Chairman Ike Skelton
Opening Statement
Hearing on H.R. 3159 and H.R. 3087
July 27, 2007
"Today the House Armed Services Committee meets to hold a hearing on two bills, H.R. 3159 concerning deployment policy and H.R. 3087, a bill regarding planning for a redeployment of troops from Iraq. Later, at 1 PM today, in this room, the committee will be holding a markup on these two bills, so our witnesses' statements will have an immediate impact, something not often seen in Congress.
"Today I am pleased to welcome two familiar faces back to our committee, General John Keane, former Vice Chief of Staff for the US Army, and Dr. Larry Korb, currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. Gentlemen, welcome, and thank you for attending this hearing.
"First, an administrative note. I understand that General Keane has to leave at 11:30 promptly, and the staff has to rearrange the room for the mark up. This means that the hearing has to end promptly at 12 noon, so I will ask all members and witnesses to be as brief as they can. I will keep my opening statement short, and I think Mr. Saxton will agree to do so as well in the interests of time.
"We are here today, as I mentioned to consider two bills and two issues. First, this hearing is an important effort to learn and understand what the impact is on our troops and their families from frequent and extended deployments. The Department of Defense has established a goal that active duty service members should be deployed for one year with two year back in home station, the goal for our reservists and Guardsmen is five years between deployments. Unfortunately, the Services are not meeting that goal. The Army is actually deploying soldiers for longer periods than they have back at home station. This is a troubling sign since the time back at home station is used to reset, retrain, and re-equip forces.
"It is also having an impact on morale of the troops and their families. Military families do not ask for much, but one thing they do want and need is predictability and stability in the time between deployments. The loss of dwell time back home is increasing the burn out among our troops and their families. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses on their insights into the impact these deployment lengths are having on our troops and their families.
"Second, later this afternoon the committee will mark up a bill about planning for a redeployment from Iraq. I believe that we have reached a bipartisan agreement on this subject which will be discussed at the markup, but I think it is a subject that is well worth exploring here.
"A redeployment from Iraq, whenever it happens, will be a huge and complex endeavor requiring us to move tens of thousands of soldiers and other civilians, their equipment, and their supplies out of Iraq. It will be like moving the entirety of several small cities, and it can only be done well through exhaustive and detailed planning that has to happen well in advance of any actual redeployment. We can all think of recent examples where plans by the Department of Defense were either inadequate or wholly lacking, and many observers have blamed Congress for not conducting oversight to ensure that there were effective plans. Whatever the justice of those comments, I am determined, as I think all members here are, that such criticisms will not be leveled at this committee in the future.
"So, gentlemen, thank you again for appearing before us today. I thank you for your testimony and contributions.
"I now yield to Mr. Saxton for any comments he might make."
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