    [Senate Hearing 111-100, Part 6]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                      S. Hrg. 111-100 Pt. 6

    DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR
                                      2010

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARINGS

                                   before the

                          COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                         ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                       ON

                                    S. 1390

         TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010 FOR MILITARY
    ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, FOR MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, AND
       FOR DEFENSE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, TO PRESCRIBE
        PERSONNEL STRENGTHS FOR SUCH FISCAL YEAR, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                   __________

                                     PART 6

                                   PERSONNEL

                                   __________

                            MAY 20 AND JUNE 3, 2009

             Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services

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                          COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

                         CARL LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman

    EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts     JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
    ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia        JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
    JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut     JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
    JACK REED, Rhode Island              SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
    DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii              LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
    BILL NELSON, Florida                 JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
    E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska         MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
    EVAN BAYH, Indiana                   ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
    JIM WEBB, Virginia                   RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
    CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
    MARK UDALL, Colorado                 SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
    KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina
    MARK BEGICH, Alaska
    ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois

                       Richard D. DeBobes, Staff Director

                   Joseph W. Bowab, Republican Staff Director

                                     ______

                           Subcommittee on Personnel

                     E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska, Chairman

    EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts     LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
    JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut     SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
    DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii              JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
    JIM WEBB, Virginia                   MEL MARTINEZ, Florida
    CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
    KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina         DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
    MARK BEGICH, Alaska                  SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
    ROLAND W. BURRIS, Illinois

                                      (ii)

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                        CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES
      Active Component, Reserve Component, and Civilian Personnel Programs
                                  may 20, 2009

                                                                       Page

    Rochelle, LTG Michael D., USA, Deputy Chief of Staff G-1, United
      States Army....................................................    15
    Ferguson, VADM Mark E., III, USN, Chief of Naval Personnel,
      Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Manpower, Personnel,
      Training, and Education), United States Navy...................    22
    Newton, Lt. Gen. Richard Y., III, USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for
      Manpower and Personnel, United States Air Force................    31
    Coleman, Lt. Gen. Ronald S., USMC, Deputy Commandant for Manpower
      and Reserve Affairs, United States Marine Corps................    36
    Barnes, Master Chief Joseph L., USN (Ret.), National Executive
      Director, Fleet Reserve Association; and Co-Chair, The Military
      Coalition......................................................    59
    Puzon, Captain Ike, USNR (Ret.), Director of Legislation, Naval
      Reserve Association; and Co-Chair, Guard/Reserve Committee, The
      Military Coalition.............................................    95
    Holleman, Deirdre Parke, Executive Director, The Retired Enlisted
      Association; and Co-Chair, Survivor Committee, The Military
      Coalition......................................................    96
    Strobridge, Col. Steven P., USAF (Ret.), Director, Government
      Relations, Military Officers Association of America; and Co-
      Chair, The Military Coalition..................................    98
    Snyder, Captain Bradley J., USA (Ret.), Past President, Armed
      Forces Services Corporation....................................    99

        Support for Military Family Programs, Policies, and Initiatives
                                  june 3, 2009

    Casey, Sheila L., Wife of General George W. Casey, Jr., USA,
      Chief of Staff, United States Army.............................   116
    Mancini, Jennifer A., Wife of Chief Petty Officer Steven F.
      Mancini, USN...................................................   118
    Smith, Colleen K., Wife of Colonel Andrew H. Smith, USMC,
      Commanding Officer, Marine Barracks, Washington, DC............   119
    Davis, Patricia, Wife of Chief Master Sergeant James E. Davis,
      USAF, Command Master Chief Sergeant, 316th Wing, Andrews Air
      Force Base.....................................................   122
    Moakler, Kathleen B., Director, Government Relations, National
      Military Family Association....................................   123
    Myers, Arthur J., Principal Director and Acting Deputy Under
      Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy,
      Department of Defense..........................................   152
    Marin, Kathleen, Director, Installation Services, Office of the
      Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management, United
      States Army....................................................   161
    Rau, Terri J., Ph.D., Deputy Director for Research and
      Development and Performance Measurement, Navy Installations
      Command, United States Navy....................................   169

                                     (iii)

    Larsen, Maj. Gen. Timothy R. USMC (Ret.), Director, Personal and
      Family Readiness Division, Manpower and Reserve Affairs
      Department, United States Marine Corps.........................   174
    Nesmith, Eliza G., Chief, Airman and Family Services Division,
      United States Air Force........................................   180

    DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR
                                      2010

                                  ----------

                            WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2009

                                   U.S. Senate,
                             Subcommittee on Personnel,
                                   Committee on Armed Services,
                                                        Washington, DC.

      ACTIVE COMPONENT, RESERVE COMPONENT, AND CIVILIAN PERSONNEL PROGRAMS

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:32 p.m. in
    room SR-222, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator E.
    Benjamin Nelson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Committee members present: Senators E. Benjamin Nelson,
    Begich, Burris, Graham, and Thune.
        Majority staff members present: Jonathan D. Clark, counsel;
    Gabriella Eisen, counsel; and Gerald J. Leeling, counsel.
        Minority staff members present: Diana G. Tabler,
    professional staff member; and Richard F. Walsh, minority
    counsel.
        Staff assistants present: Mary C. Holloway and Jessica L.
    Kingston.
        Committee members' assistants present: Ann Premer,
    assistant to Senator Ben Nelson; Gordon I. Peterson, assistant
    to Senator Webb; David Ramseur, assistant to Senator Begich;
    Gerald Thomas, assistant to Senator Burris; Adam G. Brake,
    assistant to Senator Graham; and Jason Van Beek, assistant to
    Senator Thune.

       OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR E. BENJAMIN NELSON, CHAIRMAN

        Senator Ben Nelson. The subcommittee meets today to receive
    testimony on the Active, Guard, Reserve, and civilian personnel
    programs in review of the National Defense Authorization
    Request for Fiscal Year 2010 and the Future Years Defense
    Program. We call the subcommittee to order.
        We will have two panels today. The first panel will consist
    of the personnel chiefs of the Services. I welcome Lieutenant
    General Michael Rochelle, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, G-
    1. I want to thank him for his terrific service, many years of
    duty, and for his constant concern for the men and women in the
    Army.
        Vice Admiral Mark E. Ferguson III, the Chief of Naval
    Personnel. We appreciate you being here, too. Having worked
    with you on other occasions in different responsibilities, it
    is great to see you again.
        Also here today are Lieutenant General Richard Y. Newton
    III, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Manpower and
    Personnel; and Lieutenant General Ronald S. Coleman, Deputy
    Commandant of the Marine Corps for Manpower and Reserve
    Affairs.
        I never want to say it is the final hearing, but it may be
    the final hearing for General Rochelle and General Coleman. I
    appreciate so much both of you finishing up decorated careers.
    I want to thank you and especially your families for your
    service. You have both overseen significant growth in your
    respective Services in the past 2 years, and you leave them
    stronger today than they were when you assumed your duties.
        I thank you for your service and we wish you the best in
    your future.
        Our second panel will consist of representatives from
    associations that represent and advance the interests of Active
    Duty, Reserve, and retired servicemembers, and I will introduce
    our witnesses on the second panel when it convenes.
        This hearing, which we hold every year, is an opportunity
    to explore the state of our military personnel. This year, more
    than ever, we are seeing the stress that repeated and lengthy
    deployments are having on the force and on families. As we
    begin the process of rotating our troops from Iraq to
    Afghanistan, the demand for our forces will not lessen in 2010.
        The suicide rates in all the Services have risen steadily
    over the past several years and the numbers this year for the
    Army are already particularly high. Even though the Army and
    Marine Corps have grown significantly over the past 2 years, we
    still cannot provide sufficient dwell time for our
    servicemembers between deployments, either for the Active Duty
    or Reserve components.
        Secretary Gates testified last week that it would be
    several years before dwell time goals can be reached. This
    causes stress not just on servicemembers, but on their families
    as well.
        Moreover, the Army is ending its use of stop-loss in the
    coming months, and even though we applaud that decision, it is
    not without its cost. Stop-loss is a cross-leveling tool that
    ensures unit stability while in the deployment and pre-
    deployment process. Without stop-loss, dwell times may be
    pressured even more.
        One obvious solution to easing the stress on the force is
    more end strength. Simply stated, more people equals less
    deployed time per person, but end strength cannot be viewed in
    a vacuum. The country is experiencing its worst economic
    downturn since the Great Depression, and while that has
    actually helped our recruiting and retention, declining Federal
    revenues put pressure on all areas of the Federal budget,
    including defense.
        As Secretary Gates testified last week, it is unclear
    whether increasing end strength beyond current levels is
    sustainable into the future. Personnel and personnel-related
    costs, such as the cost of military healthcare, survivor
    benefits, and retired benefits, continue to soar. People have
    become the most expensive weapon system in the arsenal.
        Nevertheless, as Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen have
    said, our people are our most important strategic asset. We
    will continue to ensure that we have the highest-quality, All-
    Volunteer Force that is equipped, trained, and ready while
    caring for the families and the wounded. We will continue to
    look for ways to ease the stress on the force while remaining
    prudent stewards of the taxpayer's dollar.
        Finally, we must never lose sight of our responsibility to
    provide robust family support programs and to continue to
    improve the care coordination and transition support for our
    wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers. There is no higher
    responsibility than that.
        I look forward to hearing your testimony today and your
    thoughts and insights on these challenges.
        Now I would like to welcome our ranking member, Senator
    Graham. As always, we are delighted to have you here with us
    today as we continue to work together. We have exchanged this
    position a time or two.
        Senator Graham. That is right.
        Senator Ben Nelson. We have continued to work well, no
    matter who is banging the gavel. With that, would you like to
    make an opening statement?

                  STATEMENT OF SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM

        Senator Graham. Yes, Mr. Chairman, very briefly.
        I would like to echo the statement you just made. It is a
    joy being on this committee. I think all members work in a
    bipartisan fashion, but no one has been easier to get along
    with than Senator Nelson, and he really does put the men and
    women in uniform ahead of politics. That is what this is
    about--those who serve, not politics.
        To the panel, welcome. To those retiring, congratulations,
    if it is true. I think we have money to pay you, and I know you
    have earned it. [Laughter.]
        I look forward to hearing from both panels, particularly
    the second one, about how our men and women are faring out
    there. To all of you testifying, thank you.
        As Senator Nelson indicated, we have been on a wartime
    footing for 8 years now. This September will be 8 years since
    we were attacked on September 11, 2001. It has been a tough 8
    years. Our men and women in uniform and their civilian
    counterparts being deployed overseas and their families have
    really borne a heavy burden.
        I don't think in any other war in American history have so
    few done so much for so long, and it is not lost upon us. All
    we can do is say ``thank you, well done'' and come to your aid
    when we can when it comes to benefits and programs that serve.
        The Army Secretary and General Casey, the Chief of Staff of
    the Army, testified yesterday that dwell time continues to be
    insufficient, and the goal of 2 years home for every year
    deployed will be difficult to realize. They let us know that
    the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marine, Coast Guard members, and
    everybody involved are very resilient. But we have to
    understand they are people, too. They have families to raise,
    and we are just going to have to, as Senator Nelson said,
    increase the number of people in the military.
        There are a lot of costs associated with the Government,
    but none more important than defending the Nation. I think most
    Americans are pretty upset with us at times about the way we
    spend our money, but very few have any problem helping the men
    and women who serve and making sure they are well taken care
    of.
        Our noncommissioned officers (NCOs), who are the backbone
    of every military organization, we have to do more to recruit
    them. We have healthcare professionals, special forces,
    nuclear-qualified personnel, Explosive Ordinance Disposal
    units, you name it, a lot of specialties in the military that
    are under a lot of stress, and bonus programs have really
    helped.
        The supplemental is going to help in the short term. But at
    the end of the day, we need to look at the overall end
    strength, and I think the Commander in Chief's top priority
    must be national security. The intelligence reports we receive,
    Mr. Chairman, show a growing threat from Iran, a tougher fight
    in Afghanistan. Iraq is not done yet. Who knows what North
    Korea is up to? It will be a long time before we receive a
    peace dividend.
        The budget that was proposed by the administration had a 3
    percent gross domestic product spending on defense in 2019. I
    think that is woefully inadequate. Having said that, I would
    like to work with the administration and Secretary Gates to
    make the military--Department of Defense (DOD)--more efficient.
        At the end of the day, if you increase the size of the
    military, the largest expense in the DOD's budget is personnel
    cost. If you don't increase the overall pie, there is going to
    be less money to modernize our weapons and do the things that
    give us an edge in battle.
        I will look forward to working with you, Senator Nelson,
    Mr. Chairman, to make sure that the defense budget not only
    grows the number of people, but it also gives them the
    equipment they will need to win the war. This choice between
    guns and butter, I know we need both. But if you are not well
    defended, the butter problems are not nearly as important.
        Tomorrow, we have to realize that we could wake up and the
    enemy could hit us again. They are doing everything they can to
    come back our way, and the reason they haven't is because our
    men and women in uniform, the Central Intelligence Agency, and
    other groups have taken the fight overseas to this enemy, and
    it has made it safer here at home.
        I look forward to working with you, Senator Nelson, to get
    a budget that we can all be proud of.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator Graham.
        Senator Begich is here. Are there any opening remarks that
    you might like to make?
        Senator Begich. No, Mr. Chairman. I am anxious for their
    presentations.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Without objection, all witness testimony submitted for
    today's hearing will be included in the record.
        Additionally, we have received a statement from the Reserve
    Officers Association, and without objection, it will be
    included in the record of this hearing.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        Senator Ben Nelson. We will now hear from our witnesses. We
    will start with you, General Rochelle.

      STATEMENT OF LTG MICHAEL D. ROCHELLE, USA, DEPUTY CHIEF OF
                     STAFF G-1, UNITED STATES ARMY

        General Rochelle. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham,
    distinguished members of the committee, thank you very much for
    this opportunity and thank you for your very kind and gracious
    comments regarding my service. Much appreciated and certainly
    so on the part of my family, as with all Army families.
        I appear before you today on behalf of the 1.1 million men
    and women serving here and abroad in peace as well as in
    hostile environments. This combat-seasoned force is resilient
    and professional, yet strained and out of balance.
        More than 1 million of this Nation's finest citizens have
    deployed over the past 7 years into harm's way. We realize very
    well that there are costs and effects associated with this
    conflict, both visible and invisible effects. Our current
    programs to relieve stress on the force are critical to
    maintain a healthy, balanced, and prepared force.
        These programs help us defend our country against some of
    the most persistent and wide-ranging threats in our history.
    The success of these programs, many of which you are
    responsible for in large part due to your support, give us the
    numerous programs that are required to support this great force
    well into now, as well as 7-plus years of war, as you have
    noted, Mr. Chairman, as with Senator Graham.
        First and foremost, you have given us the means to recruit
    and retain an agile Army. As a result of the past 2 years, we
    have met or exceeded our recruiting and retention goals for the
    Total Force. This is a step in the right direction toward
    restoring balance.
        We continue to transform our force into one Army that
    consistently uses the talents of our Active, Reserve, and
    National Guard soldiers as well as our civilian workforce and
    teammates. This Total Force approach is key to restoring
    balance within our ranks and our homes.
        This Congress, and most especially this committee, has
    embraced our needs, and we are very grateful. You have given us
    the means to improve the quality of life for our soldiers and
    their families. Soldiers are remaining in the Army because they
    see it is a good environment in which to raise a family, thus
    making us the employer of choice.
        The Army continues to face challenges, which will be
    directly in front of us for the next several years. Armed with
    lessons learned, it is our intent to stay in front of these
    challenges, anticipate them, develop strategies and programs,
    and keep them from becoming problems in the future.
        One of our latest challenges is that of the eligible
    population to serve in the Armed Forces, which continues to
    drop, thus creating a national dilemma. The Army will continue
    to work hard to attract and retain the best, but we need your
    help in taking on this larger national issue.
        The challenging environment that our soldiers serve in
    demands that we maintain the standards as set, and we must
    remain ever vigilant that our force is manned with both
    physically and mentally qualified and fit soldiers, as it is
    today.
        I have described a challenging environment to you here
    today. I am confident, however, that with the operational and
    institutional agility this Army has developed over the past 8
    years, we will meet all of the challenges that confront us.
        It is always easier to commit to a plan of action when we
    know that Congress supports us. Your leadership and your
    support have been unwavering, and I have appreciated the
    discussions we have had over the years concerning the health of
    the Army, and I look forward to your questions today.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of General Rochelle follows:]
               Prepared Statement by LTG Michael D. Rochelle, USA
                                  introduction
        Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and distinguished members of this
    committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf
    of America's Army. Our greatest heroes are America's most precious
    resource--our soldiers. These soldiers and their families, backed by
    our civilian workforce, represent the very best of America's values and
    ideals. Your continued support of our personnel initiatives provides
    the tools we need to ensure the growth, sustainment, and well-being of
    our All-Volunteer Force. This fighting force of 1.1 million soldiers is
    continually tested at home and abroad. Repeatedly our Nation's young
    men and women step forward and pledge to serve. They recognize the
    challenges facing our Nation, answer the call, and become part of
    something larger than them. Their dedicated service and sacrifice are
    deserving of the very best services, programs, equipment, training,
    benefits, life-style, and leadership available. Our focus this year
    centers on the growth in volume and talent, sustainment of the force,
    our ability to meet the national challenges, and the importance of
    maintaining this strength to meet the demands now and for the future.
                               strategic overview
        America's Army, strained by persistent conflict, remains a
    resilient and professional force. More than 1 million of our country's
    men and women have deployed to combat; more than 4,500 have sacrificed
    their lives, and more than 31,000 have been wounded. After 7 years of
    continuous combat our Army--particularly our people--remains out of
    balance. We have several challenging years ahead and must remain
    vigilant and proactive to the needs of our people and maintain the
    programs and policies in support of them. The current conditions of
    supply and demand most change in order to restore balance in our force.
    We remain cautiously optimistic that we will achieve balance by fiscal
    year 2011.
                                  end strength
        As part of the overarching goal of restoring balance, the Army met
    the ``Grow the Army'' end strength goal ahead of schedule, resulting in
    an end strength of 543,645 for fiscal year 2008. The Army met the
    fiscal year 2010 end strength goal of 547,400 in January 2009. This
    success is based largely on the Army's recruiting and retention
    programs. Since attaining the authorized strength, the Army has taken
    actions to ensure that Army end strength in fiscal year 2009 remains
    at, but does not exceed, the authorized level of 547,400. These actions
    included reducing the recruiting and retention missions and policy
    changes to manage losses.
        Because the Army was able to meet the ``Grow the Army'' end
    strength early, we have sufficient enlisted soldiers to meet all the
    current authorizations. This will help mitigate some of the stress of
    the ongoing high operational pace; however, there are still many
    stressors overwhelming the force. In spite of the Army's strength,
    however, the Army cannot meet the 1:2 Boots on the Ground dwell time
    goal due to the cumulative effects of the planned deployment schedule,
    the elimination of Stop Loss, and the continuing demands of training
    soldiers and caring for the wounded warriors.
                recruiting and retention (officer and enlisted)
        Once again, despite the challenges of a protracted conflict in
    fiscal year 2008. the Army exceeded its enlisted recruiting and
    retention missions for the first time since fiscal year 2002 and is
    confident it will meet its goals for fiscal year 2009. Meeting these
    critical benchmarks moves us closer to restoring balance, but much more
    needs to occur. As a result of a dynamic environment, we have adjusted
    our recruiting and retention objectives mid-year. We will continue to
    monitor the trends and make adjustments as required.
        In fiscal year 2008, with congressional support, the total Army
    spent $4.2 billion on recruiting and retention. In fiscal year 2009,
    these programs received $3.8 billion and requested an additional $1.1
    billion in supplemental funding. The requested increase of $0.7 billion
    was the result of a large residual and anniversary payments initiated
    in fiscal year 2008 and coming due in fiscal year 2009. We intend to
    decrease our fiscal year 2010 budget by 6 percent over fiscal year 2009
    to $4.6 billion due to a more favorable recruiting and retention
    environment. The amount budgeted for anniversary payments will continue
    to increase through fiscal year 2011 but is anticipated to decrease in
    fiscal year 2012 in subsequent years.
        The cumulative effects of this funding is a quality All-Volunteer
    Force and a proven model to sustain personnel levels as required. For
    example, the Army's percentage of new enlisted soldiers considered
    ``high quality'' with high school diploma increased by 2.1 percent in
    2008. Additionally, recruits scoring in the upper range (50-99 percent)
    on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) increased 1.6 percent;
    and recruits who scored poorly (30 percent and below) on the AFQT
    decreased 1.2 percent.
        The Army must remain adaptive to the recruiting environment. As an
    example, a recently developed program to assist the Army in meeting
    critical skills is the Military Accessions Vital to the National
    Interest (MAVNI). The Army launched this pilot program on February 23,
    2009, to attract high quality individuals with exceptional skills in
    health care professions or 1 or more of 35 languages. MAVNI recruits
    are non-U.S. citizens who have been legally present in the United
    States for 2 or more years and speak a designated and critically needed
    language or are licensed health care professionals, but who do not have
    permanent residency (i.e. Green Card). Additionally, the Army continues
    to utilize the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 09L Program. The
    Army has recruited more than 1,500 soldiers as military interpreters
    and translators under this program.
        The Army retention mission is also on track to meet the goals set
    for fiscal year 2009. In all components, the Army is currently above
    mission and expects to finish successfully in every category. The Army
    reduced the overall Active component mission in the second quarter from
    65,000 soldiers to 55,000 soldiers due to meeting the overall ``Grow
    the Army'' objective. Retention of combat experienced veterans remains
    critical to current and future readiness. As a result of this
    successful program, 45.1 percent of all reenlistments occur in theater
    currently. Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF)
    areas of operations have achieved reenlistment rates of 135 percent
    against their annual goals.
        Shortages remain within our officer corps due to overall structural
    growth of the Army. To correct this, the Army initiated the Captains'
    Retention Incentive Menu in September 2007. The Army spent $443.6
    million from fiscal year 2007 to present on this incentive program. The
    goal of the program was to recruit, retain, and manage critical skills
    in officers to increase the retention of lieutenants and captains for 3
    years. The Captains' Retention Incentives Menu program included a cash
    option based on the officer's accessed branch, resident graduate school
    attendance for up to 18 months, or attendance at the year long Defense
    Language Institute in exchange for a 3 year additional active duty
    service obligation. As a result, the captain retention increased in
    fiscal year 2008 to 89.1 percent over the 10 year average of 88
    percent. The program guaranteed retention through fiscal year 2011 for
    over 16,000 of the 23,000 captains who were eligible to participate.
    The timing of our Captains' Retention Incentives Menu program,
    concurrent with the dramatic downturn of the economy and job market,
    helped support our retention goals. The cash and Defense Language
    Institute options ended in November 2008. The remaining retention
    incentive, the Expanded Graduate School Program, has been funded at
    $7.5 million in fiscal year 2010. Overall, the single most effective
    retention incentive for junior officers was the cash bonus. Over 94
    percent of the more than 16,000 officers who took incentives in fiscal
    year 2008 elected to take the cash bonus. Department of Defense survey
    data analysis showed that most officers who intended to separate or
    were uncertain about staying in took the incentive and committed to
    further obligated Army service.
        The Officer Accession Pilot Program (OAPP), launched under
    authority of the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),
    allowed us to offer cash incentives to students who graduate from the
    Leader Training Course (LTC) and contract as a 2 year ROTC cadet. As a
    result, the fiscal year 2008 contract rate for graduates from the LTC
    increased from 65 percent to 70 percent. That is a 5 percent increase
    from the contract rate average the previous 4 years. This authorization
    further allowed us to incentivize language training focused on the
    Critical Language List. At a cost of $68,250, the program had 127
    participants as of January 2009. Finally, the new authority gives us
    needed tools to assess much needed chaplains and medical professionals.
        The United States Military Academy (USMA) and ROTC both offer Pre-
    Commissioning incentives. These consist of offering new officer's their
    Post or Branch of Choice or Graduate Schooling. In fiscal year 2006 and
    fiscal year 2008 there were 4,500 participants.
        These incentives have increased longevity by 40 percent for newly-
    commissioned, high-performing USMA and ROTC officers.
        In spite of a dramatically changed recruiting climate, based on the
    economy, our message to our soldiers and their families must resound
    with assurance that they will be cared for in a manner commensurate
    with their service and sacrifice. Incentives, bonuses and pay are only
    part of the equation in creating balance in our soldiers and families
    lives. In the event of a life changing injury or the loss of life, our
    soldiers are assured that their families will receive financial and
    programmatic support for their loss and sacrifice. This support
    includes full-earned benefits and disability compensation. The Army is
    working closely and aggressively with soldiers and their families to
    streamline access to assistance from other Federal agencies, such as
    the Social Security Administration, Department of Labor, and Department
    of Veterans Affairs.
        Overall, the Army's programs are effective in recruiting and
    retaining both officers and enlisted soldiers with critical skills. For
    enlisted soldiers, the Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) and Critical
    Skills Retention Bonus (CSRB) remain proven as effective tools for
    filling critical skills. The Army carefully manages its resources,
    reviewing and adjusting incentives at least quarterly to ensure we
    attract and retain quality individuals in needed occupations, while
    remaining fiscally responsible to avoid excessive payments. The
    economic environment allows us to reduce incentive levels amounts and
    the number of occupations offered bonuses. However, we must retain the
    flexibility to apply incentives as necessary to attract and retain
    mission critical talent in shortage MOS, and reshape the force as QDR
    and other factors warrant. The continued authorities and funding of
    these programs by Congress remains critical to the Army.
                                   stop loss
        A friction point that the Army intends to alleviate is the use of
    stop loss. The Army's current use of stop loss is based solely on
    mission demands. In accordance with the March 18, 2009, announcement
    from Secretary of Defense Gates, the Army will phase out the use of the
    stop loss program between now and January 2010. By August 2009, the
    U.S. Army Reserve will no longer mobilize units under stop loss and the
    Army National Guard will stop doing so in September 2009.
                     individual ready reserve mobilization
        The Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) is a critical element that
    assists the Army in meeting unit readiness. There are 59,146 in the IRR
    as of May 11, 2009. A total of 13,560 have received mobilization orders
    since September 11, 2001, of which 10,841 soldiers have reported as
    ordered and 9,012 soldiers have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at
    least once. The Army has a tiered systemic approach to mobilization to
    ensure we input equity into the IRR mobilization process. An effective
    IRR program is based on several factors, including the soldiers'
    understanding of their obligations, access to benefits and support, and
    time to adjust personal affairs prior to mobilizations.
        To improve readiness of the IRR, the Army instituted an innovative
    IRR muster program. Approximately 5 months after entering the IRR, a
    soldier will be ordered to muster duty. During fiscal year 2008, the
    Army Reserve spent approximately $7.4 million to muster 11,600 IRR
    soldiers and the Army plans to muster 14,000 IRR soldiers at an
    estimated cost $7.9 million in fiscal year 2009. Soldiers may be
    required to muster each year they remain in the IRR. Once mobilized,
    soldiers in the IRR receive 10 days of Individual Soldier Training upon
    arriving at the mobilization station. These soldiers also receive
    refresher training in their MOS which lasts between 2 to 4 weeks
    depending on their specific skill. This program contributes to our
    goals of an Operational Reserve as well as a continuum service.
                               civilian personnel
        Department of the Army Civilian employees provide vital support to
    soldiers and families in this era of persistent conflict. They share
    responsibility for mission accomplishment by delivering combat support
    and combat service support--at home and abroad. More than ever, Army
    Civilians are an absolutely essential component of readiness and a key
    element in restoring balance. Today, the Army Civilian Corps is over
    287,000 strong with 4,676 currently serving in harm's way in the U.S.
    Central Command area of operations. The new Department of Defense
    Civilian Expeditionary Workforce supports humanitarian, reconstruction,
    combat-support, and other missions. As a key part of the Army Civilian
    Corps, the civilian expeditionary workforce maximizes the use of
    civilian employee volunteers in support positions, freeing up military
    personnel for operational requirements. These civilian employees train,
    equip, and prepare to mobilize and respond urgently to expeditionary
    requirements.
        While we have successfully grown the Army's civilian workforce over
    the last few years, we will significantly stress our capability to meet
    known and projected hiring requirements over the next few years. The
    Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) of 2005 require the movement of
    over 23,000 civilian employee positions to different geographical
    areas. In fiscal year 2007-2008, Army obligated over $35 million for
    civilian Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves associated with BRAC.
    For fiscal year 2009, Army has budgeted $150 million to cover the
    increases in projected BRAC PCS moves. Our analysis of past BRAC
    implementation indicates that traditionally only 30 percent of the
    civilian work force will move with their current organization although
    that percentage may increase because of the current economy. We project
    that over 56,000 more BRAC recruitment actions must be completed
    between now and the end of fiscal year 2011 to provide commanders the
    talent needed to meet critical missions. This is in addition to the
    120,000 recruitment actions needed annually to sustain current
    operations. Additionally, the Army anticipates hiring up to 4,000
    employees as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as
    well as a significant number of new civilians as part of current
    insourcing initiatives.
        To protect the public interest and maintain core competencies, we
    ensure that inherently governmental functions and requirements are
    performed by government employees. The civilian workforce provides us
    with an opportunity to save vital resources by bringing relatively
    expensive contracted services back into the government through the
    insourcing process. The initial results of our efforts are promising,
    saving an average of $46,000 per insourced position. We have insourced
    1,164 positions to date.
                       army equal opportunity (eo) policy
        The Army leads the Nation in Equal Opportunity using education,
    preventative training, and cultural awareness of discrimination.
    Commanders at all levels are responsible for sustaining positive equal
    opportunity climates within their organizations. Remaining applicable
    and relevant within the environment that we operate, the Army is
    transforming EO policy through innovative equal opportunity techniques,
    tactics, and procedures based on the full spectrum of Army Operations,
    Institutions, and Training. This effort will strengthen the foundation
    of the Army's overall Human Relations program. One area the Army is
    currently upgrading is the Equal Opportunity Reporting System (EORS).
    The EORS tracks complaint data and trends to give senior leaders
    critical information about the EO climate in their organizations and
    across the Army and it will soon provide a variety of automated
    reports. Additionally, the Army is preparing to implement the Defense
    Equal Opportunity Management Institute Organizational Climate Survey as
    its official command climate survey for the Army. To date, the Army has
    invested $2 million ($1.1 million in fiscal year 2008 plus $0.9 million
    so far in fiscal year 2009) and expects to invest another $0.8 million
    in fiscal year 2010 for EO personnel and services support, database and
    survey systems, outreach support, and training contracts.
                           sexual assault prevention
        The Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff remain personally
    involved in reinforcing to all soldiers and leaders the importance of
    preventing sexual assault. Under their guidance and leadership, the
    Army launched a new comprehensive sexual assault prevention campaign in
    2008. The campaign centers on leaders establishing a positive command
    climate where sexual assault is clearly not acceptable. The campaign
    further encourages soldiers to execute peer-to-peer intervention
    personally, and to not tolerate behavior that, if left unchecked, may
    lead to sexual assault.
        The cornerstone of the Army's prevention campaign is the ``I. A.M.
    Strong'' program, where the letters I, A, and M stand for Intervene-
    Act-Motivate. The ``I.A.M. Strong'' program features soldiers as
    influential role models and provides peer-to-peer messages outlining
    the Army's intent for all its members to personally take action in the
    effort to protect our communities. Leaders have embraced ``I. A.M.
    Strong'' initiatives and are motivating soldiers to engage proactively
    and prevent sexual assault. The Secretary of the Army helped kick off
    Phase II of the ``I. A.M. Strong'' campaign last month at our second
    annual Sexual Assault Prevention Summit. Our campaign extends through
    2013 as we work to be the Nation's leader in sexual harassment and
    sexual assault prevention.
        Our strategy culminates with the Army recognized as the Nation's
    leader when it comes to investigating and prosecuting sexual assault
    cases. The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and the Judge Advocate
    General's Corps (JAGC) are in the process of adding investigators and
    prosecutors at our busiest jurisdictions. The intent of this initiative
    is to create a capability similar to civilian Special Victim Units. The
    CID and JAGC are also hiring nationally recognized subject matter
    experts in the field of sexual assault as consultants, advisors, and
    trainers.
        The Army expended over $20 million in fiscal year 2008 for our
    sexual assault prevention campaign; we are projected to expend over $42
    million in fiscal year 2009; and we expect to allocate approximately
    $67 million in fiscal year 2010. To date, our prevention campaign is
    successfully leading cultural change and establishing the Army as the
    blueprint for the Nation on sexual assault prevention.
                           suicide prevention program
        The loss of any soldier is a tragedy, particularly when it could
    have been prevented. Over the past several years, suicides among
    soldiers have increased. Army leaders are greatly concerned with the
    significant increase in the number of suicide cases. The Army
    leadership prioritized efforts and directed resources toward suicide
    prevention awareness, suicide intervention actions, and post-
    intervention grief and bereavement support.
        As part of the Army's continuing response to suicide, Army Vice
    Chief of Staff, General Peter W. Chiarelli, issued a comprehensive,
    multi-disciplinary Army Campaign Plan for Health Promotion, Risk
    Reduction, and Suicide Prevention. The plan, run by both the Army's
    Suicide Prevention Task Force and the Vice Chief chartered Suicide
    Prevention Council, recognizes the inter-connectedness of the physical,
    spiritual, and mental health of soldiers and their families in
    preventing the full range of at risk behaviors including suicide.
    Senior leaders are implementing this plan at all installations.
        The Army Campaign Plan will promote better health, reduce risk in
    the Force and prevent suicide by leveraging the total assets of the
    institution and our partners across the domains of Doctrine,
    Organization, Training, Materiel, Leaders, Personnel, Facilities and
    Resources (DOTMLPF-R). To date, the Vice Chief of Staff through the
    Task Force and the Council directed more than 250 action items and
    action plans. New tasks emerge almost daily as the Task Force and
    Council continue their work. Special emphasis is directed toward
    reducing stigma associated with seeking behavioral health and substance
    abuse treatment.
        On February 10, 2009, the Army ordered a ``Stand Down'' and a
    three-phase program focused on suicide prevention. During this program,
    commanders and first line supervisors trained their soldiers and
    civilians to understand the individual suicide risk factors and warning
    signs and educated them regarding how to take action to intervene. The
    centerpiece of Phase I was an interactive video called ``Beyond the
    Front.'' Between February 15 and March 15, 2009, all Army personnel--
    soldiers and civilians--watched the video in small groups and made
    decisions on how to react to the video's vignettes. Phase I also
    featured the ACE (Ask, Care, Escort) intervention card, used to explain
    how to help a ``buddy'' who may be exhibiting warning signs of suicidal
    behavior. Phase II, a chain teaching phase occurring between March 15
    and July 15, 2009, again employs a video and vignettes based on various
    phases of the deployment cycle. This phase focuses on improving
    recognition of warning signs and reinforcing ways to intervene. Phase
    III, sustainment, will continue indefinitely through annual training
    requirements.
        The Army recently entered into an agreement with the National
    Institute of Mental Heath for a 5-year longitudinal study of suicide.
    The Army will assess factors affecting suicide, training efforts for
    reduction of suicide and other associated mitigation efforts. We also,
    continue to meet regularly with external agencies, such as the
    Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human
    Services (including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
    the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) in a
    collaborative effort to exchange information and strategies designed to
    reduce suicide.
                          army substance abuse program
        The persistent conflict has created symptoms of stress including
    increased alcohol and drug abuse. This commander's program uses
    prevention, education, deterrence, detection, and rehabilitation to
    reduce and eliminate alcohol and drug abuse. It is based on the
    expectations of readiness and personal responsibility.
        A team recently returned from deployment to U.S. Army Forces. U.S.
    Central Command. While there, they determined effective methods to
    deliver substance abuse services in theater. To support our commanders,
    a clear and executable policy for random drug testing in theater is
    under development. Another area under development is the review of
    portable prevention education packages for deployed soldiers. Soldiers
    at home, and soldiers in the Reserve component. Additionally, the Army
    is preparing to execute a pilot program that will provide confidential
    education and treatment to soldiers who wish to self-refer into the
    ASAP and retain their confidentiality. In addition to the pilot
    program, we are conducting a broader, more detailed study to determine
    the exact nature and extent of any stigma in the Army associated with
    substance abuse treatment. This study will run concurrently with the
    pilot program. We want to ensure that all soldiers who may need
    assistance can get assistance without the barrier of stigma.
                          army human capital strategy
        Providing Forces to combatant commanders to meet current and future
    challenges will continue to be our top priority. The agile Army Human
    Capital Strategy (AHCS) addresses these challenges by creating a
    roadmap to restore balance to the Force by fiscal year 2011 and by
    continuing to develop a structured force through 2024. The objective of
    the AHCS is to secure and sustain the All-Volunteer Total Army,
    resourced through efficient and cost-conscious practices. The AHCS
    strategy is based on principles that assure a higher quality and a more
    diverse ready Total Army, enabled by effective Human Resource systems
    and agile policies and programs.
                            business transformation
        The Army G-1 implemented a Lean Six Sigma Program to provide for
    continuous process improvement. We have developed a list of Army
    processes that we believe can be performed more efficiently and for
    less cost. Trained professionals work with the employees and soldiers
    who are actually involved with the processes in a deliberate procedure
    to identify parts of the processes that lack value. The process is then
    re-engineered for greater efficiency. Using this procedure, we
    completed projects that provided over $40 million of financial benefit
    in fiscal year 2008. We are expecting to realize an additional $60
    million in financial benefit in fiscal year 2009. Successful projects
    include a redesign of the system that provides R&R flights to soldiers
    from OEF and OIF and a project that improved the Wounded Soldier Family
    Hotline. So far in the program, our return on investment is about 10
    times what we have invested.
                            congressional assistance
        Recruiting, retention, and providing for the well-being of the best
    Army in the world requires a significant commitment by the American
    people. The Army is grateful for the continued support of Congress for
    competitive military benefits and compensation, along with incentives
    and bonuses for soldiers and their families and for the civilian
    workforce. These are critical in helping the Army be the employer of
    choice.
                                   conclusion
        We must maintain an appropriate level of investment to ensure a
    robust and high-quality force. The well-being and balance of our force
    is absolutely dependent upon your tremendous support. The Army is
    growing and transforming in a period of persistent conflict. We will do
    so with young men and women of the highest caliber whose willingness to
    serve, is a credit to this great Nation.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
        Admiral Ferguson?

      STATEMENT OF VADM MARK E. FERGUSON III, USN, CHIEF OF NAVAL
        PERSONNEL, DEPUTY CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS (MANPOWER,
        PERSONNEL, TRAINING, AND EDUCATION), UNITED STATES NAVY

        Admiral Ferguson. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and
    distinguished members of the committee, thank you for this
    opportunity to appear before you to review our fiscal year 2010
    budget request on behalf of the Navy Total Force and their
    families.
        We believe this request supports our ability to attract,
    recruit, and retain a highly skilled naval force in support of
    our maritime strategy. We remain today a global Navy, a Total
    Force of Active and Reserve sailors and Navy civilians, united
    in service to the Nation. Over 40 percent of our ships are
    underway or deployed.
        This budget request also supports new mission areas, as
    well as joint operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and across the
    globe where approximately 14,000 sailors are serving as
    individual augmentees. With this high operational tempo
    (OPTEMPO), we remain vigilant concerning stress on our sailors
    and their families. We ensure that sailors have adequate
    opportunity to rest and spend time at home between deployments.
        The tone of the force is positive. Sailors and their
    families continue to express satisfaction with their morale and
    the leadership at their commands, their healthcare, their
    benefits, and their compensation. Our budget request reflects
    this commitment to supporting sailors and their families. We
    are focusing our efforts on building resiliency and fostering a
    culture that encourages sailors to seek help in response to
    stress that they encounter in the field.
        Over the past year, we have been very successful in
    recruiting and retaining high-quality sailors. In 2008, we
    achieved our enlisted and officer goals across both the Active
    and Reserve components, while exceeding DOD quality standards
    in all recruit categories.
        For the first time in 5 years, we achieved overall Active
    and Reserve medical officer recruiting goals. This year, we
    achieved our nuclear operator Zone A goals for the first time
    in over 30 years through targeted use of selective reenlistment
    bonuses.
        Beginning in 2008 and continuing into this year, the
    comprehensive benefits provided by Congress for our
    servicemembers, combined with the current economic conditions
    in the country, have resulted in significantly increased
    retention and lower attrition across the force.
        To ensure the long-term health of the force, we are
    transitioning from a posture of reducing end strength to one we
    term stabilizing the force. To meet global demands and minimize
    stress on the force, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter
    used his end strength waiver authority for both 2008 and 2009.
    We project to finish this fiscal year within 2 percent above
    our statutory end strength limit of 326,323.
        Our stabilization efforts have been directed at sustaining
    a high-quality force able to respond to new mission areas
    within our fiscal authorities, and we are guided by the
    following principles: to continue to attract and recruit our
    Nation's best and brightest; retain the best sailors and target
    our incentives to retain those with critical skills; balance
    the force in terms of seniority, experience, and skills matched
    to projected requirements; continue to safeguard the careers of
    our top performers; and provide the fleet and joint force
    stable and predictable manning.
        Our fiscal year 2010 budget request includes an Active
    component end strength of 328,800, which is comprised of a
    baseline request of approximately 324,400 and supplemental
    funding for 4,400 additional sailors to serve as joint force
    enablers in support of overseas contingency operation. This
    budget also requests a Reserve component end strength of
    65,500. We believe this is adequate going forward to meet the
    demands of the fleet as well as the joint force.
        Education and training are strategic investments in our
    future, and we remain committed to supporting the personal and
    professional development of our sailors across their careers.
    We feel the budget request balances our education and training
    requirements and includes growth in important new mission
    areas, such as cyber warfare, language, and culture.
        Last week, I had the opportunity to visit our naval
    personnel overseas in the Middle East and in Europe. Your
    sailors are positive, enthusiastic, and performing
    extraordinarily well in meeting the demands of the joint force.
    I could not be prouder of the extraordinary job that they do
    every day in service to the Nation.
        On behalf of the men and women in uniform who sacrifice
    daily, and their families, I wish to extend my appreciation to
    the committee and Congress for your unwavering support of our
    Navy.
        Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Admiral Ferguson follows:]
              Prepared Statement by VADM Mark E. Ferguson III, USN
                                  introduction
        Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and distinguished members of the
    Senate Armed Services Committee, it is a pleasure to have the
    opportunity to review our fiscal year 2010 Active and Reserve budget
    requests for Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education (MPTE)
    programs in support of our Navy Total Force and their families.
        Navy continues to experience success in recruiting and retention
    and we expect that success to continue. The tone of the force remains
    positive. Sailors and their families continue to express satisfaction
    with the quality of their service, education benefits, health care, and
    compensation. Our sailors and Navy civilians are the critical component
    to the Navy's Maritime Strategy. To support the Fleet and the joint
    force, we are committed to providing the right person with the right
    skills, at the right time, and at the best value while ensuring the
    welfare of our sailors and their families. To meet this commitment, our
    efforts must enable us to be:

             Competitive for the best talent in the Nation
             Diverse
             Responsive to the joint warfighter
             A learning organization
             A leader in human resource solutions for the Navy

        Since 2003, Navy's Active component (AC) end strength has declined
    by approximately 10,000 per year. While end strength declined, we have
    increased operational availability through the Fleet Response Plan,
    supported new missions for the joint force, and introduced the Maritime
    Strategy. This increased demand includes maritime interdiction,
    riverine warfare, irregular and cyber warfare, humanitarian and
    disaster relief, an enduring individual augmentee mission in support of
    overseas contingency operations (OCO), and now, counterpiracy.
        The Navy Reserve has also experienced reductions in end strength by
    approximately 3,500 per year since 2003, most of which were realized
    between fiscal year 2004 and fiscal year 2006 as a result of an
    extensive Zero Based Review as part of Active Reserve Integration. The
    Selected Reserve (SELRES) continues to deliver operational support
    capabilities and is an integral part of the Total Force, supporting the
    immediate mobilization manpower requirements for critical OCO missions
    and providing the strategic depth required to sustain the joint
    warfighting needs of the combatant commanders.
        To meet increased demands, maintain required Fleet manning levels
    with acceptable risk, and minimize stress on the force, we have
    transitioned from a posture of reducing end strength to one of
    ``stabilizing the force.'' This transition was supported by the
    Secretary of the Navy with authorization to over-execute end strength
    in fiscal year 2009 within 2 percent above our authorized level of
    326,323. This over-execution created a fiscal shortfall that is being
    internally mitigated through a number of measures. We continue to
    assess options to restore funding, and should funding become available,
    we will restore these programs to the greatest extent possible.
        Our fiscal year 2010 Active and Reserve budget requests provide the
    foundation to continue to attract, recruit, develop, assign, and retain
    a highly-skilled workforce for today and the future. Our active budget
    request of $27.1 billion consists of $25.5 billion for Manpower
    Personnel Navy (MPN) and $1.6 billion in related OMN. This reflects a
    $1.4 billion increase in MPN and a $103.2 million decrease of
    associated MPTE OMN as compared to last fiscal year. Our Reserve budget
    request consists of $1.9 billion for Reserve Personnel Navy (RPN) and
    $7.3 million in related Operations and Maintenance Navy Reserve (OMNR).
    This reflects an $82 million increase in RPN and a $1.2 million
    decrease of associated MPTE OMNR compared to last fiscal year.
        Additionally, we are seeking congressional support for funding to
    support OCO. We will continue to stabilize the force with respect to
    end strength while balancing seniority, skills, and experience to meet
    Fleet and joint requirements and develop our capabilities to respond to
    emerging mission areas, such as cyber warfare and missile defense
    within our fiscal authorities. Our budget request represents a balanced
    approach to supporting our sailors and their families, while sustaining
    Fleet readiness.
                                  end strength
        Our fiscal year 2010 active budget request supports an end strength
    of 328,800. This includes $25.5 billion in the baseline budget for
    324,400 to support Fleet requirements, OCO core and adaptive core
    missions, and the initial restoration of the Defense Health Program
    military-to-civilian conversions. Included in our OCO funding request
    is $364 million for 4,400 sailors in training and as direct enablers
    supporting the joint force in nontraditional missions such as detainee
    operations, civil affairs, provincial reconstruction, and customs
    inspection. Our fiscal year 2010 Reserve budget request supports an end
    strength of 65,500. This includes $1.9 billion in the baseline budget
    and a fiscal year 2010 OCO funding request of $39 million. We request
    your support for the resources to meet this operational demand.
                            recruiting and retention
        Navy has been successful in attracting, recruiting, and retaining a
    diverse and technical workforce in both the officer and enlisted force.
    The fiscal year 2010 active budget of $829.2 million and Reserve budget
    of $148.8 million position us to continue that success through fiscal
    year 2010 with targeted investments in critical skill areas.
    Recruiting
        Navy has met its enlisted Active and Reserve recruiting goals for
    24 straight months through January 2009. This fiscal year, we have met
    our Active and Reserve goals each month, and our Delayed Entry Program
    is 99.5 percent full as of 1 April 2009. We are exceeding Department of
    Defense (DOD) quality standards in all recruit categories as shown in
    the following table:

        My top enlisted recruiting priorities for this fiscal year are:
        Nuclear Ratings
        During fiscal year 2008, Navy met its recruiting goals for enlisted
    nuclear ratings, achieving 100.6 percent of goal. This fiscal year we
    have met all monthly nuclear rating recruiting goals and are on track
    to achieve this year's target. We continue to rely on the enlistment
    bonus as the primary incentive to meet our nuclear accession targets.
        Special Warfare/Special Operations
        We achieved Naval Special Warfare/Special Operations aggregate and
    individual goals (Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Diver, Special Operator,
    Special Boat Crewman) for the first time in fiscal year 2008. We have
    continued that success, attaining 100 percent of all four ratings each
    month this fiscal year. We have established special recruiting programs
    and an introductory physical conditioning course in our recruit
    training center to improve our success rate at Basic Underwater
    Demolition/SEAL training. We are seeing positive results from these
    efforts.
        In fiscal year 2008, Navy attained 104 percent of AC general
    officer (Officer Candidate School) goal, which included a mission
    increase of 40 percent over the fiscal year 2007 target. Reserve
    component (RC) general officer programs also saw significant
    improvement, finishing fiscal year 2008 at 105 percent versus 51
    percent in fiscal year 2007. While we achieved overall Active and
    Reserve medical officer recruiting goals for the first time in 5 years,
    we did not reach our goals for Dental Corps officers (89 percent).

        My priorities for officer recruiting are:
        Health Professionals
        To support the increased demand for health professionals in support
    of combat operations, accession goals across all of the medical
    communities were increased in fiscal year 2009. We have implemented a
    multi-faceted approach to reach these raised goals to include:

             Increasing Critical Wartime Skills Accessions Bonus
            (CWSAB) and allowing multi-year payouts
             Increasing incentive and retention pays for critical
            healthcare specialties
             Increasing the monthly stipend for medical and dental
            Health Professions Scholarship Program recipients
             Exploring a 1-year pilot program to access qualified
            legal non-citizens
             Offering the Health Professions Loan Repayment plan
            for critical medical specialties.

        As of 1 April 2009, we have attained 63 percent of the fiscal year
    2009 Active medical officer recruiting goal and 58 percent of the
    Reserve goal.
        As demand for a professional and technically-trained workforce
    increases in the private sector, Navy must remain competitive in
    attracting and recruiting the Nation's best talent to remain responsive
    to the joint force. The fiscal year 2010 active budget requests $394
    million, which includes accession incentives, advertising, and
    recruiting support for 5,413 AC and RC recruiters at over 1,468
    stations across the country. In response to the current recruiting
    environment, the advertising budget was reduced by over $14 million,
    while growth of $7.6 million occurred in accession incentives for
    critical skills that have remained relatively insulated from current
    economic conditions, resulting in a net reduction of $6.4 million. This
    budget supports continuing efforts to implement innovative programs,
    policies, and incentives that target critical skills and maintain our
    position as an employer of choice.
        Health professionals, nuclear operators, and special warfare remain
    my recruiting priorities through this fiscal year. The budget request
    of $394 million includes $141.5 million in bonuses, special pays, and
    incentives to ensure we remain successful in meeting our overall goals
    and in particular, these critical skill areas. This amount includes
    $5.4 million in nuclear accession bonuses (officer and enlisted),
    representing an increase of $60,000 from fiscal year 2009. Overall
    enlistment bonuses will remain steady at $106 million in response to
    the current economic conditions. Additionally, the budget requests $8.6
    million for medical community bonuses, special pays, and incentives
    (including $950,000 for dentists), representing an increase of $2.7
    million from fiscal year 2009.
        The fiscal year 2010 Reserve budget requests $99.4 million for
    recruiting incentives, including $60.9 million for enlistment bonuses
    and $49.4 million for medical recruiting programs. The $49.4 million
    for medical recruiting programs includes $43.7 million for the Armed
    Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program, $4 million for the
    medical Financial Assistance Program, and $1.7 million for the Nurse
    Candidate Program. These amounts represent an $8 million decrease in
    Reserve incentives and a $10.7 million increase in medical recruiting
    programs from fiscal year 2009.
        The Active and Reserve budgets support our recruiting force in
    meeting our overall enlisted and officer goals in fiscal year 2010.
    Retention
        The comprehensive benefits provided to our servicemembers, combined
    with the current economic conditions, have resulted in higher retention
    and lower attrition.
        In fiscal year 2008, Active enlisted retention was approximately 1
    percent above projections and there were 4,221 (14 percent) fewer
    enlisted attrition losses than anticipated. These patterns have
    accelerated into this fiscal year. As shown in the table below, for
    sailors with 10 years of service, reenlistment rates are 9.9 percent
    higher than the previous 2 years. Among those sailors with 10 to 14
    years of service, we are experiencing a retention rate that is
    approximately 2.4 percent higher.

        Overall attrition, defined as sailors who are discharged prior to
    the end of their contract, has declined approximately 22 percent from
    the previous year. Specifically, we have seen declines in misconduct
    related discharges by 24 percent, medical/physical discharges by 16
    percent, and training-related discharges by 13 percent. The net effect
    is over-manning in some specialties in certain year groups. To maintain
    the force balance in terms of seniority, experience, and skills, we
    have taken, or will take, the following actions:

             Reduce fiscal year 2009 enlisted accessions by 4,000
             Decrease or eliminate Selective Reenlistment Bonus
            (SRB) levels and review all other bonus programs
             Execute ``High-Year Tenure'' milestone for the
            enlisted force of 14 years of service for those sailors who
            have not advanced beyond E-5
             Expand ``Perform-to-Serve,'' a reenlistment review
            process used in Zone A (0-6 years), to Zone B (6-10 years) and
            Zone C (10-14 years) in select overmanned ratings forcing
            conversion to undermanned specialties or separation
             Institute an annual performance-based continuation
            board for E7-E9 with over 20 years of service.
             Allow 1 year time-in-grade retirement waivers for
            select senior enlisted in pay grades E-7 to E-9.

        Though AC officer retention rates have generally increased, there
    remain select shortfalls in the control grades (O4-O6). Commander (O-5)
    and lieutenant commander (O-4) inventories are below requirements;
    though, for the first time in many years, Unrestricted Line (URL)
    captain inventory exceeds officer programmed authorizations (OPA).
    Special and incentive pays and quality of life initiatives remain the
    primary tools to reduce these shortfalls.

        Medical community loss rate trends, as shown in the following
    table, improved in fiscal year 2008 and are continuing to improve in
    fiscal year 2009. While incentives and bonuses have contributed to
    reduced loss trends, select subspecialties continue to require
    attention. These include: dentistry, clinical psychology, social work,
    psychiatry, general surgery, and perioperative nursing. Special and
    incentive pays are critical to retaining these professionals.

        We are on track to meet our fiscal year 2009 overall officer and
    enlisted retention goals, and we expect this success to continue
    through fiscal year 2010. We remain focused on retaining high-
    performing sailors in critical skill areas. Our fiscal year 2010 active
    budget requests $435.2 million, an increase of $7.9 million, to support
    targeted investments in incentives, bonuses, and special pays for both
    enlisted and officers. This request includes $170 million for new
    Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) contracts, the same level as fiscal
    year 2009.
        Additionally, this request includes $67.0 million, an increase of
    $1.5 million, for special and incentive pays to retain health
    professionals. Medical community retention continues to improve,
    largely due to competitive incentives and bonuses. However, given their
    high demand in the civilian sector, select subspecialties continue to
    require attention to enable us to meet our goals in fiscal year 2010.
    These include: dentistry, clinical psychology, social work, psychiatry,
    general surgery, and perioperative nursing.
        RC retention rates among both officer and enlisted remain high,
    while attrition rates remain at historic lows. In fiscal year 2008, and
    continuing into fiscal year 2009, RC attrition rates were approximately
    25 percent for enlisted and 15 percent for officers, contrasted with
    historical averages of approximately 29 percent and 19 percent,
    respectively. We continue to focus our efforts on retaining high-
    performing Reserve sailors, especially those in critical skill areas.
    The fiscal year 2010 Reserve budget requests $15.7 million for
    retention incentives, which include a SELRES Reenlistment Bonus and an
    Officer Retention Bonus. The SELRES Reenlistment Bonus of $12.3 million
    has decreased $1.2 million from the fiscal year 2009 amount. The
    Officer Retention Bonus of $3.4 million is new in fiscal year 2010 and
    will target our high OCO demand skillsets.
        Our budget requests will enable us to meet our retention goals and
    position us for success in future years as the economy improves. We
    will continue to monitor retention and will adjust monetary incentives,
    as necessary, to match observed retention behavior.
                            learning and development
        Education and training are strategic investments in Navy's Total
    Force, enabling us to retain our asymmetric advantage by developing a
    highly-skilled, combat-ready force to meet the demands of the Maritime
    Strategy and the joint force. In 2008, our 13 learning centers around
    the country provided exceptional training to more than 580,000 sailors
    and officers. Additionally, Navy offers several college-focused
    incentives, including tuition assistance, the Navy College Fund, and
    the Navy College Program Afloat College Education. Officers are
    afforded the opportunity to pursue advanced education through the Naval
    Postgraduate School (NPS), the Naval War College (NWC), and several
    Navy fellowship programs. For the 2008-2009 academic year, more than
    900 officers (resident and non-resident) are enrolled in NPS, including
    216 international students from 42 countries. We expect that
    approximately 500 officers will receive in-resident instruction at NWC
    in 2009.
        The Navy Credentialing Opportunities Online (COOL) program matches
    rate training and experience with civilian credentials and funds the
    costs of credentialing and licensing exams. As of the end of March
    2009, there have been more than 35 million visits to the COOL web site,
    with more than 13,000 certification exams funded and approximately
    8,500 civilian certifications attained. In 2009, COOL was nationally
    recognized with the ``Excellence in Practice'' award by the American
    Society for Training and Development.
        The fiscal year 2010 active education and training budget of $1.2
    billion represents an overall reduction of $90.3 million. A significant
    portion of this reduction ($86.9 million) comes from specialized skills
    training, primarily within our learning centers. We remain committed to
    supporting the ongoing professional development of our sailors and
    officers with high-quality education and training programs. We must
    balance existing education and training requirements with growth in
    important mission areas such as cyber warfare, missile defense, and
    anti-submarine warfare.
        Cultural, historical, and linguistic expertise and Joint
    Professional Military Education remain essential to fostering
    relationships with our global partners and enhancing our ability to
    effectively execute missions in multi-service, multi-agency, and
    multinational environments. The fiscal year 2010 Active and Reserve
    budgets support ongoing efforts to integrate Language, Regional
    Expertise, and Culture across the force.
        Navy draws its strength and innovation from the diversity of the
    Nation. Through our outreach efforts, we have observed an increase in
    Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) applications and have
    increased diverse NROTC scholarship offers by 28 percent. The NROTC
    class of 2012 is the most diverse class in history and, with your help
    through nominations, the U.S. Naval Academy class of 2012 is the
    Academy's most diverse class in history. Increasing accessibility to
    emerging talent markets will be a key determinant of our ability to
    remain effective, relevant, and competitive in an increasingly
    challenging environment.
                           sailor and family support
        Our fiscal year 2010 active budget request of $148.4 million for
    sailor and family support is an increase of $9.2 million from last
    year. This reflects our enduring commitment to support sailors and
    their families, enhance career flexibility, and improve overall life-
    work integration. Additionally, we will continue our efforts to support
    the force through a comprehensive ``continuum of care'' that addresses
    all aspects of individual, medical, physical, psychological, and family
    readiness.
    Tone of the Force
        The tone of the force is positive. We poll extensively and track
    statistics on personal and family-related indicators such as stress,
    financial health, and command climate, as well as sailor and family
    satisfaction with the Navy. The results indicate that sailors are
    satisfied with the morale of their command, leadership, education
    benefits, health care, and compensation. Despite the current economic
    situation, the majority of our sailors are not experiencing severe
    financial stress. Results of our January 2009 Financial Health Quick
    Poll reveal that 82 percent of officer and 54 percent of enlisted rate
    their personal financial situation as ``excellent'' or ``good,''
    compared to 41 percent in the U.S. population.\1\ For those who
    reported experiencing financial stress, housing-related expenses were
    the primary concern.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ October 15, 2008 Pew Research Center for the People and the
    Press Survey Report (p.2).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Suicide Prevention
        We continue our efforts at suicide prevention through a multi-
    faceted system of communication, training, and command support. Our
    approach is to foster resilience among sailors; identify and mitigate
    stress reactions that can lead to increased potential for suicide; and
    create an environment supportive of good psychological health, in which
    stress and other suicide related factors can be more openly recognized,
    discussed, and addressed.
        Suicide is the third leading cause of death in the Navy after
    accidents and natural causes. In calendar year 2008, Navy's suicide
    rate increased slightly over the previous year to 11.6 per 100,000
    sailors. This number represents a total of 41 suicides. The rates for
    accidents and natural causes per 100,000 sailors were 26.3 and 12.7,
    respectively.\2\ Since formal suicide prevention programs began in
    1998, Navy has averaged 10.7 suicides per 100,000 sailors. While
    significantly lower than the national rate of 18.8 per 100,000
    individuals,\3\ for the same age and gender demographic, we remain
    vigilant on this critical issue with a primary focus on prevention.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ Data pulled from the Defense Casualty Information Processing
    System (DCIPS).
        \3\ Data based on the Center for Disease Control's National Vital
    Statistics Report ``Deaths: Final Data for 2005.'' Normalized rate
    calculated by the Navy Health Research Command.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Navy continues to develop and enhance programs designed to improve
    the resilience of the force. We encourage sailors to seek help. We also
    focus our programs on substance abuse prevention, personal financial
    management, positive family relationships, physical readiness, and
    family support with the aim of reducing individual stress. We continue
    to work to address and minimize potential adverse effects of suicide
    risk factors and to strengthen associative protective factors through
    training, intervention, response, and reporting. We believe suicide
    prevention is an all-hands effort, spanning the continuum of our Total
    Force, from the most senior Navy leadership to our newest recruits.
    Life-Work Integration
        The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2009
    authorized 10 days of non-chargeable paternity leave for married
    servicemembers whose wives give birth to a child on or after October
    14, 2008. We are appreciative of congressional support for this
    legislation and anticipate over 15,000 sailors will benefit from this
    entitlement each year.
        The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2009 also provides Service Secretaries the
    authority to test the effectiveness of an alternative career retention
    option in fields where monetary incentives alone have not produced the
    desired retention results. We have learned that flexibility is one of
    the keys to retaining our younger sailors. In an effort to enhance
    career flexibility, Navy is piloting a Career Intermission Program,
    allowing 20 officers and 20 enlisted members annually the opportunity
    to transfer from active duty to the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) for
    up to 3 years. Participants maintain medical and dental benefits, along
    with a small stipend, in exchange for a return to service for an
    obligated amount of time. Additional initiatives we are incorporating
    into the force include telework, compressed work schedules, and a
    virtual command pilot program, which provides an opportunity for a
    small initial group of officers to fill career-enhancing positions
    while maintaining geographic stability. We believe that innovative,
    flexible career paths will provide increased retention by complementing
    monetary incentives.
    Individual Augmentation (IA)/GWOT Support Assignment (GSA) Detailing
        Significant progress has been made in filling IA requirements,
    particularly for high-demand skill sets. In many cases, using a Total
    Force approach, Navy has fulfilled these requirements with qualified
    individuals from lesser-stressed communities. This flexible response,
    coupled with effective strategic communications to the Fleet, reduced
    some of the uncertainty associated with repeat IA deployments and
    helped provide predictability and stability for sailors and their
    families while improving Navy's responsiveness to the combatant
    commanders.
        Our assignment policies are designed to minimize disruption in the
    lives of sailors and their families through assignment to IA tours
    between permanent duty stations. This approach affords sailors
    increased influence over the timing of their IA assignments, improves
    individual career management, and offers longer lead-times; thereby,
    improving sailor readiness and family preparedness for prolonged
    deployments. Initial Fleet response to GSA Detailing has been positive.
    Continuum of Care
        Navy's ``continuum of care'' is a network of services and
    caregivers that ensures sailors, whether they are healthy or become
    wounded, ill, or injured, receive the highest quality care. We
    continuously evaluate and improve policies and programs associated with
    the continuum of care to be certain they are meeting their intended
    objectives. Our continuum of care spans all aspects of individual
    medical, physical, psychological, and family readiness. Navy Safe
    Harbor, Navy's Operational Stress Control Program, the Warrior
    Transition Program, the Returning Warrior Workshop, and Deployment
    Health Assessments are critical elements of this continuum.
        Over the past year, Navy Safe Harbor has expanded its mission to
    nonmedical support for all seriously wounded, ill, and injured sailors,
    coastguardsmen, and their families, increasing its capabilities with
    the establishment of a headquarters element to support Recovery Care
    Coordinators and Non-medical Care Managers covering 15 locations. With
    these changes, Safe Harbor's enrolled population has increased from 145
    to 387. The fiscal year 2010 budget supports our continuing efforts to
    provide a lifetime of exceptional, individually tailored assistance to
    our wounded, ill, and injured, optimizing the success of their
    recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration activities.
        Recognizing the unique medical and administrative challenges faced
    by our Reserve wounded sailors when they return from deployment, we
    established two Medical Hold (MEDHOLD) Units responsible for managing
    all aspects of care for Reserve sailors in a MEDHOLD status. Colocated
    with military treatment facilities in Norfolk and San Diego, these
    units are led by line officers with senior medical officers supporting
    them for medical issues. Under their leadership, case managers serve as
    advocates who proactively handle each sailor's individualized plan of
    care until all medical and non-medical issues are resolved. Through
    this centralized process, we have reduced the numbers of sailors in the
    MEDHOLD process and the length of time required to resolve their cases.
    The RC MEDHOLD program has become the single, overarching program for
    providing prompt, appropriate care for our Reserve wounded sailors.
    Additionally, the Psychological Health Outreach program, implemented in
    July 2008, targets RC sailors returning from deployment who face unique
    reintegration challenges which can exacerbate deployment-related
    psychological injuries. The program serves as a ``safety net'' for RC
    sailors and their families who are at risk for not having their stress
    injuries identified and treated in an expeditious manner.
        Navy's Operational Stress Control (OSC) program provides a
    comprehensive approach designed to address the psychological health
    needs of sailors and their families throughout a career. It is a
    program that is supported by Navy Medicine and promotes psychological
    health while reducing the stigma associated with requesting help. To
    date, Basic OSC Awareness Training has been provided to over 16,000
    sailors at various locations across the country. The fiscal year 2010
    active budget supports efforts to fully institutionalize the OSC
    program, including the development and delivery of formal curriculum at
    key nodes of training throughout the career of a sailor, from accession
    to flag officer.
        The Warrior Transition Program (WTP) was established in Kuwait and
    provides a place and time for individual augmentees (IA) to decompress
    and transition from a war zone to life back home. The WTP includes
    small group discussion facilitated by accredited professionals and
    focuses on combat and operational stress, gear return, and fleet and
    family support center briefings. Trained providers include two
    chaplains and two psychiatric registered nurses. Since January 2008,
    417 workshops with over 8,500 returning IAs have taken place.
    Additional Mobile Care Teams are being developed to deploy to Iraq and
    Afghanistan to provide a means of reaching out to IAs during mid-tour.
        The Returning Warrior Workshop (RWW) is a vital reintegration event
    that provides support for both Active and Reserve sailors and their
    families. The RWW is designed to identify problems, encourage members
    to talk about their experiences, direct family members to resources,
    improve the mobilization/demobilization process, and honor the
    sacrifices of sailors and their families. The RWW is an important first
    step in the demobilization and reintegration process for the Total
    Force and their families. Since January 2007, over 1,500 servicemembers
    and 1,000 family members have attended one of 22 RWWs throughout the
    country. An additional 28 RWWs are scheduled through July 2010.
        In addition to these programs, we have been aggressively monitoring
    compliance with the new Deployment Health Assessment (DHA). DHA is a
    DOD-mandated instrument used to screen sailors prior to deployment and
    to identify health concerns after deployment with Post-Deployment
    Health Assessments (PDHA) and Re-assessments (PDHRA). We have enhanced
    policy oversight on DHA to include monthly reports to Navy leadership
    and a Navy-wide review of records to validate compliance is underway.
                                   conclusion
        Our mission remains to attract, recruit, develop, assign, and
    retain a highly-skilled workforce for the Navy. We continue to:

             Align the personal and professional goals of our
            workforce with the needs of the joint force, while ensuring the
            welfare of our sailors and their families
             Deliver a high-performing, competency-based, and
            mission-focused force to meet the full spectrum of Joint
            operations
             Provide the right person with the right skills at the
            right time at the best value to the joint force.

        Our fiscal year 2010 Active and Reserve budget requests support the
    critical programs that will ensure continued success in delivering the
    human component of the Maritime Strategy and key capabilities for the
    joint force. On behalf of all the men and women in uniform who
    sacrifice daily and their families who faithfully support them, I want
    to extend my sincere appreciation for your unwavering support for our
    United States Navy. Thank you.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Admiral.
        General Newton?

    STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. RICHARD Y. NEWTON III, USAF, DEPUTY CHIEF
      OF STAFF FOR MANPOWER AND PERSONNEL, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

        General Newton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
    Graham and distinguished members of the committee.
        I also want to thank you for this opportunity to discuss
    our efforts as they relate to the fiscal year 2010 budget to
    ensure we attract, recruit, develop, and retain a high-quality
    and diverse fighting force.
        Airmen are the focal point for providing the critical
    capabilities that the Air Force contributes to winning today's
    fight. While the Air Force has innovative technologies and
    equipment, it is the hard work of our dedicated men and women
    in uniform and our civilians that underscores our success.
        Without a doubt, the tremendous talent of our total force
    airmen and civilians is the backbone of the United States Air
    Force, and our budget proposal recognizes that fact. These
    dedicated volunteer servants are our most important asset.
    Without them, our organizations and equipment simply would not
    function. Our operations would grind to a halt.
        Therefore, we must ensure we have the proper end strength
    to meet current, new, and emerging missions. For fiscal year
    2010, our Active Duty end strength will be 331,700 airmen, with
    69,500 airmen in the Air Force Reserve and 106,700 airmen in
    the Air National Guard. This stops previously planned total
    force end strength reductions.
        We will also grow our civilian population to a little over
    179,000, which includes 4,200 contractor-to-civilian
    conversions. Simultaneously, we will continue to reshape the
    skill sets of our workforce, with particular emphasis on
    stressed career fields and mission areas that need our
    attention, such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance,
    aircraft maintenance, acquisition, cyber operations, and
    nuclear deterrence operations and sustainment. For instance, in
    fiscal year 2010, our manpower investment includes increasing
    our nuclear-related personnel by 2,500 and adding 200
    acquisition professionals.
        The growth in end strength goes hand-in-hand with an
    increase in our recruiting efforts, and it goes beyond just
    finding the right numbers. We must also ensure that the right
    quality and the right skills are present in potential
    candidates. Despite the weak economy, we expect fiscal year
    2010 to be a critical retention environment for several
    reasons--an increased need to retain specific skill sets in
    certain specialties, previous end strength decreases and
    corresponding decreases in accessions, increased operational
    demands in new and emerging missions.
        Our commitment includes continued support for special pay
    and allowances to address recruiting and retention concerns in
    our health professional skills and our most critical
    warfighting skills, such as pararescue, combat control,
    tactical air control party, and explosive ordnance disposal.
        Finally, we are committed to taking care of airmen and
    their families, including our wounded warriors to whom we have
    a never-ending obligation. Over the past year, we have tackled
    important issues for Air Force families, such as expanding
    childcare capacity, increasing childcare support for our Guard
    and Reserve families, improving financial readiness, and
    providing opportunities for children of airmen, whether they
    reside on military installations or in our civilian communities
    throughout the United States.
        The Air Force is leaning forward to be all-in. Your
    continued support of our initiatives to attract, develop, and
    sustain talented and diverse airmen and their families is
    mission essential and is most appreciated. Our efforts to
    effectively manage end strength, to recruit and retain, to
    train, develop, and care for airmen and their families will
    enable our Air Force to continue to fly, fight, and win in air,
    space, and cyberspace.
        Thank you for your unfailing support to the men and women
    and the families of our Air Force, and I look forward to your
    questions.
        [The prepared statement of General Newton follows:]
           Prepared Statement by Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, USAF
                                  introduction
        Today's strategic environment features a complex landscape of
    global actors and events that have far reaching implications. Within
    this landscape, our Air Force is answering those challenges and
    opportunities through our ability to think and act globally; providing
    unrivaled global positioning, navigation and timing through advanced
    space infrastructure; streaming video of the battleground to troops on
    the ground through intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
    assets; and, many more capabilities as part of the joint team. Airmen
    are our focal point for providing the critical capabilities that the
    Air Force contributes for winning today's fight. While the Air Force
    has innovative technologies and equipment, it is the hard work of our
    dedicated men and women in uniform and civilians that underscores our
    success.
        The Air Force is focused on five priorities: reinvigorating the Air
    Force nuclear enterprise; partnering with the joint and coalition teams
    to win today's fight; developing and caring for airmen and their
    families; modernizing our air and space inventories, organizations, and
    training; and recapturing acquisition excellence. Airmen are
    prominently featured in each priority; our proposed end strength,
    recruiting and retention efforts, force development, initiatives to
    care for airmen and their families; and strategic roadmap is focused
    toward these priorities. Our airmen are critical to mission success.
                                  end strength
        In the fiscal year 2010 President's budget, our programmed Active
    Duty end strength is 331,700 starting in fiscal year 2010 and
    increasing to 332,800 from fiscal year 2012 through fiscal year 2015.
    Our programmed civilian end strength is 179,152 starting in fiscal year
    2010, growing to 193,840 by fiscal year 2015. Programmed Air Force
    Reserve end strength is 69,500 in fiscal year 2010, increasing to
    72,100 in fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2015, while Air National
    Guard end strength is 106,700 in fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year
    2015. Increases in Air Force Active Duty, civilian and Reserve end
    strength are due to both new and emerging missions, as well as the need
    to robust existing missions.
        In the fiscal year 2010 President's budget, the Air Force funded
    2,500 military positions to establish an Air Force Global Strike
    Command and support Nuclear Enterprise capabilities, as well as 400
    military positions to establish a Cyber Numbered Air Force. We also
    funded 1,000 military positions to operate Project Liberty and 600
    military and civilian positions starting in fiscal year 2010,
    increasing to 1,000 positions by fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year
    2015 to support enhanced Irregular Warfare capabilities. To support new
    and emerging missions for Air Force Special Operations Command, Air
    Force funded 500 military positions starting in fiscal year 2010,
    growing to 2,200 by fiscal year 2015. To increase MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9
    Reaper, and Distributed Common Ground Systems operational capability to
    50 Combat Air Patrols, we funded 4,100 military positions. The fiscal
    year 2010 budget also funds 2,700 military positions to support
    aircraft maintenance capability. In efforts to achieve Acquisition
    Excellence, we funded 500 military and civilian positions starting in
    fiscal year 2010, increasing to 2,100 positions by fiscal year 2013
    through fiscal year 2015. The Air Force increased Defense Health
    Program military positions by 1,700 starting in fiscal year 2010,
    growing to 2,800 positions by fiscal year 2012 through fiscal year 2015
    to reverse planned medical service military-to-civilian conversions.
    Additionally, we funded 1,200 civilian administrators for Squadron
    Commanders' Support Staff. Finally, the fiscal year 2010 budget
    includes 2,500 civilian positions starting in fiscal year 2010,
    increasing to approximately 14,000 positions from fiscal year 2013
    through fiscal year 2015 to conduct contractor-to-civilian in-sourcing.

                                   recruiting
        The growth in end strength goes hand-in-hand with an increase in
    our recruiting efforts . . . and it goes beyond finding the right
    numbers. We must also ensure the right quality and right skills are
    present in potential candidates so they can effectively perform and
    support the Air Force's diverse and essential missions.
        One factor that can positively or negatively impact recruiting is
    the economy. Although the worsening economy has increased the number of
    walk-in prospects, there continues to be a national decline in the
    quality of the target demographic. Today, only 27 percent of the
    American youth population between the ages of 17 and 24 are qualified
    for military Service (Woods & Pooles, 2006). Consequentially, we must
    apply a rigorous selection criteria to potential recruits in order to
    effectively match future airman skills and attributes with our
    essential combat requirements.
        Our recruiting force continues to achieve the enlisted accession
    mission admirably despite the challenges which include increasing the
    number of recruits, the decline in eligible population, and a decline
    in the number of recruiters and recruiting resources. Since 2000, the
    Air Force enlisted 288,583 airmen towards a goal of 285,059 for 101
    percent mission accomplishment. To date in fiscal year 2009, we are on
    track to meeting our Total Force (Active, Guard, and Reserve) enlisted
    accession goals.
        The Air Force Recruiting Service has also had 100 percent success
    at filling every enlisted recruit requirement for physically demanding
    and highly skilled ``hard-to-fill'' jobs since 2001. Congressional
    assistance, coupled with recruiters' hard work, allowed us to continue
    to meet all requirements for Combat Controller; Para-rescue; Tactical
    Air Control Party; Explosive Ordnance Disposal; Security Forces;
    Linguist; and Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape instructors.
    Recruits who choose to enter these career fields are offered an Initial
    Enlistment Bonus ranging from $2,000 to $13,000, depending on the
    career specialty and term of enlistment. These are the only fields
    offering enlistment bonuses for fiscal year 2009.
        We achieved mission goals in our line officer accession programs,
    but we continue to struggle in the area of health professions. For
    fiscal year 2009, the line officer active-duty requirement is 3,459,
    which we are on track to achieve. In the health professions, we
    recruited 15 doctors for fiscal year 2009 (12.7 percent of
    requirement), 14 dentists (66.7 percent), 136 nurses (49.5 percent), 65
    biomedical scientists (19 percent), and 35 medical administrators (100
    percent). Considerable challenges exist for attracting candidates from
    the private sector. Therefore, we've implemented a long-term ``grow our
    own'' strategy by offering more medical school scholarships in student-
    based markets. We have 449 available scholarships with 203 are already
    committed (45.2 percent). With Spring medical school acceptance letters
    yet to be released from most institutions, we are on target for this
    year.
                                   retention
        We are also on track toward meeting our priorities because we
    continue to invest in retaining the high caliber men and women who we
    recruited, trained, and developed. While the Active Duty enlisted
    retention rate finished below our fiscal year 2008 goal, we achieved
    success in all other sectors of retention, meeting or exceeding
    aggregate retention goals in our Active Duty officer corps and in our
    Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Forces. This positive trend
    has continued into fiscal year 2009. At the end of the second quarter,
    all components were trending to meet or exceed goals. However, this
    slight upward trend masks retention concerns with some of our stressed
    specialties that continue to experience significant shortfalls. We will
    continue to rely heavily on bonuses and quality of life initiatives to
    resolve these shortages.
        While retention is strong among the officer corps, we continue to
    monitor specific areas of concern among the Health Professionals,
    Control & Recovery, and Contracting fields, and have implemented action
    plans to meet retention goals. An additional $65 million in medical
    bonuses (targeted to physicians, nurses, dentists and biomedical
    specialists) and a new Control & Recovery Critical Skills Retention
    Bonus (CSRB) was approved to address fiscal year 2009 challenges. A
    similar CSRB for contracting officers is in coordination.
        The Air Force's ability to retain experienced healthcare personnel
    past their initial commitment has declined, compounding our recruiting
    challenges. Retention at the 10-year point is 27 percent for
    physicians, 40 percent for dentists, 31 percent for nurses, 33 percent
    for biomedical sciences officers and 64 percent for administrators. Air
    Force continues to develop accession and retention incentives to ensure
    the right mix of health professionals.
        After finishing below fiscal year 2008 goals for the enlisted
    force, we began showing positive retention trends across all three
    zones. We are, however, still slightly below goal in Zones A (17 months
    through 6 years of service (YOS)) and C (10 through 14 YOS). The
    Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) continues to be our most effective
    monetary retention tool, an avenue made possible by the strong support
    of Congress. SRB funding budgeted for fiscal year 2009 and requested
    for inclusion in fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2015 budgets is
    sufficient to address current retention concerns, and grade and skill
    imbalances. Through that funding, the Air Force is well-positioned to
    meet fiscal year 2009 retention goals and ensure we retain the right
    airmen, with the right skills, at the right time to meet our
    expeditionary requirements.
                               force development
        The Air Force's commitment to developing our people is an important
    non-monetary retention tool that pays dividends not only for airmen,
    but for the Air Force's ability to manage its Human Capital and meet
    the needs of the Joint environment. Force Development (FD) has evolved
    from a concept, to the way we grow airmen using a set of educational,
    training, and experiential development tools.
        Our newest efforts have been to establish processes for continually
    ensuring FD meets current and future mission requirements. This year,
    we chartered FD panels, comprised of senior leaders, to review our
    developmental processes to ensure they describe requirements, align
    programs, and link investments with outcomes. We also established two
    panels to synchronize force development: the Air Force Learning
    Committee and Expeditionary Skills Senior Review Group. These groups
    serve as forums to vet potential changes to our institutional
    development programs, such as the requirement to increase nuclear
    content within professional military education forums.
        We are working to holistically review officer, enlisted and
    civilian developmental education programs to ensure a logical,
    efficient and effective continuum to build Air Force, Joint leaders now
    and for the future. Specifically, we're focused on invigorating Air
    Force mission areas such as cyber, nuclear and acquisitions through
    institutional education programs such as professional military
    education, fellowships, internships and advanced academic degrees.
        Finally, we recognize our Total Force airmen must be cross-
    culturally competent and capable of employing cultural, regional,
    foreign language, and negotiation skills sets anywhere in the world. To
    this end, the CSAF recently approved the Culture, Region, and Language
    Flight Plan, providing a framework to expand and employ cross-cultural
    capacity within the Air Force.
                               caring for airmen
        Airmen can focus on the mission when they have positive ways to
    rejuvenate from stress and know their families are safe and secure. We
    are indeed committed to taking care of airmen and their families.
        We have a solemn obligation to provide care and assistance for
    seriously wounded, injured, or ill airmen. The Air Force Mortuary
    Affairs Operation at Dover Air Force Base was activated as part of our
    expanded Warrior and Survivor Care program. This organization combines
    all Air Force Services Agency mortuary capabilities with Dover Port
    Mortuary to enhance shared expertise and information and provide
    effective and efficient services to families of our fallen members.
        The Family Liaison Officers extend support to families of the
    fallen and combat-wounded airmen, as well as to families of all
    seriously-injured airmen who are receiving medical treatment away from
    their home unit. Family liaison officers provide a wide variety of
    assistance including local transportation, lodging arrangements,
    assistance with benefits, and referral to various agencies available to
    assist wounded, ill, and injured members, their families, and families
    of the fallen.
        Last year, we began the Air Force Recovery Care Coordinator program
    to be the single point of contact to assist seriously injured, ill, and
    wounded airmen through the nonclinical aspects of their recovery. Our
    Recovery Care Coordinators work directly with hospitalized airmen to
    develop individualized recovery plans that contain goals and a record
    of nonclinical assistance provided to our airmen.
        Our Air Force Wounded Warrior Program staff keeps in contact with
    our medically-retired wounded airmen for a minimum of 5 years and
    provides a wide-range of assistance, including employment and benefits
    counseling and referral to a variety of agencies designed to assist
    wounded veterans. New Air Force policies offer opportunities for them
    to regain a career path with the Air Force, compete for promotions, and
    receive priority retraining opportunities if they are no longer
    qualified in their Air Force Specialty Code. For wounded airmen with
    disability ratings of 30 percent or greater and who elect medical
    retirement or can no longer stay because of their wounds, the Air Force
    will facilitate offers of civil service positions.
                              caring for families
        Air Force families lead challenging lives that include multiple
    deployments and frequent relocations, in addition to normal life
    stressors. Readily available, quality and affordable child care and
    youth programs continue to be a workforce issue with direct impact on
    mission readiness.
        Over the past year, we tackled important issues for Air Force
    families, including expanding child care capacity, increasing child
    care support for Guard and Reserve families, improving financial
    readiness, and providing opportunities for children of airmen whether
    they reside on military installations or in civilian communities
    throughout the United States.
        We continued to increase available, affordable, quality child care
    spaces for airmen. Thanks to the temporary legislative authority for
    child care projects, the ``Growing Child Care Spaces'' initiative
    funded 18 minor construction projects to increase available child care
    by 1,242 spaces. Seven additional Military Construction projects were
    approved, which will further increase child care spaces by 1,718. We
    funded 7 additional facilities through the economic stimulus package
    and will produce 836 more spaces as a result. When all funded
    construction is complete, our known child care space deficit will be
    eliminated. Our next challenge will be to renovate or replace the aging
    infrastructure at child development and youth centers.
        The Air Force leans forward to assist airmen who need additional
    child care during changing shifts or extended duty days. The Air Force
    Expanded Child Care program provides 16,000 hours of child care each
    month during nontraditional hours at no cost to the military member.
        During 2008, we expanded the Air Force Home Community Care program
    to provide free in-home quality child care during scheduled drill
    weekends, which reduced out-of-pocket expenses for Air Reserve and Air
    National Guard members. This program offers the same level of quality
    child care as is available on military installations. The program
    includes 43 participating family child care homes in 36 locations
    typically isolated from active duty bases.
                             strategic initiatives
        There are several strategic initiatives on the horizon to increase
    the Air Force's ability to develop and care for airmen and provide
    increased fiscal stewardship. We are completing a comprehensive review
    of our Voluntary Education Program, includes Military Tuition
    Assistance (Mil TA) policy, to ensure we have a strategic vision that
    links voluntary education with the Air Force's overarching Force
    Development (FD) construct. We are partnering with the Office of the
    Secretary of Defense and other Services to ensure Mil TA policy is
    consistently applied, ultimately ensuring appropriate stewardship of
    limited Mil TA funds.
        We are leveraging information technology to enhance and standardize
    Air Force-wide Force Development. Our ``next big thing'' is to ensure
    our information technology (IT) tools continuously assess and close the
    gap between today's, and tomorrow's, human capital inventory and our
    mission requirements. We owe airmen, supervisors, mentors, career field
    managers, and development teams an integrated suite of FD IT tools that
    provides them with actionable information. In place of static career
    pyramids or planning diagrams, we are moving towards a dynamic, web-
    based career path tool. Online forums for mentoring and sharing career
    field updates are gaining momentum, and officer and civilian modules
    are already in development. Our officer development teams are using
    more precise tools for vectoring and making school selections.
        We recently completed a groundbreaking research project to measure
    performance of services-specific programs and activities and gain
    insight into how airmen define quality of life and their perceptions
    regarding overall wellness as it relates to their jobs, compensation,
    family, and leisure activities. While the research findings confirmed
    we are doing a good job of taking care of airmen, the food service
    programs were considered our weakest area. This validated our earlier
    selection of food service transformation as an important strategic
    initiative, which will take advantage of cutting-edge models of leading
    college, university, and corporate campuses to improve food quality,
    variety, and nutritious value; increase efficiency; maintain our
    organic warfighting food service capability; and save money.
                                   conclusion
        The Air Force is leaning forward and focused on our top five
    priorities. Airmen are critical to successful operations at home-
    station and in executing joint and coalition missions around the world.
    Congress' continued support of our initiatives to attract, develop and
    sustain talented and diverse airmen and their families is mission-
    essential. Our efforts to effectively manage end strength, and to
    recruit and retain, train, develop and care for airmen and their
    families will enable our Air Force to ``fly, fight, and win . .  in
    air, space, and cyberspace.'' We greatly appreciate your unfailing
    support to the men and women of our great Air Force.
        Thank you. I look forward to your questions.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
        General Coleman?

         STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. RONALD S. COLEMAN, USMC, DEPUTY
      COMMANDANT FOR MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES
                              MARINE CORPS

        General Coleman. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham,
    distinguished members of the committee, it is a privilege to
    appear before you today to discuss Marine Corps personnel.
        Mr. Chairman, I would like to personally thank you for your
    very kind words about me and my military service. I would also
    like to say it has been a privilege and an honor to serve this
    country in uniform for over 41 years.
        I would like to make a few key points. First, in regard to
    our end strength growth, the Marine Corps is now building on
    our success in fiscal year 2008, and we will reach our 202,000
    goal this fiscal year, 2 years ahead of schedule. We owe this
    success in large part to our recruiters, who continue to meet
    all accession goals while maintaining the highest quality
    standards.
        Thank you for your continued support of our enlistment
    incentives, which help make this achievement possible.
        Second, our Active component retention continues to be
    successful. In fiscal year 2008, first-term retention was an
    unprecedented 36 percent. We are building on that success in
    fiscal year 2009, having already achieved our fiscal year
    mission.
        We thank you for your support of our selective reenlistment
    bonus program. It will remain the foundation of retention
    efforts as we move from growing our force to shaping it so that
    we maintain vital Marine Corps leadership and critical skills.
        Third, I want to reiterate that a top priority of the
    Commandant of the Marine Corps is care for our wounded marines
    and for the families of all our marines. Our wounded warrior
    regiment is diligently at work implementing a comprehensive
    approach to wounded warrior care, which makes thriving, not
    just surviving, the expectation of our wounded marines.
        Likewise, our family readiness programs have undergone a
    host of significant improvements, which continue to this day.
    They are made possible in large part due to the generous
    funding you have provided.
        In closing, I want to thank you and the other Members of
    Congress for your support and partnership. They have been
    central to the strength that your Marine Corps enjoys today.
    They will continue to be essential as we work to shape the
    Marine Corps for the future so that we will always remain the
    most ready when the Nation is least ready.
        I look forward to answering your questions.
        [The prepared statement of General Coleman follows:]
             Prepared Statement by Lt. Gen. Ronald S. Coleman, USMC
        Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and distinguished members of the
    subcommittee, it is my privilege to appear before you today to provide
    an overview on Marine Corps personnel.
                                  introduction
        We remain a Corps of Marines at war with over 25,000 marines
    deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation
    Enduring Freedom (OEF). The young men and women who fill our ranks
    today recognize the global, protracted, and lethal nature of the
    challenges facing our Nation, and their dedicated service and sacrifice
    rival that of any generation preceding them. The individual marine is
    our Corps' most sacred resource.
        Over the past several years, sustained deployments in Iraq,
    Afghanistan, and across the globe have kept many marines in the
    operating forces deployed as much as they have been home. They have
    shouldered our Nation's burden and done so with amazing resiliency.
    Marines understand what is required of the Nation's elite warrior
    class--to stand up and be counted when the Nation needs them the most.
    For this, we owe them our unending gratitude.
        Marines and their families know that their sacrifices are making a
    difference, that they are part of something much larger than
    themselves, and that their Nation stands behind them. Thanks to your
    continued support, your marines will stay resolved to fight and defeat
    any foe today or in the future.
                                ii. end strength
    Active Component End Strength
        The Marine Corps grew by over 12,000 marines in fiscal year 2008
    and currently stands at over 201,000. We are on pace to reach an active
    duty end strength of 202,000 by the end of fiscal year 2009--2 years
    ahead of schedule. This historic growth can be attributed to three
    factors: quality recruiting, historic retention levels, and reduced
    attrition. Based on building a robust Delayed Entry Pool Program, we
    expect these trends to continue into fiscal year 2010 allowing us to
    sustain a 202,000 end strength. While the state of the Nation's economy
    is a concern for all of us, we expect that it will positively impact
    both recruiting and retention this year.
        We have met our fiscal year 2009 aggregate goals for both First
    Term and Career reenlistments and will meet our accession mission.
    Attrition levels are projected to remain at or below fiscal year 2008
    rates. Sustaining the 202,000 end strength will enable your Corps to
    train to the full spectrum of military operations and improve our
    ability to address future challenges. This end strength will also
    enable us to increase the dwell time of our marines so that they are
    able to operate at a ``sustained rate of fire.'' Our goal is to achieve
    a 1:2 deployment-to-dwell ratio for all of our Active Forces--for every
    7 months a marine is deployed, he or she will be back at home station
    for 14 months.
    Funding
        The Marine Corps greatly appreciates the increase in authorized end
    strength to 194,000 passed in the National Defense Authorization Act
    for Fiscal Year 2009. In fiscal year 2009, we are funding the end
    strength in excess of 194,000 through supplemental appropriations. The
    vast majority of our personnel budget is spent on entitlements
    including compensation, which is a double-edged sword.
        Compensation is a principal factor for marines when deciding
    whether to reenlist. Private sector competition will always seek to
    capitalize on the military training and education provided to our
    marines. Marines are a highly desirable labor resource for private
    sector organizations. Competitive and flexible compensation authorities
    aid the Marine Corps in targeting specific areas and provide the
    capability to access, retain, and separate as needed. Your support for
    our Enlistment Bonus and Selective Reenlistment Bonus programs has made
    a difference and will continue to be a key to sustaining our end
    strength and ensuring the right mix, right grades, and overall
    effectiveness of our Total Force. We appreciate the continued support
    of Congress in the creation of flexible compensation authorities that
    allow the Marine Corps to shape your Corps for the 21st century.
    Reserve Component End Strength
        Our Reserves continue to make essential contributions to our Total
    Force efforts in Overseas Contingency Operations, particularly in Iraq
    and Afghanistan.
        As we accelerated our build to 202,000 Active component marines
    during the past fiscal years, we understood that we would take some
    risk with regard to obtaining our Reserve component end strength of
    39,600. The result has been that the Marine Corps Reserve has seen a
    continued decline in end strength since fiscal year 2007 when we were
    1,044 (2.6 percent) below our authorized end strength. That same year,
    in keeping with our strategic perspective regarding the role of the
    Reserves, we deliberately targeted 883 experienced and combat-tested
    marines to return to the Active component in support of the 202,000
    plan. In fiscal year 2008, another 872 Reserve marines returned to the
    Active component, contributing to a shortfall of 2,077 (5.2 percent)
    below our authorization. In fiscal year 2009, another 197 have returned
    or are pending return to active duty and we are predicting an end
    strength of 36,986 (6.6 percent below authorization).
        However, we have now refocused our recruiting and retention efforts
    toward achieving our authorized Reserve component end strength. These
    efforts include increasing our Reserve Non-Prior service recruiting
    mission, lowering our attrition, doubling our incentives budget from
    $12 million to $24 million, and expanding the population eligible to
    receive incentives. I am confident that these efforts will set us on
    the right course to recover our authorized end strength of 39,600. We
    believe that number is appropriate and provides us with the marines we
    require to support the force and achieve our goal of 1:5 deployment-to-
    dwell ratio. The bonus and incentives provided by Congress,
    specifically the authorization to reimburse travel expenses to select
    members attending drill, will be key tools in helping achieve this
    goal.
                                iii. recruiting
        Our recruiters continue to make their recruiting goals in all areas
    in support of our Total Force recruiting mission. Our focus in fiscal
    year 2009 will be to continue to recruit quality men and women with the
    right character, commitment, and drive into our Corps. To meet the
    challenges in today's recruiting environment, it is imperative that we
    maintain our high standards both for our recruiters and those who
    volunteer to serve in our Corps. The Corps must continue to be
    comprised of the best and brightest of America's youth. We must also
    remain mindful that the Marine Corps needs to reflect the face of the
    Nation and be representative of those we serve. Our image of a smart,
    tough, elite warrior continues to resonate with young people seeking to
    become marines.
        The Marine Corps is unique in that all recruiting efforts (officer,
    enlisted, regular, Reserve, and prior-service) fall under the direction
    of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Operationally, this provides us
    with tremendous flexibility and unity of command in order to annually
    meet our objectives. In fiscal year 2008, the Marine Corps achieved 100
    percent of the enlisted (regular and Reserve) ship mission
    (accessions). In terms of quality, Marine Corps Recruiting Command
    accessed over 96 percent Tier 1 high school diploma graduates and over
    66 percent in the upper Mental Groups of I-IIIAs. In short, we
    accomplished our recruiting mission, achieved the Commandant's quality
    standards, and exceeded Department of Defense quality standards.
        In fiscal year 2009, the Total Force accessions mission is 39,296
    and, as of 1 May 2009, we have shipped (accessed) 19,094 applicants,
    representing over 104 percent of our Total Force mission fiscal year to
    date. Although recruiting is highly dynamic and fluid, we expect to
    meet our annual recruiting mission this fiscal year, to include all
    quality goals. Additionally, we continue to exceed our contracting
    goals for this fiscal year which ensures we have a population of
    qualified individuals ready to ship to recruit training as we enter
    fiscal year 2010. Achieving this success, as always, is dependent on
    your support for our enlistment incentives. We thank you for this
    support both now and in the future.
        Our Officer Selection Teams were also successful in fiscal year
    2008, accessing 1,900 second lieutenants for 100 percent of their
    assigned mission. In fiscal year 2009, we are experiencing great
    success in our efforts to attract officer candidates and commission
    second lieutenants commensurate with our end strength requirements.
        For the Reserve component, the Marine Corps achieved its fiscal
    year 2008 Reserve enlisted recruiting goals with the accession of 4,235
    non-prior Service marines and 4,501 prior Service marines. As of 1 May
    2009, we have accessed 2,696 non-prior Service and 1,901 enlisted prior
    Service marines, which reflects 60 percent of our annual enlisted
    mission. Again, we expect to meet our Reserve recruiting goals this
    year.
        Officer recruiting for our Selected Marine Corps Reserve units is
    traditionally our greatest challenge. To date, the Officer Candidate
    Course--Reserve has proven to be the most successful of our Reserve
    officer recruiting programs, specifically focusing on ground-related
    billets tied to the Force Generation Model. Under this program,
    individuals attend Officer Candidates School, The Basic School, a
    Military Occupational Specialty school, and return to a Reserve unit to
    serve. We commissioned 56 second lieutenants in the Reserve in fiscal
    year 2008, and we anticipate commissioning between 50 and 75 more this
    fiscal year.
                                 iv. retention
        Retention complements recruiting as one of the vital elements of
    building and sustaining the Marine Corps. For enlisted retention, we
    seek to retain the best and brightest marines in both our First Term
    and Career Force to provide the proven technical skills, experience,
    and noncommissioned officer and staff noncommissioned officer
    leadership needed to meet our demanding mission. In fiscal year 2008,
    the Marine Corps reenlisted 16,696 marines including an unprecedented
    8,243 first-term marines. This achievement represented the highest
    retention rate ever, almost 36 percent, among the eligible first term
    population compared to 31 percent in fiscal year 2007 and 22 percent in
    fiscal year 2006. Similarly, the Marine Corps achieved a remarkable 77
    percent retention rate among the eligible career force compared with 70
    percent in fiscal year 2007 and 65 percent in fiscal year 2006. This
    achievement contributed to exceeding the annual milestone in our end
    strength increase plan while maintaining all quality standards.
        For fiscal year 2009, retention achievement remains exceptionally
    strong. As of 5 May 2009, we have achieved 7,657 First Term Alignment
    Plan reenlistments, 104.4 percent of the 7,334 goal. Equally
    impressive, we have achieved 7,538 Subsequent Term Alignment Plan
    reenlistments, 101 percent of the 7,464 goal. Altogether, we have
    achieved 15,195 total reenlistments, or nearly 103 percent of the
    combined goals. Our continuing retention success remains largely
    attributable to two important, enduring themes. First, marines are
    truly motivated to ``stay Marine'' because they are doing what they
    signed up to do--fighting for and protecting our Nation. Second, they
    understand our service culture is one that rewards proven performance
    and takes care of its own.
        In regard to the Reserves, officer retention is above historical
    norms. Enlisted retention, however, remains below historical norms in
    part due to the priority of building an Active component end strength
    of 202,000. For fiscal year 2009, we foresee continued higher retention
    in the Active component, which will impact the number of marines
    transitioning into the Reserves. However, as stated above, we are no
    longer making a concerted effort to draw personnel from the Reserves to
    increase our Active Forces and are refocusing our efforts on increasing
    Reserve end strength.
                            v. marine corps reserve
        With the achievement of the 202,000 Active-Duty Force, we will
    refocus our recruiting and retention efforts toward achieving our
    authorized Reserve component end strength. One of the key recruiting
    elements and a focus is our Reserve junior officers and meeting our
    company grade officer shortfalls. As previously noted, the Officer
    Candidate Course--Reserve has proven to be the most successful of our
    Reserve officer recruiting programs. Our continued success in this area
    is a notable enhancement to the continuum of service for us and
    furthers the operational nature of our Reserve Forces.
        The departments within Headquarters, Marine Corps continue to work
    with the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy
    to develop implementation plans on the recommendations from the report
    of the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. We were
    represented in all working groups reporting to the Commission's
    Steering Committee and have participated in all aspects of developing
    the Department of Defense response to the recommendations. We believe
    the spirit and intent of the Commission was very helpful in identifying
    avenues to strengthen and improve the Total Force.
                              vi. civilian marines
        Civilian marines continue to provide an invaluable service to the
    Corps as an integral component of our Total Force. With a population of
    over 33,000 appropriated and non-appropriated funded employees and
    foreign nationals, civilian marines work in true partnership with the
    active duty and play an important role in supporting the mission of the
    Marine Corps and Overseas Contingency Operations. Our vision for the
    future not only defines what the Marine Corps will offer to, but what
    it expects from, our civilian marines. The Marine Corps is committed to
    improving their leadership skills and opportunities for training and
    education.
        Civilian employees are afforded the opportunity to advance their
    career development through centrally-managed programs administered
    through Headquarters, United States Marine Corps. For example, the
    Marine Corps Acculturation Program provides our civilians with the
    opportunity to understand their roles in supporting the mission of the
    Marine Corps--specifically, learning the Marine Corps' culture and
    history while also concentrating on the strategic mission of local
    commands. The Civilian Marine Mentoring Program is part of the Civilian
    Career and Leadership Development program, which helps transform our
    civilian workforce to face the challenges of the future. A web-based
    Civilian Workforce Development Application was designed to assist the
    Marine Corps with managing our civilian workforce development
    activities.
        The marine has implemented the National Security Personnel System
    along with other Department of Defense and Department of Navy agencies.
    Since January 2007, the Marine Corps has converted 6,400 employees to
    the National Security Personnel System across all Marine Corps
    organizations including overseas and field activities. Through this new
    pay-for-performance system, employees are able to align job objectives
    to mission. Ongoing performance feedback, both formal and informal, is
    an important component of the system and is essential to increase
    employee engagement and foster a high performance culture.
                          vii. information technology
        Ensuring accurate, timely pay is supported by our continued efforts
    to transform our manpower processes by leveraging the benefits of the
    Marine Corps Total Force System (MCTFS), the Department of Defense's
    only fully integrated personnel, pay, and manpower system. MCTFS
    seamlessly serves our Active, Reserve, and retired members, provides
    total visibility of the mobilization and demobilization of our Reserve
    marines, and ensures proper and timely payments are made throughout the
    process. MCTFS provides one system, one record, regardless of an
    individual's duty status. According to the most recent Defense Finance
    and Accounting Service's ``Bare Facts'' report, MCTFS continues to
    achieve a pay accuracy rate of over 99 percent for both our Active and
    Reserve components. MCTFS has enabled the Marine Corps to move its pay
    and personnel administration to a predominately self-service, virtually
    paperless, secure, web-based environment. In fiscal year 2008,
    individual marines and their leaders leveraged MCTFS' capabilities to
    process more than 24 million transactions.
               viii. taking care of our marines and our families
        While the ideals of service to Corps and Country have not changed,
    the conditions of service are constantly changing, as are the needs of
    our marines and their families. Marines have reasonable expectations
    regarding housing, schools, and family support, and it is incumbent
    upon us to support them in these key areas. Marines make an enduring
    commitment to the Corps when they earn the title marine. The Commandant
    has made it clear that the Corps, in turn, must, and will, continue to
    make an enduring commitment to every marine and his or her family.
    Transitioning Marine and Family Support Programs To A Wartime Footing
        Over the past year, the Marine Corps initiated a multi-year
    strategy to transition family support programs to a wartime footing. To
    achieve this, we conducted a series of assessments for the purpose of
    documenting service levels and evaluating the current state and
    efficiency of Corps-wide marine and family support programs and
    services. We discovered that our commanders needed more specific
    guidance and resources from us to appropriately take care of their
    marines and families or to refer them to available internal or external
    support services. We also heard the concerns of our marines and their
    families and implemented key reforms at every level of command and
    aboard each installation.
    Family Support Programs
        The Marine Corps Family Team Building (MCFTB) Program provides a
    strong support arm to the Unit Family Readiness Program and high-
    quality training that supports the marine and family through mission,
    career and life events. We have expanded and enhanced our pre-, during,
    and post-deployment training to address the increased demands and
    potential impacts of multiple, sustained deployments on marines and
    their families. We have developed an inventory of lifeskills training
    courses that specifically address challenges of military life, both
    personal and family. Acknowledging the role extended family members
    play in fostering personal and family readiness, we have expanded our
    family readiness support to include parents of single marines. Finally,
    our MCFTB staff provides unit command teams training on the roles,
    responsibilities and supporting tools that are available to foster
    personal and family readiness.
        Central to our transformation efforts, we have expanded the depth
    and breadth of our family readiness training programs and established
    full-time family readiness officer billets in more than 400 units, who
    serve as the focal point for families of our marines. As of May 1,
    2009, we have filled 365 of the 415 available positions and will
    continue to monitor our staffing needs. The family readiness officers
    will use the mass communication tool, which enables simultaneous
    broadcast of communication via email, text messaging, or phone, and
    other technology enhancements to expand communications between marines
    and their families.
        We have completed assessments at our remote and isolated commands
    and initiated substantial improvements to infrastructure and quality of
    life programming with upgraded child care availability and support,
    playground equipment, youth sports equipment, fitness center equipment,
    bike paths, and facility improvements. These enhancements will further
    promote the sense of community required to form strong bonds among our
    marine families that contribute so greatly to readiness.
        We learned that effective communications with family members is of
    paramount importance and, for our families with deployed marines, a
    critical quality of life requirement. In addition to the mass
    communications tool described above, we have addressed this issue in a
    number of ways.
        To enhance our morale and recreation capability on installations as
    well as to better connect marines and their families, the Marine Corps
    is installing wireless networks and access points at over 230
    facilities across the Marine Corps. We are also testing a Morale-
    Portable Satellite Communications Suite that provides an internet and
    web-cam capability to Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in Afghanistan
    where traditional ``Internet Cafes'' are unavailable. This not only
    provides marines with an opportunity to connect with their families,
    but also provides a recreation outlet at these remote locations. Two
    systems were delivered to our forces in Afghanistan in December 2008,
    and initial capability tests in the FOBs have been very encouraging. We
    will continue testing the fielded units and expect to begin to ramp up
    full capability by the end of fiscal year 2009.
        These initiatives and others not only demonstrate the commitment of
    the Marine Corps to our marines and their families, but also underscore
    the significance of marine and family support to mission readiness. We
    have advanced the implementation of these initiatives through the use
    of much-appreciated supplemental funding in fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
    Beginning in fiscal year 2010, the Marine Corps intends to sustain
    funding for these critical program enhancements in our baseline budget,
    not through supplementals.
    Exceptional Family Member Program and Respite Care Program.
        Last year, I reported on our mission to establish a continuum of
    care for our Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) families.
    Recommendations from a rigorous internal functionality assessment have
    been implemented and we are actively helping nearly 6,500 families gain
    access to medical, educational, and financial services that may be
    limited or restricted at certain duty stations. The program is now
    fully staffed at both the installation and headquarters levels. A new
    Case Management System is online and allows the exchange of necessary
    information and provides a robust reporting capability to program
    managers.
        A Respite Care Program funded by the Marine Corps provides up to 40
    hours of care per month to all enrolled families, and can be used in
    conjunction with the TRICARE Extended Care Health Option (ECHO)
    benefit. We are obtaining the help of the Bureau of Medicine & Surgery
    and TRICARE to resolve health care access and availability concerns at
    several bases, and legal counsel is now on staff to advise our
    exceptional family members on State and Federal entitlements and
    processes. Since expansion of the program, our EFMP families have
    frequently expressed their appreciation for the support provided by our
    case managers, who have helped them navigate the paths and nodes to
    obtain services.
        Gaining access to Services can be most challenging to families who
    have members diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. We sincerely
    appreciate the increased reimbursement rate for Applied Behavioral
    Analysis therapy that Congress approved for fiscal year 2009. More
    families will now be able to exercise their option to use the TRICARE
    ECHO program. However, the highly specialized services these families
    require are not always available. Additionally, we are evaluating how
    the Marine Corps can partner with other organizations to increase the
    availability of these specialized services in geographic areas where
    they are currently lacking.
    School Liaison
        The education of over 52,000 school-aged children of Marine Corps
    parents directly contributes to the overall state of family readiness
    within our Corps. We recognize that our children, who must often be as
    mobile as their military parents, face additional challenges associated
    with frequent moves between schools and educational systems of
    differing quality and standards. To address these challenges, we
    established School Liaison billets and are now fully staffed at each of
    our installations to help parents and commanders interact with local
    schools and districts.
        The School Liaisons advocate for our school-aged children and form
    partnerships with schools and other agencies in an effort to improve
    access and availability to quality education and to mitigate education
    transition issues. School Liaisons are actively involved in efforts to
    assist school districts in applying for available grants that focus on
    military school-aged children issues. Complimenting these efforts, the
    Marine Corps is working with the Department of Defense to develop an
    ``Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children''
    to enable reciprocal state acceptance of entrance, subject, testing,
    and graduation requirements. As of April 30, 2009, 15 States have
    passed the Interstate Compact, and others are in some stage of the
    legislative process.
    Child Development Program and Meeting Potential Need
        To ensure children, youth, and teen programs continue to transition
    to meet the needs of our families, a functionality assessment was
    conducted in June 2008 to identify program improvements, such as the
    development of staffing models to improve service delivery. This year,
    we are pursuing initiatives in these programs to improve the quality of
    life for the children of our marines.
        To address a wide variety of identified needs, we are using
    multiple strategies to increase our child care capacity, such as
    expanded hours, partnerships, on- and off-base family child care, and
    Child Development Group Home spaces. We are now providing 16 hours of
    reimbursed respite care per month for families with a deployed marine,
    and intend to increase respite care availability aboard our
    installations. In addition, the Marine Corps has expanded partnerships
    that provide long and short-term support for marines and their families
    who are not located near our major installations. Through our
    partnership with the National Association of Child Care Resource &
    Referral Agencies, we have been able to provide an additional 798 child
    care spaces to geographically dispersed, deployed and severely injured
    servicemembers' children.
        We are currently providing 11,757 child care spaces and meeting
    63.6 percent of the calculated total need. It is important to note that
    the Marine Corps has initiated rigorous data collection and analysis
    improvements. As a result, it will be necessary to correct the 2007
    annual summary due to identified reporting errors. Our reported rate of
    71 percent of calculated total need last year is more accurately stated
    as 59.1 percent. To meet the Department of Defense standard of 80
    percent of potential need, we would require slightly over 3,000
    additional spaces. To address this requirement, Congress has funded 915
    additional spaces in fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The American Recovery
    and Reinvestment Act and 2009 Overseas Contingency Operations request
    will provide an additional 1,700 spaces. We are also considering
    additional modular child development centers, subject to more detailed
    planning and availability of funds. Continued congressional support
    will help us provide these needed facilities. As the needs of our
    families change, our program is committed to grow and adapt to meet
    these needs.
    Combat Operational Stress Control
        Marine Corps commanders are fully engaged in promoting the
    psychological health of our marines, sailors, and their families. To
    enable leaders, individuals, and families to prepare for and manage the
    stress of operational deployment cycles, the Combat and Operational
    Stress Control (COSC) Program encompasses a set of policies, training,
    and tools to recognize stress reactions early on and to manage them
    more effectively within operational units.
        Marine leaders are trained by mental health care professionals,
    with assistance from chaplains in the operating forces, to detect
    stress problems in warfighters as early as possible, and are provided
    the resources to effectively manage these stress problems in theater or
    at home base. This training is also being incorporated into formal
    Professional Military Education schools for both officers and senior
    noncommissioned officers, such as the Expeditionary Warfare School and
    the Staff Noncommissioned Officer Advanced Course. Additionally,
    enhanced training tools, such as hyper-realistic combat training in
    environments engineered to simulate the sights, sounds, and smells of
    combat, seek to increase marine and sailor resiliency to combat stress.
        We have staffed full-time COSC training coordinators at each of our
    Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters. To assist with prevention,
    rapid identification, and effective treatment of combat operational
    stress, we are expanding our program of embedding mental health
    professionals in operational units--the Operational Stress Control
    Readiness (OSCAR) Program--to directly support all Active and Reserve
    ground combat elements and eventually all deployed elements of the
    Marine Air-Ground Task Force. This year, we begin to formalize the
    OSCAR program by making mental health professionals organic to the
    divisions and Marine Forces Reserve. By fiscal year 2011, full OSCAR
    teams will be fielded to the Infantry Regiment level.
    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
        The science of diagnosing and treating post-traumatic stress
    disorder (PTSD) continues to evolve. Research studies are underway to
    identify risk and protective factors to prevent PTSD and other stress-
    related illnesses such as anxiety disorder or depression. Better
    screening and referral of at-risk marines is underway via the OSCAR
    program and standardized pre- and post-deployment health assessments.
    This will improve access to care and reduce stigma associated with
    PTSD. The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have
    collaboratively established comprehensive guidelines, which are
    available to all services, for managing post-traumatic stress.
    Traumatic Brain Injury
        We continue to see Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) as a significant
    challenge, one we are meeting in coordination with the Department of
    Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. Many new cases represent
    older injuries that are just now being diagnosed and our expectation is
    that, with the institution of the Automated Neuropsychological
    Assessment Metrics for all marines, we will discover mild TBIs more
    promptly post-deployment.
        While the Marine Corps is providing leadership and resources to
    deal with this problem, we cannot solve all the issues on our own. The
    Marine Corps continues to work closely with the newly established
    Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic
    Brain Injury to advance our understanding of PTSD and TBI, and to
    improve the care of all marines. We are gratified by your continued
    support in this arena through funding of several research initiatives
    that explore ways to better treat our injured marines.
    Suicide Prevention
        The loss of any marine is a tragedy both for the family and for our
    Corps. We are actively engaged in prevention and early identification
    of problems that may increase the risk of suicide. Leaders at all
    levels are concerned about the increase in the number of suicides, up
    from 25 in 2006, 33 in 2007, to 42 incidents in 2008. Understanding
    that there is no single suicide prevention solution, we are committed
    to having an effect on the individual marine through leadership and
    command involvement at all levels. As noted earlier regarding PTSD, we
    must reduce the stigma sometimes associated with seeking help. The
    Commandant and Marine Corps leadership are taking proactive action to
    address this issue. A senior enlisted Marine leader has been hand-
    selected by the sergeant major of the Marine Corps to add unique
    insight to our efforts in suicide prevention, and the Assistant
    Commandant (ACMC), through the Executive Safety Board, is directing a
    series of initiatives which are currently in accelerated development:

             NCO/FMF Sailor Leadership Suicide Prevention
            Training--A half-day, high impact, relevant workshop has been
            designed to reach the NCO/FMF sailor community and facilitate
            their work with junior enlisted marines. In the past, 90
            percent of suicides were accounted for by E1-E5 marines. This
            training should be ready by this summer. In the interim, an
            all-hands training on suicide prevention, directed by the ACMC,
            was conducted last month.
             Leadership Suicide Prevention Video Messages--All 0-6
            and higher commands are producing videos focusing on leadership
            and suicide prevention to set the climate for stigma reduction
            and an imperative of prevention.
             Integration of Suicide Prevention and Marine Corps
            Martial Arts Program--A prevention message will be incorporated
            in the MCMAP in a manner appropriate and engaging to reach all
            marines.
             Relationship Distress Hotline--relationship problems,
            both romantic and marital, remain the number one associated
            stressor related to suicidal behavior. Suicide is complex and
            while this is not the only problem, it is the most common. A
            hotline by phone, email and live internet chat that is marketed
            specifically to assist with relationship distress and questions
            may reduce risk of suicide related behaviors that result from
            this type of stress.

        The Marine Corps will continue to aggressively pursue suicide
    prevention initiatives; reevaluate existing programs designed to reduce
    the stressors most correlated with suicidal behavior; develop and
    distribute new prevention programs; and refresh and expand training
    materials.
    Sexual Assault Prevention and Response
        Sexual assault is a crime and we take every reported incident very
    seriously. In addition to the impact on its victims, the corrosive
    effect on unit and individual readiness is a matter of great concern.
    The Marine Corps has adopted policy and, in accordance with the
    Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR)
    Program, issued guidance designed to prevent sexual assaults within the
    Marine Corps and to assist those marines and sailors assigned to Marine
    Corps units affected by sexual assault.
        A 2008 Government Accountability Office study reported several
    shortcomings in our sexual assault prevention program. To address these
    findings, we are refreshing our training program and have committed to
    hire four full-time regional SAPR Program coordinators. We have trained
    more than 3,000 victim advocates to provide assistance. All marines
    receive sexual assault prevention and awareness training upon entry and
    are required to receive refresher training at least annually. The issue
    is also incorporated into officer and noncommissioned officer
    professional development courses and key senior leader conferences and
    working groups. At the request of our field commanders, we have also
    increased the number of Marine Corps judge advocates who attend
    specialized training on prosecution of these crimes and have assembled
    a mobile training team to teach our prosecutors how to better manage
    these cases. Last month, the Marine Corps recognized the ``April is
    Sexual Assault Awareness Month'' campaign with a number of events
    throughout the country designed to focus attention on the issue and the
    need to continue our prevention and response efforts.
    Personal Financial Management
        In difficult economic times, our marines and their families face
    challenges that are no different from the American population in
    general, such as taking on too much debt, incurring expenses of a new
    child, and increased housing costs. Our marines also confront unique
    challenges because of their service, such as unexpected or short notice
    deployments, extended separations, and directed permanent
    reassignments, all of which can compound existing financial
    difficulties.
        Last summer, we conducted a financial quick poll to help determine
    the level of financial stress on Active Duty marines and their families
    as a result of the downturn in the economy. Of the over 9,000 Active
    Duty marines who responded to the survey, 15 percent of enlisted
    marines and 5 percent of officers classified themselves as being in
    financial distress. Respondents reported that the most frequent
    financial problems experienced within the past year were increases in
    utility, rent and insurance costs, and taking on excessive debt.
        We appreciate the efforts of Congress to address the payday lending
    problem. Following up on that positive legislation, we worked with the
    Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society to establish a quick assist loan
    program that offers a $300 interest-free loan for emergency basic
    living needs. We also conducted a functionality assessment of our
    Personal and Financial Management Program in October 2008, and found
    deficiencies and opportunities for improvement that we are pursuing
    this year. Anticipating that economic impacts may have become more
    pronounced, we intend to conduct another survey this year and will
    continue to monitor the Corps' financial health and the success of our
    efforts to improve the program.
    Casualty Assistance
        Our casualty assistance program is committed to ensuring that
    families of our fallen marines are treated with the utmost compassion,
    dignity and honor. We have taken steps to correct unacceptable
    deficiencies in our casualty reporting process that were identified in
    congressional hearings and subsequent internal reviews. Marine Corps
    commands now report the initiation, status, and findings of casualty
    investigations to the Headquarters Casualty Section, which has the
    responsibility to ensure the next of kin, receive timely notification
    of these investigations from their assigned Casualty Assistance Calls
    Officer. The Headquarters Casualty Section is a 24-hour-per-day
    operation manned by marines trained in casualty reporting,
    notification, and casualty assistance procedures. These marines have
    also taken on the additional responsibility of notifying the next of
    kin of wounded, injured, and ill marines. In October 2008, we
    implemented a mandatory training program for Casualty Assistance Calls
    Officers that includes a Web-based capability to expand the reach of
    the course. This training covers notification procedures, benefits and
    entitlements, mortuary affairs, and grief and bereavement issues. We
    will continue to monitor the effectiveness of these changes and make
    adjustments where warranted.
    Recreation for the Recovering Marine
        Recognizing the importance of providing recreational opportunities
    for our wounded, the Marine Corps has partnered with Pennsylvania State
    University to train recreation professionals on Inclusive Recreation
    for Wounded Warriors. This state-of-the-art training program for
    military recreation managers ensures that marines and their families
    can create a ``new normal'' as soon as possible. Some of the best
    practices in place at our installations include bowling, golf, expanded
    personal fitness training, and a host of alternative activities for
    those who have been diagnosed with TBI, such as yoga, meditation, deep
    and shallow aquatic classes, personalized swim coaches, wall climbing,
    nutritional counseling, and referral to the ``Back on Track'' program.
    Obtaining Quality of Life Feedback
        The Commandant of the Marine Corps regularly conducts town hall
    meetings at our installations to hear the concerns of our marines and
    their spouses. This provides him an opportunity to address individual
    concerns and issues, as well as helps our program managers identify
    systemic concerns. Having had the opportunity to participate in some of
    these town halls, I am encouraged by the progress we are making in
    identifying and addressing real quality-of-life concerns. As an
    example, we are participating in a working group with the Navy Bureau
    of Medicine & Surgery and TRICARE to resolve health care access and
    availability issues identified at several bases.
        In late 2007, the Marine Corps conducted its fourth Quality of Life
    in the Marine Corps Study (prior studies were conducted in 1993, 1998,
    2002). This is the first study conducted since the start of OIF/OEF,
    and it measured marines and their spouses' perceptions and satisfaction
    with the quality of life across a wide range of issues. As a statement
    of the morale and character of today's marine, this most recent study
    found that, despite the Overseas Contingency Operations and the high
    operational tempo, marines and family members are generally satisfied
    with their mission and the support provided to them by the Marine
    Corps. The most significant finding was that marines with a recent
    deployment history actually have a slightly higher overall quality-of-
    life score than those without a deployment history.
        The study also found that there was an increase in overall and
    specific satisfaction across the board for spouses when compared with
    the results from the 2002 study. In fact, the overall Quality of Life
    score for the spouses was the highest seen for any of the respondent
    groups (marines assigned to an installation, independent marines, and
    recruiters) considered in this study. Spouses greatly appreciate the
    health care benefits provided by the Marine Corps, the quality of
    professional child care they receive, and the educational opportunities
    for their children. These factors and others had a positive impact on
    the family decision to remain part of the Marine Corps.
        We will continue to evaluate the findings from this important study
    in an effort to sustain the many quality-of-life improvements and
    transformation efforts outlined in my statement.
                          ix. wounded warrior regiment
        The Marine Corps is proud of the positive and meaningful impact
    that the Wounded Warrior Regiment is having on wounded, ill, and
    injured marines, sailors, and their families. Less than 2 years ago, we
    instituted a comprehensive and integrated approach to Wounded Warrior
    care and unified it under one command. The establishment of the Wounded
    Warrior Regiment reflects our deep commitment to the welfare of our
    wounded, ill, and injured, and their families throughout all phases of
    recovery. Our single activity provides Active Duty, Reserve, and
    separated marines with non-medical case management, benefit information
    and assistance, resources and referrals, and transition support. The
    nerve center of our Wounded Warrior Regiment is our Wounded Warrior
    Operations Center, where no marine or family member is turned away.
        The Regiment strives to ensure programs and processes adequately
    meet the needs of our wounded, ill, and injured and that they remain
    flexible to preclude a one-size-fits-all approach to that care. For
    example, we have transferred the pay and entitlements auditing
    authority from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Kansas
    City directly to the Wounded Warrior Regiment, where there is a
    comprehensive awareness of each wounded marine's individual situation.
    We have also designed and implemented a Marine Corps Wounded, Ill, and
    Injured Tracking System to maintain accountability and will eventually
    be used to facilitate case management for the Wounded Warrior Regiment
    Comprehensive Transition Plan. To ensure effective family advocacy, we
    have added family readiness officers at the Regiment and our two
    battalions to support the families of our wounded, ill, and injured
    marines.
        To enhance reintegration, our Job Transition Cell, manned by
    marines and representatives of the Departments of Labor and Veterans'
    Affairs, has been proactively reaching out to identify and coordinate
    with employers and job training programs to help our wounded warriors
    obtain positions in which they are most likely to succeed and enjoy
    promising careers. One example is our collaboration with the U.S. House
    of Representatives to establish their Wounded Warrior Fellowship
    Program hiring disabled veterans to work in congressional offices.
        The Marine Corps also recognizes that the needs of our wounded,
    ill, and injured marines and their families are constantly evolving. We
    must ensure that they are equipped for success in today's environment
    and in the future. In May 2008, the Regiment stood up the Future
    Initiatives and Transformation Team to assess current capabilities and
    develop future programs to ensure the Wounded Warrior Regiment (WWR)
    anticipates and meets emerging requirements. The Regiment has also
    stood up an Assessment Cell as part of the Future Initiatives and
    Transformation Team to conduct assessments of WWR programs and services
    to obtain actionable data for comprehensive program adjustment and
    improvement.
        One of the Regiment's most effective accomplishments thus far is
    the ``Sergeant Merlin German Wounded Warrior Call Center.'' Established
    in December 2007, the Call Center is available 24/7 for marines and
    marine veterans for assistance with benefit information and assistance,
    resources and referrals, and community reintegration needs. Our Wounded
    Warrior Call Center not only receives calls from active duty and former
    marines but also conducts important outreach calls. Since December
    2007, we have contacted over 9,800 marines and marine veterans wounded,
    ill, or injured since September 2001 to assess how they are doing and
    to offer our assistance. Our call center has been critical to our
    success in helping wounded, ill, and injured marines and in averting
    potentially tragic circumstances. Our trained call center staff is
    primarily former and retired marines or family members of marines.
    These dedicated individuals are not only skilled at providing help, but
    they also share a common bond with those they serve. This bond brings a
    sense of familiarity that enhances the help process. Our resident call
    center capability also gives the Marine Corps the flexibility to make
    outreach calls that target specific populations thought to be at higher
    risk for problems or requiring specific information. One example of
    this was our outreach to the marines assigned to the Personnel Recovery
    Platoons whose mission is to recover the remains of fallen marines and
    who have experienced the trauma of the battlefield to a degree and
    frequency that few others encounter. Additionally, we use our call
    center to keep wounded warrior marines and families informed about
    benefits changes or other changes in laws or policies that will impact
    them. Now that the new Servicemembers' Traumatic Group Life Insurance
    policy changes have been implemented, we are using our call center to
    contact wounded and injured marines and marine veterans to advise them
    of the enhanced benefits and relay to them the procedures for applying
    for the benefits. Our commitment to gaining and maintaining contact
    with all our wounded, ill, and injured marines, including those that
    have returned to full duty, has prompted us to increase our call center
    capability by adding call centers at each of our battalions located at
    Camp Lejeune, NC and Camp Pendleton, CA. ``Once a Marine, Always a
    Marine'' is not a recruiting slogan. It is the philosophy that it is at
    the heart of our brotherhood and guides our efforts to care for wounded
    warriors.
        It is this same philosophy that is behind our reinvigoration of the
    Marine For Life mission, which assists the 27,000 marines each year who
    leave active duty. This separate program falls under the Wounded
    Warrior Regiment and assists in the transition by connecting these
    marines with ``marine friendly'' employers and mentorship opportunities
    and providing educational assistance by utilizing Marine For Life
    HomeTown Links who are strategically located and working in communities
    throughout the United States.
        The Wounded Warrior Regiment has made great strides in achieving a
    holistic approach to wounded warrior care. We are particularly
    dedicated to ensuring our marines not only survive, but that they
    thrive--whether they return to duty or reintegrate to their
    communities. Supported by the passage of the National Defense
    Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, the Marine Corps is
    aggressively moving forward in our efforts to institute improvements to
    the care, management, and transition of recovering marines and their
    families. Recovery care coordinators have been hired, trained, and
    detailed to support our wounded, ill, and injured. Working with others
    currently providing care support and services they will oversee the
    development of the Wounded Warrior Regiment Comprehensive Transition
    Plan for each wounded, ill, or injured marine that will serve as their
    individual roadmap whether they are focused toward a return to duty
    status or separation and community reintegration. These caring and
    dedicated professionals monitor the execution of services across the
    continuum of care from recovery through rehabilitation to
    reintegration.
        The network of support provided by the Wounded Warrior Regiment
    will continue to the marine's hometown via our District Injured Support
    Cells. Manned by Active Duty marines, these cells are established
    throughout the country to conduct face-to-face visits and telephone
    outreach to Reserve and veteran, wounded, ill, and injured marines. The
    Wounded Warrior Regiment will continue to develop those relationships
    that allow us to care for and advocate for our marines and marine
    veterans. Our Nation has a reasonable expectation that her marines will
    receive the care and support they need and deserve, whether this
    support is provided by the Marine Corps, the Department of Veterans
    Affairs, Veterans Service Organizations, or the many local and State
    governmental and nongovernmental agencies.
        As we continue to improve the care and management of our Nation's
    wounded, the Marine Corps is grateful to have the support of Congress.
    In addition to the support provided in the National Defense
    Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009, I would like to thank you for
    your personal visits to our wounded warriors in the hospital wards
    where they are recovering and on the bases where they live. The Marine
    Corps looks forward to continuing to work with Congress in ensuring
    that our wounded, ill, and injured marines receive the best care,
    resources, and opportunities possible.
                                 x. conclusion
        As we continue to fight Overseas Contingency Operations, the Marine
    Corps will be required to meet many commitments, both at home and
    abroad. While we have, to date, made impressive strides toward our
    fiscal year recruiting, retention, and end strength goals, we must
    remember that this is a Total Force effort. It is individual marines
    who are our most precious asset, and we must continue to attract and
    retain the best and brightest into our ranks.
        Marines are proud of what they do. They are proud of the ``Eagle,
    Globe, and Anchor'' and what it represents to our country. With your
    support, a vibrant Marine Corps will continue to meet our Nation's
    call.
        Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
        I think we will do a first round of 5 minutes.
        First, just a general question to all of you. Do you need
    any legislative authority to initiate or improve military
    personnel or family programs not otherwise discussed today? Do
    you need any authority to initiate or improve what you may not
    have talked about today?
        General Rochelle. If I may start, sir?
        Senator Ben Nelson. Yes, General?
        General Rochelle. Thanks to this committee and Congress, we
    have all of the authorities we need.
        Thank you.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Admiral?
        Admiral Ferguson. I would concur in that assessment. We
    feel we have all the authorities that we require.
        Senator Ben Nelson. General Newton?
        General Newton. I would also concur with that and I
    appreciate greatly the authorities that you have provided that
    we can carry forward with.
        Senator Ben Nelson. All right. General Coleman?
        General Coleman. Same thing. Thank you, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Great. There has been a lot of
    discussion about end strength in the Army for some period of
    time, and 2 years ago, Secretary Gates announced that the Army
    would increase its permanent Active Duty end strength to
    547,400. Today, the Army finds itself with an active end
    strength of about 549,000 3 years ahead of schedule, as
    indicated.
        Do you believe, General Rochelle, that the Army should grow
    beyond the 547,400 in 2009 or 2010?
        General Rochelle. Mr. Chairman, first of all, I support the
    President's budget, as does the United States Army. Your
    question, though, begs a little bit of explanation about the
    relationship between end strength and demand.
        As you said in your opening statement, end strength cannot
    be viewed in a vacuum, and you are precisely correct, sir. In
    order to understand the required end strength, one has to ask
    the question what is it we want the Army to do and for how
    long?
        Demand, that is the one aspect that we do not control. In
    my experience of soon to be 3 years as the G-1 of the United
    States Army, I have seen demand consistently rise. We are
    hopeful that in the future, with responsible drawdown in Iraq,
    that will change. But as the Army looks to the next 12 to
    perhaps 18 months, we see an increase in demand before
    responsible drawdown can offer us the prospect of reduced
    demand in the overall.
        We are actively considering and discussing--and I believe
    my vice chief has testified to this. We are actively exploring
    whether or not we should return to DOD, this is an internal
    building discussion at this point, and seek authority
    temporarily to exceed that.
        I hope I have answered your question, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. The purpose of the request for
    temporary increase in end strength is because of the increased
    OPTEMPO or the fact that we are not going to get the dwell time
    that we had hoped by shifting down from Iraq into Afghanistan?
        General Rochelle. Let me answer your question this way, Mr.
    Chairman. The current dwell time for the Active Army is 1 year
    deployed for every 1.3 years at home. It is unsustainable,
    absolutely unsustainable.
        For the Army Reserve, it is just below 1 year deployed for
    every 3 years home. Even though they are an Operational Reserve
    and not a Strategic Reserve, I submit to you that that pace is
    equally unsustainable.
        In addition to that, the cumulative effect, which I
    attempted to speak to in my opening statement, of repeated
    deployments, and most especially the surge, is, in fact,
    wearing on readiness, and it is wearing on the number of
    soldiers in our formations who are available to deploy, whether
    for permanent medical conditions or just the wear and tear of
    the 7-plus years of combat.
        One more point, if I may? When we looked at our last 10
    brigade combat teams, and we, of course, looked at the other
    formations as well, but when we looked at our last 10 deployed
    brigade combat teams, the average nondeployable inside those
    formations was 11 percent. When we took a look at the last five
    brigade combat teams to deploy, we noted that that had
    increased to 12 percent.
        We think we may have plateaued, but I believe those data
    points give you a pretty good impression of where we are and
    addresses your question of why.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Once you have the discussions on the
    inside of DOD, would you then be prepared to come forward, or
    would the chief of staff or Secretary of the Army come forward
    with that kind of a recommendation? Is that your anticipation?
        Or would it go through the ordinary channels, let us say,
    back to the Secretary of Defense, back to the White House as
    part of a future budget request?
        General Rochelle. I am certain that it would include
    discussions with the Secretary of the Army, the Chief of Staff
    of the Army, and the Secretary of Defense. Beyond that, I
    wouldn't speculate, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Okay. Thank you.
        Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I think I will just pick up where you left off. I have been
    told there are 20,000 soldiers on Active Duty who are
    nondeployable due to medical reasons. Is that right, General
    Rochelle?
        General Rochelle. That is correct, sir.
        Senator Graham. Any idea of how many of those 20,000 will
    be able to come back to deployable status?
        General Rochelle. Statistically, the majority of them,
    between 60 and maybe even as many as 70 percent will be able to
    come back over time. We have seen that both with the warrior
    transition unit, and we typically see that inside brigade
    combat teams.
        Senator Graham. So when you look at 547,000, it is really
    not 547,000 right now in terms of being able to be deployed. Is
    that correct?
        General Rochelle. In terms of available soldiers, it is not
    547,000, sir.
        Senator Graham. If we are going to err, it is my view that
    I would rather have more soldiers than you need than not
    enough. The goal is to have the right amount. I share Senator
    Nelson's concern that we need to look at maybe bumping that up
    because in the short term, not only are you going to probably
    be more in the fight in Afghanistan, but this 20,000 number in
    the short term is not going to change.
        General Rochelle. Sir, I would simply add if the past is,
    indeed, prologue, I do not expect to see demand come down for
    between 12 to the next 18 months.
        Senator Graham. I have been told Secretary Geren and
    General Casey acknowledged there was a $2 billion shortfall in
    terms of paying personnel bills in the Army. Does every Service
    have a shortfall for 2009?
        Admiral Ferguson. Senator Graham, for the Navy, that
    shortfall is roughly $300 million in execution this year.
        Senator Graham. What about the Air Force?
        General Newton. Sir, we have a shortfall. I don't have a
    specific number. I can get back to you on that.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        At the time of this testimony, the Air Force had a Total Force
    shortfall of $165 million in fiscal year 2009 Military Personnel
    Appropriations (Active, Guard, and Reserve). The supplemental, combined
    with Omnibus reprogramming action, has eliminated the shortfall.

        Senator Graham. What about the Marine Corps?
        General Coleman. Yes, sir. We do have a shortfall, but I
    take for the record the exact amount.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        At the time of this testimony, the Marine Corps had a $157 million
    shortfall. Subsequent to this testimony, the shortfall was reduced to
    $105 million and an appeal was submitted to the House Appropriations
    Committee-Defense and the Senate Appropriations Committee-Defense for
    consideration during the fiscal year 2009 Overseas Contingency
    Operations (OCO) conference markup. Upon passage of the fiscal year
    2009 OCO, Congress appropriated the $105 million shortfall; therefore
    one no longer exists for the Marine Corps.

        Senator Graham. Okay. How are we going to make that up?
        General Rochelle. I am expecting that the Overseas
    Contingency Operations (OCO) request, which is currently
    pending on Capitol Hill, will give us a substantial amount of
    relief. For the record, the number for the Army is $1.8
    billion, sir.
        Senator Graham. This request on Capitol Hill would make it
    up for the Army?
        General Rochelle. Yes, sir. It would give us the ability
    largely to eradicate that shortfall.
        Senator Graham. Is that the same for the other Services, I
    hope?
        Admiral Ferguson. In the Navy's case, the House
    Appropriations Committee mark that they did will cover the Navy
    shortfall.
        Senator Graham. Same for the Air Force, Marines? Okay.
        To a more parochial interest of mine, Lieutenant General
    Coleman, I have been told that we are going to increase to
    27,000 Active-Duty marines, but this does not include any
    increase in the number of Marine Judge Advocates General (JAG).
    I don't know if this is true or not. I have been told that
    sometimes when Marine units deploy, that they don't have enough
    Marine JAGs to fill the needs of the commanders, and we are
    using some Navy JAGs. Are you familiar with that?
        General Coleman. No, sir. Not at all. Not that in the
    deployment stage, taking Navy JAGs instead of Marines. I am not
    aware of that.
        Senator Graham. If you could look into it and get back with
    me, I would appreciate it.
        General Coleman. Yes, sir.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        Senator Graham inquired as to Navy Judge Advocates General's (JAG)
    being utilized by and deploying with Marine Corps units in order to
    satisfy personnel shortfalls. At the time of his testimony, Lieutenant
    General Coleman stated that he was unaware of this practice. Upon
    further review, his testimony was accurate--no Navy JAGs are deploying
    with Marine Corps units to cover personnel shortfalls within the Marine
    Corps JAG occupational field.

        Senator Graham. From the Navy point of view, Admiral
    Ferguson, I have been told that the Navy is short 191 JAGs and
    63 enlisted personnel. What is the plan there?
        Admiral Ferguson. For this budget request, we recently
    approved a partial increase in the JAG corps, and then we are
    looking at that study that you cite to see what we can phase in
    over time.
        Senator Graham. Okay. I have to go to another hearing, but
    I will be back, Mr. Chairman. Finally, this idea of retaining
    folks that are in specialties, do you feel that the committee
    has been responsive to your needs to give you the money and the
    flexibility to go to the health care professionals and a
    variety of specialties in the military?
        From the nuclear Navy's point of view, if we build more
    nuclear reactors on the civilian side, like I hope we will, Mr.
    Chairman--I know you support that--there is going to be
    competition for people who are conversant in nuclear power
    matters. Is there anything more we could do to help any of the
    Services to give you the flexibility and money you need to
    retain key people?
        Let's start with the Army.
        General Rochelle. In point of fact, the committee and
    Congress have given us extraordinary authority to be able to
    attract the critical skills that we need. Unfortunately, those
    authorities do not address the larger strategic issue, which
    is, as in the case of behavioral specialists and medical
    professionals, we simply aren't creating enough in America to
    address both civilian needs as well as DOD's needs.
        Senator Graham. Has there been any thought of expanding the
    Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences?
        General Rochelle. Sir, there has. There have been
    discussions inside the Army of, for example, returning at some
    point to a program that used to be called the RAIN program,
    where the Army grew its own nurses simply because----
        Senator Graham. We could do that with health care
    professionals and mental health professionals?
        General Rochelle. We possibly could. I have not had active
    discussions about that, sir.
        Senator Graham. Okay, could you work that through the
    system? Because I think there are a lot of people on Active
    Duty that might move to that career choice.
        General Rochelle. Yes, sir.
        Admiral Ferguson. Senator, with regard to the reenlistment
    bonuses and enlistment bonuses, we feel that we have received
    all the authorities that we need and that the funding we have
    requested will be adequate to support us going forward into
    2010. We have had great success this year.
        General Newton. I would say that is consistent with the Air
    Force. To echo perhaps what General Rochelle was talking about,
    the challenge that we have with this, what we call a war for
    talent, out there in the commercial sector and across America
    is significant, be it just trying to go for America's youth in
    terms of those who are obviously capable to join the ranks of
    the military, as well as within the health professional
    communities and so forth.
        But I do feel that the committee has been very forthright
    and supportive of authorities to pursue.
        General Coleman. Sir, I feel Congress has gone above and
    beyond and would not venture to go any further. I would say, as
    we grow to our 202,000, that we would ask that because we are
    about to reach 202,000 that you not take too much away because
    we are there. We still have to shape our force.
        But as far as what we are getting for reenlistments, I
    think we are spot on, sir. Thank you.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator Graham.
        Over the last several years, we have found that each and
    every Service is having difficulty recruiting and retaining
    medical professionals. It is my understanding from what Admiral
    Ferguson said that maybe meeting some of those goals has been
    easier.
        But Congress has authorized large bonuses for critically
    short specialties, as much as $400,000 for 4 years of service
    in some cases. Starting with you, General Rochelle, what are
    your thoughts about what more we could do to recruit more
    physicians and other health care providers, including dentists
    and nurses, into the military and retain them?
        General Rochelle. If I may make one slight preamble to your
    question, Mr. Chairman? We are realizing after 7 years of war
    that our base authorizations for medical professionals are
    inadequate to address the growing need.
        I spoke earlier to the challenges of the cumulative effect
    of deployments and the cumulative effects of 7-plus years of
    combat. With that having been stated, I don't believe the
    solution lies in additional monies that we may offer to attract
    this talent. I really don't.
        I think what we have to do is explore ways of allowing
    individuals to serve more shorter terms, if you will, as
    opposed to signing up for a full 7-year or 8-year military
    service obligation. You have given us some authorities there. I
    think we have to explore creative and inventive ways to reach
    outside the normal pool of talent, and I think the Military
    Accessions Vital to the National Interest programs opens a door
    there, sir.
        Admiral Ferguson. Mr. Chairman, I would offer that in our
    successes this year, we found that partnering medical
    professionals with recruiters in the field in the outreach
    effort, and reaching into new populations gave us the greatest
    benefit.
        The authorities and the bonuses you have given us and some
    modifications that we have made in some of the programs and
    stipends have paid off. But it is that partnership and reaching
    into new areas which is so important to us.
        Senator Ben Nelson. General Newton?
        General Newton. Sir, I would add that from our perspective,
    it is also how we go about growing our own with regard to the
    authorities that you provided, the Health Professions
    Scholarship Program and so forth. We are also taking a look--
    and candidly, when our end strength reduction, when we went
    down to 316,000 and we were headed down to 316,000 of our
    Active Duty end strength, and now that we are going to be
    leveling off above 330,000, we took a pretty hard swipe at our
    recruiters.
        General Roudebush, the Surgeon General of the Air Force,
    and I, we are looking to partner in terms of how we can get our
    medical folks back into the recruiting business as well so that
    we can follow up. But again, we have the authorities, and I
    believe it is men, like General Rochelle was talking about,
    that limited pool of talent there.
        Senator Ben Nelson. You don't necessarily need more bonus
    money or other programs? You could always use more, I am sure,
    but do you necessarily think you need it?
        General Newton. Sir, it is as much recruiting, but also for
    consideration with regard to retention as well. It is giving
    them the opportunities, as General Rochelle alluded to, maybe
    you look at the length in terms of reenlistment and so forth,
    or retaining in the Service. But again, it is a matter of us
    acting on the authorities that you provided and that we go
    forth.
        Senator Ben Nelson. General?
        General Coleman. Sir, we get all our medical from the Navy,
    sir. So we are good.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Yes.
        General Coleman. So give them all they want, please.
    [Laughter.]
        Senator Ben Nelson. Good partnership.
        In terms of mental health, at a press conference last week,
    Admiral Mullen said that the recent shooting of five
    servicemembers at a stress control clinic by a troubled Army
    sergeant speaks to ``the need to redouble our efforts'' and the
    issue of multiple deployments and increasing dwell time ``to
    try to improve to relieve that stress.''
        As we have looked at that tragic event, the rates in every
    Service are clear reminders that servicemembers, particularly
    those who have been deployed on multiple occasions are under
    tremendous stress, and they do need access to mental health
    care. Are there any feasible actions that we could take in the
    short term here to help decrease the stress on the force or
    have additional health care available to them to deal with the
    mental challenges that so many seem to be facing?
        General Rochelle. Sir, I would offer all of the above. All
    of the above. The most critical factor, as the Secretary of the
    Army, the Honorable Pete Geren, has testified, is dwell time to
    be with family members, time to be with loved ones. As I have
    very clearly stated, 1 year deployed for every 1.3 years of
    dwell is completely inadequate, and it is unsustainable.
        I also mentioned the fact that we are seeing that our base
    authorizations after 7-plus years of war for mental health
    providers, social workers, et cetera, are completely inadequate
    to address the need. We are growing that capability, both on
    the military side as well as on the civilian side.
        My final comment would be we are taking every measure
    feasible right now under the direction of the Vice Chief of
    Staff, who is himself heading a task force that looks monthly
    worldwide--in fact, I participated in I think it is the third
    or fourth, my third or fourth, and I have not missed one--
    worldwide video teleconference review with field commanders at
    the three- and four-star level, as well as two-star, looking at
    the details and the connective tissue, if I may use that term,
    between incidents.
        How do we connect the dots so that we can be preventive?
    The month of April, I would offer, begins to show a glimmer of
    hope that we are being successful.
        Senator Ben Nelson. General Newton?
        General Newton. Sir, if I may add? I think, to perhaps add
    on to what General Rochelle was discussing in terms of
    connecting the dots, we have to look at balance, not only for
    the men and women in uniform, but also for the family members
    as well because the stress on the force impacts, of course,
    those who serve, the principal members, but also the family
    members.
        I know we are taking a hard look at it in terms of how we
    balance our approach in terms of taking care of our Air Force
    with regard to stresses on the family members as well, which I
    know Admiral Ferguson just said he came out of the area of
    responsibility (AOR). I just was there myself, and enough
    challenges that we have on our airmen at deployed locations is,
    are their families being taken care of and so forth?
        We are looking at it from a holistic approach, but it is--I
    know all the Services are taking a hard look at that, and we
    are also looking at each other's programs as well to make sure
    that we take advantage of lessons learned and so forth.
        Senator Ben Nelson. In that regard, are you trying to
    establish what you would consider a best practices sharing of
    programs back and forth with one another?
        General Newton. I know we have, for instance, with the
    suicide program, I enlisted the support of General Rochelle,
    when he was starting to put together a major effort several
    months ago, to emulate what the Army has done to date.
        General Coleman. I think we all have, sir. I would say that
    the Army has done a superb job recently in the planning for
    this, and we, the Marine Corps, have also partnered up with the
    Army.
        I would also like to say that this has the attention of all
    the leadership of the Marine Corps. We look at it as a small,
    small unit leadership task that I think, in my opinion, is the
    most important part, that the young sergeant who knows a young
    lance corporal can see something in him or her that shouldn't
    be there. We have stressed small unit leadership amongst our
    NCOs and that sort.
        The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps has also come
    out with a study for us. Each 06 and higher commander has to
    produce a video and show it to every one of his marines and
    sailors. I think we are on, and I would like to be like General
    Rochelle and say we see a glimmer of hope. I think we are
    really attacking it, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. We continue to hear about sexual
    assault in deployed areas. Can you describe some of the
    programs that you might have in place to try to minimize and
    eliminate those assaults?
        General Coleman. Sir, I think that is a major problem, and
    it is not only in deployed units. For the Marine Corps, it is
    Marine Corps wide. We found, what we are doing again is small
    unit leadership, but in over 95 percent of the cases, either
    the victim or their assailant has had too much alcohol.
        We are looking at it that way. In over 90 percent of the
    cases, alcohol is involved. So small unit leadership is where
    we think we can stop the problem, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Anyone else? General Rochelle?
        General Rochelle. Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.
        The Army has launched what I consider to be the premier
    sexual assault prevention strategy and program. Secretary Geren
    has spoken of it in his testimony. General Casey has also
    spoken of it.
        Just to give you some concept of scale. Last year, we spent
    $20 million in sexual assault prevention. This year, we plan to
    spend $42 million in sexual assault prevention, executing and
    implementing a very comprehensive strategy. The elements of the
    strategy are essentially to empower every young soldier not
    only to recognize an instance or an incident in which a fellow
    soldier may be setting himself or herself up to become a victim
    and then to intervene effectively in order to prevent it.
        We are beginning to see and our strategy did predict that
    within the first 18 months of the strategy, based upon
    additional awareness and additional empowerment and the
    leadership empowering and encouraging individuals to come
    forward, we would see a spike in the number of reported
    incidents, both restricted and unrestricted. Indeed, we have.
        As we go forward, we expect that number to come down, and
    we have a benchmark in the strategy that we are shooting for.
        Senator Ben Nelson. The increase in numbers would be the
    increase in reporting?
        General Rochelle. Correct, sir. Yes, sir.
        As you may know, Mr. Chairman, I am sure you do, sexual
    assault is the most underreported crime in America and perhaps
    the world.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Graham.
        Senator Graham. Thank you.
        Very quickly, I know we want to get to the next panel. Just
    pick up on that line of questioning, General Coleman, you said
    that most sexual assaults were related to alcohol abuse. Is
    that correct?
        General Coleman. That is correct, sir.
        Senator Graham. In the deployed areas, you are not supposed
    to drink. Is that a problem over there?
        General Coleman. In deployed units, that is an exception,
    sir, because there is no drinking there.
        Senator Graham. In the deployed, in the theater, is there a
    difference between the number of sexual assaults reported in
    deployed areas versus at home bases?
        General Coleman. Yes, sir. It is much smaller in deployed
    units.
        Senator Graham. Is that true in the Army?
        General Rochelle. That is true for the Army, sir.
        Senator Graham. Okay.
        General Rochelle. A fraction.
        Senator Graham. Anything from the Air Force and the Navy?
        General Newton. Sir, if I may, though? If I could just tag
    on to a couple other comments? Again, it is a matter of, and I
    am sure all the Services feel this way, but zero tolerance is
    number one. We are trying to emulate whatever we do in
    garrison, but also as a deployed location as well.
        Senator Graham. Disciplinary action is quick to follow,
    right?
        General Newton. Yes, sir.
        Senator Graham. Court-martials and Article 15?
        General Newton. Certain follow-up in that the command
    climate is as important in this as anything in terms of
    establishing that and being effective.
        Senator Graham. What about the Navy?
        Admiral Ferguson. I would echo those comments. It is a
    primary leadership responsibility that involves support for the
    victim, education, as well as taking appropriate action, as you
    mentioned, against the perpetrator.
        Senator Graham. That takes me to the last question I have,
    and that is the contract force. Mr. Chairman, as you well
    realize, we are taking more civilians to war in this war than
    any war in the history of America. Quite frankly, you couldn't
    conduct the war without civilian contractors. We have had them
    play a very important part.
        I want to congratulate those who sign up and serve in that
    capacity, but we have had problems with a basically two-tiered
    system where the contractor would be allowed to use alcohol in
    theater, and that the problem or concern I have had is to give
    the commander the disciplinary authority over the entire force.
    A contractor can create as much problems for our Nation as
    someone in uniform when they act inappropriately.
        I, along with Senator Kerry, authored legislation that
    would allow, for the first time, contractors accompanying the
    force in combat theaters to be court-martialed. I know we have
    had one or two cases.
        I just would like your view as to are there any contractor
    requirements needing to be changed? Should the military take
    over some of these jobs? What is best for the force in the
    future? Do we need more contractors? Do you have the tools
    necessary to integrate the contractor force with the Active
    Duty, Reserve component?
        Starting with the Army.
        General Rochelle. Sir, I think we have all the authorities
    that are required. As you have correctly stated, we cannot wage
    war, certainly not one of this duration and perhaps longer,
    without relying not only on contractors but, I might add, our
    civilian teammates as well.
        If there is anything, and the question, do we need more? We
    probably do need more contractors, and we probably need more of
    our great civilians.
        Senator Graham. Interpreters, linguists, I know you need
    more of those.
        General Rochelle. Yes, sir. Exactly. In those critical
    skills which we simply can't maintain an adequate supply in the
    force.
        Senator Graham. That comes out of your personnel budget?
        General Rochelle. It comes out of operations and
    maintenance (O&M), sir.
        Senator Graham. O&M, not personnel?
        General Rochelle. A different account, and I think we have
    the tools we need.
        Senator Graham. The Navy?
        Admiral Ferguson. Senator, I would echo we have the tools.
    In the Navy's case, unlike the Army that may use more
    contractors forward, ours primarily are in acquisition and in
    support of procurement programs and other support in contiguous
    United States.
        General Newton. Sir, that is consistent with the United
    States Air Force as well, down range particularly.
        General Coleman. Sir, I concur with General Rochelle, sir.
        Senator Graham. Okay. Finally, do you have the tools
    necessary to make sure that civilians and contractors within
    operational theaters follow the rules and make sure that there
    are not things that go unpunished and don't work? A U.S.
    attorney maybe back in Virginia won't take a case, and do you
    feel a need to make sure commanders have disciplinary tools for
    the entire force?
        General Rochelle. Sir, I am going out on a limb here, and I
    am doing it in front of a lawyer.
        Senator Graham. Don't worry about it.
        General Rochelle. Let me respond this way. It is my
    understanding, and I have done some research on this, that the
    combatant commander has the jurisdiction and the authority to
    execute, as you said, the legislation that you cosponsored,
    coauthored within theater. My answer is it is not a title 10
    service issue.
        Senator Graham. Okay. That is fine.
        Thank you all very much.
        General Rochelle. Thank you, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. One final question I might ask, or are
    you finished?
        Senator Graham. Yes, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. We are aware that the personnel, the
    health care, and entitlement costs continue to soar, and
    personnel costs, including the cost of military health care.
    The Department spent $162.4 billion in 2008, anticipates
    spending $170.5 billion in 2009, and has requested $178.7
    billion in 2010. You have already indicated that is the largest
    part, Senator Graham, of the budget.
        Looking at these rising costs, short of cutting back on
    personnel, are there any steps that could be taken to reduce
    personnel costs?
        Senator Graham. If I could just interject, it is my
    understanding that 14 percent of the entire DOD budget will be
    military health care cost. Is that right? Down the road.
        General Rochelle. I can't answer that percentage, sir. I am
    sorry. That is for DOD.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Is there something we can do, if we
    could increase the quality of health care and decrease the
    quantity in some respect, would there be a savings? Is there
    anything like that that you are all looking at within your own
    branch to try to economize on personnel costs, including the
    benefits? Not taking things away, but trying to do things more
    efficiently, effectively, and getting better results?
        General Rochelle. The Chairman addressed this in his recent
    testimony, and I believe if there were simple, low-hanging
    fruit options that one could employ, we would have all taken
    those actions already. It is a very complex issue, Mr.
    Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Well, would the Secretary of Defense
    get you a higher ladder or---- [Laughter.]
        General Rochelle. We would all need one. One way in which
    we could, I think, come at it is on the prevention side. Not
    coincidental, but concurrent with our work on suicide, the Army
    is launching a health, fitness, and promotion program that is
    designed to build resiliency in much the same way that we have
    over the decades, the decades of my service and well beyond,
    built physical stamina and physical fitness.
        Not an adequate answer to your excellent question, but I
    think prevention offers us a clue in which there may be
    savings.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Part of the prevention, first of all,
    you don't typically have an aging population in the military to
    begin with. But part of the area of prevention is early
    detection, because not every use of the military health care
    system is going to be as a result of combat. A lot of it is
    just general health conditions.
        Could you explore ways of not only healthier lifestyles,
    but also early detection with the kind of preventive care that
    you can get from upfront health care costs that save you on the
    backend with healthier life expectancies? Anybody else want to
    take a crack at that?
        General Rochelle. No question, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I am not going to ask General Coleman
    because he is going to refer to the Admiral.
        General Coleman. Sir, I think we are doing an excellent job
    of trying not only the prevention, but also cutting back.
        I personally sit down with our folks when they are looking
    at the reenlistment bonuses, and this was last year when
    Congress was really giving us all we wanted. I was surprised at
    our folks who said, we don't need to give the great big bonuses
    to everybody, and we need to judiciously look at the money
    because it is all coming out of the same pot.
        I think we are doing a very good job of not trying to waste
    the taxpayers' money, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. That is a good point.
        General Newton?
        General Newton. Mr. Chairman, if I may just add again, this
    notion of us being more effective in our ``fit to fight,'' what
    we call it, we are taking a hard look inside the United States
    Air Force. It is really not trivial, and I am not saying we are
    making it trivial, but this notion of preventive access and
    care, and also having access to fitness centers and again at a
    high OPTEMPO. Not only, again, having just come out of the AOR,
    we focus on fitness as much in the AOR as we try to do back
    home as well.
        Really, it is a new generation. It is a higher OPTEMPO Air
    Force, and certainly for the other Services. How we are fit to
    fight really more effectively can then, I believe, in the long
    haul make a more healthy force and, therefore, could obviously
    trim down costs, long-term costs.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, and thank you for your
    participation.
        Thank you, General Rochelle, once again for your service,
    and General Coleman, of course. We thank the others as well. We
    know we will see you again.
        Thank you. [Pause.]
        We now welcome our second panel, and we have outside
    representatives from servicemember-oriented associations.
    Colonel Steven P. Strobridge (Ret.) is the Director of
    Government Relations, Military Officers Association of America,
    and Co-chair of The Military Coalition.
        We are glad to have you, Colonel Strobridge.
        Master Chief Joseph L. Barnes (Ret.), is the National
    Executive Director, Fleet Reserve Association, and Co-chair,
    The Military Coalition.
        Ms. Deirdre Parke Holleman is the Executive Director of the
    Retired Enlisted Association and Co-chair of the Survivor
    Committee of The Military Coalition.
        Captain Ike Puzon (Ret.) is the Director of Legislation,
    Naval Reserve Association, and Co-chair of the Guard and
    Reserve Committee of The Military Coalition.
        Captain Bradley Snyder (Ret.) is the past President of
    Armed Forces Services Corporation, a shorter title. Thank you
    very much, Captain. [Laughter.]
        Less chance of messing it up.
        If you would, Mr. Barnes, would you share your thoughts on
    the personnel issues that you think can be reflected in this
    year's budget?

        STATEMENT OF MASTER CHIEF JOSEPH L. BARNES, USN (RET.),
    NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLEET RESERVE ASSOCIATION; AND CO-
                     CHAIR, THE MILITARY COALITION

        Mr. Barnes. Certainly, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the
    opportunity to be here today and appear before this
    distinguished subcommittee.
        The Military Coalition's (TMC) statement reflects the
    consensus of 34 TMC organizations and extensive work by the
    Coalition's 8 legislative committees. We understand that at
    least one coalition organization witness has been invited to
    testify at a separate family readiness hearing, and for that
    reason, the Coalition panelists will not address family matters
    today, and each will focus on other issues.
        Before proceeding, I wish to thank you and the entire
    subcommittee and your staff personnel for effective leadership,
    a strong commitment, and support for military personnel,
    retirees, veterans, their families, and survivors, and
    particularly for our wounded warriors and their families.
        Adequate service end strengths are essential to success in
    the war efforts and other demanding operational commitments
    vital to our national security, and the Coalition strongly
    supports proposed end strength increases in 2010.
        Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
    recently testified about the strain of repeated deployments--
    and we also heard reference to this in the first panel--and the
    limited dwell time for many servicemembers that will continue
    at least through 2010 due to current end strengths and
    demanding operational requirements. The related stress on
    servicemembers and their families is a serious concern and can
    lead to significant morale, readiness, and retention
    challenges.
        Unfortunately, the proposed increases will only get the
    Army to 15 months of dwell time, which is still grossly
    inadequate. We understand some on the committee may support
    further end strength increases, and the Coalition would
    strongly support this and any initiative to further enhance
    essential dwell time.
        We also note the Navy's and the Air Force's reductions in
    force in recent years, and we also note that the Navy continues
    to provide individual augmentees supporting overseas
    contingency operations. Associated with all this is maintaining
    adequate end strength and a sustained and adequate funding for
    military recruiting efforts.
        Pay comparability remains a top priority, and the Coalition
    strongly supports authorization of a 3.4 percent 2010 Active
    Duty pay hike. We appreciate your past support for higher than
    employment cost index pay increases, which have reduced the pay
    gap to 2.9 percent.
        Housing standards determine local housing allowance rates,
    which need to be revised to more closely reflect where service
    personnel are actually living. For example, only E-9s, which
    comprise 1.25 percent of the enlisted force, are eligible for
    basic allowance for housing for single-family detached homes.
        TMC appreciates enactment of the post-September 11 GI bill,
    and DOD's policies on transferability options for personnel
    nearing retirement. However, technical corrections are needed
    to extend transferability to members of the U.S. Public Health
    Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    corps.
        Finally, the Coalition remains committed to adequate
    funding to ensure access to the commissary benefit for all
    beneficiaries and to support important morale, welfare, and
    recreation (MWR) programs. These various programs, facilities,
    and support services for personnel impacted by base realignment
    and closure actions, rebasing, and global repositioning are
    very important, particularly during wartime, which alone
    results in significant stress on servicemembers and their
    families.
        Thank you again for the opportunity to present our
    recommendations today.
        [The prepared statement of The Military Coalition follows:]
               Prepared Statement by The Military Coalition (TMC)
        Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the subcommittee. On
    behalf of The Military Coalition (TMC), a consortium of nationally
    prominent uniformed services and veterans' organizations, we are
    grateful to the committee for this opportunity to express our views
    concerning issues affecting the uniformed services community. This
    testimony provides the collective views of the following military and
    veterans' organizations, which represent approximately 5.5 million
    current and former members of the seven uniformed services, plus their
    families and survivors.

              Air Force Association
              Air Force Sergeants Association
              Air Force Women Officers Associated
              American Logistics Association
              AMVETS (American Veterans)
              Army Aviation Association of America
              Association of Military Surgeons of the United States
              Association of the United States Army
              Association of the United States Navy/Naval Reserve
            Association
              Chief Warrant Officer and Warrant Officer Association, U.S.
            Coast Guard
              Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health
            Service, Inc.
              Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United
            States
              Fleet Reserve Association
              Gold Star Wives of America, Inc.
              Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
              Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
              Marine Corps League
              Marine Corps Reserve Association
              Military Chaplains Association of the United States of
            America
              Military Officers Association of America
              Military Order of the Purple Heart
              National Association for Uniformed Services
              National Military Family Association
              National Order of Battlefield Commissions
              Naval Enlisted Reserve Association
              Noncommissioned Officers Association
              Reserve Enlisted Association
              Reserve Officers Association \1\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The Reserve Officers Association supports the nonhealth care
    portion of the testimony.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Society of Medical Consultants to the Armed Forces
              The Retired Enlisted Association
              United States Army Warrant Officers Association
              United States Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association
              Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States

        The Military Coalition, Inc., does not receive any grants or
    contracts from the Federal Government.
                               executive summary
    Wounded Warrior Care
        DOD-VA Seamless Transition Oversight--It is of overriding
    importance to establish a permanent Joint Seamless Transition Office,
    responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, and reporting to
    senior DOD, VA and congressional leaders on all aspects of the seamless
    transition process including, but not limited to:

             Joint, single separation physical for Active, Guard,
            and Reserve Forces;
             Consistent DOD/VA disability evaluation system;
             Bi-directional electronic medical and personnel
            records data transfer;
             Medical centers of excellence and operations/research
            projects; and
             Coordination of care, treatment, and information,
            including DOD-VA Federal/recovery coordinator clinical and non-
            clinical services and case management programs

        Disability Evaluation System (DES)

             Bar ``pre-existing condition'' determinations for any
            member who has been deployed to a combat zone;
             Retain the 30-percent disability threshold for award
            of disability retired pay and lifetime family TRICARE coverage
             Ensure that any adjustment to the disability
            retirement system does not result in a member receiving less
            disability retired pay than he or she would receive under the
            current system; and
             Ensure that members electing accelerated disability
            retirement/separation are fully counseled on all possible
            negative changes in compensation, health care and other
            benefits, and give consideration to allowing a limited time to
            reverse a regrettable decision.

        Continuity of Health Care Coverage

             Authorize all medically retired members with a severe
            service-caused disability to retain active-duty-level TRICARE
            eligibility for themselves and their eligible family members
            for at least 3 years to protect against ``falling through the
            cracks'' of unforeseen coverage changes upon conversion to
            retired/veteran status;
             Establish common DOD and VA protocols for diagnosis,
            treatment, and rehabilitation for TBI conditions;
             Either exempt severely wounded, ill, or injured
            members who must be medically retired from paying Medicare Part
            B premiums until age 65 or authorize a special DOD allowance to
            reimburse them for the cost of such premiums; and
             Waive DOD preauthorization/referral requirements for
            Active Duty/Guard/Reserve members referred to VA polytrauma
            facilities for care.

        Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)--TMC
    recommends:

             Priority efforts to deliver information on-line and by
            other means to servicemembers and family members concerning
            availability of providers, confidential options for counseling,
            and virtual counseling/advice;
             Special outreach efforts to provide such services and
            resources, including through VA facilities, to Guard and
            Reserve members and families who don't live near military
            facilities;
             Priority efforts to educate private sector providers
            on the unique needs of military and veteran patients and family
            members, and deliver needed information to them online,
            including contact points for discussion/consultation with
            military/VA providers;
             Consistent implementation of pre- and post-deployment
            screenings, particularly for Guard and Reserve members who may
            be leaving active duty;
             Increased research on the impact of combat stress and
            TBI on family members, particularly children;
             Increasing destigmatization efforts, with emphasis at
            unit levels to actively encourage affected servicemembers,
            veterans, and family members to seek help, and thus increase
            effectiveness and military readiness;
             Increasing availability and outreach on substance
            abuse counseling options;
             Pursuing aggressive medication reconciliation and
            management programs to protect against inadvertent
            overmedication and adverse reactions;
             Requiring TBI and psychological health assessments for
            members who have been deployed to a combat zone as part of any
            disciplinary process prior to a decision concerning non-medical
            separation; and
             Developing a partnership between DOD, VA, and other
            governmental and nongovernmental agencies and civilian health
            care systems to improve access to treatment for PTSD, TBI,
            depression and other combat-related stress conditions for
            servicemembers and their families.

        Caregiver and Family Support Services for Active, Guard, and
    Reserve

             Authorize compensation, training and certification,
            and respite care for family members required to serve as full-
            time caregivers, whether the member is in active duty or
            retired status;
             Authorize health care coverage for full-time
            caregivers and their families; and
             Extend on-base housing eligibility for up to 1 year to
            medically retired, severely injured servicemembers, and their
            families.
    Active Forces
        End Strength

             Sustain planned Army and Marine Corps end strength
            growth as a top priority;
             Resist budget-driven (rather than requirements-driven)
            manpower reductions for the Air Force and Navy and Guard/
            Reserve components; and
             Seek a 2010 defense budget of at least 5 percent of
            Gross Domestic Product.

        Military Pay Comparability--Sustain military raises of at least .5
    percent above the Employment Cost Index (ECI) until the current 2.9
    percent shortfall is eliminated.
        Military vs. Civilian Total Compensation Comparisons--Reject
    proposals to ``civilianize'' military comparisons that, by their
    nature, cannot similarly calculate the dramatic differentials in
    military vs. civilian working conditions.
        REDUX and the 15-Year Career Status Bonus--The Coalition believes
    the REDUX/Career Bonus authority should be repealed. For the shorter
    term, recognizing the significant budget hurdles to that objective, the
    coalition urges the subcommittee to require the Services to exert more
    effort to educate members on size of the future retired pay loss
    incurred in choosing that option.
        Family Readiness and Support--

             Accelerate increases in availability of child care to
            meet Active and Reserve component requirements;
             Direct DOD to report on the extent of reallocation of
            approved funding for support programs and the attendant impact
            on military families; and
             Continue pressing the Defense Department to implement
            flexible spending accounts to enable active duty and Selected
            Reserve families to pay out-of-pocket dependent care and health
            care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
             Correct the new paternity leave authority to cover all
            seven ``uniformed services''

        Access to Quality Housing--Continue efforts to extend the single-
    family detached house standard to members in grade E-8 and subsequently
    to grade E-7 and below over several years as resources allow.
        Post-September 11 GI Bill--Support a technical correction to ensure
    uniform applicability to all seven uniformed services.
        Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Allowances--Continue efforts to
    upgrade permanent change-of-station allowances to better reflect
    expenses imposed on servicemembers, with priority on shipping a second
    vehicle on overseas accompanied assignments and authorizing at least
    some reimbursement for house-hunting trip expenses.
        Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs--

             Oppose any initiative to withhold or reduce MWR
            appropriated support for Category A and B programs or reduce
            the exchange dividend derived; and
             Ensure needed access to exchange, commissary, family
            support, and other quality of life programs at gaining and
            losing installations involved in BRAC/rebasing.
    National Guard & Reserve Forces
        Retirement Age Credit--

             For the near term, the coalition places particular
            priority on authorizing early retirement credit for all
            qualifying post-September 11 active duty service performed by
            Guard/Reserve servicemembers and eliminating the fiscal-year-
            specific accumulator that bars equal credit for members
            deploying for equal periods during different months of the
            year;
             Ultimately, there should be a reduced age entitlement
            for retired pay and health coverage for all Reserve component
            members--that is, an age/service formula or outright
            eligibility at age 55; and
             Repeal the annual cap of 130 days of inactive duty
            training points that may be credited towards a Reserve
            retirement.

        Seamless Transition for Activated Guard and Reserve and Their
    Families--

             Fully fund and field ``yellow ribbon reintegration''
            programs by modeling best practices
             Implement GAO recommendations (GAO Rpt. 08-901) for
            the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program
        Guard/Reserve GI Bill--
             Restore basic Reserve MGIB benefits for initially
            joining the Selected Reserve to the historic benchmark of 47-50
            percent of active duty benefits;
             Integrate Reserve and active duty MGIB laws in Title
            38 to ensure proportionality is maintained in any future
            benefit changes; and
             Providing full academic protection, including
            guaranteed enrollment, for mobilized Guard and Reserve
            students.

        Special and Incentive Pays--Ensure equitable treatment of Guard and
    Reserve vs. active duty members for the full range of special and
    incentive pays.
    Retiree Issues
        Concurrent Receipt--The Coalition's continuing goal is to eliminate
    the deduction of VA disability compensation from earned military
    retired pay for all disabled retirees. In pursuit of that goal, the
    Coalition's immediate priorities include:

             Correcting the statutory Combat-Related Special
            Compensation (CRSC) formula to ensure the intended compensation
            is delivered; and
             Expanding current authority for Concurrent Retired
            Disability Pay to members forced into medical retirement before
            attaining 20 years of service.

        Proposed Military Retirement Changes--Reject retirement plan
    changes such as those proposed by the 10th Quadrennial Review of
    Military Compensation that would ``civilianize'' the military system
    without adequate consideration of the extraordinary demands and
    sacrifices inherent in a military vs. a civilian career.
        Disability Severance Pay--Amend the eligibility rules to include
    all combat- or operations-related injuries, using same definition as
    CRSC. For the longer term, the Coalition believes the offset should be
    ended for all members separated for service-caused disabilities.
    Survivor Issues
        SBP-DIC Offset--Repeal the SBP-DIC offset and:

             Authorize payment of SBP annuities for disabled
            survivors into a Special Needs Trust;
             Allow SBP eligibility to switch to children if a
            surviving spouse is convicted of complicity in the member's
            death;
             Reinstate SBP for survivors who previously transferred
            payments to their children at such time as the children attain
            majority, or upon termination of a second or subsequent
            marriage.

        Final Retired Paycheck--Authorize survivors of retired members to
    retain the final month's retired pay for the month in which the retiree
    dies.
    Health Care Issues
        Full Funding for the Defense Health Program--Ensure full funding
    for Defense Health Program needs.
        Protecting Beneficiaries Against Cost-Shifting--Require DOD to
    pursue greater efforts to improve TRICARE and find more effective and
    appropriate ways to make TRICARE more cost-efficient without seeking to
    ``tax'' beneficiaries and make unrealistic budget assumptions.
        TMC Healthcare Cost Principles--The Coalition most strongly
    recommends Representative Chet Edwards' and Representative Walter
    Jones' H.R. 816 as a model to establish statutory findings, a sense of
    Congress on the purpose and principles of military health care
    benefits, and guidelines on the benefit levels earned by a career of
    uniformed service.

             Active duty members and families should be charged no
            fees except retail pharmacy co-payments, except to the extent
            they make the choice to participate in TRICARE Standard or use
            out-of-network providers under TRICARE Prime.
             The TRICARE Standard inpatient copay should not be
            increased further for the foreseeable future. At $535 per day,
            it already far exceeds inpatient copays for virtually any
            private sector health plan.
             There should be no enrollment fee for TRICARE Standard
            or TRICARE For Life (TFL), since neither offers assured access
            to TRICARE-participating providers. An enrollment fee implies
            enrollees will receive additional services, as Prime enrollees
            are guaranteed access to participating providers in return for
            their fee. Congress already has required TFL beneficiaries to
            pay substantial Medicare Part B fees to gain TFL coverage.
             There should be one TRICARE fee schedule for all
            retired beneficiaries, just as all legislators, Defense leaders
            and other Federal civilian grades have the same health fee
            schedule. The current TRICARE schedule is significantly lower
            than the lowest tier recommended by the Defense Department,
            recognizing that all retired servicemembers paid large upfront
            premiums for their coverage through decades of arduous service
            and sacrifice.

        TRICARE Prime--Require a DOD report, including reports from managed
    care support contractors, on actions being taken to improve Prime
    patient satisfaction, provide appointments within Prime access
    standards, reduce delays in obtaining pre-authorizations and referrals,
    and provide quality information to assist beneficiaries in making
    informed decisions.
        TRICARE Standard Enrollment--Oppose establishment of any TRICARE
    Standard enrollment system; to the extent enrollment may be required,
    any beneficiary filing a claim should be enrolled automatically,
    without denying the claim. No enrollment fee should be charged for
    TRICARE Standard until and unless the program offers guaranteed access
    to a participating provider.
        TRICARE Standard Provider Participation Adequacy--Continue
    monitoring DOD and GAO reporting on provider participation to ensure
    proper follow-on action.
        Administrative Deterrents to Provider Participation--Continue
    efforts to reduce administrative impediments that deter health care
    providers from accepting TRICARE patients.
        TRICARE Reimbursement Rates--To the extent the Medicare rate freeze
    continues, encourage DOD to use rate adjustment authority as needed to
    sustain provider acceptance. Require a Comptroller General report on
    the relative propensity of physicians to participate in Medicare vs.
    TRICARE.
        Active Duty Dependent Dental Plan--Increase the DOD subsidy for the
    active Duty Dependent Dental Plan to 72 percent and increase the cap on
    orthodontia payments to $2,000.
        TRICARE Dependent Dental Coverage for Surviving Children--Authorize
    children of members who die on active duty to retain coverage under the
    Active Duty Dependent Dental Plan until they reach 21 or 23 if enrolled
    in college.
        TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) Access--Require a DOD report on
    options to assure TRS enrollees' access to TRICARE-participating
    providers.
        TRS Alternative Option--Authorize an option to have DOD subsidize
    premiums for continuation of a member's civilian family health
    insurance during activation periods.
        Reserve Separatee TRS/CHCBP Coverage--Authorize 1 year of post-
    Transitional Assistance Management Program (TAMP) TRS coverage for
    every 90 days deployed for returning IRR or involuntary separatees from
    the Selected Reserve. Authorize Continued Health Care Benefits Program
    (CHCBP) coverage for voluntarily separating reservists subject to TRS
    disenrollment.
        Gray Area Reserve Coverage--Authorize an additional premium-based
    TRS option for Guard/Reserve members to avoid losing health coverage
    upon entering ``gray area.''
        Guard/Reserve Dental Coverage--Provide coverage for reservists once
    an alert order is issued and for 180 days post-mobilization (during
    TAMP), unless dental readiness is restored to T-2 condition before
    demobilization.
        Guard/Reserve Mental Health--Guard and Reserve members and their
    families should have equal access to evidence-based treatment for post
    traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI),
    depression, and other combat-related stress conditions. Post-deployment
    health examinations should be offered at the member's home station.
        Guard/Reserve Health Information--Improve electronic capture of
    non-military health information in the servicemember's medical record.
        TRICARE For Life--Oppose any TFL enrollment fee and seek equal
    coverage of TFL beneficiaries under TRICARE and Medicare preventive
    care initiatives.
        Restoration of Survivor Coverage--Restore TRICARE benefits to
    previously eligible survivors whose second or subsequent marriage ends
    in death or divorce.
        BRAC and Rebasing--Require an annual DOD report on the adequacy of
    health resources, services, quality and access to care for
    beneficiaries affected by BRAC/rebasing.
                                    overview
        Mr. Chairman, The Military Coalition extends our thanks to you and
    the entire subcommittee for your steadfast support of our active duty,
    Guard, Reserve, retired members, and veterans of the uniformed services
    and their families and survivors.
        Over the past 2 years, the subcommittee provided major increases in
    military end strength for the Army and Marine Corps; improved pay
    raises; precedent-setting advancements in survivor benefits and
    disabled retiree programs; significant improvements in wounded warrior
    benefits, care, and treatment; and upgrades to Guard/Reserve health
    care. The subcommittee also worked hard to resist initiatives that
    would have imposed disproportional increases in TRICARE fees. Your
    efforts made a huge, positive difference in the lives of the entire
    uniformed services community--Active, Guard, and Reserve personnel,
    veterans, retirees, survivors, and families.
        Despite these many advancements, the Services continue to report
    that they are wearing out both equipment and personnel. As our men and
    women in uniform prosecute wars on two fronts, the Coalition believes
    it is critical that the Nation continue to support military people
    programs with the appropriate resources.
        The Army attempted last fall to ease the strain of operations tempo
    by reducing deployment time from 15 to 12 months, yet prolonged,
    repeated separations and the attendant stress on our troops and their
    families continue to put longer-term readiness at risk.
        Men and women in uniform are still answering the call--but only at
    the cost of ever-greater sacrifices. They, with the support of their
    families, continue to endure the mounting stresses brought about by
    repeated deployments, ever-increasing workloads, and the strain of
    knowing (as documented by Rand Corp.'s study) that with each successive
    deployment, the likelihood increases that they won't return home as the
    same person.
        We have been encouraged that the Nation seems to recognize that the
    only way to ease these burdens is through significant increases to end
    strength that will allow more dwell time between deployments in today's
    high-threat environment that will continue for the foreseeable future.
        The Coalition hopes that, in these times of growing political and
    economic pressures, Congress won't lose sight of that fundamental
    priority, or be persuaded to make a false choice between end strength
    increases and weapons needs, when both are vital to the Nation's
    strength.
        In this testimony, The Coalition offers its collective
    recommendations on what needs to be done to address important
    personnel-related issues in order to sustain long-term personnel
    readiness.
    Wounded Warrior Care
        In 2007, The Washington Post reported deplorable conditions and
    poor oversight at Walter Reed Medical Center for wounded servicemembers
    transitioning from in-patient to out-patient status.
        Congress, DOD, and VA acted quickly to improve wounded care based
    on the findings and recommendations of several commissions and task
    forces. Some of the recommendations were addressed in the National
    Defense Authorization Acts (NDAAs) for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009, but
    these were just initial steps, and much more remains to be done if we
    are to do the right thing by those who have suffered physical and
    psychological harm in the Nation's defense.
        TMC offers recommendations in five major areas of concern: DOD-VA
    seamless transition oversight; the disability evaluation system;
    continuity of health care coverage; mental health/traumatic brain
    injury (TBI) needs; and support services for families and caregivers.
        DOD-VA Seamless Transition Oversight--The Coalition believes
    strongly that seamless transition goals will never be realized without
    the vigilant oversight of a permanent, jointly-staffed DOD-VA oversight
    agency. Part-time oversight by joint committees that meet periodically
    have never been and never will be adequate to meet that need.
        Success will require aggressive personal involvement and
    accountability from the most senior leaders of both Departments. But
    nothing can replace the leadership accountability of a single-mission,
    joint office in which representatives of the two agencies are assigned
    full-time responsibility, authority, and resources to provide
    meaningful oversight, with regular reporting responsibilities to the
    Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the
    Committees on Armed Services and Veterans Affairs.
        We note, for example, a January 2009 GAO report which found that
    DOD and VA lack results-oriented performance goals and measures for
    establishing a joint electronic health record, and that they have not
    fully executed the statutorily required Joint Interagency Office, which
    at that time of GAO's evaluation had no director, deputy, or staff.
        We're grateful that Congress extended the statutory authority for
    the DOD-VA Senior Oversight Committee through the end of 2009 rather
    than allowing it to expire, but the very transience of this authority
    significantly undermines the Committee's effectiveness. SOC incumbents
    are understandably distracted by the uncertainty of their own futures
    and dealing with other governmental priorities, and program
    administrators being overseen are more than aware that their overseers
    may not be around very long.
        The Coalition believes it is of overriding importance to establish
    a permanent Joint Seamless Transition Office, responsible for managing,
    implementing, monitoring and reporting to senior DOD, VA and
    congressional leaders on all aspects of the seamless transition process
    including, but not limited to:

             Joint, single separation physical;
             Consistent DOD/VA disability evaluation system;
             Bidirectional electronic medical and personnel records
            data transfer;
             Medical centers of excellence and operations/research
            projects; and
             Coordination of care, treatment, and information,
            including DOD-VA Federal/recovery coordinator clinical and non-
            clinical services and case management programs.

        Disability Evaluation System (DES)--The DES pilot has shown that
    DOD and VA have the capability to standardize, rationalize, and
    streamline the complex disability rating process as a servicemember
    transitions from active duty into the VA system. But several challenges
    remain.
        Pre-existing conditions. We fully agree with the subcommittee's
    efforts to limit past practices under which some services have
    characterized returning warriors' disabilities as existing prior to
    service entry. The Coalition believes strongly that such
    characterization should not be an option if a member has been deployed
    to a combat zone, regardless of his/her length of service.
        Disability retirement threshold. The Coalition believes strongly
    that members determined by the parent service to be 30 percent or more
    disabled should continue to be eligible for a military disability
    retirement with all attendant benefits, including lifetime TRICARE
    eligibility for the member and his/her family. We do not support
    efforts to disconnect health care eligibility from disability retired
    pay eligibility. The Coalition also agrees with the opinion expressed
    by Secretary Gates that a member forced from service for wartime
    injuries should not be separated, but awarded a high enough rating to
    be retired for disability.
        Disability retired pay calculation. We also do not support simply
    turning all responsibility for disability payments to the VA, as some
    have proposed, with DOD only responsible for ``vesting'' service-based
    retired pay at 2.5 percent of pay times years of service. This would
    significantly disadvantage many severely wounded, ill or injured
    members from a compensation standpoint. The Coalition does not believe
    that reforms intended to help wounded warriors should cause them to
    receive less compensation than is provided by the current system. Under
    any reform methodology, the member should receive the higher of the two
    compensation amounts, just as disability retirees with more than 20
    years of service currently are awarded the higher amount of either 2.5
    percent of pay times years of service or their disability percentage
    times their pay.
        Accelerated disability-retirement determinations. The Coalition
    does not object to current efforts to allow disabled members to accept
    accelerated processing of their disability retirements. However, we are
    concerned whether members facing such decisions are receiving complete
    counseling on the potential impacts of their decision on their
    compensation, rehabilitation program availability, health coverage and
    other benefits. All of these things can change dramatically once a
    person leaves active duty--and in most cases not for the better. For
    example, per diem for family member caregivers will terminate and
    members with TBI can lose eligibility for cognitive therapy. The
    Coalition believes the government has an obligation to ensure that
    members making such decisions are fully aware of all implications that
    could affect them, and that consideration should be given to allowing
    them at least some period of time in which they are able to reverse a
    decision that proves to have unexpected adverse consequences.
        The Coalition recommends:

             Barring ``pre-existing condition'' determinations for
            any member who has been deployed to a combat zone;
             Retaining the 30 percent disability threshold for
            award of disability retired pay and lifetime family TRICARE
            coverage;
             Ensuring that any adjustment to the disability
            retirement system does not result in a member receiving less
            disability retired pay than he or she would receive under the
            current system; and
             Ensuring that members electing accelerated disability
            retirement/separation are fully counseled on all possible
            negative changes in compensation, health care and other
            benefits, with consideration to allowing a limited time to
            reverse a regrettable decision.

        Continuity of Health Care Coverage--Transitioning out of the
    military is always a difficult time for servicemembers and their
    families, and it can even be more frightening and uncertain for those
    who are disabled because of their service.
        A major consideration is that there are significant differences
    between active-duty and retired military health care coverage, and even
    greater differences between active duty TRICARE and VA health coverage.
        When a member is killed in the line of duty, the member's spouse is
    authorized 3 years of continued active-duty-level coverage, and the
    children are authorized continued active-duty-level coverage until they
    attain majority.
        The Coalition believes that, when a member suffers injuries or
    illness on active duty, especially in combat, that are severe enough to
    force him or her into disability retirement, the member and the family
    deserve similar treatment. Three years of continued active-duty-level
    coverage would provide the necessary transitional protection to ensure
    they are not faced with abrupt and unforeseen changes in their
    eligibility or expense for any type of care solely because of the
    service-caused injury.
        Cognitive therapy. This poses potentially serious implications for
    members who may need years of continuing rehabilitation/therapy after
    leaving active duty.
        A particularly important example concerns cognitive rehabilitation
    therapy for members with TBI. Active duty members must be approved
    under a special TRICARE Supplemental Health Care Program for cognitive
    rehabilitation therapy. Since the therapy is not a covered benefit
    under TRICARE, members may not automatically receive the treatment and
    services, and eligibility for the Supplemental Health Care Program
    terminates once the member is retired. While DOD does provide some
    rehabilitation services accepted and covered under TRICARE for TBI,
    cognitive rehabilitation therapy is not covered as a distinct and
    separate service because DOD believes there is no evidence on the
    efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation as a therapy. The VA, on the other
    hand, offers cognitive therapy coverage, but like TRICARE, treatment
    and services are limited to specific locations where capacity and
    demand exist.
        Congress made some effort to mitigate such potential transition
    problems with a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for
    Fiscal Year 2008 that authorized continuity of active duty-level
    TRICARE benefits for a disabled retiree to the extent that VA care is
    not available.
        But this is of limited value when the services and VA each think
    the other should be making the availability determination, when the
    availability of VA care is in the eye of the beholder, and when that
    care is substantively different than the therapy the member was
    receiving while on active duty. Even this modest protection only
    applies to the member, not to family members.
        Medicare Part B requirement. A major issue faced by many members
    forced from active duty by severe service-caused disabilities is that
    the severity of their disability qualifies them for Medicare. In such
    cases, TRICARE is second-payer to Medicare.
        But under laws that were designed for elderly retirees but apply
    equally to all Medicare-eligible military beneficiaries, these younger
    disabled warriors must pay Medicare Part B premiums ($96.40 per month
    in 2009) to retain any coverage under TRICARE. Unfortunately, many
    weren't well-informed on the requirement to enroll in Medicare and
    subsequently were denied TRICARE eligibility.
        The Coalition believes it's wrong that members whose service caused
    them to become severely wounded, ill or injured should have to pay
    extra for their care, and believes they should either be exempt from
    paying the Part B premium until age 65 or DOD should reimburse them for
    such payments.
        DOD-VA Waiver of Pre-authorizations/Referrals. Doctors at VA
    polytrauma centers indicate that one of their biggest problems is the
    requirement to get multiple authorizations from DOD to provide a
    variety of specialty care for active duty members with multiple medical
    problems.
        It is grossly inappropriate that bureaucratic requirements are
    impeding the delivery of urgent and essential care for members who have
    suffered most severely for their country.
        When an active duty member is referred to VA facility for care, DOD
    should grant an automatic waiver of preauthorization/referral
    requirements to allow the VA providers to deliver needed care without
    bureaucratic delays.
        The Coalition strongly recommends:

             Authorizing medically retired members with a severe
            service-caused disability to retain active-duty-level TRICARE
            eligibility for themselves and their eligible family members
            for at least 3 years to protect against ``falling through the
            cracks'' of unforeseen coverage changes upon conversion to
            retired/veteran status;
             Establishing common DOD and VA protocols for
            diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation for TBI conditions;
             Either exempting severely disabled military retirees
            from paying Medicare Part B premiums until age 65 or
            authorizing a special DOD allowance to reimburse them for the
            cost of such premiums; and
             Waiving TRICARE Prime preauthorization/referral
            requirements for Active Duty/Guard/Reserve members referred to
            VA polytrauma facilities for care.

        Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)--Last year's
    RAND study documented that about one in five OEF/OIF veterans suffer
    from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or major depression and
    another 10 percent experience some level of TBI.
        The report stressed that if the government fails to invest in
    needed immediate treatment, it will face very large alternative costs
    in the years ahead as a result of homelessness, unemployment/
    underemployment and lost tax revenue.
        Congress has done the right thing by establishing the Center of
    Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and the
    Coalition is encouraged by service leaders' cooperation in working with
    the Center. Further, DOD and the VA are pursuing serious efforts to add
    qualified mental health providers to meet the explosive growth in
    requirements.
        But the Coalition is concerned that it will take years to change
    thinking, add resources, and implement processes necessary to achieve
    the kind of results that all interested parties hope for.
        In the meantime, thousands of affected members and their family
    members have gone unidentified, continue to feel deterred from seeking
    needed care, or are having difficulty accessing needed care.
        In many cases, they may be resistant to acknowledging their
    condition because of fear for the possible impact on their careers or
    the perceptions of their leaders and peers (in many cases, with good
    cause), or may seek independent counseling/care from outside providers
    in efforts to protect their anonymity.
        TMC recommends:

             Priority efforts to deliver information on-line and by
            other means to servicemembers and family members concerning
            availability of providers, confidential options for counseling,
            and virtual counseling/advice;
             Special outreach efforts to provide such services and
            resources to Guard and Reserve members and families who don't
            live near military facilities;
             Priority efforts to educate private sector providers
            on the unique needs of military and veteran patients and family
            members, and deliver needed information to them on-line,
            including contact points for discussion/consultation with
            military/VA providers;
             Consistent implementation of pre- and post-deployment
            evaluations, particularly for Guard and Reserve members who may
            be leaving active duty;
             Increased research on the impact of combat stress and
            TBI on family members, particularly children;
             Continuing destigmatization efforts with emphasis at
            unit levels to actively encourage affected servicemembers,
            veterans, and family members to seek help, and thus increase
            effectiveness and military readiness;
             Increasing availability and outreach on substance
            abuse counseling options;
             Pursuing aggressive medication reconciliation and
            management programs to protect against inadvertent
            overmedication and adverse reactions;
             Requiring TBI and psychological health assessments for
            members who have been deployed to a combat zone as part of any
            disciplinary process prior to a decision concerning nonmedical
            separation; and
             Developing a partnership between DOD, VA, and other
            governmental and nongovernmental agencies and civilian health
            care systems to improve access to treatment for PTSD, TBI,
            depression and other combat-related stress conditions for
            servicemembers and their families.

        Caregiver and Family Support Services--Recent statutory changes
    authorized a number of support services, but more needs to be done to
    assist full-time caregivers and family members who also have
    significant additional needs.
        The sad reality is that, for the most severely injured
    servicemembers, family members or other loved ones are often required
    to become full-time caregivers. Many have lost their jobs, homes, and
    savings.
        Under current law, TSGLI can provide some offset for immediate
    expenses for some wounded warriors with qualifying TSGLI wounds/
    injuries, and authorized caregivers are provided per diem payments
    while the member remains on active duty. But those payments stop when
    the member leaves active duty status. While the VA provides severely
    disabled veterans a modest allowance for aid and attendance, it is
    payable to the veteran, not to the caregiver. Further, it is authorized
    only for spouses, but caregivers are often parents, siblings or other
    loved ones.
        The Coalition believes the government has an obligation to provide
    reasonable compensation and training for such caregivers, who never
    dreamed that their own well-being, careers, and futures would be
    devastated by military-caused injuries to their servicemembers.
        In addition, Congress should authorize health coverage and
    reasonable respite care for full-time caregivers and their family
    members, recognizing that they often have no other options for care and
    need periodic relief from their arduous and stressful duties.
        In the same vein as the continuity of health care addressed above,
    many members have difficulty transitioning to medical retirement
    status. To assist in this process, consideration should be given to
    authorizing medically retired members and their families to remain in
    on-base housing for up to 1 year after retirement, in the same way that
    families are allowed to do so when a member dies on active duty.
        The Coalition recommends:

             Authorizing compensation, training and certification,
            and respite care for family members required to serve as full-
            time caregivers, whether the member is in active duty or
            retired status;
             Authorizing health care eligibility for full-time
            caregivers and their families; and
             Extending on-base housing eligibility for up to 1 year
            to medically retired, severely injured servicemembers and their
            families.
    Active Forces and Their Families
        The Coalition is concerned over the rhetoric that military
    personnel costs are skyrocketing and hopes the subcommittee will be
    able to fend off those who wish to reduce costs by cutting back on
    needed personnel growth and quality of life programs.
        Backtracking on planned--and badly needed--end strength increases
    will only aggravate the unfair abuses already imposed on military
    people and families with the imposition of repeated, long-term
    deployments on a too-small force.
        BRAC actions pose an additional concern, as DOD is struggling to
    meet the 2011 deadline at many BRAC locations. The Coalition is very
    concerned whether needed infrastructure and support programs will be in
    place in time to meet families' needs.
        Military End Strength--Inadequate end strengths and greater-than-
    anticipated requirements and resources to support the war effort and
    other operational requirements have taken a terrible toll on the
    quality of life of military families. This has been reflected in
    recruiting in recent years and poses a serious and too-often
    underestimated threat to retention and readiness.
        While the subcommittee succeeded in increasing Army and Marine
    Corps end strengths last year, those must continue to have any
    significant prospect of easing rotation burdens.
        The Coalition appreciates the Armed Services Committee leadership's
    support for additional end strength as outlined in their budget
    resolution recommendation letter; however, we remain greatly disturbed
    at calls by some influential legislators to reduce planned force growth
    as a means of funding weapons requirements. In some cases, this is
    justified by rhetoric about leveraging technology to replace people.
    The past 7 years of war have shown that there is no substitute for
    boots on the ground in the current conflict. It has been widely
    acknowledged that any drawdown in Iraq will be offset by increased
    deployments to Afghanistan.
        The Coalition is very concerned that some national leaders seem to
    have become desensitized to the truly terrible sacrifices that the
    current mismatch between missions and force levels has already imposed
    on those in uniform.
        If force planners had been told before September 11 that our Armed
    Forces would face the deployment tempo that they have over the past 8
    years, every one of them would have predicted that the services would
    be in a state of retention disaster by now.
        We all stand in awe of the level of sacrifice our troops and
    families have already borne on the Nation's behalf.
        But we fear that some seem to have gotten the impression that,
    because they have endured far more than the Nation has had any right to
    expect, that we can continue demanding--or increasing--that level of
    sacrifice. Let us not delude ourselves into thinking such a thing.
        There are thousands among this new ``Greatest Generation'' who are
    saying ``enough is enough'' and questioning their families can afford
    to continue accepting such disproportional burdens with little prospect
    of real relief in sight.
        There is no avoiding the reality that years of war have worn out
    weapons and equipment that must now be replaced and modernized. These
    and other military requirements will take a great deal of money.
        But pretending that the Nation can cut one essential readiness
    component (personnel) to fund another--especially in wartime--would
    entail a conscious decision to increase the already intolerable burdens
    imposed on military families. Such gross insensitivity to their
    sacrifices can only undermine retention and readiness, when they
    already are at such grave risk.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to:

             Sustain planned Army and Marine Corps end strength
            growth as a top priority;
             Resist budget-driven (rather than requirements-driven)
            manpower reductions for the Air Force and Navy; and
             Seek a 2010 defense budget of at least 5 percent of
            Gross Domestic Product.

        Military Pay Raise Comparability--The Coalition thanks the
    subcommittee for its sustained commitment to restoring full military
    pay comparability--a fundamental underpinning of the All-Volunteer
    Force--and we are grateful for the committee's support for an
    additional .5 percent pay raise above the administration's 2.9 percent
    military pay raise as outlined in the budget resolution
    recommendations.
        Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, our Nation didn't adhere to that
    principle, regularly capping military pay raises below the average
    American's to the extent that the ``pay comparability gap'' reached
    13.5 percent in 1998-1999, and contributed significantly to serious
    retention problems.
        Since then, the subcommittee has acted to pare the gap by approving
    military raises that have been at least .5 percent above private sector
    pay growth each year (as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics'
    Employment Cost Index (ECI).
        Now that significant progress has been made and the ``erosion of
    pay and benefits'' retention-related problems have abated, some have
    renewed the call to cut back on military raises, create a new
    comparability standard, or substitute more bonuses for pay raises in
    the interests of ``efficiency''.
        The Defense Department, for example, wishes to establish a new
    comparability standard under which each pay and longevity cell would
    represent the 70th percentile of compensation for similarly-educated
    civilians.
        The Coalition believes that methodology is appropriate to establish
    a floor to ensure the pay table properly addresses specific changes in
    force composition (e.g., more highly-educated and technologically
    sophisticated NCOs and warrant officers).
        But it is a bad standard for the overall pay raise, precisely
    because it is not transparent to anyone but the Pentagon analyst who
    does the calculation and is highly susceptible to manipulation--as
    various Defense leaders have sought to do in the past.
        The Coalition agrees with the approach the subcommittee has taken--
    that the best comparability measure is a comparison of the overall
    military pay raise percentage (proportionally adjusted for any grade/
    longevity tweaks such as those undertaken earlier in this decade) with
    the percentage growth in the ECI.
        The ECI is what the government uses for every other measure of
    private pay growth, and it's very transparent to government leaders and
    servicemembers alike.
        As of 2009, the comparability gap stands a 2.9 percent.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue sustaining
    military raises of at least .5 percent above the ECI until the current
    2.9 percent shortfall is eliminated.
        Military vs. Civilian Total Compensation Comparisons--The 10th
    Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation recommended what several
    studies have recommended in the past--building a ``Military Annual
    Compensation'' measure that includes not only pay and housing/food
    allowances and their associated tax advantages, but also the value of
    military-unique medical and retirement benefits. This would be used to
    compare military vs. civilian ``total compensation''.
        The Coalition believes such methodologies are grossly inappropriate
    for comparison purposes, because they fail utterly to acknowledge the
    unique and arduous conditions of military service that necessitate
    providing military-unique career benefits.
        We acknowledge that it's appropriate to educate servicemembers on
    the value of their total benefit package (which the services already do
    by providing each member an annual statement itemizing the value of
    each military compensation element). But even these often draw negative
    member reactions, such as ``Where does this statement show the negative
    value of having spent 3 of the last 6 years away from my family?''
        In the context of the incalculable differential in working
    conditions and demands and sacrifices expected of the two groups, any
    attempt to monetize the total compensation differential is meaningless.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue to reject
    proposals to ``civilianize'' military comparisons that, by their
    nature, cannot similarly calculate the dramatic differentials in
    military vs. civilian working conditions.
        REDUX and the 15-Year Career Status Bonus--The Coalition is very
    concerned that the Defense Department and the Services are not doing
    enough to educate military people on protecting their long-term
    financial interests concerning the choice each member faces at the 15-
    year point between retaining the regular military retirement system or
    accepting a $30,000 ``career status bonus'' and the far-less-
    advantageous REDUX retirement system.
        The Coalition believes that selecting the $30,000 bonus/REDUX is a
    demonstrably bad financial choice for nearly all servicemembers.
        A typical enlisted member who accepts the REDUX ``bonus'' and
    subsequently retires as an E-7 with 20 years of service will have
    forfeited $300,000 of lifetime retired pay (in 2009 dollars) for the
    $30,000 bonus.
        Yet one-quarter to one-half of enlisted members, depending on
    service, opt to take the bonus.
        Thinking about this another way, accepting the REDUX bonus is
    equivalent to taking out a 24 percent APR mortgage on the retired pay
    differential. For an officer, who receives the same $30,000 bonus but
    sacrifices far more retired pay, it's equivalent to a 35 percent APR
    mortgage.
        The Coalition believes strongly, from this context, calling the
    $30,000 a ``bonus'' is false advertising.
        The Coalition believes that the REDUX/Career Status Bonus option
    should be repealed. For the shorter term, recognizing the significant
    budget hurdles to that objective, the Coalition urges the subcommittee
    to require the services to exert more effort to educate members on the
    size of the future retired pay loss incurred in choosing that option.
        Family Readiness and Support--A fully funded, robust family
    readiness program continues to be crucial to overall readiness of our
    military, especially with the demands of frequent and extended
    deployments.
        Resource issues continue to plague basic installation support
    programs. At a time when families are dealing with increased
    deployments, they often are being asked to do without in other
    important areas.
        Availability of child care is a particular problem when so much of
    the force is deployed.
        The Coalition recommends that the subcommittee:

             Provide authorization and funding to accelerate
            increases in availability of child care to meet both Active and
            Reserve component requirements;
             Direct DOD to report on the extent of reallocation of
            approved funding for support programs and the attendant impact
            on military families; and
             Continue pressing the Defense Department to implement
            flexible spending accounts to enable active duty and Selected
            Reserve families to pay out-of-pocket dependent care and health
            care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

        Access to Quality Housing--Today's housing allowances come much
    closer to meeting military members' and families' housing needs than in
    the past, thanks to the conscientious efforts of the subcommittee in
    recent years.
        But the Coalition believes it's important to understand that some
    fundamental flaws in the standards used to set those allowances remain
    to be corrected, especially for enlisted members.
        The Coalition supports revised housing standards that are more
    realistic and appropriate for each pay grade. For example, only 1.25
    percent of the enlisted force (E-9) is eligible for BAH sufficient to
    pay for a three-bedroom single-family detached house, even though
    thousands of more junior enlisted members do, in fact, reside in
    detached homes.
        We appreciate the subcommittee's effort to extend the single-family
    home standard to E-8s in its markup last year, and regret that this
    measure was not sustained in conference action.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue its efforts to
    extend the single-family detached house standard to members in grade E-
    8 and subsequently to grade E-7 and below over several years as
    resources allow.
        Post-September 11 GI Bill--Congress' action last year in approving
    the post-September 11 GI Bill was a truly historic achievement that
    will provide major long-term benefits for military people and for
    America.
        However, the Coalition is sensitive that, unlike every other GI
    Bill program since World War II, eligibility was restricted to members
    of the ``Armed Forces'' rather than ``uniformed services''. This had
    the very serious effect of excluding eligibility for commissioned
    officers of the U.S. Public Health Service and NOAA Corps.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee's support for a technical
    correction to the post-September 11 GI Bill statute to ensure uniform
    applicability to all seven uniformed services.
        Paternity Leave--The Coalition is grateful for Congress' action
    last year to provide 10 days of paternity leave to servicemembers who
    have or adopt a child. However, eligibility was restricted to members
    of the ``Armed Forces'' rather than ``uniformed services''. This had
    the effect of excluding eligibility for commissioned officers of the
    U.S. Public Health Service and NOAA Corps.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee's support for a technical
    correction to the paternity leave statute to ensure uniform
    applicability to all seven uniformed services.
        Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Allowances--The Coalition is
    grateful for the subcommittee's successful initiative last year to
    raise the maximum daily Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE) allowance from
    $180 to $290 and authorize certain increases in PCS weight allowances.
        But it's an unfortunate fact that servicemembers and their families
    are forced to incur other significant out-of-pocket expenses when
    complying with government-directed moves.
        For example, PCS mileage rates still have not been adjusted since
    1985. The current rates range from 15 to 20 cents per mile--an ever-
    shrinking fraction of the 48.5 cents per mile authorized for temporary
    duty travel. Also, military members must make any advance house-hunting
    trips at personal expense, without any government reimbursement such as
    Federal civilians receive.
        Additionally, the overwhelming majority of service families consist
    of two working spouses, making two privately-owned vehicles a
    necessity. Yet the military pays for shipment of only one vehicle on
    overseas moves, including moves to Hawaii and Alaska. This forces
    relocating families into large out-of-pocket expenses, either by
    shipping a second vehicle at their own expense or selling one car
    before leaving the States and buying another upon arrival.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue its efforts to
    upgrade permanent change-of-station allowances to better reflect
    expenses imposed on servicemembers, with priority on shipping a second
    vehicle on overseas accompanied assignments and authorizing at least
    some reimbursement for house-hunting trip expenses.
        Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs--The availability of
    appropriated funds to support MWR activities is an area of continuing
    concern.
        Servicemembers and their families are reaching the breaking point
    as a result of extended deployments and the constant changes going on
    in the force. It is unacceptable to have troops and families continue
    to take on more responsibilities and sacrifices and not give them the
    support and resources to do the job and to take care of the needs of
    their families. TMC is particularly concerned that additional
    reductions in funding or support services may occur because of the U.S.
    economic crisis and budget shortfalls across the Defense Department.
        TMC urges the subcommittee to:

             Oppose any initiative to withhold or reduce MWR
            appropriated support for Category A and B programs or reduce
            the exchange dividend derived; and
             Ensure needed access to exchange, commissary and
            TRICARE programs at gaining and losing installations involved
            in BRAC/rebasing.
    Guard and Reserve Forces and Their Families
        Since September 11, 2001, more than 690,000 Guard and Reserve
    service men and women have been called to Active Federal service. More
    than 190,000 have served multiple deployments. In this regard, they are
    experiencing virtually the same sacrifices as active duty members and
    families--on a level never envisioned by the architects of Guard and
    Reserve personnel and compensation systems.
        However, readjusting to home life, returning to civilian jobs and
    the communities and families they left behind pose unique problems and
    added stress for Reserve component members.
        Unlike active duty personnel, whose combat experience enhances
    their careers, many Guard and Reserve members return to employers who
    are unhappy about their active duty service and find that their
    civilian careers have been inhibited by their prolonged absences.
        In many cases, those returning with various degrees of combat-
    related injuries and stress disorders encounter additional difficulties
    after they return that also can cost them their jobs and careers.
        This is compounded by the reality that, despite the continuing
    efforts of the subcommittee, most Guard and Reserve families do not
    have access to the same level of counseling and support services that
    the active duty members have.
        In short, the Reserve components face increasing challenges
    virtually across the board, including major equipment shortages, end-
    strength requirements, wounded-warrior health care, and pre- and post-
    deployment assistance and counseling.
        Reserve Retirement Age Credit--TMC deeply appreciates Congress'
    authorization of early retirement for certain members of the Guard and
    Reserve activated since January 28, 2008. However, in recognition of
    the continuing service and sacrifice of Reserve Components members and
    as an inducement to longer service and to maintain the Operational
    Reserve Force, more must be done.
        Guard/Reserve mission increases and a smaller Active-Duty Force
    mean Guard/Reserve members must devote far more of their working lives
    to military service than envisioned when the current retirement system
    was developed in 1948. Repeated, extended activations make it more
    difficult to sustain a full civilian career and will impede reservists'
    ability to build a full civilian retirement, 401(k), etc.
        Regardless of statutory protections, periodic long-term absences
    from the civilian workplace can only limit Guard/Reserve members'
    upward mobility, employability and financial security. Further,
    strengthening the Reserve retirement system will serve as an incentive
    to retaining critical mid-career officers and NCOs for continued
    service and thereby enhance readiness.
        TMC strongly urges further progress in revamping the Reserve
    retirement system in recognition of increased service and sacrifice of
    Reserve Component members, including at a minimum, extending the new
    authority for a 90 day--3 month reduction to all Guard and Reserve
    members who have served since September 11.
        TMC also urges amending the statute to eliminate the inequity
    inherent in the current fiscal year calculation, which only credits 90
    days of active service for early retirement purposes if it occurs
    within the same fiscal year.
        This has the effect of significantly penalizing members who deploy
    in July or August vs. those deploying earlier in the fiscal year.
        It is patently unfair, as the current law requires, to give 3
    months' retirement age credit for a 90-day tour served from January
    through March, but no credit at all for a 120-day tour served from
    August through November (because the latter covers 60 days in each of 2
    fiscal years).
        For the near term, the Coalition places particular priority on
    authorizing early retirement credit for all qualifying post-September
    11 active duty service performed by Guard/Reserve servicemembers and
    eliminating the fiscal-year-specific accumulator that bars equal credit
    for members deploying for equal periods during different months of the
    year.
        Ultimately, TMC believes we must move forward to provide a reduced
    age entitlement for retired pay and health coverage for all Reserve
    component members--that is, an age/service formula or outright
    eligibility at age 55.
        Further, TMC urges repeal of the annual cap of 130 days of inactive
    duty training points that may be credited towards a Reserve retirement.
        Guard/Reserve Support--Additional initiatives are essential to
    address unique difficulties encountered by Guard and Reserve members
    and families in accommodating demands for additional active duty
    service.
        TMC urges the subcommittee to:

             Fully fund and field ``yellow ribbon reintegration''
            programs by modeling best practices
             Implement GAO recommendations (GAO Rpt. 08-901) for
            the Benefits Delivery at Discharge (BDD) program
             Ensure Federal Reserve veterans have equal access to
            services and support available to National Guard veterans;
             Secure waivers for scheduled licensing/certification/
            promotion exams scheduled during a mobilization; and
             Establish reemployment rights for Guard and Reserve
            spouses who must suspend employment to care for children during
            mobilization.

        Guard/Reserve GI Bill--TMC is most grateful to Congress for passage
    of the post-September 11 GI Bill, which authorizes cumulative credit
    for Guard/Reserve service on active duty.
        However, benefits for joining the Selected Reserve were not
    upgraded or integrated in the post-September 11 GI Bill as TMC has long
    recommended.
        Today, Reserve Montgomery GI Bill benefits offer only 25 percent of
    active duty benefits, compared to the originally intended 47-50
    percent. That would require raising the current Reserve rate from $329
    per month to roughly $650 for full time study.
        This is not simply a matter of ``proportional equity.'' Restoring
    the relative ratio between the two programs' benefits is essential to
    long-term success of Guard and Reserve recruiting programs.
        TMC strongly urges:

             Restoring basic Reserve MGIB benefits for initially
            joining the Selected Reserve to the historic benchmark of 47-50
            percent of active duty benefits;
             Integrating Reserve and active duty MGIB laws in Title
            38 to ensure proportionality is maintained in any future
            benefit changes; and
             Providing full academic protection, including
            guaranteed enrollment, for mobilized Guard and Reserve
            students.

        Special and Incentive Pays--Increased reliance on Guard and Reserve
    Forces to perform active duty missions have highlighted differentials
    and inconsistencies between treatment of active duty vs. Guard/Reserve
    members on a range of special and incentive pays. Congress has acted to
    address some of these disparities, but more work is needed.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to ensure equitable treatment
    of Guard and Reserve vs. active duty members for the full range of
    special and incentive pays.
    Retiree Issues
        The Military Coalition is extremely grateful to the subcommittee
    for its support of maintaining a strong military retirement system to
    help offset the extraordinary demands and sacrifices inherent in a
    career of uniformed service.
        Concurrent Receipt--In the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2004, Congress
    acknowledged the inequity of the disability offset to earned retired
    pay and established a process to end or phase out the offset for all
    members with at least 20 years of service and at least a 50 percent
    disability rating.
        Congress further directed establishment of a Veterans Disability
    Benefits Commission (VDBC) to assess whether changes to the disability
    offset law are warranted for the remaining categories of disabled
    retirees.
        In its final report, the VDBC validated the long-standing Coalition
    assertion that the deduction of VA disability compensation from earned
    military retired pay is inappropriate and should be ended for all
    categories of disabled retirees.
        The Coalition is grateful that the subcommittee has continued its
    efforts to make progress in easing the adverse effects of the offset--
    most recently by extending eligibility for Combat-Related Special
    Compensation (CRSC) to disabled retirees forced into medical retirement
    by operations-related injuries before attaining 20 years of service.
        The Coalition believes strongly that the same logic--that such
    members should at least be ``vested'' in their service-earned retired
    pay at 2.5 percent of pay times years of service--applies to those
    forced into early medical retirement for service-caused conditions that
    aren't related to combat. In this regard, the affect on the member's
    quality of life and future earning power is the same, regardless of
    whether the disability was caused by a bullet or some other service-
    caused circumstance.
        It is simply inappropriate that current law forces thousands of
    severely injured members with as much as 19 years and 11 months of
    service to forfeit most or all of their earned retired pay.
        Similarly, the Coalition believes that, if the offset is
    inappropriate for a member with a 50 percent or greater service-
    connected disability, as Congress already has acknowledged in current
    statute, it is no less appropriate for a member with a 40 percent
    service-caused disability, etc.
        The issue is whether a military retiree earned his or her retired
    pay, independent of incurring a disability. Clearly, that answer is
    ``yes''. It follows logically that, if a member also has the misfortune
    to incur a disability as a direct result of that service, the
    disability compensation received from the VA should be added to the
    member's earned retired pay, not subtracted from it.
        The Coalition is grateful that the administration's budget
    resolution outlines further concurrent receipt progress for disabled
    servicemembers and we remain optimistic that this progress will be
    incorporated in the defense bill.
        Finally, the Coalition has learned of an inadvertent problem in the
    statutory CRSC computation formula that causes many seriously disabled
    and clearly eligible members to receive little or nothing in the way of
    CRSC. The Defense Department has acknowledged the problem in
    discussions with the subcommittee staff.
        The Coalition's continuing goal is to eliminate the deduction of VA
    disability compensation for from earned military retired pay for all
    disabled retirees. In pursuit of that goal, the Coalition's immediate
    priorities include:

             Correcting the Combat-Related Special Compensation
            formula to ensure the intended compensation is delivered; and
             Expanding current authority for Concurrent Retired
            Disability Pay to members forced into medical retirement before
            attaining 20 years of service.

        Proposed Military Retirement Changes--The Coalition has reviewed
    the results of the 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation
    (QRMC) and does not support its recommendation to modify the military
    retirement system to more closely reflect civilian practices.
        Specifically, the QRMC proposed:

             Converting the military retirement system to a
            civilian-style plan under which full retired pay wouldn't be
            paid until age 57-60;
             Vesting retirement benefits after 10 years of service;
            and
             Authorizing the services to pay flexible ``gate pays''
            and separation pay at certain points of service to encourage
            continued service in certain age groups or skills and encourage
            others to leave, depending on the services needs for certain
            kinds of people at the time.

        The Coalition is very concerned that this proposal is so
    complicated that people evaluating career decisions at the 4-to-10 year
    point would have no way to project their future military retirement
    benefits. Gate pays available at the beginning of a career could be cut
    back radically if the force happened to be undergoing a strength
    reduction later in a member's career.
        Under today's system, it's very clear from the pay table what level
    of retired pay would be payable, depending how long one served and how
    well one progressed in grade.
        From a broader force-planning standpoint, one thing history shows
    is that no one is able to accurately project force requirements 10
    years downstream. World events and economic situations have driven
    dramatic force size changes within relatively short periods. The
    sustained drawing power of the 20-year retirement system provides an
    essential long-term moderating influence that keeps force managers from
    over-reacting to short-term circumstances. Had force planners had such
    a system in effect during the drawdown-oriented 1990s, the services
    would have been far less prepared for the post-September 11 wartime
    environment.
        Of equal or greater concern, this plan would effectively take money
    from people who serve a career (by deferring receipt of full retired
    pay until age 57-60) in order to fund vesting of retirement benefits
    for people who separate early. The Coalition believes pursuing that
    course would pose a significant threat to long-term retention and
    readiness.
        The Coalition believes that the strong career pull of the 20-year
    retirement system has been the principal bulwark against a retention
    disaster in the current overstressed wartime environment.
        A civilian-style retirement plan with receipt of retired pay
    deferred until a later age would be appropriate for the military only
    if military service conditions were similar to civilian working
    conditions--which they most decidedly are not--and if historical
    experience had not shown that the military depends on a maintaining a
    relatively young and healthy force.
        The Coalition believes strongly that, if such a system as
    recommended by the QRMC existed for today's force under today's service
    conditions, the military services would already be mired in a deep and
    traumatic retention crisis.
        Many such proposals have been offered in the past, and have been
    discarded for good reasons. The only initiative to substantially
    curtail/delay military retired pay that was enacted--the 1986 REDUX
    plan--had to be scrapped 13 years later after it began inhibiting
    retention. The reality is that unique military service conditions
    demand a unique retirement system. Surveys consistently show that the
    military retirement system is the single most powerful incentive to
    serve a full career under conditions few civilians would be willing to
    endure for even 1 year, much less 20 or 30.
        TMC urges the subcommittee to reject retirement plan changes such
    as those proposed by the 10th Quadrennial Review of Military
    Compensation that would ``civilianize'' the military system without
    adequate consideration of the extraordinary demands and sacrifices
    inherent in a military vs. a civilian career.
        Disability Severance Pay--The Coalition is grateful for the
    subcommittee's inclusion of a provision in the NDAA for Fiscal Year
    2008 that ended the VA compensation offset of a servicemember's
    disability severance for people injured in the combat zone.
        However, we are concerned that the language of this provision
    imposes much stricter eligibility than that used for Combat-Related
    Special Compensation.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to amend the eligibility rules
    for disability severance pay to include all combat- or operations-
    related injuries, using same definition as CRSC. For the longer term,
    the Coalition believes the offset should be ended for all members
    separated for service-caused disabilities.
                                survivor issues
        The Coalition is grateful to the subcommittee for its significant
    efforts in recent years to improve the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). We
    particularly note that, as of this past April, thanks to the
    subcommittee's efforts, the Social Security offset ended and SBP
    beneficiaries, regardless of age, receive 55 percent of covered retired
    pay.
        We also appreciate the subcommittee's initiative in the fiscal year
    2008 defense bill that establishes a special survivor indemnity
    allowance. This is the first step in a longer-term effort to phase out
    the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) offset to SBP when the
    member died of a service-caused condition.
        Additionally, we are pleased that the subcommittee and Congress
    extended the indemnity allowance to survivors of members who died while
    on active duty in the fiscal year 2009 defense bill.
        SBP-DIC Offset--The Coalition believes strongly that current law is
    unfair in reducing military SBP annuities by the amount of any survivor
    benefits payable from the DIC program.
        If the surviving spouse of a retiree who dies of a service-
    connected cause is entitled to DIC from the Department of Veterans
    Affairs and if the retiree was also enrolled in SBP, the surviving
    spouse's SBP benefits are reduced by the amount of DIC. A pro-rata
    share of SBP premiums is refunded to the widow upon the member's death
    in a lump sum, but with no interest. This offset also affects all
    survivors of members who are killed on active duty.
        The Coalition believes SBP and DIC payments are paid for different
    reasons. SBP is purchased by the retiree and is intended to provide a
    portion of retired pay to the survivor. DIC is a special indemnity
    compensation paid to the survivor when a member's service causes his or
    her premature death. In such cases, the VA indemnity compensation
    should be added to the SBP the retiree paid for, not substituted for
    it.
        It should be noted as a matter of equity that surviving spouses of
    Federal civilian retirees who are disabled veterans and die of
    military-service-connected causes can receive DIC without losing any of
    their Federal civilian SBP benefits.
        The reality is that, in every SBP-DIC case, active duty or retired,
    the true premium extracted by the service from both the member and the
    survivor was the ultimate one--the very life of the member--and that
    all such deaths are officially acknowledged as having been caused by
    military service.
        The Veterans Disability Benefits Commission (VDBC) was tasked to
    review the SBP-DIC issue, among other DOD/VA benefit topics. The VDBC's
    final report to Congress agreed with the Coalition in finding that the
    offset is inappropriate and should be eliminated.
        Speaker Pelosi and all House leaders made repeal of the SBP-DIC
    offset a centerpiece of their GI Bill of Rights for the 21st century.
    Leadership has made great progress in delivering on other elements of
    that plan, but the only progress to date on the SBP-DIC offset has been
    the offer of a scant $50 per month (growing to $100 a month over 5
    years) Supplemental Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA).
        We appreciate that the subcommittee understands the military
    community's (and especially the SBP-DIC widows') view that the new
    allowance is grossly inadequate. We also appreciate the courage of the
    subcommittee in its determination to authorize at least this small
    amount as a token of good faith, when it could have elected to do
    nothing.
        The Coalition urges repeal of the SBP-DIC offset. The Coalition
    further recommends:

             Authorizing payment of SBP annuities for disabled
            survivors into a Special Needs Trust.
             Certain permanently disabled survivors can lose
            eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid
            and access to means-tested State programs because of receipt of
            SBP. This initiative is essential to put disabled SBP
            annuitants on an equal footing with other SSI/Medicaid-
            eligibles who have use of special needs trusts.
             Allowing SBP eligibility to switch to children if a
            surviving spouse is convicted of complicity in the member's
            death; and
             Reinstating SBP for survivors who previously
            transferred payments to their children at such time as the
            children majority, or upon termination of a second or
            subsequent marriage.

        Final Retired Paycheck--Under current law, DFAS recoups from
    military widows' bank accounts all retired pay for the month in which a
    retiree dies. Subsequently, DFAS pays the survivor a pro-rated amount
    for the number of days of that month in which the retiree was alive.
    This often creates hardships for survivors who have already spent that
    pay on rent, food, etc., and who routinely are required to wait several
    months for DFAS to start paying SBP benefits.
        The Coalition believes this is an extremely insensitive policy
    imposed by the government at the most traumatic time for a deceased
    member's next of kin. Unlike his or her active duty counterpart, a
    retiree's survivor receives no death gratuity. Many older retirees do
    not have adequate insurance to provide even a moderate financial
    cushion for surviving spouses.
        Recent media coverage highlighted the VA's failure to implement a
    decade-old law change that required the VA to make full payment of the
    final month's VA disability compensation to the survivor of a disabled
    veteran.
        The disparity between DOD and VA policy on this matter is
    indefensible. Congress should do for retirees' widows the same thing it
    did 10 years ago to protect veterans' widows.
        TMC urges the subcommittee to authorize survivors of retired
    members to retain the final month's retired pay for the month in which
    the retiree dies.
                               health care issues
        The Coalition appreciates the subcommittee's strong and continuing
    interest in keeping health care commitments to military beneficiaries.
    We are particularly grateful for your support for the last few years in
    refusing to allow the Department of Defense to implement beneficiary
    health care fee increases. We are encouraged by the full funding of
    TRICARE included in the President's budget.
        Prior to the past several years, the Coalition and the Defense
    Department have had regular and substantive dialogues that proved very
    productive in facilitating reasonably smooth implementation of such
    major program changes as TRICARE Prime and TRICARE for Life.
        It is a great source of regret to the Coalition that there has been
    substantively less dialogue on the recent fee increase initiatives. In
    recent years, DOD's main concern has been to extract a specified amount
    of budget savings from beneficiaries, primarily by driving
    beneficiaries away from using their earned TRICARE coverage.
        The unique package of military retirement benefits--of which a key
    component is a top-of-the-line health care benefit--is the primary
    offset afforded uniformed servicemembers for enduring a career of
    unique and extraordinary sacrifices that few Americans are willing to
    accept for 1 year, let alone 20 or 30. It is an unusual, and essential,
    compensation package that a grateful Nation provides for the miniscule
    fraction of the US population who agree to subordinate their personal
    and family lives to protecting our national interests for so many
    years. This sacrifice, in a very real sense, constitutes a pre-paid
    premium for their future healthcare.
        Full Funding for the Defense Health Program--The Coalition is
    grateful for the subcommittee's support for maintaining--and expanding
    where needed--the healthcare benefit for all military beneficiaries,
    consistent with the demands imposed upon them.
        To a large extent, military health care cost growth is a reflection
    of private sector trends. But those who measure cost growth since 1999
    or 2000 start from an erroneous benchmark. At that time, military
    health care delivery was at its bottom point, with most Medicare-
    eligibles having been driven entirely out of military health care
    coverage by the closure and downsizing of military health facilities
    (MTF).
        The resultant bad publicity was hurting retention, and that's a
    major reason why Congress enacted TRICARE For Life to restore lost
    benefits to military Medicare-eligibles. Congress knew from the start
    and fully intended that restoring medical and pharmacy coverage for
    beneficiaries over age 65 would substantially increase military health
    care outlays.
        It's true that many private sector employers are choosing to shift
    an ever-greater share of health care costs to their employees and
    retirees, and that's causing many still-working military retirees to
    fall back on their service-earned TRICARE coverage.
        In the bottom-line-oriented corporate world, many firms see their
    employees as another form of capital, from which maximum utility is to
    be extracted at minimum cost, and those who quit are replaceable by
    similarly experienced new hires. But that can't be the culture in the
    military's closed, all-volunteer personnel system, whose long-term
    effectiveness is dependent on establishing a sense of mutual, long-term
    commitment between the servicemember and his/her country.
        The Coalition believes it's essential to bear other considerations
    in mind when considering the extent to which military beneficiaries
    should share in military health care costs.
        First and foremost, the military health care system is not built
    for the beneficiary, but to sustain military readiness. Each Service
    maintains its unique facilities and systems to meet its unique needs,
    and its primary mission is to sustain readiness by keeping a healthy
    force and to be able to treat casualties from military actions. To
    reiterate, that model is not built for cost efficiency or beneficiary
    welfare. It's built for military readiness requirements.
        Similarly, when military forces deploy, the military medical force
    goes with them, and that forces families, retirees and survivors to use
    the more expensive civilian health care system in the absence of so
    many uniformed health care providers.
        These are readiness costs incurred for the convenience of the
    military, not for any beneficiary consideration, and beneficiaries
    should not be expected to bear any share of that cost--particularly in
    wartime.
        The Coalition is uncertain whether the new administration will
    again propose some reduction to the defense health care budget based on
    the assumption that Congress will approve beneficiary fee increases for
    fiscal year 2010. But the Coalition would object strongly to any such
    reduction.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to take all possible steps to
    ensure continued full funding for Defense Health Program needs.
    Protecting Beneficiaries Against Cost-Shifting
        The Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care had a great
    opportunity for objective evaluation of the larger health care issues.
    Unfortunately, the Coalition believes the Task Force missed that mark
    by a substantial margin.
        The bulk of its report cites statistics provided by the Defense
    Department and focuses discussions of cost-sharing almost solely on
    government costs, while devoting hardly a sentence to what the
    Coalition views as an equally fundamental issue--the level of health
    care coverage that servicemembers earn by their arduous career service,
    the value of that service as an in-kind, upfront premium pre-payment,
    and the role of lifetime health care coverage as an important offset to
    the unique conditions of military service.
        The Task Force gave short shrift to what the Coalition sees as a
    fundamental point--that generations of military people have been told
    by their leaders that their service earned them their health care
    benefit, and DOD and Congress reinforced that perception by sustaining
    flat, modest TRICARE fees over long periods of time. But now the
    Department and the Task Force imply that the military retirement health
    care benefit is no longer earned by service. They now say beneficiary
    costs should be ``restored'' to some fixed share of Defense Department
    costs, even though no such relationship was ever stated or intended in
    the past.
        The Task Force report acknowledged that DOD cost increases over the
    intervening years have been inflated by military/wartime requirements,
    inefficiency, lack of effective oversight, structural dysfunction, or
    conscious political decisions by the administration and Congress. They
    acknowledged GAO findings that DOD financial statements and cost
    accounting are not auditable because of system problems, inadequate
    business processes and internal controls. Yet the Task Force accepted
    DOD-prepared cost data from 1996 and subsequent years, and said the
    government should foist a fixed share of those costs on beneficiaries
    anyway. The Coalition has requested information concerning the 1996
    costing calculation and has never received an adequate accounting as to
    what was included in the calculation.
        The following charts illustrate the annual cost increase the Task
    Force plan would impose various categories of military families.

        The Tenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation (QRMC)
    offered somewhat different recommendations, but also took a budget-
    centric approach that failed to explicitly address what level of health
    care benefit should be considered earned by a career of military
    service and sacrifice.
        The Coalition agrees with QRMC recommendations to:

             Eliminate copays and deductibles for preventive
            services . . . immunizations, mammograms, colonoscopies,
            medications for chronic conditions like diabetes to incentivize
            people to take medications and get tests that have been proven
            to reduce longer-term health care costs
             Pursue a wide range of initiatives to improve
            recruiting and retention of military health care professionals.

        But we cannot agree with the QRMC proposals to:

             Establish premiums for retirees under 65 that are 40
            percent of the Medicare Part B premium for those in Prime and
            15 percent of the Medicare Part B premium for those in
            Standard.
             Means-test retiree premiums based on adjusted gross
            income.
             Fund care for beneficiaries under 65 on an accrual
            basis, which would convert it to mandatory spending and make it
            extremely difficult to execute needed improvements.
             Roughly double retail pharmacy copays.

        The Coalition believes it would be wrong to base premiums for
    beneficiaries in their 40s and 50s on the cost of providing health care
    to the elderly and disabled, whose health care needs are so much
    different.
        Similarly, means-testing has no place in setting military health
    fees. Less than 1 percent of employer-provided plans in the U.S. are
    income-based. It's one thing to do that for Medicare, which is social
    insurance provided by the government to every American. It's quite
    another to apply it to an employer-sponsored program that was earned by
    decades of service to the government.
        The Coalition opposes any enrollment fee for TRICARE Standard,
    which doesn't guarantee access to a provider.
        We continue to believe that the proper course of action is to
    establish principles and standards in law concerning the specific
    health benefits military people earn in return for a career in uniform,
    just as Congress has done for other major compensation elements. Absent
    such principles and standards, these critically important benefits are
    left subject to the annual uncertainty of ever-changing administration
    budget proposals.
        People vs. Weapons--Defense officials have provided briefs to
    Congress indicating that the rising military health care costs are
    ``impinging on other service programs.'' Other reports indicate that
    DOD leaders and others seek to free up funding for weapons programs by
    reducing spending on military personnel and health care.
        The Military Coalition continues to assert that such budget-driven
    trade-offs are misguided and inappropriate. Cutting people programs to
    fund weapons ignores the much larger funding problem, and only makes it
    worse.
        The Coalition believes strongly that the proposed defense budget is
    too small to meet national defense needs. Today's defense budget (in
    wartime) is only about 4 percent of GDP, well short of the 6.5 percent
    average for the peacetime years since WWII.
        The Coalition believes strongly that America can afford to and must
    pay for both weapons and military health care.
        Military vs. Civilian Cost-Sharing Measurement--Defense leaders
    assert that substantial military fee increases are needed to bring
    military beneficiary health care costs more in line with civilian
    practices. But merely contrasting military vs. civilian cash cost-
    shares is a grossly misleading, ``apple-to-orange'' comparison.
        For all practical purposes, those who wear the uniform of their
    country are enrolled in a 20- to 30-year pre-payment plan that they
    must complete to earn lifetime health coverage. In this regard,
    military retirees and their families paid enormous ``upfront'' premiums
    for that coverage through their decades of service and sacrifice. Once
    that pre-payment is already rendered, the government cannot simply
    pretend it was never paid, and focus only on post-service cash
    payments.
        The Department of Defense and the Nation--as good-faith employers
    of the trusting members from whom they demand such extraordinary
    commitment and sacrifice--have a reciprocal health care obligation to
    retired servicemembers and their families and survivors that far
    exceeds any civilian employer's to its workers and retirees.
        The Task Force on the Future of Military Health Care acknowledges
    that its recommendations for beneficiary fee increases, if enacted,
    would leave military beneficiaries with a lesser benefit than 20-25
    percent of America's corporate employees. The pharmacy copayment
    schedule they proposed for military beneficiaries is almost the same--
    and not as robust in some cases--as the better civilian programs they
    reviewed.
        The Coalition believes that military beneficiaries from whom
    America has demanded decades of extraordinary service and sacrifice
    have earned coverage that is the best America has to offer--not
    coverage that's worse than 25 percent of corporate plans.
        Large Retiree Fee Increases Can Only Hurt Retention--The reciprocal
    obligation of the government to maintain an extraordinary benefit
    package to offset the extraordinary sacrifices of career military
    servicemembers is a practical as well as moral obligation. Mid-career
    military losses can't be replaced like civilians can.
        Eroding benefits for career service can only undermine long-term
    retention/readiness. Today's servicemembers are very conscious of
    Congress' actions toward those who preceded them in service. One reason
    Congress enacted TRICARE For Life in 2000 is because the Joint Chiefs
    of Staff at that time said inadequate retiree health care was affecting
    attitudes among active duty servicemembers.
        This is reinforced by a quote from then Chief of Naval Operations
    and now Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, in a 2006 Navy Times
    article:

              ``More and more sailors are coming in married. They talk to
            me more about medical benefits than I ever thought to when I
            was in my mid-20s. I believe we have the gold standard . . .
            for medical care right now, and that's a recruiting issue, a
            recruiting strength, and it's a retention strength.''

        That's more than backed up by two independent Coalition surveys. A
    2006 Military Officers Association of America survey drew 40,000
    responses, including more than 6,500 from active duty servicemembers.
    Over 92 percent in all categories of respondents opposed the DOD-
    proposed fee hikes. There was virtually no difference between the
    responses of active duty servicemembers (96 percent opposed) and
    retirees under 65 (97 percent opposed). A Fleet Reserve Association
    survey showed similar results.
        Reducing military retirement benefits would be particularly ill-
    advised when an overstressed force already is at increasing retention
    risk.
        Pharmacy Copay Proposals Out of Step With Current Trends--Last
    year's DOD proposal, based on Task Force recommendations, would have
    increased retail pharmacy copays from $3 (generic), $9 (brand), and $22
    (nonformulary) to $15, $25, and $45, respectively. Those represent
    increases of 400 percent, 178 percent, and 100 percent, respectively.
        The QRMC recommended increases to $7, $17, and $29--increases of
    133 percent, 89 percent, and 32 percent.
        Despite citing experience in civilian firms that beneficiary use of
    preferred drugs increased when their copays were reduced or eliminated,
    DOD and the QRMC proposed the highest percentage copay increases for
    the medications TRICARE most wants beneficiaries to use.
        Further, the large increase for retail generics flies in the face
    of recent commercial initiatives by Wal-Mart and a number of other
    civilian pharmacies to offer hundreds of generics to the general public
    for a $4 copay or less.
        If the purpose of these proposals is to push military beneficiaries
    to use Wal-Mart instead of TRICARE, it might indeed save the government
    some money on those medications. But it won't make military
    beneficiaries feel very good about their military pharmacy benefit. It
    shouldn't make Congress feel good about it, either.
        The Coalition particularly questions the need for pharmacy copay
    increases now that Congress has approved Federal pricing for the
    TRICARE retail pharmacy system. The Coalition notes that Federal
    pricing still has not been implemented by the Executive Branch, and
    this failure is costing DOD tens of millions of dollars with every
    passing month. This is an excellent example of why the Coalition
    objects to basing beneficiary fees on a percentage of DOD costs--
    because DOD all-too-frequently does not act, or is not allowed to act,
    in a prudent way to hold costs down.
        Retirees Under 65 ``Already Gave'' 10 percent of Retired Pay--Large
    proposed health care fee increases would impose a financial ``double
    whammy'' on retirees and survivors under age 65.
        Any assertion that military retirees have been getting some kind of
    ``free ride'' because TRICARE fees have not been increased in recent
    years conveniently overlooks past government actions that have
    inflicted far larger financial penalties on every retiree and survivor
    under 65--penalties that will grow every year for the rest of their
    lives.
        That's because decades of past budget caps already depressed
    lifetime retired pay by an average of almost 10 percent for
    servicemembers who retired between 1984 and 2008. For most of the 1980s
    and 1990s, military pay raises were capped below private sector pay
    growth, accumulating a 13.5 percent ``pay gap'' by 1998-99--a gap which
    has been moderated since then but persists at 2.9 percent today.
        Every servicemember who has retired since 1984--exactly the same
    under-65 retiree population targeted by the proposed TRICARE fee
    increases--has had his or her retired pay depressed by a percentage
    equal to the pay gap at the time of retirement. That depressed pay will
    persist for the rest of their lives, with a proportional depression of
    Survivor Benefit Plan annuities for their survivors.
        A servicemember who retired in 1993--when the pay gap was 11.5
    percent--continues to suffer an 11.5 percent retired pay loss today.
    For an E-7 who retired in 1993 with 20 years of service, that means a
    loss of $2,100 this year and every year because the government capped
    his military pay below the average American's. An O-5 with 20 years of
    service loses more than $4,400 a year.
        The government has spent almost a decade making incremental
    reductions in the pay gap for currently serving members, but it still
    hasn't made up the whole gap--and the government certainly hasn't
    offered to make up those huge losses suffered by members already
    retired. Under such circumstances, it strikes the Coalition as ironic
    when defense officials propose, in effect, billing those same retirees
    for ``back TRICARE fee increases''.
        Fee-Tiering Scheme Is Inappropriate--The Defense Department, the
    Task Force and the QRMC all have proposed multi-tiered schemes for
    proposed beneficiary fee increases, with the administration's based on
    retired pay grade, the Task Force's based on retired pay amount, and
    the QRMC's based on family taxable income. The intent of the plan is to
    ease opposition to the fee increases by introducing a means-testing
    initiative that penalizes some groups less than others.
        The Coalition rejects such efforts to mask a fundamental inequity
    by trying to convince some groups that the inequity being imposed on
    them is somehow more acceptable because even greater penalties would be
    imposed on other groups.
        Any such argument is fundamentally deceptive, especially since the
    administration and Task Force plans envisioned adjusting fee levels by
    medical inflation (7-8 percent a year), while retired pay thresholds
    would be adjusted by retiree COLAs (2 percent-3 percent a year). That
    would guarantee ``tier creep''--shifting ever greater numbers of
    beneficiaries into the top tier every year.
        Surveys of public and private sector health care coverage indicate
    that less than 1 percent of plans differentiate by salary. No other
    Federal plan does so. The Secretary of Defense has the same coverage
    and pays the same premium as any GS employee, and the Speaker of the
    House has the same coverage and premium payments as any
    Representative's lowest-paid staff member.
        The Coalition believes strongly that all military retirees earned
    equal health benefits by virtue of their career service, and that the
    lowest fee tier proposed so far would be an excessive increase for any
    military beneficiary.
        Alternative Options to Make TRICARE More Cost-Efficient--The
    Coalition continues to believe strongly that the Defense Department has
    not sufficiently investigated other options to make TRICARE more cost-
    efficient without shifting costs to beneficiaries. The Coalition has
    offered a long list of alternative cost-saving possibilities,
    including:

             Positive incentives to encourage beneficiaries to seek
            care in the most appropriate and cost effective venue;
             Encouraging improved collaboration between the direct
            and purchased care systems and implementing best business
            practices;
             Focusing the military health system (MHS), health care
            providers, and beneficiaries on quality measured outcomes;
             Improving MHS financial controls and avoiding overseas
            fraud by establishing TRICARE networks in areas fraught with
            fraud;
             Establishing TRICARE networks in areas of high TRICARE
            Standard utilization to take full advantage of network
            discounts.
             Promoting retention of other health insurance by
            making TRICARE a true second-payer to other insurance (far
            cheaper to pay another insurance's copay than have the
            beneficiary migrate to TRICARE).
             Changing the electronic claim system to scan for
            common errors and prompt corrections in real time to help
            providers submit ``clean'' claims and reduce delays/multiple
            submissions.
             Size and staff military treatment facilities to reduce
            reliance on non-MTF civilian providers.
             Reducing long-term TRICARE Reserve Select costs by
            allowing servicemembers the option of a government subsidy of
            civilian employer premiums during periods of mobilization.
             Doing far more to promote use of mail-order pharmacy
            system via mailings to users of maintenance medications,
            highlighting the convenience and individual expected cost
            savings
             Encouraging retirees to use lowest-cost-venue military
            pharmacies at no charge, rather than discouraging such use by
            limiting formularies, curtailing courier initiatives, etc.

        The Coalition is pleased that DOD has begun to implement at least
    some of our past suggestions, and stands ready to partner with DOD to
    investigate and jointly pursue these or other options that offer
    potential for reducing costs.
        TRICARE Still Has Significant Shortcomings--While DOD focuses on
    the cost of the TRICARE program to the government, surveys show
    increasing dissatisfaction among active duty, Guard/Reserve and retired
    beneficiaries who continue to experience significant problems with
    TRICARE. Beneficiaries at many locations, particularly those lacking
    large military populations, report difficulty in finding health care
    providers willing to participate in the program. Doctors complain about
    the program's low payments and administrative hassles. Withdrawal of
    providers from TRICARE networks at several locations has generated
    national publicity.
        A 2007 GAO survey of National Guard and Reserve personnel said
    almost one-third of respondents reported having difficulty obtaining
    assistance from TRICARE, and more than one-fourth reported difficulty
    in finding a TRICARE-participating provider.
        That problem is getting worse rather than better. The Task Force
    report said all military beneficiary categories report more difficulty
    than civilians in accessing health care, and that military
    beneficiaries' reported satisfaction with access to care declined from
    2004 to 2006. A 2008 survey showed a significant further decline.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to require DOD to pursue
    greater efforts to improve TRICARE and find more effective and
    appropriate ways to make TRICARE more cost-efficient without seeking to
    ``tax'' beneficiaries and make unrealistic budget assumptions.
        TMC Healthcare Cost Principles--The Military Coalition believes
    strongly that the current fee controversy is caused in part by the lack
    of any statutory record of the purpose of military health care benefits
    and the specific benefit levels earned by a career of service in
    uniform. Under current law, the Secretary of Defense has broad latitude
    to make administrative adjustments to fees for TRICARE Prime and the
    pharmacy systems. Absent congressional intervention, the Secretary can
    choose not to increase fees for years at a time or can choose to
    quadruple fees in 1 year.
        Until recently, this was not a particular matter of concern, as no
    Secretary had previously proposed dramatic fee increases. Given recent
    years' unsettling experience, the Coalition believes strongly that the
    subcommittee needs to establish more specific and permanent principles,
    guidelines, and prohibitions to protect against dramatic budget-driven
    fluctuations in this most vital element of servicemembers' career
    compensation incentive package.
        Other major elements of the military compensation package have much
    more specific standards in permanent law. There is a formula for the
    initial amount of retired pay and for subsequent annual adjustments.
    Basic pay raises are tied to the Employment Cost Index, and housing and
    food allowances are tied to specific standards as well.
        The Coalition most strongly recommends that Congress establish
    statutory findings, a sense of Congress on the purpose and principles
    of military health care benefits, and the specific benefit levels
    earned by a career of uniformed service.

             Active duty members and families should be charged no
            fees except retail pharmacy co-payments, except to the extent
            they make the choice to participate in TRICARE Standard or use
            out-of-network providers under TRICARE Prime.
             The TRICARE Standard inpatient copay should not be
            increased further for the foreseeable future. At $535 per day,
            it already far exceeds inpatient copays for virtually any
            private sector health plan.
             There should be no enrollment fee for TRICARE Standard
            or TRICARE For Life (TFL), since neither offers assured access
            to TRICARE-participating providers. An enrollment fee implies
            enrollees will receive additional services, as Prime enrollees
            are guaranteed access to participating providers in return for
            their fee. Congress already has required TFL beneficiaries to
            pay substantial Medicare Part B fees to gain TFL coverage.
             There should be one TRICARE fee schedule for all
            retired beneficiaries, just as all legislators, Defense leaders
            and other Federal civilian grades have the same health fee
            schedule. The current TRICARE schedule is significantly lower
            than the lowest tier recommended by the Defense Department,
            recognizing that all retired servicemembers paid large upfront
            premiums for their coverage through decades of arduous service
            and sacrifice.
    TRICARE Prime
        TRICARE Prime--The Coalition is very concerned about growing
    dissatisfaction among TRICARE Prime enrollees--which is actually higher
    among active duty families than among retired families.
        The dissatisfaction arises from increasing difficulties experienced
    by beneficiaries in getting appointments, referrals to specialists, and
    sustaining continuity of care from specific providers.
        Increasingly, beneficiaries with a primary care manager in a
    military treatment facility find themselves unable to get appointments
    because so many providers have deployed, PCSed, or are otherwise
    understaffed/unavailable.
        Instead of offering beneficiaries appointments with civilian
    network providers, many appointment administrators are simply telling
    the beneficiary that no appointments are available and to try back
    later. This is contrary to the best interests of the beneficiary,
    violates clear TRICARE Prime standards for timely access to care, makes
    beneficiaries see the military as insensitive to their vital family
    needs, and undermines long-term retention and readiness.
        This problem disproportionally affects active duty families who are
    given priority over retirees for military PCMs. Because most active
    duty family members are used to getting care in the military facility,
    they often don't know to demand an appointment with a civilian provider
    if a military appointment isn't available.
        The problem is compounded by Prime's continuing makeshift system
    for referrals to specialists and by beneficiary confusion over whom to
    call to authorize needed care while traveling away from their home
    station.
        The Military Coalition urges the subcommittee to require a DOD
    report, including reports from the managed care support contractors, on
    actions being taken to improve Prime patient satisfaction, provide
    assured appointments within Prime access standards, reduce delays in
    preauthorization and referral appointments, and provide quality
    information to assist beneficiaries in making informed decisions.
    TRICARE Standard
        TRICARE Standard Enrollment--The Department of Defense has proposed
    various options to require TRICARE Standard beneficiaries to sign an
    explicit statement of enrollment in Standard and pay either a one-time
    or an annual enrollment fee. The Task Force and the QRMC also proposed
    annual enrollment fees for TRICARE Standard.
        The proposals are based on three main arguments:

             Enrollment is needed to define the population that
            will actually use the program.
             Enrollment would allow more accurate budgeting for
            program needs.
             The fee would help offset DOD's cost of having the
            enrollment system (DOD rationale) or ``impose some personal
            accountability for health care costs'' (Task Force rationale).

        The Coalition believes none of these arguments stands up to
    scrutiny.
        Department officials already know exactly which beneficiaries use
    TRICARE Standard. They have exhaustive records on what doctors they've
    seen and what medications they've used when and for what. They already
    assess usage trends and project trends for current and future years--
    such as the effect of private employer changes on beneficiaries' return
    to the TRICARE system.
        DOD does not have a good record on communicating policy changes to
    Standard beneficiaries. That means large numbers of beneficiaries won't
    get the word, or appreciate the impact if they do. They have always
    been told that their eligibility is based on the Defense Enrollment
    Eligibility Reporting System.
        Thousands of beneficiaries would learn of the requirement only when
    their TRICARE Standard claims are rejected for failure to enroll. Some
    would involve claims for cancer, auto accidents and other situations in
    which it would be unacceptable to deny claims because the beneficiary
    didn't understand an administrative rule change. DOD administrators who
    dismiss this argument as involving a minority of people would see the
    situation differently if it were their family being affected--as
    hundreds or thousands of military families certainly would be.
        Inevitably, most beneficiaries who do receive and understand the
    implications would enroll simply ``to be safe'', even if they intended
    to use mainly VA or employer-provided coverage--thus undercutting the
    argument that enrollment would increase accuracy of usage projections.
        Further, it would be inappropriate to make beneficiaries pay a fee
    to cover the cost of an enrollment system established solely for the
    government's benefit and convenience, with no benefit for the
    beneficiary. One who pays an enrollment fee expects something extra in
    return for the fee. An enrollment fee for TRICARE Prime is reasonable,
    because it buys the beneficiary guaranteed access to a participating
    provider. TRICARE Standard provides no such guarantee, and in some
    locations it's very difficult for beneficiaries to find a TRICARE
    provider.
        To the extent any enrollment requirement may still be considered
    for TRICARE Standard, such enrollment should be automatic for any
    beneficiary who files a TRICARE claim. Establishing an enrollment
    requirement must not be allowed to become an excuse to deny claims for
    members who are unaware of the enrollment requirement.
        The Coalition strongly recommends against establishment of any
    TRICARE Standard enrollment system; to the extent enrollment may be
    required, any beneficiary filing a claim should be enrolled
    automatically, without denying the claim. No enrollment fee should be
    charged for TRICARE Standard until and unless the program offers
    guaranteed access to a participating provider.
        TRICARE Standard Provider Participation--The Coalition appreciates
    the subcommittee's continuing interest in the specific problems unique
    to TRICARE Standard beneficiaries. TRICARE Standard beneficiaries need
    assistance in finding participating providers within a reasonable time
    and distance from their home. This is particularly important with the
    expansion of TRICARE Reserve Select, as many of those enrollees don't
    live in Prime Service Areas.
        The Coalition is concerned that DOD has not yet established any
    standard for the adequacy of provider participation. Participation by
    half of the providers in a locality may suffice if there is not a large
    Standard beneficiary population. The Coalition hopes to see an
    objective participation standard (perhaps number of beneficiaries per
    provider) that would help shed more light on which locations have
    participation shortfalls of Primary Care Managers and Specialists that
    require positive action.
        The Coalition is grateful to the subcommittee for its past efforts
    that will require DOD to establish benchmarks for participation
    adequacy and follow-up reports on actions taken.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue monitoring DOD and
    GAO reporting on provider participation to ensure proper follow-on
    action.
        Administrative Deterrents to Provider Participation--Feedback from
    providers indicates TRICARE imposes additional administrative
    requirements on providers that are not required by Medicare or other
    insurance plans. On the average, about 50 percent of a provider's panel
    is Medicare patients, whereas only 2 percent are TRICARE beneficiaries.
    Providers are unwilling to incur additional administrative expenses
    that affect only a small number of patients. Thus, many providers are
    prone to non-participation in TRICARE.
        TRICARE Standard still requires submission of a paper claim to
    determine medical necessity on a wide variety of claims. This thwarts
    efforts to encourage electronic claim submission and increases provider
    administrative expenses and payment delays. Examples include speech
    therapy, occupational/physical therapy, land or air ambulance service,
    use of an assistant surgeon, nutritional therapy, transplants, durable
    medical equipment, and pastoral counseling.
        Another source of claims hassles and payment delays involve cases
    of third party liability (e.g., auto insurance health coverage for
    injuries incurred in auto accidents). TRICARE requires claims to be
    delayed pending receipt of a third-party-liability form from the
    beneficiary. This often delays payments for weeks and can result in
    denial and non-payment to the provider if the beneficiary doesn't get
    the form in on time. Recently, a major TRICARE claims processing
    contractor recommended that these claims should be processed regardless
    of diagnosis and that the third-party-liability questionnaire should be
    sent out after the claim is processed to eliminate protracted
    inconvenience to the provider of service.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to continue its efforts to
    reduce administrative impediments that deter providers from accepting
    TRICARE patients.
        TRICARE Reimbursement Rates--Physicians consistently report that
    TRICARE is virtually the lowest-paying insurance plan in America. Other
    national plans typically pay providers 25-33 percent more. In some
    cases the difference is even higher.
        While TRICARE rates are tied to Medicare rates, TRICARE Managed
    Care Support Contractors make concerted efforts to persuade providers
    to participate in TRICARE Prime networks at a further discounted rate.
    Since this is the only information providers receive about TRICARE,
    they see TRICARE as even lower-paying than Medicare.
        This is exacerbated by annual threats of further reductions in
    TRICARE rates due to the statutory Medicare rate-setting formula.
    Physicians may not be able to afford turning away Medicare patients,
    but many are willing to turn away a small number of patients who have
    low-paying, high-administrative-hassle TRICARE coverage.
        The TRICARE Management Activity has the authority to increase the
    reimbursement rates when there is a provider shortage or extremely low
    reimbursement rate for a specialty in a certain area and providers are
    not willing to accept the low rates. In some cases, a State Medicaid
    reimbursement for a similar service is higher than that of TRICARE. But
    the Department has been reluctant to establish a standard for adequacy
    of participation to trigger higher payments.
        To the extent the Medicare rate freeze continues, we urge the
    subcommittee to encourage the Defense Department to use its
    reimbursement rate adjustment authority as needed to sustain provider
    acceptance.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to require a Comptroller
    General report on the relative propensity of physicians to participate
    in Medicare vs. TRICARE, and the likely effect on such relative
    participation of a further freeze in Medicare/TRICARE physician
    payments along with the affect of an absence of bonus payments.
    Dental Care
        Active Duty Dependent Dental Plan--The Coalition is sensitive to
    beneficiary concerns that Active Duty Dental Plan coverage for
    orthodontia has been eroded by inflation over a number of years.
        The current orthodontia payment cap is $1,500, which has not been
    changed since 2001. In the intervening years, the cost of orthodontia
    has risen from an average of $4,000 to more than $5,000.
        The Coalition understands that, under current law, increasing this
    benefit could require a reduction in some other portion of the benefit,
    which we do not support.
        The Coalition notes that current law assumes a 60 percent DOD
    subsidy for the active duty dental plan, whereas other Federal health
    programs (e.g., FEHBP and TRS) are subsidized at 72 percent.
        The Coalition recommends increasing the DOD subsidy for the active
    Duty Dependent Dental Plan to 72 percent and increasing the cap on
    orthodontia payments to $2,000.
        TRICARE Dental Benefit for Surviving Children--In recent years, the
    subcommittee acted appropriately to continue active-duty-level TRICARE
    Prime coverage for children of members who die on active duty for as
    long as they retain dependent status--until age 21 or 23 if enrolled in
    college. But dental coverage was not adjusted from the previous law,
    which authorized only 3 years of continued active-duty-level benefits
    in such cases.
        The Coalition recommends authorizing children of members who die on
    active duty to retain coverage under the active Duty Dependent Dental
    Plan until they reach 21 or 23 if enrolled in college.
    National Guard and Reserve Health Care
        The Coalition is grateful to the subcommittee for its leadership in
    reducing TRICARE Reserve Select Premiums and ensuring DOD does not
    overcharge servicemembers for coverage.
        While the subcommittee has worked hard to address the primary
    health care hurdle, there are still some areas that warrant attention.
        TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) Access--The Coalition is concerned
    that members and families enrolled in TRS are not guaranteed access to
    TRICARE-participating providers and are finding it difficult to locate
    providers willing to take TRICARE. As indicated earlier in this
    testimony, the Coalition believes that members who are charged a fee
    for their health coverage should be able to expect assured access, and
    hopes the subcommittee will explore options for assuring such access
    for TRS enrollees.
        The Coalition recommends that the subcommittee require a report
    from the Department of Defense on options to assure TRS enrollees'
    access to TRICARE-participating providers.
        Private Insurance Premium Option--The Coalition believes Congress
    is missing an opportunity to reduce long-term health care costs by
    authorizing eligible members the option of electing a DOD subsidy of
    their civilian insurance premiums during periods of activation.
        Current law already authorizes payment of up to 24 months of FEHBP
    premiums for activated members who are civilian employees of the
    Defense Department. The Coalition believes all members of the Selected
    Reserve should have a similar option to have continuity of their
    civilian family coverage.
        Over the long term, when Guard and Reserve activations can be
    expected at a reduced pace, this option would offer considerable
    savings opportunity relative to funding permanent, year-round TRICARE
    coverage.
        The Department could calculate a maximum monthly subsidy level that
    would represent a cost savings to the government, so that each member
    who elected that option would reduce TRICARE costs.
        The Coalition recommends developing a cost-effective option to have
    DOD subsidize premiums for continuation of a Reserve employer's private
    family health insurance during periods of deployment as an alternative
    to ongoing TRICARE Reserve Select coverage.
        Involuntary Separatees--The Coalition believes it is unfair to deny
    TRS coverage for Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) members who have
    returned from deployment or terminate coverage for returning members
    who are involuntarily separated from the Selected Reserve (other than
    for cause).
        The Coalition recommends authorizing 1 year of post-Transitional
    Assistance Management Program (TAMP) TRS coverage for every 90 days
    deployed in the case of returning members of the IRR or members who are
    involuntarily separated from the Selected Reserve. The Coalition
    further recommends that voluntarily separating reservists subject to
    disenrollment from TRS should be eligible for participation in the
    Continued Health Care Benefits Program (CHCBP).
        Gray Area reservists--The Coalition is sensitive that Selected
    Reserve members and families have one remaining ``hole'' in their
    military health coverage. They are eligible for TRS while currently
    serving in the Selected Reserve, then lose coverage while in ``Gray
    area'' retiree status, then regain full TRICARE eligibility at age 60.
    The Coalition supports the provisions contained in S. 731 introduced by
    Senator Ben Nelson.
        The Coalition believes some provisions should be made to allow such
    members to continue their TRICARE coverage in gray area status.
    Otherwise, we place some members at risk of losing family health
    coverage entirely when they retire from the Selected Reserve. We
    understand that such coverage likely would have to come with a higher
    premium.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to authorize an additional
    premium-based TRS option under which members entering ``gray area''
    retiree status would be able to avoid losing health coverage.
        Guard and Reserve Dental Coverage--The Coalition remains concerned
    about the dental readiness of the Reserve Forces. DOD should be
    fiscally responsible for medical and dental care to reservists
    beginning with the issuance of an alert order and 180 days post
    mobilization to ensure servicemembers meet readiness standards when DOD
    facilities are not available within a 50 mile radius of the member's
    home.
        The Coalition supports providing dental coverage to reservists once
    an alert order is issued and 180 days post-mobilization (during TAMP),
    unless the individual's dental readiness is restored to T-2 condition
    before demobilization.
        Guard and Reserve Mental Health--Reserve members deserve the
    highest levels of care once they demobilize. The Coalition is concerned
    that there is too much variation in the diagnosis and treatment of post
    traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI),
    depression, and other combat-related stress conditions. The current
    post deployment health self assessment program at demobilization sites
    is inadequate. The Coalition believes that post deployment examination
    of members should occur while still on active duty deployment orders at
    their home station. This is necessary to expedite diagnosis, reporting
    and treatment of physical and mental injuries; to help perfect
    potential service connected disability claims with the VA; and to help
    correct the non-reporting of injuries at the demobilization site
    arising from members' concerns of being medically held away from the
    home State.
        The Coalition believes that Guard and Reserve members and their
    families should have access to an evidence-based treatment for PTSD,
    TBI, depression, and other combat-related stress conditions. Further,
    Post Deployment Health examinations should be offered at the member's
    home station.
        Guard and Reserve Health Information--The Coalition is concerned
    that the current health records for many Guard and Reserve members do
    not contain treatment information that could be vital for diagnosis and
    treatment of a condition while on active duty. The capture of non-
    military treatment is an integral part of the members overall health
    status.
        The Coalition believes there should be an effort to improve the
    electronic capture of non military health information into the
    servicemember's medical record.
    TRICARE For Life
        When Congress enacted TRICARE For Life (TFL) in 2000, it explicitly
    recognized that this coverage was fully earned by career
    servicemembers' decades of sacrifice, and that the Medicare Part B
    premium would serve as the cash portion of the beneficiary premium
    payment.
        TFL Enrollment Fee is Inappropriate--The Coalition disagrees
    strongly with the Task Force and QRMC recommendations to impose an
    annual enrollment fee for each TFL beneficiary. The reports
    acknowledged that this would be little more than a ``nuisance fee'' and
    would be contrary to Congress' intent in authorizing TFL.
        When the previous administration came to office in 2001, military
    and civilian Defense leaders praised TRICARE For Life, as enacted, as
    an appropriate benefit that retirees had earned and deserved for their
    career service. But in recent years, those same leaders' concerns about
    rising health costs have focused disproportionally on the (fully
    predictable) cost growth attributable to TFL.
        For those who now advocate charging older beneficiaries a TFL
    enrollment fee, the Coalition asks, ``What has changed in the
    intervening years of war that has somehow made their service less
    meritorious?''
        Inclusion of TFL-Eligibles in Preventive Care Programs--The
    Coalition is aware of the challenges imposed by Congress' mandatory
    spending rules, and appreciates the subcommittee's efforts to include
    TFL-eligibles in the preventive care pilot programs included in the
    National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. We believe
    their inclusion would, in fact, save the government money and hope the
    subcommittee will be able to find a more certain way to include them
    than the current discretionary authority.
        The Coalition also hopes the subcommittee can find a way to resolve
    the discrepancy between Medicare and TRICARE treatment of medications
    such as the shingles vaccine, which Medicare covers under pharmacy
    benefits and TRICARE covers under doctor visits. This mismatch, which
    requires TFL patients to absorb the cost in a TRICARE deductible or
    purchase duplicative Part D coverage, deters beneficiaries from seeking
    this preventive medication.
        The Coalition urges the subcommittee to oppose any TFL enrollment
    fee and seek equal coverage of TFL beneficiaries under TRICARE and
    Medicare preventive care initiatives.
        Restoration of Survivors' TRICARE Coverage--When a TRICARE-eligible
    widow/widower remarries, he/she loses TRICARE benefits. When that
    individual's second marriage ends in death or divorce, the individual
    has eligibility restored for military ID card benefits, including SBP
    coverage, commissary/exchange privileges, etc.--with the sole exception
    that TRICARE eligibility is not restored.
        This is out of line with other Federal health program practices,
    such as the restoration of CHAMPVA eligibility for survivors of
    veterans who died of service-connected causes. In those cases, VA
    survivor benefits and health care are restored upon termination of the
    remarriage. Remarried surviving spouses deserve equal treatment.
        The Coalition recommends restoration of TRICARE benefits to
    previously eligible survivors whose second or subsequent marriage ends
    in death or divorce.
        BRAC and Rebasing--Relocation from one geographic region to another
    and base closures brings multiple problems. A smooth health care
    transition is crucial to the success of DOD and Service plans to
    transform the force. That means ensuring a robust provider network and
    capacity is available to all beneficiary populations, to include active
    and Reserve Component and retirees and their family members, and
    survivors at both closing and gaining installations. It is incumbent
    upon the Department and its Managed Care Support Contractors to ensure
    smooth beneficiary transition from one geographic area to another. We
    stress the importance of coordination of construction and funding in
    order to maintain access and operations while the process takes place.
        The Coalition recommends requiring an annual DOD report on the
    adequacy of health resources, services, quality and access to care for
    beneficiaries affected by BRAC/rebasing.

        [The prepared statement of the Fleet Reserve Association
    follows:]
        Prepared Statement by Master Chief Joseph L. Barnes, USN (Ret.)
                         the fleet reserve association
        The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) is the oldest and largest
    enlisted organization serving active duty, Reserves, retired and
    veterans of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. It is
    Congressionally Chartered, recognized by the Department of Veterans
    Affairs (VA) as an accrediting Veteran Service Organization (VSO) for
    claim representation and entrusted to serve all veterans who seek its
    help. In 2007, FRA was selected for full membership on the National
    Veterans' Day Committee.
        FRA was established in 1924 and its name is derived from the Navy's
    program for personnel transferring to the Fleet Reserve or Fleet Marine
    Corps Reserve after 20 or more years of active duty, but less than 30
    years for retirement purposes. During the required period of service in
    the Fleet Reserve, assigned personnel earn retainer pay and are subject
    to recall by the Secretary of the Navy.
        FRA's mission is to act as the premier ``watch dog'' organization
    on Capitol Hill focused on maintaining and improving benefits and the
    quality of life for Sea Service personnel and their families. The
    Association also sponsors a National Americanism Essay Program, awards
    over $100,000 in scholarships annually and provides disaster and/or
    relief to shipmates and others in distress.
        The Association is also a founding member of The Military Coalition
    (TMC), a 34-member consortium of military and veteran's organizations.
    FRA hosts most TMC meetings and members of its staff serve in a number
    of TMC leadership roles.
        FRA celebrated 84 years of service in November 2008. For over eight
    decades, dedication to its members has resulted in legislation
    enhancing quality of life programs for Sea Services personnel, other
    members of the Uniformed Services plus their families and survivors,
    while protecting their rights and privileges. CHAMPUS, now TRICARE, was
    an initiative of FRA, as was the Uniformed Services Survivor Benefit
    Plan (USSBP). More recently, FRA led the way in reforming the REDUX
    Retirement Plan, obtaining targeted pay increases for mid-level
    enlisted personnel, and sea pay for junior enlisted sailors. FRA also
    played a leading role in advocating recently enacted predatory lending
    protections for servicemembers and their dependents.
        FRA's motto is: ``Loyalty, Protection, and Service.''
                 certification of non-receipt of federal funds
        Pursuant to the requirements of House Rule XI, the FRA has not
    received any Federal grant or contract during the current fiscal year
    or either of the 2 previous fiscal years.
                                    synopsis
        As a leader in the Military Coalition (TMC), the FRA strongly
    supports the extensive recommendations addressed in the TMC testimony
    prepared for this hearing. The intent of this statement is to address
    other issues of particular importance to FRA's membership and the Sea
    Services enlisted communities.
                                  introduction
        Mr. Chairman, the FRA salutes you, members of the subcommittee, and
    your staff for the strong and unwavering support of programs essential
    to active duty, Reserve component, and retired members of the uniformed
    services, their families, and survivors. The subcommittee's work has
    greatly enhanced care and support for our wounded warriors, improved
    military pay, eliminated out-of-pocket housing expenses, improved
    health care, and enhanced other personnel, retirement and survivor
    programs. This support is critical in maintaining readiness and is
    invaluable to our Uniformed Services engaged throughout the world
    fighting the Global War on Terror, sustaining other operational
    requirements and fulfilling commitments to those who've served in the
    past.
        FRA's 2009 priorities include continued oversight of the Wounded
    Warrior improvements, opposition to excessive TRICARE fee increases,
    full funding for DOD and VA health care, annual active duty pay
    increases that are at least a half percent above the Employment Cost
    Index (ECI), to help close the pay gap between active duty and private
    sector pay, full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA
    disability compensation, adequate end strength, family readiness, and
    reducing the retirement age for reservists who have been mobilized
    since October 7, 2001.
        Additional issues include the introduction and enactment of
    legislation to eliminate inequities in the Uniformed Services Former
    Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA), authorizing retention of the full
    final month's retired pay by the surviving spouse (or other designated
    survivor) for the month in which the member was alive for at least 24
    hours, repealing REDUX, streamlining the voting process for overseas
    military personnel, and reducing the SBP paid-up age to 67 to allow
    those who joined the service at age 17 or 18 to be required to only pay
    30 years to obtain paid-up status.
        The Association appreciates inclusion in the recently enacted
    economic stimulus package of money for military construction and VA
    hospitals, and supports a DOD fiscal year 2010 budget floor of at least
    5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Excluding supplemental
    appropriations, the United States spent less than four percent of its
    GDP on national defense in 2008. From 1961-1963, the military consumed
    9.1 percent of GDP annually. The active-duty military has been
    stretched to the limit since September 11, 2001, and FRA appreciates
    the fiscal year 2009 increases to service end strengths. FRA strongly
    supports funding to support the anticipated increased end strengths in
    fiscal year 2010 and beyond since current end strength is not adequate
    to meet the demands of fighting current wars and sustaining other
    operational commitments throughout the world.
                      dod fiscal year 2010 proposed budget
        The DOD request totals $663.8 billion for fiscal year 2010, which
    represents a 4-percent increase over fiscal year 2009. It is noteworthy
    that for the first time in 4 years the budget fully funds military
    health care programs without calling for a TRICARE fee increase. FRA
    wants to thank the Obama administration for resisting efforts to shift
    health care costs to beneficiaries. The budget also calls for a 2.9-
    percent active duty pay increase that equals the Employment Cost Index
    (ECI), $1.1 billion to fund military housing and support programs for
    servicemembers and their families, and $3.3 billion to support injured
    servicemembers in their recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration.
        Over the past several years, the Pentagon budget requests have been
    constrained despite rising personnel costs, aging weapon systems, worn
    out equipment, and dilapidated facilities.
        As Operation Iraqi Freedom ends and troops depart from Iraq, some
    will be urging reductions in end strength and spending, despite the
    need to bolster personnel and efforts in Afghanistan and other areas
    around the world. FRA understands the budgetary concerns associated
    with the current recession but believes that cutting the DOD budget
    during the continuing Global War on Terror would be short sighted and
    that America needs a defense budget that will support both ``benefits
    and bullets.''
        This statement lists the concerns of our members, keeping in mind
    that the Association's primary goal is to endorse any positive safety
    programs, rewards, quality of life improvements that support members of
    the Uniformed Services, particularly those serving in hostile areas,
    and their families and survivors.
                         wounded warriors improvements
        FRA is especially grateful for the inclusion of the Wounded Warrior
    assistance provisions as part of the National Defense Authorization Act
    for Fiscal Year 2008, and for the congressional oversight and funding
    to ensure prompt implementation. The Association concurs with the
    recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report recommendations
    that:

             DOD and VA must establish criteria for evaluating
            their joint pilot disability evaluation system and determine if
            it should be widely implemented (GAO-08-1137);
             DOD and VA should give priority to fully establish the
            Joint Interagency Program to implement electronic medical
            records; (GAO-08-1158T); and
             DOD should explore options for improving its
            disability evaluation process (GAO-08-1137).

        Maintaining an effective support system between DOD and VA to
    ensure seamless transition and quality services for wounded personnel,
    particularly those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
    and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) is important to our membership. De-
    stigmatizing these and other mental health conditions is part of this
    and key initiatives should include mental health assessment for all
    servicemembers returning from the combat zone, outreach and family
    support efforts and counseling.
        FRA recommends that this distinguished subcommittee continue
    monitoring the implementation of the wounded warrior programs to
    include periodic oversight hearings to ensure the creation and full
    implementation of a joint electronic health record that will help
    ensure a seamless transition from DOD to VA for wounded warriors, and
    operation of the Wounded Warriors Resource Center as a single point of
    contact for servicemembers, their family members, and primary care
    givers.
                                  health care
        Adequately funding health care benefits for all beneficiaries is
    part of the cost of defending our Nation and a recent FRA survey
    indicates that more than 90 percent of all active duty, retired, and
    veteran respondents and most Reserve participants cited health care as
    their top quality-of-life benefit. Accordingly, protecting and/or
    enhancing health care access for all beneficiaries is FRA's top 2009
    legislative priority.
        Health care costs both in the military and throughout society have
    continued to increase faster than the Consumer Price Index (CPI) making
    this a prime target for those wanting to cut the DOD budget. Many
    beneficiaries targeted in recent proposals to drastically increase
    health care fees are those who served prior to enactment of the recent
    pay and benefit enhancements and receive significantly less in retired
    pay than those serving and retiring in the same pay grade with the same
    years of service today. They clearly recall promises made to them about
    the benefit of health care for life in return for a career, and many
    believe they are entitled to ``free'' health care for life based on the
    government's past commitments.
        For these reasons, FRA strongly supports ``The Military Retirees'
    Health Care Protection Act'' (H.R. 816) sponsored by Representatives
    Chet Edwards (TX) and Walter Jones (NC). The legislation would prohibit
    DOD from increasing TRICARE fees, specifying that the authority to
    increase TRICARE fees exists only in Congress.
        DOD must continue to investigate and implement other TRICARE cost-
    saving options as an alternative to shifting costs to retiree
    beneficiaries. FRA notes progress in this area in expanding use of the
    mail order pharmacy program, Federal pricing for prescription drugs and
    a pilot program of preventative care for TRICARE beneficiaries under
    age 65, and elimination of co-pays for certain preventative services.
        Imposing higher health care costs especially during war time, would
    send a powerful negative message not only to retirees, but to those
    currently serving about the value of their service. The prospect of
    drastically higher health care fees for retirees is also a morale issue
    with the senior enlisted communities who view this as an erosion of
    their career benefits. Unlike private sector employees, military
    retirees have answered the call to serve, and most have done so under
    extremely difficult circumstances while separated from their families
    to defend the freedoms we enjoy today.
        FRA appreciates this subcommittee's attention to addressing the
    excessively high premiums charged for the TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS)
    program
                               concurrent receipt
        The FRA survey referenced above also indicates that more than 70
    percent of military retirees cite concurrent receipt of military pay
    and VA disability benefits among their top priorities. The Association
    continues its unwavering support for the full concurrent receipt of
    military retired pay and veterans' disability compensation for all
    disabled retirees. Provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act
    for Fiscal Year 2008 reflect continued progress toward this goal and
    FRA appreciates the support of this distinguished subcommittee on this
    issue.
                                active duty pay
        A top quality of life issue for active duty servicemembers is
    adequate pay and this is reflected in the fact that more than 93
    percent (93.3 percent) of active duty respondents to FRA's on line
    survey (highest rating) labeled pay as ``very important.'' From fiscal
    year 1999-fiscal year 2006, Congress provided pay increases 0.5 percent
    above the ECI to close the gap (13.5 percent in 1999) between civilian
    and military pay. In fiscal year 2007 the pay increase was equal to the
    ECI (2.2 percent which was the lowest increase since 1994), and the
    last 2 years this subcommittee provided ECI plus 0.5 percent annual pay
    increases. FRA urges the subcommittee to continue the increases above
    the ECI until the remaining 2.9 percent pay gap is eliminated.
                                bah improvements
        A significant number of enlisted active duty respondents to FRA's
    survey (93.3 percent) indicate that adequate Basic Allowance for
    Housing (BAH) rates are ``very important.'' In addition, housing
    allowances tie with pay as their most important quality of life
    programs.
        Related to this is the need to update the housing standards used to
    establish BAH rates since only married E-9s now qualify for BAH based
    on single family housing costs. The Association notes the proposed BAH
    increase in the fiscal year 2010 budget and continues to advocate for
    legislation authorizing more realistic housing standards, particularly
    for career senior enlisted personnel. As the inventory of military
    housing declines, private contractors are building or refurbishing
    units for occupancy of military personnel and their families. The
    result is a dwindling population living in base housing and a rising
    population who qualify for BAH.
                             adequate end strength
        Prosecuting the war efforts has caused an enormous strain on active
    duty personnel and the Reserve component. Repeated and extended
    deployments are taking a toll on servicemembers and their families and
    the solution to this problem is to ensure adequate end strengths. FRA
    continues to advocate for increased end strengths to meet the demands
    of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and
    other operational requirements.
                                  repeal redux
        Ten years ago FRA led efforts to repeal the 1986 REDUX retirement
    program formula which led to enactment of legislation authorizing
    personnel choosing that retirement program the option to receive a
    $30,000 career status bonus at the 15-year career mark. Since then many
    enlisted personnel have chosen this option and accepted future capped
    retired pay cost of living adjustments and today average take rate
    among the services is approximately 25 percent. While each individual's
    career situation is unique and servicemembers are certainly entitled to
    make this choice, it's important to note that for most this is probably
    a very bad financial decision since the value of the $30,000 bonus is
    significantly less than it was at the time of enactment. In most
    instances individuals selecting this option are in fact forfeiting
    significant sums of potential retired pay over their lifetimes. FRA
    therefore believes that it's time to repeal the REDUX retirement
    program.
               transferability and the post-september 11 gi bill
        FRA strongly supported the enactment of post-September 11 GI Bill
    last year and appreciates the breadth and scope of the generous new
    education benefits authorized under that program. The Association
    appreciates the recently announced temporary DOD policy exceptions for
    career personnel who will not have the required service time remaining
    to technically quality for transferability options under the new
    program which are designed as career retention incentives. Particularly
    associated with the later transferability options, it's important to
    note the frustration of career servicemembers who recently retired or
    will do so in the coming months who are unable to transfer unused
    benefits to family members. In conjunction with this, FRA believes some
    consideration should be given to these personnel and their families and
    has written to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, requesting
    consideration of a policy to also allow the transferability of at least
    some unused benefits under previously authorized provisions of the
    Montgomery GI Bill in recognition of their 20 or more years of service.
                      reserve component education benefits
        The Association is grateful for the enactment of the post-September
    11, 2001 GI Bill last year, however benefits authorized under the
    separate Reserve Montgomery GI Bill program are only 25 percent of the
    benefits provided for active duty participants despite the intended 47
    percent to 50 percent level of benefits. FRA urges attention to this
    inequity by authorizing a restoration of the benefits for Selected
    Reserve personnel.
                                  paid-up sbp
        Under current law, retirees are no longer required to pay SBP
    premiums after they have paid for 30 years and reach age 70. This
    punishes those who may have entered the service at age 17 or 18 and
    will be required to pay for 33 or 32 years respectively until attaining
    paid-up SBP status. Therefore, FRA supports changing the minimum age
    for paid-up SBP from age 70 to age 67 to ensure that those who joined
    the military at age 17, 18, or 19 and serve 20 years will only have to
    pay SBP premiums for 30 years.
                  retention of final full month's retired pay
        FRA urges the subcommittee to authorize the retention of the full
    final month's retired pay by the surviving spouse (or other designated
    survivor) of a military retiree for the month in which the member was
    alive for at least 24 hours. FRA strongly supports ``The Military
    Retiree Survivor Comfort Act'' (H.R. 613), introduced by Rep. Walter
    Jones (NC) which addresses this issue.
        Current regulations require survivors of deceased military retirees
    to return any retirement payment received in the month the retiree
    passes away or any subsequent month thereafter. Upon the demise of a
    retiree the surviving spouse is required to notify the Defense Finance
    and Accounting Service (DFAS) of the death. DFAS then stops payment on
    the retirement account, recalculates the final payment to cover only
    the days in the month the retiree was alive, forwards a check for those
    days to the surviving spouse (beneficiary) and, if not reported in a
    timely manner, recoups any payment(s) made covering periods subsequent
    to the retiree's death.
        The measure is related to a similar pay policy enacted by the
    Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Congress passed a law in 1996 that
    allows a surviving spouse to retain the veteran's disability and VA
    pension payments issued for the month of the veteran's death. FRA
    believes military retired pay should be no different. This proposal is
    also in response to complaints from surviving spouses who were unaware
    of the notification requirement and those with joint bank accounts, in
    which retirement payments were made electronically, who gave little if
    any thought that DFAS could swoop down on the joint account and recoup
    any overpayments of retirement pay. This action could easily clear the
    account of any funds remaining whether they were retirement payments or
    money from other sources.
        To offset some of the costs, if the spouse is entitled to survivor
    benefit annuities (SBP) on the retiree's death, there will be no
    payment of the annuity for the month the retirement payment is provided
    the surviving spouse.
                                     voting
        The Overseas Vote Foundation released the results of its 2008 Post
    Election UOCAVA (Uniform Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) Voter
    Survey that indicates that 31 percent of experienced overseas voters
    continue to have questions or problems with voting; and that 39 percent
    of overseas voters did not get their ballot until mid-October or later;
        Despite efforts to remedy past problems, voting from overseas is a
    long and cumbersome process and paper ballots from military personnel
    are frequently contested because they arrive late and often without
    postage or a postmark date. The 1986 UOCAVA law and the Help America
    Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 address voting rights of active duty military
    personnel and all citizens that are outside the country during an
    election. Despite these efforts serious challenges still exist that
    include interfacing and lack of uniformity with State and local
    election officials.
        Electronic communications are secure enough for our Nation's most
    sensitive secrets and for transferring huge sums of money, and FRA
    questions why is it not possible to develop and implement a system for
    the military and overseas Federal employees to vote by secure
    electronic means?
        FRA believes legislation could streamline the current process by
    allowing servicemembers to request and receive an absentee ballot
    electronically but continue to return the signed completed ballot by
    regular mail as is done now. The legislation should also require States
    to identify one State official to administer absentee ballots from
    overseas military rather than county clerks and other local officials;
    limit participation only to military personnel and Federal employees
    overseas; and shift Federal responsibility away from DOD to another
    agency such as the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
        In recent years, Congress has recognized the need for electronic
    voting for servicemembers who are deployed overseas, and has mandated
    the DOD Federal Voting Assistance Program to administer a pilot program
    for internet voting since 2000. Unfortunately there were technical and
    security challenges and many States and local election jurisdictions
    refused to participate. The Association appreciates the Senate Rules
    and Administration Committee's recent hearing on this issue and seeks
    support for improved active duty voter participation in Federal
    elections and to expedite the military mail processing of overseas
    ballots.
                                     usfspa
        FRA continues to advocate for hearings and the introduction of
    legislation addressing the inequities of the Uniformed Service Former
    Spouses Protection Act (USFSPA). The Association believes that USFSPA
    should be more balanced in its protection for both the servicemember
    and the former spouse and that Congress needs to review and amend it so
    that the Federal Government is required to protect its servicemembers
    against State courts that ignore its provisions.
        FRA has long supported several recommendations in the Department of
    Defense's September 2001 report, which assessed USFSPA inequities and
    offered recommendations for improvement. Last year, the Department sent
    a more extensive list of recommendations to staff of the House and
    Senate Armed Services Committees regarding amending the USFSPA that
    include the following FRA supported provision:

             Base former spouse award amount on member's grade/
            years of service at the time of divorce (and not retirement)
             Prohibit award of imputed income while still on active
            duty
             Permit designation of multiple SBP beneficiaries
             Permit SBP premiums to be withheld from former
            spouse's share of retired pay if directed by the court

        Few provisions of the USFSPA protect the rights of the
    servicemember, and none are enforceable by the Department of Justice or
    DOD. If a State court violates the right of the servicemember under the
    provisions of USFSPA, the Solicitor General will make no move to
    reverse the error. Why? Because the act does not have the enforceable
    language required for Justice or the Defense Department to react. The
    only recourse is for the servicemember to appeal to the court, which in
    many cases gives that court jurisdiction over the member. Some State
    courts also award a percentage of veterans' compensation to ex-spouses,
    a clear violation of U.S. law, yet nothing has been done to stop this
    transgression.
        FRA believes Congress needs to take a hard look at the USFSPA with
    the intent to amend it so that the Federal Government is required to
    protect its servicemembers against State courts that ignore provisions
    of the act.
                            reserve early retirement
        FRA believes that the effective date of the early Reserve
    retirement age provision of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008 should be
    changed to 7 October 2001. The legislation authorizes a retirement date
    reduction of 3 months for each cumulative 90-days ordered to active
    duty. The FRA supports ``The National Guard and Reserve Retired Pay
    Equity Act'' (S. 644) sponsored by Senator Saxby Chambliss (GA) and
    ``The National Guard and Reserve Retired Pay Equity Act'' (S. 831)
    sponsored by Senator John Kerry (Mass.) to allow reservists mobilized
    since 7 October, 2001, to receive credit in determining eligibility for
    receipt of early retired pay.
        Reserve component deployments since September 11, 2001, reflect the
    change from a Strategic Reserve to an Operational Reserve that now
    plays a vital role in the global war on terror. This has resulted in
    more frequent and longer deployments which have had a significant
    impact on individual careers and changing the effective date of the
    Reserve early retirement would help partially offset lost salary
    increases, promotions, 401K, and other benefit contributions. The
    Association urges the subcommittee to make the provision retroactive to
    7 October 2001.
                       mandate travel cost reimbursement
        FRA appreciates the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008 provision (section
    631) that permits travel reimbursement for weekend drills, not to
    exceed $300, if the commute is outside the normal commuting distance.
    However, the Association urges the subcommittee to make this a
    mandatory provision due to the importance of this issue with many
    enlisted reservists who are forced to travel lengthy distances to
    participate in weekend drill without any reimbursement for travel
    costs. This is a retention and recruitment issue for the Reserves and
    directly related to increased reliance on these personnel in order to
    sustain our war and other operational commitments.
                                   conclusion
        FRA is grateful for the opportunity to present these
    recommendations to this distinguished subcommittee. The Association
    reiterates its profound gratitude for the extraordinary progress this
    subcommittee has made in advancing a wide range of military personnel
    benefits and quality-of-life programs for all uniformed services
    personnel and their families and survivors. Thank you again for the
    opportunity to submit the FRA' views on these critically important
    topics.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Captain Puzon? I hope I am saying that right.

       STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN IKE PUZON, USNR (RET.), DIRECTOR OF
      LEGISLATION, NAVAL RESERVE ASSOCIATION; AND CO-CHAIR, GUARD/
               RESERVE COMMITTEE, THE MILITARY COALITION

        Captain Puzon. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee
    and staff members, I am honored to be here. We are pleased with
    the Guard and Reserve improvements that you have made in the
    past since September 11, 2001. I will focus on needed
    enhancements and improvements in early retirement, health care
    benefits for Guard and Reserve, and the Montgomery GI Bill
    (MGIB) for Reserve members.
        For early retirement, our number-one goal for Guard and
    Reserve is the passage of legislation establishing September
    11, 2001, as the eligibility start date for Guard and Reserve
    early retirement, as authorized in the National Defense
    Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2008.
        We call upon you to expand the program to include all those
    who have sacrificed for our Nation following the tragedy of
    September 11. More than 710,000 men and women have answered the
    call to Active Duty, protecting our way of life, and are
    serving more than 190,000 multiple tours of duty.
        Unfortunately, most of these tours won't count toward early
    retirement unless Congress authorizes retroactive credit for
    the activations. Ultimately, we need to show commitment to them
    for their increased utilization by addressing the Reserve
    retirement system.
        For health care benefits, to maintain and retain a viable
    operational Reserve Force, health care access for Guard and
    Reserve must match their increased role in the Nation's
    defense. We urge Congress to establish a moratorium on TRICARE
    and TRICARE Reserve Select premium increases. We urge you to
    establish medical and dental care for Guard and Reserve
    members, beginning with the issuance of an alert order and post
    deployment for 180 days.
        We also ask that you review the wounded warrior transition
    assistance and to fully fund the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration
    Programs for post deployment to ensure Guard and Reserve
    members and recently released Active Duty have adequate access
    and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic
    brain injury following separation from Active Duty.
        We believe there should be a close evaluation of the care
    in remote areas. We ask Congress to pass pending legislation to
    allow gray area reservists to purchase TRICARE standard health
    care coverage.
        Regarding the MGIB benefit, we ask that Congress upgrade
    the MGIB to provide increased benefits to Selected reservists.
    We are most grateful to Congress for passage of the post-
    September 11 GI bill benefits. However, the MGIB benefits for
    joining the Selected Reserves were not upgraded or integrated.
    We would ask that you restore the basic Reserve MGIB for
    initially joining the Selected Reserves to the benchmark of
    approximately 50 percent of the Active Duty benefit.
        Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the opportunity to present
    the views of TMC and the Association of the United States Navy.
    I will be happy to answer any questions.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Captain.
        Ms. Holleman?

     STATEMENT OF DEIRDRE PARKE HOLLEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THE
    RETIRED ENLISTED ASSOCIATION; AND CO-CHAIR, SURVIVOR COMMITTEE,
                         THE MILITARY COALITION

        Ms. Holleman. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for the honor
    of speaking before you on behalf of the survivors of those who
    protected our Nation in the military.
        In the last several years, Congress has made great strides
    in improving the lives of the women, men, and children who were
    left behind and alone when their loved ones died because they
    had served America in uniform. TMC wishes to thank you for all
    you have done, but to urge you to take several more necessary
    steps forward.
        One of TMC's highest legislative goals is to end the SBP-
    DIC offset. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has been the
    champion of this goal in your chamber. In this session of
    Congress, S. 535 already has 45 cosponsors. In the House,
    Representative Ortiz's companion, H.R. 775, has 229 cosponsors.
    We hope that these dramatic numbers indicate that this is the
    year that this unwise benefit structure will be abolished.
        The great majority of the widows who are affected by this
    offset had spouses who served a career in the uniformed
    services and purchased Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) when they
    retired. They paid a substantial portion of their retired pay
    to assure that if their wives survived them, they would be
    provided for. This is the type of responsible behavior that we
    wish to encourage.
        Clearly, SBP is a deferred employee benefit. But since the
    retiree died of a service-connected disability, something he
    could not responsibly rely would happen, the survivor is also
    entitled to the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) Dependency
    and Indemnity Compensation (DIC).
        The other small group of widows who are affected by this
    offset are recent widows whose husbands died on Active Duty
    after Congress created Active Duty SBP. These servicemembers
    qualified for SBP protection by sacrificing their lives.
        For both groups of survivors, one SBP dollar is offset for
    every dollar paid by DIC. The DIC payment this year is $1,154 a
    month. Due to the offset, a survivor will be living on a
    payment of just under $14,000 a year, plus whatever amount, if
    any, remains in SBP for higher rank retirement payments. That
    is not enough to live on or to acknowledge the service and
    sacrifice rendered.
        Congress has, over the last several years, been moving
    toward ending the offset between military retired pay and
    service-connected disability pay. This similar offset should
    also be ended.
        We would briefly like to highlight two additional
    improvements that we urge you to include in the NDAA for Fiscal
    Year 2010. TMC asks that you support H.R. 613, the Military
    Retiree Survivor Comfort Act. This bill would allow a military
    retiree's widow or widower to retain the full retired payment
    for the month in which a member died.
        Now the law requires DOD to immediately remove the full
    month's payment from the couple's shared checking account where
    the payment was electronically deposited and then, at a later
    date, give a prorated payment reflecting how many days the
    member lived in his or her last month. This procedure often
    means that in a most trying month, a widow may unknowingly
    bounce checks or may be unable to pay ongoing bills.
        Changing this would make a terrible time for a survivor
    easier. A statute already requires the VA to allow a widow to
    retain the full last month's service-connected disability
    payment. DOD should do the same for military retirees.
        Finally, we urge you to create an SBP special needs trust.
    The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is not
    presently allowed to issue SBP checks to a trust, only a living
    person. Allowing SBP payments to be deposited in a special
    needs trust would help protect seriously disabled children who
    qualify for SBP payments.
        The recently introduced H.R. 2059 would allow the
    approximately 1,500 children who presently qualify for an SBP
    annuity and who are incapable of self support because of mental
    or physical incapacity to make use of this helpful legal tool.
    We hope this committee will include this improvement in next
    year's NDAA.
        Again, thank you so much for allowing me to address you on
    these important matters. I would be very happy to attempt to
    answer any questions you may have.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Ms. Holleman.
        Colonel Strobridge?

    STATEMENT OF COL. STEVEN P. STROBRIDGE, USAF (RET.), DIRECTOR,
    GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA;
                  AND CO-CHAIR, THE MILITARY COALITION

        Colonel Strobridge. Mr. Chairman, my portion of the
    Coalition testimony will focus on health care and retirement
    issues.
        For wounded warriors, we urge the committee to consider
    permanent authority for the Senior Oversight Committee, whose
    authority will expire at the end of this year. We are also very
    concerned that the transition from Active Duty to retiree
    TRICARE or to VA coverage catches many wounded warriors and
    their families unaware. They need the same protections that we
    provide when someone dies on Active Duty--3 years of continued
    Active Duty level coverage to ensure a smooth transition.
        We urge a consistent package of training and compensation
    for wounded warriors' full-time caregivers. The Services have
    separate programs in this area. The VA offers very little, and
    caregivers lose virtually all support when the member is
    retired for disability. We owe them a fairer deal.
        Regarding psychological health and traumatic brain injury
    (TBI), DOD and VA are moving out, but most of those efforts
    will take time. In the meantime, we have overwhelming numbers
    who need help now, as we heard earlier on the panel. But many
    still have to wait months for appointments. To us, that is not
    good enough. You asked the right question, what can we do to
    ease this? The answer, I think General Rochelle gave the right
    answer, all of the above, part of which is expanding capacity
    to deliver care.
        On TRICARE fees, we are grateful that the administration
    discontinued the past trend and didn't propose the kind of
    significant fee increases in the fiscal year 2010 budget that
    we have seen in past years. TRICARE costs are inflated by
    unique military requirements and inefficiencies, and DOD has
    lots of options to cut costs without imposing large fee hikes
    on beneficiaries.
        We ask you to put language in this year's NDAA expressing a
    specific sense of Congress that military people pay huge
    upfront premiums through decades of service and sacrifice over
    and above their cash fees. That is something that is not
    acknowledged now, and to us, that is one of the big problems.
    People want to just compare money to money, and they don't
    realize that most of military premiums are paid upfront and
    they are very heavy, indeed.
        DOD surveys show that military beneficiaries are less
    satisfied with their health care than most civilians are. We
    think the Pentagon needs to focus more on fixing TRICARE and
    less on trying to charge more for it.
        On concurrent receipt, we believe military retired pay is
    earned by service and should not be reduced because the
    servicemember happens to also incur a service-caused
    disability. We strongly support the new initiative in the
    President's fiscal year 2010 budget, and we hope as well that
    you will be able to fix the glitch in the Combat-Related
    Special Compensation (CRSC) law that causes some to lose the
    pay that Congress meant for them.
        We are also very concerned about the REDUX retirement
    system and the so-called $30,000 career status bonus that
    entices thousands of unwary members each year to forfeit
    hundreds of thousands of dollars in future retired pay. This
    so-called bonus is tantamount to a lifetime loan against future
    retired pay where the usury is 24 percent annual percentage
    rate for the typical enlisted member and a 35 percent rate for
    the typical officer.
        We would be pleased to explore options with the
    subcommittee staff to better protect servicemembers against
    mortgaging their financial futures.
        Finally, we hope the subcommittee will not support the 10th
    Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation's military
    retirement proposal, which would defer receipt of full retired
    pay until age 58 or later and authorize vesting at 10 years of
    service.
        We believe this civilian-style plan is inappropriate for
    military service conditions. It would take money from people
    who serve a career to pay people who leave early. We think it
    would undermine long-term retention and readiness and prove
    disastrous in a wartime environment like today's when we are so
    desperate to encourage longer service.
        Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks and TMC's remarks.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Colonel.
        Captain Snyder?

       STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN BRADLEY J. SNYDER, USA (RET.), PAST
              PRESIDENT, ARMED FORCES SERVICES CORPORATION

        Captain Snyder. Mr. Chairman, not only do I have the
    shortest title, I have a different hat that I am wearing today.
        I am honored to be asked by the staff to come in as an
    unofficial ``official expert'' on helping families over 43
    years since my retirement from my wounds in Vietnam. We have
    had the privilege of being with members of the Active Duty,
    retired, Guard, Reserve, and being able to try to educate them
    on the benefits they have. Then when they transition into
    retirement to help them understand not what they don't have,
    but what they do have.
        The biggest problem, Mr. Chairman, is education. The
    benefits don't come in individual packets. They come in a
    group. Social Security, VA, and SBP are all linked together.
    They have been that way ever since the inception.
        We were privileged to work with the families of the Gander
    air crash, of the Airborne Warning and Control System crash,
    and, of course, the 31 days we spent with the families in the
    Pentagon after the attack on the Pentagon. The understanding of
    benefits by the members of the Armed Forces is very, very
    difficult because of their complexity of the three
    bureaucracies that I just mentioned.
        We have presented a computer program that gives each
    individual family their benefits for the rest of their life if
    their spouse dies. I was very privileged in helping put this
    together. Right now, as far as Active Duty, the Army G-1,
    General Rochelle, has contracted that every single person on
    Active Duty in the Army, Active Duty Army, has their benefits
    up to date every single day.
        They can go online at myarmybenefits, and they can see
    their individual family benefits from Social Security, VA, and
    SBP tied together for them and where they can discuss that with
    their family if they are going to be deployed or if they are
    going to retire. They can ``what if'' if they get promoted,
    ``what if'' if they have a child, ``what if'' if they get
    married. How do these benefits all change?
        It is very high tech. It is connected to the Defense
    Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System, so the individual
    doesn't even have to remember all his data. We are very proud
    of that. It is helping, Mr. Chairman, in the education so that
    people understand their benefits and don't get the idea that
    the benefits aren't that good because Congress has been very
    good with the benefits.
        Just to give an example, I have an E-4 that I just helped
    the family with one child. The veteran that was killed was 20
    years old. His spouse is 20 years old. The child is 1 year old.
    When I put all the benefits together and put a stream of
    benefits out to the mortality date of that 20-year-old spouse,
    which means that the assumption is that she lives to receive
    the benefits at 3 percent inflation, the value of the
    collective benefits for her and the child are $2.7 million,
    with a present value of $1.8 million.
        That is not to mention the $500,000 from the
    Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) and the death
    gratuity and also the $41,000 for education benefits from the
    VA. All benefits can always be improved for our families, but
    the basis that is existing now is a very, very good base with
    the law as it is.
        I hope that if my expertise would be able to help answer
    any questions, I am just very honored to be here to try to help
    with that particular task.
        Thank you, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, and thank you for that
    example.
        We will do 5 minute rounds here.
        You gave us an example of the full range of benefits. How
    does this compare to what might be available in the civilian
    sector? Do you have any comparative information, or would
    anybody else have some comparative information about how the
    benefits that you have just described might compare to the
    civilian industry?
        Captain Snyder. Sir, I don't have any particular knowledge
    on the individual IBMs, General Motors, and all. I can tell you
    that for someone in this category of this rank and capability
    and job description, the benefits would be nowhere near. I know
    officers of corporations that don't have $500,000 worth of
    insurance and things.
        But it is for a different thing. We are here to take care
    of those survivors of those that served, and it is doing a good
    job. Overall, I believe that the military benefits are better
    because they are controlled by the Continuous Process
    Improvement. They increase with inflation, as I said in the
    example I gave of 3 percent inflation.
        Most benefits on the outside, even in my own company, we
    don't have cost of living adjustments. We can't afford it.
        Senator Ben Nelson. That is what I was trying to get
    across. I don't think that this level of benefit is available
    outside at the level you are talking about.
        Colonel Strobridge. Sir, we have done some research on
    this. We think the most comparable group are police and
    firefighters. In large cities with police and firefighters, our
    experience is most of those folks, if a member is killed in the
    line of duty, the survivor gets 100 percent of pay for life.
        Senator Ben Nelson. One hundred percent of pay for life?
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. I think I would have a little
    bit different opinion. One of the concerns is, and particularly
    when we are talking about the SBP-DIC issue, 94 percent of
    those widows did not get the big cash payments we are talking
    about. They got death gratuities of $3,000.
        They get SGLIs of $50,000, which the member paid for, by
    the way. That is not a gift from the government. The member
    paid a premium for it. That money is long since gone, and these
    widows are living on basically $14,000 a year.
        You can extrapolate that for X number of years in the
    future, and it looks like a big number. That doesn't change the
    fact that it is $14,000 a year. I think everybody in here would
    have a little problem living on that.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Would the benefits, Captain Snyder, for
    the spouse be discontinued upon remarriage?
        Captain Snyder. They are discontinued if remarriage is
    before a certain age. For the VA, it is 57. For the SBP, it is
    55, and for Social Security, it is age 60. But all start back
    up again if that spouse's second marriage terminates for death,
    divorce, or annulment. So that is another feature in there.
        The DIC-SBP is a very emotional issue, and the programs
    were never meant to be individual and draw both. They were
    never meant that way. The costing is based on that. If anything
    can be improved, it is better. But there is a tremendous value
    to each of the benefits that are there now.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Ms. Holleman, could you give us your
    thoughts on the progress we have made, but the progress that
    remains to be made on concurrent receipt? Is that one of the
    areas that you are interested in?
        Ms. Holleman. We are all interested in it.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I know you all are, but I want to make
    sure.
        Ms. Holleman. That was not what I focused on, but I would
    certainly be happy to discuss that. Obviously, we have been
    pushing and everyone here has been hoping that Congress would
    make continued steps, as they have, to end this offset. There
    have been, as this town loves steps, and we have had several
    steps. As Colonel Strobridge said, we were very pleased at the
    administration's proposal concerning Chapter 61 retirees being
    included in concurrent receipt, and that is yet another step.
    We hope that will appear in the NDAA this coming year.
        We hope, indeed, that the final step, which are the people
    at 10 to 40 percent, longevity retirees be included in the
    administration proposal. It is clear that the 10 to 40 percent
    Chapter 61s will, in years 4 and 5, be included. Then the only
    people left out of getting the two appropriate pays would be
    the 10 to 40 percent longevity retirees. It is only honest to
    tell you, I will be back asking for that as well.
        Mr. Barnes. Mr. Chairman?
        Senator Ben Nelson. Yes.
        Mr. Barnes. If I could just clarify, the Fleet Reserve
    Association, as with TMC, has a longstanding objective of full
    concurrent receipt for all disabled military personnel. Retired
    pay and disability pay are paid for different reasons. Retired
    pay for service, disability pay for the physical impact of
    that. That is part and parcel to that policy or our objective
    of full concurrent receipt for all disabled military retirees.
        I appreciate your attention to this and the progress that
    has been made on this issue, and I also concur with Deirdre's
    comments.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I must admit, as we have attempted to
    make the progress and have, it has been much more difficult
    than I think many might assume going into it. But we believe
    that we need to continue to try to make that sort of progress.
        Ms. Holleman. May I add, as Joe has said, both retired pay
    and disability pay are two different payments for two different
    services or events or losses. The same thing is true with SBP
    and DIC.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Graham.
        Senator Graham. Thank you.
        Along those lines, the dilemma we have is that, yes, they
    are two different events. I totally agree with that, but it is
    coming out of one basic pocket here, and that pocket is not
    large enough, in my opinion, to meet all the needs of the
    Active-Duty Forces. It is not sufficient enough to meet growing
    personnel costs from the Active-Duty Reserve side. It is not
    sufficient enough to meet weapons modernization.
        We have a real dilemma as a Nation here. Secretary Gates
    said about curbing the growth of the health care budget in the
    future, he has described it as ``eating the Department alive.''
    Twelve percent of the entire DOD's budget in 2015 is going to
    be health care costs.
        I have two questions. One is on the quality side, and the
    other is the cost side. We have a TRICARE system, which you are
    all intimately familiar with, and we get conflicting reports
    about the quality of TRICARE. I guess it depends who you ask. I
    thought I would ask you all, the people who use it, how would
    you rate this system? What could we do to improve quality and
    access?
        Then I will ask you a question about cost. How we come to
    grips with this dilemma that the military budget, DOD's
    budget--something has to give here. We either have to get more
    money or do something differently.
        On the quality of TRICARE, from an A to an F, give me your
    thoughts and a short comment as to why you picked whatever you
    did.
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. I can start since I covered
    health care. I think I would give it a solid C.
        Senator Graham. It got me through school, but I wouldn't
    recommend that. [Laughter.]
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. You are absolutely right that
    the assessment depends on who you talk to. I think the
    Secretary of Defense himself said, in looking at a recent set
    of surveys that said military people are less satisfied with
    their health care than private sector citizens.
        Senator Graham. Briefly, could you tell me what are the
    major deficiencies you think?
        Colonel Strobridge. I think the primary one, sir, is
    access. There are many people who have great difficulty finding
    a doctor who will accept TRICARE.
        Senator Graham. Is that because of reimbursements?
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. That is a large part of it.
    There are two reasons. One is the cost of reimbursements. One
    is the administrative hassle associated with TRICARE that
    doctors don't get from other health care systems. Those are the
    two primary things.
        Senator Graham. Anybody else who would like to weigh in
    here?
        Captain Puzon. Yes, sir. From the Guard and Reserve
    perspective, and a personal level. Let me do the Guard and
    Reserve first. The further you get away from the military
    treatment facility, the less they know what TRICARE is and the
    less it is accessed.
        Senator Graham. We provided TRICARE eligibility to Guard
    and reservists years ago.
        Captain Puzon. Right.
        Senator Graham. Has that been helpful to the force?
        Captain Puzon. Oh, yes, sir. Thank you very much for that.
        On a personal level, I would say that I would give it a B
    plus. But again, it comes back to access, people wanting to
    actually take it.
        Senator Graham. Gotcha.
        Mr. Barnes. Senator, I would just add, I concur with the
    comments about access. We hear this, and we are surprised in
    our interactions with Active Duty personnel that they have
    challenges with access, particularly with regard to dependents
    and spouses, and that varies in different places around the
    country.
        I also concur with the reimbursement issues that were
    mentioned here. Overall, I would give it a B to a B minus.
        Senator Graham. Captain Snyder? Ms. Holleman?
        Ms. Holleman. Yes, I agree. I would say B once you get it.
    Again, it is an access question, and it is a complicated
    question. It is a complicated exotic system, and particularly
    for family members. Their dismay is often not about the care
    itself, but all the problems and the hoops to get through and
    understand, and then they move and they have to learn them all
    over again. I think that is a great deal of the difficulty.
        Senator Graham. Captain Snyder?
        Captain Snyder. Sir, I agree with the access problem, but
    personally, I think in a bigger picture, at sometime we are
    going to have to deal with the number of entitlements for
    health care. In this area, I have been very blessed for 43
    years since I retired out of Walter Reed Army Medical Center
    (WRAMC). But I can go to WRAMC. I can go to the VA. I can use
    my TRICARE, which I did. Now I can use Medicare. All those
    programs are operating at the same time.
        I don't know what the answer is. I just know that the
    problems that get rooted into one of the systems like access to
    military treatment facilities once you retire--now I retired
    with a combat disability. So I can always go to WRAMC for those
    areas that I need treatment----
        Senator Graham. But a Category 8 veteran will have a hard
    time doing that, right?
        Captain Snyder. Right. Those other hospitals are there for
    them, but the cost compounds by just having start-up costs for
    all the ones that have to be operated. I am just throwing that
    out as a futuristic thing because I think it is going to come
    around.
        Senator Graham. I have been thinking for a long time that
    when you retire from the military, maybe you should go into a
    VA system that could accommodate more patients and offer more
    services, and it is taking up the military's budget when you
    are talking about down the road, just sort of limit the
    military health care footprint to the Active-Duty Forces and
    their families.
        I don't know if that is the smart thing to do, but you have
    nailed it right there. You have nailed it. Yes?
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. That is something TMC has
    addressed specifically, and we see great difficulties with
    that.
        Senator Graham. In the current system, it would be almost
    impossible. But somebody has to get a grip on this.
        One last thing, and then I have to go. They tell me that in
    1995, the TRICARE beneficiaries, DOD health care beneficiaries,
    paid 27 percent of their health care cost. Today, it is 12
    percent, and that is what you were getting to, Mr. Chairman.
    The Bush administration had some pretty draconian premium
    increases that were just too much too quick.
        This committee has been working with your groups and others
    to find ways to make health care more efficient. What can we do
    to improve the quality of care? More preventive medicine.
    Before we ask for more money, we have to find savings first.
        Last question, have we accomplished anything on
    streamlining the savings part, and what do we do long term
    about the ever-increasing amount of health care that is coming
    through DOD's budget?
        We have to somehow get ahead of this. I don't know if we
    can maintain 12 percent forever. That is just something that
    has to give eventually, and I want a rational way to get there,
    not putting people at risk or asking more than they can give
    all at one time. What is your view of our reform efforts here?
        Colonel Strobridge. Frankly, sir, I think most of the
    savings efforts have been due to the efforts of this committee.
        Senator Graham. Yes, we have pushed the system. Has it
    worked, I guess, is what I am saying?
        Colonel Strobridge. Some of it has. Certainly the Federal
    pricing for the retail pharmacy, although I am not even sure
    that has been implemented yet. But that will generate big
    savings. That was something, unfortunately, we had to push and
    you had to push to get it done.
        Senator Graham. Yes, and I want to go to the systems and
    say you have to give some before we ask from others.
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. Getting back to your point
    about the 27 percent, we had a meeting with you 3 years ago.
        Senator Graham. Right.
        Colonel Strobridge. One of the points you made was why
    don't you all get together and talk about the numbers? We have
    been trying ever since. We have never gotten an explanation of
    what went into that 27 percent. We have some difficulties.
        Senator Graham. Mr. Chairman, my time is up. I think this
    is a good area for the committee to keep pushing. To make sure
    that they give us an accounting of this 27 percent and these
    reforms that you gave us that from a user's point of view would
    make this system more efficient. We need to have another
    meeting with DOD officials about cleaning up the program,
    making it more efficient.
        Then, quite frankly, as I told you 3 years ago, there is
    going to come a day when we are going to have to look at the
    population and say, based on the ability to pay, we are going
    to have to pay more down the road.
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir. We have had several of those.
    You remember the list that we gave you. We provided those to a
    bunch of different folks in DOD. Usually they say, ``gee, there
    are some good ideas in here,'' and we don't hear that much. In
    fairness, there have been a couple of them that have been
    implemented.
        Senator Graham. Mr. Chairman, let us reinstitute that whole
    inquiry.
        Colonel Strobridge. Yes, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I might add that when these, as you
    say, draconian increases were being discussed, poor Secretary
    Chu had to engage with us with an awful lot of discussion about
    the absence of strong actuarial morbidity studies to establish
    either the amount of the increase as being actuarially sound or
    what the true actuarial cost should be.
        I do think the whole area needs to be evaluated and
    studied, and there clearly is something wrong if we are moving
    down to a lower--if it is true that we are, that the individual
    is paying less premium percentage for the cost, trending
    downwards, that isn't sustainable. But we need to know whether
    that is the case or not.
        Being told that is one thing. Having actuaries come in and
    establish true what the loss costs are, I think, would be very
    helpful.
        Senator Graham. Thank you for your testimony.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Ms. Holleman, the use of this trust fund that you made
    reference to, you say something like 1,500?
        Ms. Holleman. That is it. Only 1,500.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Fifteen hundred children. These are
    special needs children of a deceased member, or what do they
    consist of?
        Ms. Holleman. Yes. Usually, that is what it is. The special
    needs trust is a creation really of the Federal Government, but
    then implemented by State governments and the appropriate
    court. You can establish a special needs trust. It protects,
    when I say ``children,'' many of these children are adults. But
    they were children of the servicemember, and they are severely
    disabled.
        The special needs trust protects them in many ways,
    including having the qualification for other programs and care
    that TRICARE does not cover, but that they would be
    disqualified by getting the direct payment or having an
    individual get the direct payment. But they are covered and
    protected.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Would this be for health care, or would
    it be for continuing life care, living expenses?
        Ms. Holleman. Both. But often, for instance, if this is
    somebody who should live in a group home, that is not exactly
    health care.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Living expenses would be, yes.
        Ms. Holleman. Living expenses, certain psychological and
    other programs that are provided that are often means tested by
    the States. The reason that the special needs trust was created
    was to protect that and to allow them to have the benefit of
    the State as well.
        But at this point in time, DFAS just cannot pay to a trust.
    It is not expensive, but it will make huge differences to these
    children.
        Senator Ben Nelson. It doesn't increase the cost. It just
    directs where the expenditure could be made?
        Ms. Holleman. The only increase I could see is that there
    was a Congressional Budget Office report that said it would be
    $88 million in 10 years, and the cost would be, I never get an
    explanation of what Medicaid--I think what the cost would be,
    would be Medicaid.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Oh, I see.
        Ms. Holleman. That, in fact, is what one of the things
    special needs trust is created to allow people to use.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Something I need to learn a little bit
    more about.
        Yes, Captain Snyder?
        Captain Snyder. Sir, I might comment on that because I have
    helped a lot of families with this, and there is the payment of
    a Government entitlement that has to go to an individual. It
    can be deposited into a special needs trust, but the individual
    is going to get the 1099 because it has to go to a human being.
    That is the problem.
        Ms. Holleman. Right.
        Captain Snyder. The other problem is it is not just SBP. It
    is Social Security. Social Security will cause the same
    problem. So if you fix the SBP that it is not part of income to
    go in for this, and then Social Security comes in because the
    child, upon the death of the father, will receive 75 percent of
    the father's benefit, which is greater than his Supplemental
    Security Income benefit. Before we had the SBP law in 1972,
    there was a similar problem with Social Security.
        If you disconnect these three things that are always
    operating on the benefits and you fix one, there is the domino
    theory.
        Senator Ben Nelson. That is something new to me that I know
    about the trust, but I didn't realize that the Government can't
    make that payment directly. So, some authorization?
        Captain Snyder. I think it has been explained to me as the
    legal problem is the trust can change. The human being can't
    change. I mean, unless it dies, that child is going to get the
    benefit.
        I have a 51-year-old right now that his father died, the
    mother had SBP for herself and the child, no problem. The child
    was getting it. Now the mother died in January, so the child is
    getting the SBP, the father's Social Security, and the VA,
    because his death was service-connected of Agent Orange, that
    child is getting about $7,000 a month, and it is too much money
    to have it get into the other benefits.
        But that much from all three of the benefits again is
    paying his costs almost better than Medicaid, but there are
    some things like private picking up, bus transportation, or
    wheelchairs. But the brothers now are saying they have enough
    money to take care of him on their own.
        It is not an easy issue when a Government entitlement is
    trying to go to a nonhuman being.
        Colonel Strobridge. The specific problem with the law, sir,
    is the SBP law explicitly states that SBP can only be paid to a
    natural person. The legislation at hand would add another
    subparagraph that said it could be paid to a special needs
    trust.
        Ms. Holleman. Of course, the special needs trusts are
    watched and administered and protected by the court, the
    surrogate court or the probate court or whatever court the
    State has that handles such things and are very expert in
    handling those matters.
        Senator Ben Nelson. The potential recipient, the
    beneficiary doesn't have the capacity to direct, to sign away
    or authorize the assignment to that trust because they don't
    have the capacity----
        Colonel Strobridge. It is illegal.
        Senator Ben Nelson. --and it is illegal.
        Ms. Holleman. Yes. It is illegal, even if they did.
        Captain Snyder. It is the income of the person that causes
    the problem, and that has to be reported. VA does not count it.
    But Social Security and SBP do, and that is where, again, the
    deposit can go to the trust account. There is no problem with
    getting the money in the trust account. But the 1099 is going
    to go to the human being and not to the trust.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Colonel Strobridge, you may not agree?
        Colonel Strobridge. The DFAS has sent letters to these
    folks----
        Captain Snyder. They can't.
        Colonel Strobridge. --sir, that says they will not deposit
    it in a special needs trust.
        Ms. Holleman. Right.
        Colonel Strobridge. It is illegal. I have a letter,
    multiple letters that say that.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I think that is something we ought to
    take a look at. Certainly, we don't want to see money sent off
    into eight different directions without adequate controls. But
    it does seem that that is a bit behind the times that you can't
    do that.
        Obviously, there are good reasons for it to be directed
    into an account like that, particularly probably less chance of
    somebody intercepting the money. All kinds of other hazards
    that are out there that at least this would be direct deposit,
    and that is a fairly common thing today. It wasn't common maybe
    so many years ago when this was put together.
        We can take a look at that as well, see what we can do to
    at least create the authorization so it is not illegal.
        This is just generally to the panel. What priorities have
    we not raised that you think we should raise? What are we not
    doing that you individually think we should be looking at or
    doing? Quickly, if you could.
        Mr. Barnes. Mr. Chairman, I will lead off here. One of two
    issues that are addressed in the Fleet Reserve Association's
    statement is the voting issue, which is very important. There
    have been some hearings on Capitol Hill with regard to absentee
    ballots.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Oh, yes. I am on that committee.
        Mr. Barnes. That is a very challenging issue. Anyway, that
    is one issue.
        The other issue is reform, needed reform of the Uniformed
    Services Former Spouses Protection Act.
        Thank you for asking.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Captain Puzon. Yes, sir. I mentioned it, but I want to do
    it again. It is dental coverage for our Guard and reservists
    before they go, mobilize, and afterwards. That is a big issue
    for the Guard and Reserve.
        Colonel Strobridge. One that I would like to add, sir, that
    we have discussed with your staff as a possibility is the
    Active Duty dependent dental plan. That coverage for
    orthodontia has not changed since 2001 or 2002. Obviously, the
    cost of braces are going up. Something to provide for the
    Active Duty families to allow that adjustment would be very
    helpful.
        Captain Snyder. Sir, I think one thing that would help
    surviving children is to release them from the alternative
    minimum tax on the SBP that they get. That is causing dollars
    to not be able to be used for the children. We are trying to
    give money to the children. This was a different type of child,
    although the children do have the money, and they should report
    it for taxation, but not the alternative minimum tax. I think
    that would help them a great deal.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Good point.
        Ms. Holleman, we will let you wrap it up.
        Ms. Holleman. I was going to say, but Captain Snyder said
    it much better than I.
        We are talking about dental. I will throw out the last part
    of the dental. The retiree dental plan, which has been improved
    in the last several years, and we are grateful for it, is still
    completely paid by the members. Any support that could be given
    by the Federal Government would be a great help.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you. You have been very helpful,
    and we appreciate not only the information you have given to us
    here and continue to provide us, but what you do for the men
    and women in uniform and those who have hung up those uniforms.
        We thank you so much for your participation. We appreciate
    it. Thank you.
        The hearing is adjourned.
        [Questions for the record with answers supplied follow:]
                 Question Submitted by Senator Roland W. Burris
                             dislocation allowance
        1. Senator Burris. General Rochelle, Admiral Ferguson, General
    Newton, and General Coleman, please clarify your policy regarding
    servicemembers receiving dislocation allowance (DLA) entitlement during
    their final permanent change of station (PCS) move on the occasion of
    their retirement. Why isn't this entitlement extended to servicemembers
    in this category?
        General Rochelle. DLA partially reimburses a member, with or
    without dependents, for the moving in and out expenses incurred when a
    member relocates during a Government-directed PCS move, a move ordered
    at the convenience of the Government, or movement incident to an
    evacuation. Retirement is not a PCS reassignment enforced by the
    Government. The member selects the location prior to retirement and it
    may or may not result in a final move. The retiree is authorized a
    fully funded Government home of selection move to most places in the
    world. Since retirement is not unforeseen nor Government directed, the
    expenses incurred with the setting up of the member's retirement
    location is borne by the member. Therefore, the Army, in accordance
    with the statute, does not authorize DLA to members for their
    retirement move.
        Admiral Ferguson. Consistent with 37 U.S.C. Sec. 407(e), and
    chapter 5 of the Joint Federal Travel Regulations, members are not
    entitled to payment of DLA when ordered from home to the member's first
    duty station, or from the last duty station to the member's home.
        General Newton. Statute prohibits retiring servicemembers from
    receiving a DLA during their final PCS. Specifically, title 37, U.S.C.,
    section 407(e) states: ``[a] member is not entitled to payment of a DLA
    . . . from the member's last duty station to the member's home.''
        General Coleman. This entitlement is not extended to servicemembers
    incident to their retirement because, per the law (title 37, section
    407(e)), it is specifically prohibited. It is also not authorized for
    servicemembers who separate. The Marine Corps and the Department of
    Defense (DOD) considered changing the law to allow such an entitlement
    for servicemembers incident to their retirement in the fiscal year 2004
    and fiscal year 2005 Unified Legislative Budget cycles. The Marine
    Corps and DOD decided to not support any such change for the following
    reasons: the high cost to taxpayers with no service return on
    investment, no apparent need, and the inequity it would create unless
    it was implemented so as to also apply to servicemembers who separate
    (who experience similar relocation expenses). The purpose of DLA is to
    partially reimburse servicemembers the expenses they incur in
    relocating their household incident to PCS orders. By partially
    reimbursing a servicemember such expenses, it reduces the
    servicemember's financial burden of a PCS, increases their satisfaction
    with PCS orders, makes them more amenable to PCS orders in the future,
    increases their quality of life, and positively affects retention. No
    such service return on investment is gained for servicemembers who
    retire or separate.
                                     ______

                 Questions Submitted by Senator Roger F. Wicker
                          permanent change of station
        2. Senator Wicker. Admiral Ferguson, the Navy recently announced a
    hold for the remainder of this fiscal year on PCS moves for 14,000
    sailors who have yet to receive official orders. It is my understanding
    that this is an extremely large quality of life issue as most families
    move over the summer, in between school years, and that the halt in
    duty station changes now means some children will be changing schools
    mid-year.
        During your testimony, you stated that if the House version of the
    fiscal year 2009 supplemental were passed with funding for manpower
    that it would ``cover the Navy's shortfall.'' Does this mean that the
    supplemental will allow the Navy to remove its freeze on PCS moves?
        Admiral Ferguson. Yes. Should funding become available, we will
    immediately restore the full execution of planned PCS moves to the
    greatest extent possible.

        3. Senator Wicker. Admiral Ferguson, looking forward, it is my
    understanding that the PCS freeze was instituted when the Office of the
    Chief of Naval Operations reduced the PCS budget by $92 million and
    applied this funding to the shortfall in the ship repair budget. It is
    also my understanding that all the PCS moves that would have occurred
    this summer are now being postponed until next fiscal year. I find this
    troubling as we have already seen next year's budget and the money
    requested for PCS in fiscal year 2010 is $14 million less than that
    appropriated for fiscal year 2009 ($854 million vs. $868 million) and
    it seems as though we will start fiscal year 2010 with $92 million
    worth of fiscal year 2009 PCS moves to execute. Additionally, the only
    thing listed on the Navy's fiscal year 2010 unfunded list is $395
    million worth of unfunded ship and aviation maintenance. Is the Navy
    going to run into the same shortfall for personnel funding in fiscal
    year 2010?
        Admiral Ferguson. The decision to delay PCS moves was to mitigate a
    shortfall within the Military Personnel, Navy (MP,N) account. This
    shortage was not applied to the shortfall in the ship repair budget.
    This mitigation action was necessary due to end strength over-execution
    caused by higher than anticipated retention and lower than anticipated
    attrition, driven largely by current economic conditions. The PCS delay
    impacts only certain moves. We continue to execute individual augmentee
    moves, accession, and separation moves, selected joint and graduate
    education moves, organizational moves, and other high priority
    readiness moves.
        Should funding become available through the supplemental, we will
    immediately restore the PCS program to the greatest extent possible,
    which would minimize any carry-over unplanned moves for fiscal year
    2010 and reduce the risk of carrying over a funding shortfall.

        4. Senator Wicker. Admiral Ferguson, please explain in detail how
    the Navy plans to prevent this from happening in 2010 and beyond.
        Admiral Ferguson. Navy allocates resources within the MP,N
    appropriation using well-established programming and budgeting
    practices and based upon the best projections and estimates available
    at the time the program and budget are developed. The MP,N program
    supports an executable fiscal year 2010 manpower strategy with the
    necessary funds for ongoing program requirements. However, with 5
    percent of the MP,N account in discretionary funding, Navy has limited
    flexibility to address execution-year adjustments such as our recent
    experience with end strength over-execution caused by higher than
    anticipated retention and lower than anticipated attrition. Given that
    the nature of the MP,N account is to resource people programs,
    execution-year adjustments inevitably impact sailors, their families,
    and the programs that support them. Nonetheless, such adjustments are
    made reluctantly and only after all alternatives for maintaining
    optimum military personnel readiness are carefully evaluated.

        [Whereupon, at 4:27 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]

    DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR
                                      2010

                                  ----------

                            WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2009

                                   U.S. Senate,
                             Subcommittee on Personnel,
                                   Committee on Armed Services,
                                                        Washington, DC.

        SUPPORT FOR MILITARY FAMILY PROGRAMS, POLICIES, AND INITIATIVES

        The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:31 p.m. in
    room SR-222, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator E.
    Benjamin Nelson (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
        Committee members present: Senators E. Benjamin Nelson,
    Akaka, Burris, Graham, Chambliss, and Thune.
        Majority staff member present: Gabriella Eisen, counsel.
        Minority staff members present: Diana G. Tabler,
    professional staff member; and Richard F. Walsh, minority
    counsel.
        Staff assistants present: Mary C. Holloway and Brian F.
    Sebold.
        Committee members' assistants present: Ann Premer,
    assistant to Senator Ben Nelson; Nathan Davern, assistant to
    Senator Burris; Adam G. Brake, assistant to Senator Graham; and
    Clyde A. Taylor IV, assistant to Senator Chambliss.

           STATEMENT OF SENATOR E. BENJAMIN NELSON, CHAIRMAN

        Senator Ben Nelson. Good afternoon. I am going to call this
    hearing to order.
        The subcommittee meets today to discuss support for
    military family programs, policies, and initiatives in review
    of the defense authorization request for fiscal year 2010 and
    the Future Years Defense Program.
        More than 1.8 million family members of Active Duty
    servicemembers and 1.1 million dependents of Reserve component
    members make sacrifices each and every day, along with their
    servicemembers. These family members are an integral part of
    the force, and stress on the force affects the overall
    readiness of our Armed Forces.
        Military families often face unique challenges and
    difficulties throughout their loved one's career, including
    frequent relocations and reassignments to bases across the
    country and overseas, as well as the various demands stemming
    from continued deployment of members from every Service.
        The life of a military family member has never been an easy
    one. But in our eighth year of war, families are facing even
    more hardships, and it is clear that they play a very
    significant role in serving our country. Deployments are an
    undeniable strain on families. While a servicemember is away,
    spouses are often forced into the role of a single parent,
    juggling employment, childcare, and household duties each and
    every day, all the while living with the pressure of having a
    family member deployed to a combat zone.
        Deployed servicemembers must be completely focused in
    theater, and they will experience less stress in the field if
    they are assured their families are being well taken care of
    back home.
        It is imperative that families remain as resilient as
    possible in order to provide a stable environment for loved
    ones when they return home from those deployments. Families are
    often the first line of defense against Post-Traumatic Stress
    Disorder (PTSD) and suicide, but may be experiencing similar
    feelings themselves.
        We must ensure that families and servicemembers have timely
    access to mental health resources and programs. We must make
    every dependent aware of the resources available to them to
    assist in everything from financial counseling to job placement
    to accessing quality healthcare and childcare.
        Not only do we need to provide the resources, but we must
    also actively reach out to these families. Even when there are
    programs established, many times people are not able to reach
    out for themselves. In talking with spouses from my home State
    of Nebraska, I know how important it is to them that they have
    base and community support and they are contacted before,
    during, and after a servicemember's deployment. Just a phone
    call or a note to check in is meaningful, and we must encourage
    and support groups that take this sort of initiative.
        In my mind, this outreach provides the kind of family
    support friends or a neighbor would offer. Oftentimes, these
    crucial support networks are missing for military families
    because they are stationed far away from family and friends.
        Of course, deployments are not the only cause for stress
    for military families. Routine training exercise and
    deployments may take airmen and women away from their families
    for flight training and sailors away from their families to be
    aboard ship. Perhaps the biggest nondeployment issue facing
    military families is permanent changes of station.
        Most servicemembers are moved from post to post every few
    years, and some may have to move even more often than that.
    Active duty families know to expect this, but that doesn't
    necessarily make the transition easier. Each time a family
    moves, they must once again arrange for childcare, assist their
    children in transition to a new school, and new healthcare
    providers, and searches for new jobs.
        Additionally, we must not forget our single servicemembers.
    Their needs may be different, but their mothers, fathers,
    sisters, brothers, and children still require support.
        Thousands of military families have taken it upon
    themselves to confront these challenges by volunteering to
    provide critical assistance during deployments to
    servicemembers, their spouses, and children, as well as giving
    vital support to families relocating to a new area. We are very
    lucky to have some of these volunteers with us here today.
        Sadly, many families have made the ultimate sacrifice in
    the loss of a servicemember who proudly defended our Nation,
    and we must think of them as well.
        We in Congress have tried to do our part to help, and have
    made family support programs and initiatives a high priority.
    In recent bills, we have called for the establishment of a
    Department of Defense (DOD) Military Family Readiness Council,
    education, training, and tuition assistance to help spouses
    maintain careers, respite care for parents caring for children
    on their own due to deployment, additional time off for family
    members to prepare for deployment, authorized increased levels
    of Impact Aid for military dependents' education, and
    established and supported the nationwide expansion of the DOD's
    Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, which is aimed at helping
    members and families of the Guard and Reserve.
        Just this week, Senators Levin, McCain, Graham, and I
    introduced a Senate resolution, which passed unanimously
    yesterday encouraging the recognition of 2009 as the ``Year of
    the Military Family''. It is my hope that this resolution
    increases awareness of the great sacrifices military families
    make and inspire Americans everywhere to express our
    appreciation.
        But there is still more to do. We have always supported our
    military families, but they need our Nation's support now more
    than ever. I commend the Department and each of the Services
    for placing the support of our military families among their
    top budget priorities this year.
        We look forward to hearing how each Service and DOD plan to
    sustain family readiness and improve support for these military
    family members who bravely serve this Nation alongside their
    servicemembers and what Congress can do to help.
        Now I would like to welcome our ranking member, my good
    friend Senator Lindsey Graham. As always, we are delighted to
    have you here with us today to discuss these critical issues.
    Whether you have been the chair or I have been the chair, we
    have always been able to work together to make this a
    bipartisan subcommittee. It is my pleasure to turn it over to
    you for any opening statements you may want to make.

                  STATEMENT OF SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM

        Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        One of the joys of being in the Senate is serving on this
    subcommittee. We have Senator Thune here and Senator Akaka, and
    this Personnel Subcommittee is one of the most bipartisan
    places in the Senate. You have done a great job as chairman,
    and I have enjoyed working with you.
        From the family perspective, there is a military saying,
    ``One team, one fight.'' You are definitely part of the team,
    and you are definitely in this fight. The families are, in many
    ways, the unsung heroes of this war.
        There are 40,000 Active Duty military personnel, 28,000
    Reserve personnel, and their families in 7 military
    installations throughout South Carolina. I am sure that is true
    of Hawaii, South Dakota, Nebraska. Our National Guard has been
    utilized unlike any time since World War II. Sixty percent of
    our active forces have been deployed, and 46 percent of our
    Reserves have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. That is a
    phenomenal number.
        As the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines leave, family
    members go to the fight, but just in a different way. In some
    ways, it is harder because they know what is going on with
    them, you don't. That creates its own kind of stress.
        One of the things that I am proud of, working with Senator
    McCain and the chairman here, the GI bill of rights, for the
    first time, is more robust. But for the first time, a career
    member can transfer their benefits to their families. There are
    going to be some family members, sons and daughters of Active
    Duty military members and reservists, that will be able to go
    to college on the military members GI bill of rights. I think
    that really helps families and leverages retired pay.
        Our subcommittee has increased military pay 35 percent
    since 2000. I wish we could have done more, but I think that is
    a recognition that you mean a lot to us. Now you have TRICARE
    for Guard and Reserve families, a real advancement. We have
    improved survivor benefits, increased authorization for
    childcare, reintegration programs for the Guard and Reserve,
    the Wounded Warrior program. A DOD family readiness council has
    been created.
        I appreciate what the President has done in the budget.
    There is some good news in his budget that we have increased
    money available to families. Childcare and family counseling
    has doubled since 2001. Nearly 105,000 members of the Reserve
    and Guard and their families have healthcare coverage through
    TRICARE. The administration has increased family benefits at a
    time when we need it.
        I look forward to hearing from you about what we can do
    better, what we need to do more of, but if nothing else, just
    to say thank you.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator Graham.
        Senator Thune, do you have any opening comments you might
    like to make?
        Senator Thune. Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this
    hearing and thanks to our panelists, the spouses of our
    military leaders in this country, for being here today and for
    the sacrifices you all make every day.
        There isn't any issue, as Senator Graham mentioned, that we
    deal with that is more important. This is a team fight, and
    there have been a number of things, hopefully, policies, we
    have put in place that have improved just the way in which we
    deal with military families and the way that we value the
    contributions that they make.
        But there is an old saying that the biggest room in the
    house is the room for improvement, and we are always looking
    for things that we can do better to better serve the men and
    women who wear the uniform and defend and protect us.
        I can't tell you how much we appreciate the incredible
    sacrifices that our families make. Thank you for being here
    today.
        Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding what is a very
    important hearing. Thanks.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Senator Akaka, any opening remarks you might like to make?
        Senator Akaka. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you
    for your leadership and your emphasis on families.
        I would like to say aloha and welcome to our spouses that
    are here today on this panel. Along with your husbands, you are
    also military heroes, heroes for the selfless service that you
    provide and contribute to this great Nation.
        The families, I think, have not been given the focus that
    you should have because you are the ones that really support
    those on the front line and help them in their readiness for
    whatever activity they are facing.
        I would also like to offer my gratitude and thanks to the
    National Military Family Association (NMFA). For over 40 years,
    they have remained committed to supporting and improving the
    lives of our military families. I am so glad you are here. I am
    glad to be here to ask you some questions, and I look forward
    to your testimony.
        Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator Akaka.
        Without objection, all witness written testimony submitted
    for today's hearing will be included in the record.
        Additionally, we have received statements from the Fleet
    Reserve Association; Ms. Kristina Kaufman Turner, an Army wife
    and military advocate; Ms. Stacy Bannerman, an Army National
    Guard Blue Star wife; and members of the group Military
    Families Speak Out. Without objection, all of these statements
    will be included in the record of this hearing.
        Now it is my pleasure to introduce our first panel. We have
    with us Ms. Sheila L. Casey, wife of General George W. Casey,
    Chief of Staff of our United States Army. It is good to see you
    again, Ms. Casey.
        Ms. Jennifer A. Mancini, wife of Chief Petty Officer Steven
    F. Mancini, United States Navy.
        Ms. Colleen K. Smith, wife of Colonel Andrew H. Smith,
    Commanding Officer, Marine Barracks, Washington, DC, United
    States Marine Corps.
        Ms. Patricia Davis, wife of Chief Master Sergeant James E.
    Davis, the Command Master Chief Sergeant of the 316th Wing at
    Andrews Air Force Base.
        Ms. Kathleen Moakler, Director of Government Relations for
    the NMFA and an Army spouse and mother. We are glad to have you
    back, Ms. Moakler. Nice to see you again.
        First, I want to express our gratitude to each of you and
    each of your spouses because, together, you have proudly served
    our country together, and I express my deep appreciation to all
    of you for taking the time to be here. We look forward to
    hearing from you. There are many issues that are facing
    military families today, and we welcome your very frank
    assessments of the strengths and the weaknesses of the systems
    that are supporting the military families, as well as,
    obviously, any recommendations that you might make to help us.
        We will begin by hearing the opening statements. Following
    that, there will be some questions.
        Ms. Casey, again, thank you for being here, and we will be
    honored to have you start us off this afternoon.

    STATEMENT OF SHEILA L. CASEY, WIFE OF GENERAL GEORGE W. CASEY,
              JR., USA, CHIEF OF STAFF, UNITED STATES ARMY

        Ms. Casey. Mr. Chairman, Senator Graham, and distinguished
    members of this subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to
    share with you my perspectives and my personal experience as an
    Army spouse for almost 4 decades. I am also the mother of a
    soldier and a long-time Army volunteer.
        I began my Army experience when I married George 39 years
    ago, and like all other Army spouses, I have experienced the
    ups and downs of military life. I have moved quite a bit--23
    times, in fact--and I have seen my husband deploy overseas
    several times, once for 32 months to Iraq. All the while I have
    balanced raising two sons and also having a career of my own.
        Over the last 2 years, I have had the opportunity and
    privilege of traveling with George all over with the United
    States Army, meeting with family members, soldiers, wounded
    warriors, parents, surviving spouses, and their families and
    children.
        I am amazed at what military families and spouses are doing
    on a daily basis. Their self-sacrifice and their dedication are
    awe-inspiring. But I will tell you that in talking with them, I
    have grown increasingly concerned. Army families are stretched,
    and they are stressed. I have often referred to them as the
    most brittle part of the force.
        What I am starting to see as I go around speaking with them
    is that families are so stressed that everything is becoming an
    issue. Things that never seemed to be an issue before are now
    becoming a big deal.
        I am also seeing signs of a force under immense strain, and
    this concerns me greatly. These signs, these indicators include
    cases of domestic violence, child neglect, as well as increases
    in suicides, alcohol abuse, and cases of PTSD.
        We are also seeing slight upticks in our divorce rates, and
    I say slight because what I hear from people is they don't have
    time to get divorced.
        I am also concerned about the family unit, specifically
    keeping them together. I am worried especially about our young,
    newly married Army families. Because with repeated deployments
    bearing down on them, these young families don't have enough
    time together to build strong bonds. They are particularly
    vulnerable to being stressed by the war.
        Actually, what really keeps me awake at night are our
    children. The cumulative effects of repeated deployments by
    their parents, coupled with the stress of daily life in a
    military family, is having an effect on them. That worries me.
        I was up at Fort Drum, and I will never forget this young
    woman who stood, and through her sobs, she talked about her
    fears that her two small children would not know their father,
    who spent so much time deployed. She was particularly concerned
    about the inability for them to attach to him emotionally with
    his military service that keeps him in and out of their lives.
    Quite frankly, the only thing I could do was hold her as she
    cried.
        It is important to recognize that what families are dealing
    with are the cumulative effects of nearly 8 years of war.
    Because it is cumulative, the negative effects are not easily
    reversed. My concern is that we are going to see these things
    appear again later, when families have the time to really
    reintegrate.
        My sense is that more services and support will be needed
    as dwell time increases. We need to be ready for it because if
    we don't stay ahead and in front of these indicators, we won't
    be able to react fast enough.
        I would also like to share with you the three things that I
    hear from Army families everywhere I go. The first is the lack
    of access to quality medical care and mental healthcare. The
    lack of the ability to get appointments, concerns from
    providers who, because of the cost-prohibitive reimbursement
    rates, are not taking TRICARE patients.
        There is a lack of mental healthcare professionals in on-
    post facilities, but also in the outlying communities. Many
    have to drive distances to find care, and waiting periods for
    appointments are long.
        Second, there is a widespread concern about the access to
    quality education for our children and our spouses. Initiatives
    like the Interstate Compact, which is signed by many of the
    States that you represent here, and the post-September 11 GI
    bill are helping improve access to education. But there are
    still concerns out there about many of the school districts
    that Army families live in and the problems faced by our high
    school students as they transfer from school to school.
        Third is the issue of spouse employment. Some Army spouses
    are having difficulty finding jobs. Some others find it a
    challenge to transfer their jobs as they move from post to
    post. Those in professions requiring licensing are faced with
    certification tests and fees each time they move. It is an
    added stressor on the family unit.
        Mr. Chairman, the Army has certainly come a long way over
    the years in the level and quality of family support. Over the
    last 4 decades, I have seen family support evolve from a sort
    of informal alliance of spouses helping other spouses to a
    fully-regulated support network made up of family readiness
    groups, family readiness support assistance, and soldier and
    family assistance centers.
        When George and I came into the Army, childcare centers
    were nurseries. Now we have state-of-the-art childcare centers.
    Army community services in the 1970s was nothing more than a
    lending closet. Now it is a full-service organization that
    deals with family advocacy issues, financial readiness support,
    pre- and post-deployment programs, as well as a myriad of
    educational programs that help families acclimate to Army life.
        I have witnessed a culture change with regard to spouses
    working outside of the home. While I have managed to maintain
    my career during most of George's time in the Army, it has not
    always been easy. In the early days, spouses were highly
    discouraged from working outside of the home.
        Mr. Chairman, when George was a youngster and moving from
    post to post with his brothers and sisters, they would throw
    the five of them in the back of the station wagon and move to
    another post. They would be complaining about not wanting to
    leave where they have been. His mother would say to them,
    ``Make the best of it.'' Today, Army families are sacrificing
    too much. We can no longer ask them to just make the best of
    it.
        The continued commitment to this All-Volunteer Force is
    just too important to our Nation to leave it to that. It is
    important that we continue our investment in our military
    families.
        Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank you very
    much, and thank you for your continued support to the Army and
    especially to our Army families.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Ms. Casey.
        Ms. Mancini?

     STATEMENT OF JENNIFER A. MANCINI, WIFE OF CHIEF PETTY OFFICER
                         STEVEN F. MANCINI, USN

        Ms. Mancini. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and members
    of the subcommittee, thank you for this great honor and
    opportunity to talk about Navy family issues close to my heart.
        My name is Jennifer Mancini. I have stood by my husband for
    17 years with three children, proudly watching him rise through
    the ranks, becoming a Chief Petty Officer, supporting him as he
    pulled away from the pier time and time again on amphibious
    ships and an aircraft carrier, presenting him his newborn
    babies at his homecomings and seeing the pride beam across his
    face, and praying for his safe return from his deployment where
    he patrolled the waterways in Iraq.
        It has been my privilege to serve as an ombudsman for 7
    years with fleet Navy commands and 3 years with expeditionary
    commands. Currently, I serve as force ombudsman for 32,000
    naval expeditionary combat sailors and their families.
        Navy expeditionary warriors stand shoulder-to-shoulder with
    Army, Marines, and National Guard serving in Iraq and
    Afghanistan at the tip of the spear. We face enduring stressful
    operations, fatigue, lack of decompression, and hyper-
    vigilance. Some sailors return home with physical wounds. Some
    sailors return home with invisible wounds, and some don't
    return at all.
        Our commands deserve funding for combat-focused family
    readiness programs, including paid positions for our burned-out
    ombudsmen, for embedded mental health professionals, and for
    Navy Fleet and Family Support Programs designed specifically to
    address multiple deployments. This funding will maintain and
    enhance an already extraordinary force.
        Families tell me they are frustrated and concerned with
    budget cutbacks. They wonder if their sailor will receive
    adequate training and supplies required to support the mission.
    Ombudsmen serve 10 to 20 hours a week, not a month, and
    sometimes more. We are tired and need relief and funding for
    paid positions. These concerns directly impact whether a spouse
    will encourage his or her sailor to reenlist.
        As the first ombudsman for Riverine Squadron One, I
    experienced an incredible lack of training and support from
    fleet Navy, due to their lack of understanding for brown water
    sailors and expeditionary capabilities. Our families were
    shocked to see battle gear coming home to their living rooms.
    The unknown was daunting because our sailors were not on ships,
    did not have the same operational tempo (OPTEMPO), and our
    deployments were on land.
        Spouses of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) sailors also
    experience unique stress. A group of EOD ombudsmen and I
    recently created the EOD mobile dive and salvage unit ``battle
    book'' to specifically address how to support and empower EOD
    families. This is a living document that will be passed forward
    with lessons learned from ombudsman to ombudsman.
        In closing, I offer this quote from one of our spouses.
    After the loss of several of her husband's friends, he called
    her from Iraq stating, ``I am alone and unafraid.'' After the
    call, she thought, ``I am alone and very afraid.'' This
    emphasizes what my testimony is about and why I am here.
        Thank you for this incredible opportunity to speak with you
    about my Navy career and subjects close to my heart. I look
    forward to your questions.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Ms. Mancini. Thank you very
    much.
        Ms. Smith?

    STATEMENT OF COLLEEN K. SMITH, WIFE OF COLONEL ANDREW H. SMITH,
       USMC, COMMANDING OFFICER, MARINE BARRACKS, WASHINGTON, DC

        Ms. Smith. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and
    distinguished members of the subcommittee, it is my pleasure to
    appear before you today to discuss issues that are near and
    dear to me, the families of our brave men and women in uniform.
        By way of introduction, I am Colleen Smith, wife of Colonel
    Andrew Smith, United States Marine Corps.
        Today, I would like to talk to you about several issues
    that are important to me--one, maintaining a healthy family
    life for our spouses and our children while our Marines are
    deployed; two, access to quality medical care; and three, the
    vital importance of on-base housing.
        Drew and I have been married for 14 years. In that time he
    has deployed numerous times, and I have lived in 10 different
    homes. Our four children, ranging from ages 13 to 7, have all
    attended multiple schools. Our oldest, Victoria, who is in
    seventh grade, has already attended five different schools.
        At one point, Drew missed three Christmases in 4 years and
    all of our birthdays and anniversaries in that time period.
    Through these experiences, I feel confident that I can speak
    with you today about the needs of our Marine Corps families.
        The frequent overseas deployments that we have all
    experienced since 2001 seem to have become routine. What is not
    routine, however, are the challenges faced by the spouse and
    children who remain behind. As I mentioned, Drew spent
    considerable time deployed in recent years, as well as 3 years
    on recruiting. This has had a huge impact on our children.
        However, answering questions like, ``What will we do if
    something happens to Dad?'' will never become routine. Nor is
    it routine to watch your children cry and fight not to let go
    of their father as he prepares to deploy. While I have been
    through this multiple times, I am not a professional child
    psychologist. I am just trying to be the best mom I can be.
        Access to professional counselors through the DOD
    healthcare system is a necessity for our children and our
    spouses. Dealing with the emotional toll of this ongoing
    conflict is essential if we are going to maintain healthy
    families.
        It is important to note that it is not just our children
    that need this kind of quality counseling. I wrote a note of
    condolence to a friend whose husband was killed by a suicide
    improvised explosive device. The sudden loss of her husband
    left her with the reality that is often thought about, but
    rarely discussed, ``the death of my spouse.''
        In this case, my friend was left with her four children,
    the same ages as mine. It is difficult to think that, at one
    point, it could have just as easily been my husband. Despite my
    sadness for her loss, I still needed to maintain my composure
    for my children.
        This scenario highlights the need for greater access to
    counseling services for spouses as well. We all know how nice
    it is to hear ``it is going to be all right'' at the end of a
    long day. However, we often don't have someone there to tell us
    that. Only if we are in a healthy state of mind ourselves can
    we ensure a healthy, normal outlook for our children.
        Additionally, this kind of counseling needs to be available
    for the spouses and children of our wounded marines as well as
    the ones we have lost. We have done a great job as a Nation in
    reaching out to our servicemembers to increase awareness of
    PTSD, depression, or other conditions. Now is the time to
    expand this benefit to our family members as well.
        We need to establish a program making counseling available
    outside of base hospitals. We envision qualified personnel on
    our base or duty station who you could call and simply say,
    ``My son is having nightmares since his dad is deployed,'' and
    they would see him without having to go through multiple layers
    of medical referrals.
        To that end, childcare is a significant issue for the
    mental health of the parent who remains behind. More childcare
    should be available and at low or no cost to our families. A
    respite care type program for a spouse whose marine is deployed
    and has no one around to help would be a tremendous benefit.
        As an example, free childcare at base gyms and fitness
    centers with the idea that exercise can improve attitude,
    increases well-being, and offers socialization. Many spouses
    would like to participate in fitness classes or other
    activities, but do not due to the lack of availability, cost,
    and limitations associated with childcare.
        Hand-in-hand with access to quality counseling for our
    children and spouses is the ever-pressing need for quality
    healthcare. While we appreciate the urgent needs of our
    deployed forces, we, too, have pressing healthcare needs at
    home.
        As you can imagine, with four children, I have made my fair
    share of doctors' visits. As those of you with children
    understand, it isn't always for a single problem. Yet I have
    seen signs in providers' offices that state ``15 minutes per
    appointment'' or ``only one issue will be discussed per
    appointment.''
        It is unacceptable to think that a mother would have to
    bring her child back to a second appointment should they have a
    sore knee and a fever on the same day. It is unacceptable that
    mothers are resorting to emergency room appointments for simple
    matters such as strep throat or an ear infection due to limited
    availability of the same-day appointments.
        The system needs to be more in-tune with the competing
    demands on the time of the spouse who is forced to be a single
    parent while their loved one is deployed.
        Lastly, I would like to touch on the importance of on-base
    housing. Ample and quality housing must be available for
    marines of all ranks. While it is understood that the military
    bases will not have the housing capacity to support all
    personnel assigned, having the opportunity to live on base is
    important and for my family has been the desired option.
        On-base housing affords a degree of security, comfort, and
    stability that cannot be replicated in the civilian market.
    Simply stated, the community of military families cannot be
    underestimated. Regardless of whether one is a junior enlisted
    marine or a field grade officer, I believe servicemembers and
    their families are better able to handle the rigor of military
    life because of the shared bond and network of support.
        Allow me to emphasize one point. The support a spouse
    receives from other spouses is, in a word, invaluable. Whether
    it is a hug when you know your friend's husband is in a hotspot
    and marines are being wounded or killed, or sitting in the
    emergency room with them when their children are sick or
    injured, or watching their children while they are attending to
    other spouses and family members within their unit. This shared
    bond and support network is the foundation upon which military
    spouses build and sustain their service.
        The spirit of mutual support, of shared burden, of
    affection and commitment for a fellow spouse is something that
    is woven throughout each day, each separation, each social
    gathering, each hardship, and each triumph. Living in base
    housing gives us a sense of normalcy, a place where our
    children grow up around other children going through similar
    difficulties with multiple deployments, injuries to their
    friends' fathers, and the like. It is a trusted community where
    we have access to childcare centers, schools, libraries, and
    playgrounds in an enclosed neighborhood.
        In closing, I would like to reiterate that these are just
    three examples of areas where we can work to improve the health
    of our Marine Corps families. In the past 14 years, I have seen
    significant improvements in many of these areas, such as
    improved base housing, the establishment of the Professional
    Family Readiness Officer Program in every Marine Corps unit,
    and the ever-increasing awareness of the toll frequent
    deployments have on our families.
        However, I firmly believe more can be done, and I ask for
    your kind consideration to the thoughts I have presented before
    you today.
        Thank you.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Ms. Davis?

      STATEMENT OF PATRICIA DAVIS, WIFE OF CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT
      JAMES E. DAVIS, USAF, COMMAND MASTER CHIEF SERGEANT, 316TH
                      WING, ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE

        Ms. Davis. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Graham, members of
    the subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to come before
    you on behalf of Air Force spouses whose loved ones faithfully
    and unselfishly serve our Nation.
        My name is Patricia Davis. I am the spouse of an Active
    Duty member, a mother of two young boys, and a retired Air
    Force veteran of 22 years of service. As such, I am in a unique
    position of having experienced both sides of the military
    family dynamic.
        I recognize the strides that have been made to support the
    military family. However, I find that there are many spouses
    who seem unaware of what support programs are available during
    their spouse's deployment and unaware of where to turn when in
    need of such assistance.
        Direct communication with civilian spouses prior to
    deployment is necessary. Currently, family member's attendance
    at predeployment briefings is optional, and in most cases,
    spouses do not attend. I believe if spouses are put in touch
    with those who provide firsthand support to them before the
    member departs, they are less likely to feel isolated and more
    inclined to seek support and counseling during the deployment
    when it is needed.
        I know support for the military working spouse can be
    challenging. Obtaining reliable and affordable childcare for
    children under 5 years of age is an obstacle for many. Junior
    enlisted spouses are more likely than any other group to be
    unable to work due to this reason. Many spouses who do work
    cannot utilize family support services because they are offered
    during the hours that they work. Flexibility in these support
    programs is key.
        According to the January 2009 Quadrennial Quality of Life
    Review, 59 percent of military spouses are employed or are
    seeking employment. Finding employment after a military move is
    very difficult. Many times military spouses are denied
    employment benefits because they voluntarily left their
    previous job due to military orders.
        There is no standard or State policy, so ability to receive
    unemployment benefits vary depending on the State. I believe a
    military spouse's clause should be added to each State's
    unemployment guidelines to ensure military spouses who leave
    their job because of military orders should be allowed to
    receive the unemployment benefits they are entitled to. So many
    military families rely on two incomes, and in a time of
    transition, such as permanent change of station (PCS) moves,
    withholding monetary benefits isn't the best way to serve our
    military families.
        As a mother, I am deeply concerned about the quality of
    education my children receive. Military moves are especially
    stressful times for the family, and moving to new schools can
    be very difficult for our children.
        This past school year, my children were in the third and
    fifth grade. This is the third school they have attended since
    beginning their academic careers. Increasingly, I see military
    families paying to send their children to private schools due
    to the lack of quality education in the area they are assigned
    to, or they are deciding to home school instead.
        To have our children in one area with quality blue ribbon
    schools and then be reassigned to a location where the schools
    are rated below average is distressing to families. Our kids'
    education should not have to suffer because of military
    obligations. The creation of a school voucher program should be
    considered.
        Also, a school liaison office should be available at every
    Air Force installation if not already available. The school
    liaison office would be an advocate for military children and a
    bridge between the military family and local schools.
        I applaud the Air Force for its commitment to finding new
    ways to support our military families. There are so many
    programs that are working and working well. The military family
    is truly the backbone of the Air Force. I am proud to say I
    served 22 years in the Air Force, and I am just as proud to say
    that I know the Air Force is committed to creating and
    sustaining healthy, well adjusted, and successful families. Go,
    Air Force.
        Thank you.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Ms. Davis.
        Ms. Moakler, it is good to have you back. We appreciate
    your being here.

        STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN B. MOAKLER, DIRECTOR, GOVERNMENT
            RELATIONS, NATIONAL MILITARY FAMILY ASSOCIATION

        Ms. Moakler. Thank you, Senator Nelson.
        Good afternoon, Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, and other
    distinguished members of the subcommittee.
        I would like to take this time to thank you for introducing
    and supporting the resolution that makes 2009 the Year of the
    Military Family. We really, really appreciate that.
        Senator Akaka, thank you for your kind words on the 40th
    birthday of the NMFA.
        Today, I will talk with you about military families, our
    Nation's families. These families serve and sacrifice alongside
    their servicemembers. Some families are experiencing third or
    fourth deployments. Children are growing up with a parent who
    has been in and out of their lives to Iraq, Afghanistan, and
    numerous training locations for months at a time.
        They may spend time in the local child development center
    or youth program. They may have had a chance to talk to a
    Military OneSource counselor if they are having trouble dealing
    with deployment. They could even have attended one of our
    Operation Purple camps. We need to know how our military
    children are handling deployment and what lies ahead for them.
        Our seasoned military spouses have been there, done that.
    They think they know the drill, but each deployment is
    different--a new baby, a difficult adolescent, a sick parent.
    Maybe they find they are just not as resilient as before. Our
    spouses need to know about different resources or programs with
    each deployment.
        While once they could juggle it all, they now realize that
    talking to a counselor may help. Will they be able to find that
    counselor when they need one?
        Some families are new to the military. Fresh from basic
    training, they need to find out about resources and programs
    that are available to them in language they understand, be it
    Spanish or Twitter. Financial training programs can teach them
    why shopping at the commissary can make their paychecks go
    further, and why payday lenders can stop their career in its
    tracks.
        Spouse career advancement programs can provide training and
    skills to help a new spouse find a portable career. Engage
    these young families, and they will become active members of
    our military community.
        Some families support deployed members of the Guard and
    Reserve. They depend on the support services that you have
    provided and they have come to expect through their States and
    regions. The joint family assistance centers, subsidized
    childcare during deployments, access to TRICARE providers and
    mental health counselors when they are far from the flagpole.
    Greater access for families to the Yellow Ribbon program could
    help them learn how to bring their servicemember all the way
    home from the horrors of war and become a whole family again.
        Some families have had to change their plans. When their
    servicemember is severely wounded, ill, or injured, many of
    them have to quit their jobs to journey to the side of their
    loved one to become part of the care team. How can we support
    these caregivers so they can support their servicemember? How
    do we help these families transition to a life that wasn't in
    their plans?
        Some families lose a family member forever. How do we help
    them with their grief? What else can we do to help ensure their
    financial well-being for the long term?
        Some families have children affected by disabilities. How
    can we best support them? How can we help them transition as
    they move from installation to installation, from Active Duty
    to retirement?
        Our association recognizes and appreciates the many
    resources and programs that support our military families
    during this time of war. The need will not go away the day the
    war ends. We believe that it is imperative that these programs
    be included in the regular budget process.
        We hope the Military Family Readiness Council mandated by
    this body 2 years ago will help identify best practices and
    programs and help eliminate overlapping or redundant programs.
    In our written statement, we have identified other ways to
    assist military families, and I will be glad to expand on those
    suggestions should you have questions.
        In military families, one size does not fit all, but they
    are united in their sacrifices and support of their
    servicemembers and our Nation. We ask you to help the Nation
    sustain and support them.
        Thank you.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Moakler follows:]
                   Prepared Statement by Kathleen B. Moakler
        Chairman Nelson and distinguished members of this subcommittee, the
    National Military Family Association would like to thank you for the
    opportunity to present testimony on the quality of life of military
    families--the Nation's families. You recognize the sacrifices made by
    today's servicemembers and their families by focusing on the many
    elements of their quality of life package: access to quality health
    care, robust military pay and benefits, support for families dealing
    with deployment, and special care for the families of the wounded, ill,
    and injured and those who have made the greatest sacrifice.
        We endorse the recommendations contained in the statement
    previously submitted to this subcommittee by The Military Coalition. In
    this statement, our Association will expand on several issues of
    importance to military families:

              I. Family Readiness
              II. Family Health
              III. Family Transitions
                              i. family readiness
        The National Military Family Association believes policies and
    programs should provide a firm foundation for families buffeted by the
    uncertainties of deployment and transformation. It is imperative full
    funding for these programs be included in the regular budget process
    and not merely added on as part of supplemental funding. We promote
    programs that expand and grow to adapt to the changing needs of
    servicemembers and families as they cope with multiple deployments and
    react to separations, reintegration, and the situation of those
    returning with both visible and invisible wounds. Standardization in
    delivery, accessibility, and funding are essential. Programs should
    provide for families in all stages of deployment and reach out to them
    in all geographic locations. Families should be given the tools to take
    greater responsibility for their own readiness.
        We appreciate provisions in the National Defense Authorization Acts
    (NDAAs) of the past several years that recognized many of these
    important issues. The increased access to resources and programs
    provided by the Joint Family Support Assistance Program, now offered in
    all states and territories, allows families to receive added help when
    they need it during all cycles of deployment. The Military Family
    Readiness Council held its first informal meeting in December. We feel
    this will be an effective tool in identifying programs that work and in
    helping to eliminate overlapping or redundant programs as the Council
    reviews existing resources for military families. Our Association is
    proud to represent military families as a member of the Council.
    Child Care
        The Services--and families--continue to tell us more child care is
    needed to fill the ever growing demand, including hourly, drop-in,
    respite, and after-hour child care. We've heard stories like this:

              Child care facilities on base are beyond compare--for spouses
            and military members who work nine to five. In our increasingly
            service-oriented economy, the job I have has me working until
            at least seven most days, and usually as late as midnight 1 to
            2 days a week. When my husband deploys or has a stint on second
            shift, I run out of options quickly. I have been unable to get
            another, more conventional job in the 2 years I have been in
            this area . . . there are minimum requirements as to what
            shifts I need to work to maintain full-time employment at my
            current workplace, and I cannot have those waived for an entire
            deployment.

        Innovative strategies are needed to address the non-availability of
    after-hour child care (before 6 a.m. and after 6 p.m.) and respite
    care. We applaud the partnership between the Services and the National
    Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies that provides
    subsidized childcare to families who cannot access installation based
    child development centers. Families often find it difficult to obtain
    affordable, quality care especially during hard-to-fill hours and on
    weekends. Both the Navy and the Air Force have programs that provide
    24/7 care. These innovative programs must be expanded to provide care
    to more families at the same high standard as the Services' traditional
    child development programs. The Army, as part of the funding attached
    to its Army Family Covenant, has rolled out more space for respite care
    for families of deployed soldiers. Respite care is needed across the
    board for the families of the deployed and the wounded, ill, and
    injured. We are pleased that the Services have rolled out more respite
    care for special needs families, but since the programs are new we are
    unsure of the impact it will have on families.
        At our Operation Purple Healing Adventures camp for families of the
    wounded, ill and injured, we were told there is a tremendous need for
    access to adequate child care on or near military treatment facilities.
    Families need the availability of child care in order to attend medical
    appointments, especially mental health appointments. Our Association
    encourages the creation of drop-in child care for medical appointments
    on the Department of Defense (DOD) or Department of Veterans Affairs
    (VA) premises or partnerships with other organizations to provide this
    valuable service.
        Our Association urges Congress to ensure resources are available to
    meet the child care needs of military families to include hourly, drop-
    in and increased respite care for families of deployed servicemembers
    and the wounded, ill, and injured.
    Working with Youth
        Older children and teens must not be overlooked. School personnel
    need to be educated on issues affecting military students and be
    sensitive to their needs. To achieve this goal, schools need tools.
    Parents need tools, too. Military parents constantly seek more
    resources to assist their children in coping with military life,
    especially the challenges and stress of frequent deployments. Parents
    tell us repeatedly they want resources to ``help them help their
    children.'' Support for parents in their efforts to help children of
    all ages is increasing, but continues to be fragmented. New Federal,
    public-private initiatives, increased awareness, and support by DOD and
    civilian schools educating military children have been developed.
    However, many military parents are either not aware such programs exist
    or find the programs do not always meet their needs.
        Our Association is working to meet this pressing need through our
    Operation Purple summer camps. Unique in its ability to reach out and
    gather military children of different age groups, Services, and
    components, Operation Purple provides a safe and fun environment in
    which military children feel immediately supported and understood. Last
    year, with the support of private donors, we achieved our goal of
    sending 10,000 military children to camp. We also were successful in
    expanding the camp experience to families of the wounded and bereaved.
    This year, we expect to maintain those numbers by offering 95 weeks of
    camp in 37 States and territories, as well as conducting several pilot
    family reintegration retreats in the National Parks.
        Through our Operation Purple camps, our Association has begun to
    identify the cumulative effects multiple deployments are having on the
    emotional growth and well being of military children and the challenges
    posed to the relationship between deployed parent, caregiver, and
    children in this stressful environment. Understanding a need for
    qualitative analysis of this information, we contracted with the RAND
    Corporation in 2007 to conduct a pilot study aimed at the current
    functioning and wellness of military children attending Operation
    Purple camps and assessing the potential benefits of the OPC program in
    this environment of multiple and extended deployments. The results of
    the pilot study were published last spring and confirmed much of what
    we have heard from individual families. They also highlighted gaps in
    our current knowledge, including how family relationships are affected
    by deployment and reintegration. The study looked at differences in
    child and caregiver experiences based on Service component, such as how
    life is different during deployment for families from the Active
    component compared to those in the Guard or Reserve.
        In May 2008, we embarked on phase two of the project--a
    longitudinal study on the experience of 1,507 families, which is a much
    larger and more diverse sample than included in our pilot study. RAND
    is following these families for 1 year, and interviewing the
    nondeployed caregiver/parent and one child per family between 11 and 17
    years of age at three time points over that year. Recruitment of
    participants has been extremely successful because families are eager
    to share their experiences. RAND is currently gathering information
    from these families for the 6 month follow-up survey. Preliminary
    findings from the first round of surveys provide additional support for
    the pilot study results and identify new areas to investigate. This
    includes examining the relationship between the total months of
    deployment that a family experiences and its association with non-
    deployed caregiver's mental health and child's well-being at school and
    at home. In addition, RAND is assessing the impact of reintegration on
    the families and how this varies by a servicemember's rank and Service
    component.
        This study will provide valuable data to inform the future creation
    and implementation of services for children and families. More
    specifically, we hope this study will provide more detailed and clearer
    understanding of the impact of multiple and extended deployments on
    military children and their families. We expect to present the final
    study results in spring 2010.
    Dwell Time
        Reintegrating the servicemember back into the family is a critical
    transition for many military families. Unfortunately, high operation
    tempo and multiple training assignments have prevented many
    servicemembers from this needed ``dwell time''. Military families tell
    us they do not have enough time to fully reintegrate as a family before
    the servicemember redeploys. We also hear from family members about
    their frustration of sending their servicemembers back into theater
    when they haven't had enough time to recover mentally or physically
    from the previous deployment.
        Legislation so far introduced to address this issue would track
    dwell time at the unit level, not by servicemember. To preserve the
    physical and mental well-being of the military family unit, all
    servicemembers need time at home.
    Military Expansion of FMLA
        Our Association appreciates the work that the Department of Labor
    did on behalf of military families when they crafted the regulations
    for the expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act included in the
    2008 NDAA. However, we were disappointed that leave allowing family
    members to take care of issues arising out of the deployment was not
    extended to Active Duty families. Active Duty families are struggling
    with the same deployment issues that their Reserve component
    counterparts are--the law should reflect that.
    National Guard and Reserve
        Our Association would like to thank Congress for authorizing many
    provisions that affect our Reserve component families, who have
    sacrificed greatly in support of our Nation. We continue to ask
    Congress to fully fund these programs so vital to the quality of life
    of our National Guard and Reserve families.
        The National Military Family Association has long realized the
    unique challenges our Reserve component families face and their need
    for additional support. This need was highlighted in the final report
    from the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, which confirmed
    what we had always asserted: ``Reserve component family members face
    special challenges because they are often at a considerable distance
    from military facilities and lack the on-base infrastructure and
    assistance available to Active Duty families.'' While citing a robust
    volunteer network as crucial, the report also stated that family
    readiness suffers when there are too few paid staff professionals
    supporting the volunteers.
        Our Association would also like to thank Congress for the
    provisions which allowed for the implementation of the Yellow Ribbon
    Reintegration program which is so crucial to the well-being of our
    Reserve component families. We urge Congress to make the funding for
    this program permanent. We also believe that family members should be
    paid a travel allowance to attend these important reintegration
    programs. Furthermore, DOD and service providers need to move away from
    the one-size-fits-all approach to reintegration which does not work for
    all the Reserve components due to the specific nature of each mission
    and the varying length of deployments.
        Our Association asks Congress to fully fund the Yellow Ribbon
    Reintegration program and other provisions affecting our Reserve
    component families and to move away from the one-size-fits-all approach
    to reintegration.
    Military Housing
        Privatized housing is a welcome change for military families and we
    are pleased the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2009 called for an annual report
    that addresses the best practices for executing privatized housing
    contracts. With our depressed economy, increased oversight is critical
    to ensure timely completion of these important projects. Project delays
    negatively impact the quality of life of our families.
        Commanders must be held accountable for the quality of housing and
    customer service in privatized communities. Housing areas remain the
    responsibility of the installation commander even when managed by a
    private company. Services members who are wounded and must move to a
    handicap accessible home or break their lease provisions due to short-
    notice PCS orders should not be penalized. Servicemembers should not
    languish on wait lists while civilians occupy housing. While
    privatization contracts permit other nonmilitary occupants for vacant
    units, commanders must ensure that privatized housing is first and
    foremost meeting the needs of the Active Duty population of the
    installation. In some cases, this will require modification or
    renegotiation of contracts. On an aesthetic and health care note, our
    Association asks that a minimum number of nonsmoking quarters be
    designated at each installation. Nonsmokers, especially in multi-family
    dwellings, are being forced to live with second-hand smoke in far too
    many cases. Our Association has received complaints from families who
    are suffering health consequences of living with a neighbor's smoking
    habit. This is unacceptable.
        Our Association feels there needs to be a review of BAH standards.
    While families who live on the installation are better off, families
    living off the installation are forced to absorb more out-of-pocket
    expenses in order to live in a home that will meet their needs. BAH
    standards are based on an outdated concept of what would constitute a
    reasonable dwelling. For example, in order to receive BAH for a single
    family dwelling a servicemember must be an E9. However, if that same
    servicemember lived in military housing, he or she would likely have a
    single family home at the rank of E6 or E7. BAH standards should mirror
    the type of dwelling a servicemember would occupy if government
    quarters were available.
    Commissaries and Exchanges
        The commissary is a key element of the total compensation package
    for servicemembers and retirees and is valued by them, their families,
    and survivors. Not only do our surveys indicate that military families
    consider the commissary one of their most important benefits, during
    this economic downturn, many families are returning to the commissary
    to help them reduce their grocery budget. In addition to providing
    average savings of more than 30 percent over local supermarkets,
    commissaries provide an important tie to the military community.
    Commissary shoppers get more than groceries at the commissary. They
    gain an opportunity to connect with other military family members and
    to get information on installation programs and activities through
    bulletin boards and installation publications. Finally, commissary
    shoppers receive nutrition information and education through commissary
    promotions and educational campaigns contributing to the overall health
    of the entire beneficiary population.
        Our Association appreciates the provision included in the NDAA for
    Fiscal Year 2009 allowing the use of proceeds from surcharges collected
    at remote case lot sales for Reserve component members to help defray
    the cost of those case lot sales. This inclusion helps family members,
    not located near an installation partake in the valuable commissary
    benefit.
        Our Association is concerned there will not be enough commissaries
    to serve areas experiencing substantial growth, including those
    locations with servicemembers and families relocated by BRAC. The
    surcharge was never intended to pay for DOD and Service transformation.
    Additional funding is needed to ensure commissaries are built or
    expanded in areas that are gaining personnel as a result of these
    programs.
        The military exchange system serves as a community hub, in addition
    to providing valuable cost savings to members of the military
    community. Equally important is the fact that exchange system profits
    are reinvested in important Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR)
    programs, resulting in quality of life improvements for the entire
    community. We believe that every effort must be made to ensure that
    this important benefit and the MWR revenue is preserved, especially as
    facilities are down-sized or closed overseas. Exchanges must also
    continue to be responsive to the needs of deployed servicemembers in
    combat zones and have the right mix of goods at the right prices for
    the full range of beneficiaries.
    Flexible Spending Accounts
        Flexible Spending Accounts have done a great deal to help Federal
    employees and corporate civilian employees defray out-of-pocket costs
    for both their health care and dependent care needs. Our Association
    believes this important program should be extended to military
    servicemembers, and urges Congress to work with DOD to accomplish this
    much needed change. It is imperative that we include Active Duty and
    Selected Reserve members in this cost saving benefit. This benefit
    would put more money into our families' pockets and help defray rising
    health care and child care costs.
        Our Association requests that a flexible spending account benefit
    be extended to military servicemembers.
    Financial Readiness
        Financial readiness is a critical component of family readiness.
    Our Association applauds DOD for tackling financial literacy head-on
    with their Financial Readiness Campaign. Financial literacy and
    education must continue to be on the forefront. We are strong
    supporters of the Military Lending Act (MLA). With the depressed
    economy, many families may turn to payday lenders. DOD must continue to
    monitor the MLA and its effectiveness of derailing payday lenders.
        Military banks and credit unions must continue to develop
    alternatives to payday loans. Small dollar, short-term loan products
    through reputable lenders are needed to pull families away from
    predatory lenders. We encourage DOD to continue to educate military
    servicemembers and their families aware of the need to improve their
    money management skills and avoid high cost credit cards and other
    lenders. DOD must continue to monitor high cost, low value financial
    products targeted at military families.
    Family Care Plans and Custody Concerns
        As the war has progressed, we hear from servicemembers about
    custody concerns. A frequent scenario is that the servicemember, as
    part of his/her family care plan, places his/her children in the care
    of a noncustodial parent or other family member. The noncustodial
    parent chooses the time of deployment as a time to sue for a change in
    custodial status, often citing abandonment by the servicemember as a
    reason for change. We know that protections for the custodial parent
    can be improved by changes to the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act, but
    wonder if there is any other relief that might come under the
    jurisdiction of this subcommittee to address the needs of these
    servicemembers. The American Bar Association is trying to address this
    problem as well and is tracking the state initiatives that are
    addressing this issue. We are unsure if better education of the
    servicemember on protecting his/her custodial rights might be the
    answer or if it falls completely in the realm of a state issue. We
    suggest you consider directing DOD to conduct a study on how prevalent
    this problem is for servicemembers and what solutions might be
    implemented.
        We have heard from single parent and dual military families about
    the expenses incurred when they have to relocate their children to
    another location when they are activated for deployment. This issue was
    raised within the Army Family Action Plan process. Servicemembers
    requiring activation of Family Care Plans are not compensated for the
    travel of dependents and shipment of the dependent's household goods.
    Some items such as infant equipment, computers and toys are necessary
    for the emotional and physical well-being of the children in their new
    environment during an already stressful time. Implementation of the
    Family Care Plan should not create additional financial hardship and
    emotional stress on the servicemember and family.
        We recommend that DOD conduct a study on how the deployment affects
    custody arrangements for servicemembers and how these arrangements can
    be protected. We also recommend that changes be made to the DOD Joint
    Travel Regulations to provide for travel and shipment of household
    goods to fulfill the needs of a deploying servicemember's Family Care
    Plan.
                               ii. family health
        Family readiness calls for access to quality health care and mental
    health services. Families need to know the various elements of their
    military health system (MHS) are coordinated and working as a
    synergistic system. Our Association is concerned the DOD military
    health care system may not have all the resources it needs to meet both
    the military medical readiness mission and provide access to health
    care for all beneficiaries. It must be funded sufficiently, so the
    direct care system of military treatment facilities (MTF) and the
    purchased care segment of civilian providers can work in tandem to meet
    the responsibilities given under the TRICARE contracts, meet readiness
    needs, and ensure access for all military beneficiaries.
    Military Health System
        Improving Access to Care
        In an interview with syndicated Military Update columnist Tom
    Philpott in December 2008, MG (Dr.) Elder Granger, deputy director of
    TRICARE, gave the MHS an overall grade of ``C-plus or B-minus''. His
    discussion focused on access issues in the direct care system--our
    military hospitals and clinics--reinforcing what our Association has
    observed for years. We have consistently heard from families that their
    greatest health care challenge has been getting timely care from their
    local military hospital or clinic. In previous testimony before this
    subcommittee we have noted the failure of MTFs to meet TRICARE Prime
    access standards and to be held accountable in the same way as the
    TRICARE contractors are for meeting those standards in the purchased
    care arena.
        In discussions with families the main issues are: access to their
    Primary Care Managers (PCM); getting appointments; getting someone to
    answer the phone at central appointments; having appointments available
    when they finally got through to central appointments; after hours
    care; getting a referral for specialty care; being able to see the same
    provider or PCM; and having appointments available 60, 90, and 120 days
    out in our MTFs. Families familiar with how the MHS referral system
    works seem better able to navigate the system. Those families who are
    unfamiliar experienced delays in receiving treatment or decide to give
    up on the referral process and never obtain a specialty appointment.
        Case management for military beneficiaries with special needs is
    not consistent across the MHS, whether within the MTFs or in the
    purchased care arena. Thus, military families end up managing their own
    care. The shortage of available health care providers only adds to the
    dilemma. Beneficiaries try to obtain an appointment and then find
    themselves getting partial health care within the MTF, while other
    health care is referred out into the purchased care network. Meanwhile,
    the coordination of the military family's care is being done by a non-
    synergistic health care system. Incongruence in the case management
    process becomes more apparent when military family members transfer
    from one TRICARE region to another and is further exasperated when a
    special needs family member is involved. Each TRICARE Managed Care
    Contractor has created different case management processes. There needs
    to be a seamless transition and a warm handoff between TRICARE regions
    for these families and the establishment of a universal case management
    process across the MHS.
        Our wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers, veterans, and their
    families are assigned case managers. In fact, there are many different
    case managers: Federal Recovery Coordinators (FRC), Recovery Care
    Coordinators, each branch of Service, TBI care coordinators, VA
    liaisons, etc. The goal is for a seamless transition of care between
    and within the two governmental agencies: DOD and the VA. However, with
    so many to choose from, families often wonder which one is the
    ``right'' case manager. We often hear from families, some who have long
    since been medically retired with a 100 percent disability rating or
    others with less than 1 year out from date-of-injury, who have not yet
    been assigned a FRC. We need to look at whether the multiple, layered
    case managers have streamlined the process, or have only aggravated it.
    Our Association still finds these families alone trying to navigate a
    variety of complex health care systems trying to find the right
    combination of care. Many qualify for and use Medicare, VA, DOD's
    TRICARE direct and purchased care, private health insurance, and State
    agencies. Does this population really need all of these different
    systems of receiving health care? Why can't the process be streamlined?
        TRICARE
        While Congress temporarily forestalled increases over the past 2
    years, we believe DOD officials will continue to support large
    increased retiree enrollment fees for TRICARE Prime combined with a
    tiered system of enrollment fees, the institution of a TRICARE standard
    enrollment fee and increased TRICARE Standard deductibles. Two reports,
    the Task Force on the Future of the Military Health Care and The Tenth
    Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation Volume II, recently
    recommended the same.
        We acknowledge the annual Prime enrollment fee has not increased in
    more than 10 years and that it may be reasonable to have a mechanism to
    increase fees. With this in mind, we have presented an alternative to
    DOD's proposal should Congress deem some cost increase necessary. The
    most important feature of our proposal is that any fee increase be no
    greater than the percentage increase in the retiree cost-of-living
    adjustment (COLA). If DOD thought $230/$460 was a fair fee for all in
    1995, then it would appear that raising the fees simply by the
    percentage increase in retiree pay is also fair. We also suggest it
    would be reasonable to adjust the TRICARE Standard deductibles by tying
    increases to the percentage of the retiree annual COLA. We stand ready
    to provide more information on this issue if needed.
        Support for Special Needs Families
        We applaud Congress and DOD's desire to create a robust health care
    and educational service for special needs children. But, these robust
    services do not follow them when they retire. We encourage the Services
    to allow these military families the opportunity to have their final
    duty station be in an area of their choice. We suggest the Extended
    Care Health Option (ECHO) be extended for 1 year after retirement for
    those already enrolled in ECHO prior to retirement.
        There was discussion last year by Congress and military families
    regarding the ECHO program. The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2009 included a
    provision to increase the cap on certain benefits under the ECHO
    program to $36,000 per year for training, rehabilitation, special
    education, assistive technology devices, institutional care and under
    certain circumstances, transportation to and from institutions or
    facilities, because certain beneficiaries bump up against it. The ECHO
    program was originally designed to allow military families with special
    needs to receive additional services to offset their lack of
    eligibility for State or federally provided services impacted by
    frequent moves. We suggest that before making any more adjustments to
    the ECHO program, Congress should direct DOD to certify if the ECHO
    program is working as it was originally designed and has been effective
    in addressing the needs of this population. We need to make the right
    fixes so we can be assured we apply the correct solutions.
        National Guard and Reserve Member Family Health Care
        National Guard and Reserve families need increased education about
    their health care benefits. We also believe that paying a stipend to a
    mobilized National Guard or Reserve member for their family's coverage
    under their employer-sponsored insurance plan may prove to be more
    cost-effective for the government than subsidizing 72 percent of the
    costs of TRICARE Reserve Select for National Guard or Reserve members
    not on active duty.
        TRICARE Reimbursement
        Our Association is concerned that continuing pressure to lower
    Medicare reimbursement rates will create a hollow benefit for TRICARE
    beneficiaries. As the 111th Congress takes up Medicare legislation, we
    request consideration of how this legislation will impact military
    families' health care, especially access to mental health services.
        National provider shortages in the psychological health field,
    especially in child and adolescent psychology, are exacerbated in many
    cases by low TRICARE reimbursement rates, TRICARE rules, or military-
    unique geographic challenges--for example large populations in rural or
    traditionally underserved areas. Many psychological health providers
    are willing to see military beneficiaries on a voluntary status.
    However, these providers often tell us they will not participate in
    TRICARE because of what they believe are time-consuming requirements
    and low reimbursement rates. More must be done to persuade these
    providers to participate in TRICARE and become a resource for the
    entire system, even if that means DOD must raise reimbursement rates.
        We have heard the main reason for the VA not providing health care
    and psychological health care services is because they cannot be
    reimbursed for care rendered to a family member. However, the VA is a
    qualified TRICARE provider. This allows the VA to bill for services
    rendered in their facilities to a TRICARE beneficiary. There may be a
    way to bill other health insurance companies as well. The VA needs to
    look at the possibility for other methods of payments.
        Pharmacy
        We caution DOD about generalizing findings of certain beneficiary
    pharmacy behaviors and automatically applying them to our Nation's
    unique military population. We encourage Congress to require DOD to
    utilize peer-reviewed research involving beneficiaries and prescription
    drug benefit options, along with performing additional research
    involving military beneficiaries, before making any recommendations on
    prescription drug benefit changes, such as co-payment and tier
    structure changes for military servicemembers, retirees, their
    families, and survivors.
        We appreciate the inclusion of Federal pricing for the TRICARE
    retail pharmacies in the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008. However, we need to
    examine its effect on the cost of medications for both beneficiaries
    and DOD. Also, we will need to see how this potentially impacts the
    overall negotiation of future drug prices by Medicare and civilian
    private insurance programs.
        We believe it is imperative that all medications available through
    TRICARE Retail Pharmacy (TRRx) should also be available through TRICARE
    Mail Order Pharmacy (TMOP). Medications treating chronic conditions,
    such as asthma, diabetes, and hypertension should be made available at
    the lowest level of co-payment regardless of brand or generic status.
    We agree with the recommendations of The Task Force on the Future of
    Military Health Care that over-the-counter drugs be a covered pharmacy
    benefit and there be a zero co-pay for TMOP Tier 1 medications.
        National Health Care Proposal
        Our Association is cautious about current rhetoric by the
    administration and Congress regarding the establishment of a national
    health care insurance program. As the 111th Congress takes up a
    national health care insurance proposal, we request consideration of
    how this legislation will also impact TRICARE, military families'
    access to health care, and especially recruitment and retention of our
    servicemembers at a time of war.
        DOD Must Look for Savings
        We ask Congress to establish better oversight for DOD's
    accountability in becoming more cost-efficient. We recommend:

             requiring the Comptroller General to audit MTFs on a
            random basis until all have been examined for their ability to
            provide quality health care in a cost-effective manner;
             creating an oversight committee, similar in nature to
            the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which provides
            oversight to the Medicare program and makes annual
            recommendations to Congress. The Task Force on the Future of
            Military Health Care often stated it was unable to address
            certain issues not within their charter or the timeframe in
            which they were commissioned to examine the issues. This
            Commission would have the time to examine every issue in an
            unbiased manner; and
             establishing a Unified ``Joint'' Medical Command
            structure, which was recommended by the Defense Health Board in
            2006.
        Our Association does not support the recommendation of the Task
    Force on the Future of Military Health Care to carve out one regional
    TRICARE contractor to provide both the pharmacy and health care
    benefit. We agree a link between pharmacy and disease management is
    necessary, but feel this pilot would only further erode DOD's ability
    to maximize potential savings through TMOP. We were also disappointed
    to find no mention of disease management or a requirement for
    coordination between the pharmacy contractor and Managed Care Support
    Contractors in the Request for Proposals for the new TRICARE pharmacy
    contract. The ability certainly exists for them to share information
    bidirectionally and should be established.
        Our Association believes optimizing the capabilities of the
    facilities of the direct care system through timely replacement of
    facilities, increased funding allocations, and innovative staffing
    would allow more beneficiaries to be cared for in the MTFs, which DOD
    asserts is the most cost effective. The Task Force made recommendations
    to make the DOD MHS more cost-efficient which we support. They conclude
    the MHS must be appropriately sized, resourced, and stabilized; and
    make changes in its business and health care practices.
        Our Association suggests this subcommittee DOD reassess the
    resource sharing program used prior to the implementation of the T-Nex
    contracts and take the steps necessary to ensure Military Treatment
    Facilities (MTF) meet access standards with high quality health care
    providers.
        We also suggest this subcommittee direct the Department to make
    case management services more consistent across the direct and
    purchased care segments of the MHS.
        Our Association recommends a 1 year transitional Active Duty ECHO
    benefit for the family members of servicemembers who retire.
        We believe tying increases in TRICARE enrollment fees to the
    percentage increase in the Retiree COLA is a fair way to increase
    beneficiary cost shares should Congress deem an increase necessary.
        We oppose DOD's proposal to institute a TRICARE Standard enrollment
    fee and believe Congress should reject this proposal because it changes
    beneficiaries' entitlement to health care under TRICARE Standard to
    just another insurance plan.
        Our Association strongly believes an enrollment fee for TFL is not
    appropriate.
        We believe that Reserve component families should be given the
    choice of a stipend to continue their employer provided care during
    deployment.
    Behavioral Health Care
        Our Nation must help returning servicemembers and their families
    cope with the aftermaths of war. DOD, VA, and State agencies must
    partner in order to address behavioral health issues early in the
    process and provide transitional mental health programs. Partnering
    will also capture the National Guard and Reserve member population, who
    often straddle these agencies' health care systems.
        Full Spectrum of Care
        As the war continues, families' need for a full spectrum of
    behavioral health services--from preventative care to stress reduction
    techniques, to individual or family counseling, to medical mental
    health services--continues to grow. The military offers a variety of
    psychological health services, both preventative and treatment, across
    many agencies and programs. However, as servicemembers and families
    experience numerous lengthy and dangerous deployments, we believe the
    need for confidential, preventative psychological health services will
    continue to rise. It will also remain high for some time even after
    military operations scale down.
        Access to Behavioral Health Care
        Our Association is concerned about the overall shortage of
    psychological health providers in TRICARE's direct and purchased care
    network. DOD's Task Force on Mental Health stated timely access to the
    proper psychological health provider remains one of the greatest
    barriers to quality mental health services for servicemembers and their
    families. While families are pleased more psychological health
    providers are available in theater to assist their servicemembers, they
    are disappointed with the resulting limited access to providers at
    home. Families are reporting increased difficulty in obtaining
    appointments with social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists at
    their MTFs and clinics. The military fuels the shortage by deploying
    some of its child and adolescent psychology providers to combat zones.
    Providers remaining at home report they are overwhelmed by treating
    Active Duty members and are unable to fit family members into their
    schedules. This can lead to compassion fatigue, creating burnout and
    exacerbating the provider shortage problem.
        We have seen an increase in the number of psychological health
    providers joining the purchased care side of the TRICARE network.
    However, the access standard is 7 days. We hear from military families
    after accessing the psychological health provider list on the
    contractor's Web sites that the provider is full and no longer taking
    patients. The list must be up-to-date in order to handle real time
    demands by families. We need to continue to recruit more psychological
    health providers to join the TRICARE network and we need to make sure
    we specifically add those in specialty behavioral health care areas,
    such as child and adolescence psychology and psychiatrists.
        Families must be included in mental health counseling and treatment
    programs for servicemembers. Family members are a key component to a
    servicemember's psychological well-being. We recommend an extended
    outreach program to servicemembers, veterans, and their families of
    available psychological health resources, such as DOD, VA, and State
    agencies. Families want to be able to access care with a psychological
    health provider who understands or is sympathetic to the issues they
    face.
        Frequent and lengthy deployments create a sharp need in
    psychological health services by family members and servicemembers as
    they get ready to deploy and after their return. There is also an
    increase in demand in the wake of natural disasters, such as hurricanes
    and fires. We need to maintain a flexible pool of psychological health
    providers who can increase or decrease rapidly in numbers depending on
    demand on the MHS side. Currently, Military Family Life Consultants and
    Military OneSource counseling are providing this type of service for
    military families on the family support side. We need to make the
    Services, along with military family members, more aware of resources
    along the continuum. We need the flexibility of support in both the MHS
    and family support arenas.
        Availability of Treatment
        Do DOD, VA, and State agencies have adequate psychological health
    providers, programs, outreach, and funding? Better yet, where will the
    veteran's spouse and children go for help? Many will be left alone to
    care for their loved one's invisible wounds resulting from frequent and
    long combat deployments. Who will care for them when they are no longer
    part of the DOD health care system?
        The Army's Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT) IV report links
    reducing family issues to reducing stress on deployed servicemembers.
    The team found the top non-combat stressors were deployment length and
    family separation. They noted soldiers serving a repeat deployment
    reported higher acute stress than those on their first deployment and
    the level of combat was the major contribution for their psychological
    health status upon return. These reports demonstrate the amount of
    stress being placed on our troops and their families.
        Our Association is especially concerned with the scarcity of
    services available to the families as they leave the military following
    the end of their activation or enlistment. Due to the servicemember's
    separation, the families find themselves ineligible for TRICARE, and
    are very rarely eligible for healthcare through the VA. Many will
    choose to locate in rural areas lacking available psychological health
    providers. We need to address the distance issues families face in
    finding psychological health resources and obtaining appropriate care.
    Isolated servicemembers, veterans, and their families do not have the
    benefit of the safety net of services and programs provided by MTFs, VA
    facilities, Community-Based Outpatient Centers and Vet Centers. We
    recommend:

             using alternative treatment methods, such as
            telemental health;
             modifying licensing requirements in order to remove
            geographic practice barriers that prevent psychological health
            providers from participating in telemental health services
            outside of a VA facility; and
             educating civilian network psychological health
            providers about our military culture as the VA incorporates
            Project Hero.
        National Guard and Reserve Members
        The National Military Family Association is especially concerned
    about fewer mental health care services available for the families of
    returning National Guard and Reserve members as well as servicemembers
    who leave the military following the end of their enlistment. They are
    eligible for TRICARE Reserve Select, but as we know, National Guard and
    Reserve members are often located in rural areas where there may be no
    mental health providers available. Policy makers need to address the
    distance issues that families face in linking with military mental
    health resources and obtaining appropriate care. Isolated National
    Guard and Reserve families do not have the benefit of the safety net of
    services provided by MTFs and installation family support programs.
    Families want to be able to access care with a provider who understands
    or is sympathetic to the issues they face. We recommend the use of
    alternative treatment methods, such as telemental health; increasing
    mental health reimbursement rates for rural areas; modifying licensing
    requirements in order to remove geographic practice barriers that
    prevent mental health providers from participating in telemental health
    services; and educating civilian network mental health providers about
    our military culture.
        Wounded, Ill, and Injured Families
        When designing support for the wounded, ill, and injured in today's
    conflict, our Association believes the government, especially DOD, VA,
    and State agencies, must take a more inclusive view of military and
    veterans' families. Those who have the responsibility to care for the
    wounded servicemember must also consider the needs of the spouse,
    children, parents of single servicemembers, siblings, and other
    caregivers. Family members are an integral part of the health care team
    and recovery process.
        Caregivers need to be recognized for the important role they play
    in the care of their loved one. Without them, the quality of life of
    the wounded servicemembers and veterans, such as physical, psycho-
    social, and mental health, would be significantly compromised. They are
    viewed as an invaluable resource to DOD and VA health care providers
    because they tend to the needs of the servicemembers and the veterans
    on a regular basis. Their daily involvement saves DOD, VA, and State
    agency health care dollars in the long run. Their long-term
    psychological care needs must be addressed. Caregivers of the severely
    wounded, ill, and injured services members who are now veterans have a
    long road ahead of them. In order to perform their job well, they will
    require access to mental health services.
        The Vet Centers are an available resource for veterans' families
    providing adjustment, vocational, and family and marriage counseling.
    The VA health care facilities and the community-based outpatient
    clinics (CBOCs) have a ready supply of mental health providers, yet
    regulations restrict their ability to provide mental health care to
    veterans' families unless they meet strict standards. Unfortunately,
    this provision hits the veteran's caregiver the hardest. We recommend
    DOD partner with the VA to allow military families access to mental
    health services. We also believe Congress should require the VA,
    through its Vet Centers and health care facilities to develop a
    holistic approach to care by including families when providing mental
    health counseling and programs to the wounded, ill, or injured
    servicemember or veteran.
        The Defense Health Board has recommended DOD include military
    families in its mental health studies. We agree. We encourage Congress
    to direct DOD to include families in its Psychological Health Support
    survey; perform a pre and post-deployment mental health screening on
    family members (similar to the PDHA and PDHRA currently being done for
    servicemembers); and sponsor a longitudinal study, similar to DOD's
    Millennium Cohort Study, in order to get a better understanding of the
    long-term effects of war on our military families.
        Children
        Our Association is concerned about the impact deployment and/or the
    injury of the servicemember is having on our most vulnerable
    population, children of our military and veterans. Multiple deployments
    are creating layers of stressors, which families are experiencing at
    different stages. Teens especially carry a burden of care they are
    reluctant to share with the non-deployed parent in order to not ``rock
    the boat.'' They are often encumbered by the feeling of trying to keep
    the family going, along with anger over changes in their schedules,
    increased responsibility, and fear for their deployed parent. Children
    of the National Guard and Reserve members face unique challenges since
    there are no military installations for them to utilize. They find
    themselves ``suddenly military'' without resources to support them.
    School systems are generally unaware of this change in focus within
    these family units and are ill prepared to lookout for potential
    problems caused by these deployments or when an injury occurs. Also
    vulnerable, are children who have disabilities that are further
    complicated by deployment and subsequent injury of the servicemembers.
    Their families find stress can be overwhelming, but are afraid to reach
    out for assistance for fear of retribution to the servicemember's
    career. They often choose not to seek care for themselves or their
    families.
        The impact of the wounded, ill, and injured on children is often
    overlooked and underestimated. Military children experience a
    metaphorical death of the parent they once knew and must make many
    adjustments as their parent recovers. Many families relocate to be near
    the treating Military Treatment Facility (MTF) or the VA Polytrauma
    Center in order to make the rehabilitation process more successful. As
    the spouse focuses on the rehabilitation and recovery, older children
    take on new roles. They may become the caregivers for other siblings,
    as well as for the wounded parent. Many spouses send their children to
    stay with neighbors or extended family members, as they tend to their
    wounded, ill, and injured spouse. Children get shuffled from place to
    place until they can be reunited with their parents. Once reunited,
    they must adapt to the parent's new injury and living with the ``new
    normal.''
        We encourage partnerships between government agencies, DOD, VA, and
    State agencies and recommend they reach out to those private and
    nongovernmental organizations who are experts on children and
    adolescents. They could identify and incorporate best practices in the
    prevention and treatment of mental health issues affecting our military
    children. We must remember to focus on preventative care upstream,
    while still in the Active Duty phase, in order to have a solid family
    unit as they head into the veteran phase of their lives. School systems
    must become more involved in establishing and providing supportive
    services for our Nation's children.
        Caregivers
        In the seventh year of the global war on terror, care for the
    caregivers must become a priority. Our Association hears from the
    senior officer and enlisted spouses who are so often called upon to be
    the strength for others. We hear from the health care providers,
    educators, rear detachment staff, chaplains, and counselors who are
    working long hours to assist servicemembers and their families. They
    tell us they are overburdened, burnt out, and need time to recharge so
    they can continue to serve these families. These caregivers must be
    afforded respite care; given emotional support through their command
    structure; and, be provided effective family programs.
        Education
        The DOD, VA, and State agencies must educate their health care and
    mental health professionals of the effects of mild Traumatic Brain
    Injury (mTBI) in order to help accurately diagnose and treat the
    servicemember's condition. They must be able to deal with polytrauma--
    Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in combination with multiple
    physical injuries. We need more education for civilian health care
    providers on how to identify signs and symptoms of mTBI and PTSD.
        The families of servicemembers and veterans must be educated about
    the effects of mTBI and PTSD in order to help accurately diagnose and
    treat the servicemember/veteran's condition. These families are on the
    ``sharp end of the spear'' and are more likely to pick up on changes
    attributed to either condition and relay this information to their
    health care providers.
        Reintegration programs
        Reintegration programs become a key ingredient in the family's
    success. Our Association believes we need to focus on treating the
    whole family with programs offering readjustment information; education
    on identifying mental health, substance abuse, suicide, and traumatic
    brain injury; and encouraging them to seek assistance when having
    financial, relationship, legal, and occupational difficulties.
        Successful return and reunion programs will require attention over
    the long term, as well as a strong partnership at all levels between
    the various mental health arms of DOD, VA, and State agencies.
        DOD and VA need to provide family and individual counseling to
    address these unique issues. Opportunities for the entire family and
    for the couple to reconnect and bond must also be provided. Our
    Association has recognized this need and is piloting two family
    retreats in the National Parks to promote family reintegration
    following deployment.
        We recommend an extended outreach program to servicemembers,
    veterans, and their families of available psychological health
    resources, such as DOD, VA, and State agencies.
        We encourage Congress to request DOD to include families in its
    Psychological Health Support survey; perform a pre and post-deployment
    mental health screening on family members (similar to the PDHA and
    PDHRA currently being done for servicemembers); and sponsor a
    longitudinal study, similar to DOD's Millennium Cohort Study, in order
    to get a better understanding of the long-term effects of war on our
    military families.
        We recommend the use of alternative treatment methods, such as
    telemental health; increasing mental health reimbursement rates for
    rural areas; modifying licensing requirements in order to remove
    geographic practice barriers that prevent mental health providers from
    participating in telemental health services; and educating civilian
    network mental health providers about our military culture.
        Caregivers must be afforded respite care; given emotional support
    through their command structure; and, be provided effective family
    programs.
    Wounded Servicemembers Have Wounded Families
        Our Association asserts that behind every wounded servicemember and
    veteran is a wounded family. It is our belief the government,
    especially the DOD and VA, must take a more inclusive view of military
    and veterans' families. Those who have the responsibility to care for
    the wounded, ill, and injured servicemember must also consider the
    needs of the spouse, children, parents of single servicemembers and
    their siblings, and the caregivers. We appreciate the inclusion in the
    NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008 Wounded Warrior provision for health care
    services to be provided by the DOD and VA for family members. DOD and
    VA need to think proactively as a team and one system, rather than
    separately; and addressing problems and implementing initiatives
    upstream while the servicemember is still on Active Duty status.
        Reintegration programs become a key ingredient in the family's
    success. In the spring of 2008, our Association held a focus group
    composed of wounded servicemembers and their families to learn more
    about issues affecting them. Families find themselves having to
    redefine their roles following the injury of the servicemember. They
    must learn how to parent and become a spouse/lover with an injury. Each
    member needs to understand the unique aspects the injury brings to the
    family unit. Parenting from a wheelchair brings a whole new challenge,
    especially when dealing with teenagers. Parents need opportunities to
    get together with other parents who are in similar situations and share
    their experiences and successful coping methods. Our Association
    believes we need to focus on treating the whole family with programs
    offering skill based training for coping, intervention, resiliency, and
    overcoming adversities. Injury interrupts the normal cycle of
    deployment and the reintegration process. We must provide opportunities
    for the entire family and for the couple to reconnect and bond,
    especially during the rehabilitation and recovery phases. We piloted a
    Operation Purple Healing Adventures camp to help wounded servicemembers
    and their families learn to play again as a family and plan one more in
    the summer of 2009.
        Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) has recognized a need to support
    these families by expanding in terms of guesthouses co-located within
    the hospital grounds and a family reintegration program for their
    Warrior Transition Unit. The on-base school system is also sensitive to
    issues surrounding these children. A warm, welcoming family support
    center located in guest housing serves as a sanctuary for family
    members. The DOD and VA could benefit from looking at successful
    programs like BAMC's which has found a way to embrace the family unit
    during this difficult time.
        Transitioning for the Wounded and Their Families
        Transitions can be especially problematic for wounded, ill, and
    injured servicemembers, veterans, and their families. The DOD and the
    VA health care systems, along with State agency involvement, should
    alleviate, not heighten these concerns. They should provide for
    coordination of care, starting when the family is notified that the
    servicemember has been wounded and ending with the DOD, VA, and State
    agencies working together, creating a seamless transition, as the
    wounded servicemember transfers between the two agencies' health care
    systems and, eventually, from Active Duty status to veteran status.
        Transition of health care coverage for our wounded, ill, and
    injured and their family members is a concern of our Association. These
    servicemembers and families desperately need a health care bridge as
    they deal with the after effects of the injury and possible reduction
    in their family income. We have created two proposals. Servicemembers
    who are medically retired and their families should be treated as
    active duty for TRICARE fee and eligibility purposes for 3 years
    following medical retirement. This proposal will allow the family not
    to pay premiums and be eligible for certain programs offered to active
    duty, such as ECHO for 3 years. Following that period, they would pay
    TRICARE premiums at the rate for retirees. Servicemembers medically
    discharged from Service and their family members should be allowed to
    continue for 1 year as active duty for TRICARE and then start the
    Continued Health Care Benefit Program (CHCBP) if needed.
        Caregivers
        Caregivers need to be recognized for the important role they play
    in the care of their loved one. The VA has made a strong effort in
    supporting veterans' caregivers. The DOD should follow suit and expand
    their definition. Caregivers of the severely wounded, ill, and injured
    services members have a long road ahead of them. In order to perform
    their job well, they must be given the skills to be successful. This
    will require the caregiver to be trained through a standardized,
    certified program, and appropriately compensated for the care they
    provide. The time to implement these programs is while the
    servicemember is still on Active Duty status.
        Our Association proposes that new types of financial compensation
    be established for caregivers of injured servicemembers and veterans
    that could begin while the hospitalized servicemember is still on
    active duty and continue throughout the transition to care under the
    VA. This compensation should recognize the types of medical and non-
    medical care services provided by the caregiver, travel to appointments
    and coordinating with providers, and the severity of injury. It should
    also take into account the changing levels of service provided by the
    caregiver as the veteran's condition improves or diminishes or needs
    for medical treatment changes. These needs would have to be assessed
    quickly with little time delay in order to provide the correct amount
    of compensation. The caregiver should be paid directly for their
    services, but the compensation should be linked to training and
    certification paid for by the VA and transferrable to employment in the
    civilian sector if the care is no longer needed by the servicemember.
    Our Association looks forward to discussing details of implementing
    such a plan with members of this subcommittee.
        Consideration should also be given to creating innovative ways to
    meet the health care and insurance needs of the caregiver, with an
    option to include their family. Perhaps, caregivers of severely injured
    servicemembers or veterans can be given the option of buying health
    insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program or
    through enrollment in CHAMPVA. A mechanism should also be established
    to assist caregivers who are forced out of the work force to save for
    their retirements, for example, through the Federal Thrift Savings
    Plan.
        There must be a provision for transition for the caregiver if the
    caregiver's services are no longer needed, chooses to no longer
    participate, or is asked by the veteran to no longer provide services.
    The caregiver should still be able to maintain health care coverage for
    1 year. Compensation would discontinue following the end of services/
    care provided by the caregiver.
        The VA currently has eight caregiver assistance pilot programs to
    expand and improve health care education and provide needed training
    and resources for caregivers who assist disabled and aging veterans in
    their homes. DOD should evaluate these pilot programs to determine
    whether to adopt them for themselves. Caregivers' responsibilities
    start while the servicemember is still on active duty.
        Relocation Allowance
        Active Duty servicemembers and their spouses qualify through the
    DOD for military orders to move their household goods (known as a
    Permanent Change of Station (PCS)) when they leave the military
    Service. Medically retired servicemembers are given a final PCS move.
    Medically retired married servicemembers are allowed to move their
    family; however, medically retired single servicemembers only qualify
    for moving their own personal goods.
        The National Military Family Association is requesting the ability
    for medically retired single servicemembers to be allowed the
    opportunity to have their caregiver's household goods moved as a part
    of the medical retired single servicemember's PCS move. This should be
    allowed for the qualified caregiver of the wounded servicemember and
    the caregiver's family (if warranted), such as a sibling who is married
    with children or mom and dad. This would allow for the entire
    caregiver's family to move, not just the caregiver. The reason for the
    move is to allow the medically retired single servicemember the
    opportunity to relocate with their caregiver to an area offering the
    best medical care, rather than the current option that only allows for
    the medically retired single servicemember to move their belongings to
    where the caregiver currently resides. The current option may not be
    ideal because the area in which the caregiver lives may not be able to
    provide all the health care services required for treating and caring
    for the medically retired servicemember. Instead of trying to create
    the services in the area, a better solution may be to allow the
    medically retired servicemember, their caregiver, and the caregiver's
    family to relocate to an area where services already exist.
        The decision on where to relocate for optimum care should be made
    with the FRC (case manager), the servicemember's medical physician, the
    servicemember, and the caregiver. All aspects of care for the medically
    retired servicemember and their caregiver shall be considered. These
    include a holistic examination of the medically retired servicemember,
    the caregiver, and the caregiver's family for, but not limited to,
    their needs and opportunities for health care, employment,
    transportation, and education. The priority for the relocation should
    be where the best quality of services is readily available for the
    medically retired servicemember and his/her caregiver.
        The consideration for a temporary partial shipment of caregiver's
    household goods may also be allowed, if deemed necessary by the case
    management team.
        Medical Power of Attorney
        We have heard from caregivers of the difficult decisions they have
    to make over their loved one's bedside following an injury. We support
    the Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force recommendation for DOD to require
    each deploying servicemember to execute a Medical Power of Attorney and
    a Living Will.
        Provide transitioning wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers and
    their families a bridge of extended Active Duty TRICARE eligibility for
    3 years, comparable to the benefit for surviving spouses.
        Caregivers of the wounded, ill, and injured must be provided with
    opportunities for training, compensation, and other support programs
    because of the important role they play in the successful
    rehabilitation and care of the servicemember.
        DOD should require each deploying servicemember to execute a
    Medical Power of Attorney and a Living Will.
        Servicemembers medically discharged from service and their family
    members shall be allowed to continue for 1 year as Active Duty for
    TRICARE and then start the Continued Health Care Benefit Program
    (CHCBP) if needed.
        Senior Oversight Committee
        Our Association is appreciative of the provision in the NDAA for
    Fiscal Year 2009 continuing the DOD/VA Senior Oversight Committee (SOC)
    for an additional year. We understand a permanent structure is in the
    process of being established and manned. We urge Congress to put a
    mechanism in place to continue to monitor DOD and VA's partnership
    initiatives for our wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers and their
    families, while this organization is being created.
        The National Military Family Association encourages the Armed
    Services Committee along with the Veterans' Affairs Committee to talk
    on these important issues. We can no longer be content on focusing on
    each agency separately because this population moves too frequently
    between the two agencies, especially our wounded, ill, and injured
    servicemembers and their families.
        We would like to thank you again for the opportunity to provide
    information on the health care needs for the servicemembers, veterans,
    and their families. Military families support the Nation's military
    missions. The least their country can do is make sure servicemembers,
    veterans, and their families have consistent access to high quality
    mental health care in the DOD, VA, and within network civilian health
    care systems. Wounded servicemembers and veterans have wounded
    families. The caregiver must be supported by providing access to
    quality health care and mental health services, and assistance in
    navigating the health care systems. The system should provide
    coordination of care with DOD, VA, and State agencies working together
    to create a seamless transition. We ask Congress to assist in meeting
    that responsibility.
                            iii. family transitions
        Our Association will promote policies and access to programs
    providing training and support for families during the many transitions
    they experience.
    Survivors
        In the past year, the Services have been focusing on outreach to
    surviving families. In particular, the Army's SOS (Survivor Outreach
    Services) program makes an effort to remind these families that they
    are not forgotten. DOD and the VA must work together to ensure
    surviving spouses and their children can receive the mental health
    services they need, through all of VA's venues. New legislative
    language governing the TRICARE behavioral health benefit may also be
    needed to allow TRICARE coverage of bereavement or grief counseling.
    The goal is the right care at the right time for optimum treatment
    effect. DOD and the VA need to better coordinate their mental health
    services for survivors and their children.
        We ask that the Active Duty TRICARE dental benefit be extended to
    surviving children to mirror the Active Duty TRICARE medical benefit to
    which they are now eligible. We also ask that eligibility be expanded
    to those Reserve component family members who had not been enrolled in
    the Active Duty TRICARE dental benefit prior to the servicemember's
    death.
        Our Association recommends that surviving children be allowed to
    remain in the TRICARE dental program until they age out of TRICARE
    eligibility and that eligibility be expanded to those Reserve component
    survivors who had not been enrolled prior to the servicemember's
    death.. We also recommend that grief counseling be more readily
    available to survivors.
        Our Association still believes the benefit change that will provide
    the most significant long-term advantage to the financial security of
    all surviving families would be to end the Dependency and Indemnity
    Compensation (DIC) offset to the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). Ending
    this offset would correct an inequity that has existed for many years.
    Each payment serves a different purpose. The DIC is a special indemnity
    (compensation or insurance) payment paid by the VA to the survivor when
    the servicemember's service causes his or her death. The SBP annuity,
    paid by DOD, reflects the longevity of the service of the military
    member. It is ordinarily calculated at 55 percent of retired pay.
    Military retirees who elect SBP pay a portion of their retired pay to
    ensure that their family has a guaranteed income should the retiree
    die. If that retiree dies due to a service connected disability, their
    survivor becomes eligible for DIC.
        Surviving Active Duty spouses can make several choices, dependent
    upon their circumstances and the ages of their children. Because SBP is
    offset by the DIC payment, the spouse may choose to waive this benefit
    and select the ``child only'' option. In this scenario, the spouse
    would receive the DIC payment and the children would receive the full
    SBP amount until each child turns 18 (23 if in college), as well as the
    individual child DIC until each child turns 18 (23 if in college). Once
    the children have left the house, this choice currently leaves the
    spouse with an annual income of $13,848, a significant drop in income
    from what the family had been earning while the servicemember was alive
    and on active duty. The percentage of loss is even greater for
    survivors whose servicemembers served longer. Those who give their
    lives for their country deserve more fair compensation for their
    surviving spouses.
        We appreciate the establishment of a special survivor indemnity
    allowance as a first step in the process to eliminate the DIC offset to
    SBP.
        We believe several other adjustments could be made to the Survivor
    Benefit Plan. Allowing payment of the SBP benefits into a Special Needs
    Trust in cases of disabled beneficiaries will preserve their
    eligibility for income based support programs. The government should be
    able to switch SBP payments to children if a surviving spouse is
    convicted of complicity in the member's death.
        We ask the DIC offset to SBP be eliminated to recognize the length
    of commitment and service of the career servicemember and spouse. We
    also request that SBP benefits be allowed to be paid to a Special Needs
    Trust in cases of disabled family members.
    Spouse Employment, Unemployment
        Our Association appreciates the expansion of the Military Spouse
    Career Advancement Accounts. We look forward to the rollout and full
    implementation of the expanded program and hope that the definition of
    ``portable careers'' is broad enough to support the diverse military
    spouse population. To further spouse employment opportunities, we
    recommend an expansion to the Workforce Opportunity Tax Credit for
    employers who hire spouses of Active Duty and Reserve component
    servicemembers, and to provide tax credits to military spouses to
    offset the expense in obtaining career licenses and certifications when
    servicemembers are relocated to a new duty station within a different
    state.
        Our Association appreciates the 2008 Executive Order of
    Noncompetitive Appointment of Certain Military Spouses, but we are
    concerned that this will only assist a limited number of military
    spouses. We are also concerned this Executive Order has not yet been
    made effective. Many noncompetitive positions are temporary or term
    positions that will not afford the military spouse the opportunity to
    continue in Federal service when they move to a new duty station.
    Military spouses seek Federal employment due to the job stability and
    opportunities for employment as they move from one location to another.
        Our Association urges Congress recognize the value of military
    spouses by expanding the military spouse hiring preference beyond the
    DOD to the entire Federal Government.
    Families on the Move
        Our Association is concerned about the timely implementation of the
    Defense Personal Property Program, formerly titled ``Families First.''
    Worldwide rollout is still incomplete and it is unclear if customer
    satisfaction surveys are incorporated into the carrier ranking process.
    Full Replacement Value has been rolled out, but is handled differently
    by each carrier. Families are confused about how and where to file
    claims. Congressional oversight is needed to press for implementation
    of this program and deliver the best possible service to our families.
        Our Association is grateful for the addition of the weight
    allowance for spousal professional materials. We ask that Congress
    broaden the language to require the Service Secretaries to implement
    this much needed benefit.
        A PCS move to an overseas location can be especially stressful.
    Military families are faced with the prospect of being thousands of
    miles from extended family and living in a foreign culture. At many
    overseas locations, there are insufficient numbers of government
    quarters resulting in the requirement to live on the local economy away
    from the installation. Family members in these situations can feel
    extremely isolated; for some the only connection to anything familiar
    is the local military installation. Unfortunately, current law permits
    the shipment of only one vehicle to an overseas location, including
    Alaska and Hawaii. Since most families today have two vehicles, they
    sell one of the vehicles.
        Upon arriving at the new duty station, the servicemember requires
    transportation to and from the place of duty leaving the military
    spouse and family members at home without transportation. This lack of
    transportation limits the ability of spouses to secure employment and
    the ability of children to participate in extra curricular activities.
    While the purchase of a second vehicle alleviates these issues, it also
    results in significant expense while the family is already absorbing
    other costs associated with a move. Simply permitting the shipment of a
    second vehicle at government expense could alleviate this expense and
    acknowledge the needs of today's military family.
        Our Association requests that Congress ease the burden of military
    PCS moves on military families by pressing for the full implementation
    of the Defense Personal Property Program and by authorizing the
    shipment of a second vehicle for families assigned to an overseas
    location on accompanied tours.
    Education of Military Children
        While our Association remains appreciative for the additional
    funding you provide to civilian school districts educating large
    numbers of military children, DOD Impact Aid still remains underfunded.
    We urge Congress to increase funding for schools educating large
    numbers of military children to $60 million for fiscal year 2010. We
    also encourage you to make the additional funding for school districts
    experiencing growth available to all school districts experiencing
    significant enrollment increases and not just to those districts
    meeting the current 20 percent enrollment threshold. The arrival of
    several hundred military students can be financially devastating to any
    school district, regardless of how many of those students the district
    already serves. This supplement to Impact Aid is vital to school
    districts that have shouldered the burden of ensuring military children
    receive a quality education despite the stresses of military life.
        As increased numbers of military families move into new communities
    due to Global Rebasing and BRAC, their housing needs are being met
    further and further away from the installation. Thus, military children
    may be attending school in districts whose familiarity with the
    military lifestyle may be limited. Educating large numbers of military
    children will put an added burden on schools already hard-pressed to
    meet the needs of their current populations. With over 70,000 military
    families returning to the United States, at the same time the Army is
    moving over one third of its soldiers within the U.S., we urge Congress
    to authorize an increase in this level of funding until BRAC and Global
    Rebasing moves are completed.
        Although it does not fall under the purview of this Subcommittee,
    we thank Congress for passing the Higher Education Opportunity Act of
    2008, which contained many new provisions affecting military families.
    Chief among them was a provision to expand in-State tuition eligibility
    for military servicemembers and their families. Under this provision,
    colleges and universities receiving Federal funding under the act will
    be required to offer in-State tuition rates for Active Duty
    servicemembers and their families and provide continuity of in-State
    rates if the servicemember receives orders for an assignment out of
    state. However, family members have to be currently enrolled in order
    to be eligible for continuity of in-State tuition. Our Association is
    concerned that this would preclude a senior in high school from
    receiving in-State tuition rates if his or her family PCS's prior to
    matriculation. We urge Congress to amend this provision.
        Our Association congratulates the DOD Office of Personnel and
    Readiness and the Council of State Governments (CSG) for drafting the
    Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and
    for spearheading the adoption of this important legislation. Designed
    to alleviate many of the transition issues facing military children,
    the Compact has now been adopted in 20 States. In addition, Hawaii has
    a Compact bill awaiting their Governor's signature, and 11 other States
    are working active legislation this year. With 10 States needed to
    enact the Compact, the first meeting of the Interstate Commission on
    Educational Opportunity for Military Children met in October 2008. Our
    Association is pleased to have been a member of both the Advisory Group
    and Drafting Team, and has been working actively to support the
    adoption of this Compact, which will greatly enhance the quality of
    life of our military children and families.
        We ask Congress to increase the DOD supplement to Impact Aid to $60
    million to help districts better meet the additional demands caused by
    large numbers of military children, deployment-related issues, and the
    effects of military programs and policies. We also ask Congress to
    allow all school districts experiencing a significant growth in their
    military student population due to BRAC, Global Rebasing, or
    installation housing changes to be eligible for the additional funding
    currently available only to districts with an enrollment of at least 20
    percent military children.
    Spouse Education
        Since 2004, our Association has been fortunate to sponsor our
    Joanne Holbrook Patton Military Spouse Scholarship Program, with the
    generosity of donors who wish to help military families. In 2007, we
    published Education and the Military Spouse: The Long Road to Success,
    based on spouse scholarship applicant survey responses, identifying
    education issues and barriers specific to military spouses. The entire
    report may be found at www.nmfa.org/education.
        The survey found military spouses, like their servicemembers and
    the military as a whole, value education and set education goals for
    themselves. Yet, military spouses often feel their options are limited.
    Deployments, the shortage of affordable and quality child care,
    frequent moves, the lack of educational benefits and tuition assistance
    for tuition are discouraging. For military spouses, the total cost of
    obtaining a degree can be significantly higher than the cost for
    civilian students. The unique circumstances that accompany the military
    lifestyle have significant negative impacts upon a spouse's ability to
    remain continuously enrolled in an educational program. Military
    spouses often take longer than the expected time to complete their
    degrees. More than one-third of those surveyed have been working toward
    their goal for 5 years or more. The report offers recommendations for
    solutions that Congress could provide:

             Ensuring installation education centers have the
            funding necessary to support spouse education programs and
            initiatives,
             Providing additional child care funding to support
            child care needs of military spouse-scholars,
             Helping to defray additional costs incurred by
            military spouses who ultimately spend more than civilian
            counterparts to obtain a degree.

        Our Association wishes to thank Congress for passing the Post-
    September 11 G.I. Bill for servicemembers and for including
    transferability of the benefit to spouses and children. We will
    continue to monitor the implementation of this benefit, and hope to see
    the regulations posted soon.
    Military Families--Our Nation's Families
        We thank you for your support of our servicemembers and their
    families and we urge you to remember their service as you work to
    resolve the many issues facing our country. Military families are our
    Nation's families. They serve with pride, honor, and quiet dedication.
    Since the beginning of the war, government agencies, concerned citizens
    and private organizations have stepped in to help. This increased
    support has made a difference for many servicemembers and families,
    yet, some of these efforts overlap while others are ineffective. In our
    testimony, we believe we have identified improvements and additions
    that can be made to already successful programs while introducing
    policy or legislative changes that address the ever changing needs of
    our military population. Working together, we can improve the quality
    of life for all these families.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Ms. Moakler.
        We will do a 5-minute question round. Ranking Member Graham
    has another engagement in a little bit so we will ask him to go
    first.
        Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that
    courtesy.
        Starting with Ms. Casey and going across the panel, give a
    grade to TRICARE from an A to an F.
        Ms. Casey. Boy, that is a tough one. I would say C minus.
        Senator Graham. Ma'am?
        Ms. Mancini. From my personal experience, a B.
        Ms. Smith. I would have to agree with Ms. Casey--C, C
    minus.
        Ms. Davis. I would have to say B.
        Ms. Moakler. I have a two-parter. Quality of care, B.
    Access to care, C minus.
        Senator Graham. That is great. Everybody kind of agreed on
    that?
        We are trying to get more providers. But the cost of
    military healthcare in the budget is exploding like it is
    throughout the private sector, and we are just going to have to
    get our hands around this and find a system that can provide
    better quality and have more providers. That is tough because
    of the reimbursements. We will just keep doing the best we can.
        The voucher idea, that is the first I have heard of that,
    actually. Ms. Davis, that was the vouchers when you move from
    one school. Starting with Ms. Casey, do you agree that would be
    a good idea?
        Ms. Casey. Yes, actually, I hear that a lot when I go
    because people are concerned about the quality of the schools,
    where they are necessarily bused off base to outlying schools,
    what ones they end up in. I have been asked that question also,
    if we couldn't have vouchers where then you would have a
    choice.
        Senator Graham. Ms. Mancini?
        Ms. Mancini. Yes. I agree completely. I think that would be
    a great idea to be able to allow these families to have an
    adequate school for their children.
        Senator Graham. Ms. Smith?
        Ms. Smith. I agree. Our children, we live here on Capitol
    Hill, and our four children go to a private school.
        Senator Graham. On the mental health side, we got the
    message. It is just a capacity problem. We are trying. There
    are just not that many people available. It is a problem. The
    ones in the mental health professions in the military are being
    worn out. They deploy, too.
        We are going to try to come up with a new program to home
    grow some mental health professionals, to get some people who
    are in the military to make a career change. We got the
    message. It is just a capacity problem, and it is just hard to
    fill these slots.
        I want you to know that the committee is working on that.
    Through the Wounded Warrior program, we have learned, that is a
    big problem, providing mental health services, and now to the
    families themselves.
        Ms. Casey, you mentioned something about spouses who are
    licensed professionals or needing licensing to work. Is there
    any reciprocity program that DOD has if you move from one State
    to the other because you are a DOD family member you can get
    reciprocity?
        Ms. Casey. No. But I do know that the Department of Labor
    has a pilot program going right now where up to $3,000 can be
    covered. We found we have that with lawyers, with some
    teachers, with some----
        Senator Graham. Nurses.
        Ms. Casey.--medical personnel that when they move, and some
    of them, they have to take tests.
        Senator Graham. Mr. Chairman, that is something maybe the
    committee could look at. It would make it easier for spouses
    who move to get jobs not to have to go through the
    qualifications as long as they are overall qualified.
        Thank you for your service. We got the message. On-base
    housing, we are looking at privatizing housing because of
    money. I do understand the value of on-base housing. You have
    Guard and Reserve members who are far away from a military
    base, and trying to get them services is its own unique
    challenge.
        Thank you very much. It has been very helpful, very
    educational, and the committee will, from your testimony, I
    think, look at some new idea that would not have come about if
    you hadn't been here.
        Thanks.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Graham.
        There was a recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post where
    the wife of an Army officer wrote, ``Too many military families
    are quietly coming apart at the seams.'' That seems to be
    consistent with what you all are saying today, that the stress
    that your families are feeling is, in fact, adversely affecting
    the families.
        No matter what we try to do, it is not enough. You need
    more support, particularly in the area of mental healthcare
    providers, both for the military members as well as for the
    family members. As Senator Graham indicated, trying to get
    those skilled, trained individuals is a challenge for us, and
    we are working at it.
        Do you think that, overall, the military is listening? When
    you have the support groups come and talk to you, do you have a
    feeling that you are being listened to? Hopefully, you feel
    like you are being listened to here, but do you feel like you
    are being listened to internally within the military?
        Ms. Casey, you have a direct line to the chief.
        Ms. Casey. Yes, part of the problem is they are talking to
    me. I have to tell you that when I meet with these families,
    they are very candid. They tell you exactly what is on their
    mind and exactly what they need. Quite frankly, we are pedaling
    as fast as we can.
        Some of these things can be dealt with more quickly than
    others. We are very grateful for the amount of money that has
    been given to us for family programs. Now we just need to make
    sure it is all out of the supplemental and into the base budget
    so we can continue with these programs.
        But some of them take time, and they not only take time,
    but some of the things we are doing now have to be evaluated
    and we need to make sure that they are hitting the right people
    they are supposed to be hitting. There is a lot of work to be
    done.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Do the rest of you feel that your
    concerns are being listened to and hopefully responded to, even
    maybe inadequately, but you feel that they are being responded
    to?
        Ms. Smith. I feel that establishment of the Professional
    Family Readiness Officer Program at each base has helped
    tremendously.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Do others feel the same way?
        Ms. Davis. It is definitely helping, but I think there is
    more need for more family-type counseling, not just for the
    military member because as we are seeing the suicide rates
    rise, and it is not always so much what happened in the area of
    deployment. It is when you come home and have the stresses that
    the family went through while you were gone and then the added
    stress the wife is adding that she has been stressed.
        I think there should definitely be family counseling, and I
    think the availability of that and, to take the stigma out of
    the word ``counseling'' because military personnel family know
    that sometimes if a military member is in counseling, that can
    affect job opportunities and continual stigmas that go along
    with that.
        I definitely think counseling, but it should be more along
    the lines of family, especially including the children, because
    our children are the ones that we are really missing sometimes
    with this counseling.
        Senator Ben Nelson. There is no question about that. It
    sort of leads me to the next question where families are often
    the first line of defense to recognize or deal with potential
    suicide or PTSD. Do you get any help to be able to detect that
    condition when reuniting with your servicemember, your family
    member when he comes home?
        Ms. Smith. I know the Marine Corps, under homecoming brief,
    will give you information on signs and warnings.
        Ms. Davis. Absolutely. There are reintegration briefings.
    Again, but my concern is that the spouses aren't always
    attending those.
        Senator Ben Nelson. On the other side as well. I understand
    both sides.
        Ms. Davis. Yes. Yes. I think our family support centers are
    doing a wonderful job of having programs available to spouses,
    letting them know what to expect when the member comes back. We
    all go through the honeymoon period, and then life sets in.
        Yes, I think that there is support there for them.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Good. That is critically important. I
    am glad that you are getting some help in that area.
        In your experience about military dependents, you said that
    you thought the quality of care was a B, access was, am I
    right, a C and a C minus. Is that true for you individually as
    the spouse, or does that apply to your children, your family
    members? Or is there any difference between the quality of care
    that you might get and your family might get?
        Ms. Casey. I don't see a difference in that. I mean, we
    have always said that once you get past the gatekeeper and you
    can get into the system, the quality of care is wonderful. It
    is getting in there that is the issue.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Is the access a problem for the spouse
    as well as the children or more so for the children or the
    spouse?
        Ms. Casey. It is worse--at least in the Army. It is worse
    for the family members than it is for the Active Duty personnel
    because we also have doctors who are deployed. You don't have
    full staffs necessarily at hospitals. They are doing the best
    they can. So people are being forced to go outside.
        Some of the major hospitals don't have the personnel to
    even see family members.
        Ms. Moakler. Senator Nelson?
        Senator Ben Nelson. Yes.
        Ms. Moakler. We find that sometimes the military treatment
    facilities are rationing care because it is more expensive for
    them to send families out into the network. That is what we
    hear from families, that it is harder for them to sometimes get
    appointments. They would call and say there wouldn't be another
    appointment available until 2 weeks from now, but they never
    offer the family member the choice of going to one of the
    network providers where they could get an appointment sooner.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I see.
        Ms. Moakler. There is an education piece to our families.
    It shouldn't be, but they need to know to ask the right
    questions about what the access standards are.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I understand.
        Senator Chambliss.
        Senator Chambliss. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Let me say to all of you, first of all, how much we
    appreciate your service. We understand that a commitment to the
    military is a family commitment, and without great support from
    spouses, as well as children, our men and women would not be
    able to do the great job they do. We just say thank you for
    what you do.
        I have had the privilege of meeting with spouses at our
    installations both within Georgia as well as overseas on a
    number of occasions. It is kind of interesting to occasionally
    have a male show up at a spouses meeting, but it is important
    that we don't forget that there are a lot of females out there
    in service, too.
        Ms. Davis, you obviously have been there. Your idea about a
    voucher program I think is unique. There is no reason, Ms.
    Smith, you ought to be required to fund private school for your
    children because schools in Washington, DC are inadequate. Yet
    I think it is pretty generally known that that is the case, and
    I think, Mr. Chairman, we might ought to look at some sort of
    pilot program for the military.
        Perhaps Washington, DC where we have some experience
    already with a voucher program, and we have a school system
    that has actually promoted that, that might be a good place to
    start.
        But before we really move on to new programs, we always
    like to make sure that the things that we have done are working
    and that we are seeing some real progress in certain areas.
    That is why I appreciate Senator Graham's comment about
    TRICARE, and your responses are pretty interesting.
        I will have to say that seems to be an improvement over
    what I have heard in years past. So I hope that is the case.
        Let me ask you about another program that is kind of
    different from different States. But we have 13 installations
    in my State, and we have a program that provides reciprocity
    with other States regarding high school graduates and whether
    or not they have to take the Georgia history exam, which has
    been a problem. But I think we are working through that.
        The other thing that we have done is we grant exemption
    from out-of-State tuition to all military children who graduate
    from State high schools. Can you all tell me how that is
    working across the country?
        Ms. Casey, you first.
        Ms. Casey. I am not sure how many States have actually
    signed on to that. But one of the things that has occurred over
    time is the fact that if you, like my husband, had been in four
    different high schools, you would have needed four different
    State history classes. A lot of States have gotten away from
    doing that. If you have had it in one, you don't have to do it.
        The Military Child Education Coalition has done great work
    with that as well, helping children transfer and transfer
    credits. We are finding great success with the in-State tuition
    with colleges for spouses and for family members. In some
    States, that if the servicemember leaves that State and you are
    in the middle of college in that State, sometimes then all of a
    sudden you become an out-of-State resident. Not all States have
    done that, but I think a good number of them have.
        Kathy, do you have the stats on that?
        Ms. Moakler. With recent legislation within the past 2
    years, it required State universities that accepted Federal
    funds to provide in-State tuition for military servicemembers
    and their family members. So that has taken care of the problem
    at State institutions for our military families.
        The Interstate Compact, which addresses transitioning needs
    of our children, such as the need to take State history in each
    high school that they attend, availability of spaces on the
    yearbook staff or on sports teams, or availability for special
    classes, beginning age for kindergarten enrollment or first
    grade enrollment, all of these things are being addressed in
    the Interstate Compact.
        Last year, it was approved by 10 States. Now we are up to
    about 20 States or so. There will be a commission that will be
    looking at reciprocities between the States on how they can
    handle these things, and the States that have already joined
    the compact will be able to take part in how those things are
    agreed upon.
        Senator Chambliss. If there is something with respect to
    those Interstate Compacts that you think we need to deal with
    legislatively, I wish you would give us some recommendations
    there.
        Because I know it is a problem in my State.
        Ms. Moakler. It is up to the States right now, and DOD has
    a State liaison office that is working with all the different
    States as the legislation comes up before their State
    legislatures. We have been working with them, and other
    agencies have been testifying before the State legislatures
    when these come up.
        Senator Chambliss. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Chambliss, one thought occurred
    to me. We always want to be careful about a lot of preemption
    coming from Washington on State laws. But what about a sense of
    the Senate resolution urging the States to take this up, and
    maybe that will be more than a subtle nudge to the States to
    consider this within their own State borders and their own
    State schools.
        Would that be helpful?
        Ms. Moakler. That would be very helpful.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Well, let us consider that.
        Senator Chambliss. Sign me up.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Okay. Thank you.
        Senator Akaka.
        Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        I look upon all of you on this panel as a tremendous source
    of strength of our military leaders. I want to thank you very
    much for what you have done for military families over the
    years. I am sure each of you bring different experiences, but
    they are all built upon the foundation of caring for our
    military families.
        As military spouses and advocates in the military
    community, I would like to ask each of you the following
    question. In your opinion, what is the number-one issue or area
    of concern for our military families? Ms. Casey?
        Ms. Casey. I think I have to stick with medical, both
    medical care and mental healthcare. As our families are quietly
    or not so quietly coming apart at the seams, the mental
    healthcare piece is very, very important right now.
        I think it is probably so important, because we realize,
    the Services realize that there is a lack of mental healthcare
    professionals in the United States, not just within the
    military, which makes this job of finding that much harder, I
    would probably say that I hear that everywhere.
        Senator Akaka. Ms. Mancini?
        Ms. Mancini. In my experience, it would have to be OPTEMPO,
    along with the mental health. Several of our sailors come home,
    and they go straight to training. The downtime is very minimal.
    They don't have enough time to even reconnect, reintegrate with
    their family, much less take off their boots, and they are
    going again.
        Mental health would definitely benefit us. It would benefit
    our families, our spouses, and to take that stigma off of it.
    Maybe it could be offered continually pre-, post-, and during
    deployment. Take the stigma away and have everyone go see a
    mental healthcare provider so that you can't pinpoint someone
    and then there are no repercussions from that.
        Senator Akaka. Thank you.
        Ms. Smith?
        Ms. Smith. I agree. I think OPTEMPO right now is so high. I
    know in my personal situation, my husband had come home. That
    day, we were excited, his homecoming, and found out that same
    day he was turning around and leaving again in just a few short
    months.
        Our families are tired. I think that counseling would help
    tremendously.
        Senator Akaka. Ms. Davis?
        Ms. Davis. Yes, I agree. OPTEMPO definitely is the number-
    one area of concern, and a big one from what I am seeing--
    again, I have younger children as well--is education. Education
    is huge because, again, like Ms. Smith, I have been funding
    education for our two children as well. Whereas, if I go to
    another base, I may not need to because we came from locations
    where there were blue ribbon schools. We are in a location now
    where the schools are not really rated very high.
        We are up and down with funding, and of course, that
    affects families' incomes. You are funding school for your
    children in one location, but in another location you are not.
    OPTEMPO, by far, is the number one, but I think education is
    creeping up there as well because of the amount of PCS moves.
        Senator Akaka. Yes, Ms. Moakler?
        Ms. Moakler. I think that something that touches on
    everything that the spouses said at this panel, sustained
    funding and support for our programs and resources that are out
    there. So we can keep supporting our families.
        Senator Akaka. Ms. Moakler, many military families in
    Hawaii have benefited from the ongoing privatized housing
    efforts at our installations. I believe military housing
    directly impacts the quality of life of our military families.
    Therefore, we must closely monitor the implementation and
    operation of privatized housing.
        What is your assessment, Ms. Moakler, of the overall impact
    of privatized housing on the quality of life for our military
    families?
        Ms. Moakler. As someone who in 28 years of my husband's
    service in the Army lived in quarters, as we say, for 24 of
    those years, I understand how important housing on the
    installation is to our military families, to their morale and
    to their spirit.
        We hear from families in our association how pleased they
    are with the privatized housing, where there is the
    availability of more new housing, where existing housing has
    been rehabbed to bring it up from a 1950s-style house to
    something in the 21st century, with new appliances, outlets
    where you can plug in your computers and your TVs without
    having to worry if everything is going to blow up.
        There have been great, great strides. That said, there are
    some installations where we are not moving quite as quickly as
    we might in bringing all the housing up to that standard. We
    would also like to see a greater involvement of the
    installation commander with the privatized housing contractor
    when military families can't get problems resolved with the
    contractor.
        Senator Akaka. Before my time expires, I would like to ask
    this question, Ms. Moakler. I am a strong advocate for
    financial literacy. I sponsor annual legislation designating
    April as financial literary month to highlight the need for
    increased financial literacy.
        Financial education helps our military families be better
    able to make informed financial decisions and deal more
    effectively with difficult financial situations. DOD has
    several programs in place to support financial readiness. How
    would you assess the success of DOD's financial readiness
    efforts?
        Ms. Moakler. I think that the many prongs that they have
    been following to help military families, both with supporting
    the elimination of payday lenders, which was huge and, more
    importantly, making more opportunities for military families to
    learn how to be better financial managers through the
    availability and the support centers of financial counselors.
    The financial counselors can also be made available through the
    defense credit unions and military banks and the Military Saves
    program.
        It all encourages families to be more aware of their
    financial responsibilities, and this is directly tied to
    readiness because when a family feels more financially secure,
    then the servicemember can go off and serve in a combat area
    without worry.
        Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My time
    has expired.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Senator Akaka.
        Senator Burris.
        Senator Burris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I would like to also add my comments to these distinguished
    family members whose spouses and Ms. Davis have served our
    country so valiantly and so gallantly. I think Admiral Mullen
    had it very right when, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
    Staff, he said, ``Our future is guaranteed from a national
    standpoint if we take care of our people.''
        I agree with the Admiral. I can think of no more important
    issue facing the Services than taking care of our families.
    With that in mind, Ms. Casey, I just heard you say that if you
    take your children to the doctor--or was it Ms. Mancini, that
    you can only get one appointment?
        Oh, it was Ms. Smith. You said it. If your child has some
    other type of illness, the doctor is only going to see one
    illness? Why is that?
        Ms. Smith. Because they say there is not enough time to
    discuss more than one issue at a time.
        Senator Burris. Is there a specific base or city where this
    is taking place?
        Ms. Smith. You see the signs up in hospitals--or doctors'
    offices throughout the military.
        Ms. Mancini. For the Navy, in Norfolk, when you call, they
    tell you that. ``What is your symptom?''
        Senator Burris. If you have a sick child, you probably
    don't even know what the symptom is. I mean, I have two
    grandchildren, and one is 1 year old, and the other is 4 years
    old. You can't tell what is wrong with them sometimes.
        You have some young children. One of you all has young
    children. I think you, Ms. Davis?
        Ms. Davis. Yes.
        Senator Burris. Ms. Davis, let me ask you this. I notice,
    and I don't want to sound like I am sexist on this, but your
    husband also is in the military, right?
        Ms. Davis. Yes. Yes, he is.
        Senator Burris. Were any of you other ladies in the
    military yourselves? Now, do you think if a male were here
    testifying that he is the home person and the female is
    deployed, is he experiencing the same thing that you all would
    be experiencing? Since we have now got so many females in the
    military, I mean, I would assume that that is also taking
    place.
        But, have you heard any comments from males who stayed back
    as to how are they coping because you have this situation where
    the mother can better cope with the children than the father
    can. Have we heard anything in that regard?
        Ms. Casey. I think it varies on individuals and their
    coping mechanisms.
        Senator Burris. Have you heard of any experience like that
    from a male? How would your husband--were you ever deployed,
    Ms. Davis?
        Ms. Davis. I have not been deployed. My husband has taken
    care of the children when I have been on temporary duty (TDY).
    I had to go TDY for 6 weeks, and I had a 4-month old and a 2-
    year old, and my husband obviously was left with two very young
    children.
        Again, coping mechanisms are the key because in my house,
    and I am sure every other house, I am not a single parent in my
    house. There are two parents. Obviously, he was very active in
    child rearing, and I wouldn't say he had any issues other than
    issues I would have had, other than trying to understand how a
    female does it all. [Laughter.]
        Senator Burris. That is a major issue. That is where I am
    going.
        Ms. Davis. Right.
        Senator Burris. You all have that natural ability--am I
    wrong? An instinct that is sort of inherent. I think about my
    trying to handle my two children, I couldn't do it the way my
    wife did. No way I could have done that.
        Ms. Davis. I do feel, though, the issues and concerns we
    have brought forth today would be the exact same issues because
    they have to deal with the exact same offices. They have
    TRICARE issues. Any need that I have as an Active Duty spouse
    or a dependent spouse, so to speak, my husband as a dependent
    would have the same issue.
        We would have to call and make an appointment and be told,
    ``I am sorry there are no appointments for 2 weeks.'' Or ``I am
    sorry we can only see this one issue because we have five
    doctors deployed.''
        I can't imagine any issues being any different other than
    the standpoint it is a male you are speaking to, and I couldn't
    obviously give you a male perspective.
        Senator Burris. Now, Ms. Davis, were you ever stationed at
    Scott Air Force Base?
        Ms. Davis. No, I have not. But I have been at Offutt. I was
    at Offutt for almost 11 years.
        Senator Burris. I was at Scott Air Force Base a few weeks
    back, and they had the dedication of a high school, and the
    military was very involved. Scott is a major command Air Force
    center, and they were building a new high school. There was,
    naturally, Federal Impact Aid funds that come to those schools
    because of the military families that are stationed there.
        Ms. Davis. Absolutely.
        Senator Burris. Now you mentioned the fact of vouchers that
    would be an answer to that.
        Ms. Davis. Yes.
        Senator Burris. I am trying to reconcile the voucher
    situation with a situation where there are Impact Aid Funds
    being paid to a school district because of the military
    children that are attending those schools. How would you
    reconcile that?
        Ms. Davis. In my particular situation because of where we
    are currently assigned, the local schools are not rated very
    highly. A big portion of the military personnel either home
    school or they are actually paying to send their children to
    school.
        If I am living in whatever county as an Active Duty member
    and the schools in that particular county are not very adequate
    to the standards I would like for my child, I believe that a
    voucher program would allow me to be able to take my children
    outside of that district because schools are districted of some
    sort.
        But I can't, as far as the impact on the schools and
    funding----
        Senator Burris. Now are you in a military environment?
        Ms. Davis. Yes.
        Senator Burris. So, therefore, the other military students
    are going to that same school?
        Ms. Davis. Yes. Obviously, yes.
        Senator Burris. There are some Impact Aid Funds coming in
    for that school?
        Ms. Davis. Absolutely, yes.
        Senator Burris. So you are saying Impact Aid Funds along
    with the voucher funds?
        Ms. Moakler. If I could address this, Senator Burris,
    please? Taking the voucher program separately because there is
    an installation in that area, a military installation that
    impacts that school district's ability to raise taxes, they,
    along with other schools that have military children in them or
    other schools that are near a military installation, other
    school districts that might have an Indian reservation in them,
    other schools that might have some other kind of Federal entity
    within that school district are eligible for what is known as
    ``Impact Aid.''
        It comes from the Department of Education, and it is
    dependent upon how many children are supported by that Federal
    installation, be they military, be they Indians on the
    reservation, be they children of those Federal employees, that
    school district then receives a certain amount of money for
    those children. It is a fairly involved process.
        Senator Burris. I am familiar with the process. I am trying
    to get a comparison here whether or not we would be also, if
    you are in that environment where Impact Aid is received
    because there are military children and then you are also
    asking for vouchers not to send your child to that school, but
    you want to send your child to another school, I am trying to
    figure out how you reconcile that?
        Ms. Moakler. Well, traditionally, we have not equated
    Impact Aid with tuition. Impact Aid is not tuition.
        Senator Burris. No, because what you are saying is you want
    to send your child to a religious school or some other type of
    special school, and not send them to the school where the
    Impact Aid is supposed to be calculated based on so many
    military families being in that community.
        Ms. Moakler. But it is to offset the taxes that they are--
    --
        Senator Burris. Yes, I know what it is for.
        Ms. Moakler. I know what you are asking. I mean, I don't
    know what the answer to that question is, but I know exactly
    what you are asking. What happens if we then give vouchers,
    what happens to that Impact Aid money?
        Senator Burris. That is correct, yes.
        Ms. Moakler. I don't know the answer to that.
        Senator Burris. Mr. Chairman, that is an issue that----
        Senator Ben Nelson. Senator Burris, I think that is
    something maybe we can talk about within the committee and see
    if we can come to a resolution because you raise an interesting
    question.
        Senator Burris. Mr. Chairman, I do have to go to preside
    over the Senate. So I take leave.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I appreciate it. Thank you.
        I have to ask Ms. Davis, what years were you at Offutt?
        Ms. Davis. I am going to tell my age. Let us see, I was
    there from 1988 to 1999.
        Senator Ben Nelson. 1999. Well, I was Governor during most
    of that time.
        Ms. Davis. Yes, you were. Yes, you were.
        Senator Ben Nelson. I hope you were able to have good
    schools within that district.
        Ms. Davis. I did not have any children, sir. I did not. But
    actually, there were some awesome schools in Offutt. So, yes,
    there was.
        Senator Ben Nelson. All right. I thank you. I want the
    record to reflect they have good schools. [Laughter.]
        Thank you. Thank you all for coming here today and
    expressing very sincerely and openly your concerns and
    experiences. It is essentially what we have to have in order to
    be able to try to help in areas where help is required.
        It is encouraging to know that some things are working, but
    discouraging that some things aren't working as well as we
    would like them to. But at least we are aware and we will do
    what we can to try to rectify some of these challenges.
        The OPTEMPO is something that we have always hoped would
    take care of itself. It hasn't to date. But I know there are
    efforts underway to try to get more dwell time, and we are
    going to continue to work, to do everything we possibly can,
    including expanding end strength, to try to get to that.
        Thank you very, very much. We appreciate it. God bless you,
    and God bless your families. [Pause.]
        For our second panel, we are pleased to have Arthur J.
    Myers, the Principal Director and the acting Deputy Under
    Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy.
        Kathleen Marin, Director, Installation Services, Office of
    the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management,
    United States Army.
        Terri J. Rau, Ph.D., Deputy Director for Research,
    Development, and Performance Measurement, Navy Installations
    Command, United States Navy.
        Major General Timothy R. Larsen, USMC (Ret.), Director of
    Personnel, Family Readiness Division, Manpower and Reserve
    Affairs Department, United States Marine Corps.
        Eliza G. Nesmith, Chief Airman and Family Services
    Division, United States Air Force.
        We are eager to hear the various departments' and services'
    family support programs and initiatives, including how each
    plans to resource these programs.
        With that, let me first call on Mr. Myers to begin the
    panel's opening statements.

      STATEMENT OF ARTHUR J. MYERS, PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR AND ACTING
     DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR MILITARY COMMUNITY AND
                  FAMILY POLICY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

        Mr. Myers. Thank you, sir.
        Chairman Nelson, the Secretary of Defense and all the men
    and women of the Armed Forces, as well as their families, thank
    you for your support.
        We are very appreciative that you are holding this hearing
    on family support issues. It is our opportunity to tell you
    about our many initiatives and validate our need for continued
    authorization of funds.
        One of our biggest successes is Military OneSource. This
    service is well known for its individually tailored services
    and its availability any time, any place, which is particularly
    helpful for those who are geographically isolated from
    installation support.
        As a result of the Senate's insight into the special needs
    of this population who are separated from installation support,
    we established a joint family assistance program in 15 States
    and then extended the service to all States and territories. We
    have also implemented a program of face-to-face nonmedical
    counseling for military families experiencing normal stress of
    multiple deployments and reunions.
        Additionally, we have placed military family life
    consultants in schools selected by the military departments to
    provide consultation, education, training and workshops to
    faculty, parents, and children to help cope with deployments.
    This pilot program was offered at six schools in Europe and at
    Fort Hood and at Fort Campbell in the United States.
        We are also assisting spouses to develop portable careers
    by offering Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts. A
    total of up to $6,000 per spouse is available for credentialing
    and licensure. This initiative began in March, and already
    15,000 military spouse profiles have been received. About 45
    percent of those spouses are seeking careers in health
    professions.
        Our financial readiness campaign focuses on empowering
    servicemembers and their families with the tools and
    information they need to meet their financial goals. We want to
    place them on the path to financial freedom. Also, our youth
    program and DOD schools encourage financial literacy at a very
    early age.
        We are ready to accept the challenge to meet the emerging
    needs of our military members and their families. We know there
    is always more to be done to meet their many requirements. I
    would like to highlight some areas for your consideration.
        Several years ago, Congress granted temporary authority for
    minor military construction of child development centers that
    allowed us to accelerate childcare capacity and increase spaces
    by 15,000 on a rapid basis. To meet our goals for childcare and
    to keep our members fit to fight and win, we require similar
    authority for fitness centers and family centers and for
    childcare for children through 12 years of age.
        We need to extend the authority, which ends this fiscal
    year, through fiscal year 2012 and also increase the projected
    threshold to $15 million. In addition, we need to eliminate
    barriers to our partnerships with military providers of
    childcare, such as relief from the Service Contract Act.
        Thank you again for your strong support of the military
    members and their families. I will be happy to respond to any
    of your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Myers follows:]
                     Prepared Statement by Arthur J. Myers
        The Department of Defense (DOD) has made family support a high
    priority in recognition of the crucial role families play in supporting
    servicemembers on the battlefield, a concept that has resounded during
    these times of multiple deployments. To ensure continuity in program
    delivery, the Department increased the fiscal year 2010 Defense-wide
    baseline by shifting $234 million from the Overseas Contingency
    Operations funding to the baseline. The total fiscal year 2010 Defense-
    wide Family Assistance budget request is $472 million to fund programs
    such as child care expansion, outreach to Guard and Reserve, non-
    medical counseling, financial education and training and access to
    training and certification opportunities for spouses. These programs
    are lifelines of support for military members and their families who
    are stationed around the globe. The purpose of my statement today is to
    describe our many successes and build a record that supports
    authorization of funds and programs needed for family support. Our
    military leaders stand with me in this important endeavor to reiterate
    the inextricable link between investments in quality of life programs
    and readiness of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. It is clear,
    at a time of increased deployment and demand on our servicemembers and
    their families, there is need for consistent, commensurate family
    support.
        Improvements to military quality of life are framed by the past
    with a view toward the future. Today, the Department has a wide range
    of quality of life policies, services and programs to address personal
    and family issues. Initiatives address the nexus of work life and
    personal/family life; all are concerned with key organizational goals
    related to recruitment, retention, morale and mission readiness.
                                   child care
        The Department considers care for children of military members to
    be a key work force issue with a direct impact on the effectiveness and
    readiness of the force. Though the Department has a strong commitment
    to child care and youth programs, some components still have unmet
    demand for child care. Efforts are ongoing to address an estimated
    shortage of approximately 37,000 child care spaces needed for Active
    Duty, Guard, and Reserve families. The fiscal year 2010 Defense-wide
    budget includes $60 million to expand child care in civilian
    communities for public-private ventures. Plans to build this capacity
    involve utilizing a myriad of delivery systems to include existing
    child care facilities, schools, recreation and after-school programs,
    and home-based care programs. We will aid in the recruitment of private
    sector licensed child care providers at locations where child care
    needs are identified, such as locations from which Guard or Reserve
    units are being deployed. The Department will ensure the level of
    quality is comparable to that offered on-installation by implementing
    an assistance plan geared to the specific needs of the community. We
    will utilize existing State and local resources, supplementing when
    needed, to raise the quality of care.
        Increased child care capacity requires a high-quality, well-trained
    workforce. We need to eliminate barriers to hiring practices key to
    expanding our partnerships with community providers of child care. The
    Department has exercised a robust construction program to accelerate
    child care capacity and increase spaces by over 15,000 on a rapid
    basis. The temporary program to use minor military construction
    (MILCON) authority for the construction of child development centers
    provided a means to increase the availability of quality, affordable
    child care for servicemembers and their families. I thank you for your
    strong support.
        The Department has initiated outreach to universities and
    nonprofits for the purpose of developing recruitment and retention
    programs and to strengthen existing partnerships. These strategic
    efforts will enhance DOD's capacity to recruit and retain talented
    professionals in Child Development, Youth Development, Counseling,
    Family Support, & Financial Management. In addition, outreach efforts
    designed to increase the number of students completing internships and
    pursuing professional careers are also under development. The
    Department is working with campus-based partnerships to identify
    promising or best practices, develop training programs, create campus-
    based seminars, colloquia, workshops, and distance learning and to
    provide research on the impact and quality of programs.
        The Department continues to lead the Nation with 98 percent of DOD
    Child Development Centers accredited by the National Academy of Early
    Childhood Programs, as compared to 8-10 percent of civilian child care
    centers. To be accredited, early childhood programs voluntarily undergo
    a comprehensive self-study and an external, professional review.
    Criteria are aimed at providing a safe and nurturing environment while
    promoting the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development
    of young children. Additionally, a report released by the National
    Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies in March 2009
    rated the DOD child care system oversight and standards as the top
    ranking among all 50 states and the District of Columbia with a score
    of 131 out of 150 points, 20 points ahead of its nearest competitors
    (District of Columbia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee).
                                 youth programs
        DOD promotes positive youth development by designing programs to
    recognize the achievements of youth and by developing partnerships with
    other youth-serving organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of
    America and 4-H that offer a variety of resources. Programs prepare
    pre-teens and teenagers to meet the challenges of military life,
    adolescence, and adulthood. Recognizing that developing good financial
    habits needs to start earlier, we launched the Military Youth Financial
    Readiness Campaign as part of the Military Saves Week in 2008. In 2008,
    we had over 5,000 youth participants and this year that number grew to
    more than 7,000.
        This month, DOD launched a new Web site, Military Youth on the
    Move, http://apps.mhf.dod.mil/myom, to replace Military Teens on the
    Move. This site is an easy to use resource that reaches out to youth
    with creative ways to cope with issues that arise in the face of a
    move, such as transitioning to a new school, saying goodbye to friends,
    and getting involved in a new community. The Web site is divided into
    three target audiences: elementary school, middle school, and high
    school. Users simply click on their age group to get started. Once
    inside the site, users search different topics that pertain to both
    military youth in particular and youth in general. Moving once or
    repeatedly has a significant impact on our youth. Military Youth on the
    Move helps to make the transition as smooth as possible by giving them
    a safe place for information and advice.
        To support military youth impacted by deployment, Operation:
    Military Kids (OMK), collaborated with the Joint Family Support
    Assistance Program in 15 pilot States. 4-H/Army Youth Development
    Project Youth Program Specialist staff assigned to support OMK trained
    26,543 community members at Ready, Set, Go community events, informed
    16, 267 partners and decisionmakers at Informational Briefings, trained
    1,270 youth at Speak Out for Military Kids events, presented 2,264 Hero
    Packs to military youth, engaged 289 nonmilitary youth, involved 1,946
    military youth and 399 nonmilitary youth, 1,835 family members and 387
    community members at Mobile Technology Lab events, and involved 7,872
    military youth in other youth program events.
        DOD provided funds to OMK states for the expansion of OMK camping
    opportunities that advance the accomplishment of national OMK goals,
    support the Joint Family Support Assistance Program and enhance the
    effective implementation of OMK elements to reach more military youth.
    Thirty eight states with current OMK grants and the District of
    Columbia will be eligible to apply for supplemental OMK Camp funding in
    the amount of $50,000. Because of larger military populations, the
    following 10 States will be eligible for an additional $35,000 (total
    of $85,000): California, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia,
    Florida, Washington, South Carolina, Hawaii, and Kentucky. Summer Camps
    are defined as weekend events, special focus camps (computer,
    conservation, leadership, etc.), day camps, school break retreats, or
    residential experiences of varying lengths organized and operated by
    OMK. The outcomes for military youth include opportunities, in a camp
    setting, to ease the stress associated with the deployment of a parent
    and to form a support network of military peers. The outcomes for
    parents include opportunities for youth to attend a no cost camping
    experience with other military youth impacted by deployment throughout
    their State and/or neighboring States.
                    department of defense education activity
        A key quality of life issue is the education of military children.
    servicemembers often make decisions about assignments based on the
    availability of quality educational opportunities for their children.
    The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) provides quality
    pre-kindergarten through 12th grade educational opportunities and
    services to military dependents around the globe, who would otherwise
    not have access to U.S.-accredited public education. Of the
    approximately 1.2 million military school-age children, DODEA educates
    nearly 85,000 in 192 schools in 12 foreign countries, 7 States, Guam,
    and Puerto Rico with 8,700 educators. The excellent ratio of educators
    to students (1:10 overall) contributes to the quality individual
    attention and education afforded throughout the DODEA system. DODEA
    also operates a tuition reimbursement program for military assigned
    overseas without a DODEA school. Through the Educational Partnership
    Initiative and new technologies, DODEA can expand its reach to the
    approximately 92 percent of military students who do not attend DODEA
    Schools.
        The ongoing relocation of thousands of military students through
    force structure changes has created an urgent need and responsibility
    to enrich and expand partnerships with military-connected communities
    to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for military
    children. DODEA works collaboratively with the Secretary of Education
    to ease the transition of military students, to use DODEA funds to
    share experience with local educational agencies (LEAs) who educate
    military students, and to provide programs such as distance learning
    and teacher training to LEAs with military students undergoing
    transition from force structure changes. DODEA is developing a new
    approach to provide a fully accredited virtual school program for
    grades 9-12 for eligible students. Beginning in school year 2009-2010,
    DODEA plans to increase course offerings within the existing distance
    learning program to implement a comprehensive accredited virtual high
    school by school year 2010-2011. A middle and upper elementary program
    is also planned for delivery in subsequent years.
        Many of the school facilities within DODEA have exceeded the life
    expectancy and do not meet today's educational standards. Schools are
    currently operating within structures that were erected in the 1930s
    through the 1960s. These aged buildings were either built for other
    purposes (i.e., barracks, administration buildings) or were constructed
    prior to major technological advances for the kindergarten to high
    school learning environment. Independent condition assessments indicate
    that it is more cost effective to replace these buildings than to
    upgrade or modernize them. Many are due for replacement in the next 10
    years. Continued support of the DODEA effort is needed and appreciated.
    This supports the Department's force management quality of life and
    retention goals of attracting and retaining the highest quality
    personnel.
        DODEA continues to make significant improvements to facilities due
    to gains in the facilities sustainment, restoration, and modernization
    (FSRM) budget. In fiscal year 2009 DODEA, will meet the Department
    standard for FSRM with obligations of $86 million; of this amount
    sustainment funding is $72.6 million. The fiscal year 2010 DODEA FSRM
    budget is currently $93.7 million with $73.8 million allocated to
    sustainment. Both these figures are vast improvements over fiscal year
    2008 and previous years. In fiscal year 2008 the sustainment budget was
    $55.8 million. The current and projected budget will allow DODEA to
    target high-cost, priority repairs on roofs; heating, ventilation, and
    air conditioning; other critical systems that may be failing; and
    improvements to support technology requirements in the classrooms.
    Complimenting the O&M increase in FSRM is the increase to the DODEA
    MILCON program. The fiscal year 2009 DODEA MILCON budget is $102
    million and the fiscal year 2010 budget is programmed for $208 million,
    a major increase from the previous DODEA MILCON budgets of
    approximately $45 million a year. This increase is attributed to
    Department recognition and support of DODEA requirements. In the
    future, DODEA plans to replace three to four schools a year as a well
    as meet new requirements.
        New information today can make educational programs that were
    developed and implemented yesterday obsolete. To that end, DODEA is
    conducting a multi-phased comprehensive program evaluation process to
    review the current status of its educational programs to develop
    recommendations to increase the impact of those programs as well as
    increase accountability and student achievement. Some programs can be
    modified to make them more effective, while others may have to be
    discontinued. The entire DODEA staff will continually assess data and
    review research to meet the needs of students to show continuous gains
    in student achievement.
        The process of program evaluation follows the steps of planning,
    implementing, evaluating, reviewing, and refining. We look to you for
    your support in continuing this effort. This effort includes an
    assessment program that will align DODEA's assessment of student
    achievement in accordance with state; administrative and teacher
    professional development programs to support data-driven differentiated
    instruction; and a comprehensive grade 9-12 Virtual School program by
    school year 2010/2011. This is a significant commitment to ensure the
    children of our uniformed servicemembers are receiving the best
    education possible.
        Many military installations have school liaison officers to advise
    military parents of school-aged children on educational issues and
    needs and to assist in solving education-related problems. School
    liaison officers are helping to identify barriers to academic success
    and develop solutions, promote parental involvement, develop and
    coordinate partnerships in education and provide parents with the tools
    they need to overcome obstacles to education that stem from the
    military lifestyle. The School liaison officer acts as an advocate and
    communication link between the installation and the surrounding school
    districts to ``level the playing field'' for transitioning military
    children and youth. The purpose of the program is to provide a link
    between military families on- and off-installation schools to assist
    them with those unique problems facing military children, i.e., PCS
    moves, deployments, varying graduation and records transfer
    requirements, differences in curriculum and schedules between stateside
    and overseas schools, and DOD schools and civilian schools. Their
    mission is to mobilize and utilize community resources to reduce the
    impact of the mobile military lifestyle on children/youth, implement
    predictable support services that assist children/youth with
    relocations, life transitions and achievement of academic success, and
    provide access for parents, children, youth, schools, commanders, and
    communities to a wide range of resources to facilitate school
    transitions.
                       exceptional family member program
        Through the military medical departments, at no charge to families,
    DOD provides early intervention services, from birth until 3 years of
    age, to infants and toddlers who are developmentally delayed or at high
    risk for a developmental delay and who (but for age) are eligible to
    attend a DOD school. The DOD schools provide specially designed
    instruction, support, and services to children with educational
    disabilities, who are 3 years of age and until they are 21 years of
    age. The DOD schools provide a full continuum of programs to meet the
    needs of children with disabilities in our military families. During
    the last 6 years, the DOD schools have focused on children with
    moderate to severe disabilities by purchasing new equipment and
    assistive technology devices and providing professional development for
    all special education personnel. The intent is for consistency in
    curriculum and instruction as families move from one DOD school to
    another. In response to the increased incidence of children with autism
    in our DOD schools, the DOD school system hired autism consultants to
    help design the curriculum and interventions for students with autism.
        The Department publishes an annual directory to assist the medical
    and educational assignment coordinators to identify those military
    communities outside the continental United States with pre-established
    programs or services for children with special needs, including those
    with more serious needs, such as those with intellectual impairments,
    autism or physical disabilities such as blindness.
        Recently, the Department embarked on a joint Service campaign to
    raise awareness of the Exceptional Family Member Program, the issues
    that these families face, and the resources available to address their
    needs.
                               interstate compact
        The mobile military lifestyle creates tough challenges for children
    who attend, on average, six to nine different school systems from
    kindergarten to 12th grade. To help overcome these issues, the
    Department is working with the states to implement the Interstate
    Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. A variety of
    Federal, State, and local officials as well as national stakeholder
    organizations helped develop this interstate agreement whose goal is to
    replace the widely varying treatment of transitioning military students
    with a comprehensive approach that provides a uniform policy on
    eligibility, enrollment, placement, and graduation in every State that
    chooses to join.
        Eleven States--Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,
    Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Oklahoma--
    adopted the compact in 2008. This was sufficient to activate the
    Compact and establish the Commission to finalize implementing rules and
    provide operational oversight. Although it is still fairly early in
    2009, Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, Texas,
    Virginia, and Washington have joined the Compact bringing the total
    number of member States to 20 and covering approximately 64 percent of
    military children. In addition, legislation is being actively
    considered in 12 States.
      voluntary education: the first joint service graduation ceremony in
                                      iraq
        Personal development is so ingrained in our culture that, even in a
    war zone, military personnel strive to continue their educational
    pursuits and personal improvement. To meet those needs, there are two
    full service Joint Education Centers operating in Iraq at Camp Victory
    and Camp Balad, with plans to open six more in the near future. Seven
    days a week, servicemembers may participate in traditional (instructor-
    led) on-the-ground classes, through Central Texas College, University
    of Maryland University College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical, or via
    distance learning education. The centers also provide an extensive
    testing program, improvement courses, and Leader Skill Enhancement
    Instruction Courses.
        On 17 May 2009, beneath the United States flag in the rotunda of
    the Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, a Graduation Commencement Ceremony was
    conducted in Iraq--a first for any combat zone. This was the conclusion
    of a long journey for many of the servicemembers pursuing their
    educational goals. The degrees conferred represented all levels of
    mastery--associate, baccalaureate, and masters.
        All servicemembers deployed to Iraq who graduated in the 2008-2009
    college year were invited to participate. Of the 130 identified as
    graduates, only 79 could participate in the ceremony due to operational
    reasons.
        A tangible demonstration of the importance the military places on
    education, the graduation ceremony epitomized self improvement as a
    critical component of the warrior ethos. The warrior-scholars
    demonstrated their desire to pursue intellectual knowledge that will be
    applied in their job and to the military mission in Iraq.
                                    fitness
        All of the military Services continue to expand and provide
    innovative fitness programs that sustain a physically fit, healthy
    force in our military communities and for deployed men and women around
    the world. Long-term plans will modernize the fitness infrastructure
    beginning with the Services' request for 10 fitness center MILCON
    projects in fiscal year 2009 and another 71 fitness centers programmed
    through fiscal year 2014. The inclusion of fitness facilities in the
    minor MILCON authority would serve as a boost to facilitate future
    construction. Installation fitness facilities are one of the most
    important facilities on base for troops to release stress after
    returning from combat, combat obesity, and remain physically and
    mentally fit. Also, more and more, our installation fitness centers are
    becoming ``family friendly.'' Many installation fitness centers are
    carving out space for supervised child care to assist parents who
    otherwise could not work out because of lack of available child care.
    Programming is being expanded to include older children/youth in
    classes to help foster a healthier lifestyle and combat obesity. The
    key initiative is ensuring our military members and their families are
    fit!
                                  mwr outreach
        To promote a healthy lifestyle and expand the military MWR benefit
    to Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve and their families who do not have
    access to installation MWR programs, we have contracted with the Armed
    Services YMCA to offer free YMCA family memberships at local,
    participating YMCAs to families of deployed Guard and Reserve
    Personnel, Active Duty servicemembers and their families assigned to
    Independent Duty locations, any relocated spouse of a deployed Active
    Duty servicemember and a limited number of families assigned to the
    Joint Base locations. In just 7 months we funded over 15,000
    memberships which include over 27,000 family members. Feedback has been
    overwhelmingly positive with comments such as ``with four children in
    tow, exercise would be impossible without child watch at the YMCA--
    thank you for finding military spouses/families worth it to use funds
    in this way'' and ``I have lost 30 pounds in just a couple of months
    since coming to the YMCA; I absolutely love it!'' We are expanding our
    marketing efforts to reach more families who meet the eligibility
    requirements.
        We also created a DOD MWR Online Library with library resources in
    print, electronic and downloadable format for entertainment, learning
    or solace, available for free from Military OneSource, virtually
    anytime, anywhere. Resources include auto, home and small engine
    repair, Career Library, Peterson's Life Long learning, Tumblebooks for
    kids, NetLibrary audio and e-books just to name a few. The online
    library is also available through the Military Services Portal. Again
    customer feedback has been excellent with comments such ``You guys hit
    a home run with offering these books--great for the long plane rides to
    and from deployment--thank you for the great benefit!'' and ``Great
    job--love the free stuff.'' Supplemental funding has allowed us to
    renew these on-line resources for another year.
                     communication services in combat areas
        The ability to communicate with family and friends is the number
    one factor in being able to cope with longer and more frequent
    deployments. Servicemembers have free access to the non-secure military
    Internet by using their military e-mail address, including aboard
    ships. They also have free Internet access at 794 MWR Internet Cafes in
    Iraq and Afghanistan with 9,107 computers and 4,015 VOIP phones (with
    call rates of less than 4 cents a minute). To enhance MWR provided
    services, the Exchanges provide personal information services for a
    usage fee for this customer convenience. Back home, computers and
    Internet service located in our family support centers, recreation
    centers, libraries, and youth centers help ensure families can connect.
        Additionally, the Exchanges contract for telephone services in
    combat zones, operating 72 calling centers with 1,536 phones in Iraq,
    Afghanistan, and Kuwait, plus calling centers on-board ships in
    theater. Rates are 45 cents per minute afloat and 15 cents per minute
    ashore. The Exchanges are in compliance with the DOD policy and the
    law, which require that contracts for telephone service be awarded
    through competitive procedures and include options to minimize costs to
    individual users. Where feasible, the contracts provide the flexibility
    to use a variety of phone cards.
        MilitaryHOMEFRONT (www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil) is the DOD
    library of official information about quality of life programs for
    helping professionals and military families. The Homefront provides
    access to information about benefits, entitlements and programs
    available to military members and their families including policies,
    reports, and directives on topics from child care to relocation,
    special needs to voluntary education, morale welfare and recreation to
    combat stress. MilitaryHOMEFRONT provides a searchable directory of
    educational programs and services and state-specific resources as well
    as hundreds of Autism and general disability resources. Parents who
    have children with autism can communicate directly with each other
    using HOMEFRONTConnections, a DOD social networking site available on
    MilitaryHOMEFRONT.
        Further, DOD uses MilitaryHOMEFRONT to develop tools, accessible
    through both the Military OneSource and MilitaryHOMEFRONT Web sites, to
    assist families--including the very popular ``Plan My Move'' and
    ``Military Installations.'' Military Installations, an on-line
    directory within the Web site, provides access to points of contact for
    56 activities on installations worldwide, including the commissary,
    exchanges, MWR programs, child development centers and the military
    health care facilities.
                       military onesource outreach center
        Six years of deployments and multiple deployments have prompted DOD
    to rethink methods and strategies to deliver family support. Two major
    issues drove the development of the new delivery system: 1) how do we
    meet the needs of the National Guard and Reserve families and those
    geographically dispersed, and 2) how can we meet the needs of
    commanders for surge support surrounding deployments.
        Primary among those responses was the opening of the Military
    OneSource Center, designed to provide Active Duty and Guard and Reserve
    Commanders the vehicles for surge support during deployments. The
    Military OneSource Center, along with the Military OneSource 24/7/365
    call center and web-site, provide the scaffolding for our outreach and
    support.
    1. Military OneSource.com and Call Center
        Launched in 2002, Military OneSource provides support services 24/
    7/365 to Active Duty, National Guard, and Reserve component
    servicemembers and their families worldwide. This backbone of the
    Military OneSource Center provides toll-free confidential telephonic
    support and a Web site that provide interactive tools, educational
    materials, discussion boards, links to military and community
    resources, and tax filing services, among other services. Testimony to
    its usefulness is the fact that over 600,000 tax returns were prepared
    through Military OneSource this tax season, at no charge to
    servicemembers.
    2. Outreach Counseling
        Outreach Counseling offers servicemembers and families with
    confidential, short term, situational, problem-solving assistance,
    instrumental for coping with normal reactions to the stressful
    situations created by deployments, family separations and
    reintegration.
        Military OneSource offers confidential face-to-face, telephonic,
    and on-line counseling up to twelve sessions. Telephonic and on-line
    counseling sessions are new and beginning to grow.
        The Military and Family Life Consultant (MFLC) program provides
    professional, confidential, and flexible service delivery on a 30- to
    90-day rotational basis on military installations to meet surge support
    requirements and to support Guard and Reserve events.
    3. Financial Counseling
        Additionally, financial counseling is available, through both
    Military OneSource and the MFLC program, to assist with the financial
    concerns of military members and their families during all stages of
    the deployment cycle. The Military OneSource Center has been highly
    successful in making these services available worldwide.
        Financial Readiness Installation Roadshows: Installation workshops
    are delivered on demand that include information about budgeting,
    mortgage and foreclosure, debt reduction, saving and investing,
    identity theft and retirement planning.
        Twenty-three road shows have been conducted since November 2008;
    over 20 additional events are scheduled in 2009.
    4. Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts
        To jump start portable careers in health services, education,
    information technology, and financial services, DOD will provide up to
    $6,000 per spouse to assist spouses in developing portable careers in
    fields such as nursing, teaching, real estate, and banking. This, in
    turn, supports families in attaining their aspirations and goals that
    may be interrupted as a result of the mobile military lifestyle.
    5. Outreach support to the National Guard and Reserve--Joint Family
            Support Assistance Program
        A continuum of support and services for National Guard and Reserve
    members and their families during pre-deployment, deployment, post-
    deployment, reunion and reintegration. Services have reached 364,000
    servicemembers and families over the last year. It is a support service
    multiplier by broadening the network of resources beyond those that
    exist on installations. This program also supports the Yellow Ribbon
    Reintegration Program 30-60-90 day events during post-deployment.
    6. Wounded Warrior Resource Call Center
        Embedded in the Military OneSource Call Center, this feature
    provides servicemembers who have become wounded, ill, or injured, as
    well as their families and their primary caregivers, with a single
    point of contact for referral to Services' resources. Assistance is
    provided with reporting deficiencies in covered military facilities,
    obtaining health care services, receiving benefits information and any
    other difficulties encountered.
                           commissaries and exchanges
        The commissary and exchange programs are vital to mission
    accomplishment and, as components of the military compensation system,
    are important contributors to morale and readiness. The Defense
    Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates 254 commissaries around the world
    providing groceries and household products to military personnel,
    retirees, and their families at cost plus a 5 percent surcharge to fund
    commissary construction and equipment. Savings exceed 30 percent
    compared to commercial prices; savings that contribute nearly $3,400
    per year in disposable income for a family of four that does all of its
    grocery shopping at the commissary. Sales exceed $5.8 billion;
    operations are funded by appropriations of $1.3 billion. DeCA met or
    exceeded all performance goals in fiscal year 2008 and is performing
    equally well in 2009, with year-to-date sales above target. DeCA is
    bringing the commissary benefit to Guard and Reserve personnel who
    don't live near a commissary through their 208 on-site sales at Guard
    and Reserve locations. The three exchange systems--the Army and Air
    Force Exchange System (AAFES), the Navy Exchange System Command and the
    Marine Corps Exchange--operate over 3,700 retail outlets at 300
    military installations, in 89 contingency operations, and aboard 161
    ships. The exchanges sell a wide range of goods and services and
    distribute about 70 percent of their profits to support MWR programs.
    Savings exceed 20 percent, not including sales tax savings. Soon, AAFES
    will deploy new mobile exchanges specially outfitted to serve Guard and
    Reserve units together with DeCA. In combat areas, the exchanges
    provide 129 retail operations ranging from exchanges to imprest funds,
    228 name brand fast food outlets, 600 service concessions, and
    telephone services that minimize costs for deployed members to call
    home. The exchanges had sales of $11.9 billion in fiscal year 2008 with
    profits of $523 million and project sales of $13 billion in fiscal year
    2009.
        The Department will continue to make family support a high
    priority. As the needs of servicemembers and their families evolve, the
    Department stands ready to improve the quality of life of its greatest
    resource--people.
        In conclusion, thank you for your support of the dedicated men and
    women who chose the highest calling of public service in defense of our
    Nation. We share a passion for improving the quality of life of our
    soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines and their families.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, Mr. Myers.
        Ms. Marin?

     STATEMENT OF KATHLEEN MARIN, DIRECTOR, INSTALLATION SERVICES,
        OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT CHIEF OF STAFF FOR INSTALLATION
                     MANAGEMENT, UNITED STATES ARMY

        Ms. Marin. Mr. Chairman, I am honored to appear here today
    to share how the Army is enhancing programs to restore our
    soldiers' and families' sense of balance.
        Never before in history have we asked so much of our Army
    families. They make incredible sacrifices, as we have heard
    here today. They remain steadfast in support of their soldiers,
    but families are showing the stress of nearly 8 years at war.
        The Army recognizes that soldier readiness and family
    readiness are inextricably linked, and that is why we have
    doubled our investment in base funding for family programs from
    2007 to 2010. The Army's request for fiscal year 2010 soldier
    and family programs is $1.726 billion. Continuing predictable
    funding is crucial to sustain and preserve the All-Volunteer
    Force.
        We are investing the Nation's resources wisely. We are
    focusing on areas to promote readiness and resilience, reducing
    the turbulence and stress that comes with military life. Our
    primary focus areas have been to standardize services across
    the Army, close gaps in underfunded programs, and to enhance
    and adapt services to meet the constantly evolving requirements
    associated with multiple deployments and frequent relocations.
        For example, we are augmenting the Office of the Secretary
    of Defense program of military family life consultants due to
    such a high demand. As a way to reach out to geographically
    dispersed soldiers and families, we have expanded the National
    Guard's model Yellow Ribbon Reintegration program, and we have
    established our own Army OneSource.
        We are expanding education and employment opportunities for
    family members and better serving the unique needs of the
    families of our fallen and wounded. We have provided them
    places to connect and be connected with others going through
    the same experiences. We are providing for the fundamental
    safety and security of our military children by building more
    child and youth centers, increasing available hours, as well as
    offering specialized activities to combat stress, isolation,
    and loneliness.
        We have reduced program fees, provide free childcare for
    spouses who must now fill both parenting roles, and we provide
    support to those in geographically dispersed locations by
    subsidizing high-quality local childcare. We are continuing to
    fund respite care for those with exceptional family members,
    and we are easing the burdens created by frequent military
    moves, ensuring our youth receive credit for academic
    achievement from school to school and State to State.
        We are keenly aware of the unique stressors facing our
    soldiers and their families today. In fact, new challenges are
    constantly emerging. While we don't have all the answers, we
    are working on how to assess the relevance and the impact of
    the full spectrum of our programs.
        One way we measure effectiveness is by surveying on a
    regular basis to seek the opinions of our soldiers and families
    and assess their satisfaction and, most importantly, to monitor
    their adaptation to the unique challenges of Army life. These
    measurements assist us in matching the capabilities of our
    programs to the expectations of our soldiers and families,
    keeping the Army strong, ready, and resilient.
        Thank you, sir, for the opportunity to speak to you today,
    and thank you for all you do for our soldiers and families. I
    stand ready to answer your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Marin follows:]
                      Prepared Statement by Kathleen Marin
        Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I am honored to
    appear before you to share the progress we are making in the mission of
    providing our soldiers and their families a quality-of-life
    commensurate with the quality of their service. Never before in the
    history of our Army have we asked so much of our families. They make
    incredible sacrifices, and while remaining steadfast in support of
    their soldiers, families are showing the stress of 7 years at war. In
    response, the Army continues to enhance programs and services to enable
    soldiers and families to become resilient and ready to address the
    challenges of deployment and separation.
        As Director of Installation Services, I am responsible for Army
    housing, environmental programs, privatization initiatives, and support
    to soldiers and families. I feel particularly privileged to be
    entrusted with guiding and overseeing the Soldier Family Action Plan,
    which brings to life the Army's deep, authentic commitment to provide a
    supportive environment for those who are sacrificing so greatly for our
    Nation.
        In her ``First Lady's Message to Families,'' commenting on the
    people she had met on the campaign trail, Michelle Obama remarked, ``I
    particularly cherished my visits with military families all across the
    country . . . and if there's one thing I learned, it's that when our
    service men and women go to war, their families go with them.'' She has
    learned what this subcommittee and the Army have known for a very long
    time. They are serving side by side with our soldiers, enduring their
    hardships, and providing the unconditional love and support that truly
    make our Army strong.
        My statement focuses on a few of the programs we have in place for
    Active and Reserve component soldiers and families in the arenas of
    Support to Families, Child, Youth & School Services, Community Support,
    Support for Single Soldiers, Recreation Programs, Support to Deployed
    Soldiers, and Measuring Success.
                              support to families
        In a February 27, 2009, speech to marines at Camp Lejeune,
    President Obama referenced his wife's commitment to military families:
    ``My wife Michelle has learned firsthand about the unique burden that
    your families endure every day. I want you to know this: military
    families are a top priority for Michelle and me, and they will be a top
    priority for my administration.'' Families have been, and will continue
    to be, a top priority for the Army.
    Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Request
        The Army has doubled its investment in base funding from fiscal
    year 2007 to 2010. The Army's request for fiscal year 2010 soldier and
    family programs is $1.726 billion. This increase will sustain funding
    for the family programs in the out years.
        From fiscal year 2009 to 2010, the funding for Family Programs
    increased by $168 million. This funding does not include Overseas
    Contingency Operations funds. The Army leadership is committed to
    enhancing quality of support to soldiers and families across the Army
    and has funded enduring requirements in the Base Budget. This funding
    provides programs and services to Reserve component soldiers and
    families 24/7; resources the Reserve Component Yellow Ribbon program;
    resources child care services and youth development programs to the DOD
    standard of 80 percent and 35 percent of demand, respectively; and
    funds Survivors Outreach Services, a standardized program for family
    members of the fallen for all components that includes benefits
    advisors, additional financial counselors, and support coordinators to
    provide specialized services to survivors for as long as they need
    them. Additionally, the funding also supports Family Readiness Support
    Assistants to support the volunteer Family Readiness Group (FRG)
    leaders down to the battalion level in fiscal year 2010 and out as well
    as voluntary education and tuition assistance.
    The Army Family Covenant
        Recognizing that the strength of our Army comes from the strength
    of our Army families, the Army leadership unveiled the Army Family
    Covenant in October 2007. The Covenant institutionalizes the Army's
    commitment to provide soldiers and families--Active, Guard, and
    Reserve--a quality of life equal to their level of commitment and
    service and recognizes the important sacrifices they make every day to
    defend the Nation. The Covenant compels the Army to improve soldier and
    family readiness by standardizing soldier and family programs and
    services, increasing accessibility to health care, improving soldier
    and family housing, ensuring excellence in schools and child and youth
    services, and expanding education and employment opportunities for
    family members.
        The Army Family Covenant is in its second year, and the commitment
    is enduring. The Soldier and Family Action Plan provides the roadmap to
    review and strengthen existing programs and services. Although there is
    much work to do, the Army has made significant progress in improving
    soldier and family programs; health care; housing; child, youth, and
    school services; recreation; education; and employment opportunities.
    We have closed the staffing gaps in Army Community Service, and we are
    systematically evaluating family programs through surveys, feedback,
    and focus groups in order to calibrate services to address customer
    needs.
        The Army Family Covenant continues a legacy of service and support
    to soldiers and families. It reflects a continuum of Army dedication to
    sustain and partner with soldiers and their families to build an
    environment where they can prosper and realize their potential, all
    essential in sustaining an All-Volunteer Force.
    The Army Family Action Plan
        The Army recently celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the creation
    of the Army Family Action Plan (AFAP). On August 15, 1983, Army Chief
    of Staff General John A. Wickham published a groundbreaking white paper
    The Army Family, which identified the need for the Army to increase
    support to its Families. General Wickham asserted that a healthy family
    environment allows soldiers to concentrate more fully on their mission.
    The Army was in transition in 1983, moving its programs from those
    which supported an organization composed mostly of draftees and short-
    term enlistees, to an all-volunteer, professional force, more than half
    of which is married. General Wickham set a new vision and course for
    Army Families that carries on to this day.
        Created in 1980 through focus groups, AFAP was fully developed with
    the first official AFAP Conference in July 1983. Its mission is to help
    Army leaders address the needs and concerns of the Army Family from a
    grass roots perspective. The program uses Army family representatives
    from around the world to identify issues that will improve the standard
    of living for soldiers and families. This feedback to leaders provides
    a way for policy change to become a tangible end-product for the Army
    family. It addresses quality-of-life issues for soldiers, retirees,
    Department of Army civilian employees, and their family members, and
    now includes Warriors in Transition (WT) and Survivors of Fallen
    Soldiers. The Army remains committed to AFAP as a means for soldiers
    and families to let the Army know what works, what doesn't, and what
    they think will fix it.
        During AFAP's 25 years, 651 issues have been worked by the Army. Of
    those: 84 are active, 5 have been combined with other active issues;
    442 have been completed; and 120 have been determined to be
    unattainable. AFAP issues have resulted in 110 legislative changes, 155
    changes to Department of Defense (DOD) or Army policies; and 177 new or
    improved programs or services. Over 60 percent of AFAP issues impact
    all Services. The majority AFAP issues are related to force support (32
    percent), followed by medical (21 percent), relocation (20 percent),
    family support (17 percent), and youth (10 percent).
        As a result of congressional legislation passed in 2008, three of
    the most critical active AFAP issues were successfully resolved:
    Distribution of the Montgomery G.I. Bill Benefits to Family Members,
    Paternity Permissive Temporary Duty, and In-State College Tuition.
    Thank you for hearing and supporting our families' issues by passing
    this legislation.
        Quality of life and support to soldiers and families will remain a
    primary focus through AFAP and the Army Family Covenant. AFAP will
    continue to support the Army family as emerging quality-of-life issues
    are brought to the Army leadership for resolution. AFAP will continue
    to be the ``Voice of the Army Family,'' taking on issues such as
    increasing support for Warriors in Transition and Survivors of the
    Fallen, refining Soldier Family Action Plan (SFAP) tasks, and reaching
    out to geographically dispersed soldiers and families.
    Army OneSource
        Army OneSource (AOS) is the centerpiece of the Army's efforts to
    integrate family programs and services. It is the Army's outreach to
    geographically dispersed soldiers and families through technology and
    people (Community Support Coordinators). The web portal technology
    brings the latest information to soldiers and families, wherever they
    reside. It establishes a comprehensive multi-component approach for
    community support and services for Active, Guard, and Reserve soldiers,
    families, and employers throughout the entire deployment cycle.
    Soldiers and families can connect to support services by personal touch
    (telephone or office visit) and the World Wide Web
    (www.armyonesource.com).
        AOS is an Army asset integrator. It ensures families--regardless of
    where they live or how they are related to soldiers--have access to
    support before, during, and after deployment.
    Survivor Outreach Services
        Survivor Outreach Services (SOS) provides a standardized, multi-
    agency, decentralized approach to improving support for Survivors of
    Fallen Soldiers in communities closest to where families live. The
    program standardizes services for survivors and provides trained
    experts in benefits counseling, financial counseling, grief counseling,
    and casualty assistance. The SOS process also places emphasis on the
    soldier's responsibility to prepare, prior to deployment, for the
    possibility of death. This preparation involves the soldier, the
    soldier's spouse, children, and extended family. The loss of life in
    combat operations is a reality we must address because readiness
    includes being prepared for that possibility. SOS supports soldier and
    family readiness during and after the painful and devastating
    experience of the loss of a loved one.
        SOS provides support to Casualty Assistance Officers to ensure
    families receive the most current information on benefits and
    entitlements and have access to long-term financial and emotional
    support. Legal support for survivors includes estate planning, will
    preparation, probate planning, and assistance in preparing estate-
    related tax documents.
        Service delivery strategies include a variety of modalities such as
    Web-based accessibility, outreach, face-to-face, and group services.
    SOS is available 24/7 with foreign language and special needs
    accommodation capabilities. Services are offered at stateside,
    overseas, and geographically dispersed locations.
    Family Readiness Groups and Family Readiness Support Assistants:
        The Family Readiness Group (FRG) is a commander's program that
    includes unit soldiers, civilian employees, family members (immediate
    and extended), and volunteers. FRGs are critical to maintaining the
    strength, morale, and information chain for soldiers, families, and
    commands, and are vital to the morale and support of soldiers and
    families before, during, and after deployments.
        FRGs provide mutual support and assistance and function as
    communication mechanisms, bringing accurate information to families
    from commands, and serving as an informal chain of concern to bring
    issues back up to commands. Structured by the needs of the unit, some
    FRGs are large, active, and all encompassing, while others are small,
    tailored only to the immediate requirements of a nondeployed unit.
        We recognized volunteer FRG leaders were overwhelmed with
    responsibilities. The Family Readiness Support Assistants (FRSA) are
    one way to mitigate the stress. FRSAs provide administrative and
    logistical support to volunteer FRG leaders and lend consistency to the
    unit FRG and rear detachment team. Primary missions of FRSAs are
    coordination of training for rear detachment commanders (RDC) and FRG
    leaders, maintaining the critical communication link between RDCs and
    FRG leaders, and ensuring the responsiveness of established community
    resources. The FRSA position is primarily designed to relieve the
    administrative burden placed on the volunteer FRG leaders.
        There are 1,029 FRSAs--located in deployable Active, Guard, and
    Reserve battalions--who are paid employees and components of the
    commander's Unit Family Readiness Program. As members of the brigade or
    battalion commander's staff, FRSAs coordinate FRG activities within
    units and update commanders on program status and services available to
    soldiers and their families. FRSAs link family members with other Army
    support agencies and programs.
        FRSAs assist with the preparation of pre-deployment and
    redeployment activities, schedule, and coordinate family readiness or
    unit-sponsored training, assist in development and distribution of unit
    newsletters, coordinate video teleconferences for families and deployed
    soldiers, and serve as links between garrison community agencies and
    units. FRSAs utilize AOS to gather information of value to the FRG
    leaders. The FRSA position remains in place even when the unit is not
    deployed, providing continuity in a world climate that requires units
    to participate in multiple deployments.
    Virtual Family Readiness Groups
        The Virtual Family Readiness Groups (vFRGs) provide all of the
    functionality of traditional FRGs in an ad hoc, online setting to meet
    the needs of geographically dispersed families. The vFRG is a web-based
    system to conduct two-way communication between units, family members,
    and soldiers in theater.
        The vFRG links the deployed soldier, family, FRG leader, unit and
    RDCs, and other family readiness personnel on their own controlled-
    access web portal to facilitate the exchange of information and provide
    a sense of community, using technology to automate manual processes and
    provide enhanced services and communications. Unit commanders are
    responsible for maintaining vFRG content and user access. A new and
    innovative component of AOS is the eArmy Family Messaging System. The
    messaging system is a state-of-the-art multimedia tool for commanders
    to instantaneously communicate with soldiers and families by
    broadcasting a message through various communication devices to help
    fulfill their family readiness mission. To date, the Army has
    established approximately 2,000 vFRGs.
    Soldier and Family Assistance Centers
        The Army developed Soldier and Family Assistance Centers (SFACs) at
    installations with Warrior Transition Units (WTUs). Centers provide a
    safe haven where Warriors in Transition and DOD civilians and their
    families can gather for mutual support and camaraderie to aid physical,
    spiritual, and mental healing. Services include transition support,
    financial counseling, child care and education counseling. SFACs act as
    a conduit for other Federal, State, local, and nongovernmental
    agencies.
                       child, youth, and school services
        Our Child, Youth, and School (CYS) programs are a key component of
    the Army Family Covenant because they reduce the conflict between
    mission readiness and parental responsibility.
        Garrison Child Development Centers and Family Child Care Homes have
    extended their operating hours to better accommodate the current high
    operating tempo. We have extended hours to cover weekends, evenings,
    and even 24/7 services and crisis care where necessary.
        Soldiers who work an extended duty day are not charged for the
    extra child care hours. Families of deployed soldiers receive child
    care discounts and 16 hours of free respite child care per month per
    child. The respite care is also available for FRG and FRSA personnel,
    Families of deployed, Exceptional Family Members, Warriors in
    Transition Families, and Survivor Families. This respite gives parents
    time to tend to personal needs or take breaks from the everyday
    stresses of parenting. Our families are grateful for this well-deserved
    service.
        Families of our Warriors in Transition are especially vulnerable
    and we provide child care for them during medical appointments and
    support group meetings. Army Families of Fallen Soldiers receive child
    care during the bereavement period and special consideration
    thereafter.
        When soldier parents are absent, many children no longer have
    transportation that allows them to participate in after school programs
    and sports. The Army Family Covenant has enabled us to add more bus
    routes and transportation options to assist children in accessing these
    vital activities.
        We are grateful for your support of our Child and Youth
    Construction Program which will significantly reduce our child care
    shortfall. Our Military Construction Program reflects this commitment:
    42 Child Care Centers funded in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 with an
    additional 11 centers programmed for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. In
    addition, we have used the temporary authority provided under the
    National Defense Authorization Act for 44 Child Care Centers in fiscal
    year 2008 and 4 in fiscal year 2009 with Operations and Maintenance
    dollars. Thank you for your support that enables the Army to rapidly
    meet installation child care requirements.
        We are attentive to the need to ensure the health, safety, and
    well-being of the children in our care and take great pride in the fact
    that in fiscal year 2008 all of our eligible Child Development Centers
    and Army School Age Programs were nationally accredited. This is a
    milestone representing the culmination of years of hard work which
    addresses quality as well as quantity.
        Initiatives used to transform the military child care system into a
    model for the Nation can be implemented in civilian communities to
    improve the quality of care for all children. In a report released on
    November 24, 2008, ``Making Quality Child Care Possible: Lessons
    Learned,'' from the National Association of Child Care Resource and
    Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) military partnerships examined lessons
    learned from the military child care system that could be applied in
    the private sector. The report concludes that many of the basic
    initiatives implemented by the military can significantly improve the
    quality of child care in civilian communities across the Nation. These
    initiatives include establishment of basic child care health and safety
    standards, routine inspections and oversight, and training and
    incentives for child caregivers.
        Longer and multiple deployments are increasing the stress on our
    families, and the support they need includes strengthening the
    connection with folks who teach and monitor our children every day in
    school settings. In the last year, we have added 40 more school liaison
    officers, which now total 140 throughout the Army, and increased the
    number of school districts to 380 that have signed a memorandum of
    understanding to help minimize academic disruptions for transferring
    military students. We have also expanded training to help school
    officials understand challenges faced by military students.
        The Army is partnering with outside agencies on the following
    initiatives:

             DOD Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for
            Military Children (effective 2008) addresses the educational
            transition issues of children of military families. The purpose
            of the Compact is to remove barriers to educational success
            imposed on children of military families because of frequent
            moves and deployment of their parents.
             DOD and Department of Education Memorandum of
            Agreement (signed June 2008) creates a formal partnership
            between the two Departments to provide a comprehensive and
            cohesive structure for collaboration between two Federal
            agencies as well as with local, State, and other relevant
            entities.
             DOD Education Activity Partnership Branch initiative
            is dedicated to promoting quality education for every military
            child regardless of their location or how often their family
            moves.

        I would like to emphasize that our CYS Services is a force
    multiplier that helps reduce lost duty time, impacts soldiers'
    decisions to remain in the Army, and sends a message that we care about
    our families. The Army considers these programs critical to mission
    readiness--our investment contributes to productivity and retention
    today as well as productive citizens in the future.
                               community support
        The Army Community Covenant: soldiers and families are integral
    members of the communities in which they live. The Army Community
    Covenant, a companion initiative of the Army Family Covenant, is a
    commitment of support at the state and local level by individuals,
    organizations, and government agencies to Active, Guard, and Reserve
    soldiers and families. It is designed to develop and foster effective
    state and community partnerships with the Army to sustain and improve
    soldier and family quality of life.
        There are many communities, organizations, and civic and business
    leaders across the country already supporting soldiers and families
    through a number of programs and initiatives. The Community Covenant
    recognizes that effort and advances initiatives like the Interstate
    Compact on Education Opportunity for Military Children, which replaces
    inconsistent treatment of transitioning military students with a
    unified, comprehensive approach that provides consistent policy in
    every State. Homes for Our Troops builds new homes or adapts existing
    homes to meet handicapped accessibility requirements for Warriors in
    Transition. These are just two of over 1,500 best practices highlighted
    on the Army Community Covenant Web site
    (www.communitycovenant.army.mil).
        Since the Community Covenant's inception on April 17, 2008, there
    have been 102 covenant signing ceremonies in 37 States that included 22
    Governors, 39 Members of Congress, 103 State legislators, and 269
    Mayors.
                          support for single soldiers
        While steadily increasing focus on family issues in recent years,
    the Army has not lost sight of the 44 percent of the force that is not
    married--our single soldiers.
    Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers
        The mission of the Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS)
    program is to enhance the morale and welfare of single soldiers,
    increase retention, and sustain combat readiness. BOSS is the
    collective voice of single soldiers through the chain of command. The
    program also serves as a tool for commanders to gauge the morale of
    single soldiers regarding quality-of-life issues. BOSS also sponsors a
    variety of activities before, during, and after deployment to maintain
    the morale of single soldiers affected by increased operational tempo
    and deployment stress.
        The BOSS program is facilitated through its three core components
    aimed at maintaining a balanced life: leisure and recreation, community
    service, and quality of life. BOSS affords soldiers the opportunity to
    assist in planning and execution of recreational activities for single
    soldiers and provides direction for soldiers interested in performing
    military and civilian community service-related projects. Community
    service projects provide soldiers valuable experience, skills, and a
    sense of community pride and ownership. In fiscal year 2007, 22
    garrison BOSS programs received the President's Volunteer Service Award
    for efforts representing over 150,574 volunteer hours.
        The BOSS program also serves as a tool to address many of the
    issues and concerns that our Army faces today. The program gives the
    Army the ability to tackle tough issues through peer-to-peer
    leadership. Single soldiers assist the chain of command in dealing with
    suicide prevention, sexual assault, and sexual harassment issues that
    single soldiers living in barracks might experience.
                              recreation programs
        Soldier and Community Recreation dramatically improved service to
    soldiers and their families by standardizing and increasing the quality
    of fitness center equipment and Wounded Warriors sports programs, for
    both garrisons and deployed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
    Warrior Adventure Quest
        The Warrior Adventure Quest (WAQ) delivers high adventure
    recreation activities to help soldiers transition to ``new normal'' and
    reduce the potential for high risk behaviors that are counterproductive
    to unit cohesion. It combines existing high adventure, high adrenaline
    activities with battlemind to assist in mitigating the cumulative
    effects of sustained operations while mentally preparing soldiers to
    reintegrate and begin focused training for the next requirement. This
    integrated process involves Office of the Surgeon General, the
    Substance Abuse Program, Suicide Prevention, Combat Readiness Center,
    Chaplains, the National Guard, Reserves, and Morale, Welfare and
    Recreation (MWR).
    Warrior in Transition Sports Program
        The Warrior in Transition Sports Program provides active-duty
    soldiers who have life-altering injuries an opportunity to compete in
    state and national level sporting events by paying for their athletic
    attire, registration fees, transportation, lodging, and per diem.
    Physically impaired soldiers can to apply for select competitions at
    which they believe they would be competitive. Selection is based on the
    soldier's prior experience and participation at local and regional
    competitions. Soldiers must qualify to compete in a State or national
    level sport competition for permanently physically impaired athletes.
    Inclusive Recreation for Warrior in Transition Training
        We have partnered with DOD, in conjunction with the Pennsylvania
    State University Outreach Programs, to provide 12 ``Inclusive
    Recreation for Wounded Warrior'' training sessions over the next 3
    years. This training is a 4-day course designed to train staff who are
    recreation programmers/managers to successfully integrate Active Duty
    Warrior in Transition (WT) into existing MWR Recreation programs and
    services. This involves the ability to recognize the unique needs and
    characteristics of WT who have sustained war-related injuries and be
    able to respond to their needs. Students will also develop an
    ``Inclusion Action Plan'' to implement upon return to their
    installations and will be able to apply the knowledge learned in this
    course to successfully meet the recreational needs of Active Duty WT. A
    byproduct of this course is the ability to integrate retirees and
    exceptional family members who may also have a disability. A total of
    60 recreation staff from all Services (20 from Army) has been trained
    since the program's inception in January 2009.
        To support the Army Family Covenant, recreation programs such as
    bowling, golf, and libraries continue to offer opportunities to
    soldiers and their families. Army bowling centers are soldier and
    family entertainment centers, which offer a multitude of amusement
    options including glow bowling, party rooms, video arcades, billiards,
    and Strike Zone snack bar operations. Bowling centers provide discount
    bowling to soldiers and families affected by extended deployments.
    Bowling managers are being trained to coach adaptive needs bowling to
    better serve Warriors in Transition and others with adaptive needs. The
    Army Golf Program provides high quality sports and leisure activities
    for the soldiers and families and supports the MWR ``First Choice''
    service standard.
                          support to deployed soldiers
        MWR supports America's Army wherever it serves. We maintain MWR
    facilities at 58 sites in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bosnia. Tens
    of thousands of deployed soldiers have received portable pocket fitness
    kits that can be used at any time and any place. Popular with soldiers,
    these kits contribute to their overall well-being as well as to the
    Army's warfighting capability.
        Recreation facilities include theaters, electronic games stations,
    traditional board games, ping-pong, and paperback book libraries that
    also offer preloaded audio books. Fitness facilities include pools,
    self-powered aerobic machines, cardiovascular and strength training
    equipment, and assorted free weight equipment.
        MWR programs help soldiers maintain physical fitness, alleviate
    combat stress, and foster readiness, as mission accomplishment is
    directly linked to soldiers' confidence that their families are safe
    and capable of carrying on during their absence until they return home
    from deployment.
        Soldiers can take advantage of rest and recuperation programs
    offered at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, Hale Koa Hotel, and Shades
    of Green, which provide discounted guest room and food and beverage
    packages for servicemembers and their sponsored guests during mid-tour
    leave or upon return from either Afghanistan or Iraq.
                               measuring success
        We listened to our customers when they told us in 2007 that they
    did not necessarily want more programs, they wanted standardized
    programs that they could count on regardless of where they lived.
    Utilizing that feedback, SFAP to support family programs and services,
    health care, housing CYS Services, education, and employment
    opportunities.
        While we have come a long way in designing the future of family
    programs, we fully appreciate and recognize that we still have much to
    do. In response to customer feedback, we are evaluating our programs
    and services utilizing a standardized disciplined methodology for
    capturing customer comments and using those responses to recalibrate
    and refine both the delivery and receipt of programs and services.
    Through a three-tiered feedback process, we gather the individual,
    constituent group, and corporate input to implement recommendations.
        Feedback on SFAP outcomes are collected through forums such as the
    aforementioned AFAP. The SFAP Senior Review Group and the Soldier
    Family Readiness Board of Directors, co-chaired by the Secretary of the
    Army and Chief of Staff of the Army, provide senior leader guidance and
    direction for SFAP implementation. We are also closely monitoring
    results from several soldier and family surveys to determine the
    effectiveness of the Army Family Covenant. We are particularly
    interested in soldier and family satisfaction with the military way of
    life and their adaptation strategies to the challenges of Army life.
                                   conclusion
        Under the Army Family Covenant, the Army is implementing aggressive
    improvements to a broad range of family-oriented, quality of life
    programs and services to address the dynamic needs of soldiers and
    their families. These improvements are focused on improving post-combat
    support to mitigate the accumulated effects of conflict and to equip
    and empower the soldiers and families of our expeditionary Army . . .
    the strength of the Nation.
        We have invested the Nation's resources wisely, focusing on our
    soldiers and families in areas that enable readiness and resilience,
    while reducing the turbulence and stress that come with military life.
    Continuing predictable funding is crucial to sustain and preserve the
    All-Volunteer Force.
        While we are moving in the right direction with the Army Family
    Covenant, we know there is much more to achieve. The Army remains
    determined to provide a strong, supportive environment where soldiers
    and their families can thrive. With your support of our fiscal year
    2010 budget request, we will move closer to fulfilling our commitment
    to provide soldiers and families a quality of life commensurate with
    their level of service and sacrifice to the Nation.
        Thank you for the privilege of appearing before you today. I look
    forward to your questions.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you very much.
        Dr. Rau?

    STATEMENT OF TERRI J. RAU, PH.D., DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR RESEARCH
    AND DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT, NAVY INSTALLATIONS
                      COMMAND, UNITED STATES NAVY

        Dr. Rau. Chairman Nelson, it is my honor to testify today
    on Navy family readiness programs and initiatives. Thank you
    for your leadership and attention to this vital issue and for
    your continued support to our sailors and families.
        Navy family readiness programs include Navy fleet and
    family support programs, child and youth programs, and
    emergency preparedness and community alliance. Navy family
    readiness has been afforded the highest visibility, advocacy,
    and priority in recent years.
        The Navy's commitment to family readiness has resulted in
    increased capability for both Navy fleet and family support
    programs and child and youth programs. In practical terms, this
    has resulted in increased individual and group services for
    family members, including clinical counseling services,
    proactive outreach, and increased childcare capacity.
        Emergency preparedness and community alliance provides
    preparedness and coordinated family support during natural or
    manmade emergencies or noncombatant evacuation and repatriation
    events.
        This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment
    of Navy Fleet and Family Support Centers. We support individual
    and family resiliency and adaptation to military life by
    providing 12 core programs and services in 3 functional areas--
    deployment readiness, career support and retention, and crisis
    response.
        As we have increased capability, we have become
    increasingly focused on prevention and, when necessary, early
    identification and assistance before more significant problems
    develop that require command, medical, or legal intervention.
    Services are delivered from 81 sites worldwide.
        Child development and youth programs help families balance
    the competing demands of mission readiness and family
    responsibilities. The Navy provides high-quality childcare,
    youth development, and school transition for 120,000 children
    from 4 weeks to 18 years of age.
        Our current capacity meets 72 percent of potential need,
    with a 6-month placement time, except in fleet concentration
    areas where placement times can be longer. To attain the DOD
    capacity goal of 80 percent of potential need, the Navy's
    expansion plan is adding approximately 7,000 new childcare
    spaces through several initiatives.
        Increasing our response capability to reach geographically
    dispersed family members of our active and Reserve component
    remains on the forefront of our efforts. Our primary focus
    remains to deliver the highest quality services at the right
    time and in the right place.
        Thank you for this opportunity and for your leadership and
    focus on this important issue.
        [The prepared statement of Dr. Rau follows:]
                   Prepared Statement by Terri J. Rau, Ph.D.
        Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham and distinguished members of the
    committee, it is my distinct honor to appear before you and I welcome
    the opportunity to testify today on Navy family readiness programs and
    initiatives. I thank you for your leadership and attention to this
    vital issue and for your continued support to our sailors and families.
        I am a clinical psychologist by training and have worked for the
    past 20 years providing assistance to individuals and families. I have
    had the privilege of working for Navy Fleet and Family Support Programs
    (FFSPs) since 1997.
                                   background
        Since 2005, Navy Family Readiness program management,
    implementation, execution and programming have been aligned within
    Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC). This alignment has
    resulted in increased effectiveness, flexibility and responsiveness in
    program management and service delivery from the headquarters to the
    installation level and has ensured that program development, and
    resourcing decisions are not divorced from the practical realities of
    delivering ground-level support and responding to the challenges faced
    by Navy families who are coping with increased operational tempo,
    nontraditional duty assignments, and sustained overseas contingency
    operations.
        Within CNIC, Navy Family Readiness programs consist of Navy FFSPs,
    Child and Youth Programs and Emergency Preparedness and Community
    Alliance Programs, the latter of which provides preparedness and
    coordinated family support during natural or manmade emergencies or
    noncombatant evacuation and repatriation events. Our preparedness and
    ability to respond to Navy families during emergencies through our
    support to Family Assistance Centers and focused assessment and case
    management has increased significantly since the Gulf Coast hurricanes
    in 2005.
        Since the establishment of CNIC in the fall of 2003, Navy Family
    Readiness programs have been afforded the highest visibility, advocacy
    and priority. In fact, the Navy's commitment to family readiness has
    resulted in increased capability for both Navy FFSPs and Child
    Development and Youth Programs. In practical terms, this has resulted
    in increased services to family members, increased individual
    assistance and consultation, more varied educational programs, more
    proactive outreach, delivery of family support services in locations
    most conducive to family member engagement and increased child care
    capacity.
                       fleet and family support programs
        This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Navy
    Family Service Centers (now called Fleet and Family Support Centers).
    FFSPs support individual and family readiness and adaptation to life in
    the Navy and include emergency preparedness and response, crisis
    intervention and response, personal and family wellness education and
    counseling, military and personal career development, financial
    education and counseling, spouse employment, and deployment support for
    sailors and their family members. Programs and services are currently
    delivered from 81 sites worldwide, with 58 of those sites delivering a
    full portfolio of programs and services.
        Navy FFSP is organized into three subfunctional areas: Deployment
    Readiness, Career Support and Retention, and Crisis Response. Across
    all three subfunctions, services include information and referral,
    individual clinical and nonclinical consultation and educational
    classes and workshops.
        Deployment Readiness includes services provided in the areas of
    deployment support, ombudsmen coordination, relocation assistance, and
    life skills education. Deployment Readiness has always been and remains
    the area of highest priority for Navy family support. Deployment
    support focuses on practical preparation, emotional aspects of
    separation, supporting children during deployment, maintaining
    communication and closeness during deployment, and homecoming and
    successful reintegration of the sailor into the family and community.
    Planned for 2010 is development and delivery of an electronic
    deployment toolkit/sea bag for school administrators and staff to
    better equip them in working with children of deployed sailors.
        As the nature of Navy deployment has changed, so have our
    deployment support services. We now understand that family deployment
    preparedness is not a predictable, cyclical process but a daily state
    to be maintained. For example, Fleet and Family Support Centers now
    provide outreach calls, assessment and recurring support to families of
    sailors on Individual Augmentee (IA) and Global War on Terror Support
    Assignments (GSA) serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations in
    support of Overseas Contingency Operations. Efforts to better reach
    remotely located families impacted by these nontraditional duty
    assignments have included use of information technology to provide
    virtual family discussion groups and workshops, publication of a
    monthly electronic newsletter and of Family, Sailor and Command IA
    Handbooks.
        Command Ombudsmen are trained volunteers who serve as a vital two-
    way communication link between command leadership and family members.
    Ombudsmen provide personalized support and guidance to families in
    adapting to the challenges of a mobile military lifestyle and extended
    operations necessary to meet the Navy's maritime strategy. There are
    currently over 2,200 registered Navy Family Ombudsmen. Fleet and Family
    Support Centers provide training, consultation, coordination and
    support to Ombudsmen.
        Navy Fleet and Family Support Centers also support the development
    and sustainment of Family Readiness Groups. These groups enhance
    preparedness by providing an informal and less structured opportunity
    for family members to meet on a regular basis for camaraderie,
    companionship and support. They plan family activities during
    deployments, mentor new family members and assist families in times of
    crisis.
        Career Support and Retention includes services provided in the
    areas of Personal Financial Management, Transition Assistance, and
    Family Employment Readiness. Managing money in today's economy can be
    challenging. The Navy's Personal Financial Management (PFM) program
    provides a collaborative and comprehensive approach to education and
    counseling that emphasizes a proactive, career lifecycle approach to
    behavior modification. Services include individualized assistance that
    fosters financial responsibility and accountability with primary
    emphasis on financial independence, sound money management, debt
    avoidance, and long-term financial stability. Personal financial
    fitness services are delivered by a network of Accredited Financial
    Counselors and educators at the Fleet and Family Support Centers, and
    Command Financial Specialists, with collaboration from partner
    organizations. Increased partnerships between Fleet and Family Support
    Centers and Child Development and Youth Programs at the installation
    level have increased youth education regarding financial fitness. The
    Navy PFM program was recognized as a Financial Education Program of the
    Year by the Association of Financial Counseling, Planning, and
    Education in 2006, and received recognition as an Exemplary Employer
    Initiative by the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation in
    2008. More than 9,996 family members received financial education
    services during 2008, which represented a 100 percent increase over
    2007.
        Leaving the Navy is not just a matter of changing jobs; it's a
    total lifestyle change. Civilian life and the military life can seem
    like two different worlds, especially if a sailor's entire working
    career has been in the Navy. Fleet and Family Support Centers host the
    U.S. Department of Labor sponsored Transition Assistance Program (TAP)
    Employment Workshop. Sailors who are planning to leave the Navy or
    retire are encouraged to take advantage of all the services offered
    through the Centers at no cost. Similar services in the private sector
    would cost hundreds of dollars. TAP employment workshops are designed
    to provide sailors with the basic knowledge and skills necessary to
    plan and execute a successful job search. Department of Labor
    instructors conduct the 3-day TAP workshops, focusing on subjects such
    as skills identification, post-military goals and ambitions, conducting
    job searches, writing a resume, preparing for an interview and dressing
    for success in a new career. The core TAP curriculum also includes
    presentations by the Department of Veterans Affairs on VA benefits and
    information on disability transition assistance.
        Local FFSP professionals provide additional employment assistance
    and resources. These services often include individual counseling; job
    fairs, search libraries and access to employment listings; automated
    tools and personal assistance for preparing resumes, cover letters and
    Federal job applications; and guidance in preparing for interviews.
        The Navy recognizes that moving every few years creates career
    challenges for military spouses. The Family Employment Readiness
    Program addresses those challenges in workshops and through
    individualized assistance. We provide assistance with self-directed job
    search through an employment resource center, information and referral
    services, career development and coaching, staff assisted job search,
    and much more. Workshops and seminars are routinely provided and create
    a framework for further educational exploration in areas such as:
    Resume Writing, Effective Job Search Strategies, Interviewing
    Techniques, Federal Employment Opportunities, Entrepreneur Business
    Opportunities, Personal Skills Assessment, and Financing Career Change.
    During 2008, nearly 2,900 Navy spouses were awarded scholarships at 6
    Navy pilot locations through joint Department of Defense (DOD)/
    Department of Labor Career Advancement Account (CAA) partnerships. The
    CAA program has now been expanded worldwide. Our staff conducted over
    3,000 employer education events to market military spouses as solutions
    to hiring needs. Notably, 49 percent of our Navy Child and Youth
    Programs professional workforce are military spouses, which affords
    them mobile career opportunities. More than 2,490 spouses voluntarily
    reported securing employment as a result of program efforts.
        Crisis Response includes programs and services provided in the
    areas of clinical counseling, family violence prevention, case
    management and victim advocacy, new parent support and sexual assault
    prevention and response.
        From the beginning, Fleet and Family Support Centers have offered
    clinical counseling services, which is unique to the Department of the
    Navy. Clinical counseling is provided by independently licensed mental
    health professionals, some of whom have additional training and
    experience providing counseling services to children. Counseling
    services are brief and solution-focused in response to commonly
    occurring life experiences such as marital discord, parent-child
    conflict, or occupational/school issues. The intent of these services
    is early identification and prevention of more significant conditions
    or problems, thereby promoting improved quality of life and increased
    resilience in individuals and families.
        Navy Fleet and Family Support Centers are also actively engaged in
    support of Navy Operational Stress Control (OSC) initiatives. OSC is a
    line owned and led program supported by Navy medicine. The goal of OSC
    is to promote psychological health, reduce stigma associated with
    seeking psychological services and improve overall resilience in our
    sailors and their families. OSC provides practical decisionmaking tools
    for sailors, leaders, and families so they can identify stress
    responses and mitigate problems before they become disruptive. In
    collaboration with the Navy line and medicine, we have launched a
    family awareness effort by incorporating OSC concepts into existing
    family support programs and services whenever possible. We are also
    working with Chaplains delivering OSC briefs to sailors awaiting IA/GSA
    deployments and are participating in the development of formal OSC
    curriculum to be delivered at key nodes of training throughout the
    sailor's career.
        FFSP facilitates Navy suicide prevention initiatives by
    coordinating with Chaplains to provide annual suicide prevention
    training to sailors and by providing suicide awareness and prevention
    programs to families and communities. When someone seeking counseling
    at the Fleet and Family Support Center is assessed to be clinically
    depressed or suicidal, they are referred to the local Medical Treatment
    Facility or to community mental health providers through TRICARE.
        The Family Advocacy Program (FAP) provides safety assessment and
    planning, clinical assessment, case management, victim advocacy, and
    intervention to military families referred for alleged child abuse/
    neglect or domestic abuse. The primary goals of FAP are prevention,
    victim safety and support, rehabilitative intervention, offender
    accountability and provision of a consistent and appropriate response
    to allegations of family maltreatment. The location of FAP prevention
    and intervention services within Navy Fleet and Family Support Centers
    is unique to the Department of the Navy and provides an effective
    continuum of care whereby common stresses associated with family
    violence risk can be identified and addressed in a more holistic, less
    stigmatizing manner. Maintaining abuse-free and adaptive family
    relationships is critical to Navy mission readiness, maintenance of
    good order and discipline, and quality of service for our sailors and
    their families.
        The New Parent Support Home Visitation Program provides voluntary
    home visitation services for over-burdened expectant and new parents.
    Home visiting services are available for new parents of children age 0
    to 3. Single parents and parents with a deployed member are
    automatically screened as eligible for home visitation. The New Parent
    Support Program has a demonstrated, positive impact in the prevention
    of child maltreatment. New Parent Support personnel also coordinate
    closely with Navy medicine in delivery of special primary prevention
    initiatives such as reducing infant deaths from shaking and unsafe
    sleeping practices.
        Navy FFSPs work in collaboration with the Navy Safe Harbor Program
    to support family members of the wounded, ill, and injured. We provide
    information, resources and referral, relocation assistance, financial
    counseling, clinical counseling, and transition assistance.
        We work closely with the Navy Reserve Forces Family Support
    Coordinator and the five regional Family Support Administrators.
    Together we facilitate the connection of Reserve families to each
    other, to supportive military and community resources, and we improve
    community awareness of military families' experiences and needs. The
    primary focus of our efforts supports families living apart from
    military installations. The Family Support Administrators liaison with
    their assigned Navy Operational Support Center staffs to ensure
    families are supported by Navy and other services' family support
    programs, including the Joint Family Support Assistance Programs.
                      child development and youth programs
        The Child Development and Youth Programs help families balance the
    competing demands of mission readiness and family responsibilities. The
    Navy provides high quality child care, youth development, and school
    transition services for 120,780 children from 4 weeks to 18 years of
    age. We currently operate 128 Child Development Centers, 3,000 Child
    Development Homes, 86 School-Age Care programs, and 103 Youth Centers.
    Our programs continue to be ranked amongst the highest in the Nation
    for quality and oversight.
        The DOD goal is to achieve child care capacity for 80 percent of
    potential need which is sufficient capacity to place children from
    waiting lists within 3 months after care is requested. Our current
    capacity meets 72 percent of the potential need with a 6-month
    placement time, except in fleet concentration areas where placement
    time can be longer.
        The availability of child care remains a top issue among our single
    parents and dual-career families. To attain the DOD goal, the Navy's
    expansion plan is adding approximately 7,000 new child care spaces.
    This expansion includes construction of 26 new child development
    centers (including facilities open 24/7), the conversion of existing
    pre-school age spaces into infant spaces to meet the greatest demand,
    commercial contracts in communities throughout the United States, and
    expanding military certified home care. Combined, these initiatives
    will reduce the waiting time for child care to 3 months or less Navy-
    wide with first priority given to single parents.
        Several of these expansion projects have utilized the temporary
    National Defense Authorization Act authority that increased the
    Department's minor construction threshold authority for child
    development centers.
        Our continuing expansion initiatives are not only meeting the needs
    of our families living on or near our installations but also those
    living and working throughout the United States, including Reserve
    members. Our contract programs ``Military Child Care in Your
    Neighborhood'' and ``Mission Youth Outreach'' provide subsidized child
    and youth services from commercial programs that meet community quality
    standards. We continue to work with communities, assisting them with
    raising the quality of their standards.
        Another area of expansion is our new contract program that provides
    subsidized, quality respite care to our families with severe special
    needs. This new program certifies qualified community and military
    providers to care for children that are not easily accommodated within
    existing programs.
        Support to our children with deployed members continues and
    includes our new ``Give Parents a Break'' program and the use of Child
    and Youth Behavior Consultants imbedded in our programs. These
    consultants provide a resource to observe and train our professionals
    on interventions to assist children and their families having
    challenges during deployments.
        We have also launched a new Navy-wide School Liaison Officer
    program which is designed to assist Navy families and local school
    districts with the dependent education issues arising from frequent
    moves and deployments.
                             summary and conclusion
        Increasing our response capability to reach geographically
    dispersed family members of our Active and Reserve components remain at
    the forefront of our efforts. We will continue our efforts, within our
    budgetary constraints, to provide resources and services to IA/GSA
    families, families of wounded, ill, or injured, and our ombudsmen
    network that supports them. We will continue to explore creative
    solutions to overcome impediments to full utilization of technology
    solutions that equip us to maintain unfettered communications with
    families. Our primary focus remains on delivering the best services at
    the right time and in the right place.
        As we continue to address the needs of sailors and their families,
    our guiding principles continue to:

             Target our resources to the most critical
            requirements, focusing on our fleet and family readiness,
            resilience, and quality of life;
             Aggressively identify opportunities to eliminate
            redundancies, under-utilized services, and outdated standards
            of practice;
             Ensure consistent quality of service and performance
            standards across all of our installations; and
             Refine, strengthen, align, and integrate our family
            support planning capabilities and processes to ensure optimized
            results.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        General Larsen?

        STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. TIMOTHY R. LARSEN, USMC (RET.),
    DIRECTOR, PERSONAL AND FAMILY READINESS DIVISION, MANPOWER AND
         RESERVE AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

        General Larsen. Senator Nelson, thank you very much for the
    opportunity today to come and appear before the subcommittee
    and report on family support programs within the Marine Corps.
    It is really a great opportunity. Also, it helps us focus on
    the things we need to do and highlight some of the gaps that we
    have or areas where we need to refocus ourselves.
        First, I would like to say thanks to the panel that spoke
    before us. They did a great job, and it is really eye opening
    to listen to their feedback on the services and the programs
    that we provide. I think that they did a tremendous job, and it
    will help us very much.
        As far as the Marine Corps is concerned, we are in the
    second year of a multi-year program to change our programs and
    to reshape them and recast them. We did that at the guidance of
    the Commandant of the Marine Corps. At his direction, we did a
    series of functionality assessments to assess where we are on
    the programs, and then we went out and conducted a series of
    surveys across the Marine Corps and asked them what they
    thought about the programs that we had.
        We found out in a lot of cases we are missing the target.
    The things that we thought we were doing or the programs that
    we had in place sometimes weren't meeting the needs of the
    people that we are trying to help.
        The changes that we have put in place have been well
    received. There is a lot more work to do, and we have to get
    started on it. Basically, this past year, we have completely
    changed four of the fundamental programs we have for family
    support: the Marine Corps family teambuilding, unit family
    readiness, the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP), and
    the School Liaison Program.
        This year, we are going to first do a baseline assessment
    of all of our current programs and how they are being funded
    and what we think they need as we go forward so we can
    determine where we are, and then we are going to do a needs
    assessment of those programs and other programs at the
    installations to see where we go and what we need to do.
        We have found out that a lot of the things that we have
    done in the past have been focused on the installations. An
    installation-based program is not necessarily what we need to
    do as we go forward. We need more community-based programs to
    get those people that are not assigned to installations that
    are across the country in a lot of different locations.
        We also want to make sure that the programs that we have
    support the operational commander and meet the needs of the
    marines and their families. We are doing this largely because
    there is an expectation not only on the part of the leadership
    of the Marine Corps, but on the part of the individual marine
    and his family that they deserve a quality of life that
    supports their commitment to the country and their commitment
    to the Marine Corps and the mission that they are undergoing.
        We feel that we are obligated from our perspective to make
    sure that those families, their needs are taken care of. I wish
    I could have had the opportunity to answer a lot of the
    questions that were asked before. I am sure we will. Thank you
    very much.
        [The prepared statement of General Larsen follows:]
        Prepared Statement by Maj. Gen. Timothy R. Larsen, USMC, (Ret.)
        Chairman Nelson, Ranking Member Graham, and distinguished members
    of the Personnel Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to report
    on the quality of life and well-being of our marines and their families
    and the status of our family support programs offered through Marine
    Corps Community Services (MCCS).
                              marine corps family
        Today, the Marine Corps Family is comprised of many elements in and
    outside the traditional nuclear family definition. The expanded nature
    of family today means that they are often greatly dispersed from
    military installations and support mechanisms. The family is more than
    those who hold dependent identification cards. The parents of our
    marines--particularly those under the age of 30 and part of the
    Millennial Generation have joined our definition of family and within
    our commitment of care.
        For Active Duty families within the nuclear definition, we have
    just over 94,000 spouses and 110,077 children. Marines are also caring
    for parents and other dependents totaling over 500, bringing our entire
    family population to nearly 205,000. This does not include the over
    100,000 retired marines and their families we support. We should also
    note that the Marine Corps has experienced a baby boom with a 12
    percent increase in infants, pre-toddlers, and toddlers since 2007. Our
    parental unit--Mother and Father--experience multiple deployment
    separations and increased operational tempo (OPTEMPO) which directly
    impact the time available with their family. Concerns of danger and
    worry over family conditions are mutually shared by the warfighter,
    their spouses, children and parents/grandparents. The Marine Corps has
    the youngest fighting force and youngest family. These young families
    are required to mature rapidly and are those at the greatest risk for
    set back. As an unfortunate result, our divorce rates have increased
    for the first time in many years, particularly for women marines and
    enlisted.
        Our Marine families, including activated Reserves and independent
    duty marines, are dispersed and no longer living solely on or around
    Marine Corps or other military installations. For example, our
    activated Reserve families are more likely to remain in hometowns
    scattered across every State. While civilians greatly respect and
    admire the commitment and contribution of our marines, they often do
    not understand the role and commitment of our families. The civilian
    communities are often not equipped to help these families navigate the
    challenges of the military lifestyle, particularly the impacts
    associated with deployments and the wartime environment.
        From our Quality of Life in the Marine Corps Study, we know that
    Marine Corps families are proud of their marines and believe that his
    or her commitment to the Nation to protect and defend is a worthy
    mission. So worthy, that they agree to sacrifice and make a commitment
    to the Marine Corps and Nation that is recognized as stressful to
    family well-being. The military lifestyle and expeditionary nature of
    the Marine Corps challenge the strengths and character of our families.
    We believe that when marines make the commitment to our Corps and
    Country, we owe them and their families an appropriate quality of life.
    We know that Congress equally believes this and we appreciate your
    steadfast support to the family today and into the future.
                  determining family member needs--we hear you
        In 2006, the Commandant of the Marine Corps challenged our family
    support program management team to consider the needs of families in
    view of wartime requirements and future sustainment. He asked two
    additional questions that gave us pause. He asked --``Do we really know
    the needs of our marines and their families?'' and ``Are we providing
    our commanders good guidance and have open communication lines to
    receive their execution feedback?'' For program managers in the fight--
    meeting tempo and delivering programs--we had to acknowledge that we
    perhaps were missing the big picture (mission requirements of the
    Marine Corps). It was also time to assess the needs of marines and
    families and evaluate the capabilities of our programs.
        In the ensuing time, we have conducted extensive program and
    customer research, including the previously noted Quality of Life in
    the Marine Corps Study, functionality assessments on four major family
    support programs, and a recent effort to look at the communication
    needs of our marines and families. In the four areas of Unit Personal
    and Family Readiness, Exceptional Family Member, Marine Corps Family
    Team Building (MCFTB), and School Liaison Programs, we have
    fundamentally changed the way we view family support and our supported/
    supporting relationships. Eliminating variation, giving good guidance
    to commanders and refreshing program support to meet the current and
    future needs of families has been our underlying basis of improvement.
    We developed extensive transition plans and received the Commandant's
    support for funding and immediate execution. A brief summary of our
    progress to date follows.
       unit personal and family readiness program and supporting role of
                        marine corps community services
        Unit commanders are accountable for their unit's readiness and
    helping their marines and families achieve a high state of personal and
    family readiness. In discharging these duties, the commander typically
    called upon volunteers who utilized spouse-to-spouse connections and
    processes to contact and inform family members. Wartime operations and
    ensuing deployments overburdened our volunteer network due to
    increasing family contact and increased information requirements. This
    phenomenon occurred in the Reserve component as well as the Active
    component. While MCCS, the primary community services support arm of
    the Marine Corps, was capable of flexing to support deployments,
    sustained deployments stressed our service delivery model. Finally,
    making positive contact with marines and families regarding their MCCS
    benefits and programs proved even more challenging. We have taken
    specific action to enhance the unit commander's capability by
    increasing staffing and procurement of a technology suite. Over 400
    full-time primary duty civilian Family Readiness Officers (FROs) are
    now on duty throughout the Marine Corps serving as part of the unit
    commanders' Unit and Personal Family Readiness Command Team. There are
    64 FROs and 150 Deputy FROs serving in the Reserve Component alone. The
    FRO, as a special staff officer, makes direct contact with unit marines
    and families to convey official command communication, arrange required
    deployment or readiness training, and conduct information and referral
    services. Our volunteers are still in strong support of our unit
    programs, but we have been able to significantly reduce the burden of
    their extended volunteer service hours. Finally, we have staffed MCCS
    Coordinators at major camps to help the commander plan and conduct unit
    support or socialization events and have increased their discretionary
    nonappropriated unit fund allocations.
        Understanding that communication is a key quality of life issue
    important to our marines and their families, we conducted research and
    analysis to assess the effectiveness of current communication methods,
    identify communication needs of marines and their families, and develop
    a formal organizational communication system that will facilitate
    three-way communication: commands to marines and families; marines and
    families to commands; and marines and families to each other. Three
    tools of that communication system have been developed and implemented:
    the Mass Communication Tool enables simultaneous broadcast of official
    communication via email, text messaging, or phone, and other technology
    enhancements to expand communications between the unit and marines and
    their families regarding official communication or important unit
    training events; the Volunteer Tracking Tool is a web-based tool that
    allows marines and families to track their volunteer hours and search
    for volunteer opportunities anywhere in the world; the Family Readiness
    Assessment Tool enables a commander to take a pulse on the health of
    his or her personal and family readiness program. All three of these
    tools are available to the Reserve component as well as the Active
    component.
        The Unit Personal and Family Readiness Program (UPFRP) is supported
    by the MCCS MCFTB Program, which provides high-quality training to
    support the life cycle of the marine and family through mission, career
    and life events. The UPFRP and MCFTB are enmeshed and that strong
    supported/supporting relationship is critical to ensuring personal and
    family readiness. We have expanded and enhanced our pre-, during, and
    post-deployment training to address the increased demands and potential
    impact of multiple, sustained deployments on marines and their
    families, including the Reserve component through the Yellow Ribbon
    Reintegration Program. We have developed an inventory of LifeSkills
    training courses that specifically address challenges of military life,
    but also personal and family life. Acknowledging the role extended
    family members play in fostering personal and family readiness, we have
    extended our family readiness support to embrace parents and extended
    family members of marines. We have incorporated Combat and Operational
    Stress Control and Suicide Prevention programs into our deployment
    training cycles. Finally, our MCFTB staff provides all Unit Command
    Teams training on the roles, responsibilities and supporting tools that
    are available to foster personal and family readiness.
        One of the most beneficial results of these investments is having
    the FRO as a unit level representative trained and aware of the
    multitude of MCCS, local community and Department of Defense (DOD)
    family support programs and capabilities. As a trusted agent of the
    commander and having direct access to unit marines and families, the
    FRO introduces these capabilities and resources as a positive force
    multiplier. The partnership of unit commanders, MCCS and the local
    community will continue to pay dividends for years to come.
           exceptional family member program and respite care program
        Today, we are actively helping over 6,500 families gain access to
    medical, educational, and financial services that may be limited or
    restricted at certain duty stations. Marines and their families
    enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) are now
    receiving case management services aimed at providing a continuum of
    care to facilitate a seamless transition from installation to
    installation. We are providing 40 hours of Marine Corps-funded respite
    care per month to all enrolled families. The EFMP Respite Care program
    is intended to reduce stress on Marine families who are caring for one
    or more family members with special needs, as well as handling the
    deployment cycle of one of the parents. This program, funded by the
    Marine Corps, may be used in conjunction with the TRICARE Extended Care
    Health Option (ECHO) respite care benefit.
        Gaining access to services can be most challenging to families who
    have members diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The Marine
    Corps supports legislation, introduced in the House earlier this year,
    which would define ASD as a medical condition and authorize treatment
    if a health care professional determines that treatment is medically
    necessary.
        We sincerely appreciate the increased Government limit that
    Congress approved for fiscal year 2009 for certain benefits available
    through ECHO, in particular, the Special Education benefit. When fully
    implemented, this increase will provide a more robust level of Early
    Intervention Services, especially Applied Behavior Analysts, to
    beneficiaries with ASD.
                             school liaison program
        The education of over 52,000 school-aged children of Marine Corps
    parents directly contributes to the overall state of family readiness
    within our Corps. We recognize that our children, who are often as
    mobile as their military parents, face additional challenges associated
    with frequent moves between schools and educational systems of
    differing quality and standards. Some of these restrictive practices
    involve the transfer of records; course sequencing; graduation
    requirements; exclusion from extra-curricular activities; redundant or
    missed entrance and/or exit testing; kindergarten and first grade
    entrance age variations; and the power of custodial parents while
    parents are deployed. To address these challenges, we established
    School Liaison positions at each of our installations to help parents
    and commanders interact with local schools and districts. Installation
    School Liaisons work at local and district levels, while Regional
    School Liaisons work state issues. The national level School Liaison
    appropriately addresses Federal level issues and coordinates state
    agendas as necessary. Specifically, the School Liaisons advocate for
    school-aged children and form partnerships with schools and other
    agencies to improve access and availability to quality education as
    well as to mitigate education transition issues. School Liaisons are
    actively involved in efforts to assist school districts in applying for
    available competitive and noncompetitive grants focusing on issues
    arising with military school-aged children. Complimenting these
    efforts, the Marine Corps strongly supports the work of the Office of
    the Secretary of Defense (OSD) with respect to gaining the support of
    more states as signatories to the ``Interstate Compact on Educational
    Opportunity for Military Children'' to enable reciprocal acceptance of
    enrollment, eligibility, placement, and graduation requirements. To
    date, 20 States have passed the Compact. We are very appreciative of
    the actions taken by those states to approve the compact and we are
    hopeful that the remaining States in session will take similar action
    to approve it and join this year.
        With every step we take in our family support transition plan, we
    have been careful to let our families know that ``we hear you'' and are
    taking action to improve our support capabilities. Their requests are
    reasonable and the Marine Corps is committed to response. While so much
    progress has been made through our listening, learning, and responding
    actions, we have so much more to do. As we have sought feedback and let
    families know that we hear their needs, they are overwhelming satisfied
    and grateful for the refreshed or expanded programs. But, there is
    still more that we can do to ease their burdens and provide appropriate
    quality of life support.
                     identifying and resolving program gaps
        A recent study into the communication needs and styles of our
    marines and their families conducted by J. Walter Thompson provided
    some interesting insights into the Marine Corps family, particularly
    our Millennial families. As an example, we learned that a Marine Corps
    installation is the loneliest place on earth for a young spouse--
    particularly those that are pregnant. Many junior marines arrive in the
    Corps missing basic life skills that prior generations might assume or
    take for granted (e.g., managing finances, living independently from
    parents). While the Marine Corps has dozens of resources available for
    families, they are generally used after problems escalate and not at
    the critical time of transition from civilian to military life. We have
    also learned that our Millennials are digital natives who prefer to use
    social networking systems and peer to peer connections for their
    information sources. While we believe that our FROs will pay great
    dividends in connecting families to assistance, the challenge of
    effective and pointed communication is a gap that must be attacked
    through an organizational communication system that ensures information
    passed is of the ``news you can use'' variety.
        Beyond the significant challenge of improving our communication
    effectiveness, there are other gaps noted below that need further
    research and problem resolution. We believe that critical coordination
    with sister Services and OSD will help us in this regard.
    Installation vs. Community-Based Programming
        Military installations have served as the hub of our service
    delivery model for decades. Our program managers are naturally geared
    to development of programs and services that fit an installation
    delivery model--even when the customer resides off base. Our Marine
    Corps Reserve families are not well supported by installation-based
    programming and would be better served by community-based programming
    that utilizes and maximizes other Federal and State service platforms.
    Additionally, while we have significantly assessed our wartime footing
    requirements on installations, we have not considered fully the changes
    necessary to support the wartime ``citizen soldier''. We have recently
    engaged in discussion with OSD and sister Services on this topic.
    Remote and Isolated Command Support and other Hot Spots
        Many Marine Corps installations are located in remote areas or
    around local counties or cities whose community services infrastructure
    is not robust or capable of supporting marines and their families. In
    these instances, it is necessary for the Marine Corps to increase
    capabilities aboard the base. We have conducted initial assessments at
    remote and isolated commands and are continuing our analysis and
    requirements definition.
    Long-Term Care of Survivors and Caring for the Caregivers of Injured/
            Ill
        The families of our survivors and those of injured/ill often have
    individualized care requirements that present unique challenges. These
    family members--particularly surviving spouses--are not typically
    located around Marine Corps installation support systems. As noted
    above, a community-based programming approach is required. We have
    initiated action to explore partnerships with sister Services, State
    and local agencies, and nonprofit organizations.
    Access and Availability to Health Care
        Over the past year, we have initiated town hall meetings through
    our Deputy Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, for the purpose
    of gathering customer feedback on health care concerns of our marines
    and families. Following these meetings, we act to address and resolve
    local and systemic issues. We are joined at these town halls by the
    Navy Surgeon General and TRICARE Management Activity (TMA). From a
    system-wide perspective, once in the system, marines and their families
    are traditionally satisfied, but there are some specific challenges
    with gaining access to care, availability of specialty care, and
    reimbursement for mileage to long distance medical appointments. We are
    working directly with Navy Medicine and TMA to resolve these concerns.
    Behavioral Health
        Across the board, we are experiencing up ticks in suicides,
    domestic violence, substance abuse, and sexual assault. While we
    maintain our cautious concern, we must also directly assess the quality
    and effectiveness of our prevention and intervention programs. Since
    January, we have had teams of program analysts assessing our
    installation program operations. From these assessments, we believe
    that improved prevention efforts and corrective policies and procedures
    are warranted.
    Availability of Child Care
        Per our annual report, we are providing 11,757 child care spaces
    and meeting 63.6 percent of the calculated total potential need. It is
    important to note that the Marine Corps has initiated rigorous data
    collection and analysis improvements. As a result, it will be necessary
    to correct the 2007 annual summary due to identified reporting errors.
    Our reported rate of 71 percent of calculated total potential need for
    2007 is more accurately stated as 59.1 percent. To meet the DOD
    standard of 80 percent of potential need, we would require slightly
    over 3,000 additional spaces. It is important to note that the
    potential need data is not static and fluctuates. To address child care
    requirements, Congress has funded 915 spaces in fiscal year 2008/2009.
    The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and 2009 Overseas
    Contingency Operation projects provide 1,700 spaces. Based on
    forecasted data in 2010, we project an increase in our total potential
    need of approximately 500 additional spaces. The Marine Corps continues
    to assess requirements for infants and children through 12 years of age
    using multiple strategies and partnerships.
    Family Member Employment Education and Training Assistance
        An important quality of life concern for our marines and their
    families is the ability of the spouse to establish and maintain a
    career regardless of the sponsor's duty station. As previously stated,
    the marine makes the commitment to serve, but the family also serves.
    Independent needs, goals, and desires for the family or sponsor are
    often sacrificed or constrained due to frequent relocations and
    responsibilities of single parenting upon deployment or during high
    OPTEMPO periods. While initiatives have been instituted to provide
    portable careers and education funding, we have more to do in
    documenting need and developing comprehensive and integrated strategies
    to support employment, training, and educational requirements of
    spouses.
    Transition Assistance
        The final program contact that we have with marines and their
    families is through our Transition Assistance Management Program. It is
    critical that we ensure that this contact produces the kind of support
    that enables the return of responsible citizens to the civilian
    population who are accepted and productive in their new direction and
    life change. We are currently exploring opportunities to maximize our
    support by providing ways to more directly connect marines and their
    families to education, training, or jobs as they exit the Marine Corps.
    Impact of the Economy
        As with all Americans, the marines and their families are not
    exempt from financial challenges. As noted previously, many of our
    junior marines lack basic financial management skills. We also have
    programs and services, such as our Marine Corps Exchange and Marine
    Marts, whose mission is to provide high value goods and merchandise. In
    our Exchange and Marine Marts, we have implemented value programs and
    pricing strategies specifically targeted to our at-risk populations. We
    have additionally conducted a functionality assessment on our Personal
    Financial Management Program and believe that opportunity exists to
    enhance our support.
    Deployments and Impact on the Parental Unit
        Every marine is responsible for their family readiness. Family
    readiness means that they are self sufficient and resilient. It must be
    recognized, however, that when the marine deploys, the parental unit is
    diminished with the absence of the deployed parent. Providing respite
    care, tutoring services and other parent support tools helps the family
    successfully navigate the deployment and gain confidence. We must
    continue to explore Parental Unit impacts associated with OPTEMPO and
    deployments to ensure that we help marine families succeed.
                    resourcing our programs and requirements
        We are grateful to Congress for providing supplemental funding
    during fiscal years 2008 and 2009 that enabled the initial start-up of
    our improved family readiness program. The Marine Corps' fiscal year
    2010 Quality of Life Activities (OP-34) baseline direct support
    operation and maintenance (O&M) budget request is $378 million and
    sustains many of the family support requirements previously funded with
    supplemental appropriations. When including the important $26 million
    of OSD-provided funding expected for the Family Advocacy, Transition
    and Relocation Assistance, and Drug Demand Reduction Programs, the
    Marine Corps' MCCS baseline O&M budget increases by $119 million from
    originally budgeted fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010. This enduring
    commitment across the spectrum of programs operationalizes the
    Commandant of the Marine Corps' Guidance to ``Improve the quality of
    life for our marines and our families,'' with the specific goal to
    ``Ensure our Family and Single Marine Programs have fully transitioned
    to a wartime footing in order to fulfill the promises made to our
    families.''
          warfighter and family services as category a mwr activities
        The Marine Corps intends to fully implement the recent OSD policy
    change that allows Warfighter and Family Services (WFS) programs to be
    treated as MWR Category A activities. This welcome change will greatly
    improve how we provide WFS programs to marines and their families. This
    change will allow us to use nonappropriated fund (NAF) support
    practices, such as NAF human resource and procurement practices. MWR
    and WFS programs are both vital to building the social fabric of the
    military community, and directly impact readiness and retention.
    Operating them via the same NAF mechanisms will offer a more integrated
    approach to providing service for marines and families, and mission
    support for commanders.
                                   conclusion
        Going forward, we are committed to continuing improvements to our
    family readiness programs and equipping our families with the knowledge
    and skills to meet and surmount the challenges of a wartime military
    lifestyle. Our programs must contribute to the Marine Corps goals for
    recruitment, retention and readiness, while they address the varying
    needs of our ``generations'' of marines and families. Ongoing
    assessments, surveys and program evaluations will be instrumental in
    determining program effectiveness and further identifying service gaps
    and program requirements to be elevated to Marine Corps leadership. We
    recognize that more work needs to be done to deliver programs and
    services which meet reasonable quality of life expectations of our
    marines and their families. On behalf of the Marine Corps and Marine
    Corps families, I thank the committee for your continued advocacy and
    attention to the well-being of all America's servicemembers and their
    families. It is most sincerely appreciated.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you, General.
        Ms. Nesmith?

        STATEMENT OF ELIZA G. NESMITH, CHIEF, AIRMAN AND FAMILY
               SERVICES DIVISION, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

        Ms. Nesmith. Chairman Nelson, Senator Graham, thank you for
    your service to this country and for the invitation to come to
    speak today on behalf of Air Force family support programs.
        Our Chief of Staff, General Norton Schwartz, recognizes the
    importance of families and has made developing and care for
    airmen and their families one of the top five Air Force
    priorities. I am honored to share with you today some of the
    programs supporting that objective.
        We take care of our airmen and their families through a
    variety of services, including child and youth development
    programs, airmen and family readiness, morale, welfare, and
    recreation programs, including libraries, fitness centers,
    outdoor recreation, and community centers.
        With high OPTEMPO, increased mobilization, and longer
    periods of time away from home, these programs help our airmen
    focus on the mission while we take care of the families. These
    programs and services make the Air Force a good place to live
    and work and to raise a family.
        You have my written statement, but I would like to
    highlight two key areas. The Air Force has always placed a high
    priority on families, and we are particularly proud of our
    child and youth development programs. We know that quality,
    affordable, and available childcare is a workforce issue that
    has a direct impact on mission readiness.
        This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Military
    Childcare Act of 1989. With your support, this act allowed
    military childcare to become a model for the Nation. We share
    this honor with DOD and the other services. Because of the
    quality associated with this program, our airmen and their
    families have come to rely on this benefit as a part of the
    daily fabric of being in the Air Force.
        One area where more support is needed is the EFMP. Our Air
    Force does a good job arranging assignments for over 14,000 Air
    Force families with special needs. However, we know we need to
    do more for these families once they reach those assignments.
    While some families may not need assistance, many of them do
    need help to navigate the school systems, find childcare, and
    balance their parental responsibilities with their duty
    demands.
        As this example shows, we continually assess our programs
    in light of the emerging needs of our airmen and their
    families. We employ a wide variety of techniques, including
    surveys, assessments, focus groups, online customer
    satisfaction polls, and just talking to people. We strive to
    close any gaps in service by identifying the requirements and
    seeking resources through our Air Force corporate structure.
        Your continued support will allow us to do even better in
    this area. Thank you again so much for this opportunity, and I
    will look forward to your questions.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Nesmith follows:]
                     Prepared Statement by Eliza G. Nesmith
                                  introduction
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Graham, and members of the
    Personnel Subcommittee, for the chance to appear before you today to
    highlight some of our Air Force initiatives we have implemented to
    support our most valued resource. Our airmen are committed to serving
    their country and do so around the world every day. Their
    accomplishments are a source of pride for Air Force leadership and our
    Nation. Airmen make a decision to stay in the Air Force based on many
    factors, one of which is the quality of support they and their families
    receive. Caring for families has a direct impact on mission readiness;
    when we take care of Air Force families, airmen are free from
    distractions and better able to focus on the mission. Our Chief of
    Staff has made developing and caring for airmen and their families a
    top priority for the United States Air Force.
                               deployment support
        We tailor programs on both the homefront and the frontline to meet
    the needs of single and married members and their families who are
    impacted by deployments. We offer programs and services across the
    three phases of the deployment cycle: predeployment, deployment or
    sustainment, and reintegration or reunion. These programs help airmen
    and families identify and resolve concerns related to deployment.
        At home-station, we offer information and referral services
    directly to spouses and families. This past year, our predeployment
    briefings armed 100,000 members and families with information and
    resources to help them prepare for extended separations, with special
    emphasis on personal, professional, and legal matters. During
    deployment, free morale calls help airmen and families stay connected,
    thereby increasing communication and decreasing the sense of isolation.
    During the sustainment phase, our Airman and Family Readiness Centers
    conduct workshops and activities which help family members address
    issues such as financial stability, parenting, and stress. Our
    reintegration briefings helped 22,000 spouses this year understand
    changes which their loved one may have experienced during deployment,
    and offered them ways to address those changes and improve the quality
    of the reunion. Over 15,000 family members attended our communication
    and life skills workshops, and 24,000 requested and received financial
    counseling. We also provided employment assistance to prepare 40,000
    spouses for portable careers. Although stressors associated with longer
    and multiple deployments may begin to wear on Air Force families, we
    ensure there are services and resources at their disposal to help
    address their concerns.
        On the frontline, our Deployed Airman and Family Readiness Center
    in Al Udeid provided over 8,100 consultations last year. Keeping single
    and married deployed airmen in touch with their families provides an
    emotional link to family and friends back home. Some of the most
    requested services by deployed members were financial management,
    family reintegration, and personal and work-life issues. Accessibility
    to morale phones, computers, and faxes allows deployed airmen to make
    frequent contact with families and friends.
                            military child education
        Air Force families include 145,000 children ages 6-18; these
    children typically move six to nine times during their school years.
    Academic standards, promotion and graduation requirements, services for
    children with special needs, eligibility for sports and other
    activities, and transfer and acceptance for records vary greatly from
    State to State and district to district. While these are not new
    issues, national emphasis on quality education and higher standards for
    admission to post high school education and training institutions
    increases the stakes for military children. Additionally, the added
    stress of family separation due to deployments combines with transition
    issues to increase the need for information and support to these
    families.
        Our new family structure enabled us to make great progress in
    institutionalizing support for Air Force-connected students attending
    public, private, Department of Defense Dependent Schools, and home and
    cyber schools. Overseas Air Force bases and 12 Stateside installations
    locally fund school liaisons; other Air Force bases use their Airman
    and Family Readiness Center staff to provide school liaison support as
    a collateral duty with other family support services. Also, a senior
    military officer or Department of Defense (DOD) civilian is designated
    to attend local school board meetings to advocate for the interests of
    Air Force families. Despite limited funding, major commands and
    installations employ creative initiatives such as providing webcasts of
    graduations so deployed parents can share in these occasions. We
    sponsor training in conjunction with the Military Child Education
    Coalition for staff working education issues, and partner with Army and
    Navy to offer training to schools located near installations. The Air
    Force continues to strengthen its partnerships with the National
    Military Family Association, Military Impacted Schools Association,
    Military Child Education Coalition, Department of Defense Education
    Agency, the other Services, and the U.S. Department of Education in a
    concentrated effort to ease the tough challenges that military students
    and their families face.
                          support for working spouses
        Today, more and more spouses seek the personal fulfillment of a
    full professional career and many families need two incomes. As a
    result, spouse employment and career development opportunities are
    crucial for recruitment and retention. Studies show over 50 percent of
    Air Force spouses currently work outside the home, and 77 percent wish
    to work outside the home. Typically, military spouses earn less than
    their civilian counterparts, even though 7 of 10 have some college
    education.
        Our Air Force programs provide spouses with the knowledge and
    skills they need to develop and maintain a successful career within the
    framework of the mobile military lifestyle. Installation-level staff
    members interface with employers in the community to raise awareness of
    the value of hiring military spouses. Airman and Family Readiness
    Centers provide classes and individual consultation on career planning
    and all phases of the job search, as well as assistance with on-line
    resources and access to computers. One Air Force spouse arrived at an
    Air Force base last year with a long and daunting to-do list, but said
    the one thing she didn't have to worry about was where to look for
    career and employment assistance: ``It was comforting to have one
    centralized area I could go to and find the resources I needed.''
        The Air Force is also working with DOD to support spouse employment
    initiatives through programs such as ``Spouses to Teachers'' and ``My
    Career Advancement Account,'' which provides up to $6,000 for
    education, licensure, certification, and continuing education for a
    portable career.
        The Air Force Aid Society sponsors a Spouse Tuition Assistance
    Program which grants up to $1,500 to a spouse stationed overseas to
    defer the cost of college tuition, and the Spouse Employment Training
    Program which funds up to $10,000 for Airman and Family Readiness
    Center programs that assist spouses with requirements for portable
    careers. In 2009, 32 grant proposals were approved across the Air
    Force. Participants will train in medical transcription, pharmacy
    technology, computers, nursing assistance, and special needs education.
                            child and youth programs
        We made significant progress this year helping airmen and their
    families balance the competing demands of parenting and military
    service. Readily available, quality and affordable child care and youth
    programs continue to be a workforce issue with direct impact on mission
    readiness. The challenging military environment includes higher
    operations tempo, increased mobilization, and longer periods of time
    away from home. Our challenge over the past several years has been to
    expand access to child care. With your support, and the assistance of
    the Department of Defense, we continue to increase child care spaces
    for airmen.
        Thanks to the temporary legislative authority for child care
    projects, the ``Growing Child Care Spaces'' initiative funded 18 minor
    construction projects. Congress also funded 8 military construction
    projects, plus 7 others in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
    This construction boom is expected to significantly reduce the known
    Air Force child care space shortfall from 6,400 child care spaces to
    zero by the time all funded construction is complete. Our next
    challenge will be to renovate or replace the aging infrastructure at
    child development and youth centers.
        The ``Expanded Child Care'' program provides 16,000 hours of child
    care each month to assist airmen who require additional child care
    support during shifts, deployments, or when they work in excess of a
    normal duty day. The ``Returning Home Care'' program supports airmen
    returning or on leave from 30 days or more deployment in support of
    contingency operations with 16 hours of free child care. To ensure
    child care is affordable when a space is unavailable at the child
    development center or school age program, the ``Family Child Care
    Subsidy'' program provides an average subsidy of $142 per child per
    month in Air Force Family Child Care homes. Our partnership with the
    Air Force Aid Society in the ``Give Parents a Break program'' provides
    several hours of free child care each month to parents who are dealing
    with challenges inherent to military life, including deployments,
    remote tours of duty, and extended hours.
        We continue to expand the ``Home Community Care'' program, which
    reduces out-of-pocket expenses for Air Reserve component members by
    providing free in-home quality child care during drill weekends. We
    significantly expanded the program to new locations this past year,
    with a total of 43 participating family child care homes in 37
    locations in 26 States typically not near Active Duty bases. The
    program offered over 57,000 hours of child care last year, with 24,000
    hours provided in off-base, civilian contracted homes during Unit
    Training Assembly weekends. We expect the amount of off-base care to
    increase to 36,000 hours during 2009.
        We capitalize on our relationships with national family service
    organizations to expand child and youth programs. Our partnership with
    the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
    provides child care in off-base areas where on-base child care is not
    available. We will expand this relationship to include respite child
    care over the coming months.
        We continue to provide outstanding youth development opportunities
    for Air Force children, from elementary school through high school.
    Providing support for geographically-separated families has been an
    area of our focus this year, and partnership opportunities have allowed
    us to reach additional families living in civilian communities and on
    active installations.
        We also partner with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to offer a 1-
    year free membership in a local Boys & Girls Club. This allows us to
    reach Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve families who do not live near a
    military installation, and provides their children with a safe and
    positive place to spend out-of-school time. Our partnership with United
    States Department of Agriculture/4-H and our sister Services fosters
    the development of 4-H clubs on Air Force bases and provides
    opportunities for military youth to participate in 4-H programs in
    every county in the United States, and in our overseas locations.
        The Air Force offers a variety of residential, specialty, and other
    base-specific camp opportunities. The ``Air National Guard and Air
    Force Reserve Teen Leadership Summits'' are no-cost summer camps for
    Reserve and Guard teens ages 15-18 years. We partner with Air Force
    Reserve and the University of Georgia 4-H to provide these camps in
    2009 for more than 150 youth. We also partner with the National
    Military Family Association to host seven Operation Purple camps on Air
    Force installations; these camps are geared toward teenagers who have
    experienced their parents' deployments and may not have a local support
    system that understands their unique issues. The European Keystone
    Summit, and camps developed in partnership with the National Military
    Family Association, provides residential youth camps during the summer.
    Over 25,000 Air Force youth participate in camps designed to help them
    achieve their potential, develop their self-esteem, and build their
    resistance to negative pressures.
        We focus on fitness through ``Air Force FitFactor,'' which
    encourages physical activity and healthy eating selections for youth
    ages 6-18 years. This successful program reaches over 15,000 youth each
    year. Our new Air Force FitFamily initiative will roll out in 2010 and
    allow families to register as a team to enhance family fitness and
    wellness.
        Additionally, the Air Force has made great efforts to expand or
    create fitness programs for parents and families. Most fitness centers
    have a family-oriented fitness room and programs that allow parents to
    work out with their children. For example, our fitness professionals
    created and supported programs such as Mommy and Me, Yoga for Kids, and
    Strollerrobics. Our programs and services allow families to participate
    in outdoor adventure activities, libraries, clubs, and community
    centers provide an outlet for families experiencing stressors. The rich
    variety of programs helps families connect with the larger Air Force
    Family, and others who are experiencing similar challenges.
                  exceptional family members and special needs
        To identify gaps in services, our recent Caring for People forum
    brought together more than 200 Air Force behavioral specialists,
    chaplains, family advocacy personnel and other family support
    professionals. The Forum focused on issues on deployment, families,
    schools, special needs, Guard and Reserve families, and single airmen.
    The resultant top 11 initiatives included development of a special
    needs family support program, a social networking plan for military
    families similar to Facebook, expansion of family support resources for
    Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, expansion of schools support
    functions, and a focus on single airmen.
        The Air Force identified an emerging need to standardize support
    and advocacy for families enrolled in the Exceptional Family Member
    Program. We have a longstanding and successful process for identifying
    families with special needs and facilitating personnel moves and
    assignments based on the families' requirements. However, we also
    determined there is need for a companion program to provide families
    with continuing support as they move from location to location. Over
    14,000 families have Exceptional Family Members, and it is important to
    minimize the adverse effects of these moves on the family or member's
    career. As such, we are actively engaged in creating a comprehensive
    program that offers these families consistent support and reassurance
    throughout their moves, extended or repeated deployments, and military
    career.
        Thank you for the opportunity to address these issues today for Air
    Force families. We look forward to working with you as we continue to
    enhance our support to the men and women of the United States Air Force
    and their families.

        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        Since you mentioned it, Ms. Nesmith, in terms of getting
    surveys and responses back from the members and families, do
    those result in a study, per se, or is that just to give you an
    idea of what the reaction is to the programs?
        Ms. Nesmith. One of the primary surveys that we use in the
    Air Force we call a community assessment, and we are going into
    about the 20th year of doing that every 2 years. We have a
    multifunctional cross-agency group, which we call a community
    action information board, made up of mental health
    professionals, family support professionals, chaplains, sexual
    assault resource people, and all of those people who come
    together to make the community decisions.
        We take that data at every level, installation, major
    command, and headquarters level, and we focus on an area of a
    year. Then we develop programs, if needed, to address the
    issues that have come up as a result of that.
        I will just give one example. From 2000, we recognized that
    we were providing childcare within the gates, and we needed to
    provide nights, weekends, for us people who were working in
    missiles 24 hours. At that time we started a program, and
    today, we provide about 18,000 hours a month of childcare
    through those programs--that is one example where we used that
    community assessment very gingerly.
        Senator Ben Nelson. One of the things that was very clear
    from the first panel, we are all concerned about the stress on
    the children of our military personnel, frequent and lengthy
    deployments and dangerous missions and the absence of a parent
    in the home.
        This question is for everyone. Is there any ongoing or are
    you aware of any ongoing or completed studies of the impact of
    this OPTEMPO on children or family personnel? Do we have a
    study that has gone through and established from reviews of
    scientific data and medical information, mental health
    information, a study that would establish that as an impact?
        Mr. Myers. I believe that data is gathered from all of the
    services and put together. In fact, yesterday, they had a
    briefing just going over all of that data.
        But with the force today, it is a young force. The issues
    are a lot different. For instance, at our Military OneSource
    center, we have a program to provide assistance. A lot of
    people didn't want to come up and ask for assistance and so
    forth. Our Military OneSource started a program where any
    family member or military member can get help either online, on
    the telephone, or, if they want, face to face. A lot of these
    issues with children are discussed.
        On the divorce rate, they talked about earlier in the
    session. The divorce rate has increased in the military. What
    we find out on this Military OneSource, many of the issues that
    are brought up is communication and relationships. You can see
    the war is taking a toll on the families. The families are
    trying to stick together.
        But all of these studies put together is the result. That
    is why we put these various programs in, and as the first group
    said, access to medical care is a key issue and mental health.
        Senator Ben Nelson. But do we have the opportunity to focus
    primarily, let us say, on children to see what the impact is? I
    think we know, but we need sometimes verification and concrete
    evidence of it to where we could focus on that, family as well,
    but on the children?
        Ms. Marin. Sir, in the Army, we have two ongoing studies
    right now. One is an academic study for the effects of multiple
    deployments on school-aged children, and we are to get the
    final results of that in the next several months. We have also
    kicked off a major study partnering with the Military Child
    Education Coalition, and they are going into districts, and
    they are partnering, going out into the schools--not just on
    post schools--and exploring the effects of multiple deployments
    on children.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Excuse me. On their academic and on
    their social performance?
        Ms. Marin. Yes, sir, both. We are going to be having those
    benefits, and we will be able to do an analysis and do
    programmatic adjustments based upon that information. That
    information is going to be available to us by the end of this
    summer and on into the next year.
        Senator Ben Nelson. That base of information may be very
    helpful in determining what we are doing and whether it is
    really reaching far enough into it or whether there ought to be
    some other approaches.
        Ms. Marin. Absolutely, sir.
        General Larsen. Sir?
        Senator Ben Nelson. General?
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps, through the Center of
    Naval Analysis and some other things that we have done, we have
    looked at parts of the issue. We have looked at it from a
    small, narrow perspective on some of the questions that we have
    asked, particularly dealing with wounded warriors and others
    and the impacts on their families.
        We would welcome some kind of a congressional study or some
    effort to look at the whole problem of the impact of stress on
    the families. But there is a lot of stuff that has been done on
    stress on the force. There is not a lot of stuff that has been
    done on stress on the family.
        I mean, if that is an opportunity, we would welcome that
    and we would welcome to participate in that program.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Make it DOD-wide on all the branches so
    that there may be some distinctions between some of the
    branches. I rather doubt it, but there could be.
        Dr. Rau. Senator Nelson, it is interesting that you ask
    that question. My staff and I have just been reviewing the
    scientific literature on that question in relation to
    supporting a three-star board that we have in the Navy called
    the Navy Preparedness Alliance. They have asked the question
    about the impact of deployment on children, specifically
    individual deployers within the Navy, which is a relatively new
    phenomenon.
        A review of that literature really suggests that there is a
    fair amount of literature, but it focuses a lot on teenagers
    and less on school age and even less on preschool. It is a 20-
    year piece of literature. The body of literature that is more
    recent is less than the body of literature that is older. The
    issues are different now than they were 20 years ago when we
    were researching this question.
        But the results are what you would expect, that children of
    deployers are having more difficulties, and that is for young
    children as well as teenagers and school age.
        Senator Ben Nelson. It is unfortunate that we have 8 years
    of experience, but we do have 8 years of experience that we
    ought to capitalize on to know about the effects to help us
    understand what the current situation is. Not only how we can
    deal with it, but also with some idea of preparation for the
    future in the event that history repeats itself in a timely
    fashion. We hope it doesn't, but being prepared is certainly
    part of our response to the families.
        Thank you.
        Senator Graham.
        Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, preference for military spouse
    hiring. Where are we?
        Mr. Myers. Right now, spouses do have preference for hiring
    within the military. One of the problems I know they are
    working on, we have had cases where a spouse is offered a job,
    but doesn't want to take that job because they don't want to
    use their authorization. They want to work for a better job.
    Working through personnel, they are looking at that to try to
    fix that.
        Senator Graham. Anything the committee could do to help?
        Mr. Myers. I will take that for the record and talk to our
    personnel folks.
        [The information referred to follows:]

        Military spouses are only offered positions they voluntarily apply
    for or which they register for consideration through the Department of
    Defense (DOD) Priority Placement Program. They are counseled and
    advised they will be referred using their preference until they accept
    or decline a continuing position. While a spouse occasionally may later
    express remorse over his or her decision, this is generally not the
    case. Most understand their preference is to help them find continuing
    employment at their sponsors' new duty location; it was never intended
    to allow job shopping.
        Of greater concern to many military spouses is they are not
    eligible for noncompetitive Civil Service appointments. However, on
    September 25, 2008, President Bush signed Executive Order 13473
    allowing agencies to make noncompetitive appointments of spouses of
    certain members of the armed services. The Office of Personnel
    Management is currently coordinating proposed final regulations with
    the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
        It is our understanding OMB will be publishing the final
    regulations via a Federal Register Notice in August 2009. While these
    new regulations will not provide a hiring or selection preference for
    eligible military spouses, it will certainly facilitate their entry
    into Civil Service jobs. In addition, military spouses who become
    eligible for this appointing authority by virtue of relocating with
    their military sponsors will also be afforded, under separate
    authority, military spouse preference in DOD.

        Senator Graham. Great.
        Mr. Myers. We appreciate that offer.
        Senator Graham. Okay. Good.
        The idea of vouchers available to military families as they
    move from school district to school district, starting with Ms.
    Nesmith and working down, how do you feel about that?
        Ms. Nesmith. The issue of vouchers is certainly something
    that has come up in the public over the years. Just in my
    experience looking at it is that the possibility of adding it
    to the tax burden that a military member would realize, that
    this voucher would add into their income and thereby raise
    their tax implication.
        Senator Graham. What if we made it income free?
        Ms. Nesmith. If you made it income free, it would certainly
    give some opportunities, as the panel mentioned, for parents to
    be able to seek out education that they desired for their
    children.
        Senator Graham. General Larsen, what is your view?
        General Larsen. Sir, one of the issues that we are working
    right now with the Council on Disabilities is the possibility
    of developing a voucher-type program, particularly for our
    EFMP.
        Senator Graham. Right. Right, absolutely.
        General Larsen. What I think we need to do, if you go
    across the Marine Corps and talk to people, education is one of
    our biggest issues.
        Senator Graham. Right.
        General Larsen. It is the reason people decide to become
    geographic bachelors and leave their family in one location and
    go to another location. It is because for a lot of reasons
    people decide that the education either where they are is what
    they are looking for or where they are going is not what they
    are looking for.
        A voucher program would help us a lot. I think it is a
    great idea, and there are a lot of opportunities for this.
        Senator Graham. What you are saying, General, is a lot of
    time when it comes to assignment rotation time, the families
    will stay in what they think to be the better school, and the
    military member will go unaccompanied?
        General Larsen. Exactly. That is one of the primary sources
    we have for geographic bachelors.
        We have schools in certain locations where the school that
    is adjacent to the installation is not necessarily a good
    school. It is not one of the schools that people want to have
    their children go, but they are prevented from going to the
    other schools in the public school system.
        Senator Graham. Gotcha. School choice within a public
    school setting.
        Dr. Rau?
        Dr. Rau. We would support anything or efforts that ease the
    transition of military families from one school system to
    another, and there might be a variety of options that would do
    that.
        Senator Graham. Okay. Ms. Marin?
        Ms. Marin. Yes, as the panel expressed earlier, the robust
    discussion, I think that is something we really want to look
    at. In the Army, we have school liaison officers on all of our
    installations. We already have a robust amount of information
    on the individual perceptions of the soldiers and families of
    the schools.
        We know that there have been a lot of requests for public
    school of choice, what you just talked about. We would like to
    look more into the school voucher issue and also how it would
    interplay with Impact Aid, which was a discussion earlier.
        General Larsen. Can I make a comment on Impact Aid? Impact
    Aid lags. It is a year after. The school system has to put in
    the request a year later to get Impact Aid. Impact Aid, like a
    voucher system, should follow the student. It shouldn't go to
    the school district. It ought to go to the school where the kid
    is attending.
        Senator Graham. Gotcha. Okay. Mr. Myers?
        Mr. Myers. I think a voucher program is very good.
        In the Washington, DC area there are several bases. On one
    base, over 90 percent of the children are being home schooled.
    Senator Graham, as you said, there are people that opt out of
    the Service or don't want the assignment because of education
    for the children. So that is a key issue with our military
    personnel.
        Senator Graham, I forgot to mention the Defense Center of
    Excellence for Psychological Health is sponsoring research on
    children. I think that will encompass all and be a good basis
    for us to look at how it affects children.
        Senator Graham. One last comment. This reciprocity issue of
    making sure that people who are licensed professionals in DOD
    families, when they move from State to State, that maybe we
    could do something to help them maintain their practices or
    their profession. That is something I am interested in. I
    really hadn't thought about that until the other panel spoke.
        The last comment is TRICARE. At the end of the day, you
    have just got to get doctors and providers into the system to
    make this thing work. I am going to ask you what I asked the
    first panel. From your perspective, from what you hear and what
    you know, Ms. Nesmith, rate TRICARE from A to F.
        Ms. Nesmith. Certainly I would concur with what I have
    heard. I am not a user of TRICARE myself. But from what I have
    heard, I would have to give B for access.
        General Larsen. I would like to give a longer answer, but
    the short answer is I would give it at best a D. In the last
    panel, we were mixing up the military treatment facilities and
    TRICARE. There are two separate problems, and there are two
    separate sets of issues that need to be discussed.
        Senator Graham. Gotcha.
        General Larsen. But I would say access to care and because
    of some of the problems that our people experienced, I would
    say a D.
        Senator Graham. Dr. Rau?
        Dr. Rau. Senator Graham, military medicine doesn't fall
    under my purview, and so I would really rather not give it a
    grade.
        Senator Graham. Fair enough.
        Dr. Rau. I don't have a lot of experience.
        Senator Graham. Sure. Good answer.
        Dr. Rau. Professionally or otherwise. I would defer to Ms.
    Mancini, who has the grassroots experience.
        Senator Graham. Ms. Marin?
        Ms. Marin. Sir, based upon what we are getting from our
    Family Readiness Group leaders and other inputs, I would echo
    Ms. Casey in that quality of care is rated very high. Access to
    care is lower.
        Senator Graham. Mr. Myers?
        Mr. Myers. What we hear when we go out, is that access to
    care is an issue.
        Senator Graham. Okay. Thank you all.
        Mr. Myers. Senator Graham, one other thing, we do have this
    Military Spouse Career Advancement Account, which gives up to
    $6,000 per spouse for credentialing and relicensing. If you
    have to get recertified, they can now use that money to get
    that done.
        Senator Graham. Okay.
        Dr. Rau. Senator Graham, I can also add that with regard to
    mental health professional licensing, there is reciprocity
    within the Federal system. If you work anywhere within the
    Federal system, you can practice within the Federal system,
    licensed in any State or U.S. territory.
        Senator Graham. Yes, that is what I am thinking about. That
    is good to know. But let us say for a nurse or a lawyer, how
    could we make it easier when they move?
        Thank you all.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Thank you.
        The EFMP was established to assist Active Duty
    servicemembers in providing for the special needs of family
    members before, during, and after relocation required by a
    change of duty assignment to a new location. I understand that
    implementation of this program varies between the Services.
    Would any of you be able to explain or wish to explain how your
    organization reaches out to servicemembers who have dependents
    with special medical and/or educational needs?
        General Larsen. I can start.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Sure. General?
        General Larsen. In the Marine Corps this last year, we
    established EFMP. Prior to that, we had a program that was
    basically an assignment program where we would make sure that
    the people, as they were moving from one location to another,
    had the type of care they needed for their family member in
    that location. It was basically an assignment policy for the
    Marine Corps.
        What we have established is a series of caseworkers and
    some legal assistance at locations across the Marine Corps that
    helps the family that has an exceptional family member in it do
    the things they need to do to get access to healthcare, to get
    some financial issues and educational issues addressed.
        We have done that by going from actually nothing a year ago
    to where we have about 6,500 people that are currently enrolled
    in the program, 6,500 families. We have 1 caseworker for 225
    families. We have spread that across the Marine Corps. They are
    in the major geographic areas or the major locations where we
    have a high concentration of services that are available.
        So southern California or areas like the area here in
    northern Virginia, where they might have services available, is
    where those families get assigned. We have a policy in place
    now to stabilize the family in that location so that they don't
    get moved from place to place every couple of years.
        The servicemember can go and do his or her overseas
    assignment or the things they need to do, but then they can
    come back to the place where their family is being stabilized
    in order to get into the system and get the care they need.
    Because often when we move them from one location to another,
    they get to the new location and they start over.
        That is another issue of reciprocity, where if they didn't
    have to start over, as we move them from California to North
    Carolina, then it would be better on the family. They would be
    more able to move from these different locations. That is kind
    of what we have done the last several months.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Any other comments regarding EFMP?
        Ms. Marin. Yes, sir. In the Army, about 10 percent of our
    active duty are registered in the EFMP. So that is about over
    51,000 soldiers who have exceptional family members, somewhat
    over 67,000 exceptional family members. It is mandatory to
    enroll.
        We have an exceptional family member coordinator on every
    installation, and they deal with what might be special needs
    for housing, for medical, and for education. We offer benefits
    such as 40 hours of respite care free per month for the primary
    caregiver for families with exceptional family members.
        Always, we are tweaking the nuances of this program. Just
    recently, it came up as an issue in our Army Family Action
    Plan, which is a yearly forum for improving policies, is that
    when a family is deploying overseas, even before the orders are
    cut, there needs to be an analysis of where they are going and
    what medical and housing and education is available for them.
        We have changed our policy so that is happening now. We are
    consistently looking at those and improving them.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Okay. Thank you.
        Building child development centers has really increased
    rapidly most recently, thanks in part, I hope, to the American
    Recovery and Reinvestment Act. What efforts are being made to
    increase access to childcare services by contracting out with
    child development centers that are off base if there isn't an
    adequate facility on base?
        I heard something about waiting lists a little bit ago, and
    does that continue to be an issue?
        Mr. Myers. Yes, sir. There are about 37,000 children on the
    waiting list, and we have seen a baby boom in the military in
    the last several years. We were able to build over 15,000
    spaces because we had that authority that we could build child
    development centers up to around $7 million or $8 million,
    which is going to expire this year. We need an extension on
    that.
        But we also need child development centers outside the
    gate. We have funds to work with child development centers
    outside the gate, Boys & Girls Clubs to get care providers,
    bring them up to standards. It will help those people out in
    the community. We think that will be another way of providing
    this effort.
        But childcare, the senior enlisted advisers tell me that is
    the number-one issue amongst our military families.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Ms. Davis, you left Offutt just too
    soon because we have a brand-new facility out there. It is
    state-of-the-art. Even though you didn't need it when you were
    there, if you decide to come back, it will fit and suit your
    needs.
        Were you part of the 55th Wing?
        Ms. Davis. Yes, sir.
        Senator Ben Nelson. Okay. Thank you.
        Thank you, everybody. It is great to have had the input
    from both panels. We thank the second panel in particular now
    for your input. It is helpful to us to understand what is
    happening in the real world and give us some idea of where we
    could be helpful to provide even more support for our military
    families.
        Thank you all, and this hearing is adjourned.
        [Questions for the record with answers supplied follow:]
               Questions Submitted by Senator E. Benjamin Nelson
                     financial literacy education programs
        1. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, in the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act
    (NDAA), Congress passed tough restrictions on the terms of certain
    credit extended to servicemembers and their dependents. This was an
    effort to help the Department of Defense (DOD) fight predatory lending
    practices in and around military installations. The predatory lending
    issue highlighted the financial practices of some servicemembers,
    especially, and most painfully, some of the most junior, and called for
    greater financial education for servicemembers. What financial literacy
    education programs are in place now to help servicemembers better
    manage their money and plan for life events such as college and
    retirement?
        Mr. Myers. The predatory lending regulation, which placed limits on
    the three types of loans identified as being particularly predatory on
    our troops and families--payday loans, vehicle title loans, and tax
    refund anticipation loans, was a key effort of the Department's
    Financial Readiness Campaign, which began in May 2003. The Campaign's
    focus is to reduce the stressors associated with financial issues by
    providing servicemembers and their families with educational resources,
    counseling, programs, and protections to help them onto the path of
    financial freedom. In empowering our troops and families with the tools
    to promote financial readiness, we will have certainly supported
    mission readiness.
        One key aspect of the Financial Readiness Campaign has been our
    official partnerships with over 20 nonprofit organizations and Federal
    agencies. Each partner has offered forms of assistance to our troops
    and families, either through financial educational programs or other
    key financial resources. Together with our partners and fellow members
    of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, we are working to
    change the financial culture of the military. This cultural shift
    begins with focusing on the education, awareness, counseling, and
    resources to enhance financial literacy, which we have embodied in the
    Campaign's eight ``Pillars of Financial Readiness,'' which essentially
    represent the campaign's platform:

             Maintaining Good Credit
             Achieving Financial Stability
             Establishing Routine Savings
             Participating in Military Benefits: Thrift Savings Plan and
            Savings Deposit Program
             Not opting out of Servicemember's Group Life Insurance and
            securing other appropriate insurance
             Encouraging low-cost loan products as an alternative to
            predatory loans
             Using low-cost Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs
             Preserving Security Clearances

        Regarding financial literacy resources and programs, servicemembers
    and their families have always had access to personal financial
    information and counseling through Military OneSource
    (www.militaryonesource.com and 1-800-342-9647). Military OneSource, a
    free 24/7-365 resource, provides support services for all
    servicemembers and their families, including the National Guard and
    Reserve, regardless of duty status. This service offers personalized
    and confidential financial counseling and planning consultations at no-
    cost. Military OneSource is especially beneficial to those
    geographically separated from installation services and augments
    services provided at installation family centers.
        We have also implemented other distinct programs which promote
    financial literacy across the military: Financial Readiness Roadshow
    events, Rotational Personal Financial Counselors (PFCs), and on-demand
    financial support.
        Financial Roadshows augment the Military Services' existing
    financial readiness programs and initiatives. An installation commander
    can request a Roadshow at their installation and tailor the event to
    address that installation's particular financial challenges. Once the
    agenda is set, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) facilitates
    financial guest speakers and specific workshops (which in the past have
    included the topics of retirement and saving for college). Specialized
    workshops for children and youth, delivered by certified and
    credentialed financial experts are also avialable. Throughout the
    event, one-on-one financial counseling is available from PFCs, who can
    remain assigned to the location, as needed, to support the
    installation. To date, OSD has facilitated, in partnership with the
    Military Services, 27 Financial Roadshow events across the country.
        In addition to PFC support provided at the Roadshows, installation
    Personal Financial Managers (PFM) can also request a PFC for rotational
    or surge support to help address financial challenges. PFC rotational
    assignments are available in 30, 60, or 90 day increments, and while
    assigned to an installation, a PFC can teach financial classes, conduct
    individual counseling, or support the PFM and family center as needed.
        On-demand financial support, primarily designed to serve the
    Reserve component due to their geographic dispersion and separation
    from military installations, focuses on providing financial educational
    resources to Guard and Reserve members and families in the form of
    briefings, financial training workshops, one-on-one counseling, and
    resource booths. Since August 2008, we have supported over 700 on-
    demand requests for financial support, where 15,000 Guard and Reserve
    members and their families have participated.
        An important aspect of our Financial Readiness Campaign involves
    providing financial education that specifically serves our children and
    youth, since studies have shown that nearly 50 percent of our children
    and youth will join, or seriously consider joining, the military.
    During Military Saves Week 2008, a program the Department sponsors in
    partnership with the Consumer Federation of America to encourage the
    military to save for the future, we successfully launched the first
    ever Military Youth Saves pilot. Military Youth Saves focuses on the
    importance of starting early to save for the future and helps develop
    self confidence and personal skills needed to manage money effectively.
    Since 2008, over 12,000 children and youth have participated in various
    military financial programs.
        Finally, there are indicators that changes in the financial
    behavior of our uniformed men and women are taking place. The recent
    Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Military Financial Confidence
    Survey, released in February 2009, found servicemembers are more likely
    to take an active role in financial planning, have a more realistic
    view than the average American worker of the financial requirements to
    retire, and most noteworthy, military financial education programs and
    services are positively influencing financial behavior. The
    Department's role is to work with the Military Services to continue
    providing the education and resources necessary to support personal
    financial readiness, especially since our members understand the
    importance of taking charge of their financial future.
        Ms. Marin. Army Community Service provides soldiers and families
    with comprehensive life-cycle (entry to retirement) personal financial
    education and counseling programs. Financial Readiness Training is
    mandatory for all soldiers during Basic Training, Advanced Individual
    Training, and their first duty assignment. In classrooms and individual
    counseling sessions, soldiers are taught how to handle their money,
    establish savings goals, and set money aside for emergencies. Soldiers
    are also are informed on payday lending practices, predatory lending
    issues, and protections in payday lending laws.
        Financial Readiness program managers are located at 87
    installations and are certified by the Association for Financial
    Counseling and Planning Education. In 2008, the program conducted over
    16,000 classes with more than 303,000 attendees and provided financial
    counseling for over 59,000 clients. Other online financial and consumer
    education, tools, and links are available at Army OneSource
    (www.armyonesource.com).
        Dr. Rau. The Navy's PFM program takes a collaborative and
    comprehensive approach to education and counseling. The Navy PFM
    program emphasizes proactive, career lifecycle instruction commencing
    with entry into the Delayed Entry Program through to retirement and
    transition to civilian life. Also provided is consultation to best
    facilitate behavior modification. Services include information
    distribution, individual consultation with financial counselors and
    educational classes and workshops. Services are designed to foster
    financial responsibility and accountability with primary emphasis on
    financial independence, sound money management, debt avoidance, and
    long-term financial stability.
        Personal financial fitness services are delivered by a
    collaborative effort made up of Accredited Financial Counselors and
    Educators at the Fleet and Family Support Centers (FFSCs), trained
    servicemembers designated as Command Financial Specialists, and also
    with assistance from partner organizations. For example, partnerships
    between FFSCs and Child Development and Youth Programs at the
    installation level have increased youth education regarding financial
    fitness.
        Statistics show that awareness and utilization of the Navy PFM
    program by servicemembers has increased. During 2008, staff provided
    individual consultation and education to more than 12,000 individuals,
    with classes and workshops provided to almost 175,000 military and
    family members. More than 9,996 family members received financial
    education services during 2008, which represents a 100 percent increase
    over 2007.
        The Association of Financial Counseling, Planning and Education
    recognized the Navy PFM program as the Financial Education Program of
    the Year in 2006. Additionally, the Navy PFM program received
    recognition as an Exemplary Employer Initiative by the Personal Finance
    Employee Education Foundation in 2008.
        General Larsen. The PFM Program offers personal financial
    management services to servicemembers and their spouses to equip them
    with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to successfully manage
    their personal finances. PFM Program Specialists provide classes,
    workshops, and extensive one-on-one assistance in the following core
    areas: military pay issues; banking and financial services; developing
    a spending plan; credit management; car buying strategies; housing and
    home buying; insurance and risk management; financial planning for
    deployment; saving and investing; and retirement, estate, and tax
    planning. In addition, DOD has a marketing campaign, ``Military
    Saves'', designed to encourage military families to improve personal
    saving. Personal financial management services are provided by
    certified financial counselor at all 18 major U.S. Marine Corps
    installations.
        Ms. Nesmith. Financial Literacy programs are available throughout
    the tenure of a every airman. This includes mandatory training at
    various career intervals and supplemental financial education that is
    available and voluntary. Mandatory training at basic courses, prior to
    deployment and in supervisor training, focuses on the basic pillars of
    financial education, such as checkbook management, debt management, car
    buying, creating a spend plan, saving for retirement and maintaining
    emergency savings. Supplemental education may include the Savings
    Deposit Program which encourages saving during deployment, basic
    investing, and foreclosure avoidance. Training is typically provided in
    group settings and individualized counsel is available through the
    Accredited Financial Counselors located in Airman and Family Readiness
    Centers worldwide. Supplemental training topics may be added on a
    situational basis due to major life changes or emerging trends, such as
    foreclosure avoidance in locations where national foreclosure rates are
    elevated.

                       suicides and post traumatic stress
        2. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, families are often the first line of defense
    against suicide and post traumatic stress, and play a significant role
    in identifying and helping servicemembers cope with deployment-related
    issues. Additionally, the stresses of deployment can affect the mental
    well-being of spouses and children. What training is given to families
    to identify possible symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other
    psychological health issues, and when is it provided?
        Mr. Myers. The individual Services drive the programs to provide
    information and guidance at individual military installations at the
    request of the servicemembers' family members. The support structure at
    military religious facilities from military chaplains is also a direct
    connection with families of servicemembers in dealing with deployment-
    related issues.
        Ms. Marin. The Army offers numerous sources of training for
    families on symptoms of depression, anxiety and other psychological
    health issues. The Army recognizes that we are not in a ``business as
    usual'' environment and that repeated deployments lead to increased
    distress, anxiety, and in some cases, suicide. Deployments, war, and
    psychological problems impact soldiers and families, and the result is
    a higher demand for behavioral health services. We are responding to
    that demand by making a concerted effort to provide training and
    support to soldiers, families, and leadership in the early detection of
    psychological problems and suicide prevention.
        Families are one of our biggest assets in suicide prevention, and
    multiple programs and services have been developed with this
    understanding. Programs include an extensive array of behavioral health
    services to address deployment strain. A summary of programs and
    products is at http://www.behavioralhealth.army.mil/. Programs that
    provide training to assist families with identification of symptoms
    include Army Community Service, Battlemind, the Military Child and
    Adolescent Center of Excellence, Family Assistance for Maintaining
    Excellence, Military One Source, Psychological Health in Schools
    Programs, and the Warrior Resiliency Program.
        Recent efforts focus on the expansion of population-specific
    training materials available to military families through Battlemind, a
    preventive training program intended to strengthen individual
    servicemembers, families, units, communities, and enhance the ability
    to cope with stress. Battlemind offers online training for spouses and
    couples. Through online training at Battlemind@amedd.army.mil, spouses
    and couples can find brochures and training to prepare them for pre-
    deployment and post-deployment. Battlemind also offers training and
    videos for pre-school and adolescent children.
        The Army is also expanding services to children of military
    families to promote child and adolescent wellness through school-based
    behavioral health services. The Military Child and Adolescent Center of
    Excellence at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, WA, is
    standardizing and packaging the best elements of these programs for
    export to additional sites. School-based mental health services aimed
    at youth and families will include: (1) evidence-based classroom
    training such as building resilience and dealing with the anxiety and
    stresses of being an Army youth; (2) student evaluation and treatment
    using the modalities of individual therapy, group therapy, family
    therapy, psychopharmacology, and classroom interventions; (3) parent
    and school education on the effects of deployment and reunion on
    families, handling rumors, crisis interventions, and resilience
    training; and (4) coordination and integration of services in military
    and civilian communities using resources like installation and
    community youth programs, sports organizations, and community service
    groups.
        The Army also employs multimedia to reach out to families and
    provide information and resources on the detection of psychological
    problems. Advertisements on commissary bags and posters are
    disseminated throughout installations, post exchanges, and military
    treatment facilities. The Army is also conducting a study of family
    readiness through the RAND Corporation that will assist in developing
    future initiatives to support soldiers and families. Results from the
    study are expected in September 2011.
        Dr. Rau. Operational Stress Control (OSC) is the Navy's
    comprehensive prevention and awareness initiative to address the
    psychological health needs of sailors and their families and reduce the
    stigma associated with seeking assistance. The initiative is led by
    operational leadership and supported by Navy medicine. OSC provides
    practical decision-making tools for sailors, leaders, and families to
    identify stress responses and mitigate problematic tension. The Stress
    Continuum is an evidence-informed model that highlights shared
    responsibility by sailors, family members, and Navy leadership for
    maintaining optimum psychological health. The model is used to
    recognize and intervene early, when indicators of stress reactions or
    injuries are present, before an individual develops a serious stress
    illness, such as PTSD or depression.
        Working in collaboration with Navy medicine, Fleet and Family
    Support Programs (FFSP) have launched an OSC awareness effort focusing
    on family members. OSC concepts are being incorporated into existing,
    regularly scheduled family support services such as pre-deployment and
    stress management workshops, Family Readiness Groups, Ombudsmen
    training, transition assistance workshops, parenting classes, and
    clinical counseling sessions, to familiarize family members with the
    concepts and stress continuum language. This information provides
    family members a framework from which they can identify behaviors/
    symptoms early and speak to someone about obtaining help for
    themselves, their children or their military loved one.
        Project FOCUS is a Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery program
    currently implemented at 9 Navy and Marine Corps locations, expanding
    to 14. Project FOCUS addresses difficulties that children and families
    face in relation to multiple deployments and parental operational
    stress and helps children and parents develop critical skills related
    to emotional regulation, problem-solving, communication, and building
    social support.
        Brief, solution-focused clinical counseling provided in FFSC is
    another avenue where military and family members can seek consultation
    and assistance from licensed mental health professionals for commonly
    occurring situations and adjustment issues before more significant
    problems develop that require medical or psychiatric intervention.
    Placement of clinical counselors for children in FFSCs and Behavioral
    Health Consultants in Child Development Centers help identify and
    provide assistance to children who are adversely impacted by their
    parent's deployment.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps has a family component of its
    Marine Operational Stress Training (MOST) Program which provides
    information to families on prevention and early identification of
    stress problems before deployment, during deployment, at the end of
    deployment, and 60-120 days after deployment. The information is
    tailored to the needs of the families at each point in the deployment
    cycle, and addresses stress problems in both the servicemember and
    family members.
        Ms. Nesmith. Workshops and training are offered for the spouses
    through the Airman and Family Readiness Centers. Sessions are designed
    to offer vital information on topics such as balancing family and work
    life, managing separations, and establishing connections with community
    support agencies. Through these interactions, spouses are able to learn
    to identify behaviors that may be out of the normal.
        DOD provides an ongoing program of counseling and training through
    the Military and Family Life Consultant (MFLC) program. The Air Force
    has fully embraced the MFLC program and found it particularly effective
    in addressing issues centered around family dynamics, job stress and
    marital relationships. Currently there are 94 adult MFLCs in 89 Airman
    and Family Readiness Centers and 98 Child and Youth Behavioral MFCLs at
    80 Air Force installations. Testimonials from staff and family members
    indicate the MFLCs are providing much needed non-medical counseling
    services to our airmen and their families at critical times.

        3. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, is such training also available for families
    of Guard and Reserve members, as well as for parents or siblings of
    unmarried servicemembers?
        Mr. Myers. As is the case for Active Duty servicemembers, the
    individual Services develop information providing services for Reserve
    component and unmarried servicemembers' families.
        Ms. Marin. National Guard and Army Reserve members may use all of
    the training opportunities described in the answer to the previous
    question. There are also a number of training events specifically for
    Guard and Reserve members. In 2008, the Minnesota National Guard
    pioneered a program to improve how soldiers and airmen are reintegrated
    back into their communities. Called ``Beyond the Yellow Ribbon,'' the
    name is a reminder that support of soldiers cannot end when they return
    from deployment. For National Guard and Reserve members and their
    families, the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program provides deployment
    support and reintegration programs in all phases of deployment,
    including but not limited to pre-deployment, deployment,
    demobilization, and post-deployment and reconstitution phases.
        Yellow Ribbon pre-deployment activities and events focus on
    providing education and ensuring the readiness of unit members, their
    families, employers, and affected communities. Deployment services and
    events focus on family separation challenges and stressors, especially
    for those serving in a combat zone. Demobilization reintegration
    activities provide information about resources available to transition
    soldiers back to garrison or civilian life and how to connect with
    providers to assist in overcoming the challenges of reintegration.
    Post-deployment or reconstitution provides reintegration activities at
    approximately 30-, 60-, and 90-day intervals.
        The spring 2009 issue of Family Strong: Army Reserve Family
    Programs contains information on suicide prevention, with a message
    from Laura Stultz, wife of Lieutenant General Jack C. Stultz, and a
    pullout card listing risk factors and warning signs of suicide. Toll-
    free lifeline numbers are also listed. On October 1, 2008, the Army
    Reserve established a Warrior and Family Assistance Center with the
    slogan, ``Soldiers First, Families Always.''
        Dr. Rau. The Navy Reserve Psychological Health Outreach Program
    provides 2 Outreach Coordinators and 3 Outreach team members to each
    Reserve Region (for a total of 25) deployed into the field to provide
    outreach, support, and intervention to returning Individual Augmentees
    and other reservists to mitigate existing reservist stressors and
    address future concerns. They are key components in our effort to build
    resilient Navy Reserve families. The Returning Warrior Workshop (RWW)
    is conducted on weekends and attended by up to 200 military members and
    other family members including parents or siblings and spouses. It is
    the signature event of the Navy Reserve Reintegration program.
    Attending participants have the opportunity to address personal, family
    or professional situations experienced during deployment and receive
    readjustment and reintegration support from a network of counselors,
    psychological health outreach coordinators, chaplains and FFSC
    representatives. Throughout the weekend, participants benefit from
    considerable counseling opportunities to educate and support the Navy
    family and to assist sailors re-acclimating to their families and
    civilian lives. During this fiscal year, 16 RWWs have been conducted
    that were attended by 2092 military personnel and their guests.
        Navy family readiness works closely with the Reserve Forces Family
    Support Coordinator and the five regional Family Support Administrators
    to facilitate connection of Reserve families to each other, to
    supportive community and family resources, and to improve community
    awareness of Reserve military families' experiences and needs. Family
    Support Administrators liaise with their assigned Navy Operational
    Support Center (NOSC) staffs to ensure Reserve families are supported
    by Navy and other military family support initiatives, such as Military
    OneSource, Joint Family Support Assistance Programs (JFSAP) and State
    National Guard Family Programs. Parents or siblings identified as the
    preferred point of contact for single Reserve component sailors on
    Individual Augmentee assignment are provided aggressive outreach,
    assessment of needs and referral to available family support services
    by their assigned Individual Deployment Support Specialist.
        General Larsen. The family training in the USMC MOST Program,
    above, is provided to spouses and children of both the active and
    Reserve servicemembers. Extended family members are welcome to attend
    as well.
        Ms. Nesmith. Yes. DOD provides an ongoing program of counseling and
    training through the MFLC program. The Air Force has fully embraced the
    MFLC program and found it to be particularly effective in addressing
    issues centered around family dynamics, job stress and marital
    relationships. Currently there are 94 adult MFLCs in 89 Airmen and
    Family Readiness Centers and 98 Child and Youth Behavioral MFCLs at 80
    Air Force installations. Testimonials from staff and family members
    indicate the MFLCs are providing much needed non-medical counseling
    services to our airmen and their families at a critical time.
        The MFLC program is available to Guard and Reserve families as
    requested in support of family day events, reintegration events, and
    other gatherings.

                       military family readiness council
        4. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, in the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2008,
    Congress required the establishment of a DOD Military Family Readiness
    Council, to include representatives from each of the Services and
    military family organizations, to review and make recommendations on
    and monitor DOD policy requirements for the support of military family
    readiness, and to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of military
    family readiness programs. According to DOD, the Council has so far
    conducted only one informal meeting, late last year. Have any members
    been formally appointed to the Council?
        Mr. Myers. We have vetted the nominees with the Pentagon's White
    House Liaison Office. Final appointment will follow after completing
    the required security, ethics, and administrative screenings required.
    We anticipate being able to complete this process prior to the
    Council's first formal meeting in August or September.

        5. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, has the Council identified any
    priority issues on which to focus in the coming year?
        Mr. Myers. We intend to convene the Council in August or September
    this year, at which it will decide its areas of focus.

                       health care for military families
        6. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, according to the DOD, TRICARE
    beneficiary surveys reflect great satisfaction with the health care
    program for military families, but at this hearing the first panel of
    witnesses, military spouses, and a representative from the National
    Military Family Association, all stated that health care, and
    specifically access to care, including mental health care, is among
    military families' top issues. How well does TRICARE meet the medical
    needs of military families?
        Mr. Myers. The Department feels TRICARE greatly meets the medical
    needs of the military family. TRICARE is a robust Health Maintenance
    Organization health plan for our eligible beneficiaries that augment
    the direct care system by providing health care services through a
    large network of primary care and specialty providers. The cost for
    beneficiaries enrolled in TRICARE Prime is low in comparison to
    civilian health plans. Whereas, Active Duty servicemembers and their
    family members do not pay a premium or co-pay; all other beneficiaries
    pay a low premium and co-pay for the care they seek through our network
    providers.
        Since its inception, TRICARE Prime has grown significantly, mostly
    in response to the guaranteed quality and access it provides. Our
    access to care standards are monitored closely to ensure beneficiaries
    are seen in a timely manner. For example, in the Direct Care System, if
    a patient is referred for specialty care not available at a military
    treatment facility, the patient is referred to one of our network
    providers. In the past 2 years, we have placed 1,700 mental health
    professionals in primary care clinics to increase access and reduce the
    stigma associated with visiting a mental health facility. In addition,
    the TRICARE Network has added 10,000 mental health providers, including
    child psychiatrists and psychologists.
        In the quarterly Health Care Survey of DOD Beneficiaries, the
    Department compares performance of the TRICARE Health Plan with
    benchmark metrics from the National Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
    Providers and Systems Benchmarking Database (NCBD), which contains
    results from surveys given to beneficiaries by civilian health plans.
    For the NCBD metric category of ``Getting Care Quickly,'' a measure of
    ease in gaining access to care, TRICARE Prime beneficiaries enrolled to
    the purchased care network have consistently reported average
    satisfaction levels at or above the NCBD benchmark value. Additionally,
    our inpatient, outpatient, and population based surveys show our
    beneficiaries generally indicate favorable experience with access to
    and satisfaction with the Military Health System.
        Beneficiaries have the option not to enroll in TRICARE Prime and
    utilize our TRICARE Standard or Extra plans. TRICARE Standard or Extra
    allow the most flexibility in selection of care from any TRICARE
    authorized provider. Referrals are not required, but some care may
    require prior authorization. The beneficiary can also receive care in a
    military treatment facility on a space-available basis.
        TRICARE continues to be one of the best health care plans in the
    world.

        7. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, do you have any specific
    recommendations for improving the military health care system?
        Mr. Myers. The Military Health System provides all beneficiaries
    with the greatest compassion and care, the benefits of the best
    available science, and treatment and support that makes servicemembers
    and their families partners in their own healing. TRICARE managed care
    has improved portability, claims processing, and access to quality
    care. The Department has streamlined its regional contracts, resulting
    in fewer administrative hurdles for beneficiaries and is playing a key
    role in decreasing the stigma of seeking mental health care. We
    anticipate the roll-out of the cutting-edge operation of the TRICARE
    Pharmacy Program, which will simplify the pharmacy benefit by
    consolidating retail and mail order operations this fall. And, we
    applaud the launching of the Defense Centers of Excellence--a
    collaborative global network that promotes resilience, recovery, and
    reintegration for psychological health and traumatic brain injury.

                              dependents education
        8. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, quality education for children is
    a very high priority for military families. Congress has long supported
    supplemental Impact Aid to assist local public schools with large
    numbers of military children and DOD schools for military children. How
    does the DOD allocate the funding authorized by Congress each year for
    supplemental Impact Aid to local educational agencies with high numbers
    of military dependents?
        Mr. Myers. The DOD Supplement to Impact Aid Program provides
    financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) heavily
    impacted by the presence of military dependent students. This program
    does not fund DOD schools. LEAs with at least 20 percent average daily
    attendance of military dependent students in the preceding year, as
    counted on their Federal Impact Aid application, are eligible to
    receive funding on an annual basis, when appropriated by Congress.
        The U.S. Department of Education provides the data used to
    determine LEA eligibility for the DOD Supplement Impact Aid Program.
        Funds provided by the DOD Supplement to Impact Aid Program are
    reimbursable in nature; therefore, they may be used by the LEA without
    restriction.
        In fiscal year 2009, 110 LEAs qualified and received Supplemental
    Impact Aid.
        In fiscal year 2008, 114 LEAs qualified and received Supplemental
    Impact Aid.

        9. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, when is this funding provided to
    schools enough and, in your view, is it enough?
        Mr. Myers. Impact Aid is a Department of Education program which
    provides funding for a portion of the educational costs of federally-
    connected students. Impact Aid is the only Federal education program
    where funds are sent directly to the LEA. The funds, however, are not
    designated for individual children nor earmarked for any specific
    school, but support the eligible district as a whole.
        The Department of Education Impact Aid program has been underfunded
    for years and is a continual source of concern for local school
    districts and military families. Currently the program is 60 percent
    underfunded. Funding has not kept pace with the Consumer Price Index
    which has risen over 70 percent since 1970, while the cost of education
    has escalated more than 100 percent.
        Annual Impact Aid payments vary widely, from less than $50 per
    child to over $4,000 per child in several school districts with very
    high concentration of military connected children residing on a
    military installation.
        The DOD Supplement to Impact Aid Program provides financial
    assistance to LEAs heavily impacted by the presence of military
    dependent students. LEAs with at least 20 percent average daily
    attendance of military dependent students in the preceding year, as
    counted on their Federal Impact Aid application, are eligible to
    receive funding on an annual basis, when appropriated by Congress.
        DOD supports full funding of Impact Aid by the Department of
    Education for all categories of Federal students.

                       support for individuals who deploy
        10. Senator Ben Nelson. Dr. Rau and Ms. Nesmith, while Army and
    Marine Corps servicemembers usually deploy in units, this is not always
    the case, and is more rarely the case for Navy and Air Force
    servicemembers. What support services are made available to Navy and
    Air Force families who have a servicemember deployed as an Individual
    Augmentee or who are serving an ``in lieu of'' mission?
        Dr. Rau. Support includes contact by the FFSC, either by phone or
    in person, assessment of family needs, discussion of available family
    support programs and services nearest to the family, facilitated
    referral to nearby services if requested, and mailing of Individual
    Augmentee (IA) information and materials. An Individual Deployment
    Support Specialist from the FFSC must initiate initial contact within
    10 business days of receipt of a new Individual Augmentee Sailor File.
    The program begins 60 days prior to deployment and ends 180 days post
    deployment. Recurring contact, assessment and support at an interval
    requested by the family is also provided by either a counselor or
    Command representative. Efforts to better reach remotely located
    families impacted by these nontraditional duty assignments have
    included use of information technology to provide virtual family
    discussion groups and workshops, publication of a monthly electronic
    newsletter and of family, sailor, and command IA handbooks. Where
    practicable, deployment support programs and services have been adapted
    and provided specifically for family members of individual deployers.
    To date, FFSC Individual Deployment Support Specialists have served
    over 28,000 families of individual deployers.
        Command Ombudsmen are trained volunteers who serve as a vital two-
    way communication link between command leadership and family members.
    Ombudsmen provide personalized support and guidance to families in
    adapting to the challenges of a mobile military lifestyle and extended
    operations necessary to meet the Navy's maritime strategy. There are
    currently over 2,200 registered Navy Family Ombudsmen. FFSCs provide
    training, consultation, coordination and support to Ombudsmen. Command
    Ombudsmen training includes information on the unique challenges and
    issues faced by families of IAs.
        Ms. Nesmith. Air Force provides one-on-one pre-deployment briefings
    to airmen who deploy as Individual Augmentees or in support of Joint
    Expeditionary Taskings. Spouses are encouraged to attend these sessions
    where they learn what services are available to them throughout the
    deployment period and into reintegration. If the spouse cannot attend,
    contact information is requested and the spouse will receive either
    telephone or e-mail with information on available services. Although
    some support services are unit-based, Airman and Family Readiness
    Centers offer parallel services to families of any airman who is
    deployed. Called Hearts Apart, these services include morale calls,
    video and e-mail connectivity, regular get-togethers with other spouses
    and families of deployed members (coffees, dinners, other family-
    centered events), and electronic newsletters to ensure continued
    connection between the family and installation support agencies.

        11. Senator Ben Nelson. Dr. Rau and Ms. Nesmith, what follow-up is
    conducted once the individual returns back to his or her unit,
    especially with regard to ensuring access to mental health care and
    assistance in reintegration?
        Dr. Rau. The Navy has a continuum in place to assist the
    redeploying sailor, serving as an Individual Augmentee, with return,
    reunion, and reintegration. This process begins in Kuwait during the
    Warrior Transition Program (WTP) where the returning sailor attends a 3
    day program which allows for decompression and transition from the war
    zone to life back in contiguous United States in a nonthreatening
    environment. Small group discussions are facilitated by accredited
    professionals and focus on topics that include combat and operational
    stress, gear return, and FFSC briefings.
        The next step in this continuum is the completion of the Post-
    Deployment Health Assessment (PDHA) and Post-Deployment Health
    Reassessment (PDHRA). The PDHA is either completed at WTP Kuwait or the
    Navy Mobilization Processing Site back in the United States through
    which the sailor will transition home. The PDHRA is conducted at the
    sailor's permanent duty station for active duty or the NOSC for Reserve
    sailors at the 90-180 day point after return from deployment. Both the
    PDHA and PDHRA allow the sailor to report any physical or psychosocial
    concerns that he or she may be having to a health care provider, who
    then ensures the sailor gets the help required.
        The last step in the post-deployment continuum is the RWW. The RWW
    was established to educate and support families and assist sailors' re-
    acclimation after deployment. The program consists of various briefings
    and small group discussions facilitated by professionals, including
    chaplains and mental health providers. These workshops have proven to
    be an important step in the demobilization and reintegration process
    for the Total Force and their families. At the RWW, members are
    encouraged to discuss their experiences, family members are directed to
    resources, feedback on the mobilization/demobilization process is
    provided, and attendees are honored for their sacrifices.
        The Navy has provided an additional resource for the Reserve
    Component by establishing the Navy Reserve Psychological Health
    Outreach program. Established in 2008, the program provides early
    identification and clinical assessment of Navy reservists returning
    from deployment who are at risk for stress reactions and injuries. A
    team of five social workers in each of the five Navy Reserve Regions
    provides outreach and educational activities to improve the overall
    psychological health and resiliency of Navy reservists. The social
    workers also serve to identify long-term strategies to improve
    psychological health support services for the Navy Reserve community.
        Ms. Nesmith. During redeployment processing, airmen must complete
    the PDHA, which is a medical self-assessment tool used to review the
    redeploying member's current health and/or mental health, as well as
    provide an opportunity for them to discuss any deployment-related
    health concerns with a medical provider.
        The PDHA self-assessment is completed in theater within 30 days of
    redeployment or not later than 30 days after returning to home station.
    In accordance with DOD requirements, all redeploying personnel must
    have a face-to-face health assessment with a trained health care
    provider, such as a physician, physician assistant, nurse practitioner,
    or independent duty medical technician. This face-to-face encounter is
    required regardless of the individual's self-assessment responses.
    Positive responses (physical/mental health related) or any other
    concerns are addressed during this face-to-face encounter.
        Every effort is made to ensure outstanding referrals are
    appropriately identified, addressed, and followed up by the member's
    primary care manager or mental health professionals at home station.

                               spouse employment
        12. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, employment opportunities for spouses can be
    constrained by the lack of availability of jobs on base and the
    requirements for relicensing in certain professions when moving to
    different States. What services are available to spouses to help in
    searching for jobs when they arrive at a new base, or to help defray
    costs associated with education or training to increase the number of
    employment opportunities open to spouses?
        Mr. Myers. Last year, Congress authorized the Department to assist
    spouses of Active Duty servicemembers in receiving education and
    training required for a degree, credential, or professional licensure
    in order to expand employment and portable career opportunities.
        The Department has implemented the Career Advancement Account
    program to provide spouses up to $6,000 to pay for training,
    professional licensure, or certification programs. To date over 30,000
    spouses have established a Career Advancement Account and over 10,000
    have started their training program, with over 42 percent studying and
    beginning to work in the healthcare field.
        The Career Advancement Account is designed specifically to assist
    spouses as they relocate. If relicensing is necessary, a spouse can
    sign up for a Career Advancement Account and receive up to $6,000 to
    pay the fees associated with the relicensing.
        Once spouses complete training, they are moved into the Career
    Advancement Account placement process for assistance as they move from
    one installation to the next.
        Along with employment assistance, the Department has established
    MilitaryINSTALLATIONS (MI) and Plan My Move (PMM) as companion
    applications sharing one database to provide information on over 360
    large and small installations worldwide and in all States for
    geographically separated families.
        The goal is to educate family members about their new location,
    help them make informed decisions, and get settled quickly, preventing
    stressors on the family and increasing productivity. Relocation is an
    encompassing program that crosses multiple facets of Military Community
    and Family Policy to include financial, special needs, child care,
    spouse employment, education and family advocacy.
        Ms. Marin. The Army Employment Readiness Program provides job
    search assistance, job skills training, and information and referral
    services for soldiers, family members, and eligible military ID card
    holders. The Army Spouse Employment Partnership (ASEP) is a component
    of the Employment Readiness Program and provides Army spouses an
    opportunity to attain financial security and achieve their employment
    goals while helping spouses locate jobs in their communities. The Army
    signed a Statement of Support with 31 Fortune 500 companies and
    military agencies who pledged their best effort to increase employment
    and career opportunities for Army spouses. The Web site, www.msjs.org,
    was launched as a portal for military spouse resumes and a place for
    ASEP partners and registered military spouse-friendly employers to post
    their job vacancies.
        The DOD Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA)
    initiative provides education, training, certification, and licensing
    for military spouses to pursue careers in high-demand, high-growth
    portable career fields such as education, health care, financial
    services, homeland security, information technology, hospitality
    industry, business management, and other similar fields. MyCAA, located
    on the MilitaryOneSource Web site, provides up to $6,000 of financial
    assistance for related training, education, licenses, and/or
    credentials. DOD is expanding the MyCAA initiative.
        Dr. Rau. In a 2006 survey of Navy spouses, almost half were
    employed and a majority of spouses of both officer and enlisted worked
    in their chosen career field. A majority of employed spouses were able
    to continue with career progression when relocated. Of the remaining 50
    percent of Navy spouses, over four-fifths of those were not currently
    seeking employment. The Navy spouse survey was replicated this year,
    with the results expected this summer.
        For military family members seeking employment, the Family
    Employment Readiness Program addresses those challenges through
    individualized assistance and educational classes and workshops. We
    provide assistance such as self-directed or staff assisted job search
    in employment resource centers, information and referral services,
    career development and coaching. Workshops and seminars are routinely
    provided and create a framework for further educational exploration in
    areas such as: Resume Writing, Effective Job Search Strategies,
    Interviewing Techniques, Federal Employment Opportunities, Entrepreneur
    Business Opportunities, Personal Skills Assessment, and Financing
    Career Change.
        During 2008, nearly 2,900 Navy spouses were awarded scholarships at
    six Navy pilot locations through joint DOD/DoL Career Advancement
    Account (CAA) partnerships. The CAA program has now been expanded
    world-wide. Fleet and Family Support Program staff conducted over 3,000
    employer education events to market military spouses as solutions to
    hiring needs. Over 11,000 family members were provided individual
    assistance in 2008, while over 12,000 were provided educational classes
    and workshops. Notably, 49 percent of our Navy Child and Youth Programs
    professional workforce are military spouses, which affords them mobile
    career opportunities. More than 2,490 spouses voluntarily reported
    securing employment as a result of Navy wide family support program
    efforts during 2008.
        General Larsen. The Family Member Employment Assistance Program
    (FMEAP) provides free employment assistance for Active Duty, Reserves,
    and Retiree family members (depending on space availability).
    Employment assistance, provided by Certified Workforce Development
    Professionals at all 18 major USMC installations, focuses on career-
    coaching to prepare family members to enter, maintain, and sustain
    employment and career growth. In addition, FMEAP provides workshops and
    extensive one-on-one assistance on resume and cover letter writing;
    using internet access and electronic job banks; the Federal employment;
    self-assessments; interview dress and etiquette; employment counseling,
    job search processes, employment networking and referrals; information
    on the current labor market, average salaries and wage trends in their
    area; and government partnerships for employment & training. We have
    completed a Functionality Assessment of our FMEAP Program and have
    identified several promising areas that would expand and improve the
    program, such as engaging family members earlier in the employment
    search; increasing job referrals through partnerships with local and
    national companies; providing follow up assistance after services are
    received; and improving program visibility.
        Ms. Nesmith. Our Air Force programs provide spouses with knowledge
    and skills they can use to develop and maintain a successful career
    within the framework of the mobile military lifestyle. Installation-
    level staff works with employers in the community to raise awareness of
    the value of hiring military spouses. Airman and Family Readiness
    Centers provide classes and individual consultation on career planning
    and all phases of the job search, as well as assistance with on-line
    resources and access to computers.
        We are partnering with DOD to support spouse employment initiatives
    through programs such as Spouses to Teachers and My Career Advancement
    Account, which provides up to $6,000 for education, licensure,
    certification, and continuing education for a portable career. We also
    partner with the Air Force Aid Society, who sponsors a Spouse Tuition
    Assistance Program which grants up to $1,500 to a spouse stationed
    overseas to defer the cost of college tuition, and the Spouse
    Employment Training Program which funds up to $10,000 for Airman and
    Family Readiness Center programs that assist spouses with requirements
    for portable careers. In 2009, 32 grant proposals were approved across
    the Air Force. Participants will train in medical transcription,
    pharmacy technology, computers, nursing assistance, and special needs
    education.

                       support for single servicemembers
        13. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, a great deal of attention has been paid to
    military families, and rightly so. Many family support programs target
    the spouses and dependents of servicemembers, but a large portion of
    the military is single. What family members do DOD and the Services
    target for single servicemembers?
        Mr. Myers. The traditional ``Family Support'' programs are now
    called ``Warfighter and Family Services'' (WFS) to emphasize these
    programs are also for non-married personnel. WFS helps single
    servicemembers develop life skills and pursue career opportunities and
    financial stability, and assist during times of personal trauma and
    stress, including natural disasters and with the transition to civilian
    life.
        Single servicemember programs address single's quality of life
    issues and initiatives and support commanders by providing the forum
    through which single's concerns are identified and recommendations for
    improvement are made. Additionally, numerous Morale, Welfare and
    Recreation (MWR) programs specifically target single personnel. These
    include physical fitness and sports facilities and intramural sports,
    free Internet and gaming cafes, libraries--both facility based and on-
    line, recreation centers just for active duty, discount ticket and
    travel opportunities, high adventure outdoor recreation programs, auto
    hobby shops, skill development programs, bowling, concerts and other
    entertainment, membership clubs that foster esprit de corps, marinas,
    theaters, golf, and special interest programs such as flying, sky
    diving, rod and gun areas, horseback riding, scuba, and diving.
        The department also provides extensive MWR support for deployed
    personnel including free Internet Cafes, professional entertainment,
    special events, mobile canteens, fitness and sports facilities and
    equipment, and various deployable kits such as ``Recreation in a Box,''
    ``Theater in a Box,'' ``Electronic Games in a Box,'' and ``Library in a
    Box.'' The Military Exchanges operate stores in deployed areas and
    provide phone cards and additional Internet services. There is also
    strong grass roots support from the general public and nonprofits who
    provide large numbers of ``care packages'' for that taste of home.
        The military Services all have extensive renovation plans for
    barracks to ensure adequate living conditions and QOL amenities are
    available for single personnel.
        Ms. Marin. Single soldiers are not overlooked in our morale,
    welfare, and recreation programs. The Army provides a comprehensive
    Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) program to facilitate
    leisure and recreation, community service, and quality of life
    opportunities for its single soldiers.
        BOSS is designed to be the collective voice for single soldiers
    through the chain of command and serves as a tool for commanders to
    gauge the morale of single soldiers. Through BOSS, single soldiers plan
    and participate in recreational activities and community service
    projects that provide soldiers with valuable experience, skills, and a
    sense of community pride and ownership. BOSS activities such as
    whitewater rafting, talent competitions, computer classes, and tours
    are available before, during, and after deployment.
        Dr. Rau. With respect to family members of single sailors, we
    engage a single sailor's preferred point of contact during IA
    assignment or the designated caregivers of seriously wounded, ill and
    injured single sailors. We otherwise provide information to family
    members of single sailors through our family support Web site, command
    ombudsman program, and recently launched Fleet and Family Support
    Programs Facebook page. Military OneSource and MilitaryHOMEFRONT Web
    sites, as well as the Joint Family Support Program, provide resources
    and information which are beneficial for family members of single
    servicemembers.
        All sailors, to include single sailors, have access to services
    provided at FFSCs to include deployment support, relocation assistance,
    clinical counseling, sexual assault and domestic abuse victim advocacy,
    personal financial management, life skills education and transition
    assistance.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps recognizes that there is a family
    you are born into as well as one you marry into. Our family programs
    are expanding to include the extended family of parents for both single
    and married marines. Our Family Readiness Officers provide accurate
    information to both immediate and extended family members as authorized
    by the individual marine.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force offers a myriad of activities and
    programs available to all authorized patrons to include single
    servicemembers; for example, Tops In Blue, Base Level Talent Contest,
    Four Seasons Outdoor Recreation, Hook Up to Bowling, Link Up to Golf,
    Football Frenzy, Air Force Hoops, Intramural Sports, Air Force Chess,
    Live Green, and the Air Force Gallery Showcase for Artists, Craftsmen,
    and Photographers. In addition, each Air Force installation conducts
    numerous local programs specifically targeted to single airmen as
    dictated by their single servicemember needs.

        14. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General
    Larsen, and Ms. Nesmith, are mothers, fathers, siblings, or friends
    made aware of resources that may be available to them, as well as their
    loved ones, upon return from a deployment, to better cope with any
    issues that may arise?
        Mr. Myers. The Military Services offer information and referral to
    resources available to family members including parents and siblings
    before, during and after return of a member from deployment.
    Information about the resources is provided during pre-deployment
    workshops and mailings; through command newsletters and outreach from
    rear detachment unit staff and/or family program staff during
    deployment; and during reintegration and post-deployment workshops and
    training. Additionally, parents of servicemembers are eligible for
    information and referral through Military OneSource, 24/7, 365 days a
    year.
        Ms. Marin. The Army uses many service delivery mechanisms to inform
    soldiers and immediate or extended families on available services and
    programs. Army OneSource (www.armyonesource.com) is a focal point for
    information delivery, which provides accurate, up-to-date information
    on a variety of topics for Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve soldiers and
    family members. In fiscal year 2008, Army OneSource had more than 20
    million hits per month. A monthly update of topics related to family
    readiness, the Family Program Newsletter, is currently e-mailed to more
    than 75,000 subscribers who sign up on the Army OneSource Web site.
        Family Readiness Groups (FRGs) also provide a critical link between
    extended families, soldiers, and units before, during, and after
    deployments. FRGs membership is open to soldiers, civilian employees,
    and immediate and extended family members (parents, siblings, fiancee,
    and other loved ones designated by the soldier). Virtual FRGs provide
    all the functionality of an FRG in an ad-hoc, online setting to meet
    the needs of geographically dispersed units and families. The eArmy
    Family Messaging System is another tool for commanders to deliver
    messages through multiple devices such as phone, cell, text, PDA, and
    fax.
        On installations, MFLCs provide informal support to soldiers and
    families to supplement resident counseling services. The MFLCs work
    directly with Army Community Service, Guard Headquarters, and Reserve
    Regional Commands to provide deployment and reintegration support to
    soldiers and their families. Consultants with special skill sets, such
    as financial or child and youth needs, are also available. The goal of
    MFLCs is to prevent family distress by providing education and
    information on family dynamics, parent education, available support
    services, and the effects of stress and positive coping mechanisms.
        Dr. Rau. Outreach efforts in the Navy include informing extended
    family members of programs and services available within the military
    and civilian community when designated by Individual Augmentee Sailors
    as their preferred point of contact. These extended family members
    receive information on deployment support services available through
    interactions with Individual Deployment Support Specialists. OSC
    information is provided to help family members cope and identify any
    stress reactions related to the IA deployment and reintegration
    process. Depending on geographic location, extended family members are
    invited to attend IA family day events, deployment briefings, family
    readiness group events, and RWWs, a signature event of the Navy Reserve
    Reintegration program.
        General Larsen. Extended family members are invited to participate
    in pre-, during- and post-deployment training. Recognizing that many
    are not located near our bases, we are attempting to provide that
    information in an exportable form that is useful to these key
    influencers of our marines.
        Ms. Nesmith. Yes. During the mandatory predeployment briefing, all
    airmen are asked by Airman and Family Readiness Center personnel to
    identify family members or significant others who may require
    assistance during a deployment. Our Airman and Family Readiness Center
    staff maintain monthly contact with family members or significant
    others through a variety of means, including face-to face contact at
    community events specially designed for families of deployed members,
    telephone calls, email, and newsletters.
        Reintegration support is an extension of this service; Air Force
    helping agencies host preparing-for-return workshops to advise family
    members and significant others of expectations and potential behaviors
    when the airman returns. By establishing relationships with families
    and airmen prior to deployment and maintaining contact throughout,
    airmen and families are more aware of the services and agencies
    available to them and are more likely to seek assistance when issues
    arise.

                       exceptional family member program
        15. Senator Ben Nelson. Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen, and Ms.
    Nesmith, the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) was established
    to assist Active Duty servicemembers in providing for the special needs
    of family members before, during, and after relocation required by a
    change of duty assignment to a new location. Implementation of this
    program, however, varies between Services. How does your organization
    reach out to servicemembers who have dependents with special medical
    and educational needs?
        Ms. Marin. The Army EFMP is a mandatory enrollment program based on
    public law and DOD mandates. Soldiers enroll in the program so special
    needs can be considered in the military personnel assignment process.
    The program works with other military and civilian agencies to provide
    comprehensive and coordinated community support, housing, educational,
    medical, and personnel services to families with special needs.
        Each installation has an EFMP manager who coordinates all
    components of the program for the garrison commander. The manager
    ensures parents are linked with appropriate special education school
    officials. Additional community support services include: information
    and referral; advocacy (support groups and rights and responsibilities
    under local, State and Federal laws); transition support for families
    with school-age children; family-find activities; respite care; and
    provision of recreational and cultural programs.
        In February 2009, the Army Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation
    Command convened an EFMP Summit to develop a plan to improve services
    and support for Army exceptional family members in the following areas:
    assignment process, case management, relocation and transition
    services; access to support services; and availability of external
    support. Implementation of the EFMP Action Plan will be monitored by a
    Department of Army EFMP Committee.
        Dr. Rau. The Navy utilizes a variety of means to develop and
    implement comprehensive outreach to servicemembers who have dependents
    with special needs.

             Eligible Service and family members with special needs are
            identified and enrolled during routine medical care and
            suitability screening. At each Military Treatment Facility an
            Exceptional Family Member Coordinator (EFMC) oversees the EFMP
            enrollment, assists current and prospective Exceptional Family
            Member (EFM) families; and provides marketing and training for
            the EFMP.
             Each FFSC assists families in finding the resources to meet
            their specific family need.
             Military OneSource offers 24/7/365 consultation. Navy
            families can call and request information and available
            medical/educational resources from specialty consultants within
            their community.
             Navy hosts regional training activities and education and
            awareness campaigns to provide information regarding EFMP
            policies, procedures, and other program related resources to
            servicemembers.
             EFMP resource materials are developed that include Navy
            manuals, quick guides, and brochures, distributed to FFSCs and
            Navy Medical Treatment Facilities to increase education and
            awareness.
             The Navy EFMP webpage provides current policy and referral
            information as well as links to other Web sites that provide
            additional resource information for meeting specific needs of
            the exceptional family member.
             Navy Child and Youth Programs provides contracted respite
            care through the National Association of Child Care Resource
            and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) for families of EFM identified
            children with highly specialized medical or educational needs.

        General Larsen. By requiring mandatory enrollment for marines with
    exceptional family members, our program is aimed at reaching those
    families who need the support and services of the EFMP and providing a
    continuum of care. First, sponsors with EFMs are assigned to locations
    where services exist to support the family and, thereby, improve their
    overall quality of life. Second, a Marine Corps installation EFMP
    Family Case Worker (FCW) provides direct family case management for the
    sponsor and /or family to provide a continuum of care and to develop
    each families' ability to advocate for their EFM. The Family Case
    Worker is required to contact families who are stabilized, at least
    quarterly, and families who are in a critical phase as much as
    necessary. In addition, family case management and outreach, our EFMP
    program provides family training, a special needs forum, family support
    groups, as making the family aware of local resources.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force's processes to identify families with
    special needs and match assignments accordingly are good, but we are
    focused on providing additional support for the families once they
    arrive at the new duty locations.

                     support for reserve component families
        16. Senator Ben Nelson. Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen, and Ms.
    Nesmith, while family support services seem to exist at most, if not
    all, military installations, they are of minimal help to those Guard,
    Reserve, and Active Duty families who do not live near a major
    installation. What programs has each Service tailored to the specific
    needs of Guard and Reserve families and Active Duty families in more
    remote locations, and how does each Service reach out to those families
    to make them aware of available resources?
        Ms. Marin. Army OneSource (AOS) is the centerpiece of the Army's
    efforts to reach out to families in remote locations. AOS establishes a
    comprehensive, multi-component approach for community support for
    Active, Guard, and Reserve soldiers, families, and employers through
    the entire deployment cycle. AOS includes several delivery options to
    meet the diverse needs of soldiers and families, regardless of where
    they reside, through personal (office visit, telephone) and internet
    services (www.armyonesource.com).
        The AOS portal compiles up-to-date information in a single location
    for soldiers and families to access any time of day, regardless of
    component or physical location. AOS organizes articles, videos, and
    resources in major categories: Family Programs and Services;
    Healthcare; Soldier and Family Housing; Child, Youth and School
    Services; Education, Careers and Libraries; Recreation, Travel and
    BOSS; and Communities and Marketplace. Targeting the geographically
    dispersed, the site heightens awareness of existing programs and
    services, and expands the Army's ability to reach and interact with
    soldiers and families.
        To help establish and strengthen partnerships within local
    communities, this initiative placed AOS Community Support Coordinators
    (CSCs) at 44 locations, to date. CSC's focus is on behavioral health,
    financial, legal, and faith-based community resources in support of the
    geographically dispersed.
        Other outreach efforts include the Army Spouse Employment
    Partnership (ASEP) and MFLCs. The ASEP State and local initiative for
    fiscal year 2010 is to work with CSCs and soldier and family services
    to ensure that Guard and Reserve spouses find employment opportunities
    in outlying areas with our corporate partners. MFLCs support more than
    700 on-demand events for the Guard and Reserve on issues that soldiers
    and families face before and after deployment.
        Dr. Rau. The Navy Reserve Psychological Health Outreach Program
    provides two Outreach Coordinators and three Outreach team members to
    each Reserve Region (for a total of 25). These coordinators and team
    members provide outreach, support, and intervention to returning
    reservists and their family members to mitigate existing stressors and
    to address future concerns. The newly established DOD Yellow Ribbon
    Reintegration Program provides Reserve Component (RC) servicemembers
    and their families support through all phases of the deployment cycle.
    The military services are sharing information regarding their
    deployment support programs so that RC personnel and families can
    attend events as close to their residence as possible. We are also
    using resources provided by Military OneSource, Joint Family Support
    and Assistance Programs, and the State National Guard Family Program
    Offices to deliver this critical information to our remotely located
    families. The Reserve Forces Family Support Coordinator and the five
    regional Family Support Administrators work closely and support RC
    command ombudsmen to ensure good two-way communication between commands
    and families so that the needs of RC families are identified and
    addressed.
        With regard to the Active component, outreach to remotely located
    family members includes command ombudsmen ensuring two-way
    communication between commands and families so that the needs of AC
    families are identified and addressed. Additionally, technology is
    leveraged to provide virtual family discussion groups, regular updating
    of family support information and tools on family readiness Web sites
    and Facebook pages, and use of the Navy Family Accountability and
    Assessment System as a mechanism to provide aggressive outreach,
    recurring assessment and support to remotely located family members of
    individual deployers.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps' remote and isolated populations
    are primarily a result of either an Active Duty assignment to a remote
    installation (e.g. Barstow, CA, MWTC Bridgeport, CA) or Recruiting
    Substation (RSS), or as a member of the Reserves, whether the Select
    Marine Corps Reserve (SMCR) or Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). In order
    to ensure these family's are afforded the same family programs and
    services on par with those who live aboard or in close proximity to a
    major installation, the Marine Corps has expanded its family readiness
    programs, services and personnel, to include full-time civilian Family
    Readiness Officers (FROs), within various command staffs either aboard
    the remote installations or within the command hierarchy of the Marine
    Forces Reserve component. As part of the Marine Corps' newly-
    established Unit, Personal & Family Readiness Program (UPFRP), the
    FRO's primary purpose is to consistently and effectively communicate
    with marines, spouses, and designated family members on matters
    relating to family readiness, which may include but not be limited to,
    readiness and deployment; information and referral to DOD, local,
    State, and Federal family support programs and services; and how to
    access funding in support of family events and/or training. The FRO
    essentially oversees the execution of the commander's family readiness
    strategy to ensure that regardless of location, every family has the
    knowledge and resources to provide for their resiliency within the
    Marine Corps lifestyle. Further, in fiscal year 2009, DOD launched the
    Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program specifically tailored to ensure
    reservists from all services receive the same family readiness
    preparedness training and support as their Active Duty counterparts.
    The Marine Corps issued MARADMIN 0126/09 to establish the
    implementation and reporting guidance in support of this DOD
    requirement. The Marine Corps EFMP provides a full continuum of
    services for our mobilized marine reservists and family members located
    in remote locations. The two regional EFMP offices located at MCB Camp
    Pendleton and MCB Quantico have been established to meet the needs of
    our families in remote locations.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force provides child care support to Guard and
    Reserve members during drill weekends. The Home Community Care child
    care program is provided at 43 locations throughout the United States,
    and provides 57,000 hours of child care each year in support of
    training. Additionally, working through a national partnership with the
    Boys & Girls Clubs of America, children of Guard, Reserve, and other
    geographically-dispersed airmen can receive child and youth services in
    local clubs at no cost. Air Force regularly meets with program managers
    from Guard and Reserve to identify gaps in service, and then actively
    works to fill those gaps.
        Airman and Family Readiness Centers reach out to communities to
    serve Guard and Reserve airmen and their families. Our staff attends
    drill weekends, annual training events, and other activities to connect
    with Guard and Reserve families. We also meet with community
    organizations to identify and address how best to support our Guard and
    Reserve population, including the State Joint Force Headquarters
    Integrated Network and the Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee.
    Additionally, the on-demand MFLCs provide non-medical counseling
    support and presentations on a variety of topics focused on deployment
    and reintegration, communication, and grief and loss during drill
    weekends, and family events.

                     uniformity of family support services
        17. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, General Larsen, and
    Ms. Nesmith, spouses have said that service family support programs are
    fragmented and vary greatly by installation. The extent of family
    support given to a unit is largely at the unit commander's discretion.
    What are the DOD and the Services doing to ensure the uniformity of
    services offered across each Service, so that families have access to
    the same support and transition services when they relocate?
        Mr. Myers. To ensure uniformity of family support services offered
    across the military Services, the Department and Services have worked
    to develop Common Output Levels of Support (COLS). These form the
    baseline of service that must be available at each installation. Public
    Law, DOD, and Service policies establish specific requirements to
    assist families with relocation. Each Service has the discretion to
    implement these requirements according to their customs and traditions.
    While outstanding support is provided, the Department knows more needs
    to be done to reduce perceived inequity and fragmentation of services.
        Additionally, the Department augments all military Services by
    providing support which can surge as needed, such as Military OneSource
    and its broad range of services. The Department's Military HOMEFRONT
    offers Plan My Move, a Web site designed to assist families as they
    transition from one installation to another. Military Installations and
    Military Youth on the Move assist school aged youth with issues they
    may face as they transition from one community and school to another.
        Ms. Marin. Relocation Readiness is critical to managing the
    challenges of the mobile military lifestyle. The Army's Relocation
    Readiness Program provides services necessary to support soldiers and
    families during military transitions. Army Community Services provides
    relocation information, guidance, counseling, education, and training.
    Services include access to several online databases that contain
    military installation information, telephone numbers, photos, housing
    floor plans and maps, and calendars to help plan pre- and post-move
    tasks. Individual or group counseling is also available to inbound and
    outbound transferees who require extensive preparation and planning
    before, during, or after moves. Additional education and training
    provides mandatory overseas orientations, re-entry workshops, pre-
    arrival information, destination services, lending closets of household
    items, post-move newcomers orientations, services to multicultural
    families, outreach services (identification, counseling, advocacy) for
    waiting families, unit sponsorship training, youth sponsorship, and ACS
    liaison to Citizen Immigration Services.
        The Army, working with our sister Services and DOD, created common
    output level standards (COLS) which standardized installation support
    across joint bases. The COLS are the first building block of DOD's
    common delivery of installation support (CDIS) framework which seeks to
    standardize installation support across all Services. The COLS seek to
    ensure that although each Service is uniquely organized, soldiers and
    families will receive the same world-class support at any joint base.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps conducts Functionality Assessments
    to evaluate family support functions that cross installation
    boundaries. The results of the assessments are used to develop
    standards and performance measures, and to develop good guidance for
    commanders. Through our on-going program assessments and evaluations,
    the Marine Corps is committed to ensuring an equitable delivery of
    service, regardless of duty station/assignment. This includes the
    expansion of community-based support to our marines and families not
    stationed on or near DOD installations.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force has leaned forward to standardize our
    programs across the force. We recently revised our Key Spouse Program,
    which provides unit-based support to families when airmen are deployed.
    A key focus was to standardize the program to ensure consistency of
    services at our installations. This standardization is being applied to
    other areas such as Personal and Work Life Education, Personnel
    Financial Management, and Spouse Employment and Transition Assistance.
        The Air Force regularly participates in DOD program manager
    meetings with all of the services, as well as quarterly helping
    professional seminars and other concerted efforts to implement common
    output level standards which facilitate uniformity of our programs.

                department of defense education activity schools
        18. Senator Ben Nelson. Mr. Myers, many of the school facilities
    within the DOD Education Activity (DODEA) have exceeded their life
    expectancy and do not meet today's educational standards. Some of the
    deficiencies include roofs in need of repair; heating, ventilation, and
    air conditioning; and needed improvements to support classroom
    technology requirements. What is DOD doing to address the inadequacy of
    its DODEA education facilities?
        Mr. Myers. DODEA is on track in fiscal year 2009 to fund the
    facilities sustainment at the Department's target level of 90 percent,
    in-line with the military services and other DOD agencies. This
    commitment will continue in fiscal year 2010. This is a significant
    increase from the previous years' actual obligation of approximately 70
    percent. Through this commitment, several major roof and HVAC projects
    have been completed. With the additional sustainment funds, DODEA has
    also been able to improve the preventive maintenance support, providing
    a process that will allow more of the major infrastructure building
    systems to meet their designed life expectancy.
        Supplemental Military Construction (MILCON) funds have been
    provided to DODEA to help replace the older, more critically deficient
    facilities. A cost analysis from an independent architectural/
    engineering firm indicates these facilities are more cost effective to
    construct new than modernize and maintain. The available MILCON funding
    in fiscal year 2010 increased from $40 million to $195 million,
    allowing two of DODEA's most urgent projects (Kaiserslautern and SHAPE)
    to be included in the fiscal year 2010 MILCON submission.
        DODEA has developed a Facilities Education Specification and
    started the process to standardized designs of schools and educational
    facilities used worldwide. This standardization will maximize the
    limited design funding and save critical time in the design and
    construction process. All future O&M and MILCON projects will
    incorporate these standards.
                                     ______

                 Questions Submitted by Senator Lindsey Graham
                                military spouses
        19. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, what are the characteristics of command support and
    military environment that cause some families to succeed and others to
    struggle?
        Ms. Casey. My sense is that the following circumstances all
    contribute to some families being able to cope with the current
    operating environment better than others:

             Our 1.1 million person Army is made up of diverse
            people who come from various backgrounds (with various pre-
            existing issues and different coping mechanisms).
             Depending on where they are located, some military
            families have more consistent access to military facilities and
            family support programs.
             In commands where families are more strongly
            emphasized, there tends to be more success.
             And, some families simply opt out, preferring not to
            be contacted or included.

        The Army--supported by Congress and others--must continue to assist
    our Army families that are stretched and stressed from 8 years of war.
    We've made progress through the Army Family Covenant and Community
    Covenant--two programs that formalize support to soldiers and their
    families who sacrifice daily. We're also focusing on helping soldiers
    and families become more ``resilient'' in the face of adversity. This
    new resiliency program is called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness.
        Ms. Mancini. Creating a community atmosphere, by building a sense
    of pride, offering relative programs, and listening to the needs of
    your servicemembers and families. NECC (Navy Expeditionary Combat
    Command) realized the need to integrate Family Readiness in to the
    units Fleet Training Readiness Program (FRTP).
        A struggle NECC has discovered in many of our commands is the
    relationship between the command and FFSC (Fleet and Family Service
    Center). It is not institutionalized, rather dependent on the
    personalities of the Command Staff, Ombudsman and FRG Leaders.
        Another struggle NECC experiences is the fact that our commands and
    families are so dispersed geographically, especially for our Reserve
    Units, in order to stay connected often depends on command leadership,
    Ombudsman and family readiness volunteers to reach out and use
    innovative thinking.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. Spousal involvement with military affiliated support
    programs and activities is the key. Getting our young families ``tuned
    in'' and actively engaged in the military way of life is crucial.
        Ms. Moakler. When commanders recognize that family readiness is
    important to mission readiness, families are more involved and feel
    valued. communicating this to the families is key. Committing the chain
    of command to this process is equally important. If the commander
    supports family readiness but platoon level command doesn't buy into
    it, they all is lost.

                   financial well-being of military families
        20. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, DOD and Congress have cooperated in recent years in
    efforts to improve the financial I.Q. and decisionmaking of military
    members, including their spouses. How would you evaluate the success of
    these efforts to date?
        Ms. Casey. The support from Congress in this area has been much
    appreciated. While I don't have specific metrics, my sense is that the
    cooperative focus on financial readiness training has helped the
    financial I.Q. and decisionmaking of our military members and their
    spouses. We need to maintain informative training and assistance
    because-when military members make themselves available for it--the
    training and assistance works.
        This issue is certainly one I can evaluate in my future travel and
    dialogue with family members throughout the Army.
        Ms. Mancini. The training is out there, but families must seek it
    out; the need to have info pushed through marketing and command
    leadership training is vital.
        There is a need and want by many, but day care and babysitting is
    not always convenient or even available. If we want these programs to
    be successful we need to pay attention to the lifestyle the majority of
    our servicemembers and families live day to day and accommodate as
    necessary. We need to ask them what their needs are and listen to what
    they say.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. I believe the many classes offered and the availability
    of financial counseling is having a positive impact. In light of the
    current economy it appears many Active Duty members are seeking
    financial counseling. Teaching good money making decisions to our
    younger troops as part of their training is being proactive. The
    biggest problem, however, is that our younger troops are entering the
    military already in debt.
        Ms. Moakler. The National Military Family Association has been at
    the forefront of promoting financial education for our military
    families through various publications such as ``Military Money'' and
    programs such as ``Military Saves.'' We think that there is an
    increased awareness of the importance of having a financial plan for
    our military families. We applaud the innovative program that will add
    additional financial counselors through the Military Family Life
    Consultants and that many of these counselors will be military spouses.
    Increasing availability, removing stigma and promoting the importance
    of these programs for military families can go a long way in improving
    their financial well-being.

        21. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, do you think the influence of predatory lenders has
    diminished, or are the unscrupulous practices we have seen in the past
    still a problem for military commanders and their personnel?
        Ms. Casey. I am aware of predatory lending issues, but it has not
    been an issue voiced in my meetings with military families.
        In partnership with Congress, the Better Business Bureau, and
    others, we must remain vigilant in countering the influence of
    predatory lenders.
        Ms. Mancini. The lenders in military areas have not diminished; we
    are still seeing E1 friendly companies take advantage of our most
    vulnerable sailors. They prey on our commands returning from
    deployment; the overall perception is they are target military
    families, specifically.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. I think the influence of predatory lenders has
    diminished, however their practices are still widely available and
    utilized by our younger military members. Though these businesses may
    not be located as near military installations as they once were; they
    are reaching our personnel and are still a problem.
        Ms. Moakler. Recent Federal legislation has offered protections for
    military servicemembers and their families as well as creating an
    awareness of the dangers of predatory lenders. The increase in programs
    offered through the military banks and defense credit unions as well as
    some commercial lenders who work with the military has helped to
    diminish the influence of these predatory lenders.

                            coordination of services
        22. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, it strikes me that one characteristic of the military
    is that multiple and overlapping services for families now exist--but
    that can be a minus as well as a plus. What can DOD do to do a better
    job of coordinating these services?
        Ms. Casey. DOD does a good job of taking the best practices from
    individual Services and ``making them applicable to all.'' For example,
    when DOD identified successful Army programs such as Army OneSource and
    the Military Family Life Consultant Program, it took ownership of them
    to eliminate Service duplication.
        My sense is that we need to be cautious of a ``one-size-fits-all''
    approach. There are some family programs that should remain Service-
    specific since the needs of each Service population vary. The Army's
    ``Family Team Building'' program is one example; it's a program
    uniquely tailored to teach spouses about the Army.
        Ms. Mancini. The continuation of DOD conferences is important for
    voices to be heard. Encouraging more cross-pollination among the
    Service branches will also prevent overlapping or copy cat programs.
        Once again, surveying the servicemembers and families; are FFSC
    services being used, or are they even needed? These surveys need to be
    targeted to the deck plate sailor or lower enlisted servicemembers.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. Communicating and coordinating between support programs
    could alleviate much of this. Now that we have several joint bases it's
    actually creating a myriad of services that can be confusing to
    military families. Each Service does things their way, inter-service
    training and coordination of support program providers is crucial.
        Ms. Moakler. Our association as long been a proponent of Joint or
    Purple programs. We are seeing the results of this in programs like the
    Yellow Ribbon Reintegration program that goes across Services and
    components. Our joint bases are also having to deal with coordination
    of services.
        We hope that the Military Family Readiness Council and the recent
    report that DOD had to do will look at what programs are successful and
    which are redundant. We do feel that local commanders should be able to
    have some leeway in using the programs that are found most successful
    in their areas.

                            support for adolescents
        23. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, we have a generation of military children who have
    known 8 years of war and repeated deployments--and it's not over yet.
    What do we know about the effect of these years on children as they
    grow into adolescence?
        Ms. Casey. We know very little at this point. We do know, though,
    that military children exposed to multiple deployments by their parents
    are coping with increased levels of stress. But, the cumulative effect
    on our military children and adolescents of 8 years of war and repeated
    deployments remains to be seen.
        My sense is that the issues we are seeing today with our military
    children are merely lagging indicators of what we will likely face in
    the future. My biggest concern is that the most challenging issues will
    surface later when families have more time to really reintegrate as
    ``dwell time'' increases. Critical, in this regard, will be the
    continuation of support services long after the current operations
    tempo has abated.
        We as a Nation need to be ready to handle these issues because if
    we don't stay out in front of them, we won't be able to react fast
    enough. This means, in part, supporting ongoing independent studies on
    this topic--and even commissioning new ones--so that we can use their
    results to shape future policy programs.
        Ms. Mancini. We don't know yet, but encourage that this topic stay
    in the forefront of mental health professionals and encourage there be
    further and ongoing investigations.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. I don't have any information to answer this question.
        Ms. Moakler. The National Military Family Association is presently
    conducting a study with the RAND Corporation on the effects of
    deployment on children. This study is unique in that it asks both the
    caregiver and the child about their deployment experiences. We hope to
    have final results of the study in the Spring.

        24. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, what more can we do?
        Ms. Casey. We--as a Nation--owe it to our military children to
    provide the best possible environment for them to grow and thrive. This
    environment must include facilities and services that can help them
    deal effectively with the cumulative effects of 8 years of war--to
    include the stress of a repeatedly deployed parent. This environment
    must also include mental health services and resiliency training for
    our children and their parents. It must include teachers, counselors,
    and mentors who have been specifically educated about the unique
    challenges children in the military face. This last point is
    particularly important because many of our children--especially those
    in Guard and Reserve families--are in schools that, traditionally, do
    not have military children as students, so educating school staff about
    the military and what our children are going through is essential.
        Ms. Mancini. Make an effort to talk to deck plate sailors'
    families; talk with military constituents; budget and fund relevant
    family service programs; discard unused or wasteful programs; and fund
    these programs for day care, babysitting, et cetera.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. Create a school voucher program for military children.
    Many families are forced to home school or pay for private school out
    of necessity not choice.
        Ms. Moakler. We can make sure that existing programs continue to be
    funded across all components and that programs that are provided in
    cooperation with community resources are continued and that new
    partnerships are encouraged. The Services are all making use of the
    internet and social networking in an effort to reach out to
    adolescents. We have heard from the children attending our Operation
    Purple camps that the opportunity to interact with other children like
    themselves and creating relationships really helps them through the
    tough times of deployment.

                               spouse employment
        25. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, what are military spouses telling you about what they
    need in order to achieve their own educational and career goals?
        Ms. Casey. Army spouses continue to face challenges in reaching
    their educational and career goals. And, the tough economy is only
    making these challenges greater.
        The Army continues to take steps to help mitigate these challenges.
    Army spouses often tell me that programs like the Employment Readiness
    Program, the post-September 11 GI Bill benefits transferability, and
    the ``My Career Advancement Account'' are invaluable.
        There is still more work to be done, though. As I travel around the
    Army to talk with spouses, I hear concerns about confusing language/
    eligibility rules for new educational and career programs. One example
    is the confusion-both in military families and in the public
    educational institutions themselves--about a new law mandating in-State
    tuition and its transferability. Another example involves Executive
    Order 13473, which authorizes noncompetitive appointments in the Civil
    Service for spouses of certain members of the Armed Forces. This
    Executive order has regulatory guidance attached to it by the Office of
    Personnel Management that narrows the eligible pool, which, in
    turn,disappoints and frustrates non-eligible spouses.
        There are so many wonderful education and career programs out
    there. We just need to focus on how we talk about them, which includes
    simplifying the language.
        Ms. Mancini. Moving from place to place makes it difficult to
    continue a career, especially when we are transferred or relocated
    every 2-4 years. While the Spouse Relocation initiative is a good
    start, during deployments our spouses are single parents and find it
    difficult to pursue their education due to lack of funding for
    childcare and tuitions assistance. Marketing the programs offered at
    FFSC and encouraging them to utilize the self help classes, while
    making it more appealing and accessible by assisting these `single'
    spouses with childcare, et cetera.
        Our spouses are the backbone of our commands; they volunteer to
    support their servicemembers and their families, sometimes for years
    and years at a time. College credits for volunteer time could be the
    accelerant needed to encourage them to seek a higher education.
        Encouraging colleges to have accelerated programs for military
    spouses, 0-Bachelor's Degree in 2\1/2\ years.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. Most spouses I speak with find it easier to complete
    their educational goals via online courses. The introduction of the
    Military Spouse Career Advancement Account is assisting many spouses
    complete their career goals in many portable career fields. The key is
    getting the word out and having the program available everywhere.
        Ms. Moakler. Military spouses tell us they need assistance
    transferring their license or certification as they move with their
    servicemember. Many professions are regulated and the receiving State
    often does not accept the sending State's license or certification.
    Military spouses may spend several months becoming recertified,
    licensed or taking more classes before they can even begin to work in
    their new State. In a dual-income society, this is a significant
    financial strain to the family. The DOD State Liaison Office will work
    on tackling this issue next year but it is unclear what types of
    professionals a broad-based piece of legislation will impact. We do
    recognize that the new Career Advancement Accounts help with the cost
    of this certification but it still impacts employment and lost income.

                           family member dental care
        26. Senator Graham. Ms. Casey, Ms. Mancini, Ms. Smith, Ms. Davis,
    and Ms. Moakler, some military families feel that coverage under the
    family dental insurance plan is too limited and restorations cost too
    much. Do you think that military families would be willing to pay an
    increase in premiums in return for broader coverage?
        Ms. Casey. I don't know, as it may vary by family. I will tell you,
    though, that Army families usually prefer flexibility. So, perhaps the
    best approach is to have two tiered option.
        Ms. Mancini. This really depends on how much the increase would be
    and what it would include. It also depends upon what pay grade of
    member you are considering. This doesn't seem feasible for our lower
    enlisted servicemembers and may not benefit them. If they have to
    choose food over dentist premium they will and must choose food. This
    could prove to be irresponsible on the leadership's behalf.
        Once again, surveying the servicemembers and families would give
    you a great start.
        The issue of continuity of dental care, especially orthodontia,
    needs to be looked at. Typically when a family moves the have to start
    over with orthodontic care, which can be extremely costly and
    unnecessary.
        Ms. Smith. [Ms. Smith declined to answer.]
        Ms. Davis. Yes, I believe military families would be willing to pay
    a little more for increased dental services. Some type of optional plan
    should be offered. Those who want to participate can and those who
    don't want to pay for the increased services can opt out.
        Ms. Moakler. I do not believe that military families would be
    willing to pay more. While we know the TRICARE Family Member Dental
    Program provides greater access to care, given scarce dental resources,
    many families do not want to pay anything at all since they believe
    that dental care is a benefit.

                            family support programs
        27. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, how are you systematically evaluating family support
    programs to make sure they are meeting their intended goals?
        Mr. Myers. The Department values ongoing, systematic servicemember
    and family research and evaluation to help guide us in best serving
    families. Along with social science research on families and quality of
    life issues, we have relied on three major sources of data over the
    past several years to help us understand the needs of families.

             (1) Active Duty Spouse Surveys (2006 and 2008) covered a wide
            range of quality of life issues, including financial well-
            being, effects of deployments on children, spouse employment
            and education, and feeling about military life. The surveys
            included spouses from all services and provide the richest
            source of data we have to date about how families are faring
            across all the services.
             (2) Three Status of the Forces Surveys a year poll Active Duty
            servicemembers on their overall satisfaction with the military,
            retention intentions, perceived readiness, stress, tempo and
            permanent change of station moves. Two surveys of the Reserve
            Components are also conducted each year. These surveys allow us
            to track trends and changes in the quality of life of
            servicemembers and their families. A rotating set of questions
            cover quality of life issues, including financial well-being,
            impact of deployments on children, use of services and programs
            like Military OneSource and Morale, Welfare and Recreation and
            family support.
             (3) In May 2000, the Department funded the Military Family
            Research Institute at Purdue University to conduct basic
            research on quality of life in military families, with
            particular emphasis on implication for job satisfaction,
            performance and retention.

        Our next step is to provide Congress a report on military family
    readiness policies and plans per section 581 of NDAA 08, which we
    anticipate submitting by the end of July 2009. This report will detail
    DOD-wide goals and measurement systems associated with family support
    programs.
        In recognition of the increased burden placed on servicemembers and
    families during the Overseas Contingency Operation, the Department has
    made family readiness a high priority and has redesigned and boosted
    family support. Usage of support programs has expanded as the programs
    respond to the needs of our military families. The upcoming report to
    Congress details, wherever possible, the outcome data on our programs.
    Collection and evaluation of outcome data continues to evolve as we
    build our programs to best serve military members and their families.
        Developing outcome measures remains a work in progress due to the
    difficulties in applying meaningful measures to a military family's
    readiness. In many areas, insufficient data exists to directly link
    program benefits to outcomes for military families. For example,
    outcome data on the various service programs that assist military
    spouses with employment goals has been difficult to systematically
    collect as the services have different delivery systems and different
    data collection methods. Standardizing and collecting program outcome
    measures will be a priority of research in coming years.
        Ms. Marin. In October 2007, the Army unveiled the Army Family
    Covenant (AFC) as their commitment to provide soldiers and their
    families--Active, Guard, and Reserve--with a quality of life
    commensurate with their level of service and sacrifice to the Nation.
    The Army has aggressively improved a broad range of family-oriented,
    quality of life programs to standardize services, increase
    accessibility to health care, improve soldier and family housing,
    ensure excellence in schools, youth and child services, and expand
    education and employment opportunities for families. The Army has made
    significant progress, but there is still much to do.
        As the Army Family Covenant nears its second anniversary, senior
    leaders want to know if improvements and investments in programs and
    services meet the needs of soldiers and families. We are planning a
    series of town hall meetings at seven of our largest installations to
    meet with Family Readiness Group leaders and members to gather first-
    hand information from those most affected by deployments about how well
    the Covenant is meeting its commitments. Results from the town halls
    will guide further program and service improvement strategies.
        We also measure the effectiveness of Army support programs by
    regularly surveying soldiers and families to seek opinions, assess
    satisfaction, and most importantly, monitor adaptation to the unique
    challenges of Army life. These trends help us match the capabilities of
    Army programs to the expectations of our soldiers and families--keeping
    the Army strong, ready, and resilient.
        Dr. Rau. Navy family readiness programs and services are
    systematically evaluated through several mechanisms. To meet the DOD
    requirement for triennial inspection of all military family centers,
    Navy Fleet and Family Support Programs (FFSP) implemented an
    Accreditation Program. Accreditation provides detailed analysis of
    program operation, to include identification of strengths and areas for
    improvement. It also provides an external, objective marker that the
    program meets accepted standards for organizational function and
    quality of service and ensures regulatory requirements are met in each
    management function and program area offered. Navy Child and Youth
    Programs (CYP) also conducts a program of unannounced annual inspection
    by qualified Navy child development specialists and accreditation by
    the National Association for the Education of Young Children for Child
    Development Centers and the National Afterschool Alliance for school
    aged care.
        In addition to Navy accreditation processes, FFSC survey customers
    at least twice a year to ensure effective customer service and validate
    that services are useful for participants.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps evaluates family support programs
    through ongoing assessments, surveys and program evaluations. These
    tools are used to determine program effectiveness and to further
    identify service gaps and program requirements to be elevated to Marine
    Corps leadership.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force uses a multi-layered system to evaluate
    our programs and support network for families. We conduct a biennial
    Community Assessment to gauge awareness and gain feedback regarding
    family support programs. The Community Assessment is reviewed by the
    Air Force Integrated Delivery System, which is comprised of all helping
    agencies to assess and ensure the needs of the community are met
    without duplication of services. Next, input from the Integrated
    Delivery System member agencies and emerging trends from the Community
    Assessment are given priority for review and implementation through the
    Community Action Information Board, which is made up of senior Air
    Force leaders. Of note, the Community Action Information Board and
    Integrated Delivery System are unique to the Air Force.
        We also obtain valuable customer feedback through in-person and
    virtual focus groups as well as the Personal Readiness Inventory, which
    provides information on whether airmen consider themselves to be
    supported by the community and leadership. All of these methods provide
    useful information for us to enhance our programs and assistance, such
    as in the areas of personal finance and couples communication.

        28. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, what have families told you about what works and what
    does not work?
        Mr. Myers. We recognize military families, youth, and communities
    face increasing challenges and obstacles. The Department's ongoing
    systematic servicemember and family research pulses the military
    community and, in turn, proven programs that address the real needs of
    families are offered. The Active Duty Spouse Surveys (conducted in 2006
    and 2008 and every 2 years henceforth), the three annual Status of the
    Forces Surveys for Active Duty members, the two annual Status of the
    Forces Surveys for Reserve component members and targeted research
    projects provide detailed data on what is working for the military
    populace.
        To enhance the established methods for collecting information from
    families, OSD is planning a series of Listening Sessions across the
    Nation and military installations worldwide to gather input from
    military families regarding the status of military family support
    programs. These Listening Sessions will culminate in a national Family
    Summit focused on future military family support and readiness
    programs.
        In collaboration with the Land-Grant Universities (LGU) and their
    Cooperative Extension System (CES), OSD will ask military families how
    family support and readiness programs are working and how they can be
    made better. These ``Voices from Military Families'' community
    listening sessions will allow elected officials, military personnel,
    Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, and
    Cooperative Extension staff the opportunity to hear directly from
    America's military families.
        The 106 Land-Grant Universities and their Cooperative Extension
    System (CES) which is based at the United States Department of
    Agriculture (USDA) reaches into each of the nearly 3,100 counties/
    parishes across the United States, territories, and military
    installations worldwide. For nearly 100 years, CES has mobilized
    members of communities to identify strengths of current programs,
    current needs, and future opportunities to strengthen families and
    communities.
        CES faculty and staff will serve as facilitators to lead
    discussions both face-to-face and virtually with military families
    throughout 2009. The primary topics addressed at the sessions will
    reflect various concerns affecting military families. Military families
    will also be encouraged to submit their comments via an online
    community Web site. Potential questions to be asked of the participants
    include the following, as well as specific policy related issues to
    better determine their effectiveness for supporting military families.
        Topics to explore with family members:

              1. What current services are you receiving that are
            beneficial to you and your family?
              2. How are civilian communities meeting your needs?
              3. What needs do you have that are not being met by the
            military?
              4. Are the people that are providing support able to help
            you?
              5. What could civilian communities do better to support
            military families?
              6. What barriers are limiting your ability to access
            resources?
              7. What are the challenges that your children face in your
            community?

        The following questions are for families who are geographically
    isolated from installation support:

              1. The Yellow Ribbon law is intended to provide National
            Guard and Reserve members and their families with sufficient
            information and opportunities throughout the entire deployment
            cycle, is it meeting those goals?
              2. The JFSAP authorized by the NDAA of 2007 intended to
            augment the activities of family support centers with outreach,
            mobile support services, and coordination of other
            organizations and activities, is it meeting your needs?

        The input provided during these listening sessions will be
    incorporated into a National Summit on Military Families, November 9-
    10, 2009 and the creation of an OSD Military Family Action Plan to
    inform policies and programs.
        Ms. Marin. The Army Family Action Plan (AFAP) is the Army's
    longstanding grassroots mechanism to raise issues from installations to
    Army Senior Leaders. The AFAP is a formal process where the people that
    comprise the Army can inform Army leadership what works, what does not,
    potential solutions to problem areas, and new proposals. AFAP
    encourages soldiers and families to become involved in improving their
    quality of life. For Army Senior Leaders, the AFAP provides real-time
    information and enables commanders to respond rapidly to resolve
    problems and implement good ideas.
        To date, as AFAP celebrates its 25th anniversary, the program has
    achieved 110 legislative changes, 155 DOD or Army policy changes, and
    117 improvements in programs and services. While the AFAP process is
    unique to the Army, it benefits the entire DOD--61 percent of active
    issues impact all military services.
        The top five ``most critical'' active AFAP issues are: Distribution
    of Montgomery GI Bill benefits to family members; Paternity Permissive
    Temporary Duty; In-State College Tuition; Better Opportunities for
    Single Soldiers (BOSS) Staffing at Garrisons; Military Spouse
    Unemployment Compensation; and the Federal Hiring Process for Wounded
    Warriors. The first three issues have been legislated and are in the
    process of being implemented--bringing the grassroots process full
    cycle from installation identification of a problem to Congressional
    remedy.
        Dr. Rau. Sailor, family members, and command participants are
    surveyed on a recurring basis by installation Fleet and Family Support
    Program (FFSP) personnel to determine the effectiveness and quality of
    services offered. Programs are adapted accordingly in response to
    feedback about what does and doesn't work for family members. At the
    enterprise level, we have learned that aggressive outreach, targeted
    marketing, and providing services at times and locations that are
    flexible and convenient increase family member utilization. Family
    members of Individual Augmentees have also told us that deployment
    support services must be adapted to address the unique schedules of
    nontraditional deployment. Navy utilization data and feedback on
    behavioral health services has shown that providing brief, solution-
    focused clinical assessment and counseling in FFSP addresses a need
    that is not easily met in the military or civilian sector. Outcome
    indices in the areas of personal financial management and new parent
    home visitation have shown that efforts in these areas are associated
    with the desired behavioral outcomes. The use of technology to provide
    support group discussion to remotely located family members is an
    effective way to assist them.
        General Larsen. Feedback from marines and their families has been
    instrumental in identifying services gaps and areas for improvement.
    Our biggest challenge was the recognition that many of our family
    support programs were built on a peacetime model and not conducive to
    the wartime footing and operational tempo of the Corps. Their direct
    feedback was used to develop transition plans, which resulted in the
    Commandant's support for both funding and execution of plans. Major
    program reforms are underway in the areas of Unit Personal and Family
    Readiness, Exceptional Family Member, Marine Corps Family Team
    Building, and School Liaison Programs. We continue to receive positive
    customer feedback regarding our Marine Corps Exchange support to
    marines and families, as assessed by annual customer satisfaction
    surveys. Additionally, the 2007 Quality of Life in the Marine Corps
    Study, the fourth iteration of this important research, revealed that
    marines and their family members were satisfied with their mission the
    support provided by the Marine Corps. On a positive note, quality of
    life satisfaction did not decrease since the 2002 study and has
    improved in some aspects.
        Ms. Nesmith. Through our biennial Community Assessment and focus
    groups, families expressed satisfaction of our standardization of
    programs and services across Air Force bases. Standardization enhances
    their understanding of programs and services available at all Air Force
    installations and reduces stress associated with relocating to a new
    duty station. Additionally, we have responded to airmen and families'
    request for programs and services tailored to meet the needs of a
    specific duty station or mission, as well as for additional support
    services to families with special needs.

                        training for military commanders
        29. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, in a military environment, commanders and military
    leaders set the tone for every aspect of mission accomplishment--and
    protecting our families is part of our mission. Are commanders
    receiving training on family support needs, especially those stemming
    from multiple deployments? If not, what do you recommend?
        Mr. Myers. Military and family readiness are of key importance to
    commanders. Military family programs partner with commanders to ensure
    members and families are resilient and well prepared for deployment and
    other challenges of military lifestyle. Family programs staff
    understand the military lifestyle, including mission requirements. They
    also understand the quality of life needs of members and families. The
    role of military family programs is to enhance the fit between members
    and their families and the demands of the military mission. Family
    programs staff provide comprehensive, systemic training for commanders
    on family support needs, including those resulting from multiple
    deployments.
        To assist family programs and commanders to address member and
    family quality of life needs resulting from multiple deployments, the
    Department provides on-demand, ``surge'' resources during all phases of
    the deployment cycle (pre-, during, and post). Those resources include
    Military OneSource; MFLCs; and PFCs. Upon request from units, they
    provide consultation, briefings, trainings, and counseling for
    commanders and members and families. MFLCs and PFCs are also assigned
    to installations on 30, 60, and/or 90-day rotations to augment
    installation family programs and medical staffs. MFLCs who specialize
    in children and youth issues work in child development centers and
    children and youth camps.
        In 2007, the Department provided Military OneSource consultants and
    MFLCs to State National Guard Joint Force Headquarters' family programs
    to provide services to members and families who are geographically
    separated from installations. They also provide consultation to
    commands on member and family quality of life needs and resources.
        Ms. Marin. Operation READY (Resources for Educating About
    Deployment and You) is the Army's standard curriculum used by garrison
    Army Community Service (ACS) staff to train members of the Soldier and
    Family Readiness System on roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
    Operation READY provides soldiers, families, and civilians an
    understanding of what deployment resources are available to help them
    cope with the personal, family, and financial demands of deployment.
    Operation READY also includes a comprehensive training program for
    commanders to help them prepare their soldiers, families, rear
    detachment commanders, and Family Readiness Group leaders for
    deployments and reunions. Operation READY materials include Pre-
    Deployment Facilitator's Guide; Deployment Cycle Readiness; Soldiers
    and Family Member's Handbook; Rear Detachment Commander's Handbook;
    Family Readiness Group Leader's Handbook; Trauma in the Unit Leader's
    Handbook; Care Team Handbook; Deployment Support Handbook for Children
    and Youth and Facilitator's Guide; Family Readiness Support Assistance
    (FRSA) Handbook and Facilitator's Guide; Family Assistance Center's
    Guide and Reintegration Facilitator's Guide. Training resources and a
    Smart Book are also available on compact disk.
        The Army has also developed a Program of Instruction (POI)
    incorporating key Family Readiness tasks in support of the Army Force
    Generation model. This POI is taught at the Army Training and Doctrine
    Command Battalion and Brigade Pre-Command Courses. The intent is to
    prepare leaders for successful management of Family Readiness Programs.
    This training is also delivered at the Garrison Commander's Course, and
    a similar POI is being developed for Garrison Commander spouses.
        Dr. Rau. The Navy provides life skills training by FFSC personnel
    that is tailored to different levels of command leadership on
    responding to financial issues, sexual assault and domestic violence.
    Other leadership forums are routinely conducted by installation FFSC
    professionals to focus attention on key issues affecting mission
    readiness and family resiliency, including how leaders can best support
    effective preparation and reintegration following deployment. A robust
    offering of town hall meetings hosted by senior Navy officials
    identifies emerging family support needs and response requirements.
    Senior shore station leaders receive training and briefings on a wide
    array of family readiness issues, initiatives, and trends during an
    intensive 2-week training before assuming command of Navy
    installations.
        The Navy's OSC program has specifically been developed to provide
    sailors, leaders, and families with the skills, tools and resources to
    build resilience and promote a culture that encourages seeking help for
    stress-related problems early. A further objective of the program is to
    decrease the stigma associated with seeking psychological help. A
    formal educational program is being developed that will provide
    training to sailors and families throughout their Navy career. This
    curriculum, with the first course coming out at the end of this month,
    will have instructor facilitated and web-based training modules
    beginning with accessions and going through flag officer training;
    corresponding family modules are also under development.
        Realizing that culture change begins with leadership, OSC Awareness
    training was instituted at Navy Command Leadership School and the
    Senior Enlisted Academy in the summer of 2008. Over 1,700 prospective
    Commanding Officers, Executive Officers, Command Master Chiefs and
    Senior Enlisted Advisors, including 180 spouses, have received OSC
    training to date. Awareness training has also been provided to over
    1,200 sailors and their families at Returning Warrior Weekends and at
    FFSCs.
        General Larsen. Unit commanders receive Family Readiness Command
    Team Training that educates the commander on the network of supporting
    capabilities and how to leverage those capabilities should a specific
    need or needs be identified. Additionally, they receive training on the
    established policies and parameters to ensure their unit program is
    providing consistent training and education to their marines and
    families. Unit commanders are accountable for the implementation of a
    robust, applicable and accessible family readiness program. They are
    empowered to identify specific needs of their marines and spouses
    through the Family Readiness Assessment Tool. The data from the
    assessment is compiled from marines and spouses experiences and assists
    the commander with identifying potential family readiness gaps unique
    to his or her command. Once the gaps are identified, then the commander
    can leverage the training received and all available supporting
    entities.
        Ms. Nesmith. Yes, our Airman and Family Readiness Center
    professionals train commanders on family support needs, to include
    those stemming from multiple deployments. Initial training for
    commanders addresses each phase of the deployment cycle and the
    programs and services available to airmen--this training must be
    completed within 90 days of assuming command.
        The training is also customized to address unique aspects of the
    unit's mission, such as rates of deployment and members' personal
    readiness. For sustainment, Airman and Family Readiness consultants,
    assigned to and embedded in a specific unit, partner with the commander
    to identify potential issues and develop appropriate plans of action.

                              casualty assistance
        30. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, benefits for survivors of military personnel who die
    while serving on active duty have been significantly enhanced in recent
    years. At the same time, there have been concerns about the counseling
    and ongoing support provided to widows/widowers who are coping with
    grief and the day-to-day problems of managing their money, accessing
    benefits, and so on. What role is OSD playing today in ensuring that
    the policies in place for support to survivors are adequate and that
    standards of uniformity are achieved?
        Mr. Myers. The primary role of OSD continues to be the overall
    development and issuance of policies and procedures for those programs
    affecting our servicemembers and their families. To ensure these
    policies are adequate, uniform, and meeting the needs of our members,
    greater emphasis has been placed on our oversight role to ensure
    policies are properly implemented, remain current, focused, and
    flexible to adjust to changing needs. A summary of recent changes
    include:

              The Department revised its Instruction on casualty matters,
            DOD Instruction 1300.18, ``DOD Personnel Casualty Matters,
            Policies and Procedures'' on January 8, 2008. The first policy
            statement contained in the revised Instruction says ``Casualty
            procedures shall be uniform across the Military Departments
            except to the extent necessary to reflect the traditional
            practices or customs of a particular Military Department''. A
            summary of the more significant changes in this updated
            Instruction includes:

                      The requirement for the Services to develop
                    centralized short and long-term case management
                    programs;
                      The development of core standards for the
                    assignment, training and duties of casualty assistance
                    personnel;
                      The development of common feedback mechanisms for
                    casualty assistance officers and the primary next of
                    kin (PNOK);

                              The casualty officer report doubles as a
                            checklist for required actions and allows for
                            the development of various metrics to measure
                            the effectiveness of assistance officer
                            training and the timely provision of all things
                            necessary in the assistance process; and
                              The PNOK survey will measure the
                            effectiveness and the quality of the assistance
                            provided

                      Highlights the increased level and priority of
                    support to surviving family members including: legal
                    assistance, transportation support, information on
                    investigations and the availability of grief,
                    bereavement, and financial counseling; and
                      The Inspectors General of the Military Departments
                    conduct inspections of the casualty assistance programs
                    to ensure compliance with the policies, procedures, and
                    standards of this Instruction.

              The Department developed the Defense Casualty Information
            Processing System (DCIPS). DCIPS is the Department's functional
            information system for casualty and mortuary business
            information processes and is the single standard system
            supporting uniform procedures, accounting and accurate
            reporting of casualties, ensuring support of family members,
            benefits tracking, coordinating mortuary affairs, and the
            return of personal effects and human remains.
              Each military Service assigns an assistance officer to the
            PNOK to assist them until all benefits and entitlements have
            been applied for and received or until the PNOK determines that
            assistance is no longer needed. When assistance is no longer
            needed, the PNOK is provided a contact number and mailing
            address that they can call or write anytime in the future for
            additional assistance or to provide comments on the quality of
            the assistance provided.
              The Department, in collaboration with the Military Services,
            developed a Survivor's Guide, ``DOD Survivor's Guide to
            Benefits--Taking Care of Our Own'' which is provided to the
            PNOK during the assistance process (copy attached). This Guide
            reinforces information provided to the family by their
            assistance officer and provides additional resources for their
            consideration. A copy is attached.

        To ensure the Department policies and procedures remain current,
    focused, and meeting the needs of our servicemembers and their
    families, we established the DOD Casualty Advisory Board (CAB). The CAB
    is made up of subject matter experts from each of the military
    Services, including the Coast Guard, Joint Staff, and several
    directorates within OSD. A Department of Veterans Affairs
    representative is also a permanent member of the CAB. The CAB is
    responsible for developing and recommending broad policy guidance,
    proposing goals for the military Services to ensure uniform policy
    regarding the care of military members and their families, and ensure
    accurate reporting and accounting for the status of military members
    and applicable civilian personnel. The Board also recommends policy
    during joint operations to ensure uniform and equitable treatment of
    all military members and their families and uniform procedures are
    used. The CAB meets minimum of three times per year and invites
    representatives from other Federal agencies such as the Social Security
    Administration, Department of Education, and non-profit organizations
    who provide care and assistance to our servicemembers and their
    families. More importantly, surviving family members are also invited
    to attend the CAB and provide information first-hand on the quality of
    services received. Their input has proved invaluable as we shape DOD
    policy to address new and emerging needs.
        The Department co-chairs with the Department of Veterans Affairs a
    Joint Survivors Forum which meets three or more times per year.
    Represented at this meeting are the military Service long-term case
    management program managers, non-profit organizations, Service Relief
    Societies, Veterans Service Organizations, and surviving family
    members. Among other issues, this forum serves as an opportunity to
    socialize new initiatives, listen to survivors on their experiences and
    concerns, and address pending legislation or develop a framework to
    initiate legislation.
        Ms. Marin. The Army supports OSD policies and programs for
    survivors of military personnel who die while serving on Active Duty.
        Dr. Rau. Through DOD Instruction 1300.18, OSD provides uniform
    policy, guidance and procedures to the Military Departments and
    Military Services on reporting and recording of personnel casualties
    and notification and assistance to next of kin and beneficiaries/
    recipients of survivor benefits. These responsibilities are applicable
    not only to uniformed personnel of the military services, but to
    certain DOD civilian personnel, eligible contractors and other
    designated or covered personnel.
        The instruction establishes a DOD CAB, a central repository for
    casualty information and uniform guidelines for obtaining and
    maintaining emergency notification information, as well as provides
    uniform official casualty terms and definitions.
        The CAB is a permanent body, responsible for developing and
    recommending broad policy guidance, proposing goals for the Military
    Services to ensure uniform policy regarding the care of military
    members and their families, and to ensure accurate reporting and
    accounting for the status of military members and applicable civilian
    personnel. The Board recommends policy during joint operations to
    ensure uniform and equitable treatment of all military members and
    their families and ensures uniform procedures are used.
        OSD tracks the reporting of individual Service casualty information
    through the Defense Casualty Information Processing System (DCIPS), an
    event driven system for the reporting and recording of personnel
    casualty information and the notification and assistance to the next of
    kin through delivery of all survivor benefits, or until the family no
    longer desires or requires further casualty assistance support.
        General Larsen. OSD works closely with all the Service Casualty
    Offices. They have been listened to the concerns of the Service
    Casualty Offices and families and have implemented policy that remains
    current, focused, and flexible to adjust to changing needs of the
    survivors. The working relationship between OSD and the Service
    Casualty Offices has been outstanding. It is through this cooperation
    that changes, like the following, have been successfully implemented
    over the past year:

              DOD revised its Instruction 1300.18, ``DOD Personnel
            Casualty Matters, Policies and Procedures'' last year;
              DODI established the CAB that brings together subject
            matters experts from all the Services, and other Departments
            within DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop
            and recommend broad, uniform policy guidance, across all
            Services regarding the care of military members and their
            families, and to ensure accurate reporting and accounting for
            the status of military members and applicable civilian
            personnel. The CAB meets at a minimum of three times per year.
            The members discuss new initiatives that can better serve our
            families. The CAB routinely invites surviving family members to
            attend the CAB and provide information first-hand on the
            quality of services received. Their input has proved invaluable
            as policy is implemented to address new and emerging needs;
              Developed a Casualty Assistance Report that serves as a
            checklist for the assigned Assistance Officer and provides the
            Services data elements that can be used to develop metrics to
            measure policy effectiveness;
              Standardized the required core training topics for all
            assigned Casualty Assistance Officers;
              Developed the new Survivor's Guide, ``DOD Survivor's Guide
            to Benefits--Taking Care of Our Own'' which is provided to the
            primary next of kin during the assistance process. The Guide
            reinforces information provided to the family by their
            assistance officer and provides additional resources for their
            consideration.
              Enabled the Department of Veteran's Affairs Survivor's Forum
            which Service Casualty Offices and OSD attend, on a quarterly
            basis. The forum allows family members to discuss their needs
            with DOVA, OSD, and the Service Casualty Offices, and ensures
            that the needs of our surviving families are heard and that
            effective policy is implemented to support them.

        Ms. Nesmith. OSD has taken a very active role in educating the
    Services about changes to benefits and entitlements to survivors or
    servicemembers. The OSD CAB meets quarterly and is one of the best
    forums available to evaluate, revise, and standardize policies and
    benefits. OSD also developed a web-based survivor guide which provides
    an avenue for the Services to get current information to the field.
        In partnership with the Department of Veterans' Affairs, OSD
    spearheaded the Survivors' Forum which consists of Casualty
    representatives from each branch of service, Veterans' Affairs
    representatives, and surviving family members. The Survivors' Forum
    provides an avenue to disseminate policy changes through non-profit
    organizations such as Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)
    and the Gold Star Congressional Wives.

        31. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, for each Service, describe the resources, including
    the number of dedicated employees on the payroll, whose job it is to
    assist survivors 1, 3, or even 5 years after the member's death?
        Mr. Myers. The Department has a single casualty program manager at
    the YA-03/GS-15 level to manage its casualty affairs program. This
    individual, working in collaboration with the individual Service
    program managers, ensures the Department's policies remain current,
    focused, and flexible enough to adjust to current needs. The individual
    Military Services conduct the day-to-day and long-term case management
    responsibilities with survivors.
        The Department publishes, twice a year, A Survivor's Guide to
    Benefits--Taking Care of Our Own, which is provided to all primary next
    of kin during the assistance process. This Guide makes it clear to
    survivors that assistance, long after the initial assistance has ended,
    is still just a phone call away and casualty assistance is an open-
    ended.
        The resources available to the DOD Program Manager are many and
    encompass all family, compensation, health, travel and transportation,
    and mortuary affairs program offices that establish policies and
    procedures directly impacting survivors. The DOD Program Manager also
    serves as a direct point of contact with other Federal Agencies, non-
    profit organizations, relief societies, veteran's service organizations
    and others who's mission or program supports families of the fallen.
        Ms. Marin. The Army recognizes that our fallen warriors have paid
    the ultimate sacrifice and that we have a commitment to their families.
    The Survivor Outreach Services (SOS) program delivers on that
    commitment by providing access to short- and long-term support and
    information and services closest to where the Survivor resides. SOS
    staff support local Casualty Assistance Officers to ensure that
    families receive the most current information on benefits and
    entitlements and have access to long-term financial and emotional
    support. SOS provides information and referrals, and links Survivors to
    financial assistance, legal, spiritual, and clinical intervention, as
    needed. SOS support coordinators provide surviving spouses with
    lifetime support and a network of resources for as long as the Survivor
    desires.
        To support Survivors of the Fallen, 100 support coordinators and
    financial counselors will be placed at Army Community Service Centers;
    65 benefit coordinators and trainer staff will be placed at Casualty
    Assistance Centers; 108 support coordinators/benefit counselors will be
    placed at the Army National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters and Family
    Assistance Centers; and 8 support coordinators will be placed at the
    Reserve Regional Readiness Commands. Services will also be augmented
    through partnerships with the civilian sector.
        An SOS web page provides additional information, resources,
    legislative updates, forums, and other valuable information for
    Survivors. An SOS Virtual World Survivor Community is also in
    development which will provide real-time access to resources for
    Survivors in remote areas and reach out to our younger survivor
    population.
        Dr. Rau. The Navy Casualty Assistance Division employs a seasoned
    and highly trained team in Millington, Tennessee billeted for thirty-
    six military and civil service casualty assistance experts, equipped
    with the latest information technology, to promptly respond to survivor
    concerns.
        Within the Navy's Casualty assistance structure, 3 branches,
    billeted for an aggregate of 21 staff members, provide expertise most
    closely related to direct survivor assistance. Casualty Operations is
    responsible for oversight of next-of-kin notification, data entry and
    reporting; benefits and entitlements is responsible for the rapid and
    accurate processing and certification of monies owed to designated
    beneficiaries; Navy-Marine Corps Mortuary is responsible for primary
    and secondary coordination efforts and payment for mortuary services.
    Depending upon the exact nature of the assistance required, select
    staff members will assist the survivor.
        Service delivery during the first several months following a death
    is provided by a uniformed, Casualty Assistance Calls Officer who is
    the direct family liaison. The assigned Casualty Assistance Calls
    Officer is supported by local personnel, as well as regional and
    national staffs. Survivors are provided various bulletins, pamphlets
    and booklets along with referral information and contact points for
    assistance. Survivors are encouraged to contact a specific 1-800 number
    answered by the Navy's Casualty Assistance staff to resolve any issues
    or concerns.
        Navy designed, developed and implemented a standardized scientific
    survey instrument 4 years ago to measure the level of support and
    assistance provided to survivors. The Navy's casualty assistance
    program routinely receives superior critiques. This particular survey
    had been adopted by DOD for future use by all Services.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps recognized the need for and
    implemented its Long-Term Assistance Program (LTAP) in 2005. The LTAP
    is currently staffed with two full-time civil service employees whose
    mission it is to identify and resolve residual issues with the next of
    kin of deceased marines. New proactive outreach methodologies were
    recently implemented to identify trends and shore-up resources
    available through both military and municipal support agencies for the
    next of kin. The LTAP has expanded relationships with TAPS and Military
    OneSource to directly connect survivors with qualified bereavement/peer
    counseling resources. LTAP representatives are available to NOK on an
    indefinite basis. Plans to hire additional staff are currently ongoing
    to ensure we are prepared to meet projected long term requirements.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force's casualty and mortuary assistance team
    includes:

              Casualty Affairs Representatives--86 primary full-time
            civilian employees with alternates; the alternates may be
            filled by military members
              Air Force Casualty Services Branch--13 military members and
            civilian employees
              Air Force Warrior and Survivor Care Office--1 civilian
            employee and 2 military members
              Air Force Mortuary Officers--95; usually the Force Support
            Squadron Commander or Deputy
              Air Force Family Liaison Officers--At least one per family
            who has experienced a death
              Air Force Mortuary Operations Center--13 full-time civilian
            employees

        The Air Force Resources employs a full-time and trained Casualty
    Assistance Representatives (CAR) at each base who is responsible for
    casualty notification, counseling and administrative processes. Our
    CARs are engaged in the process from start to finish, keeping in
    contact with the families of our deceased members for as long as they
    need our assistance. There is no specified time limit.
        The Air Force Personnel Center Casualty Services Branch at Randolph
    Air Force Base, TX, assists CARs to transfer cases to CARs at bases
    closest locations the beneficiary family may choose to move. This
    ensures assistance is available for as long as it is needed.
        Our Family Liaison Officers (FLOs) also provide close, personalized
    support to families of fallen airmen. FLOs are Active Duty military
    personnel who are appointed on an as-needed basis, but serve full-time
    until their assistance is no longer needed by the family. FLOs are
    trained by the Force Support Squadrons and partner with the Air Force
    Warrior and Survivor Care office to provide much needed assistance to
    the family.
        We also operate 24-hour help lines to assist families regardless of
    how long ago the death occurred. Further, a mortuary officer is
    assigned to each base who partners with the Air Force Mortuary
    Operations Center to assist with mortuary benefits.

                        support for school-aged children
        32. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, more than 90 percent of military dependent school-aged
    children attend local public schools. What are OSD and the Services
    doing to provide assistance to local school districts in areas heavily
    impacted by the presence of military family members?
        Mr. Myers. OSD has fully recognized the importance of providing
    support to local education agencies (LEAs) in providing education to
    school-aged children in military families.
        The Duncan Hunter NDAA for Fiscal Year 2009 (section 553),
    authorized the DOD Education Activity (DODEA) to use its funds to share
    experience and provide programs for LEAs who educate military students.
        We have used this opportunity to establish a competitive grant
    program which will award 35 grants to LEAs in fiscal year 2009 for
    amounts between $300,000 and $2 million. As of July 1, 2009 thirty one
    grant awards have been approved totaling $36,907,000. In addition we
    have used this authority to establish an invitational grant program to
    focus on school districts where there are frequent and/or sustained
    deployments, or that are serving children of servicemembers who have
    been wounded, or where school quality is a concern of the local
    military command. In fiscal year 2009 DODEA will award ten grants with
    awards between $300,000 and $2.5 million. We anticipate providing
    $15,458,000 under this program and are currently reviewing requests
    from eight LEAs.
        In addition to providing money in support of this outreach effort,
    the Department is making its MFLC Program available to LEAs to provide
    non-medical, short term, situational, problem-solving counseling
    services. DODEA's Educational Partnership coordinated with DOD and the
    Military Services extends the program to provide professional, licensed
    and credentialed counselors to support and augment over 100 military
    connected LEAs in SY 2009/10.
        The Department is also partnering with Federal and State agencies
    to support the needs of military children in public schools. In June
    2008, the Deputy Secretaries of Defense and Education signed a
    Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create a formal partnership
    between the two departments to support the education of military
    students. The MOU provides a comprehensive and cohesive structure for
    collaboration between the two Federal agencies as well as with local,
    State, and other relevant entities. Through the MOU, the agencies can
    now leverage their coordinated strengths to improve the educational
    opportunities of military connected students.
        The Department, in collaboration with the Council of State
    Governments, has established the Interstate Compact on Educational
    Opportunity for Military Children to resolve many of the school
    transition issues experienced by school-aged children in military
    families. This Compact between States covers key issues encountered by
    military families in four broad categories: eligibility, enrollment,
    placement, and graduation. Examples of these issues include class
    placement, records transfer, immunization requirements, course
    placement, graduation requirements, exit testing, and extra-curricular
    opportunities. The Compact was activated in 2008 when the initial 10
    States adopted it and currently has the approval of 24 States, which
    covers 70 percent of military children in Active Duty families (5-18
    years old). The Department is continuing to work with the remaining
    States and expect most will adopt the Compact within the next few
    years.
        Ms. Marin. The Army is working with DOD, Department of Education,
    and local education agencies to address school transition issues and
    provide assistance to local school districts in areas heavily impacted
    by the presence of military-affiliated school-age children.
        Army School Support Services staff at garrisons provide training to
    parents, students and school personnel, transition assistance for
    mobile military students, and advocacy to promote issues of military
    students. The Army has 144 School Liaison officers serving garrisons,
    local school districts, and Army families.
        Today, more than 385 school districts are signatories to the
    Secondary Education Transition Study Memorandum of Agreement. Twenty-
    four States have adopted the DOD Interstate Compact on Educational
    Opportunity for Military Children that promotes reciprocal practices
    such as credit transfer, opportunities to try out for sports teams, and
    graduation requirements so that military students are not negatively
    impacted as they move.
        The Army School Strategy incorporates research-based goals
    developed as a result of current issues and trends in education. The
    strategy employs a multidisciplinary partnership with local public
    school districts for measuring academic, social and emotional support
    for Army children from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The
    strategy also addresses processes for equitable educational experiences
    for all military children, inclusive of special-needs, geographically
    diverse, homeschooled, and gifted and talented students.
        Dr. Rau. Navy commanders use School Liaison Officers (SLO's) under
    Child and Youth Education Services to work with local school districts
    to ensure school personnel are aware of the stressors on military
    families associated with frequent moves and extended deployments. Navy
    School Liaison Officers (SLO) are the primary liaison between community
    schools, commanders, and military parents and are located on all major
    Navy installations. Navy SLO's provide school transition services,
    deployment support, home school linkage, facilitate collaboration and
    communication, and support partnerships in education, and post
    secondary preparations. Delivery of an electronic deployment toolkit or
    ``seabag'' for school administrators and staff is scheduled for 2010 to
    better equip them for working with children of deployed sailors.
        General Larsen. DODEA has initiated both invitational and
    competitive grants which will enhance student learning opportunities,
    student achievement, and educator professional development at military-
    connected schools experiencing significant military growth between 2007
    and 2009. Approximately $30 million will be awarded. Awards will be
    based on military student enrollment and will range in size from
    $300,000 to $2,000,000, depending on the number of military students at
    the target schools to enhance the education of military students, but
    funds may be used to raise student achievement for all students at the
    target school. USMC's Senior School Liaison participated in DODEA's
    Educational Partnership both as a K-12 Partnership member and as a
    grant reviewer.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force works closely with the DOD Education
    Activity (DODEA) Partnership Branch, which supports local education
    agencies (LEAs) that serve military children. The Partnership Branch is
    charged with advancing the quality of educational programs for the
    school-age children of military families who live inside and outside
    the gate, and easing the transition of military dependents from
    military to civilian schools.
        The Air Force, along with the other services, regularly provide
    DODEA with data on significant changes in military student
    demographics. This information allows DODEA to target their
    consultative services, professional development programs, and grant
    authority to appropriate locations. Additionally, the Air Force
    increased its support of military child education initiatives. School
    liaisons and staff in Airman and Family Readiness Centers and Child and
    Youth Centers provide information and referral services for parents and
    children. As a corporate member, we interface with the Military
    Impacted Schools Association, the Military Child Education Association,
    and National Military Family Association. Also, a senior officer and/or
    civilian employee is appointed at each installation with responsibility
    to attend school board and other LEA meetings and to advocate for the
    needs of military children.

                           flexible spending accounts
        33. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, for several years, this committee has encouraged the
    DOD to set up flexible spending accounts for military families--these
    accounts allow employees to set aside a portion of their earned income
    for certain expenses, such as braces for the kids or child care, with
    favorable tax treatment. Why don't military families have the same
    opportunity?
        Mr. Myers. The Department does not plan to implement flexible
    spending accounts at this time. There are several new provisions in the
    National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 directed at
    curtailing fees, copayments, and deductibles for servicemembers and
    their families.
        Ms. Marin. The Army supports DOD policies and programs for flexible
    spending accounts for military families.
        Dr. Rau. There is a need for a more thorough assessment of the
    subject before FSAs could be applied in a military setting. Some of the
    issues such an assessment may need to address are:

              FSA benefits and risks for military members, particularly
            the risk of forfeiture of FSA contributions, and limitations on
            enrollment periods, both of which would more likely impact
            military families given that they, unlike their civilian
            counterparts, often face frequent changes in their employment
            circumstances outside their control such as change of station
            moves and lengthy deployments.
              Needs of military families that could be positively effected
            by an FSA program, such as improving their childcare options
            given current constraints on DOD-sponsored child care.
              Statutory or regulatory requirements which impede the
            Department's ability to apply the existing Federal FSA benefit
            program to the uniformed services. For example, under current
            OPM regulations, uniformed servicemembers are not eligible to
            participate in the program because they are not employees as
            defined in section 8901 (and by reference, section 2105) of
            title 5, U.S.C.
              Quantitative analysis of the estimated effectiveness of FSAs
            as military compensation tools, especially their potential
            impact on recruiting, retention, and readiness.
              Life-cycle costs associated with implementing an FSA
            program, including investments that may be required to adjust
            current policies/business practices to accommodate
            participation by uniformed servicemembers (e.g., current
            practice requires employees to submit signed claims for
            reimbursement, this may not be possible for military members
            when deployed).
              Challenges in resourcing the program given the President's
            recently announced commitment to reenact ``pay-as-you-go'' or
            PayGo scoring and his stated objective of pursuing revenue
            neutral new programs or legislation.

        Completing a thorough assessment is a necessary precursor to FSA
    implementation to ensure the DOD is able to more efficiently and
    effectively allocate resources devoted to quality of life programs--to
    make investments that are based on the actual needs of military
    families and focused on areas of greatest return to the Services.
        General Larsen. The Marine Corps feels that this is a question best
    answered by the DOD.
        Ms. Nesmith. Currently military families are not eligible to
    participate in Federal flexible spending account (FSA) programs.
    Legislation would be required for Service participation.
        The commission for the Tenth Quadrennial Review of Military
    Compensation (July 2008), recommended adoption of health care and
    dependent care FSAs for the military. However, there are disadvantages.
    For example, the account funds are ``use it or lose it'' which means
    unused funds are forfeited by the member. If FSAs were to be developed
    for military members, then further study would be necessary to assess
    how modifications to the current structure could avoid such affects,
    especially in cases of deployment or assignment relocation.

                         support for spouse employment
        34. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, I am told that the Federal hiring
    preference for military spouses which was proposed by the previous
    administration has not been implemented, is that correct? Last year,
    Senator Nelson and I proposed a legislative solution to this. Do we
    need to propose legislation again this year?
        Mr. Myers. On September 25, 2008, President Bush signed Executive
    Order (EO) 13473 allowing agencies to make noncompetitive appointments
    of spouses of certain members of the armed services. This is an
    appointing authority; it does not grant preference.
        OMB recently released the final implementing regulations for the
    EO. We expect them to be published this week with an effective date of
    September 14, 2009. The Department does not believe we need preference
    and is happy with the noncompetitive appointing authority, as it will
    facilitate spouses entry into Civil Service jobs. The EO by its nature
    is temporary subject to the program goals of the administration.
    Legislation would make this authority permanent and thus would be more
    desirable.

        35. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, what can Congress do to assist military spouses in
    achieving their educational and career goals?
        Mr. Myers. Last year, Congress authorized the Department to assist
    spouses of Active Duty servicemembers in receiving education and
    training required for a degree, credential, or professional licensure
    in order to expand employment and portable career opportunities for
    spouses.
        The Department has implemented the Career Advancement Account
    program to provide spouses up to $6,000 to pay for training,
    professional licensure or certification programs. To date over 30,000
    spouses have established a Career Advancement Account and over 10,000
    have started their training program, with over 42 percent studying and
    beginning to work in the HealthCare field.
        Once spouses complete training, they are moved into the Career
    Advancement Account placement process for assistance as they move from
    one installation to the next.
        The Department would ask Congress to continue supporting this
    important program. The Career Advancement Account provides
    opportunities for military spouses to build a career.
        Ms. Marin. Continued congressional support of the President's
    request for Army spouse educational and career initiatives will ensure
    success of our programs.
        Another program where continued support is essential is the DOD
    Military Spouse Career Advancement Account (MyCAA) initiative. MyCAA
    provides education, training, certification and licensing for military
    spouses to pursue careers in high-demand, high-growth portable career
    fields such as education, health care, financial services, homeland
    security, information technology, hospitality industry, business
    management and other fields. MyCAA provides up to $6,000 of Financial
    Assistance for related training, education, licenses and/or
    credentials. DOD is working to expand the MyCAA initiative.
        Dr. Rau. State and congressional support our military spouses
    through alternative certifications; reciprocal licensing agreements;
    out-of-state license recognition; education and training opportunities;
    and nationally recognized standards or exams for licensure in portable
    careers such as health services, education and financial services.
    Eight States now authorize the American Board for Certification of
    Teacher Excellence program, while 23 States have adopted the Nurse
    Licensure Compact or made similar provision for transferring nurses.
    Efforts to address other opportunities for streamlining certification
    and licensure in health services, education, financial services and
    potentially other occupational areas that military spouses are being
    explored. Opportunities to market military spouses to nationwide
    employers within Congressional districts could also provide local
    solutions to corporate hiring needs.
        General Larsen. A study conducted by the National Military Family
    Association in 2007 revealed several limitations that military spouses
    encounter in attempting to achieve their educational and career goals.
    Obstacles included: balancing education, work and family; the high cost
    of education; frequent moves, deployments; and lack of access or
    understanding of available support resources. We recommend the
    following solutions, based on the results of this study:

              1. Ensure installation education centers have the funding
            necessary to support spouse education programs and initiatives.
              2. Provide additional child care funding to support child
            care needs of military spouse-scholars.
              3. Remove housing allowances from FAFSA calculations to allow
            more spouses to qualify for need based financial aid programs.
              4. Provide tuition assistance to spouses.
              5. Provide an additional education tax credit to military
            spouses.
              6. Increase funding for DOD and Department of Labor (DoL)
            Military Spouse Career Advance Accounts (CAA) and expand CAA
            services to include on-site counseling at the military
            installation Family Support Centers and/or Voluntary Education
            centers.

        Ms. Nesmith. To assist military spouses in achieving their
    educational and career goals, Congress can consider continuing and
    increasing funding for the MyCAA program that provides up to $6,000 for
    spouses to train or retrain for portable careers; supporting
    legislation that will allow a spouse leaving a job due to military
    reassignment to qualify for unemployment compensation in any of the
    States; passing and publicizing a non-binding resolution that strongly
    encourages professional and State licensing and certification bodies to
    extend reciprocity to professionals holding credentials from other
    States; and passing legislation or supporting policy that allows for
    expedited recruitment and selection of spouses of members of the
    military forces for appointment to positions (for which they are fully
    qualified) in the competitive service of the Federal civil service.

                 key indicators of families in duress--divorce
        36. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, I'm one of those people who think it takes a family to
    raise a child, and we need to do everything possible to keep families
    together. What are the divorce rates among military families? Are they
    increasing?
        Mr. Myers. Divorce rates among military families increased from 2.6
    percent in 2001 to 3.4 percent in 2008. The largest increase is in the
    Army (from 2.17 percent in 2001 to 3.55 percent in 2008). The highest
    rate of divorce is in the Marine Corps (3.66 percent in 2008). Divorce
    rates are higher for female (7.4 percent in 2008) than for male
    servicemembers (2.9 percent in 2008).
        The divorce rates, as reflected above, are the percentage of
    personnel who were married at the beginning of a fiscal year but were
    divorced at the end of that fiscal year.
        Ms. Marin. Army families remain strong and resilient in the face of
    demands they confront as we continue to be a nation at war. The Army is
    committed to resourcing programs that support our soldiers and families
    throughout the deployment cycle.
        The Army has expanded the Strong Bonds program, a commander-
    initiated, chaplain-led program that helps Active and Reserve component
    soldiers and families build effective relationship skills. The
    program's mission is to build soldier and family readiness by
    strengthening Army marriages and relationships. It targets not only
    couples and family members, but also single soldiers.
        There are a number of family service programs designed to help
    families cope with long separation, frequent moves, and the dangers of
    loved ones being placed in harm's way. These programs include
    counseling by chaplains, youth services, Army family team building,
    behavioral health, and recreation centers; an Army culture that
    encourages families to care for one another during deployment and
    stressful times; and active involvement and oversight of commanders to
    ensure that soldiers support their families, both financially and
    emotionally.
        Divorce rates for Army enlisted soldiers have increased slightly
    since fiscal year 2002 (3.0 percent to 3.7 percent in fiscal year
    2008), but are fairly constant for Army Officers (1.9 percent in fiscal
    year 2002 to 2.2 percent in fiscal year 2008). However, when divorce
    rates are calculated by gender, we see a considerably different
    picture. Females, especially enlisted females, have reported the
    highest level of divorce over the past several years with an increase
    from 6.7 percent in fiscal year 2002 to the current high of 9.1 percent
    in fiscal year 2008. The Office of the Chief of Chaplains is currently
    funding a survey project that is intended to identify stress indicators
    among enlisted females with the objective of providing more focused
    support programs.
        Dr. Rau. The divorce rate for Navy has remained relatively constant
    from Calendar Year 2004 through Calendar Year 2008 averaging from 3.5
    percent to 3.0 percent. The divorce rate for Calendar Year 2009 is 3.2
    percent when extrapolated with current data.
        The following table reflects the divorce rate for Navy:

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                         Number       Number    Divorce Rate
              Calendar Year             Married      Divorces   (Percentage)
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2004............................     191,756        6,643           3.5
    2005............................     192,218        6,382           3.3
    2006............................     190,203        6,638           3.5
    2007............................     184,094        6,070           3.3
    2008............................     177,510        5,357           3.0
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

        This data is provided from Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) and
    is pulled from Defense Enrollment Eligibility System (DEERS). The
    number is determined by calculating the number of changes in marital
    status from married to unmarried. The number of divorces is calculated
    monthly. The Navy divorce rate is calculated by dividing the total
    number of divorces by the average monthly married population in the
    Navy.
        General Larsen. The divorce rates for 2008 were 3.7 percent and
    have been slowly rising over the last 3 years. In 2006, the rate of
    divorce was 3.1 percent and was 3.3 percent in 2007.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force divorce rate has ranged from 2.4 to 3.0
    divorces per every 100 marriages from 1990-2006, but increased to 3.3
    in 2007 and 3.4 in 2008.

        37. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, what do we need to do to support families and help
    them work through problems and hopefully become stronger as a result?
        Mr. Myers.
    Military Chaplains
        As a member of the commander's staff, chaplains serve as moral,
    ethical, and spiritual advisers to their commanders. Much of the work
    they do is one-on-one with the servicemembers and their families and
    one of their primary responsibilities is to provide marriage counseling
    and marriage enrichment seminars.
    Family Support Programs
        Each Service branch sponsors information and support programs for
    servicemembers and their families. You can call or visit any
    installation Army Community Service Center, Marine Corps Community
    Services (MCCS), FFSC, or Airman and Family Readiness Center regardless
    of your branch affiliation. In addition to the support offered on the
    installation, DOD provides non-medical, life coaching through MFLC and
    Military OneSource. MFLCs are Masters or Ph.D. level, licensed, and
    credentialed clinical providers that offer intervention and support to
    military members and their families. Like Military OneSource, they
    provide short-term counseling for every day issues, such as anger
    management, stress, parenting, communication, family relationships,
    deployment, and other military-related topics. The goal of the program
    is to support operational readiness and family readiness. Situations
    requiring mental health treatment are referred to behavioral health
    agencies that treat these conditions.
        With the success of the first phase of the contract, the MFLC
    Program has grown to include additional services and outreach
    capabilities: JFSAP, the Personal Financial Counseling (PFC) Program,
    the IRR Marine Outreach Program, Child & Youth Services Program and
    Victim Advocacy (VA) Services. By expanding to include these programs,
    MFLC consultants provide a comprehensive spectrum of behavioral health
    support to military servicemembers and their families.
        Ms. Marin. A prepared family is better able to manage deployment
    and long-term separations, allowing the soldier to stay focused on the
    mission. A family that receives training and support through Army
    support systems is more likely to prove resilient to the stresses of a
    military lifestyle as they gain skills and understanding needed to
    access Army resources and services.
        Services that help families become stronger include MFLC and
    Military OneSource. MFLCs provide problem-solving and nonmedical
    counseling such as anger management, conflict resolution, parent/child
    communication, relationship issues, deployment stress, reintegration,
    relocation adjustment, and grief and financial counseling. MFLCs help
    servicemembers and families cope with reactions to stressful/adverse
    situations created by deployments and reintegration. MFLCs work
    directly with Army Community Service, Guard Headquarters and Reserve
    Regional Commands. Military OneSource provides private, face-to-face,
    non-medical counseling for short-term problems in neighborhoods
    throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
    Military OneSource also provides short-term solution-focused telephone
    consultation services as an alternative to face-to-face counseling.
    Both programs offer up to 12 counseling sessions per issue at no cost
    to users.
        Chaplains and chaplain assistants provide support to all Army
    installations. Their mission includes pastoral care and counseling to
    families under duress and facing problems with marriages and
    relationships. Chaplains are trained in counseling and a number of
    relationship strengthening programs that can be used with singles,
    couples, and families, or retreats focused on relationship building.
    Soldiers and families may also find relationship support in chaplain-
    lead religious community worship, religious education, and other
    activities that make up the diverse full-spectrum of services available
    through chaplains. The availability of unit ministry teams in the
    soldier's unit and in the community eliminates barriers to care and
    makes it easy for soldiers and families to initiate casual
    conversations to broach sensitive topics and find the help they need,
    whether provided by the chaplain or available elsewhere in the
    community. Family Life Chaplains have additional marriage and family
    counseling skills and training and are available to equip other
    chaplains or counsel with them to provide marriage enrichment
    counseling, crisis counseling, divorce counseling, and family
    counseling to mitigate the challenges of divorce.
        Dr. Rau. We currently have a very effective support network,
    through Navy FFSCs, which provides a wide-array of life skills
    workshops, such as parenting training, stress management, anger
    management, and couples communication.
        Home visitation services are provided for over-burdened expectant
    mothers and new parents of children, through age three. In the case of
    married parents, one of whom, is a deployed member, and single parents,
    we offer voluntary home visitation services. Licensed mental health
    professionals also provide brief, solution-focused, clinical counseling
    to sailors and family members to address commonly occurring issues such
    as marital discord, parent-child conflict and school/occupational
    issues, which impact family functioning. Further, we provide clinical
    services to individuals, couples and families to identify and resolve
    issues before more significant problems develop. When necessary, our
    Family Advocacy Program provides safety assessment and planning,
    clinical assessment and case management, victim advocacy and
    rehabilitative intervention to military families referred for alleged
    child abuse/neglect or domestic abuse.
        General Larsen. We offer a variety of programs and Counseling
    Services to support families and help them work through problems to
    become stronger. MCCS FAP and the General Counseling Program offers
    classes and services to help individuals, couples and families to
    enrich their relationships. Key concepts covered in these classes
    include danger signs and hidden issues in relationship; using the
    speaker-listener technique to communicate with each other; exploring
    expectations and core beliefs; problem-solving; commitment and
    friendship, fair fighting; conflict resolution; boundary definitions;
    trust and intimacy; anger management, stress management; and the
    prevention of domestic violence and child abuse. Other MCCS programs
    also offer classes/courses and life skills training such as financial
    management, family member employment; educational assistance and
    parenting practices, Pre-Deployment briefs to prepare for family
    separations and Post Deployment briefs to prepare for reintegration to
    family life, all of which affects martial and family relationships.
    Additional counseling services are available to families through
    Military OneSource, TRICARE and Chaplains.
        Ms. Nesmith. The Air Force recognizes each of the three phases of
    deployment (pre-deployment, deployment, and post-deployment) generates
    specific issues for military families. Educating families on the
    changing military environment is essential to how well our families
    adapt to deployments and the military lifestyle.
        To help families work through problems, we offer full-spectrum
    support before, during and after deployments. Focusing on family member
    needs before deployment can strengthen families' abilities to cope with
    stresses of deployment. The Air Force does this by conducting self-
    improvement and development workshops using a variety of means to
    connect with family members. We leverage technology to provide online
    support groups, social networks, and other informal events to reach
    family members who prefer alternative settings or do not live near the
    installation.
        We also educate community agencies on the changing demands of the
    military and its effect on families so they can enhance their service
    to our families. For example, families who attend religious
    institutions off base will often seek counseling from that institution.
    Training and educating local clergy on aspects of military life,
    including deployment and long-term separations, will assist them when
    counseling military families.
        We welcome your continued interest in our Family Support
    infrastructure, initiatives, outreach efforts, staffing and technology.

        38. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, I know we are short of mental health professionals. Do
    we have enough chaplains?
        Mr. Myers. Currently, there are some shortages across the different
    branches of our Armed Forces. Chaplains are doing their best to help
    facilitate the free exercise of religion for all of our uniformed
    personnel during the rigors of a long war.
        Ms. Marin. Currently, chaplain positions are filled to funded
    authorizations in the Active component. At the same time, chaplains
    have never been busier with the persistent conflict, multiple tours in
    combat, high stress in the chaplains and the force, frequent
    relocations, and high demands even when not deployed. There are a
    number of initiatives to fund and fill all chaplain and chaplain
    assistant requirements--a shortfall of 122 in the Active component, 22
    in the National Guard, and 10 in the Army Reserve.
        Dr. Rau. Navy Chaplain Corps manning is currently at 94 percent,
    with specific shortfalls at the O-2/O-3 level, which is manned at 92
    percent. Inventory shortfalls are largely attributable to historical
    challenges in recruiting sufficient numbers of chaplains to meet
    requirements.
        The Navy Chaplain Corps, in collaboration with all Enterprises
    across the Navy and with U.S. Marine Corps and U.S Coast Guard, is
    currently conducting a detailed requirements assessment to determine
    the true requirements for religious ministry across the Sea Services.
    Based on analysis completed to date, the President's fiscal year 2010
    budget submission includes an increase in authorizations for 43
    additional chaplains. Completion of the assessment is anticipated by
    the end of fiscal year 2010, the results of which are expected to
    inform future decisions on the size and composition of the Navy
    Chaplain Corps based on validated requirements.
        General Larsen. The Chaplain Corps resides within the Navy. The
    Marine Corps is unaware of any shortfalls within the Chaplain Corps.
        Ms. Nesmith. While not all chaplain positions are fully funded or
    filled, the Air Force Chaplain mission is being effectively
    accomplished. As with other career fields, our Chaplain career field is
    impacted by the strain associated with sustained deployments. We also
    feel the impact of the chronic shortage of Catholic priests, an issue
    that transcends the military Services.

               key indicators of families in duress--child abuse
        39. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, are we seeing any increase in child abuse among
    military families? If so, what are we doing to intervene and prevent
    it?
        Mr. Myers. DOD-wide rates of child abuse and neglect in Active Duty
    families have not increased. In fiscal year 2004 the joint-Service rate
    of reported incidents per 1,000 children substantiated by the DOD
    Family Advocacy Program (FAP) had increased slightly. Since fiscal year
    2004 both OSD and the Services have expanded and enhanced outreach and
    prevention programs targeting vulnerable families, including a campaign
    to prevent shaken baby syndrome, and the use of MFLCs. By fiscal year
    2008 the joint-Service rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect
    incidents per 1,000 children had decreased 27.2 percent since fiscal
    year 2000.
        Overall, the DOD rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect is
    consistently less than half of their counterpart rates in the U.S.
    civilian population as compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and
    Human Services (HHS).
        DOD FAP does not collect information on child abuse and neglect
    reports in the Reserve component. The State child protective services
    agencies retain the responsibility for receiving reports involving non-
    Active Duty component families in the civilian community, and
    aggregating the data. DOD FAP is working with HHS to improve such data
    collection.
        Ms. Marin. The Army's rate of substantiated child abuse decreased
    from 6.6 per 1,000 in fiscal year 1998 to 5.5 per 1,000 in fiscal year
    2008--substantially less than the civilian rate of 12.4 per 1,000
    reported by the Department of Health and Human Services.
        The total number of fiscal year 2008 reported child abuse cases was
    6,296. Of these, 2,596 were substantiated cases. However, preliminary
    second quarter fiscal year 2009 data (690) show an increase in
    substantiated cases over first quarter fiscal year 2009 (662), but are
    lower than cases reported in second quarter fiscal year 2008 (712).
        The Army is committed to preventing domestic violence and child
    abuse and neglect by providing a variety of services to strengthen Army
    families and enhance resiliency. The Army's Family Advocacy Program
    (FAP) provides resources to commanders and families to prevent and
    treat family violence. Prevention education is a priority, especially
    for high-risk populations such as single parents, new parents, and
    first-term families. Prevention education includes stress and anger
    management classes, parent support and skills classes, emergency
    placement care, and victim advocacy. If needed, installation victim
    advocates are on call 24/7 to support both victims of domestic violence
    and sexual assault.
        Dr. Rau. Navy data indicates generally decreasing rates of both
    alleged and substantiated child abuse since 2000. The Navy fully
    supports efforts to prevent child maltreatment and domestic abuse in
    military families. FFSCs provide life skills workshops such as
    parenting training, stress management, anger management, and couples
    communication. Home visitation services are provided to over-burdened
    expectant and new parents of children up to age 3. Single parents and
    parents with a deployed member are automatically screened as eligible
    for these voluntary home visitation services. The Navy New Parent
    Support Program uses an evidence-informed home visitation curriculum
    demonstrated to decrease child abuse risk. In 2008, 95 percent of high
    risk families remained abuse-free for 12 months after receiving six
    months of Navy home visitation services. Based on recommendations made
    by the Department of the Navy Fatality Review Team, the Navy has
    implemented primary prevention efforts to reduce child deaths due to
    shaking and the use of unsafe sleeping practices. Licensed mental
    health professionals also provide brief, solution-focused clinical
    counseling to sailors and family members for commonly occurring issues
    such as marital discord, parent-child conflict, or school/occupational
    issues all of which can adversely impact parenting practices.
        General Larsen. Obtaining consistent and quality data from the
    field has been problematic for a number of years. The Personal and
    Family Readiness Division has been inspecting fiscal year 2007 and
    fiscal year 2008 reports of abuse and counseling files aboard Camp
    Pendleton and Camp Lejeune to assure data integrity and to define
    process improvement opportunities. This effort will result in
    standardizing nomenclature, abuse definitions, and reporting
    requirements. Correction of the database and improved, factual
    statistics will additionally ensue from this effort. Although the data
    indicates a decline in substantiated domestic abuse incidents, down
    from 821 in fiscal year 2001 to 397 in fiscal year 2007, there was a
    notable increase in fiscal year 2008--to 505--and early indications
    show the potential for a slight increase in fiscal year 2009.
        Because we know that the military lifestyle is challenging, each
    installation offers unique resources to support the needs of parents
    and children. To prevent child abuse and foster the development and
    sustainment of healthy families MCCS provides a variety of prevention
    and education services, New Parent Support Program (NPSP), and
    encourages families to seek early intervention. The Family Advocacy
    Council (FAC) addresses child abuse issues at each installation.
    Prevention programs are offered through a coordinated community
    response effort with the base and civilian communities. The New Parent
    Support Program offers home based parent education services and
    psychoeducational parenting and play groups. Spouse support groups are
    additionally offered through the Family Team Building. Additional
    counseling services are available to families through Military
    OneSource, TRICARE and Chaplains. The Marine Corps is also partnering
    with UCLA to provide ``''resiliency training'' to families and children
    of marines who are facing the challenges and stress of having a loved
    one at war. This program, ``Families OverComing Under Stress'' (FOCUS)
    is operational at nine Navy and Marine Corps bases, including three in
    California.
        Ms. Nesmith. The DOD has seen a steady decline in family
    maltreatment referrals for the past 10 years; the decrease in the Air
    Force has been significant as well. For example, the total number of
    referrals fell from 8,170 in fiscal year 2005 to 6,335 in fiscal year
    2008. However, there is evidence that child neglect increases during
    deployments, and there is a small increase in child abuse among
    frequent deployers. Our Air Force Family Advocacy Program teammates are
    already training our staffs worldwide on these trends and bolstering
    family maltreatment prevention and intervention measures.

                             dod child care centers
        40. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Marin, Dr. Rau, General Larsen,
    and Ms. Nesmith, Mr. Myers has testified that there is a shortage of
    37,000 child care spaces throughout DOD. If all of the dollars and
    programs in the 2010 request are authorized and appropriated, what
    becomes of that 37,000-space shortfall?
        Mr. Myers. If all of the funding and programs in the 2010 request
    are authorized and appropriated, including the funding in the American
    Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the 37,000 shortage will be reduced by
    approximately 4,600 spaces. This still leaves a significant shortage of
    child care spaces.
        With congressional support over the past several years, the
    Department has reduced the shortage (at one time as high as 58,000
    child care spaces) as a result of an accelerated MILCON program and
    legislative initiatives. The Department will continue to rely on the
    MILCON program; however, the greatest success in increasing child care
    capacity (over 10,000 spaces) has occurred as a result of projects
    funded under the authority granted in section 2810(d), NDAA for Fiscal
    Year 2006 and renewed under section 2809 of the NDAA 2008. This
    legislation authorized the use of minor MILCON for Child Development
    Centers with life-threatening, health threatening or safety threatening
    deficiencies. The Department has utilized the flexibility this
    authority allowed to increase spaces on a rapid basis. By supporting
    DOD families' need for child care, the Department contributes to the
    efficiency, readiness, and retention of the total force and alleviate
    stress on families.
        The Department must also begin to turn its attention to
    recapitalizing the investment. The modular facilities constructed under
    the expanded authority have a 50 year life-span; however, many child
    care facilities are in need of renovations and repairs to ensure
    continued functionality. In order to maintain an adequate facility
    sustainment program for a large child care system, the Department
    estimates the need for 18--20 centers per year to meet the
    recapitalization goals. The Department requests your continued support
    of MILCON funding to ensure the viability of the child development
    program.
        Ms. Marin. The Army's Child Development Center construction program
    constitutes a critical aspect of supporting families with facilities
    needed to meet child care demand. Child care programs are a top quality
    of life issue essential to readiness, morale, and retention of the
    force.
        The Army has a requirement for 358 spaces to be provided through
    MILCON projects after fiscal year 2010 in addition to 1,878 spaces
    which are candidates for Operation and Maintenance Construction funding
    to meet its end-state capability. The Army anticipates having child
    care construction requirements in the future to provide replacement and
    renovations of existing facilities or to address emerging requirements
    (e.g., tour normalization in Korea).
        Dr. Rau. The Navy's share of the 37,000 shortfall is 3,500. The
    fiscal year 2010 requested increase of $7.7 million will satisfy 100
    percent of the shortfall once construction is completed.
        General Larsen. Based on the fiscal year 2010 funding request and
    the ARRA funding, there would be a net increase of 2,100 spaces in
    permanent construction over the next several years.
        Ms. Nesmith. Based on today's known demand, we are on track to
    bring the deficit in Air Force programs from 6,400 spaces to 0 by
    fiscal year 2011.

                                  commissaries
        41. Senator Graham. Mr. Myers, Ms. Moakler from the National
    Military Family Association tells us that families consider the
    commissary one of their most important benefits. The savings that you
    reference in your statement will not be achieved if the commissaries
    are not a desirable place to shop. Is there sufficient funding to
    replace and renovate military commissaries?
        Mr. Myers. No. While the Department's policy, that appropriated
    funding pays for commissary construction required by strategic military
    decisions, helped reduce the shortfall in construction funding, the
    shortfall continues to exist. As reported to Congress in January 2009,
    Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) identified a $549.5 million shortfall
    of commissary surcharge funding. To alleviate the shortfall, DeCA
    identified options for sharing revenue from the sale of exchange items
    in commissaries, seeking alternative funding similar to public-private
    housing initiatives, and alternative funding sources to cover costs of
    anti-terrorism and force protection measures. DeCA continues to explore
    options to reduce the shortfall before consideration will be given to
    increasing the surcharge rate. Those options are being reviewed during
    the development of the fiscal year 2011 budget request.

        [Whereupon, at 4:32 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]