[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 45 (Thursday, March 15, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S3209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Lautenberg, 
        Mr. Rockefeller, Ms. Landrieu, and Ms. Cantwell):
  S. 902. A bill to provide support and assistance for families of 
members of the National Guard and Reserve who are undergoing 
deployment, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr President, Americans are divided over the Iraq war, 
but we are 100 percent united in our determination to support the 
troops in the field and their families back home.
  But just as we have seen shortcomings in the treatment of wounded 
warriors at Walter Reed, it is clear to me that we are falling short in 
supporting the families of Guard and Reserve personnel who serve in 
Iraq and Afghanistan. These families are especially vulnerable because 
of their isolation, their distance from military bases, and their lack 
of access to the services that active-duty military families can draw 
upon.
  This is a new era for our National Guard and for the Reserves. They 
are shouldering a huge share of the combat burden in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, plus a stepped-up role in homeland security. More than 
four times as many Guard members have been killed in Iraq as during the 
entire Vietnam war.
  With many Guard and Reserve members on their third or even fourth 
deployment, and with some deployments being stretched out to 16 months, 
the stresses on their families are acute. Their children are at greater 
risk for depression, behavioral disorders, or academic problems. And 
long family separations often result in financial difficulties and 
troubled marriages.
  To address this quiet crisis, today I am introducing legislation 
titled the Coming Together for Guard and Reserve Families Act. This 
bill does several things.
  First, it expands and strengthens the existing family assistance 
program. We need to ensure that there is adequate professional staff to 
work with Guard and Reserve families and meet their special needs at 
every point of the deployment cycle--as they prepare for deployment, 
during the long absence, and during reunification and readjustment.
  I am especially concerned that there are few resources for the 
families of Guard and Reserve members who are wounded or experience 
mental illness. My bill expands the VA's Disabled Transition Assistance 
program to ensure that family members have access to family counseling 
and mental health services during this critical time.
  Children of deployed service members often react to parental 
separation with acting-out behaviors, anxiety, or depression. My bill 
calls for outreach to professionals who serve children--including 
school administrators and teachers--to alert them to the special needs 
of kids in military families, especially those with a parent deployed 
in a war zone.
  Forty-one percent of Guard members and Reservists report symptoms of 
mental illness--including post-traumatic stress disorder--within 6 
months of returning home from deployment. Currently, mental health 
information is distributed to service members when they return from 
deployment--and often that's it. But symptoms of PTSD may not appear 
for months after return. My bill will ensure that families receive 
mental health information 6 months post-deployment.
  Finally, my bill creates a family-to-family mentoring program to 
enable military spouses to serve as peer counselors to other spouses 
and family members. It can be extremely valuable for a military spouse 
to consult with someone who has gone through a similar experience.
  The role of our Guard and Reserve members in defending our national 
security abroad has significantly increased. In turn, we have an 
expanded obligation to care for their spouses and children, who are 
facing tremendous stresses, often alone and with no one to turn to.
  The aim of my bill is to address the unmet needs of Guard and Reserve 
families before this becomes the kind of full-fledged crisis we 
witnessed at Walter Reed. I urge my colleagues to support this urgent 
and important legislation.
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