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The
Honorable David S.C. Chu
Under
Secretary of Defense
(Personnel
and Readiness)
July 18, 2001
Introduction
Mr.
Chairman and members of this distinguished
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to
be here today and thank you for your
continuing support of the men and women who
serve in our Armed Forces.
The
Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 budget request puts
people first.
It contains a number of strong measures
to improve recruiting, retention, and morale,
including the largest boost in military pay
and benefits in a generation. This will help pay military people what is needed to attract,
motivate, and retain the top quality people
essential to the nation’s security.
It will enhance recruiting and
retention by fundamentally changing the pay
structure and increasing pay for grades with
difficult retention challenges. The budget request further improves the military’s ability
to recruit and retain members of high quality
and with critical skills through a robust
program of Enlistment Bonuses, Selective
Reenlistment Bonuses,
and other incentive programs.
The
budget request also proposes major
improvements to housing, healthcare, and
overall quality of life.
It increases housing allowances to
reduce the amount of out-of-pocket expenses
and enable military personnel and their
families the option of living in private
sector housing.
And, for the first time in recent
years, the President’s budget request funds
a realistic estimate of military health care
costs.
The
budget submitted by President Bush places the
highest priority on meeting the needs of our
people. While
it is not sufficient to address all problem
areas, I believe the FY 2002 budget satisfies
the most urgent, and gives us breathing room
to assess the future and identify the next
steps leading to next year’s budget
submission based on the results of the
Quadrennial Defense Review.
Today,
I would like to outline the initiatives the
Department has proposed,
as well as discuss the challenges we
face in meeting these priorities.
Military
Personnel
Despite
improvement in FY 2001 recruiting achievement,
the recruiting and retention war for talent
continues.
Although the youth population, which
sustains our ability to recruit, has grown
steadily since 1995, the Department finds
itself facing several key challenges as it
looks toward the future.
The economy remains strong. College attendance is the overwhelming first choice of high
school seniors.
The composition of the youth population
is changing.
All
these factors generate on-going challenges in
our efforts to sustain the force.
Not surprisingly, our investments in
recruiting and retention programs are rising.
We
have 11 percent more recruiters in the field
than we did a decade ago.
Funding for enlistment bonuses has
grown by over 500 percent since 1991; and the
number of reenlistment bonuses has grown from
40,565 in 1991 to 50,868 in 2000, while the
reenlistment bonus budget has grown from
$212.7 million in 1991 to $350.5 million in
2000.
Built
over the last quarter of a century, today’s
volunteer military is recognized as the most
capable ever fielded.
But a declining veteran population
means that fewer Americans have first-hand
military experience.
Therefore, it is essential that public
and private sector leaders at every level step
up to the challenge of generating awareness of
the military, communicating the importance of
the citizen soldier in our history and for our
future, and emphasizing the ennobling
characteristics associated with military
service to the nation.
End-Strength
Our
recruiting and retention programs are the
cornerstones for ensuring personnel readiness
remains high.
When retention is high, this eases the
pressure on recruiting, and vice-versa.
This fiscal year, the Army, Navy, and
Marine Corps have enjoyed high retention,
thereby reducing their recruiting missions;
they also will achieve end strength targets in
FY 2001.
Because the Air Force will not meet its
2nd and 3rd term
retention goals, and it is too late to adjust
its recruiting mission upward, the Air Force
will not achieve the required end strength at
the end of the fiscal year. Air Force is projected to
miss end strength by 4,100, meaning they would
be more than 1,000 below the authorized
one-half percent
flex.
Meeting end strength in FY
2002 requires the accurate development and
full funding of our recruiting and retention
programs.
The budget before you provides these
prerequisites, and we are committed to
executing the programs to achieve success.
Recruiting
Our
success in maintaining a military
second-to-none depends on attracting and
retaining people with the necessary talent,
character, and commitment to become leaders
and warriors in the nation’s Armed Forces.
An asset in that quest is the fact that
in today’s society, the military is
consistently ranked first as the most
respected American institution.
However, while the quality, dedication,
and professionalism of the men and women in
uniform command such respect from all
Americans, this respect currently does not
translate to a willingness to enlist or to
encourage others to serve to the degree we
need.
Nevertheless,
extraordinary efforts by our recruiting force
have produced hard-won success.
For the first time in three years, all
Services achieved their FY 2000 active-duty
recruiting goals with excellent recruit
quality. Through the first nine months of FY 2001, all
Services have met or exceeded their
active enlisted recruiting goals.
While the Naval Reserve and Air Force
Reserve missed their recruiting goals in FY
2000, all Reserve Components achieved desired
quality levels.
This year, we anticipate that all
components, with the exception of the Air
National Guard, will achieve their recruiting
missions, even though the Army and Navy will
start FY 2002 with fewer people enrolled in
the Delayed Entry Program than they would
like.
This
has not come easily.
We budgeted over $2.3 billion this year
for enlisted recruiting including advertising,
incentives, and recruiter salaries.
Our expenditure-per-recruit will be at
an all time high of $11,471, 53 percent higher
than 10 years ago, accounting for inflation. Recruiter manning is higher than before the drawdown with
more than 15,000 active component production
recruiters. Advertising budgets have increased 55 percent since FY 1997.
In
addition to expecting to achieve our overall
numerical goals, we continue to keep a close
watch on the quality of new service members.
For FY 2001, through June, quality
remains strong at 91 percent high school
diploma graduates and 66 percent with
above-average aptitude. Years of research and
experience tell us that those with a high
school diploma are more likely to complete
their initial term of service.
Additionally, research shows a strong
correlation between above average scores on
the enlistment test and on-the-job
performance.
We
continue to work to identify ways to expand
our target market.
There are several on-going pilot
programs designed to tap the high scoring
non-high school diploma graduate market. The
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 1999 directed a five-year project to
attract more home schooled graduates and
ChalleNGe-GED holders to the military by
treating them as high school diploma graduates
for enlistment purposes.
Attrition data for the early accession
cohorts have not fully matured, but do provide
some basis for comparing attrition rates among
educational credentials.
In general, 12-month attrition rates
for ChalleNGe-GED holders appear to be similar
to those of high school diploma graduates
while the attrition rates of home schooled
youth are much higher.
As the sample size continues to
increase, we will assess the military
performance and attrition behavior of the home
schooled and ChalleNGe recruits to determine
their appropriate enlistment priority.
We also are examining the enlistment
propensity of home schooled youth and
ChalleNGe participants.
We expect to learn about their
interest, or lack of interest, in military
service and use this information to tailor
enlistment incentives for youth who are likely
to be successful military recruits.
The
Army also recently launched a four-year test
program called GED Plus.
This program will give some individuals
who left high school before obtaining their
diploma an opportunity to earn a GED and
enlist in the military.
GED holders in this special test
program will have to meet stringent criteria:
they must have left school voluntarily, but
now cannot return because of age; they can not
require moral character waivers for
enlistment; they must score above average in
aptitude on the enlistment test; and they must
receive a passing score on the Army's
motivational screen (Assessment of Individual
Motivation (AIM)).
(As part of this effort, AIM will be
validated as a predictor of first-term
attrition.
If proven successful in the Army pilot,
AIM can be used as part of the enlistment
process across all Services.)
Since GED Plus graduates will be
required to have above average enlistment test
scores, job performance should not be
adversely affected.
Army
also has launched its pilot test of the
recently-authorized “College First
Program” which promises to identify better
ways to penetrate the college-bound market.
To improve the quality of the pilot,
expanded legislative authorities are being
proposed by the Department, and I hope the
Committee will support them.
Specifically, we are requesting an
extended Delayed Entry Program (DEP) period
that would add six months to the currently
authorized two-year DEP; we also are
requesting an improved stipend, along with
authority to permit pilot program participants
to enroll in the Montgomery GI Bill or the
Army College Fund.
All of those initiatives promise to
improve the quality of the pilot test and the
validity of its conclusions.
Officer
accessions come from three primary sources:
the Service academies, Reserve Officer
Training Corps (ROTC), and Officer
Candidate/Training School.
All Services met their overall
active-duty officer accession goals for FY
2000, although the Navy and Air Force both had
some deficits in specialized officer
communities, including naval flight officer,
nuclear power, and scientists and engineers.
The Services are on track to make FY
2001 commissioning goals, but again anticipate
shortages in some specialties.
To address the skill mix issue, we are
proposing an accession bonus for those officer
specialties that routinely experience
recruiting shortfalls, and hope the committee
will support this proposal.
Our
evaluation of recent recruiting challenges
suggests that, among other issues, some
potential recruits have made up their minds
against military service by the time
recruiters approach them.
We have expanded our market research to
include those individuals who influence the
decisions young people make; parents,
teachers, counselors, and coaches.
Armed with these results, we hope to
design communication strategies that will
increase youth consideration of military
service as an attractive alternative. Our initial effort is an advertising campaign, launched this
year, aimed at parents of recruitment-aged
youth. This campaign is designed to raise the interest of parents in
learning more about military opportunities.
We plan to augment this advertising
campaign with an integrated communications
campaign emphasizing the nobility of service
to all Americans.
Additionally,
we have initiated a comprehensive advertising
tracking study.
We have hired a renowned firm to track
all Department and Service national
advertising, broad-scale promotional
activities, and current events that might
affect attitudes towards the military.
The results will be quantifiable
measures of the effect of marketing activities
on the attitudes of target audiences toward
the military, enabling the prioritization of
expenditures on the basis of more immediate
measures of effectiveness.
We
do not expect the recruiting market to soften.
We must equip recruiters to succeed in
the college-bound market.
All of our traditional recruiting
tactics, techniques and procedures are
optimized for working the high school senior
population.
The realities of today’s demographics
require that we undertake an overhaul of our
methods and our incentives to enable success
in the more difficult college market.
Some initial actions have been taken to
tailor enlistment incentives, create new
programs, and better understand the market.
This will be an area of specific focus
in FY 2002.
Retention
Today's
economy also competes directly with
Services’ retention efforts.
The private sector seeks to employ our
personnel for the same reasons we must retain
them – their skill, experience, technical
training, and demonstrated leadership.
The Department's investment in
retaining high quality, trained, and ready
enlisted personnel during FY 2000 yielded
mixed results.
On the active component side, the Army,
Navy, and Marines achieved desired levels of
aggregate retention; the Air Force struggled
during FY 2000, missing aggregate retention by
1,700. FY
2001 projections indicate this trend will
continue; the Army, Navy and Marine Corps will
again achieve aggregate enlisted retention
goals. Although
there are promising indicators that the Air
Force will exceed their initial term retention
goal by about 600, if current FY 2001 trends
continue, the Air Force, as a result of
short-falls in second and third term
retention, will likely miss its overall
retention goal by 3,000 or more.
For all Services, although aggregate
enlisted retention shows improvement, this
comes at the cost of significant increases in
retention incentive spending reflected in the
current budget submission, where the funding
for special and incentive pays is increased by
$152 million over the FY01 budget.
Shortfalls persist in a wide range of
technical specialties, including:
communications/computer, aviation
maintenance, information technology,
electronic technicians, intelligence analysts,
linguists and air traffic controllers.
We
expect officer retention challenges to
continue. Although Services were not able to implement it in the past
fiscal year due to funding constraints, we
believe that the Critical Skills Retention
Bonus program authorized in the FY 2001
National Defense Authorizations Act is an
important tool that will help the Services
tackle continuing shortfalls in specific
skills, and we have requested this authority
be extended in FY 2002.
Concern with pilot manning continues.
While the enhanced aviation
continuation pay program resulted in a
substantial increase in years of committed
service throughout the Department, it does not
appear to have solved the problem.
Services, already experiencing pilot
shortages as a result of reduced accessions
during the down-sizing, are further being
affected by the demand caused by pilot
retirements in the airline industry.
Although we are able to fill cockpits
now, pilot manning will require close
attention throughout the Future Years Defense
Program.
Compensation
Competitive
pay is clearly one of the key components to
ensuring that we attract and retain the high
quality, highly skilled men and women needed
in our armed forces today.
Compensation includes all pays and
allowances: basic pay, housing and subsistence
allowances, and special and incentive pays.
We are grateful to the Congress for its
work in significantly improving each of these
areas over the past two years.
Pay
raises send a clear signal that our nation
recognizes the courage and ideals required for
military service.
While we have taken some important
steps in the right direction, we cannot afford
to become complacent.
Analysis in support of the 9th
Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation
(9th QRMC) has taken a hard look at the pay
comparability of our forces against the levels
of pay they might command in the private
sector based on their skills, experience, and
education.
The results indicate that while NCO pay
would be adequate for a high school educated
force, increasing percentages of the force
have completed at least a year of college by
the time they are E-5s.
Today’s pay table does not compare
favorably with the income levels of similarly
educated civilian workers.
Accordingly,
the Department is recommending pay raises
greater than those legislated in recent years. While targeted bonuses may be the most economic manner to
achieve improved retention in specific skill
areas, we believe the pay table imbalance, due
to educational attainment changes alone, is of
sufficient magnitude that immediate permanent
corrections are required.
Accomplishing these changes should
begin to ease the growing demand for bonuses,
returning them to their proper use.
Additional money has been budgeted to
provide a minimum pay raise of 6 percent for
all enlisted personnel, 5 percent for all
officers, and larger increases targeted for
mid-grade and senior NCO’s and mid-grade
commissioned officers.
The proposed pay raise takes into
consideration certain fundamental criteria:
that raises for each successive promotion are
larger than the previous, that raises for
promotion are worth more than raises for
longevity, and that meaningful longevity
increases are still provided to reward
continued service where advancement
opportunity is limited.
The proposed pay raise addresses
several concerns.
First, it provides the greatest
emphasis to the pay grades with the greatest
retention concerns, E-5 to E-7 and O-3 and
O-4. While
the most junior enlisted pay grades (E-1 to
E-3) are temporary grades our members pass
through fairly quickly, an additional 1
percent above the minimum 5 percent is
provided to address financial well-being.
Warrant officer pay was targeted due to
concerns over pay compression between the mid-
to senior enlisted and warrant pay, and to
provide an accession incentive for Army
warrant officer pilots.
Senior enlisted pay was increased, not
only to avoid pay compression, but to
recognize increased responsibility and,
consistent with the advice of senior enlisted
leadership, larger raises were provided to E-5
and E-7 in recognition of the achievement of
NCO and senior NCO status.
E-4 pay was adjusted upward consistent
with Navy recognition of E-4s as
non-commissioned officers.
Finally, larger increases are provided
to E-3s with less than two years of service,
and to E-4s with less than four years of
service to motivate members to seek early
promotion.
The $1 billion increase is equivalent
to a 6.9 percent across the board raise.
We believe that this plan targets the
most urgent issues within a balanced program.
The
Department intends to sustain its efforts to
significantly improve military housing
allowances and eliminate average out-of-pocket
costs by 2005.
The budget provides for further
increases in the allowance next year, reducing
the average out-of-pocket costs from 18.8
percent in 2000 to 11.3 percent in 2002.
The housing allowance is an important
element of compensation and the Department has
worked hard to significantly improve data
collection efforts to ensure the allowance
accurately reflects the rental markets where
Service members reside.
We
are also implementing important new
authorities provided by the Congress
pertaining to the critical skills retention
bonus and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
As mentioned previously, the new
critical skills retention bonus authority will
give Services a broad, flexible and highly
responsive tool to quickly and effectively
target retention problems in specific skills.
Additionally, the TSP will give every
Service member an opportunity to build a
significant amount of tax-deferred savings.
We expect the provision allowing
deposit of any and all special and incentive
pays, especially lump-sum bonuses, to be a
particularly popular option.
We have been working closely with the
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board and
are confident we will be ready to fully
implement the program beginning with an
October 2001 open season.
As
you are aware, the Secretary conducted a
review of morale and quality of life issues
confronting our service members.
In addition, we are in the midst of the
Quadrennial Defense Review where we are taking
a hard look at the future requirements for
human resources.
Immediate needs to stabilize the
current force are addressed in this year’s
budget. In
the coming months, additional measures will be
developed to transform force management
policies to provide the Services with broad,
flexible and responsive tools to manage future
challenges.
Our focus will be on a better ability
to manage the total force – to preserve the
advantage provided by top-caliber people.
Civilian
Workforce
The
DoD civilian workforce has been and will
continue to be a major contributor to military
readiness, providing continuity, expertise,
and commitment.
Civilians are an important and integral
part of the DoD Total Force for several
reasons.
The use of civilians frees Service
members to perform military duties, provides
skills unavailable in the military, and helps
assure continuity of operations. Civilians perform critical roles, from keeping war fighting
organizations ready for worldwide deployment
today to building the sophisticated tools
necessary to maintain readiness tomorrow.
DoD civilians provide significant
support in roles such as depot maintenance,
supply, acquisition, transportation, training,
deployment, medical care, research and
development, engineering, and facilities
operations.
With increasing frequency, civilians
will deploy with the other Total Force
components.
They have provided direct support to
operations such as Desert Shield/Storm, Haiti,
the Balkans, Kosovo, and Operations Northern
and Southern Watch.
Currently, over 43,000 DoD civilians
are forward stationed throughout the world.
In short, DoD civilians have global
impact on our day-to-day mission
accomplishment.
However,
the last eleven and a half years has been a
time of significant turmoil for the civilian
workforce.
Since the civilian drawdown began at
the end of FY 1989, DoD has eliminated 430,000
positions, reducing the workforce by over 37
percent. Programmed reductions will increase
that figure to 42 percent by the end of FY
2007. The
resultant imbalances in age and experience
pose problems with the orderly transfer of
institutional knowledge, as Baby Boomers will
begin to retire in increasing numbers this
year.
To
address workforce shaping needs, DoD has
developed a four-pronged strategy: (1)
workforce analysis and modeling, (2) accession
management, (3) development and retention, and
(4) transition assistance.
In
the first area, the Department has
commissioned research to identify skills
needed in the future, as well as occupations
where substantial change can be expected.
This research, plus the workforce
models for projections, will help the
Department anticipate and meet changing needs
effectively.
DoD
is now able to pay for degrees and increase
the repayment of student loans to enhance
recruitment.
The Department is exploring ways to
expedite the hiring process and provide
additional pay flexibilities to help make DoD
a more enticing place to work.
We are also exploring initiatives such
as expanded childcare access for civilians as
well as elder care assistance to enhance the
Department as an employer of choice.
In
the third part of the strategy, DoD created
the Defense Leadership and Management Program
(DLAMP) to prepare competitively selected
individuals at the GS-13 level and higher for
key leadership positions in ways that would
enable them to function more effectively than
their predecessors.
Now in its fifth year, DLAMP has some
1,172 competitively selected participants,
including 240 admitted in January 2001.
Additionally,
DoD is taking concrete steps to improve the
quality and cost-effectiveness of the
education and professional development it
provides to its civilian workforce. DOD is working towards obtaining accreditation for all DOD
institutions teaching civilians.
To measure our progress, we will
develop and use standards and metrics and a
data collection system.
These will permit our institutions a
mechanism for benchmarking and will give
decision-makers accurate and timely
information on the quality and
cost-effectiveness of DoD educational and
professional development institutions.
Managing
the workforce transition humanely as well as
efficiently has led DoD to create an exemplary
workforce transition package.
Less than 9 percent of the reduction in
employment has come through layoffs.
For example, the Voluntary Separation
Incentive Payment (VSIP, or the
"buyout") has enabled the Department
to avoid approximately 158,000 layoffs since
1993; and use of the early retirement
authority has helped avoid approximately
67,000 layoffs.
Other transition programs provide
payment for continuing health insurance and
other benefits to ease the strain.
In the FY 2001 National Defense
Authorization Act, DoD received the authority
to offer buyouts without eliminating
positions.
Though limited in scope, this authority
permits reshaping the workforce where the
number of positions might be right but the mix
of skills poses a problem. DoD is collecting data on the authority's use this year and
has requested that Congress extend its use
over the next two years.
Collectively,
these steps will help the Department cope with
the reality that it currently employs 76
percent fewer people in their 20s than it did
in the 1980s, and 56 percent fewer in their
30s, but actually 6 percent more in their 50s.
The median age has risen from 41 to 46
since the end of FY 1989.
Workforce shaping actions are therefore
a paramount consideration over the coming
decade.
Quality
of Life
Providing
a high quality of life for our military
members and their families is essential to our
efforts to attract and retain a quality force.
Considering changes in the composition
of military families (such as the increasing
number of dual income families), and realizing
that continued service is a family decision
(because how families feel affects their
satisfaction with military life), force
management and retention strategies must focus
on the entire military family.
Young
people have many choices in today's job
market.
To compete, the Department must create
an environment where individuals and their
families are encouraged to prosper and grow
and participate in the fruits of the American
society which they have sworn to defend.
To assist them, we must maintain a
strong and sustained commitment to quality of
life. Last
year's improvement in pay, revision of the
retirement system and commitment to reducing
out of pocket expenses for housing were
important steps.
We must provide quality of life
programs and services that set the military
apart as a career of choice.
Family
Support and Spouse Employment
In
the area of Family Support, we know that
family is the foundation of success and family
well-being is critical to the peace of mind of
our Service members.
With a force that is comprised
primarily of families - only 40% of the force
is single with no family responsibilities - we
recognize the integral link between family
readiness and total force readiness.
An essential element of the quality of
life framework is improving the financial
stability of our military families, which
includes improving their personal and family
financial training.
We
know, for instance, that spouse employment is
an issue.
DoD
intends to examine ways to improve employment
opportunities and transportability of careers.
We will continue to work with the
private sector to develop relationships that
provide training and employment opportunities
for military spouses, focusing on the areas of
information technology, education and health
care. These
areas continue to show a strong employment
picture.
To accomplish this the Department is
partnering with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and other chambers around the country to
engage corporate America to provide military
spouses with training and employment
opportunities leading to careers.
Child
Care
Quality,
affordable, and available childcare is a vital
quality of life issue for the Total Force and
their families.
We have child development programs at
over 300 locations with over 800 child
development centers and 9,000 family childcare
homes. DoD centers have a much higher level of
national accreditation (99 percent compared to
an approximate 8 percent for civilian sector
centers). The Department estimates that there
is a total need for 270,000 childcare spaces.
Though its current childcare programs,
the Department provides 170,000 spaces and is
working to meet the 215,000 space need.
The remaining estimated childcare need
of 55,000 spaces would be met with alternative
work schedules and arrangements with neighbors
and family members.
Educational
Opportunities
This
year the Department established a new
Educational Opportunities Directorate to
consolidate a number of congressionally
mandated, education-related programs. These include impact aid, off-duty, voluntary education,
Troops-to-Teachers, and ensuring compliance
with laws related to the education of special
needs children.
This
new directorate is the focal point for
administering financial assistance to local
education agencies to supplement the Federal
impact aid program for school districts
heavily impacted by the enrollment of DoD-connected
children.
Congress has generally appropriated
about $35 million for this purpose.
In addition, for both FY 2000 and 2001,
DoD was appropriated $10.5 million for making
grants to eligible school districts for the
maintenance, repair or renovation of school
facilities which school districts operate on
military installations.
The Directorate coordinates the
off-duty, voluntary education program for
which Congress gives about $250 million to the
Services.
Nearly, $156 million of these funds are
used for tuition assistance.
The Troops-to-Teachers Program is now
the responsibility of the Department of
Education (ED).
However, the DoD is administering the
program as required by Congress.
The
Department also recognizes that a significant
need exists to deal with issues and problems
related to the transition of military
dependent students when they are forced to
change schools because their military sponsor
is reassigned. The directorate is
collaborating with public schools that serve
military dependent students to encourage
practices that will ease such transitions.
Participation
in the off-duty, voluntary education program
remains strong, with about 600,000 enrollments
in undergraduate and graduate courses and
33,000 degrees awarded annually.
The Department has successfully
completed two years under a uniform DoD-wide
tuition assistance policy that ensures that
all Service members regardless of Service have
access to the same amount of tuition
assistance.
During FY 2000, 100 percent tuition
assistance was extended to members serving in
contingency areas.
In the fall of 2000, Congress provided
authority for Services to pay all of the costs
of members enrolled in higher education
programs during off-duty hours.
It also provided for members to use
Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB) benefits to pay for
that portion of tuition and expenses not
covered by DoD tuition assistance.
The Department is currently
coordinating the implementation of these new
provisions.
Troops
to Teachers
In
October 2000, DoD transferred responsibility
for the Troops-to-Teachers Program to the
Department of Education (DEd) as required by
law. Subsequently,
DEd received a $3 million appropriation for
the program and requested that DoD manage the
program for military personnel.
DoD has agreed to do so and the Defense
Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support
(DANTES) will continue to operate the program.
The Troops-to-Teachers program has
successfully injected the talent, skills and
experience of military service members into
public school education.
Over 3,400 participants have been hired
in 49 states, and 24 states have
Troops-to-Teachers Placement Assistance
offices. The President’s announcement to increase funding for this
program to $30M will increase the
opportunities to place transitioning military
members who are disciplined, trained and
motivated into America's critical shortage
teaching careers.
Department
of Defense Dependent Schools
Our Dependent Schools comprise two
distinct educational systems providing quality
kindergarten through 12th grade
programs:
the DoD Domestic Dependents Elementary
and Secondary Schools (DDESS) for dependents
in locations within the United States and its
territories, possessions, and commonwealths,
and the DoD Dependents Schools (DoDDS) for
dependents residing overseas.
Today, Department of Defense Education
Activity's (DoDEA) 6,840 teachers serve
112,206 students in 24 districts and 227
schools located in fourteen countries, seven
states, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
DDESS serves 34,294 students in 70
schools, while DoDDS serves 77,912 students in
its 157 schools.
DoDEA students include both military
and civilian federal employee dependents.
The quality of the DoD schools is
measured in many ways, but most importantly by
student performance.
DoD students take the same standardized
tests as students in many other United States
school systems and score above the national
average every year, at every grade level
tested, and in every subject area tested.
DoD Students also participate in the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
test, the only nationally administered test of
academic performance.
DoD students consistently score
extremely high, and our minority student
performance is exceptional, with both our
African American and Hispanic students placing
at the top among their peers nationally.
A higher percentage of DoDDS high
school graduates attend college than
nationally (73 percent versus 66 percent).
Of those attending college about 9
percent of DoDEA graduates and high school
graduates nationally attend top tier
universities or colleges in the United States
as identified in the U.S. News & World
Report “Best Colleges 2000”.
The Department is proud of its school
system and continues to address and support
quality issues in the areas of curriculum,
staffing, facilities, safety and security, and
technology. To meet the challenge of the
increasing competition for teachers, DoD has
an aggressive U.S. recruitment program, with
an emphasis on diversity and quality and a
focus on placing eligible military family
members as teachers in its schools.
Domestic
Violence
I
am pleased to report that with your help, the
Department is making significant progress in
dealing with the issue of domestic violence in
our military communities.
There is no more basic quality of life
issue than providing a safe and secure home
environment for our Service members and their
families.
Consequently, DoD has made a
substantial commitment of manpower and dollars
to its Family Advocacy Program.
As the nation’s largest
“employer-based” domestic violence
program, we believe we have the opportunity
not only to improve our response, but to
contribute substantively to the nation’s
overall effort in this matter.
DoD is establishing a central database
to track incidents of domestic violence and
commander disciplinary actions.
The
Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence was
established last year in accordance with the
requirements of Section 591 of the Fiscal Year
2000 NDAA (P.L. 106-65).
Task force members have been hard at
work for more than a year and have completed
their first annual report and strategic plan.
When the review is complete, the
Secretary will forward the task force report
to you with an evaluation and comments.
We are confident that, working together
with the task force, we can and will continue
to make significant progress in our prevention
of and response to domestic violence in the
military.
Morale,
Welfare, and Recreation
Morale,
Welfare and Recreation (MWR) programs offer
“hometown” support for those separated
from extended families and familiar settings
in over 300 military communities.
MWR programs include gymnasiums,
recreation centers, libraries, sports, outdoor
recreation, hobby shops, bowling, golf, parks,
and other programs normally found in civilian
communities.
Those programs that are most often used
are fitness, outdoor recreation and libraries.
Commissaries
and Military Exchanges
Military
members and their families consider their
commissary privilege to be one of their top
two non-cash benefits, second only to health
care. The
Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates the
worldwide system of 283 commissaries. By selling grocery items at cost plus five percent surcharge,
DeCA provides a minimum 29 percent saving on
comparable market baskets.
Beginning in Fiscal Year 2002,
legislative authority will permit funding of
most DeCA operations from appropriations,
thereby leaving the Surcharge Trust Fund
available for capital investment.
The Fiscal Year 2002 major construction
program, in a significant increase from prior
years, contains 10 commissary projects at a
total surcharge cost of $98 million.
As
you know, Secretary Rumsfeld has asked us to
consider those services that may be performed
more efficiently.
He has suggested that commissaries be
considered in that effort.
Let me state clearly that this is a
proposal to improve how the benefit is
delivered with the objective
being to obtain the same benefit at reduced
cost to the defense department.
We will work closely with the
congressional oversight committees in
exploring this issue.
Currently,
the private sector is operating the
distribution system, performing shelf
stocking, and operating some bakery, deli, and
seafood concessions.
These services are transparent to the
customer in terms of service and savings;
assure consistent delivery of the commissary
benefit at less cost to the taxpayer and with
no increase in the surcharge rate; and
continue employment opportunities for our
family members.
Let me reiterate: as we explore
additional opportunities to capitalize on
private sector competencies, there is no
intent to decrease the value of the benefit or
population served.
Military
exchanges also form a significant portion of
the community support program.
They are the “home town store” for
our service members overseas, in remote
locations and deployment sites all over the
world. It
is important to troops and families stationed
around the world to have American goods and
service.
Being a long way from home should not
mean giving up what is familiar and what adds
comfort to sometimes difficult lifestyles.
Today’s exchanges operate at 694
locations worldwide, with annual sales of
nearly $9 billion.
Exchanges
offer quality goods at significant savings,
and then pass the majority of their profits
back to the MWR program to support essential,
morale building programs and make capital
improvements.
Our practice of using exchange earnings
to support MWR programs is well established;
the exchanges provide over $300 million
annually.
The
Department has recently taken a very close
look at the exchange business practices and
organizations to maximize efficiencies and
improve customer service and savings.
I will
look closely at the study results and
the service implementation plans to ensure
that the alternatives pursued reduce costs
while improving customer service, ensuring
competitive pricing, and continue support for
MWR.
Military
Funeral Honors
The
rendering of a final tribute and recognition
to our Nation’s veterans is an important
tradition in the Department of Defense.
Since the signing of the National
Defense Authorization Act for FY 2000, the
Department has worked diligently to ensure
that our Nation’s veterans receive dignified
military funeral honors.
Given the significant increase in
veterans’ deaths and the downsizing of the
active and reserve forces, this has been a
challenging mission, but one to which we are
totally committed.
We now have a DoD policy directive in
place that clearly delineates the Military
Services’ responsibility in the provision of
military funeral honors upon request, the
requirement to provide a ceremonial flag,
folding and presentation of the flag, and the
playing of “Taps.”
The funeral honors detail consists of
two uniformed personnel with at least one from
the parent Service of the deceased veteran who
presents the flag to the family.
We
have devised a system that coordinates
Military Funeral Honors requests and it is
working well.
Additionally, the Military Funeral
Honors kit that was sent to funeral directors
around the country has significantly enhanced
the ability of the military Services to
respond to requests.
During this first year of full
implementation of the law, we have seen
significant increases in the numbers of
military funeral honors requests provided by
the military. We are currently working on our
program to partner with members of veterans
service and other appropriate organizations to
augment the two-person detail.
This is called the Authorized Provider
Partnership Program (AP3).
The AP3 will enhance our
ability to provide additional elements to the
funeral ceremony.
Our overall goal is to render
appropriate tribute to our Nation’s veterans
and to provide support to the families of
these patriots who defended our country in
times of war and peace.
Total
Force Integration
This
statement would be sadly incomplete without my
highlighting the contributions made by the
National Guard and Reserve to the Total Force.
The Reserve components continued to
support U.S. military operations worldwide,
providing over 12 million duty days of effort
in the areas of contingency support in Bosnia,
Kosovo and Southwest Asia; counter-drug
operations; domestic emergency support;
exercises; and operational support to
combatant commands and military services.
This high level of effort has remained
relatively stable over the past five years,
even as the Reserve component force has
continued to draw down in size.
Despite
maintaining this consistent level of activity,
the process for employing Reserve component
members, given the wide array of different
duty categories and statuses in which they can
serve, is unnecessarily complex and confusing.
We are undertaking a comprehensive
review to determine if greater efficiencies
and increased flexibilities are possible in
the process of employing Reserve units and
individuals.
Associated compensation and benefits
are also being addressed to identify and
eliminate any disparities between the Active
and Reserve components.
The
Fiscal Year 2002 budget request includes
important increases for the Reserve
components. Increases go to personnel accounts for a 5.0%
across-the-board pay raise, pay table reform
to further increase pay for certain personnel
grade levels, and additional full time support
personnel needed to improve readiness
management.
Additions to operating accounts are
designed to improve personnel training and
readiness by increases in flying hours, base
operations support, depot maintenance.
Additionally, Military construction (MILCON)
investment for the Reserve components
represents an increase of 280% over last
year’s request, and the largest request in
the last two decades.
The facility investment of $615 million
represents a first step in the Department’s
commitment to address a failing
infrastructure.
A 6.5% procurement increase will fund
new Reserve component equipment, helping to
ease the affects of old equipment on
readiness.
Although
the Reserve components normally do not rely on
housing, barracks, and fitness centers for
their quality of life, the issue of quality of
life is equally important for the Guardsmen or
Reservist whose quality of life is measured by
where they work and train.
The President’s budget begins to
address the neglected facility infrastructure
of the past.
Health
Care
Another
critical quality of life issue facing our
service men and women and their families is
health care.
It is a recruiting and retention tool
and it is the means by which we retain a fit
and healthy force.
The Military Health System (MHS)
consists of 78 hospitals and more than 500
clinics worldwide serving an eligible
population of 8.3 million.
In addition, we have seven TRICARE
Contracts that supplement our military
medical facilities with a network of civilian
healthcare providers.
We emphasize the prevention of illness.
We identify hazardous exposures, and
record immunizations and health encounters in
a computerized fashion for patient safety and
any needed patient care events.
We deliver the health care benefit as
defined by the Congress and ensure high
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