▶ 0:03:47Have a seat.
▶ 0:07:59Welcome everybody. We're glad to have you and uh have we're going to have a good morning today. Today's hearing is on the quality of life for our enlisted soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and guardians and their families.
▶ 0:08:19The five witnesses at the table represent the highest enlisted level of leadership for their respected I am pleased we are having this hearing again as we begin the o the 06 I mean 226 cycle because I always like to see you guys first. This group of gentlemen have an insight that is critical.
▶ 0:08:49This hearing is important, of great importance to the identity of areas we can be more helpful for for our service members and their families. We remain committed to providing quality, high quality barracks and family housing. But military quality of life is much broader.
▶ 0:09:15It includes service members work, training and eat. It includes where their children go to school, where their families receive care. So this is an opportunity to discuss the important connections between facilities readiness and quality quality of life.
▶ 0:09:40Investing in an infrastructure borders bold, excuse me, bolsters the military's ability to train and fight while also ensuring our service members and their families are taken care of at home is just as important. We owe that to them.
▶ 0:10:06Now, before I recognize Miss Wasserman Schulz, I'm going to tell you that about 10 days ago or so, I received a message from her.
▶ 0:10:20She said, "My team is playing your team." My team was Texas Tech and I've been badmouthing you for a couple of days and you are welcome to badmouth me and my team. Being a gentleman as all Texans are, I ignored that. Didn't say one bad word about Miss Watson Schulz or her team.
▶ 0:10:51But I am glad that my team got beat by the national champions. That's a good bragging right. We take all the bragging rights we can get in Texas. So congratulations. You have much to be proud of. And she's obviously a fan. I now yield to Miss Wasman Jewels for opening remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:11:14And uh I what I can say is that um if you look gentleman up in the dictionary, your photo is representative of of what all the meaning of that word. Um, and my uh my alma mater and our fans have a reputation, rightfully so, for being um extremely devoted and enthusiastic about our our school uh and our uh our school's success.
▶ 0:11:44Um I am a very proud Gator. Three generations, seven immediate family members in that are Florida Gators. Um, and before I begin my opening remarks, I will just tout that we are now the only division one school that has three football national championships, men's football national championships, and three men's basketball national championships. The only one quite proud. Go Gators.
▶ 0:12:12And there are lots of SEC schools here represented here on this subcommittee. So, most of us root for an SEC C school when our own teams are not in it. and it was fun um one-sidedly sparring with you and thank you for yielding, Judge Carter. Um thank you once again for holding this essential hearing and and thank you for you know the the years of cooperation and mutual respect uh in which we engage and I know that that will continue uh going forward.
▶ 0:12:42Um, we all know the the importance of the quality of life, recruitment, and retention to the military services that uh that this that are this committee's responsibility. Our committee on a bipartisan basis has always advocated for and defended our service members quality of life during their active duty, and I trust that that will continue. Uh, but this administration's continued callous disregard for service members, veterans, and their families threatens to overturn any progress that the services have made in their efforts.
▶ 0:13:11The administration has fired at least 6,000 veterans across the government, including at the VA, which provides essential promise benefits to our veterans. They are also targeting deep cuts to programs across the federal government that veterans and service members rely upon, including SNAP, WIC, and financial aid while deploying an economic strategy that has started a trade war and sent global stocks tumbling. At the Department of Defense, the plan to fire 5,400 probationary employees and the civilian hiring freeze has sent the agency into chaos.
▶ 0:13:40while unfairly making the lives of our service members more difficult. The chaotic rollout of this hiring freeze has also left current civilian employees in limbo and essential jobs unfulfilled, often falling to our service members to take on double duty. We have heard reports that barracks managers and sexual assault prevention teams are among those included in this freeze, which will directly harm quality of life and increase the workload of active duty service members.
▶ 0:14:05Unfortunately, a sim similar pattern of chaotic of a chaotic roll out of DoD's remote and teleawwork policy has hampered opportunities for military spouses to teleawwork. This teleawwork made it easier for service members and their families to adjust to frequent moves. This chaos does not make it easier for people to serve their country, and we certainly should not be actively denigrating those who do choose to serve, such as is the case with Secretary Hegset's ban on transgender individuals openly serving in the military.
▶ 0:14:32This order is not only cruel and pointless, it is counterproductive to the DoD's own goals of increasing recruitment and retention by needlessly recruit reducing the recruiting pool for reasons which have nothing to do with an individual's qualifications or whether their skills are needed by the services.
▶ 0:14:49Another example of this administration's misplaced priorities is its push to erase history when DoD should focus its energy on real issues like holding privatized housing companies accountable for lead paint in family housing or addressing the deficit of housing for unaccompanied service members, not on purging websites honoring the Air Force's first female fighter pilot, who is a constituent, by the way, or World War II women's Air Force service pilots.
▶ 0:15:14The administration's history purge also apparently extends to the Tuskegee Airmen as the Air Force removed training videos, including them, until public outcry forced the department to reverse course. How do these actions show service members that we value their service and the sacrifices their families make? What effect do you think these actions will have on the efforts of military recruiters across the nation? We should honor the service of those in uniform and fight for the quality of life of all of our service members.
▶ 0:15:39To truly improve the quality of life of those service members, we must address the continued deficiencies in barracks and privatized family housing. We must address sexual assaults in the military. We must address shortages in child care. And we must invest in the mental health of our troops. These actions are essential so that service members can focus on their important jobs instead of worrying about who will watch their children, whether they will get sick from the mold in their homes, or whether they are safe in their workplace.
▶ 0:16:05This subcommittee has recognized the value of these investments on a bipartisan basis, and I look forward to working together with my colleagues again for fiscal year 2026 to address these issues. I was incredibly disappointed by the way the fiscal year 2025 process ended and the missed opportunity for this committee to make the necessary investments to build on our progress in recent years addressing quality of life projects. Nevertheless, we will be closely monitoring the spend plans DoD submits for the full year continuing resolution funding.
▶ 0:16:33And I want to make it clear to everyone here today, my expectation is that the services prioritize those funds in a way that delivers on the promises made in the FY25 budget requests and in consideration of the bipartisan advocacy from members of the subcommittee to invest in quality of life. The spend plans must reflect the need for and importance of child development centers, barracks, schools, and other quality of life projects. The Army's FY25 budget request contained robust funding for barracks construction to tackle the services housing deficiencies.
▶ 0:17:04The the Marine Corps has a comprehensive plan called barracks 2030 for barracks investments. We cannot backtrack and sideline these types of projects. Even great plans to improve quality of life will fail if they are not accompanied by appropriate funding. Moreover, I hope the FY26 budget request when he when we get it contains a robust request for quality of life projects.
▶ 0:17:26I hope to hear from all of our witnesses today on how you and your service have worked since the hearing last year to address the inadequacies and oversight of privatized military housing providers, improve the maintenance of unaccompanied housing, and address the root causes of sexual assault within the military. And I want to thank the five witnesses for being being here today, for your service, and for your valuable testimony. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. Okay. Now, we will turn to our witnesses.
▶ 0:17:53Without objection, your entire written testimony will be included in the record. I will now recognize each of you for the an opening statement and we will then proceed with questions. We start with Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael Wymer.
▶ 0:18:11Sergeant Major, Chairman Carter, Ranking Member Washerman Schultz, distinguished members of this panel, thank you for the invitation to speak on behalf of the soldiers, their families, and the Army civilians who make up the all volunteer force. I want to start off with the fact that I'm proud of everything that our soldiers have accomplished. They are fully focused and prepared to respond to their nation's call. Our soldiers remain engaged worldwide. More than 109,000 soldiers are deployed across the globe.
▶ 0:18:41in support of either the nation, our allies, or our partners. Standing ready, we have 74,000 soldiers serving as part of the immediate or crisis response forces. And critical to the success of those soldiers is their families.
▶ 0:18:56Their dedication, sacrifice, and endurance through the stress of their soldiers being away from home or prepared to deploy at a moment's notice is The recent loss of our four teammates from third infantry division in lith Lithuania has only affirmed this commitment. Our purpose, direction, and motivation remain uh remain aligned with our four focus areas. The first focus area, war fighting, the second focus area delivering ready combat formations. The third continuous transformation.
▶ 0:19:26And the fourth, strength in the profession. My role is to ensure we're ready to fight tonight if deterrence fails. as the tip of the spear in Europe and as the backbone of the joint force in the Indoacific. The Army responds in times of crisis and is ready to fight and win when the nation calls. This starts with training management. We are reinforcing the importance of leaders obligation to provide stable and predictable training management to give soldiers and their families time to plan against life's events.
▶ 0:19:56That due to the nature of our mission to defend our nation and its interests often take us away from home for stretches of time. At Home Station, soldiers and families expect and deserve quality living conditions. We are dedicated to improving and sustaining quality living conditions for accompanied and unaccompanied personnel housing. Equally important are CDC's.
▶ 0:20:18We've streamlined the hiring process to combat staffing challenges and increase capacity as well as provide fee assistance to offset costs for installations and community-based childare. Spouses are vital to Army readiness. Enhancing spouse employment supports military families and retention.
▶ 0:20:38Launching the Department of the Army Volunteer Reassignment Program and providing employment readiness programs aids spouses during PCS moves, reducing unemployment gaps, and providing job predictability. In support of our exceptional family members, we are continuing to improve how our enterprise EFMP interacts with our personnel system and improves communication to ensure appropriate medical and education services are available to all exceptional family members around the
▶ 0:21:08world. Army installations require the right capabilities and capacity to support our formations. We're making tough decisions with our budget to ensure we transform at the speed of need. But scale is our challenge. It requires that our installations transform alongside the formations that call them home. New technology, new kit, and new equipment all matter. But if infrastructure doesn't support transformation efforts, it will negatively affect readiness.
▶ 0:21:37soldiers, families, and the larger defense community's quality of life depends on and is impacted by quality, suitability, and the conditions of their living and workplaces. So far this year, we're on glide path to meet our recruiting and retention goals. Future Soldier Prep course continues to successfully meet Americans where they're at and help them answer their calling to serve. With work still to be done, we will not let off the gas in the pursuit of reducing harmful behaviors.
▶ 0:22:04We're committed to strengthening the profession and expanding our efforts across the entire force. We're focused on increasing lethality and we will be ready when the nation calls. Maintaining this focus focus is paramount to our success. It requires that we continue to improve quality of life for our soldiers and families. Continuous resolutions and flat budgets do not support stability or predictability that our soldiers and families deserve, and it exacerbates quality of life issues.
▶ 0:22:32Thank you for the work you have done to support your army. It has been my honor to serve this past 30 years and the impacts of your support could not be more clear. I appreciate the opportunity and I look forward to your questions. Thank you, Sergeant Major. We'll now go to Master Chief Petty Officer James Horn. I'll tell you a little story. I was at the vet the other day.
▶ 0:23:01The guy walks in with a his dog and it's like covered in flags and go navy. I said, "What's the name of your dog?" He said, "Master Chief, Petty Officer dog." We call him Chief. I said, "You must be in the probably damn good dog, I bet you. Oh, a damn good dog. Yeah.
▶ 0:23:29Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Wasman Schultz. Uh also as a gentleman from Texas uh that also happens to be from Love, Texas. Uh I uh I I will also convey the you know the sentiments of of of Judge Carter and congratulations go Gators uh and all things there. Uh but I will say this is that if you look up gentlemen in the dictionary, you'll still find Judge Carter's picture there published. My picture will never be there to replace that.
▶ 0:23:57Uh we'll keep that one offline if you don't mind please. And I thank you all very very much and as well as all the other distinguished members of the subcommittee. I thank you for the opportunity to speak and more importantly thank you for the good work that you do on behalf of our sailors and their families. Our Navy's strength, grit, and professionalism continue to ensure the security and prosperity of our nation. And sailors perform best when they are focused on war fighting knowing their families are well supported.
▶ 0:24:26and we appreciate Congress's ongoing efforts to improve their quality of life. However, budget constraints since 2013 have hindered consistent support, creating uncertainty for our service members. To grow our Navy, we need a stable defense budget that invests in the sailors, their families, and a culture of continued service. When we invest in our Navy, we remain unmatched. And history shows this.
▶ 0:24:54from the Great White Fleet to the Cold War. I urge Congress to continue investing in our Navy to strengthen our lethality and maintain our platforms and to take care of our war fighters. Improving quality of life is crucial for our sailors and their families. And four four key areas that require attention.
▶ 0:25:13increasing access to medical care, supporting families with employment and child care, investing in housing, and ensuring the professional and academic development of our war fighters. Access to quality medical care is essential to maintain an all volunteer force. While progress has been made, funding shortages in the military health system and the Defense Health Agency continue to affect care and provider recruitment.
▶ 0:25:40And when care isn't available with inside our military treatment facilities, we rely on the civilian networks. But limited resources have impacted care delivery. Provider recruitment and Triricare's ability to compete in the civilian insurance market. Triricare's reimbursement rates based on Medicare rates are often too low and delayed claim processing has damaged our trust in civilian partners.
▶ 0:26:06The Navy is committed in supporting the Defense Health Agency, and we are working to improve civilian hiring, recruiting, and salary competitiveness. I ask for your continued support in fully funding the military health system and finding innovative ways to ensure our defense health ay's funding doesn't compete with our war fighting priorities. Our military families are crucial to our service members success. We recruit the sailor, but we retain the family.
▶ 0:26:34And my wife, while she may not have come in my sea bag, she has certainly helped me carry that thing for many years. And we must continue to support in our families as they support us. Many families, especially service members, rely on the dual income for for financial stability. And with your help, we can assist them in finding that balance.
▶ 0:26:56Continued support across the federal enterprise to expanding employment opportunities for all military spouses will help provide continued career growth and maintain financial stability, especially during those PCS moves. Another vital resource is quality child care. Investments in child and youth programs have made a significant impact, and I thank you all for that.
▶ 0:27:18Increased funding for child development program facilities has reduced our child development center weight list to an all-time low for the last 21 years and expanded fee assistance has allowed families to choose quality child care when CDC's are not available. However, shortages in facilities and staffing remain challenged. I believe that combining our CDC projects and fee assistance based on local need will address address child care shortfalls.
▶ 0:27:46And if we approach childcare as a departmentwide issue rather than service specific, we can solve it even more effectively. I thank you also for the support of basic allowance for housing for our junior enlisted sailors. That will allow our junior sailors on sea duty to either live in unaccompanied housing or rent locally and that will improve their work life balance.
▶ 0:28:08The enhancement of the military housing privatization initiative to expand public private venture projects for both the Hampton Roads and the San Diego region will provide an additional almost 12,000 beds. I believe this will rapidly increase our sailor's quality of life and allow leadership the flexibility needed so that every sailor has the appropriate separation of work and home life.
▶ 0:28:33I know Congress has invested in improving not only our unaccompanied housing but also our family housing and I look forward to continuing to work with this committee in accomplishing goal. Technical skills alone though don't make an exceptional war fighter. Professional development and continuing education are equally vital. Education empowers our force and gives our sailors the need to outthink and out fight any challenge.
▶ 0:29:01Enlisted leadership development is building more capable, confident leaders through a lifelong learning continuum. It starts early in a sailor's career and grows with them into senior leadership. I urge your continued support for enlisted education, investments in enlisted leader development and the United States Naval Community College as they are essential to enhancing readiness and producing agile, innovative, and lethal war fighters.
▶ 0:29:27I am honored to serve alongside war fighters who stand ready to defend our homeland, support our allies and partners, and protect the American way of life. As we navigate challenging budgetary decisions, it is essential that we continue to properly equip, train, and position our force to fight and win. Equally important is recognizing that quality of life directly impacts war fighter readiness.
▶ 0:29:51Expanding access to medical care, strengthening family readiness, and ensuring sailors have a clear separation between their home and work life are vital to developing a force that is smarter, stronger, and truly valued. I thank you all and look forward to your Thank you, Chief. Excuse me.
▶ 0:30:16Now we'll hear for uh Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Carlos Maurice. Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate it. First, if I could acknowledge my beautiful bride to the left of me, one seat back. You did very well, boy. It's for my own safety, sir. A former Marine herself of 22 years and a champion for spouses and single parents throughout the force.
▶ 0:30:43So, uh, with that, good morning, Chairman Carter, Ranking Member Waserman Schultz, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to work together for the well-being of our service members and their families. Marines today stand ready to support and defend the Constitution. Looming threats and global crises remain ever present, and America looks to us to defend, protect, and when needed, violently execute. We do not ask for the task to be made easier, only for the resources to do it well.
▶ 0:31:11We are here today to ensure the Marines are trained, housed, and equipped in a manner befeing their 250 years of excellence. Despite the challenges faced in recruiting the past few years, the Marine Corps never compromised on standards. We uphold the rigorous qualifications demanded by a war fighting ethos. We do not lower the bar. We challenge America's best to rise to it. Last year, the comedant deliberately increased the number of recruiters across the nation.
▶ 0:31:38This investment in both quality and quantity is not without cost, but it is necessary to ensure the long-term strength and readiness of our force. In FY24, the unbeatable work of our recruiters along with historically high retention rates within the force resulted in the service achieving its required and strength. The message is clear. Marines love being Marines. Over the past year, I have seen tangible improvements to infrastructure across the core. But we are not done yet.
▶ 0:32:06The comedant and I remain committed to the barracks 2030 plan. In 2024, we repaired or renovated 11 barracks, and in 2025, we identified 12 more for upgrades. Together, these projects affect over 8,000 Marines. Multi-year investments into where Marines and their families live continue across our bases and stations in the US and overseas. It is what Marines deserve. Warfighting excellence is not built in isolation.
▶ 0:32:36Rather, it is fostered through programs and resources supporting Marines physical, mental, social, and spiritual development across a range of initiatives. So to that end, we are implementing Marine Corps Total Fitness, a network of support for Marines and families that addresses readiness and resilience in all stages of service. Every element of this program builds on our foundation of discipline, self-reliance, and purpose larger than self.
▶ 0:33:02I'm excited about the strides we've made so far, and I'm looking forward to its expansion and its growth. Marines strength and resilience fortify them from the inside, while individual combat equipment protects them from the outside. The rapid evolution of war fighting technology requires us to modernize our gear, while the timeless principles of war dictate that we preserve our battle proven legacies.
▶ 0:33:26As a result, our personal protective equipment must protect Marines not only from enemy fire, but also from emerging threats. In our push to modernize platforms and weapons within the latest with the latest technologies, the protection of our most important asset must be counted among those investments. The Marine Corps is not just the branch of service. It is a promise. A promise that no matter the odds, no matter the fight, Marines are ready, willing, and able to answer the call.
▶ 0:33:56That is the standard. That is the expectation. That is the reality that has defined the core for 250 years. Marines will always be the reason America's enemies fear what awaits them on the other side. I look forward to working with you to ensure Marines have the resources they need to win. and I look forward to your Thank you, Sergeant Major. Now, we will hear from Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, David Fulsy.
▶ 0:34:26Chairman Cardi, Ranking Member Washerman Schultz, distinguished members of the subcommittee. I'm honored to join my fellow service senior enlisted advisers providing testimony today. While there's always work to be done on this important subject, make no mistake. Your Air Force is the most lethal and ready flying force in the world. I humbly represent more than 670,000 total force airmen who remain ready to deliver air power anywhere. Thanks to each of you for your commitment to the quality of life of our service members.
▶ 0:34:56We need our airmen laser focused on lethality and readiness, and your support allows us to execute our important mission. Today, we confront strategic adversaries who are contesting every domain while intimidating and coercing our allies and partners around the world. China's aggressively expanding their lethal cap capabilities while Russia, Iran, North Korea, and a variety of non-state actors continue to threaten American interests around the world.
▶ 0:35:21In the face of this complex global strategic environment, we rely on our greatest strength, our airmen, to out compete our adversaries. Since I last testified before this committee, our airmen have been busy. Busy repelling complex Iranian drone and missile attacks against our allies, disrupting and defeating Houthi attacks on international shipping and providing humanitarian assistance to victims of natural disasters at home and abroad. All while transforming our force to successfully execute our mission in environments.
▶ 0:35:51We cannot afford for our airmen to be distracted by inadequate housing, lack of access to health care and childare or other quality of life issues. Years of continuing resolutions and budgetary uncertainty required your Air Force to manage increasing risks, creating challenges for our airmen. We ask for your support in overcoming these difficulties to ensure our airmen can focus on their main thing, defending this great nation and our way of life. While there are several quality of life issues to discuss, I'd like to highlight a few specifically.
▶ 0:36:20Dorms, access to healthcare and child care, and paying compensation, which all directly impact force readiness. When it comes to dorms, we continue to focus our resources in this area. For our most junior war fighters, we've dedicated more than a billion dollars across the fight to building dorm capacity where shortfalls exist while also improving existing dorms. Thank you for your continued advocacy on this topic.
▶ 0:36:43In addition, there are challenges in accessing health care services impacting our force readiness, particularly specialty and mental health care. We're committed to working with the Defense Health Agency, and we're working hard on this in our department as well. Our service members are benefiting from the Wingman Guardian Connect program, which focuses on building connections, detecting risk, and promoting protective environments for our junior enlisted force.
▶ 0:37:08We're dedicated to supporting the mental well-being of our airmen and removing any stigma associated with seeking help when our airmen need it. Force readiness is also impacted by available child care. We continue to find ways to expand access to safe, affordable child care options and support programs. Additionally, the department is working to further support families by improving spousal employment opportunities through reimbursement initiatives for both relicensing and small business startup costs due to relocation.
▶ 0:37:38With respect to pay and compensation, recent increases in military pay will especially help our junior tier and we need to address compression in the military pay table for our NCOs to ensure they are properly compensated for their leadership responsibility and technical expertise. I've served as your chief master on the Air Force for just over a year now. In that time, I've traveled across the globe to connect with our airmen and to see firsthand the barriers they face in accomplishing the mission.
▶ 0:38:05I've learned no matter how much we work to improve quality of life, we will not get the desired effect as an Air Force if we don't focus on excess infrastructure. While it may not seem directly related to improving the quality of life of our airmen, I assure you it's directly tied. Over the past 30 years, we've eliminated 60% of our fighter squadrons, 40% of our instrument, but only 15% of our installations. Today, 30% of our infrastructure is in excess to need.
▶ 0:38:32It all requires funding and manpower to maintain, but provides no benefit to the mission, our airmen, or our nation. Divesting, consolidating, and/or reallocating this infrastructure will free up funding to improve quality of life and the quality of our service. We must continue to leverage every option to ensure the quality of life for our airmen is commensurate with the responsibility of protecting this great nation. I want to thank this subcommittee for its unwavering support on these and many other important issues.
▶ 0:39:01Our airmen backed by their families and communities stand ready. Thank you and I look forward to your Thank you, Chief Master Sergeant. And now we'll hear from Chief Master Sergeant John Ben. Is that close? Pennsylvania. Bentania. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Walshman Schultz and distinguished members of this subcommittee.
▶ 0:39:28Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the critical importance of investing in the well-being of our guardians. With the United States Space Force now in our fifth year, the nation faces an increasingly complex global security The Secretary of Defense has been clear that to meet these challenges, we must restore the worry ethos. We must rebuild our military. We must reestablish deterrence. Nowhere is this more critical than in the space domain.
▶ 0:39:58Where our guardians stand as a visible front line, ensuring our nation's continued access to and freedom to operate in space domain, the very foundation of space superiority. The Space Force was established to deliver space superiority and address the needs of our joint warf fighters in a rapidly evolving national security environment. The space domain has become increasingly competitive and contested. So our greatest risk is to remain with the status quo.
▶ 0:40:27While the space force represents only 3% of the defense budget, it underpins joint force capabilities across all domains. During the April 2024 Iranian Missile attack, members of the Second Space Warning Squadron provided missile warning data that helped enable the interception of incoming projectiles and minimize casualties.
▶ 0:40:48Right now, guardians from the 18th Space Defense Squadron are tracking over 47,000 orbiting objects, an 89% increase since the service was established, ensuring space situation awareness for safe space space safe operations, including support to NASA and the International Space Station.
▶ 0:41:08Tonight, members of the second navigation warfare squadron will be providing highly in highly um highly integrated position navigation and timing capabilities to the agricultural finance and transport transportation sectors of the United economy. As our Space Force truths state, the US Space Force's capabilities are critical to the joint force and the American way of life.
▶ 0:41:37Maintaining our advantage in space demands commensurate investment in our most critical system, the human weapon system, our guardians. Service members do not choose to stay in uniform because it's easy. They do so because it's challenging, but they understand the rewards of service are priceless. Quality of life investments that elevate the journey will attract and retain the talent the nation demands and the department needs.
▶ 0:42:03This is why I look forward to working on the recommendations made by the 14th quadrronal review of military compensation. Updating basic allowance for housing methodologies, improving cost of living allowance calculation policies, and raising the regular military compensation benchmark are all vital initiatives to military life.
▶ 0:42:22I also believe and recommend also believe the recommended holistic quality of life review will provide informed and actionable data that will improve access to child care and healthcare benefits as well as advance military spouse initiatives to provide superior garden experience. Quality of life programs that elevate the journey must be coupled with quality of service investments that cultivate the war fighter.
▶ 0:42:48Well-class training and development are crucial for our guardians who will employ all capabilities, kinetic and non-kinetic, to ensure space control. To meet the joint forces evolving needs and stay ahead of strategic rival rivals, our ability to develop the force for guardians by guardians must also mature.
▶ 0:43:10The capacity to scout, train, and educate space-minded war fighters beyond our current end strength increases will require appropriations and infrastructure investments. These initiatives will help create the future of space power and build a more lethal force for generations to come. This is particularly critical as the space domain itself is becoming increasingly dynamic. The rapid growth in global space activity, while indicative of progress, also creates new vulnerabilities.
▶ 0:43:39We are witnessing a concerning shift from theoretical threats in space to daily occurrences. Our adversaries are actively developing and deploying systems designed to deny, degrade, and disrupt our space capabilities, jeopardizing the very advantages space provides our nation and our allies. The complexity and scale of these threats make it clear that the Space Force cannot succeed alone.
▶ 0:44:02Our ability to integrate seamlessly with the joint force, cultivate partnerships with the commercial space industry, and strengthen alliances with partner nations will be essential to overcoming resource limitations and building a more resilient space architecture. Members of the subcommittee, five minutes is barely enough time to give me to allow me to talk about the importance of quality of life and quality of service for our guardians.
▶ 0:44:28But if I may, I'd like to leave you with three key takeaways regarding the Space Force. First, the Space Force represents only 3% of the defense budget, yet underpins the lethality of joint force and safeguards the very fabric of American way of life. Second, the Space Force has operated under a continuing resolution for 51% of our existence, limiting our ability to evolve as necessary.
▶ 0:44:52And third, the space force to maintain space superiority needs significant investment in our growth and development, and imperative. I am eager to collaborate with the subcommittee to provide our guardians the tools and resources they need to succeed. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions. Okay, thank you very much, Chief. And um we'll now begin questions.
▶ 0:45:18These have a a rough five minute time period on them. We'll have some slack we can cut, but more talking to my folks up here than you, but uh we're we're trying to find out some stuff.
▶ 0:45:36I'm going to start uh September of 23 GAO report on unaccompanied housing was a wakeup call. It detailed barracks, dormitories unacceptable health, safety and privacy concerns. That report included 31 recommendations that included both OSD and service level recommendations.
▶ 0:46:09How far along are each of your services in terms of addressing the GAO accomp Sorry. Do not do you have an estimate of the cost and timeline needed to fully implement all GAO recommendations?
▶ 0:46:35Are there any policy changes that would help alleviate capacity shortages? For instance, when allowing single E5s in the Army and Marines to move out of the barracks without help, the response to barrack challenges does not necessarily require one sizefits-all approach across each What is the
▶ 0:47:06appropriate mix of barracks refurbishment versus recon new construction? And finally, what role should private public private partnerships and enhanced use leases play? A lot of questions. Who wants to start? Well, chairman, I'll I'll jump on that one. There there's a lot there, but it it's a great question.
▶ 0:47:35You're giving us an opportunity to truly uh truly let the committee know where we are. So, um we took the findings of the GAO report and we're in conjunction with last year's uh and really we had to do some work to truly see oursel holistically. Um uh so our conditions index um we've been able to scrub our entire inventory and the army has obviously a very large inventory of uh of barracks.
▶ 0:48:04Um and so we can truly we can truly tell you now which ones have that below 70% index. Uh we're trying to make sure we stretch every dollar to the furthest extent uh available. Uh we know where we are with budgets.
▶ 0:48:18Um and so trying um um unique authorities uh like the repair to replace that we're utilizing actually at um to I don't want to say get creative but to truly figure out how to get our barracks in better condition if not a full milcon replacement because that's the hardest of all the solutions. Um that's an example that's an example of one to your E5 question and I'll pass to my teammates. Um we already made this decision last year in Europe.
▶ 0:48:48uh for E6s and so E6s are authorized out of the barracks in Europe to increase barracks bed spaces. Um but there's issues with that. Um down payments for housing off base in Europe is incredibly high and so we had to be careful we weren't putting our single E6s in a different financial predicament. Um and then lastly, young E5s that want to live in the barracks are great leaders in the barracks. It's good for them and it's also great for the privates in the barracks.
▶ 0:49:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, also in the Navy, we did a comprehensive review of all of our installations and all the buildings that that we're using for our barracks right now. And uh our condition index score were not good. Um about 15% are considered to be in good condition. uh about 60% were considered to be acceptable and the remaining 25% are unacceptable condition.
▶ 0:49:47uh we need a lot of work to bring all of that back up to speed and then beginning with as I as I as I've said before this committee in the past uh we're already operating in a deficit that we have considered for many years ships to be considered acceptable government quarters for our most junior enlisted sailors that are assigned board uh on board a ship to remove them uh off the ship and into a barracks room. We're going to need need even more beds.
▶ 0:50:13Um, we do have a a comprehensive plan and uh a timeline on building the necessary unaccompanied housing. The fastest path to that will not be through military construction. The fastest path through that is an expansion of our PPV programs and the pilots that we're currently operating within San Diego and within the Norfolk region.
▶ 0:50:35Uh, as I said earlier in my opening testimony, my opening statement, we're going to increase that capacity about another 12,000 beds in those fleet two fleet concentration areas. And that'll probably solve the majority of our housing problems in those areas for sailors assigned to those ships. Uh, but we need to be able to expand on that in our other home ports, other fleet concentration areas, whether it's in the Pacific Northwest, uh, or in the great state of Florida down there in Mayport, Florida.
▶ 0:51:02I I'm looking for more ability to be able to expand on on those barracks programs and then do just as you said for the E5s. We're looking at that uh across the border. Where where could we move people out into town uh and afford them housing allowance uh and be that E4 and above uh E4 and above uh or E4 over four years wherever we think that is most appropriate. We got a long road to go. There's still a lot of work to do. Uh the biggest barrier to that is having a dependable budget.
▶ 0:51:32You know that we know that we can con we can begin construction with on time. Um as well as everything that we need for modernization and sustainment dollars uh to go into those buildings. I mean as I said in my opening statement since 2013 we've not had a dependable uh budget to be a for the maintenance, modernization and sustainment of those buildings and and those buildings are in really bad repair because of that. Thank you sir.
▶ 0:51:59I'd like to say that first off I think I can say without hesitation everyone on this dasis of an appropriator and we don't like CRS. I know you don't like them and we don't like them. We do all the work and then the work doesn't get done. They just pass all the work we've done.
▶ 0:52:22It's one of the most frustrating things you do because the best work is done by the appropriations committee in Congress and we're the only people that get things done and then they throw us out like the trash. I'm sorry. I'm preaching now. I I appreciate the opportunity. Um the GA report uh really spawned the buildup of barracks 2030.
▶ 0:52:49This is we were on our way there anyway as the comedant came in with a very focused approach to human beings and getting after the infrastructure. So the GA report although it focus on a few barracks um we said no we need to inspect every place that every Marine puts their head down to try to get some rest and we did that and the reports are not good. Uh and so come put his money where his mouth is and and he got after the refurbishing of barracks.
▶ 0:53:17We do need help with, as Chief uh Flossy stated, the the the amount of buildings that I need to knock down, uh it's an expensive nature there to do. Um sometimes more expensive than building a new. So, while we can we refurbish and and and get after what we what we're able to do quickly and delivering the impact to the Marines immediately. And they see that and they want to stay because they see effort, right?
▶ 0:53:43They may not see a brand new building in their time in the service, but at least they see that, hey, at least my buddy's getting a decent barracks. For us, it's expensive to move sergeants out in town. Absolutely. Especially in places like, I don't know, California or overseas. So, we're very careful with that. Um but I think what I'll say in addition to that uh chairman is is that for the core uh the barracks is a place where we continue to develop the warrior ether ethos of a marine.
▶ 0:54:13So it's critical that I have two marines per room and I know they hate me when I say that uh but I need them to be two per room and I need the NCO down the line to ensure that they're there to check on them, take care of them, that they're not alone. It's part of the transformation process. Thank you, chairman. Your Air Force has invested more than a billion dollars over the FDA app facility sustainment, restoration, and modernization of our dorms specifically.
▶ 0:54:42And thankfully, we've started in a little bit better place with our dorms on average. We have a dorm master plan that has looked at all of our facilities across the entire enterprise and and we do not have any of our dorms in failing condition today across the Air Force. We're continuing to invest in the dorms. We do have and dorm leaders assigned active duty NCOs's assigned to each of our barracks around the uh around the Air Force.
▶ 0:55:06We also we also um have have had success with the Milcon appropriation on our dorms specifically. So we've got we've got projects programmed in across the FEPT at at several of our installations to the tune of several hundred million dollars.
▶ 0:55:22And and what we're trying to do, much like like my my Marine counterpart here, is we're trying to balance excess infrastructure in locations where we have excess infrastructure that we need to get rid of so we can get it off our denominator and invest appropriately in in the locations where we have capacity issues. So we we look for your support there. Uh we we we've done we've done the analysis and while it is expensive to demolish, we know we it's about a 10 to one return on investment.
▶ 0:55:50So over time, it'll be a really good use of taxpayer dollars to get rid of excess infrastructure and and consolidate and focus our resources on the infrastructure we really need to take care of our air, especially at that early stage in their careers.
▶ 0:56:03No huge concerns there, sir, on on dorms for the Air Force, but we're continuing to focus and invest to make sure it stays that Well, uh I uh I like the fact you're looking at things that they that we can demolish so we don't have to take care of them. Uh we'll we'll visit more about that. Sounds good. Thank you, Chief. Uh Mr. Chairman, thank you so much.
▶ 0:56:28You know, a much smaller footprint than than the Army and the other services on the Space Force side with the dormitories on Space Force installations. Um but we when we looked at all the dormitories and did the condition like like chief philosy said across the department of the air force we don't have any dorms in failing conditions in fact the dormitories and space force uh installations are 81% um which are acceptable condition which are actually pretty good when you think about it. Um but the thing for us is consistent funding that allows us to maintain where we are and also to gain traction.
▶ 0:56:57Chief philosy mentioned the dorm uh dormatory master plan. Uh I believe it was in early 22 when the department uh issued the department master plan. It was estimated about $280 million for Space Force dormitories to be risen to the 85 or above level on the building condition index. But continuous resolutions and our inability to do the the the planning and the funding to keep those contracts on target on time is always a challenge.
▶ 0:57:22We don't want to lose any momentum that we have with the conditions of the dormitories where our young men and women are living today. Moving forward, as I said in my opening statement, in order for the service to grow and develop, to be able to execute space superiority for the nation, we're going to have to grow and end strength, which is going to meet an increase in our junior enlisted individuals who will be living in the dorms right now, E1 through E4 within the Department of the Air Force. And we're going to look at uh lessons learned from our counterparts across the other services. Is it traditional milcon? Is it a combination of partnerships downtown?
▶ 0:57:51How do we get after that to make sure that we can meet the demand of the nation but also provide quality quality housing for our most junior, most vulnerable men and women who join the service? Well, thank you. I'll now yield to Miss Wman Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to come back to your unaccompanied housing uh focus as well.
▶ 0:58:13But first, I want to focus on the privatized um military family housing because I I continue to see unacceptable reports of inadequate, unsafe housing conditions provided by privatized housing providers. To highlight just one of the latest examples, Balfory is being sued by military families.
▶ 0:58:32Again, uh they've had two instances in which they have paid multi multi-million dollar Um I it continues to I mean there's not a word in the frustrate is not uh a strong enough word but the fact that these contracts were so complex that it made it impossible for us supposedly to unwind them and to disconnect these companies who are grossly
▶ 0:59:03irresponsible and could care less about the occupants of the housing for which that they are required to take care of um doesn't bode well in my opinion for the future of oversight and care of the service members who live in unaccompanied housing either.
▶ 0:59:23So it it really chaps me when I hear you all talking about well the solution to the housing crisis that you have is to go in the direction of more privatized housing and sure when they're brand spanking new and they don't have any problems u sounds great but I want to make sure that it I don't think that you should go forward with that privatized housing concept but if you go forward with it then you have to make sure that these contracts
▶ 0:59:53that can be unwound easily and the companies can be fired and disconnected from the abuse that Balffor Batty and others have been engaged in. So that having been said, this lawsuit even claims that Balffor Batty officials blocked Navy personnel from inspecting houses in some cases and and that's just the latest example of that that oversight of those privatized housing providers by the military services needs to continue to be strengthened.
▶ 1:00:20So over the last several years, our subcommittee has consistently provided an additional $10 million per year through the family housing operations and maintenance accounts for each service for the purpose of of housing oversight. There wasn't that layer be there and each branch of the service has acknowledged that they dropped the ball and completely were hounds off for many many years about overseeing the companies that uh are supposed to be responsible for taking
▶ 1:00:50care of these of the housing that they've built and that they then they then care for. So, it's clear that we continue to need that funding to be used for oversight purposes. And quickly, um, I'd like each of you to say what plans you have for the use of the funds that were available in FY25 in the CR and for FY26, presuming that and hopefully that it will continue. Sergeant Major Wymer, ranking member, thank thank you for that.
▶ 1:01:17And I like you have similar concerns when we when we talk privatized um potential privatized barrack solutions. Uh, just want to acknowledge that upfront. Thank you. um 25 years in the privatized housing. We have to take those lessons learned. We have to utilize those for any new ventures.
▶ 1:01:36Um specifically on the army side, uh that money we've been using for third party inspections, I'm happy to actually report right now KONIS, we are 100% complete on the privatized uh third party inspections. Um we're now 82% complete uh okonis and so we still have some work to do the rest of the year for OKONUS. are predicting to be done by 26 on that and we'll continue to use that money.
▶ 1:02:01Um, ironically, uh, now we're inspecting third-party inspections of our government-owned housing. As a matter of fact, uh, my wife was informed Monday that, uh, my house is getting inspected Thursday. Uh, no, yeah, Wednesday or Thursday. Um, and that they need three hours and she had to schedule a block time. U, so that that I don't see that stopping. I think that accountability will continue to to be And is there a layer of on-site military oversight?
▶ 1:02:31Uh someone that when the company isn't calling them back, when they're not able to get in touch with someone, do you have a military layer of responsiveness? Yes. IMCOM for us in the Army is is um is that belly button, if you will, at every garrison across the nations. um the 100% inspection work orders amendment. That's the latest for the accountability there.
▶ 1:02:56Uh and I'm happy to report now that actual people that live in those houses are sending in their own pictures of the work before the work's done. And so there's there's tenant involvement in this to add another layer of accountability. Thank you very much, Master Chief. Ranking member, I would uh start by saying I I really do appreciate the three years that I've worked with you and the relationship we've had. You always been a very honest uh and upfront broker with me. Uh and I appreciate that.
▶ 1:03:26But you more importantly is that you've always made sure you put money, you know, where you say that your priorities are and you get after things. And so with with this oversight, uh which is largely due to your efforts, uh you know, we were able to hire an additional 200 employees across the Navy. first in installation command uh to provide that type of oversight at the region level and across our installations and then also 50 of those employees are hired by our naval facilities and engineering command to provide that type of oversight.
▶ 1:03:57Uh and we were also uh able to then complete all of our third-party inspections of all of our PPV housing uh this year and uh able to report that uh majority of them fall into a favorable condition but that's about 50% in good 47% in poor and then and then a couple percent excuse me in fair then a couple percent in poor.
▶ 1:04:21Uh so we'll continue to provide that type of oversight and those inspections to hopefully improve uh our conditions with our PPV partners. I'm I am a uh a proponent of renegotiating all those contracts based off lessons that we've learned. I think that our business partner would do better if we could find a way to renegotiate those contracts.
▶ 1:04:44I know the government would be better served and more importantly our families and service members that reside in those housing would all be better served much as we have done with our privatized uh unaccompanied housing projects. We took those lessons learned and when we negotiated those contracts and how we provide that oversight to ensure that there's uh uh good occupancy rates that we're able to maintain the proper cash flow so that the partner has uh the solveny to maintain and to modernize
▶ 1:05:14those those uh those investments as as necessary. Thank you. Thank you. Let me just stress that the chairman and I have been interchangeable over the last number of years and uh we we did all of those things together and I appreciate his Um Chief, do you um have any information on the report that the Navy was blocked from uh inspecting houses in some cases by Balffor?
▶ 1:05:43I don't I do not have any information about any specific allegations. I do know that uh both the installation commander and their teams did go through all the housing down there uh at Key West. Our commander of naval installations command is also uh visited and inspected many of those homes. We we did a a full inventory of all those homes and determined a certain portion of them to be uninhabitable.
▶ 1:06:08And Valerbat paid for those members to be moved and placed in in other homes or temporary uh housing as necessary. But I don't have any others information about maybe there there were some more specific allegations that I'm not aware of. Could you look into that specific allegation for me? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And I'll I'll hold my applause for Valfor moment. Yes, ma'am. Um the um yeah, if we can continue, Sergeant Major. Yes, ma'am.
▶ 1:06:36Uh similar very similar to Sage of the Army and MC Pawn, a ranking member. We also use that funding to hire oversight folks. So a little 118 I think it's is the number who are on site who are on site man uh we already hire them and then get after their training. So get after their training in addition to the third party inspections also completed looking to provide a report uh to my chain of command here uh hopefully this this this month. Uh I hope that that's that will be available.
▶ 1:07:04And for those that have those positions in place, have any of you had those um positions subject to the civilian or or military hiring freeze thus far? No, ma'am. No. No, ma'am. Okay. Ma'am, chief for for our department that I don't believe that that that is a categorical exemption, but I we haven't seen any negative impact from the hiring freeze to report to, but some have been frozen.
▶ 1:07:35Yes, ma'am. If if we have a vacant position, it's not exempt from the hiring freeze. Okay. I don't know if there's any but I'm not I'm not 100% sure whether we have currently vacant positions that we're trying to hire. I don't I can take that for the record, but I I don't know if we have any. that would be affected by the hiring freeze, but only the openings, not people who are currently serving as far. Okay. Um, and then just with your indulgence, Mr. Chairman, I think we'll probably only have one round and I do want to ask about sexual assault.
▶ 1:08:04Um, because we can't address quality of life without discussing uh that scourge. Um, and the services have all made an effort to address the issue and we know that a lot more progress needs to be made. The 2023 DoD annual report on sexual assault found a decrease in the number of sexual assault reports of 5% across services from 2022. The 2023 DoD workplace and gender relations report estimates 29,000 service members experienced unwanted sexual conduct in 2023.
▶ 1:08:33That represented a decrease from the last report in 2021, which included an 8.4% drop for women in the active duty force. But there was one outside estimate done by the costs of war project at Brown University that estimated the real prevalence of assaults was over 73,000 in 23 in 2023. That's a pretty major discrepancy. The number of reported assaults combined with the DoD prevalence data suggests a reporting rate of about one in four service members who reported their assault to DoD officials.
▶ 1:09:01And I asked you all last year whether changes in the number of reported sexual assaults reflect a true change in the number of assaults or whether those changes represent a ser changes in service members trust in the system and comfort level with reporting assaults.
▶ 1:09:15So, if you can each tell me what steps you and your service have taken since last year to improve your insight into the sexual assault statistics collected and what more needs to be done so that we can know that there's trust in the system of reporting and that uh that that we reduce the actual sexual assaults. Well, thank you member for that.
▶ 1:09:39Uh, quickly um and I appreciate the discussion in in we had in your office about this subject. Um, frankly, um, it it is a little better, but it's not good enough. Um, as a matter of fact, I think this is one of those forever things, much like suicide, that we'll battle forever, unfortunately, but it's worth it. Um, so, uh, our team's taken a deep dive into the into the cost of war brown survey. Um, our workplace and gender relations survey, that's an every two-year survey.
▶ 1:10:09There's some pretty consistent reporting there over time. Um, I don't want to debate uh the uh the the methodology behind the Brown, but we're deep diving that and after our discussion uh right now, we do see some differences in how they're comparing data. Um, but but that's that's like statistics.
▶ 1:10:30um we we are doing a deeper dive on that because again to your point if there's some there there we need to know about it and so that's our commitment uh based off that. Thank you. Yes, chief. Rank member, I'd also like to thank you for your efforts in this in this space.
▶ 1:10:46Uh yourself and and the chairman who provided us the the necessary appropriations to hire our integrated primary prevention workforce uh which has been uh those folks that are on the ground helping us better understand uh and solve some of our more complex issues in this space. Um, I I would echo everything that Sergeant Major of the Army had to say in regards to the uh the Brown report.
▶ 1:11:14Uh, and and I would encourage any member that I would look to have a greater understanding of this problem to have a briefing from our uh DoD SAPRO. uh I I had a really really great conversation with him about all the data and the analytics behind that data to give me a lot better uh trust and confidence and and all the things that we're doing at the DoD level uh is across our as well as across our Navy service.
▶ 1:11:39So in the service uh we really focus on character development to make sure that we're building better people, better leaders and better teams. And then through that we create the right climates and cultures with which we don't have those behaviors across that culture of harm that allow for uh those kind of bad actors to exist with inside our commands.
▶ 1:11:59Uh the DoD helps us with the defense equal opportunity climate surveys that ask all the right questions of our service members to get a better understanding of the trust, the connections and the protective factors with inside every command at every installation.
▶ 1:12:14where we recognize that there are problems, the DoD sends a team out to look into those uh at those installations with an on-site installation evaluation that determine where we have problems in the services and need to solve what some of those problems might be and primarily we're doing that as I said through leadership or through the integrated primary provincial workforce. Thank you. Rank member uh thank you for that.
▶ 1:12:41This is I think it was this time last year I came to see you and you and you challenged me and I took that personally and I and I'm here to tell you that uh concur it's not good enough. Uh still in 24 we really got after this in very different ways.
▶ 1:12:56I think uh using data to your point uh in our commander course in the way that we teach our command senior enlisted leaders before they take command understanding the data in the command that they're stepping into and what they can do with the resources available and the prevention folks that we've hired to get after in their own way in their own location a base a station through throughout the force and this is why uh my initial opening comments about Marine Corps Total Fitness is is so important important
▶ 1:13:26to me because it's about culture. It's about developing and strengthening those protective factors that we need to inject into our young people. Just because they graduate boot camp doesn't mean that they're done. We must continue to get after the development of the force. So look forward to keep working with you. Uh in 24 we did symposiums, forums, summits. We have not stopped getting after this issue man and we won't. Thank you ranking member. Thank you for the question.
▶ 1:13:53We we continue to focus on this and much like my colleagues, we are we are unsatisfied with any report of sexual assault or harassment in our service. It's counter to our culture and what we expect of all airmen in the professional arms. We've worked really hard and and we we discussed this with you last year about prevention is way better than response. We want to get to the left of this problem.
▶ 1:14:14So, we've we established contracts across the Air Force uh late last year in 2024 to modernize our our prevention response training and it and it's updated based off of peer-reviewed research on current policies, protocols, and strategies tailored to the different leadership levels that exist across the workforce so we can identify uh concerning behaviors or or emerging problems before before it turns into a crisis.
▶ 1:14:40We've we've we've worked on our um training and expanding our course evaluation measures across the enterprise including kind of like Sergeant Major mentioned um not just in basic training or our session pipelines independent of how you join the Air Force but through our professional military education for both officer and enlisted. Um so across the entire spectrum we're launching out that new training through our PME spectrum through 2025. We're also focused on cyber harassment and technology facilitated sexual assault and harassment.
▶ 1:15:10um a relatively emerging concern, but we want to ensure we've got that addressed in our training as well. So, we're really focused on the prevention aspects of this. We we too have the integrated and primary prevention workforce uh effort underway.
▶ 1:15:25We've got all over a thousand people assigned to our installations across the Air Force already specifically focused on integrated resilience, primary prevention, sexual assault response, and we are on track by FY27 to fill a 100% of those billets across the Air Force as we grow out that requirement that that that came about from the independent review commission. Thank you very much. We're continuing to focus on it, man. We appreciate your continued advocacy. Thank you so much, Ranking Member Walshman Schultz.
▶ 1:15:55Thank you for the question. Um, and we spoke about this last week when we had a chance to to talk. You know, a lot of the initiatives that Chief Feli talked about are Department of the Air Force initiatives that include both the Air Force and the Space Force and to the integrated primary um IP workforce. I think we're about over 80% of staffed right now. Um, and we're working towards that. But of course, right, those professionals that are able to do that, the market is really tight to be able to get the right people.
▶ 1:16:22And I think that was a lot of the discussion is making sure that we have the right individuals with the right training who can help lead the service out of this scourge which is sexual assault. And I think we all can agree right this has no place in our society most importantly has no place in the 1% of men and women who serve their nation to do that. Um we've made a lot of strides you know from a space force perspective and we talked about this last week you know for the workplace and gender relations survey.
▶ 1:16:492023 was the first time that the space force was separately broken out. So we did get some data from that. One of the things that was kind of heartening that I think is a good sign was that the the percentage of individuals have faith in a local leadership who understand that feel that they are confident that they can uh talk to someone and say, you know, I'm being harassed or I was assaulted or they feel safe at the workplace um was was above the average across the across the services. But that was just one data point.
▶ 1:17:18you know, we look forward to other other um um workforce um surveys to make sure that we're trending in the right direction. Um but it's about making sure that this is not just a training challenge. This is a leadership responsibility and most of us we said that you know this kind of training is integrated all levels echelons of development but in particularly at the leadership development whether it be squadron commander courses senior leader courses excuse me and understand that they are responsible for the culture in which they
▶ 1:17:48allow and which they create within organizations and I think beyond just training saying that we've checked the box and we have training that we're getting after it it is holding these leaders at every echelon accountable for the culture and the climate that they are creating to make sure our service members feel safe and are safe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I I'll yield back uh so that we don't have a mutiny. Thank you, Mr. Ratherford.
▶ 1:18:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh first I want to thank all of you uh here this afternoon for your partnership, your responsiveness, your openness with me and my office. Thank you all for u for that. Uh it's it's been interesting meeting with with all of you.
▶ 1:18:38Uh, Chief Master Sergeant Bavana, I I want to ask about Starcom uh space traininess and readiness command exist, I understand, to prepare combat ready uh space forces through the deliberate development, education and training of space professionals uh develop that uh space warfighting doctrine.
▶ 1:19:06the uh tactics, techniques and procedures and the test and evaluation of your capabilities. Now uh I understand that 2024 space launch Delta 45 uh actually set the pace for space as as as you all say uh and was actually the world's busiest spaceport with 93 launches.
▶ 1:19:33That's Um, so c can you speak a little bit to the strategic importance of Starcom, that fact that we just mentioned and um relocating Starcom's HQs to Florida uh and the quality of life investments that Space Force needs to make uh investments in to make sure that we not only get those professionals in, but then we retain them as well. Yes. Uh thank you, Congressman.
▶ 1:20:03appreciate it. Um, yes, 93 launches out of the uh uh u 45th space launch delta and this year we're going to break a 100. That that's that's what we're going to do. Uh and this this adds to the my opening comments about just how busy the space domain has become.
▶ 1:20:18you know, when you talk about the number of launches out of the east coast range that we have there, but Starcom Space Training and Readiness Command, you know, as a strategic initiative moving at Patrick, um, you know, of one of one of only three field commands that we have and responsible for not only basic military training and assessions for officers, but the technical training, the development, the exercises, the simulation, the modeling, the doctrine is extremely important to the service, especially a little over five years into our journey.
▶ 1:20:47So partnering and and having a basin decision to send it to uh Patrick Space Force Base and kind of join the space community that is in Florida is extremely strategic and important for us. And there's a huge modeling and simulation um community that's there, University of Central Florida, also the National Training and Simulation Association is in the area. Um but in addition to that, we have the Joint Services War Fighting and Training Community that's there as well. The Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation is there.
▶ 1:21:15The Naval Air Warfare Center for Training Systems Division is there and Army Futures Command also has our synthetic training environment all located within that area. So our decision and you know to put it down there is because of the importance of training and developing future guardians for the fight and for what the nation demands of us is going to take us to leverage the relationships not only with the other departments with academia but also with the local community.
▶ 1:21:41you know, especially when you talk about um right outside within Florida, Space Coast Florida as well. Um but very immutable and want to make sure they embrace the men and women who are coming down there. The Advant team that is there right now, part of Delta 10 is about 57 personnel, but this summer as we start to make some moves, we're hoping to expand to about 144 personnel. They stand a flag up, if you will. But in a few years, we hoping to have almost 500 personnel professionals that are there building a foundation for Starcom as we need it.
▶ 1:22:09The other importance of this decision and move is to allow space training readiness command to start to invest in the talent especially on the civilian side who now that they know they have a location where they can move their families to. They can start to build a relationship you know with the space force but also build a relationship with their community.
▶ 1:22:28And that's why that move is extremely important because to your point, in order for us to attract and retain the talent that the nation has to offer, we have to have to offer them worldclass training and prepare them for the high-end fight. And that is a job of STARCOM. And we're excited about the move to Florida this year. And and listen, I I will tell you, you mentioned the synergy that that all creates. Uh what what's going on in Central Florida. I know the ranking member is very well of that, too. very well aware of that too.
▶ 1:22:58U it it's an amazing opportunity and and look forward to that. Um uh Master Chief Petty Officer U Haneia if if I could talk to you we we talked a little bit about some of the Triricare uh issues on January 1 of 25. Triricare implemented its new contracts.
▶ 1:23:19And this kind of goes back to the the contract issue that uh the ranking member brought up uh about making sure we have good contracts. Uh this one is known as T5 and it's with Humanana Military is the contractor for the eastern region and Tri West Healthcare Alliance for the Western region. uh in northeast Florida where we have both you you mentioned Mayport Naval Basin.
▶ 1:23:48We also have uh Naval Air Station Jacksonville which is the fleet readiness center of southeast. Uh so we have a lot of use for Triricare in Uh that contract, as I said, began on January 21 and our our family members there in Jacksonville deserve to have these providers uh outside providers available.
▶ 1:24:16But when when I see uh providers not being paid by DHA, uh myself and and uh uh Congressman Bean sent a joint letter to DHA, you know, trying to get to the bottom of what is going on with these payments when when we've got providers, one is a I think a $100,000 upside down uh with with DHA uh
▶ 1:24:47um we we potentially can lose some of these providers that our men and women need. So c can you talk a little bit about um how that can affect the the readiness and um you know how how can we improve triricarees uh relationship with these investors or um uh providers?
▶ 1:25:13How how do we h make write better contracts so we can force these guys to pay their bills on time? Congressman Rutherford, I certainly cannot speak to the contract negotiation that was assigned by uh the Defense Health Agency and their leadership, but I can speak to exactly as you're just describing what those effects are to our people uh that are that are utilizing those services.
▶ 1:25:42And just as you described as well as I described on my opening statement uh that I have found uh many places where Triricare is a low bill payer uh and so we're having it we're having difficulty attracting new triricare beneficiaries uh excuse me uh providers for our beneficiaries as well as I I have taken a number of complaints uh from those providers uh and that they're not be they're not being reimbursed on time and uh Defense Health Agency uh to their credit uh
▶ 1:26:12you know have worked diligently with me uh with their contract to have those bills paid uh as quickly as possible. But um as we're continuing through this transformation uh we're finding more and more places that were challenged with health care providers uh and that's not just something that's unique to us with inside the military service. That's everybody in our country uh is challenged with that. The difference being is that your your sailors, your soldiers, airmen, marines, guardians, and their families.
▶ 1:26:42We don't choose where we get assigned, right? We're going to get orders to the Jacksonville area. Uh and we're going to depend on the military health system or the extended health network outside our fence lines to see to our health care needs.
▶ 1:26:55And when that can't happen, um that's going to have detrimental effects to our family, uh to our family readiness, uh and possibly even to our military readiness, uh especially if if we end up having to spend military readiness dollars, uh toward making that account whole and and see into those benefits, which are challenges that we're we're faced with today. Sir, thank you very much.
▶ 1:27:20And uh you know I'd love to be able to tell you what DHS DHA's response is but uh we hadn't heard back from him yet. I yield back. I see my time is up. Mr. Vision. Thank you very much. U Chairman Carter, Ranking Member Wiseman Schultz, let me thank you for the opportunity to participate in today's hearing. Warm welcome to each of our esteemed uh witnesses and I express my gratitude uh for your service to our nation.
▶ 1:27:49uh your testimony is uh invaluable uh the decision-m that we have to do in safeguarding the welfare of our soldiers and their families and our national security. Uh although a question may be directed to one of you. I welcome input from all of you with respect to the questions that I ask if you would like to uh to comment.
▶ 1:28:14Uh last year uh Congress worked with the quality of life panel to approve and authorize a well-deserved pay increase uh for the service and more specifically the junior service uh members. But it seems that we failed to adequately review the resources that the service members use for essential services such as child care and food programs.
▶ 1:28:36Uh the pay increase moved uh these service members into higher pay bands uh specifically for child care and it made them ineligible for SNAP or WIC programs essentially canceling out the good intentions of the pay increase.
▶ 1:28:54Uh, Sergeant Major Ruiz, uh, how are you tracking throughout your respective service, uh, the second and third order effects of the pay raise, uh, considering that the service is provided based on household income? Um, I'm most interested in child care and food assistance programs. Congressman, thank you for that question.
▶ 1:29:18Um, so April 1st was the first time that Young Devil Dogs got a little extra on their paycheck and greatly appreciate that. They appreciate you for pushing that so hard. Um, what I would say is that we're we're watching it closely.
▶ 1:29:33uh initially uh via the numbers the data tells us that uh without any change maybe another spousal uh different kind of employment or they get promoted again uh today they would they would not climb no more than one bracket up uh towards the child care fees that's what I have so far sir but as I watch this closely uh I'll come back to you to see if those unintended consequences are more severe than climbing one more
▶ 1:30:04um I would imagine that that for E6s and above uh the the pay raise uh for them just their annual uh increase will likely jump them uh a little more because the pay increase is a little more substantial. So, but I'll keep an eye on and I'll give it to my teammates to see if anyone else has anything else. Yes, sir. Thank you, Congressman. We I I would like to also add we we have the ability at the installation level to adjust those fees if there's a need.
▶ 1:30:33So, while we're not terribly concerned with the potential to increase one bracket, it looks like it's a small number per month um under under $50 per family. So, it should not completely negate a pay increase. But but if a family member, a service member in their family demonstrates a financial need through their chain of command, the local installation level command can adjust those fees. They have that authority to offset any uh financial crisis that that that may exist in some acute situation locally.
▶ 1:31:03Yeah, we we worry about the stigma or the reluctance of a member to actually approach the command with that. Uh let me uh shift gears for a moment. um address this to uh first uh Sergeant Major Wymer. Uh in your testimony uh last year, you stated that not receiving predictable federal funding and pay because of continuing resolutions exacerbates ongoing issues. End of quote.
▶ 1:31:34uh add on top of this the uncertainty within the federal workforce that often uh organizations that provide critical care for our service members and their Um, what's the impact in care funding or services in support of our military families and their families in light of the CR and the federal workforce cuts?
▶ 1:32:00And do you anticipate or how are you working to mitigate the additional burden on service members and their families because of a workforce uh draw down? And are there any barracks, uh, housing, child care centers, or other projects that provide specific care to our families or that will be placed on hold or delayed due to a CR, the CR, and each of you can address that if you can, Congressman, uh, thank you for
▶ 1:32:30that and it's good to see you and sorry we couldn't get our schedules to to marry up here in the last couple weeks. Um, so first off, I I I definitely have to say thank you for um the the the 12 12-month CR is a little bit new territory for us, but we're grateful for some of the new start reprogramming, the um some of the above threshold authority. Uh but it is new territory for us. Um I don't know exactly how it's going to affect everything.
▶ 1:33:00Um we're not firing up star clusters right now on current projects. Um as far as some of the some of the quality of life piece on the employee side, we're we're happy to report that our NAF employees have all been granted exceptions and so we're hiring CDC employees. Um we've we've covered most of our medical folks. Uh we do have some folks in our in our holistic health and fitness that we're sharing all our lessons learned with our Marine Corps teammates.
▶ 1:33:29Um, we do have some freeze on some of our nutritionists and physical therapists and so we're kind of in a hold, but but we've been able to work well with OSD right now on on the ex on the um on the exceptions to uh to get those people in there. Uh I would say first and foremost, anything that affects quality of life has been one of the things we've been asking for a waiver for first. our our director of public works, DPW, as you've heard us talk about it numerous times.
▶ 1:33:57Uh we're short quite a few people there and that is currently frozen. So that's another one that we're trying to understand how that affects our infrastructure and quality of life. Sir, Congressman Bishop, uh certainly a surge major of the army uh stated majority of our quality of life employees are nonappropriated fund employees. uh and we're we're not having any issues with hiring or losing any of those employees. Uh and it is not going to have any effect on any of those programs.
▶ 1:34:26Now, uh the loss of FY25 budget and CR that did have a lot of effects on us. That's going to be, you know, we're not putting shovels in the ground to build new barracks. We're not putting shovels in the ground to build new CDCs. All those things that uh as as uh Chairman Carter mentioned at the beginning that y'all did the hard work for in appropriations. uh in setting us that money. Uh we're not getting any of that work done this year.
▶ 1:34:51And so hopefully we'll find uh good money in in 26 to get after all those projects. Congressman, uh for the for the core, I think uh I'll start with uh six years ago, Commod Burgerer uh started the division of of uh force design 2030.
▶ 1:35:12So six years ago, we started the process of getting really light already and getting getting after uh the platforms and things and the formations that we think are going to be needed for the future fight. And so we that included our civilian infrastructure. Um so we're going to watch it closely. Um yes, it affects uh although I was able to hire a few a little over 200 barracks managers, I won't be able to hire uh additional ones anytime anytime soon.
▶ 1:35:40And that's critical to maintaining the barracks that I have been able to refurbish and the ones that are hanging on by a thin thread won't have that. So a marine is in instead in place uh getting after the maintenance of a barracks instead of doing what they were they were assigned to do.
▶ 1:35:55Um, I think in the recruiting in the assession pipeline, I I would be concerned if uh the civilians uh that are assisting in the MEPS in the processing of a of a young uh civilian into a Marine or any service members, if they're not there, I'm afraid that it will slow it down. The throughput and the momentum that we gained in the last couple of years uh will be will be uh greatly reduced. So hopefully we get after those exceptions there. Thank you, Congressman.
▶ 1:36:26This the yearong I I'll echo the the s major of the army. We're we're we're thankful for a year-long CR, I guess, only to a government shutdown. So, it's it's not a great option, but it's better than shutting down.
▶ 1:36:39So, we're thankful that we've got that process in place, but it is not ideal for stability and planning, especially in our major defense acquisition programs, which I know aren't aren't the major topic here, but as the CR relates to 25 across the Air Force, that's where we saw the biggest um we've got a $3 billion topline disconnect that we have to close based off of the CR compared to the president's budget.
▶ 1:37:06and that that a large part of that is in research development test and and evaluation. We've got uh some milpers concerns that we are working very hard to protect particularly in recruiting and assession pipelines. We believe and we are on track today uh to meet our recruiting goals for FY25 and we're going to protect that at nearly all costs. There are there there is the potential that it could have some negative effects on some of our rotational forces.
▶ 1:37:35permanent change of station and things like that. But we we have got to protect our ability to assess uh the the best Americans that we've the CR compromises that the the CR puts at risk a percentage of the milpers budget that we have to close. It doesn't specifically it doesn't specifically help us in any of those areas. So it's it it then comes to the defense department to mitigate. If it doesn't help, does it hurt? It is CRS are unhelpful, sir. in general.
▶ 1:38:06Do they hurt? Are they? We're working hard to protect We're working hard to protect those foundational parts of of building our pipeline. We've we are very thankful for a congressional plus up we got in the in the previous fiscal year uh to to robust and grow our recruiting pipeline to the tune of nearly 500 new recruiters across the Air Force. And what we don't want to lose is that momentum. So today uh we have got the most uh we have got the largest delayed enlistment program.
▶ 1:38:36Um, basically they're they're young Americans that are waiting to come into the Air Force. So, we we put them into this thing called the DEP and our DEP numbers are as big as they've been in over a decade. We do not want to lose momentum there. It's critical to our ability to to execute the national defense strategy. You're very diplomatic. Yes, sir. Sir, I I I get paid to execute the decisions you make. Congressman, thanks thanks for the question.
▶ 1:39:01And as I said in my opening comment, unfortunately living under a CR is, you know, over 51% of the time as a service has been in existence, we've been under a CR. Um, but specifically to your question, in 25, especially before it comes to quality of life, like there were improvements supposed to be made at the Peterson, one of the Peterson Child Development Centers, one at Patrick, and in 25 we're looking for money to start design phase, put money against that.
▶ 1:39:26We're also supposed to start doing design work on dorm improvements at Buckley Space Force Base as we're working through the reprogramming for the budget for 25. You know, these are all things that could be put at risk. And this is why the stability of funding is so important to the planning phase to execute, especially when it comes to quality of life initiatives to make sure we stay on time, on target to deliver that quality of life to our service Thank you. With that, I yield back, Mr. Yes.
▶ 1:39:56Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh gentlemen, uh thank you first for your service. Uh thank you for joining us today for this important oversight hearing. Uh Master Chief Hony, uh Sergeant Major Ruez, uh I am proud to represent the Meridian Naval Air Station. Uh Sergeant Major Ruez, I understand that you have recently visited uh the Meridian Naval Air Station. uh that uh the uh base that has both a navy uh and marine u mission.
▶ 1:40:26Uh last year in the FY25 budget hearing uh I raised uh the fact that uh there was an important barrack repair project uh there on the facility. Uh and proud to say that based upon calling attention to that uh the project has been moved up into the FY26 budget cycle. Uh planning is already underway for that.
▶ 1:40:48Uh and so my question is uh not just for uh the project there at the Meridian Naval Air Station, but for all of our military installations. Um how do we ensure that the throughput of students uh at those facilities is not adversely impacted during times of major repairs uh during times of renovation.
▶ 1:41:10uh particularly where we have facilities where things such as temporary housing, modular structure, the renovation of other buildings are are not um either able to take place or not able to take place uh easily. And so I just wanted to get uh from both of you um your thoughts on again making sure that we're not th throttling the th the throughput of students uh during uh these times of major renovations or repairs.
▶ 1:41:41Congressman, yes, thank you for that. Uh I did visit down there and uh I absolutely loved it. U and I loved it because it doesn't I'm just never I guess I'm just tired. I'm not going to be surprised anymore uh of what Marines can do with so little really. They just really get after it. Although this is a Navy uh project, we're working very close with with our shipmates to to ensure that those buildings get refurbished.
▶ 1:42:06What I would hope uh like we have in other places is that uh we have the ability today to not just stop the entire building from being uh lived on and wing by wing we're able to work by refurbishing room by room and therefore reducing the stress on the Marines moving them to a even worse place uh while the entire barracks uh gets rebuilt. Uh I've seen it done in Kleun.
▶ 1:42:32I've seen other places where the modular structures come into play and we move Marines there while we do the entire building. So, I will work closely with uh with our Navy shipment shipmates here to ensure that hopefully we're able to do that so we don't lose track and momentum on those young folks uh who we desperately need in the fleet marine forces today. Those gaps are real and we are not any less busier than we ever have been before. So the faster I can get into my formations, uh, the better we can get after war fighting.
▶ 1:43:02Master Congressman Guest, so we use data, uh, and analytics to help us solve our recruiting problems. Uh, we'll continue to use data and analytics uh, and mitigations to make sure we're getting all those people uh, as we recruit through recruit training command, then pushed on through the rest of their assession training.
▶ 1:43:24So Naval Education Training Command has used data and analytics to understand what that throughput needs to be where we need to increase uh capacity in those schoolh houses increase capacity in their living accommodations anything necessary so that we do not end up with a bottleneck. Uh wherever they find uh problems we come up with mitigation strategies much as Sergeant Mine Corps was explaining. Uh if we need to we'll uh we'll move over into other facilities.
▶ 1:43:52will take over um permanent party uh housing if necessary and move permanent party personnel to a to another location wherever we have to to make sure that we accommodate our session training and we don't end up with a bottleneck. You know, back to Sergeant Major's point so we get them back out to the fleet as quickly as we can. Yes, sir. Uh last question for you, Sergeant Major. Um the Marine Corps has the barrack 2030 initiative.
▶ 1:44:18Um, and one just want to ask if you can just generally uh talk about that initiative. Uh, and then also uh and a little bit more in-depth talk about how the Marine Corps is working with Navy leadership uh to improve housing that may not be necessarily on a Marine Corps uh installation uh but where Marines are being housed at Navy installations. And so um I will ask you if you would mind answering that question and then once I have that answer, Mr. Chairman, I would yield back.
▶ 1:44:48Congressman, thank you for that. Barracks 2030 is the comedon's vision. Although it's labeled barracks, sir, uh it's it's about infrastructure and it is about uh I think what the GA report did for us is we were able to start from a place of data that I know exactly where in the globe I need to put the funding that we get from you um and and and use it effectively and more efficiently.
▶ 1:45:15And so um because we know exactly our problem areas and we can we can more intelligently put it to work uh in anywhere that Marines live. U we work hand inand with our with our army buddies or or it doesn't matter because the senior enlisted leader and the commander of those bases.
▶ 1:45:35they're responsible and so they get after ensuring that the overall bit overall well-being of those service members under their command does not matter what uniform they wear because from that uh it produces a better version of that soldier airman whatever you have it uh because all of us are in are in one team thank you so much Mr. chairman and madame ranking member for this hearing.
▶ 1:46:04Gentlemen, thank you so much for your service. Thanks for the time you took last week uh to visit with me and others. I have the uh have had the incredible privilege of serving on the House Armed Services Committee and serving on that committee's quality of life panel.
▶ 1:46:22and many of you came before us uh last year to talk about quality of life and I'm I'm privileged to be on this committee and this subcommittee to be able to take all of those lessons learned and apply them on the milcon.
▶ 1:46:38Uh, I also want to say I have the incredible privilege of representing Fort Bliss, which is uh, one of our nation's premier military installations and uh, working with leadership there over my three now my fourth term in Congress has been the highlight of of my service. So, I'm grateful to all of you for your leadership as well and everything that you do to help inform our decisions.
▶ 1:47:04I've been really alarmed by the mass firings, deep cuts to personnel, but also uh the year-long CR, which has a direct impact on our nation's military, on leadership's ability to plan ahead, on the impact it has on our contractors who depend on their ability to plan for the future and to have some stability.
▶ 1:47:30I really hope um Congress understands the negative impact on our military every time uh there is a CR. So I just wanted to get that off my chest. Thank you for allowing me. Um I'm going to focus on the Army. So Sergeant Major Waymer, you and I had a great conversation.
▶ 1:47:52Uh we as we talk about our Milcon obligations and the backlog and the incredible need that leaders like you uh relay to us, we have to figure out better ways to stretch the dollar and and be more efficient with the funding that we provide. And um there was a mention a few minutes ago about data.
▶ 1:48:19data is so important and I can tell you some of the data that I've seen locally when we look at milcon investments at Fort Bliss and we compare them to mil to uh non-milcon investments but regular investments either via the university for housing and compare that to military housing or local government's investment in health care building hospitals versus what the what the
▶ 1:48:49federal side spends on building hospitals. There's a real opportunity for us to find more efficiency. The data I have seen demonstrates that we're spending up to five times more money uh through federal spending on similar infrastructure projects than what local governments are spending. And so there's great opportunity for us to to do more and and to learn from that and to to be innovative.
▶ 1:49:20And Sergeant Major, you and I talked specifically about integrating intergovernmental service agreements for major military construction. Uh scaling up privatized barracks construction, land lease for industry to facilitate construction of non-military facilities like child care development centers or administrative office buildings. Um, we also know on Fort Bliss really cool innovative uh projects like 3D printed barracks.
▶ 1:49:51We really have a great opportunity here. Sergeant Major, can you speak to the utility of implementing more creative mechanisms to meet our military construction needs, especially at mobilization force generation installations like Fort Bliss? Yes, Congresswoman, let me look at that clock real quick. Um, there's a lot there. Uh, thank you for the for the meeting we had.
▶ 1:50:15It was fantastic and I really do appreciate your energy and others energy when it comes to helping us find creative solutions during things like CR. There I said it. I can get it out of the way. But also where we are with our Milcon and and Milcon reform that we really do need some assistance with. Um, like any good organization, um, we have to look internally ourselves first, right? We can't just immediately ask for legislation assistance.
▶ 1:50:42although there's some space there uh where we we could use some help. Um but we also have to look at like our own force protection. We've added some crazy force protection measures um that uh that are a bit legacy in my opinion and and others uh before we closed off our installations, but we're still paying for those additional costs. Um some of our construction costs have are have increased 50%. Every state's a little bit different.
▶ 1:51:08I don't really want to talk um labor laws and agreements, but that's a factor in this. Also, um we can't even get construction workers onto the installations because of their federal records and so they're continually changing the the construction workers and so you have delays and I could go on and on, but the but but I I guess I would like to say creative solutions are fantastic and we're never going to stop working with you and and anyone else that's willing
▶ 1:51:38to help us in the core of engineer in that space. But really a lot of those uh are band-aids in in I think to true Milcon reform. So I love to work with you on this in the future. Count on it. Um that will be a priority for me. It is a priority for me.
▶ 1:51:56um not just Army but across service lines because as as we see budget constraints going forward and we compare those constraints to or our inability to to be creative and thoughtful and strategic in in terms of our reforms and our our creative approaches.
▶ 1:52:19It's those families who end up living in subpar conditions or our active duty service members who have to deal with the inadequate responses. So, uh I've when I spoke with um with each and every one of you, I mentioned that as a priority. That is something I'm my team and I are really going to dig into. Really appreciate your collaboration. Again, appreciate your time today and your service to our nation.
▶ 1:52:45I yield Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you uh gentlemen for being with us this afternoon. I keep hearing the phrase uh from my military friends, on time and on target. Uh well, my time is only five minutes, so if you could keep your answers fairly short, that would be really helpful. Um to be respectful of my colleagues who still have questions they'd like to ask. Um Master Chief, I want to start with you.
▶ 1:53:11Uh my colleague and I, Chrissy Hulahan, worked to extend uh parental leave for our service members and we realize that sometimes it is a challenge for our service members to be able to take that leave within a one-year time frame. We are looking to extend that to a two-year time frame. Could you talk a little bit about the benefit that your uh service members could have by extending that time and how it would be easier for you to manage the work for flow?
▶ 1:53:38Congresswoman, I uh I appreciate the question, but I really appreciate your willingness to engage uh into this conversation because I do believe uh that if we could expand that to two years or have some conversation, we could figure out how to get there, it would be extremely beneficial. It's it's very challenging uh for someone to execute parental leave on top of their normal leave that they acrewed their a year all with inside that one year. Uh uh so that flexibility would be helpful to you. It would be extremely helpful.
▶ 1:54:08There you go. I'll be succinct. Thank you. Thank you. Everyone agree with that that the two-year time frame would be helpful to being able to uh manage that workflow. I see a lot of heads nodding. Thank you for that. Um I want to say uh Chief Master Flossy, thank you for the phone call. We had a great conversation. We talked a lot about infrastructure and one of the things that you alerted me to was uh that you have a lot of buildings that that are currently vacant. 1,200 to be exact. Is that correct?
▶ 1:54:39Yeah. Yes, Congresswoman. That's And my understanding is that the DoD demolition budget is $75 million for all of the branches. Is that correct, ma'am? That sounds accurate. Do all of the uh branches have maybe not space force since they're fairly new, but do all of you have buildings that are currently vacant that you would like to have as part of a demolition project but cannot because the funding is not there. We do, Congress. Yes, ma'am. Yes.
▶ 1:55:07I think that we need to highlight that because what happens is it was mentioned earlier there's a 10 to1 return on investment for uh de demolishing these buildings. It's taking, I believe, uh, resources away from your branches to be able to upkeep these facilities so that you can actually perform your missions.
▶ 1:55:27And so, I want to encourage our folks that were when we're looking at our appropriations package to potentially increase that so that we can raise some of these buildings, take the workload off of your plates, and allow us to continue um, uh, to to really focus on the mission at hand. Uh let me pivot slightly. Chief Master Sergeant um Flossy andor, um Master Chief Honey, you talked a little bit about child care and that's something that I know I've been interested in.
▶ 1:55:57I had the opportunity to do a bipartisan sort of uh swap with my uh colleague Sarah Jacobs from San Diego. And there were two things that really were eye- openening to me in visiting uh her district. and that is it's expensive to live in San Diego if you were a service member and there was virtually no child care opportunities for those service members that are um living on uh on base.
▶ 1:56:22Can you talk a little bit about you talked you mentioned in your testimony that the you have the highest number of you know sort of individuals that are using child care services on naval installations currently. We need to continue to work at that. But is there something different that you've done to get those numbers up? And then um if if uh Chief Master want Flossy wants to expand on that. Congress Congresswoman. Uh yes.
▶ 1:56:46I one of the things that we've done to really draw down on our uh our weight list besides building the facilities and staffing them. uh is that we really are encouraging the use of fee assistance and allowing our service members to find adequate child care in the community so that we're not continually uh fighting with the with the local community for that same staffing. Uh that's that's quickly alleviated a lot of our our weight list and it's helped us uh solve this problem much quicker.
▶ 1:57:16Perfect. Chief Master, thank you ma'am. simil similar in the Air Force. We we have first of all improved staffing which which is really one of our constraints. Sometimes it's not a capacity problem with infrastructure. It's it's staffing and we've gone from 72% to 86% staffed across the Air Force in the last three fiscal years. And in doing no small part to some of the reimbursement incentives that we're able to offer now all employees.
▶ 1:57:43It used to be direct care only, but we have a 100% reimbursement rate for child care for the for a dependent of one of our employees in childcare facilities. So, that's great. And I think we've we're implementing that across all services. Now, the the community based childcare fee assistance, uh we've got 7.8,000 8,000 children enrolled in those community based fee assistance, which is a great force multiplier for us. And it's win-win for our local communities where we can we can uh help with the local economy by by supporting the local economies in which our airmen live and work.
▶ 1:58:13And it also that that fee assistance to the tune for the Air Force is around $33 million last year. So providing that incentive provides uh our airmen the ability to seek quality care that's equivalent to on base when we do have constraints with our CDC's. It's been really helpful.
▶ 1:58:31We have over 400 homes in the family child care program and our our air force uh offsets the fees and certification process for uh service members families to get certified to watch children in their own home. So another win-win with spousal employment. Yes. as well as child care for your own family, primary care provider, keeping their family in and it helps with our 247 mission for for our airmen that work off duty hours. Thank you for that. I appreciate your uh succinct comments and uh with that, Mr.
▶ 1:59:01Chairman, I yield. Thanks, ma'am. Thank you, Miss B. Good demonstration of how this should have been run. Thank you, Mr. Leven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh and uh thanks to everyone. And I I particularly want to uh thank our Marines and sailors. I have the great honor to represent Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. Uh and I have visited and I'm very grateful for all the the leadership on base.
▶ 1:59:25Uh there's a lot of progress being made with limited resources, but still far too many of the barracks are uh run down. Uh they need a lot of help and uh we want to do all we can to help as part of the barracks 2030 initiative. You certainly have my commitment to do that for as long as I have the honor to serve uh to do everything we can for uh they don't call it quality of life. They say operational necessity which I think is right. Call it readiness.
▶ 1:59:50Call it um you know whatever we need to get the job done to make sure that people have a clean and safe place to live. Uh, I wanted to ask about um rising costs in the context of the barracks 2030 initiative, specifically things like construction costs and Sergeant Major Ruiz, thank you for the time that you spent with me the other day.
▶ 2:00:09Um to what extent, you know, as the uh construction costs have gone up, uh does that change the approach of the Marine Corps, do you, you know, have to uh focus on um you know, only uh implementing part of barracks 2030 as opposed to the original plan? Can you can you comment more on the impact of construction costs? Sarah, thank you for your time uh earlier in the week. Uh absolutely.
▶ 2:00:36And what I think what I'll say is is that uh we labeled it barracks 2030 because we were in a hurry right at the beginning of of our comedon's tenure to get after getting our infrastructure correct. Um and now uh as as the budgets uh develop we it may slip right.
▶ 2:00:56So although this was never to be a one fit up uh issue, we can get things up and running in one fit up is a multiple year multiple fit up endeavor. Uh the Marines that are serving today may not likely ever see a brand new building uh go up in the first contract of their service.
▶ 2:01:16And so um to the credit of our comedant uh even through these uh budget conversations he continues to tell the leadership that we will find the money and we will invest into the operational need of getting after uh the responsibility we have to house the Marines in the manner that's deserving their excellence. So thank you S major.
▶ 2:01:40I was told as I mentioned to you just on camp Pendleton over 120 buildings roughly half of them need to be completely redone or torn down altogether uh at a cost of over uh $1.2 billion. This just for one one base. So um question for for any of you have any of you done any sort of analysis on the impact I'm going to use the t-word of tariffs on construction costs as it pertains to your plans? No. Nobody. Nobody.
▶ 2:02:11I would say the the core of engineer I know has been paying attention to this. Um I I mean I won't speak for them but I will say we are taking a taking a look at this. It does affect every one of our projects in the sense of uh um the availability of product of pro of equipment for the projects. What sorts of stuff do you import that might uh be more expensive as you look at the portfolio of projects? Is it materials?
▶ 2:02:41Is it just to put a It's a little bit of It's a little bit of everything, Congressman. Uh past uh a past one we had prior to uh the T-word uh was uh solar panels. there was only so many places that uh we were able to purchase solar panels and so we had to request an exception or that project was just going to sit and languish and and not be completed.
▶ 2:03:03Uh and you can imagine a project that's been mult a multi-year project and waiting on solar panels to to finish it, close it and occupy it and and so I I mean that's that's one from the past that I'm that I'm aware of. Uh I don't think we have the analysis for current um effects uh based off tariffs, but I know the core is paying attention closely. Very good. And hopefully you're conducting that analysis and and I really hope that as you um develop it that you share it with us.
▶ 2:03:31You know, our hope is to be as helpful to you as possible, but we need you to be transparent with us as we seek to help. Um the uh cuts are the other thing other thing I want to mention. A couple my colleagues talked about this. So, same question for Sergeant Major Ruiz is, you know, this 8% budget cut, uh, how does that impact the Marine Corps ability just to implement the barracks improvement plans that you have on the books and what additional resources might you need?
▶ 2:04:03Yes, sir. As as um I stated earlier, uh we began six years ago on a on a very huge endeavor to transform the Marine Corps. So we got really light. Um and what I would what I would offer now is that it's it's not just should the budgets develop in a maybe a downward trend uh it won't be just barracks and infrastructure.
▶ 2:04:27you'll be the inability to pay for uh bonuses and retention uh may turn may be affected because we have uh incredibly talented Marines in our formations that are are needed to stay for the next fight.
▶ 2:04:43And if they see uh they may see that uh hey I waited my turn to get a bonus because I did what I was supposed to do and and now I'm here at an E5 getting ready to to recover a bonus and stay uh and it's not available to them. They may decide to to walk away.
▶ 2:05:00So, um although our retention numbers, uh even this year, we're already uh 100% and climbing uh for the for the for the goal of the year, uh I'm not looking to break that momentum, Congressman, and I'm looking to to have that available in the mail purse. Thank you. And I I'm over time, but I just want to sincerely thank all of you for the work that you're doing. And u you know, I think all of us on this uh subcommittee are here to to help you in every single way that we can. So, with that, I'll yield back. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 2:05:31Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all, gentlemen, for your time here today. And I really appreciate the work that you do all you all do on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of young men and women that are that put their faith in their leadership, their chain of command to take care of them, and you all do that magnificently. Um, for sake of time, I do want to dive a little bit into retention and recruitment. Um, I brought this up in previous hearings in past years. Uh, the Army and the Marines, both of our um, uh, sergeant- majors addressed it.
▶ 2:05:58So I just for sake of time I'll I'll limit to to you you two but um Sergeant Major Ruiz Marine Corps it looks like everything is going very well from what you were just just sharing there but you exceeded your 2024 goals and retention which as we know retention is just as important as bringing them in. If we can't keep them then we're going to have problems down the line. And then so far uh through fiscal year 25 you're at 98% of firstterm retention and 108 in subsequent. So sounds like you've got everything going well.
▶ 2:06:26If there's more to that, I'd love to come back and hear what still may concern you. But, um, Sergeant Major Wymer, I I want to dive a little bit more into your testimony. You had shared that, um, you had a goal for fiscal year 24 of 55,000. You all finished the year at 55,50. So, you you squeak that one over the goal line, which sounds good. Uh, but, you know, on closer look, you also shared that the retention was 52,289 for fiscal year 24.
▶ 2:06:54I'm not sure what the goal was, but the goal for 25 is 54,800. So, I don't know if you if you were short of the mark on the retention, but you know, there was a a military.com article uh last month, and I I understand it's the press, and trust me, there's a lot of things that the press doesn't always get right, and I see it dayto-day, but I want to share a little of that, and just kind of get your comment on it. Uh the the article was titled, "The army is losing one quarter of soldiers in the first two years of enlistment." So, pretty big drop off after we get them in the door.
▶ 2:07:22Uh they further unpack that and there's conversation about the the pool of eligible recruits out there. We get that. We've had these conversations here before. Only 23% of 17 to 24 year olds are eligible uh to be to serve in our military. Only 8% are eligible for a clean enlistment. That scares the heck out of me that 92% of kids in America couldn't serve in the military even if they wanted to.
▶ 2:07:45Um but within the army last year uh waivers doubled from 8,400 in 2022 to 17,900 last year. So more than double the waivers. Uh most of those were medical waivers. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that. Were these um fitness standards? Were was it obesity? Are there other underlying conditions?
▶ 2:08:07I do uh I I know that there there's a greater ability to find out a recruit's medical history now coming in that we may not have had before if they'd lied to you before that you weren't going to find out until it until it manifested. But concerning to me, you know, last year there were um 1,045 that were recruited that were brought in with misdemeanor waiverss, but worse than that, 401 with felony convictions, which was four times the amount from 2022.
▶ 2:08:33Uh, I do appreciate that none of those were for sexual violence, but one question I'm curious, what kind of convicted felons are we allowing in and and how do we and how do you explain that to moms and dads whose sons and daughters are going off to know they're going to be sharing the bunks with convicted felons?
▶ 2:08:48It's kind of not what we promised in the recruiting commercials, but um how do we make the argument that we're not lowering standards if we barely squeak by the goal and um and we see the number of people who don't meet haven't traditionally met the standards or they're or bringing in criminals. So, I'll stop there and give you a chance to to unpack that a little bit for me. Thank you. Thank you, Congressman, for that. There's a lot there. Um I'll I'll uh I'll try to touch on a little bit of all of it.
▶ 2:09:16Um, we we met our we met our goal last year. We absolutely did. Future soldier prep was a was an important part of that. Um, but not everybody that goes to Future Soldier Prep passes Future Soldier Prep. I think it's important to understand the standard hasn't changed. Future Soldier Prep gives our sons and daughters, I have to be careful how I say that. It's our sons and daughters an opportunity to potentially serve. Um, because based off of blame COVID, blame something.
▶ 2:09:43um they just didn't have the propendency that we've had in the past. Um I don't want to be too accusative there to our sons and daughters. Uh but that has been incredibly successful, but they don't all make it out of future soldier prep. But we do invest in them and and then send them home. To the felony comment because I want to make sure I don't run out of time on that one. I'll take that one for the record. Um because that one's new to me. Um but military.com just reporting what was what was in the article, but that's that's what they said.
▶ 2:10:10basically your felony that was quadruple what it had been two years before. Okay, I'll I'll take that one. That one uh that one stings a little more than than the rest of that. Um because I agree with you, especially with a daughter that'll be commissioned here in two years. Um this year's mission uh just as as US Army Recruiting Command says, we're crushing this year.
▶ 2:10:31We raised it to 61,000 and we are exceeding where we were last year on goal to surpass our recruiting mission of 61. Uh with the potentially one of the largest depths delayed entry just like our my Air Force teammate down here, one of the largest uh delayed entries we've seen in decades. Uh so recruiting's doing really well right now. I'll finish with retention. Retention is not about contracts.
▶ 2:10:57Um, for us in the army, we met our retention goal of4 over 114% last year. We don't set 100% of retention as a goal for us. We set a very specific mission and then evaluate oursel. Um, not all soldiers are going to make it through their first term. That is just statistically factual decades of data. I've been mass enough with young sailors to know that, too. So, yes. And it's it's okay.
▶ 2:11:24Um, and it and all by it's not all by the it's not always UCMJ that gets uh young troopers either. Uh, sometimes it's just the the lifestyle in the military is just not for them. We help them transition out. Um, but but I will say the uh first and second year comments in that article, the statistics are no different than anything we've seen in the past. So, it is not a future soldier prep new data point seeing uh firsttime soldiers fail at a higher rate. All right. I appreciate that.
▶ 2:11:54And for all of you, if if as we see these retention or the recruitment numbers going up, let's do make sure that if if there have been places like high school education, other things where we've made concessions in the past, we know historically that doesn't work well in the long run. I'd love to see us tighten those standards back up again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. All right, let's do it. Thank you. Everyone ready for lunch? All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate that. and our distinguished witnesses for being here.
▶ 2:12:22As representatives of our military senior enlisted ranks, you have a direct pulse on the everyday experiences of our service members and their families, the challenges they face, and the sacrifices they make. We have a duty to ensure that those who defend our great nation have a quality of life that reflects the values of their service. From housing conditions to child care, we must identify where we are failing and take action to fix it. We cannot underserve those who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for us.
▶ 2:12:50Missouri's fourth congressional district is home to two great bases, Whiteitman Air Force Base in Fort Leonard Wood. Two critical DoD installations that embody the heart of our military readiness and resilience. I've heard firsthand from service members about the difficulties they face, and I want to make sure that we try to get to some answers, how to fix things.
▶ 2:13:10As a former member of the Armed Services Committee, I also sat on the quality of life panel under the direction of General Bacon and uh we made significant gains in the 2025 NDAA and a big increase in pay uh for lower level enlisted, a restoration of basic allowance for housing. Uh we were instrumental in getting $144 million for new AIT barracks at Fort Leonardwood, better child care access, and more mental health support.
▶ 2:13:38My first question to Sergeant Major Wymer, you mentioned the Army Future Soldier Prep Course. It's been a success in channeling uh in in getting more recruits into Fort Linderwood. In particular, we're having uh five new companies. Uh talk about the level of success in particular for this program, why it's important. Thank you for that, Congressman. And by the way, Fort Leonardwood, they call it Fort Loss in the Woods, but I don't think that gives it it's not a fair. trying to get away from that.
▶ 2:14:08Yeah, it it is a gem. Yeah. Uh every time I go there, I understand why people just keep retiring there and and becoming members of the community. So, thank you for that. Future Soldier Prep has been instrumental. Um there's currently, I think it's 3 33,500ish um sons and daughters that have gone through Future Soldier Prep. Uh, and every time I go down there, if you haven't had an opportunity to go visit either Fort Jackson or um or uh down at uh Benning, please do.
▶ 2:14:37Um we're meeting these young kids where they're at. Uh and for many of them, they just want an opportunity to meet the standard. Um it it's it's a little uh it'll tug on your heartstrings. I'll just tell you that. Well, there's a nasty rumor going around that this program could end. Have you heard any talk about that at the Pentagon or anywhere else? No. In the Army, this program uh we may throttle the program like we we need to use the program more at times and then there's times we may not.
▶ 2:15:06And so you may see the Army as we continue to to meet our recruiting goals, exceed our recruiting goals. You may see us turn it up or turn it down a little bit based off that requirement. Thank you. Uh Chief Master Sergeant Ruiz, thank you for coming to my office. Had a great conversation with you in particular about mental health issues. Would you repeat some of the challenges that the Marine Corps is facing now when it comes to mental How do you like that, Jim? Chief Massarn, Congressman, thank you for that.
▶ 2:15:36Excellent discussion on um the ability for a young service member today who does exactly what we tell them to do, which is you're having an issue, seek help. And because the medical providers may not be in the volume that we need him at different places uh around the core around our our bases and stations, they must go out in town and um out in town it's we needed to take Triricare to the previous conversations about uh triricare sir.
▶ 2:16:06If they're not available then it just exacerbates the problem. Now I'm waiting if I'm that young person 45 days to 60 days to finally get the one appointment that I need down the line. and you did exactly what we told you to do, which was go get help, right? And so, I can't solve that problem, sir. I'm looking uh for you to to help us bring attention to that. And I love that everyone is tracking and and pushing for that.
▶ 2:16:32Uh what I can control is is what's inside my formations and and that's why uh Marine Corps Total Fitness for us is it's a way to get after um the resiliency of our force, uh strengthen the ender soul. So, thank you for allowing me to do that, sir. Well, thank you. And with my 25 seconds left, I would like to uh thank your wife for being here today. Uh spouses are so important. Family is so important to uh service. And thank you, ma'am, for being here today. God bless you all.
▶ 2:17:01Thank you for being here. And with that, I yield Thank you. And I'm sorry we went long, but uh quite honestly, uh not too long. uh I really like to hear from you guys and so I'm I'm kind of lacks on you. Now when I get the big boys in here, I'll keep them on the level.
▶ 2:17:26But you guys get to tell the stories that make make us actually realize what's going on. So thank you for what you tell what you've done for us. You are the the pe the people that keep the mil your branch of the military going. God bless you for doing it and we wish you the best. And with that, adjourn. Thank you. Thank you.