[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H575]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    MAKE 1999 THE YEAR OF THE TROOPS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burr of North Carolina). Under a 
previous order of the House, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, under the Constitution, the Congress of the 
United States is responsible for the national security of our country. 
The first priority for 1999 should be to make this the year of the 
troops.
  The service chiefs several days ago testified before the Committee on 
Armed Services on which I serve that their troops are the most 
important part of the military that is in need. Problems are there that 
must be addressed.
  The first problem is that of retention, retaining the capable and 
bright young people in our military forces, whether it be the Army, 
Navy, Marines, or Air Force. We are having trouble retaining mid-career 
officers. We are having trouble retaining noncommissioned officers and 
those with critical skills, pilots, airplane mechanics, those that are 
skilled with computers and information systems.
  Another problem is that of recruiting, causing young people to want 
to join the services. All four of the services are having difficulty 
with recruiting. All of the services, with exception of the Marine 
Corps are not meeting their goals.
  The Army will have a shortfall of some 3,000, maybe even as high as 
6,000 people in their recruiting goals. The Navy could be as many as 
4,000 short. The Air Force plans to buy television ads for the first 
time. If retention and recruiting are not improved, the services will 
be unable to make the end strengths, that is the numbers that are 
allocated by law, which by the way are already too low.
  For example, the Army ended 1998, fiscal year, approximately 4,000 
people under strength. All of this leads to a readiness problem, 
whether the forces are ready to perform their job at the highest level 
that the American people expect of them. The readiness problem deals 
with the services, high operations Tempo, and a shortage of spare parts 
that contribute to the reduction in this readiness.
  In addition, the operational Tempo, that is being gone so much, puts 
a strain on families; and the spare parts shortage adds to job 
dissatisfaction. Both in turn contribute to the problems of recruiting 
and retention.
  The Department of Defense proposal for military pay retirement is a 
good first step. I compliment the Secretary of Defense and those that 
have studied this issue on that initiative.
  There is a pay triad that has three aspects that we need to look at 
regarding paying the young people who serve and those who serve for a 
career. First is the across-the-board pay increase for all service 
members, 4.4 percent, effective January 1 of the year 2000, with 
additional raises programed for the year 2001 and 2005.
  The second part of this triad is the pay table reform, additional 
raises to better reward performance by compensating service members for 
skills and education and years of experience.
  Then there is the reform of the retirement system, a return to the 
20-year retirement to 50 percent of the basic pay.
  Congress can do these things, but we can and, frankly, we should do 
more. It was General Hughes Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs 
of Staff, who testified several days ago and said, ``You can't pay our 
troops too much, but you can pay them too little.''
  We should consider a Military Thrift Savings Plan- which many 
corporations afford their employees. We need to take better care of the 
families by better family housing and improving their medical care, 
making sure that TriCare works the way we intend it to work, make sure 
that they have better barracks for those who are single and do not have 
families.

  We should ensure that the people in the military do not get left 
behind in the booming economy that we have, or else they tend to leave 
the military behind.
  We have a highly capable military force, I think the finest our 
Nation has ever had. But the key, of course, is the people, qualified, 
motivated, intelligent, hardworking people of whom we are so proud.
  We need to keep and attract quality people, to train them, and ensure 
that their morale remains high. It will require a multiyear effort. Mr. 
Speaker, we should begin that effort now by making the year 1999 the 
year of the troops.

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