation, and was researched by Vanderbilt University in relation

to student achievement, ‘‘March Toward Excellence: School Success and Minority

Student Achievement in Department of Defense Schools’’, Report to the National

Education Goals Panel. At the onset of the deployment, Fort Campbell Schools readily offered training for their staff and parents.

Clarksville/Montgomery County School System of Tennessee serves almost half of

our school-age population. Active duty military-sponsored students comprise more

39

than 23% of CMCSS total enrollment. The school district provides cutting edge technology for students by offering Distance Learning Labs, Video Broadcasting Classes,

Mobile Technology Labs, Automated Libraries, and a Junior Technology Program.

CMCSS administers the Terra Nova Test to evaluate student achievement, and has

consistently scored above state and national averages in all academic areas. The

school system brings business into the high school classroom to give students work

experiences through internships, co-op opportunities and job shadowing. The district

has received many awards. These include ‘‘Expansion Management’’ magazine’s blue

ribbon award for outstanding achievement, chosen by School Match, a service company for parenting magazines, Governor’s A+ Award for three consecutive years,

and recognized as best in Tennessee for three years. Counselors conducted individual and group counseling sessions for children of deployed parents. Some schools

also conducted parent workshops with free childcare to assist with the stress of the

deployment.

Christian County Public Schools in Kentucky educate approximately 1100 military-sponsored students each year. There are eleven elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools in Christian County. All of the Christian County

schools are accredited by the state of Kentucky and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In addition to the traditional educational settings, programs are

offered at a career & technical center, a day treatment center, an alternative school,

a preschool center, an optional high school, and an Adult Education Center. Christian County consistently seeks opportunities to support the military by sponsoring

events such as ‘‘Salute to the Military.’’ This past year, the School Liaison Officer

served on the district’s Barriers to Learning sub-committee for the Consolidated

Training Plan for Teachers. As a result of the committee’s commitment to children,

the board voted to provide awareness training targeting the unique factors of educating military students. During the deployment, many schools made phone calls to

individual families to offer support as needed.

CONTINUITY OF EDUCATION WHEN FAMILY IS TRANSFERRED: Continuity

of education for students that are transitioning to and from the Fort Campbell area

has improved greatly over the past three years. Through the positive relations and

communication established through the School Liaison Officer position, together

with the local school districts have developed a greater understanding and sensitivity about the challenges that military-sponsored students incur as a result of

transitioning from one school district to another. Fort Campbell Schools were part

of the original nine school systems involved in a study commissioned by the Army

and conducted by the Military Child Education Coalition Military Child Education

(MCEC) Secondary Education Transition Study (SETS).

Since the initial study, the School Liaison Officer and the Fort Campbell Schools

have been working with the local school districts of Clarksville-Montgomery County

and Christian County to develop a local action plan that makes transitioning for all

mobile students a more seamless venture for students and their families. Fort

Campbell, Clarksville and Christian County Schools consistently work to ensure

children who move have the same advantages and opportunities as those children

who remain in one location for their entire school career. Efforts are being made

to help families move with greater ease and remain in the area when it seems that

the move is harmful to children.

The area schools have implemented some of the following measures to ensure a

smoother transition of students into the area: 1) Enrollment information is available

on district web sites; 2) Enrollment information is available on the local TV station

and in the newspaper during the summer; 3) Student Ambassadors assigned to new

students once school starts; 4) If a student transfers as a senior, counselors work

with the new school to ensure graduation without delay. 5) Schools provide

transitioning student with an unofficial copy of their transcripts to allow for immediate placement upon arrival at the new school. At the installation, soldiers in-process through the School Liaison Office to receive first-hand information about area

schools and child care and youth programs. Soldiers also out-process through the

School Liaison Office to ensure local school clearance. Also, many soldiers have requested and received approval for stabilization for their high school junior or senior

to allow graduation with local class.

To prevent loss of credit and access to opportunities, many transition efforts have

been considered and implemented in each of our school districts. Fort Campbell

Schools have incorporated many programs to ease the transition of students. To

name a few: 1) Implementation of the Chart Your Course Program to assist students

who are transitioning to high school; 2) Summer enrollment counselor works June

and August as well as being available two days a week in July to help new students

in their class selection; 3) A transition lab established to help new students catch

up in classes in which they may be behind or need to earn credit; 4) All grades are

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given both as number grades and as letter grades; 5) The Interactive Counseling

Center (ICC) is becoming a great tool for assisting with tryouts, interviews, and

record reviews; 6) Stabilization letters are written in support of parents who have

juniors/seniors that are nearing high school completion.

WHEN THERE IS A TRAGEDY IN A CHILD’S LIFE, ARE THE TEACHERS

EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH IT? In support of the recent deployment, the Fort

Campbell Schools did an excellent job of providing training for their counselors and

those of a neighboring school district. The School Liaison Officer (SLO) partnered

with post hospital’s Chief of Psychology and the psychologist for the Soldier/Family

Health Readiness Program to offer coping strategies to the counselors, teachers and

administrators of the off-post school district. The ultimate goal was to furnish the

educational staff with information needed to fully support our children during such

a critical time.

Half day training sessions were conducted and specifically addressed the following:

Information about services provided by the Family Assistance Center (FAC)

Presentation on ’Deployment, Stress, Families and School’ that addressed identifying stress in adults and children, as well as ways to assist children in dealing with

such frustrations.

Suggestions for dealing with the reunion cycle of the deployment, as well as what

to expect during this phase.

Current childcare opportunities and youth activities sponsored by Child and

Youth Services, along with many other support services on the installation such as

the YMCA Coop Nursery and the Chaplains Operation Helping Hand.

Recommended hands-on activities for children.

Information/recommendations were also offered on developing emergency contingency plans.

During this most recent deployment, it has been quite obvious that each of our

Secondary Education Transition Memorandum of Agreement Signatories are serious

about their commitment to our children. Superintendents, principals and counselors

welcomed information about how to work with our children during this time. Teachers and counselors were extremely positive and demonstrated a genuine interest in

the well being of our military-sponsored children.

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT: Fort Campbell, Clarksville and Christian County

Schools offer periodic parent sessions and family involvement opportunities throughout the school year. Military parents are invited to participate in local Parent

Teacher Organizations, as well as site based council meetings to assist in making

meaningful decisions about how their schools are run.

Child and Youth Services staff coordinate briefings for parents on child development (age and stages) and stress management. Parent advisory groups for full day

and preschool enrolled children have quarterly meetings to look at program improvements and share information. Training opportunities and family oriented activities are frequently communicated to each school district.

The School Liaison Officer serves on the Family Resource Youth Service Center

advisory board for a Christian County school that has a predominantly military enrollment. The Family Resource Center is designed to promote the flow of resources

and support to families in ways to strengthen their functioning of individual members and family unit. The center’s focus is on education to enhance parenting skills,

education for preschool parents and their children, health services or referral to

health services, GED (for adults) and literacy based programs for students and

adults and programs promoting family activities.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of our children and schools. Fort

Campbell continues to provide excellent support services to the families of our deployed soldiers. The teamwork displayed by each one of our support agencies was

definitely commendable, and was what I consider to be a demonstration of true dedication and commitment. I am most grateful to be a part of the Fort Campbell family, as it has afforded the opportunity to make a difference in the educational experience of our children and support mission readiness.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROBERT E. VAIL

Good afternoon, I am honored to provide input to these field hearings on how well

the Army serves our soldier’s families and children during a major deployment. As

Director, Community Activities Business Center, I am responsible for administering

the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) programs at Fort Campbell as well as

the Army Community Services (ACS), Army Substance Abuse Program, Lodging and

Continuing Education Programs.

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The support Fort Campbell has been able to provide to the families and children

has been outstanding. I attribute this to the great programs that the Army has in

place to provide this support, a tremendously supportive surrounding community,

an installation commander and garrison commander who care, and excellent communication with the families, primarily through the Family Readiness Groups

(FRGs). We have successfully improved processes as a result of lessons learned in

Desert Shield/Storm. Many of these improvements have come from getting input

from the families that we are supporting and the senior FRG leaders have been a

great source of ideas in this regard.

I will summarize some of our successes:

COMMUNICATION TO THE FAMILY MEMBERS: This has been a huge success

and has started at the top. The Installation Commander holds routine meetings

with the spouses of senior leaders and the leaders of the primary FRGs. We make

extensive use of that forum as well as the mailboxes at the FRC to alert family

members of opportunities available to them, both on and off post. The Rear Detachment Commanders have also been a great conduit of information to the families.

FAMILY ASSISTANCE CENTER (FAC): Upon deployment of the soldiers, the

Garrison Commander directed the stand up of the FAC to provide a ‘‘one-stop shop’’ to provide virtually all assistance a family might need. The FAC is located in the

Lee Family Center, a building that already houses most of the ACS functions. Personnel from Finance, Personnel, Legal Assistance, Tri-Care and Health Services

joined Army Emergency Relief, Exceptional Family Member Services, Relocation Assistance, Employment Assistance and other services already in the building. Family

members also have immediate access to information on Child and Youth Services,

Community Mental Health, American Red Cross, Housing, Transportation and the

Chaplains Office. A food closet and emergency housing assistance are also available

at the center, though the latter has not yet been needed. On site childcare is provided at no charge so the parent could seek assistance without the distraction of

tending to the needs of their children. We also have a toll free number in order to

provide assistance for family members living outside of the Fort Campbell Community. This center has been especially important for the families of Reserve Component Soldiers that have little on-going contact with the military community.

FAMILY READINESS GROUP (FRG) SUPPORT: We have long had a Family

Readiness Center (FRC) to support our FRGs. The center includes a meeting area,

mailboxes for over 200 groups, public access computers, printing support, copier support and training materials. Upon deployment, the Commanding General (CG) immediately directed that we increase the funding for this center to support the increased printing/copier demands to maintain communication with the families and

to provide training materials for the FRG deployment meetings. Additional copiers

were made available as well to meet the demand. Our goal is to expand this facility

even further, to include providing more space and on site child care.

ARMY FAMILY TEAM BUILDING PROGRAM (AFTB): This program, which provides training to family members on the military environment, financial readiness

and the like, proved its worth during the deployment. Families are better prepared

than they might otherwise have been. Further, with the training modules in place

they are able to export training to groups as needed.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES: Fort Campbell’s childcare and youth services are exemplary in normal conditions and they have proved themselves capable

of providing exceptional services in extraordinary conditions. As we became aware

of the need for expanded services needed due to deployment preparations, we immediately expanded the hours of the Child Development Centers, at no additional

charge to the parents. This included nights, weekends and holidays as needed. As

stated above, we set up a satellite childcare facility in the FAC, also at no charge.

When the Family Readiness Groups (FRGs) needed to meet on deployment issues

we provided free childcare for them, either on site or at the centers. Family Child

Care Homes proved to be a special asset. These providers were available to care for

children 24 hours a day. In some cases they are also included in soldiers’ Family

Care Plans as the primary custodian of the children. This is especially important

for single and dual military parents.

ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS: MWR was able to gain sponsorship from businesses and charities to provide monthly, free of charge, ‘‘Family Fun Days’’ at various activities on post. These events incorporate things like fire safety emphasis

with games for children and free food and drinks. They have been very successful

with as many as 3500 participants and have garnered extremely positive feedback.

We have conducted these events since March when it was done concurrently with

the opening of a new Fire Department in the Lee Village housing area. The April

event was held at Hooper Bowling Alley and the May event at Destiny Parks and

Pavilions/Horse Stables. All events include information booths on such things as

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Safety, Continuing Education Opportunities, Library Services, etc. as well as inflatable games for the younger children, dunking booths, climbing walls and the like.

CROSS LEVELING OF RESOURCES: We were able to divert personnel from activities that have a primarily soldier support function to those with a family support

function, which kept our costs down significantly. For example, some of the government employees that normally work on drug prevention classes in the units were

diverted to the FAC when their workload decreased due to the deployment. Likewise, some of the government employees involved in soldier education counseling

were also diverted to the FAC. Having these resources available helped tremendously, but would have been CRITICAL if the Family Assistance Center had had

to open on a 24 hour a day basis, which we were prepared to do upon demand.

REFOCUSING OF SOLDIER FACILITIES/SERVICES TO FAMILIES: We made

a special effort to refocus facilities and services that were in place to support the

soldiers to benefit families and youth. For example:

Fort Campbell has six Physical Fitness Centers that exist to support soldier fitness/readiness. We focused on the family’s needs and family usage was up about

43%.

We have two exceptional softball complexes with four fields each that are dedicated primarily for soldier intramural sports. Since the demand from units is down,

we have reconfigured one of the facilities for youth sports programs.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT: This has been absolutely outstanding. Various organi- zations have raised about $200,000 in support of the families living in the Fort

Campbell community. Some of these funds have been provided to support MWR

events such as the Family Fun Days, events at the on-post schools, childcare in exceptional circumstances, and the individual needs of soldiers and their families. We

have even had to designate a ‘‘Donations Manager’’ to keep track of the outpouring

of support. Individuals and businesses have asked to ‘‘sponsor’’ a family; we have

literally gotten truckloads of products for ‘‘any soldier’’ or for their families. There

is no question that the surrounding communities support the soldiers, families and

especially the kids.

Naturally there are things that could be done better:

CHILD CARE: Upon deployment there is a critical and almost unending need for

childcare. First and foremost, the soldier needs to get his/her unit ready to deploy

so they cannot be released from work at the usual time and need expanded child

care. They often need weekend and holiday child care as well. Family Readiness

Groups need to have meetings to help the families prepare for deployment and to

keep them informed. There is a need for childcare in the Family Assistance Center

as mentioned above, and also emergency childcare, especially in the event of casualties. There is also the need for respite care for the parent that has no break and

no assistance in their parental responsibilities. Congress has provided resources for

‘‘contingency related child care’’. Often, the installation must provide the services

and reimbursement comes after the fact. This is not the best way to manage operations, but supporting soldiers is the goal. Quicker reimbursement would ease the

burden on the installation.

SUPPORT FOR EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY MEMBER CHILDREN: EFMP

childcare needs often cannot be provided for on post. For example, we had a family

with four special needs children; two were diabetic and required insulin injections.

Government child development facilities are not staffed with the medical personnel

authorized to administer shots. The respite care for this family had to be provide

off post, and but for the Chaplain’s Fund, we would have been unable to meet the

needs of this family.

FAMILY READINESS CENTER: As stated, this is a great initiative to support

the FRGs. Because we had an FRC in place, the transition to deployment conditions

was relatively easy. One shortcoming was the lack of some specific resource materials that are not available through Army channels. FRGs and families voice the

need for and value of some books, comic books, coloring books, etc. that help explain

the departure of a parent to their children. Some of these materials cost as much

as $5 each and we are unable to devote the necessary resources to stockpile or reproduce them by the tens of thousands needed. Recommend that ‘‘deployment kits’’

for FRCs with these materials be made available copying the kits that the library

system stockpiles for use during deployments This is a critical need, and is often

overlooked (over 20,000 paperbacks were handed out to soldiers as they deployed.)

This would provide a ready supply of deployment materials and could be used during major deployments at any impacted installation.

In closing I would like to say that it is these family support services that are key

to keeping families in the area where they can be better nurtured, and kept aware

of the information they need to have. They also serve to help with long-term retention of our great soldiers. I am extremely proud of what CABC, the post, as a whole

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and the surrounding communities have done to put their arms around the military

families. Fort Campbell is a great place to live, work, play, and when the need

arises, be supported during a deployment.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MAJ. JOYCE DOLINISH

Deployment issues are a key topic to all military families. As part of a volunteer

force, individuals choose the life of a soldier because they believe that they are part

of an organization that can make a difference in the world and in them as individuals. Their career choice is not an easy one—for them or their family. The money

is not great, the housing often substandard, the relocations difficult, and the time

away from their family increases yearly. Yet they remain on duty, serving despite

hardships, proving again and again that they are the best Army in the world.

While the families feel nothing but pride and support for all soldiers, they all at

some point begin to question when the constant separation becomes too much to

bear as a family. Within our Group, units redeployed from Afghanistan only to begin

preparation for deployment to Iraq. As we make plans for welcoming home soldiers

returning from Iraq, we are planning the departure ceremonies for units re-deploying to Afghanistan. We continue to hear plans to further reduce the size of the Army

and know that our soldiers will spend even less time with their families. We hear

of efforts to change accompanied tours to Europe to a ‘‘rotation’’. . . a friendly euphemism for another deployment. Most Americans think that a military mission is

done when the press stops reporting it—families know that it takes years to complete the job and bring everyone home. Pride and loyalty hold the military family

together—but at some point in the near future soldiers may face ultimatums from

their families as the amount of time together becomes less than the amount of time

apart.

I believe that the issue of single parents or both parents facing deployment is

being viewed from the wrong angle by most observers. The Army is a voluntary career choice and all single soldiers or dual military couples with children are at all

times aware of the potential for deployment and are required to provide extensive

legal documentation of a valid care plan that will activate upon deployment. If they

can not provide this plan they are released from active duty. The parents who deployed had plans in place and executed them. The real problem is the number of

soldiers whose care plans, when notified of deployment, suddenly were not valid.

These soldiers knowingly, willingly lied to their command and provided false legal

documentation. The units deployed without these soldiers, perhaps compromising

their mission. Soldiers are informed adults who must make difficult decisions regarding their families. The life of a soldier is not an easy one, especially for single

parents or dual military couples. If they decide to pursue it, they must be prepared

for separations and have a valid plan to care for their children. If they do not have

someone they trust, ready to assume the role of parent at any time requested, they

must pursue another career. Civilians make job decisions based on the amount of

time they will be away from their family—soldiers must make the same tough decisions. The Army life is not for everyone.

Contrary to popular belief, the return of a soldier from a long deployment is more

difficult than their departure. Redeployment briefings are normally offered at family

readiness group (FRG) meetings when rumors start that soldiers are coming home.

FRG leaders hope that each family will attend at least one briefing, but can not enforce it. FRG leaders, chaplains, and social workers from the hospital jointly present

these briefings, but there is no standard format or books to use. The resources available on military installations are insufficient to provide the ongoing support needed

by many soldiers and their families.

On-post schools are one of the positive aspects of a deployment and military life.

Children are surrounded by peers going through the same thing they are. Teachers

and counselors are experienced with deployments and trained to watch the children

for signs of excessive stress. Teachers have constant access to families and support

from military units and the installation. Exceptional discipline is maintained, in

part because the military parent can be held accountable for their child’s actions.

Fort Campbell is fortunate to have outstanding community support—but the off-post

schools can not compete with the on-post schools’ ability to prepare children for the

constant deployment and redeployment of soldiers. Funding continues to be reduced

for on-post school systems at a time of increasing soldier deployments—when they

can least afford to cut corners or reduce programs. A bare bones educational system

is not enough for the children of soldiers. The funding to ensure that teachers and

counselors are trained and available in sufficient numbers to meet the students’

needs is critical on all military installations.

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On-post schools are also better prepared to ensure the continuity of education for

each child as a family transfers throughout a military career. Department of Defense guidelines ensure that all schools on military installations have similar curriculums. Improvements have been made and agreements coordinated with many

off-post schools near military bases to ease the transition of military students. However, gaps continue to occur. Constant moves are extremely difficult on children—

gaps in curriculums or the calculation of credits for graduation make the moves

even more traumatic.

The most positive aspect of this deployment has been the way that the installation, military rear detachments, families and the local community have pulled together. Large scale deployments are difficult on everyone. Communication and mutual support has been outstanding. Most military families are extremely self sufficient, but they need to know what is going on. The relatively few families that needed support (emotional, health, financial) received the help they needed quickly and

from many sources. A positive environment willing to listen and assist when needed

was immediately established and maintained.

The key negative areas of this deployment were casualty notification and tracking

of casualties in the medical system. Embedded media provided real-time coverage

of events. Families knew immediately that an accident or casualty had occurred and

by watching closely could often narrow the event to a specific unit. While no one

argues that all casualty notification must be 100 percent accurate, the time from

the incident until the Department of the Army approves notification of the next of

kin is unacceptable given today’s media and communication capability. (A death in

our Group occurred at about 5 a.m. local time—approval to notify the wife was received too late to notify her that day, but by the 6 a.m. notification the next day

the spouse had already been called from Iraq.) Injured soldiers are nearly impossible to track in the multi service medical system. Today’s military family demands

and deserves a casualty notification system that recognizes the impact of instant

media and communication.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF GRICELL MEDLEY

Senator Alexander (Distinguished Members of Congress)—good afternoon! Thank

you for allowing me this opportunity to talk to you today about our family’s experience with the military.

My name is Gricell Medley. My husband, Major Lee Medley, is the Commander

of a CH47 Chinook Helicopter Company in the 7th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment. We have been married nine years and have been blessed with two young

daughters, Lia and Emma.

I met my husband during his service in Panama. We married in 1994. The challenges of being newlyweds from two different cultures created a special bond between my husband and I. The main reason we’ve stayed in the Army is because my

husband loves his job and serving our nation. Some of the other reasons we’ve

stayed are because of the excellent medical care, career advancement, continuous

training, retirement benefits, on-post housing, DOD schools and sense of community.

My husband took command of his company in 2001. As the Commander’s wife,

I assumed the role of the unit’s Family Readiness Group (FRG) Leader.

Since Desert Storm the Army has continued to place emphasis and importance on

the Army’s FRGs. I think this is one of the things the Army has done well in the

business of taking care of soldiers and their families. Simply defined the FRG consists of volunteers, usually the spouses of the soldiers working together to provide

assistance and information to all families and single soldiers within the unit. It is

important to remember that everyone is welcome to participate regardless of his or

her rank. Above the company level we join with the FRG from our higher headquarters supporting the larger efforts and beneficial projects. Our FRG organizes informational briefs for the spouses, updates and disseminates information about deployments, welcomes new spouses, visits hospitalized family members and soldiers,

and plans Easter Egg Hunts and other special events. In my opinion the most important role of the FRG remains information management. Without our dedicated

volunteers FRGs would not function.

While the FRG is a great strength of the Army, we could do better by actually

funding the FRG program with paid personnel to provide continuity and stability

for the unit.

One of the things the Army needs to take a closer look at is the price the op

tempo takes on its soldiers and family members. The operational tempo of the Army

has increased over the last decade while the divisional strength of the Army has

45

decreased. In other words, more missions and more deployments with fewer people,

especially in certain fields like Chinook helicopter units.

I would like to take a moment to tell you how these increased deployments have

affected my family. Our youngest daughter, Emma is seventeen months old. My

husband has been deployed fifteen of those months. He has been deployed to Korea,

two JRTC rotations in Fort Polk, Afghanistan for eight months and to Iraq since

March of this year. He was only home for 21 days between Afghanistan and Iraq.

The majority of that time was spent training and preparing his soldiers for redeployment. While I am extremely proud of our soldiers and families these numerous

separations and deployments to stressful environments have taken an enormous toll

on our Army families. I am afraid it is a retention issue for our young officers and

enlisted personnel. Many of them get out of the Army because they don’t like the

repeated separations from their families.

I mentioned to you that my husband’s company spent eight months in Afghanistan. I would like to make sure that you know that 7th Battalion of the 101st has

maintained all of the Chinook personnel rotations in Afghanistan since January

2001. C Company currently in Afghanistan was previously there for four months,

home for 2 months and then returned to Afghanistan in December of 2002. We do

not know when they will return.

This ‘‘unknown’’ is one of the frustrations that soldiers and their families face. We

don’t know when they will return home or what their recovery time will be. In addition, I have read in the Army Times about the Army’s plans to send fewer families

to Europe and Korea and instead rotate battalions for 6-month deployments. To our

family we see that as ‘‘one more deployment’’. My family hopes that change never

happens. We would much rather go as a family for two or three years. It is very

important to us to keep our family together as much as possible.

Again, thank you for taking the time to listen to my comments today. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and appreciate

your interest in improving the quality of life for our Army families.

PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHELLE M. TAYLOR

Hi. My name is Michelle Taylor, my husband Kirk is a Major in the Division’s

Plans Section. As an Army wife of 15 years and geographic single parent for two

of the last three years, I’m here to share my thoughts and observations concerning

support for the families of deployed soldiers.

Overall, I have to commend the efforts of the Installation staff and leadership. I

am convinced that they have all put their best foot forward in attempting to handle

the myriad of issues that arise when an entire Division deploys. Army Community

Services and the Family Assistance Center are both examples of the larger effort

to take care of the families and communities left behind. In addition, the hospital

has remained responsive despite the deployment of many of its medical staff.

However, the lynchpin of support is provided through the family support groups

that exist to support families at the grassroots level. This is essentially a self-help

resource in that the more a spouse attends and participates, the greater the benefit

he or she receives. Family support groups exist year round and the familiarity it

breeds amongst its members aids in the early identification of families who are in

need. This early ‘‘screening’’ helps the more experienced group members steer others

to resources before the situation becomes a crisis. I have been frustrated at times

by the seemingly lack of information flow down to the company-level, but I suspect

that the problem resides largely in the adage ‘‘We don’t know what we don’t know.’’

Another source of enormous support resides in our church communities. As you

might expect, many of the post chaplains (including all the Catholic chaplains) deployed in support of the troops. The foundation of community that resides uniquely

in our church community, regardless of faith, has truly helped to catch family members who fall through the family support group safety net.

Lastly, the local communities of Clarksville, Oak Grove and Hopkinsville have responded in their always gracious manner. The knowledge that the community at

large values the sacrifices of both the soldiers and their family members is reassuring and takes a little of the sting out of the series of separations we’ve recently experienced.

The most obvious response as to how you and your fellow members of Congress

can help is easily summed up in one word: Money. More specifically, we need help

in several areas to include:

Improvements in the Tri-Care System and delivery of health care services. The

long wait for non-life threatening (but essential to quality of life) care is unacceptable.

46

Changes to the maintenance and development of on-post housing is also needed.

As an off-post family (the result of a 12-month waiting list upon arrival to Fort

Campbell), gaining access to several of the available programs is problematic.

Funding for childcare facilities is also needed. Spouses with young children are

far less likely to attend family support group and other like organizations when they

have to also spend their meager disposable funds for child sitting services.

While the Government has relieved soldiers in the Iraqi theater of war of the

Federal tax burden, others are not so lucky. Many hardship (unaccompanied) tours

do not enjoy the same relief. A good example is our forces serving in Korea. Despite

my husband’s commitment to living a very Spartan lifestyle during his last tour,

the assignment to Korea was a financial hardship based solely on the need to maintain two ‘‘households’’. This additional financial burden was managed on a Major’s

salary, but the same cannot be said for our younger soldiers and families.

Lastly, I’m tired. I would not trade the friendships and experiences that our family has enjoyed as a result of my husband’s service, but the pace of deployments has

reached a point that I personally find unacceptable. I’m proud of Kirk’s service to

our Nation. He is my hero, but he is also a husband and father. The Army needs

people like my husband to lead soldiers where it matters most, at the tactical unit

level. I will accompany Kirk where the Army sees fit to assign him next, but I will

not encourage another move to a tactical unit. I find that sad, but the bottom line

is that assignment to a Divisional unit right now is a near guarantee of prolonged

separations with little hope for change in the near future.

Senator Alexander, thank you for joining us and allowing us to give voice to our

concerns. The Army is a close knit family, and when possible we take care of our

own. Whatever help you and the members of Congress can provide is greatly appreciated. Thank You.

[Whereupon, at 4:00 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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