department of defense authorization for appropriations for fiscal year

473 Pages·2012·7.79 MB·English

S. HRG. 112–80, PT. 6
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR
APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 AND
THE FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
HEARINGS
BEFORETHE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
S. 1253
TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 FOR MILITARY
ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FOR MILITARY
CONSTRUCTION, TO PRESCRIBE MILITARY PERSONNEL STRENGTHS
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
PART 6
PERSONNEL
APRIL 13; MAY 4, 11, 2011
(
Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services
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S. HRG. 112–80 PT. 6
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION FOR
APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 AND
THE FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE PROGRAM
HEARINGS
BEFORETHE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
S. 1253
TO AUTHORIZE APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012 FOR MILITARY
ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FOR MILITARY
CONSTRUCTION, TO PRESCRIBE MILITARY PERSONNEL STRENGTHS
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
PART 6
PERSONNEL
APRIL 13; MAY 4, 11, 2011
Printed for the use of the Committee on Armed Services
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/
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COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
CARL LEVIN, Michigan, Chairman
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona
JACK REED, Rhode Island JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama
E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
JIM WEBB, Virginia ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi
CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts
MARK UDALL, Colorado ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
MARK BEGICH, Alaska SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JOHN CORNYN, Texas
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
RICHARD D. DEBOBES, Staff Director
DAVID M. MORRISS, Minority Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL
JIM WEBB, Virginia, Chairman
JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia
CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri SCOTT P. BROWN, Massachusetts
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
MARK BEGICH, Alaska SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
(II)
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C O N T E N T S
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES
ACTIVE, GUARD, RESERVE, AND CIVILIAN PERSONNEL PROGRAMS
APRIL 13, 2011
Page
Nelson, Hon. Bill, U.S. Senator from the State of Florida ................................... 3
Chandler, SGM Raymond F., III, Sergeant Major of the Army, USA ................. 6
Kent, Sgt. Maj. Carlton W., Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, USMC ......... 10
West, MCPON Rick D., Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, USN .............. 25
Roy, CMSAF James A., Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, USAF ............ 33
Barnes, Master Chief Joseph L., USN (Ret.) ......................................................... 68
Strobridge, Col. Steven P., USAF (Ret.), Director of Government Relations,
Military Officers Association of America ............................................................ 76
Moakler, Kathleen B., Government Relations Director, National Military
Family Association ............................................................................................... 106
Puzon, CAPT Ike, USN (Ret.) ................................................................................. 132
Roth-Douquet, Kathy, Chairman, Blue Star Families .......................................... 146
CONTINUATION OF TESTIMONY ON THE ACTIVE, GUARD, RESERVE, AND CIVILIAN
PERSONNEL PROGRAMS
MAY 4, 2011
Stanley, Hon. Clifford L. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readi-
ness ........................................................................................................................ 189
Hale, Hon. Robert F., Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, and Chief
Financial Officer ................................................................................................... 225
McCarthy, Hon. Dennis M., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Af-
fairs ....................................................................................................................... 232
Woodson, Hon. Jonathan, M.D., Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health
Affairs, Director of TRICARE Management Activity ........................................ 248
CONTINUATION OF TESTIMONY ON THE ACTIVE, GUARD, RESERVE, AND CIVILIAN
PERSONNEL PROGRAMS
MAY 11, 2011
Lamont, Hon. Thomas R., Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower
and Reserve Affairs .............................................................................................. 308
Bostick, LTG Thomas P., USA, Deputy Chief of Staff G–1, U.S. Army .............. 320
Garcia, Hon. Juan M., III, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower
and Reserve Affairs .............................................................................................. 321
Ferguson, VADM Mark E., III, USN, Chief of Naval Personnel, U.S. Navy ...... 345
Milstead, Lt. Gen. Robert E., Jr., USMC, Deputy Commandant for Manpower
and Reserve Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps ............................................................ 346
(III)
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IV
Page
Ginsberg, Hon. Daniel B., Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower
and Reserve Affairs .............................................................................................. 347
Jones, Lt. Gen. Darrell D., USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower,
Personnel, and Services, U.S. Air Force ............................................................. 355
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION
FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR
2012 AND THE FUTURE YEARS DEFENSE
PROGRAM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2011
U.S. SENATE,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL,
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,
Washington, DC.
ACTIVE, GUARD, RESERVE, AND CIVILIAN PERSONNEL
PROGRAMS
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:34 p.m. in room
SR–222, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator Jim Webb (chair-
man of the subcommittee) presiding.
Committee members present: Senators Webb, Blumenthal, and
Ayotte.
Majority staff members present: Jonathan D. Clark, counsel;
Gabriella E. Fahrer, counsel; and Gerald J. Leeling, counsel.
Minority staff members present: Diana G. Tabler, professional
staff member; and Richard F. Walsh, minority counsel.
Staff assistants present: Jennifer R. Knowles and Christine G.
Lang.
Committee members’ assistants present: Juliet Beyler and Gor-
don Peterson, assistants to Senator Webb; Lindsay Kavanaugh, as-
sistant to Senator Begich; Jeremy Bratt, assistant to Senator
Blumenthal; Charles Prosch, assistant to Senator Brown; and Brad
Bowman, assistant to Senator Ayotte.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JIM WEBB, CHAIRMAN
Senator WEBB. The subcommittee will come to order.
I would like to begin by saying we are awaiting the arrival of
Senator Nelson, who is scheduled to be the first witness, but we’re
going to go ahead and proceed. If he has not arrived by the time
I finish with my opening statement, if he arrives while you’re testi-
fying, then we will interrupt the testimony and take his statement.
The subcommittee meets today to receive testimony on the Ac-
tive, Guard, Reserve, and civilian personnel programs in review of
the National Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2012
and the Future Years Defense Program.
Today, we hear from the senior enlisted advisor of each military
Service, as well as representatives from servicemember-oriented
beneficiary groups.
(1)
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2
The Committee on Armed Services is an authorizing committee
with the responsibility to examine and oversee all Department of
Defense (DOD) programs and budgets. The Subcommittee on Per-
sonnel is responsible for oversight of all personnel programs, to in-
clude military personnel policy, pay, and benefits for Active Duty,
Reserve, and retired military personnel and their families, military
healthcare, and civilian personnel policy for DOD civilian employ-
ees.
I am delighted to be serving with Senator Graham, as the rank-
ing member, of this subcommittee. I don’t believe he’s going to be
able to make the hearing today. But, for the record, and again, I’d
point out that his experiences as a member of this subcommittee
and as an Air Force Reserve officer adds a valuable perspective to
our considerations. I’ve really enjoyed working with Senator
Graham during my first year as chair of this subcommittee, and I
know we’re going to have that same cooperation again.
I’d like to also welcome Senators Blumenthal and Ayotte to the
subcommittee. I think it’s the first time we’ve met this year. We
have a really great group of people here on these issues. I think
we’re very bipartisan in looking to the well-being of our men and
women in uniform.
In the event that the past few weeks and months have not made
it obvious, Congress is taking a very careful look at budgets and
spending levels; and DOD is not immune. Secretary Gates has em-
barked on an ambitious effort to realize efficiencies and save tax-
payer dollars within the Department. As Joint Chiefs Chairman
Admiral Mullen has said, the national debt may be our biggest na-
tional security threat as we move forward.
In this spirit during our hearings this year on this subcommittee,
I intend to take a closer look at department programs, the justifica-
tions, what they cost, and whether they are achieving their stated
goals. To ensure that DOD obtains the greatest return on invest-
ment for every dollar it spends, Congress must do its part to make
sure that funded programs are effective and efficient. Those that
are not should be eliminated, and those that are should be sus-
tained properly or perhaps even expanded, if necessary. This ap-
proach is fully in keeping with our roles as stewards of the public
trust and taxpayer dollars. It’s also a practice that was in place in
the 1980s, when I was Assistant Secretary of Defense and Sec-
retary of the Navy.
Our witnesses today do not have responsibility for developing the
Department’s budget. What they do have, collectively, is more than
120 years of military service among them, an acute sense of the
challenges that our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and their
families face as we enter, now, the 10th year of sustained combat
operations. I will look to each of our witnesses today, as the senior
enlisted advisors of their Services, to give their frank advice re-
garding the health of the enlisted force, what programs and activi-
ties work, and which of them might need to be eliminated, ex-
panded, or changed to ensure that we are properly attending to the
well-being of our enlisted servicemembers and their families.
In reading past testimony, it’s clear that all of these senior advi-
sors rightly focus on quality of life in military families. Our mili-
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tary families, while by and large handling the stress of frequent
and lengthy deployments, continue to face serious challenges.
Having served in combat as a marine in Vietnam, I know what
it’s like to be deployed. Having grown up in a military family, I
know what it’s like to have a parent deployed. As a father and fa-
ther-in-law of enlisted infantry marines, I also know what it’s like
to have a child deployed, although I don’t think either of those ma-
rines would appreciate the fact that I just called them a ‘‘child.’’
[Laughter.]
Senator WEBB. I am acutely mindful of our special obligation to
see to the needs of servicemembers and their families and I take
that responsibility very seriously.
In this regard, I have, in the past, declined to support the admin-
istration’s proposed fee increase for military healthcare for certain
military retirees. I think most of you know that. I start from the
presumption that lifetime healthcare for career military personnel
is part of a moral contract between our government and those who
step forward to serve. In my view, they have earned this benefit
through their years of service, and it would be wrong to change
that benefit after they’ve held up their end of a moral contract. I’ll
keep an open mind about discussion on this and other initiatives
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our military
healthcare benefits. I’m interested in what our witnesses today
might have to say about these and other proposals.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the work done by the First Lady,
Michele Obama, and Dr. Jill Biden in support of military families.
Yesterday, they launched Joining Forces, a program that seeks to
bring together the private and public sectors to ensure that mili-
tary families have the support they need. I know that Blue Star
Families and the National Military Family Association (NMFA),
represented on the second panel, have worked with the White
House on this promising effort, and I look forward to hearing more
about it.
Before introducing our witnesses, I would like to welcome Sen-
ator Bill Nelson to the hearing and back to the Armed Services
Committee, on which he spent many years. He has asked to appear
before us to deliver a statement, relative to a piece of legislation
that he has introduced—I believe he has introduced it every year
over the past decade—to repeal the offset of the Survivor Benefit
Plan (SBP) Annuity by Dependency and Indemnity Compensation
(DIC).
Senator Nelson, welcome. We appreciate your presence today.
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE
STATE OF FLORIDA
Senator NELSON. Mr. Chairman, thank you for your long service
to the country and for your continued service. Even though you’ve
announced your retirement from the Senate, that service that has
been, as we say in the south, ‘‘in your bones,’’ will continue, and
we appreciate it very much.
I want to come and speak about this legislation, that you accu-
rately noted that we have filed every year, about the inequity in
the treatment of military survivors.
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There’s a longstanding problem in our military survivor benefit
system. The requirement for a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the
SBP annuity by the amount—and offset by the amount of the De-
pendency and Indemnity Compensation received by the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs—it’s that inequity that I want to address
and that I have addressed each year that I have been here. Over
the years, we have chipped away at it, but the basic inequity is still
there.
Obviously, we are in a tough fiscal environment, and obviously,
there are many worthy pieces of legislation to be funded. I realize
that, in this environment, we are going to have to find an offset.
What has typically happened, we always pass this in the Senate
and it goes to the conference. Because of the cost of this legislation,
it’s dropped in the conference or it is whittled away at in a minor
way.
Interestingly, the cost is dropping. As the survivors increasingly
diminish in number, the cost of this, actuarially projected, is drop-
ping.
But, nevertheless, I am here to say to your subcommittee, Mr.
Chairman, that I am committed to finding an offset.
I don’t want to tell you what the offset ought to be, because what
I learned from last week’s experience is that you can be very cre-
ative in finding offsets and new sources of revenue, as we found in
the negotiations that went on between the President and the Ma-
jority Leader and the Speaker of the House last week.
This benefit plan is an optional program for military retirees, of-
fered by DOD. The military retirees pay a premium out of their re-
tirement pay to ensure that their survivors will have income, upon
their death. It’s reasonably priced insurance. But, from the public
marketplace, that’s not necessarily available, reasonably priced,
usually because there are service-connected disabilities and health
issues. So, SBP is a way for retirees to provide income insurance
for their survivors, their family, and it pays them 55 percent of
their retired pay. SBP is also paid to survivors when a
servicemember dies on Active Duty. So, it’s an insurance program.
On the flipside, DIC is a survivor benefit administered by the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). When military service caused
the servicemember’s death, either due to service-connected dis-
ability or illness or Active-Duty death, survivors are entitled to
monthly compensation of just over $1,100 a month from the VA.
Of the 270,000 survivors receiving SBP, about 54,000 of them are
subject to the offset. According to the Defense actuary, for 31,000
survivors, SBP is completely offset by DIC; meaning that the sur-
vivor receives no SBP and must live on that $1,100, alone. Retirees
bought into the Survivors Benefit Plan in good faith, they paid
good money. These military families planned for the future, and
the government offsets it.
There are other complications to the existing offset, including a
court decision, in 2009. It requires surviving widows to remarry
after age 57 in order to eliminate the offset. I can’t figure that one
out, and obviously, this shouldn’t be tolerated.
Mr. Chairman, I had a little bit of experience in insurance, be-
fore I came to the Senate, as the elected insurance commissioner
of Florida. This offset is troubling when somebody buys an insur-
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