[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4135-S4137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REINTEGRATION OF RETURNING TROOPS

  Mr. COLEMAN. Madam President, I rise to speak about an issue that is 
very dear to me and my home State of Minnesota: the reintegration of 
our returning soldiers into their families and their communities.
  I begin my remarks by citing a letter to the editor published in the 
St. Paul Pioneer Press last Saturday by Army National Guard Chaplain 
MAJ John Morris. The letter is titled, ``It Takes Communities To Bring 
Soldiers All The Way Home.'' I ask unanimous consent to have the letter 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

        It Takes Communities To Bring Soldiers All the Way Home

                            (By John Morris)

         [From the TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press, Mar. 17, 2007]

       I am watching the growing furor over the shortcomings in 
     the Veterans Administration system and the fallout from 
     Walter Reed Army Hospital with growing alarm. I am concerned 
     that we are going to fix the crisis and forget the problem.
       The problem is how to help warriors, and their families, 
     successfully reintegrate back into our communities, and their 
     homes, after combat. A portion of that problem is health care 
     related. For a majority of combat vets, however, only a small 
     part of their reintegration challenge has to do with health 
     care for physical injuries. Behavioral and mental health are 
     bigger issues. And for most, the biggest challenge is 
     relational: rebuilding marriages, reconnecting with children, 
     rejoining friends, rejoining the global economy, getting back 
     to the communities of faith we left, etc.
       The problem with focusing on the VA is we may well fix the 
     VA only to convince ourselves that the reintegration of our 
     combat veterans is a government program, not a community 
     process. If we expect the government to take care of 
     everything, we will have failed our combat veterans and their 
     families as well as ourselves.
       We have sent our precious men and women to war. The VA 
     can't bring them home. Only we can. We have a moral 
     obligation to insure that all of our combat veterans come all 
     the way home to their families, their jobs, their schools and 
     their communities.
       A government program can't do that. A community can.
       That means each of us needs to roll up our sleeves and do 
     more than castigate the VA. It means the following:
       If you are a health care provider in Minnesota, do the 
     right thing: Become a Tricare provider. Tricare is the 
     insurance the government issues to mobilized reservists and 
     guardsmen.
       Two-thirds of Minnesota health care providers are not 
     Tricare providers. The result: We do not have an in-patient 
     chemical dependency treatment center in Minnesota that is a 
     Tricare provider. We have a dire shortage of behavioral 
     mental health providers who are Tricare providers. The VA 
     can't fix this we can.
       If you are an educator, sign up for an Operation Military 
     Kids workshop and learn about the daunting challenges our 
     7,000 Minnesota military kids face when their parent marches 
     off to war, and when they return. Help our children while we 
     are at war. Parent educators, we need you to offer classes in 
     every school district in Minnesota, for military families. We 
     need your help in learning how to parent our children again.
       If you are a member of the clergy, learn all you can about 
     the toll combat takes on marriages, families, mothers and 
     fathers of military personnel. You don't have to support the 
     foreign policy to pray for us while we are in harm's way and 
     to visit our parents, our spouses and our children while we 
     are gone. When we come home, we need your help in putting our 
     marriages, families and lives back together.
       If you are an employer, please give my spouse some grace. 
     She or he is juggling a job, a family, a home and a huge 
     heartache. There are no laws to protect them while we are at 
     war, as there are to protect my job when I come back. They 
     struggle mightily and may need some special attention and 
     some extra time off. Do the right thing--help them.
       If you are a social service provider, learn all you can 
     about combat operational stress,

[[Page S4136]]

     the challenges of reintegration for combat veterans and the 
     impact of war on the family system. You are our ``first call 
     for help;'' don't fail us because you choose not to invest in 
     your professional development.
       If you are a politician, don't politicize the shortfalls in 
     the VA or the military medical system. We aren't pawns in an 
     election cycle; we are your constituents, and we are counting 
     on you to fix the problems. Energize the community on our 
     behalf to do right by us. We're not asking for showy 
     programs. We are asking for tangible signs of support in 
     terms of services offered.
       If you are our neighbors, and you are, don't ``victimize'' 
     us. Most combat veterans come home without PTSD, mental 
     disorders, physical wounds or destroyed lives. We generally 
     readjust well and go on to live productive lives. Expect 
     great contributions to society from us. We won't disappoint 
     you. Challenge us to greatness; we know how to serve.
       Watch over our families while we are gone. Extend a warm 
     welcome home when we return. Walk with us through the months 
     of readjustment, and make a place for us in the community.
       If we are among the tragic few who come home physically or 
     mentally wounded, help us by connecting us to local, county, 
     state and federal resources.
       Certainly, address the problems with the VA, the military 
     medical system and other systemic issues that face us.
       But, above all bring us all the way home.
       A program can't do that. You can.

  Mr. COLEMAN. Major Morris is a member of the Minnesota Army National 
Guard. There are currently 2,600 members of the Minnesota National 
Guard serving in Iraq as members of the 134th Brigade Combat Team. They 
were deployed to Iraq last March after spending 6 months at Camp 
Shelby, MN. When I visited them in December in Fallujah, Taqqadum, and 
Tallil, Iraq they were all very excited to return home this month to 
see their families--some of them returning home for the first time 
since September of 2005.
  But they didn't get to come home this month. On January 10 of this 
year it was announced the 134th would be extended 125 days, hopefully 
returning home sometime later this summer. With this additional 
deployment time, the deployment of the 134th in Iraq will be 35 days 
longer than that of any other unit that has served in Iraq. That is a 
long time.
  It is interesting to talk to our National Guard folks. They are not 
complaining. They are doing their duty. But I know it weighs heavily on 
my fellow Minnesotans, on their families, and those of us who get to 
represent them in the Congress.
  When the extension was announced, I shared the great frustration over 
the fact that our young men and women would not be coming home as 
scheduled, and we had deep concerns about the way it was noticed. I 
think the families heard about it before the folks in Iraq heard about 
it, and heard about it watching a press conference. The Army 
apologized. Certainly we have to do better when issues such as this 
come up. I struggled to find the best way forward as the troops I had 
visited weeks earlier would not be coming home until much later than 
they had planned. I struggled to find ways to ease the hurt.
  But now the initial shock and frustration of the extension has 
subsided, and it is time to address the challenges they and their 
families have faced since their deployment and the challenges they will 
face when they return home.
  In the last few weeks, many of my colleagues have taken to the floor 
and to the airwaves to speak about the commitment we must make to our 
returning heroes. There aren't many things we can agree on here in this 
body, but I think all 100 of us agree we need to support our troops 
when they come home just as much as we support them when they are 
defending our Nation and our freedom abroad. We need to support our 
troops and their families before, during, and after their deployments.
  So the question is not if we should maintain this strong commitment 
to our returning warriors but, rather, how. How do we provide the 
highest level of medical care to our soldiers, our veterans? How do we 
assist military families that are readjusting to their loved one 
returning home--a difficult readjustment. How do we streamline the 
bureaucratic challenges our soldiers face? How do we sustain our 
support over the long haul? As these young men and women are returning 
home, some of them are badly wounded. How do we sustain our support 
over the long haul? As Chaplain Morris states in his letter:

       If you are a politician, don't politicize the shortfalls in 
     the VA or the military medical system. We aren't pawns in an 
     election cycle; we are your constituents and we are counting 
     on you to fix the problems. Energize the community on our 
     behalf to do right by us. We're not asking for showy 
     programs. We are asking for tangible signs of support in 
     terms of services offered.

  The challenges our returning heroes face are not going to be solved 
simply by throwing more money at the problem. They aren't going to be 
solved by finger pointing and playing the blame game. They are going to 
be solved with thoughtful and concentrated efforts aimed at fixing the 
problems we face one at a time.
  I have been seeking answers to these challenges and others by 
reaching out to leaders in my State on this issue and the leadership of 
those involved in the VA health care system. I have had long 
conversations with directors of VA hospitals in Minneapolis, St. Cloud, 
and Fargo, ND to see if there is anything we can do to help deliver the 
highest level of care. One of the good things that came out of the 
horrible stories we heard about what was happening in one of the 
outpatient buildings at Walter Reed is in my State and the Chair's 
State, folks went back and they did a room-by-room review to find the 
failings and the things that needed to be fixed. How can we improve the 
quality of our care? I can tell you in Minnesota, folks have a high 
degree of confidence in the care at our VA facilities in Minneapolis 
and in St. Cloud, and we count Fargo as ours because it services so 
many Minnesotans.
  I met with veterans organizations, including the VFW, the Minnesota 
American Legion, and the Minnesota Paralyzed Veterans, to hear their 
questions and concerns. Most importantly, I spent some time over the 
last few weeks touring my State to meet with military families, to talk 
to active-duty soldiers, National Guard members, and veterans. Many of 
them have a loved one stationed overseas, while others have a loved one 
who has just returned. There are tremendous support groups in our State 
for those who have a lot of pressures. Many families didn't know each 
other beforehand and they have united now with a special bond. A lot of 
them were saying they and their husbands didn't know each other before 
the deployment, but now we are friends. So they have now a new kind of 
almost extended family. I wish to say that the good Lord gave us all 
two ears and one mouth and it is amazing what can happen when we use 
them in that fashion.

  I wish to take some time to talk about some of the many concerns I 
hear from folks across my State and how we can better address them. 
More than anything else, one thing has been made clear by our military 
families: Education benefits for our soldiers continue to be of 
paramount importance.
  Unfortunately, the National Guard and Army Reserve are still 
operating under an antiquated system of education benefits that does 
not reflect the additional and critical role they are playing in the 
global war on terror. Under current policy, our National Guard and 
Reserve soldiers have to use their education benefits while they are 
actually in the National Guard and Reserve. I had the mother of a 
National Guard soldier visit my office in Washington and tell my staff 
about her son's particular situation. Her son had been in the National 
Guard for almost 6 years. His 6-year investment ends in September of 
this year. In 6 years he has been deployed to Bosnia and now Iraq with 
substantial ``uptraining'' time spent away from home within the United 
States.
  Because of his extension, he will not be able to finish school before 
his enlistment ends, and because National Guard troops cannot use their 
education benefits after separating from the service, we will leave him 
on his own to find a way to pay for the remainder of his studies and 
his graduate school, should he choose that path; all this after serving 
extended time on active duty defending our country.
  There is a bill in the Senate to correct this discrepancy. It is my 
honor to join Senator Lincoln on her Total Force Education Assistance 
Enhancement and Integration Act. That is a mouthful, but it is 
important. This bill would allow National Guard and Reserve troops to 
use their education benefits up to 10 years from the time they separate 
from their service. It also increases their benefits commensurate with 
their time on active duty. This is

[[Page S4137]]

a good start to adjusting education benefits in a changing environment.
  Another concern I heard during this listening session was about the 
difficulty our troops are having applying for college when they are 
overseas. Many of our troops want to begin their education, but going 
through the college application process is hard enough if you are 
working on your home computer in your living room. It is even harder if 
you are stationed 7,000 miles away from home with limited access to 
phone, e-mail, or free time for that matter.
  We need to find a way to help our deployed soldiers utilize their 
education benefits by helping them through the difficult application 
process. Not only will this improve participation in the program, it 
will improve our soldiers' morale and their ability to reintegrate when 
returning home. One of the good things I heard is that some of the 
colleges are getting this. Some in the State system and now even the 
private college system in Minnesota are understanding these challenges 
and are becoming more flexible on the public side, and I applaud this 
kind of public-private partnership.
  A final note on education is the lack of benefit structure or program 
for spouses--for spouses of those who are now in the Armed Forces.
  With over 2,600 Minnesotans currently stationed in Iraq, we have 
hundreds of military spouses working to keep their families together 
while their loved one is overseas. Many of them, by the way, were going 
to school, but now their husband or wife is overseas and they have to 
take a job and give up their education. They have less income, but they 
have to take care of their families. One spouse told me at one of our 
listening sessions she had been both a single mom and a military wife 
while trying to go to school, and being a single mom was much easier.
  We need to look at ways to extend benefits to military spouses who 
are working at home to keep their families together while they try to 
continue their education. We all know the importance of investment in 
education. Why should we deny benefits to military spouses who have 
sacrificed so much?
  Another critical issue I continue to hear about is health care for 
our returning soldiers and veterans. Again, we were all shocked to see 
the conditions revealed at Walter Reed Hospital at the end of February, 
and I am pleased those who are responsible are being held to account. 
While the conditions at the outpatient facility at Walter Reed are 
being fixed, it is a good time to revisit the overall structure of 
health care for our troops and our veterans. I share the concern 
Chaplain Morris states in his letter to the Pioneer Press that we will: 
``Fix the crisis and forget the problems'' in regard to health care and 
what I hope can be done to fix them.
  I continue to hear about the difficulties associated with Tricare. On 
my visits around the State, I learned that only 40 percent of 
healthcare providers in Minnesota are Tricare providers. Though this is 
an improvement from the past, it is still unacceptable. From our 
healthcare providers, we hear that the program is painful and 
cumbersome to work with, and it costs them significant amounts in staff 
time and energy to navigate the paperwork. For our military families, 
especially those in rural areas, traveling to a provider that will take 
Tricare is often a lengthy process that is simply not possible.
  We need to look at ways to streamline the Tricare system, and, if 
necessary, further incentivize providers to accept Trice.
  Another problem I heard from my visits around the State is the 
inability of returning troops to have marriage counseling covered by 
their benefit plans. Under current regulations, Tricare does not cover 
the counseling that is often necessary when our warriors return to 
their homes and families. Many of our troops have been deployed for 
extended periods of time, and when they return home, it is difficult to 
readjust into life with their families.
  If a returning soldier wanted to receive marriage counseling, for 
instance, they must go to their family doctor and get a referral for 
mental health issues caused by marriage. Then, after substantial effort 
and delay, it becomes possible for a soldier to act on the referral for 
stress and mental health concerns and see a marriage and family 
therapist. We have to do better than this for our returning warriors.
  Another major issue we confront with Tricare is the lack of Tricare-
certified Chemical Dependency Treatment Centers. Because of the 
burdensome certification process for these centers, we have 257 
Chemical Dependency Treatment Centers that are certified by the State 
of Minnesota but not a single one of them is certified by Tricare. So 
if any of our returning heroes comes home and develops a problem with 
substance abuse, there is not a single place in Minnesota they can go 
for help. This is a critical oversight which needs to be corrected.
  Another issue we need to be prepared to handle is post traumatic 
stress disorder, PTSD. We all know PTSD is going to be an issue we will 
face for years to come as more of our soldiers return from abroad. And 
if we are committed to dealing with it, we need to be committed to the 
facilities and the people who will be working to cure the disorder on a 
daily basis.
  One way we can do this is to incentivize mental health care 
professionals to join our veterans and military hospital system. I have 
learned in my outreach across the State that it is difficult to recruit 
these professionals, especially qualified psychiatrists, to VA and 
military hospitals in rural areas. I have always said that the quality 
of your healthcare should not depend on your ZIP Code, and this is 
especially true for our veterans and military families.
  We also need to make sure we have adequate facilities for the influx 
of participation in veterans' programs for the next few years. While 
most of the veterans I have spoken with over the past months have told 
me that the care they receive at the facilities in Minnesota is nothing 
short of excellent, we need to plan for the strain an increasing number 
of veterans will have on our facilities that are operating near 
capacity .
  Finally, I would like to address the importance of a comprehensive 
strategy for reintegrating our returning heroes into society. Quite 
frankly, this is bigger than any one single issue confronting our 
veterans and military families, but it encompasses everything I have 
talked about so far today.
  In my home State of Minnesota, the National Guard has developed an 
innovative program known as Beyond the Yellow Ribbon to conduct 
reintegration academies for the families and their loved ones who are 
returning from Iraq. We have watched with great pleasure as this 
program has helped countless families deal with the everyday challenges 
that are not touched by Washington rhetoric. Through this program, we 
have been able to engage our families, our communities, and most 
importantly, our returning heroes, to ensure that they are comfortably 
shifting back to life out of the combat zone.
  I will continue to work with our Minnesota National Guard and the 
families, communities, and veterans across our State so that we can 
continue this program and use the experience we gain from it to benefit 
our Nation as a whole.
  Inscribed on the base of the Korean War Memorial is the following: 
``Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to 
defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.'' These 
words ring true today as so many of our service men and women are 
fighting overseas in the war on terror.
  We need to make sure the sacrifice they make is met by a commitment 
here to do all we can to ease their reentry and take care of their 
concerns as they return.
  We need to provide support for these soldiers. We need to provide 
support for their families. And we need to do it before, during, and 
after they return from abroad. It is not about rhetoric, and it is not 
about politics. It is about a commitment to listen and a commitment to 
get things done. I look forward to working with my colleagues to this 
end during the coming months and years.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.

                          ____________________