[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.A.S.C. No. 116-41]
MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT--
HOW ARE THE MILITARY SERVICES
ADAPTING TO RECRUIT, RETAIN,
AND MANAGE HIGH-QUALITY
TALENT TO MEET THE NEEDS
OF A MODERN MILITARY?
__________
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
MAY 16, 2019
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
37-527 WASHINGTON : 2020
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SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL
JACKIE SPEIER, California, Chairwoman
SUSAN A. DAVIS, California TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona RALPH LEE ABRAHAM, Louisiana
GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, Jr., LIZ CHENEY, Wyoming
California, Vice Chair PAUL MITCHELL, Michigan
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
DEBRA A. HAALAND, New Mexico MATT GAETZ, Florida
LORI TRAHAN, Massachusetts
ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia
Craig Greene, Professional Staff Member
Dan Sennott, Counsel
Danielle Steitz, Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Page
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
Kelly, Hon. Trent, a Representative from Mississippi, Ranking
Member, Subcommittee on Military Personnel..................... 2
Speier, Hon. Jackie, a Representative from California,
Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Military Personnel................. 1
WITNESSES
Burke, VADM Robert P., USN, Chief of Naval Personnel, United
States Navy.................................................... 8
Kelly, Lt Gen Brian T., USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower,
Personnel, and Services, United States Air Force............... 9
Rocco, LtGen Michael A., USMC, Deputy Commandant for Manpower and
Reserve Affairs, United States Marine Corps.................... 11
Seamands, LTG Thomas C., USA, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, United
States Army.................................................... 6
Stewart, Hon. James N., Performing the Duties of the Under
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Department of
Defense........................................................ 4
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Burke, VADM Robert P......................................... 71
Kelly, Lt Gen Brian T........................................ 85
Rocco, LtGen Michael A....................................... 101
Seamands, LTG Thomas C....................................... 57
Speier, Hon. Jackie.......................................... 41
Stewart, Hon. James N........................................ 43
Documents Submitted for the Record:
[There were no Documents submitted.]
Witness Responses to Questions Asked During the Hearing:
Mr. Bergman.................................................. 121
Mrs. Davis................................................... 119
Ms. Haaland.................................................. 121
Mr. Kelly.................................................... 117
Ms. Speier................................................... 113
Questions Submitted by Members Post Hearing:
Mr. Cisneros................................................. 128
Ms. Speier................................................... 125
.
MILITARY PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT--HOW ARE THE
MILITARY SERVICES ADAPTING TO RECRUIT, RETAIN,
AND MANAGE HIGH-QUALITY TALENT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF A MODERN MILITARY?
----------
House of Representatives,
Committee on Armed Services,
Subcommittee on Military Personnel,
Washington, DC, Thursday, May 16, 2019.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:28 p.m., in
room 2212, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jackie Speier
(chairwoman of the subcommittee) presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JACKIE SPEIER, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
CALIFORNIA, CHAIRWOMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL
Ms. Speier. Good afternoon. The Military Personnel
Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee will come to
order. I would like to welcome everyone to this afternoon's
hearing.
Today we will hear from the personnel chiefs from the
Department and the four military services to discuss what they
are doing to improve and modernize military personnel policy to
sustain the All-Volunteer Force.
The military personnel policy does not just involve
military personnel; it also involves the family. We ask service
members and their families to make sacrifices for our Nation.
When they bravely step up to this task, we must only ask them
to sacrifice when it is necessary--we must only ask them to
sacrifice when it is necessary for our national security, not
when it is required by outdated or shortsighted personnel
policies. Our job is to recruit and retain service members who
will allow the U.S. military to fight and win future
challenges. A modern personnel system is a crucial tool in that
effort.
I spent 5 days last month visiting five different military
installations, talking to leadership, service members, and
their spouses so I could learn firsthand what the issues are
facing our service members and families. These CODELs
[congressional delegations] will continue, and I invite my
colleagues on the committee to join me.
There were four major issues that stood out. One was
location of assignment and its impact on school-age children,
especially high school age; employment for spouses who have
professional careers; woefully inadequate childcare slots; and
the need for more resources for sexual assault and domestic
violence for service members and spouses.
The demographics of service members have changed. More of
our talented service members have talented spouses who want
their own careers, want to contribute to the financial success
of the family, and are starting families early in their
careers.
We have a force of volunteers that deserve recruiting and
retention policies that adapt with the times, not inflexible
bureaucratic cultures that demand conformity without offering
new solutions.
Military families are now making decisions not only based
on military members' career progression but on the whole
family's future. A small number of Americans serve in our Armed
Forces, and they have growing expectations. Their expectations
are merited, and we must meet and exceed them.
The competition for the limited talent is fierce. The
Department and the services have a great amount of flexibility
in determining who is qualified to serve and must continue to
look at ways to open the aperture to gain access to talent.
We have a responsibility to take these problems seriously
and not chalk up our system's shortcomings to the entitled
needs and misplaced expectations of a new generation. Personnel
policy must be shaped to respond to those currently serving,
not those who commissioned during the Cold War.
It is incumbent upon leadership in DOD [Department of
Defense] and Congress to listen to and learn from those we
serve. And we must make greater use of modern data gathering
and survey techniques to make human resources decisions like a
modern corporation. I believe the services need to think
creatively and beyond their current cultures about how to
manage people.
The central question for today is: How are the military
services adapting to recruit, retain, and manage high-quality
talent to meet the needs of our modern military? I am
interested to hear from our witnesses on how they gather
information on what their service members value, how does that
translate to policy, and what are each of you doing to
incorporate the family into policies governing the career
management process.
Before we introduce the first panel, let me offer Ranking
Member Kelly an opportunity to make his opening remarks.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Speier can be found in the
Appendix on page 41.]
STATEMENT OF HON. TRENT KELLY, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
MISSISSIPPI, RANKING MEMBER, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MILITARY PERSONNEL
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. Thank you, Chairwoman Speier.
And I wish to welcome our witnesses to today's hearing.
I also want to congratulate Vice Admiral Burke on his
nomination as the next Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
We cannot overstate the central role that our service
members play in making the United States the most lethal
military in the world. This strategic advantage is due in large
part to the high accession and retention standards that the
military services have established and continue to maintain.
However, in this extremely strong economy with a record low
unemployment rate and a low propensity to serve among our young
people, it is not surprising that the pool of eligible
applicants is extremely small. Given the challenge in the
recruiting environment, it is crucial that the services
leverage every tool available to understand what motivates
qualified individuals to serve in the military and stay.
In addition, once qualified applicants are recruited into
the military, it is essential that the services efficiently and
effectively identify and retain the most talented of those
service members. To that end, Congress has given significant
additional authorities to the Defense Department to ensure that
they have the flexibility to recruit and retain a talented,
competitive, and lethal force.
However, before making additional changes to personnel
management, we need to clearly understand the problem. Our
previous hearing on the topic with outside experts reinforced
the premise that we need to clearly understand why service
members are electing to get out of the military and to
understand what would have kept them in the service.
The Defense Department already has much of the data
necessary to answer these questions, but I remain concerned
that the Department is not maximizing their use of this
information in order to make informed policy decisions.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about
the current efforts to effectively retain qualified service
members. Specifically, what data do the services use to
understand what motivates service members to remain in the
service?
In addition, I am interested to hear what additional policy
changes the services have made to the evaluation system,
promotion system, and assignment system to identify and retain
talent.
I am also interested to understand this year's end-strength
request and what those numbers will buy us in terms of
readiness. Will the requested end-strength increases simply
round down existing units, or will it allow the services to
populate additional units or platforms? I am interested to hear
about the services' goals for end-strength increases over the
next 5 years.
Finally, I believe family services are directly related to
retention. The old adage is true: You recruit the soldier, but
you retain the family.
I am particularly concerned about the severe shortage of
quality military childcare. Recent statistics we have received
from the Department reveal that there are several installations
where the average wait time for on-installation childcare is in
excess of 180 days. This is problematic not just for working
families but also for spouses who are hoping to look for work.
If they have limited access to childcare, how can they seek
employment? This is unacceptable, and I would like to know what
the services are doing to ensure families are receiving the
support they need, including meaningful access to childcare.
Once again, I want to thank our witnesses and our
chairperson for being here today and for their decades of
service.
And I yield back, Chair.
Ms. Speier. Thank you, Ranking Member Kelly.
Each witness will have the opportunity to present his or
her testimony, and each member will have an opportunity to
question the witnesses for 5 minutes.
We respectfully ask the witnesses to summarize their
testimony in 5 minutes or less. Your written comments and
statements will be made part of the hearing record.
Let's welcome our panel.
First, the Honorable James Stewart, performing the duties
of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness
at the Department of Defense.
Welcome.
Lieutenant General Thomas Seamands, Deputy Chief of Staff
for United States Army.
Vice Admiral Robert Burke, Chief of Naval Personnel, United
States Navy. And I, too, would like to recognize that this will
be Admiral Burke's last opportunity to testify before our
subcommittee in this capacity.
Congratulations on your nomination to be Vice Chief of
Naval Operations.
Next, we will hear from Lieutenant General Brian Kelly,
Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel, and Services in
the United States Air Force.
And finally, Lieutenant General Michael Rocco, Deputy
Commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, United States
Marine Corps.
With that, Secretary Stewart, you may begin with your
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES N. STEWART, PERFORMING THE DUTIES OF
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR PERSONNEL AND READINESS,
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Mr. Stewart. Thank you, Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member
Kelly, distinguished members of the subcommittee. I am honored
to appear here before you today to discuss how the Department
of Defense recruits, retains, and manages our high-quality
talent to meet the needs of our Nation.
The Department is committed to the effective total force
management, leveraging Active and Reserve military forces,
civilian personnel, and contractors. To be effective, this
effort must be long term in scope and vision and must always be
focused on our service members who are at the tip of the spear.
The military services have sustained the All-Volunteer
Force by recruiting the best and brightest from across the
Nation. The services are on track to achieve their recruiting
missions this year, but they continue to face an ever-changing
recruiting environment. A robust economy, low unemployment, and
significant competition from the civilian sector have
highlighted and tightened today's recruiting environment.
Today, only 29 percent of our American youth are eligible
for military service without a waiver, and only 2 percent are
eligible, high-quality, and propensed to serve. So the
Department is employing new and innovative tools to attract
this group.
To reach a more technologically savvy generation, the
Department is leveraging social media and other relevant
technologies. We have launched an integrated digital marketing
campaign targeting not only young people but those who
influence them the most--those parents, teachers, coaches, and
other people in their lives who play a key role in the decision
to join the military.
Our Joint Advertising, Market Research, and Studies
program, or JAMRS, folks have produced several 30-second
commercial spots that appeal to all segments of our society,
while utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze information,
allowing us to reach audiences when they will be most receptive
to DOD messaging.
The Department and military services have varied outreach
and marketing efforts to reach the widest audience, including
specific activities targeted to reach talented women and
minorities, because we rely on diverse backgrounds and
perspectives to address the complex challenges facing our
Nation today.
In order to manage this diverse All-Volunteer Force, we
appreciate the officer management authorities you provided in
the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. These
authorities give the military services new and flexible tools
in the management and retention of the officer corps.
And speaking of retention, military services are each
exhibiting strong retention in the aggregate, and they expect
to meet or exceed retention goals this year. In fact, the Army
and the Air Force are seeing retention rates of 90 percent or
more, rates that have not been evidenced in decades.
Achieving and maintaining these retention rates is only
possible if you take care of the member and their family. We
like to say that you recruit the member but retain the family.
We know that a commitment to the military often entails
sacrifices, so we are making every effort to support our
military families in ways that recognize and relieve the
challenges that come with the military way of life.
Authorities you granted in the fiscal year 2018 National
Defense Authorization Act, allowing families to occupy two sets
of quarters in different locations while retaining the higher
basic allowance for housing, eases the burdens and disruptions
of PCS [permanent change of station] moves and allows for more
stability for the members, especially those with children in
schools or for spouses with jobs.
Concerning spouses, we know that 24 percent of military
spouses are unemployed or underemployed. Supporting military
spouses in their employment leads to family readiness and
financial stability. That is why career counseling, finding
employment opportunities, and supporting our highly successful
scholarship program, My Career Advancement Account, are
important.
Also important is occupational license portability, which
will allow spouses to transfer professional licenses and
credentials from State to State. The Department of Defense's
State Liaison Office has successfully worked with the States to
streamline license transfer processing and continues to work
with interagency and State partners to expedite or exempt
professional licensing requirements for military spouses.
Quality childcare is extremely important for our military
families as well. The Department is working hard to provide
high-quality, affordable childcare to our service members. We
recognize the importance and impact on family readiness and are
committed to meeting the increased demand for childcare
services.
Our rollout of militarychildcare.com allows families to
register for childcare in advance of a move or before the new
addition of a child to a family. Constructing new and
refurbishing existing facilities, along with streamlining human
capital practices, will facilitate the Department's ability to
meet our service members' childcare needs.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today
and for your dedication and support that you have given to the
Department. I am eager to continue our work together to ensure
that we remain the most powerful fighting force in the world
while sustaining and empowering military families who support
our men and women in uniform.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Stewart can be found in the
Appendix on page 43.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you.
Next, we have General Seamands.
STATEMENT OF LTG THOMAS C. SEAMANDS, USA, DEPUTY CHIEF OF
STAFF, G-1, UNITED STATES ARMY
General Seamands. Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly,
distinguished members of the committee, I thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the women
and men of the United States Army.
I have submitted a statement for the record, but I would
like to highlight a few of the points now.
The Army's greatest strength is our people, the
intelligent, adaptable, professional soldiers, civilians, and
families who sacrifice so much for our Nation. We take care of
our people by ensuring that our personnel policies are
relevant, compassionate, and focused on readiness. Manning is
truly the keystone in the archway of readiness and is vital to
our Army's ability to fight and win our Nation's wars.
To maintain readiness and to shape the future Army, we must
recruit diverse, resilient individuals of high character to
fully man our formations while obtaining sustainable growth and
maintaining quality standards.
Further, we must recruit in a competitive market. The Army
must also continue to retain the most qualified and talented
soldiers, noncommissioned officers, commissioned officers, and
civilians with the experience and skills to meet our future
needs.
Retention of the family is just as important as retention
of the soldier. Thanks to you--I would like to echo the
comments of Mr. Stewart for the work you did on the 2018 NDAA
[National Defense Authorization Act]--we now have in place the
authority to reimburse spouses for licensing and credentialing
when they change stations based on their soldier's move.
Taking care of family remains our top priority. Thanks to
your efforts in the 2018 NDAA, we are taking steps to improve
our quality-of-life programs across our installations. These
areas include enhancements for our dependents' educations,
childcare programs, hiring authorities, as well as improvements
to family support and readiness.
Thank you for the authorities, as well, in the 2019 NDAA
which provided us greater flexibility in our personnel
management. We are beginning to use the authorities granted to
help shape the future talent base system. As such, we are
transforming our business practices and developing innovations
to ensure we provide a force that is optimized. We have created
a marketplace of officers where officers and units meet, find
optimal ways to match talent, personal and professional goals,
while enhancing readiness.
The Army is undertaking a comprehensive reform of our
Officer Personnel Management System to ensure we match the
knowledge, skills, and behaviors of each soldier and getting
them into the right position. The Army is moving away from an
industrial-age personnel distribution system to an information-
age market-based model. The new system will deliberately manage
our soldiers based on optimized placement in positions that
capitalize on their unique talents.
The Army remains committed to giving all soldiers who can
meet the standards of a military occupational specialty the
opportunity to serve. We have successfully assessed and
transferred more than a thousand women into previously closed
occupations of infantry, armor, and field artillery.
Department of the Army civilians are an integral partner in
our efforts to become more lethal, enhancing our capability and
capacity and ensuring critical support to our soldiers and
families. We must continue to size our civilian workforce to
meet the current and future demands.
The Integrated Pay and Personnel System-Army, IPPS-A, is
modernizing and transforming our human resources processes as I
speak to change how the Army manages our most important asset,
our people. We recently completed a very successful test of
IPPS-A with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. The system is
now live in Virginia and will soon be live in DC and Maryland
National Guard. This year, we will field the system across all
our Army National Guard formations.
To ensure that we are organizationally ready for combat, we
must sustain the personnel readiness of our soldiers. The Army
is improving personnel readiness by strengthening our soldiers,
improving resiliency skills, and fostering a culture of trust,
fitness, and deployability. We believe these actions will
enhance unit readiness, cohesion, and reduce the number of
nondeployable soldiers.
In addition to taking care of soldiers and their families
while they are in the Army, we are committed to ensuring their
successful transition as they prepare for life after the
service. Ultimately, we want soldiers to properly transition to
productive veterans of character, integrity, and service as
they return to their communities.
Our Army is the most formidable ground combat force on
Earth because of the courage and commitment of our soldiers,
civilians, veterans, and family members who serve our Nation.
People are the Army. These men and women who serve our Nation,
both in uniform and out, along with their families, are our
most important asset. For the Army to be ready, our soldiers
and families must also be ready.
Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly, distinguished
members of the committee, I thank you for your generous and
unwavering support of our outstanding soldiers and civilians
and their families.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of General Seamands can be found in
the Appendix on page 57.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you.
Vice Admiral Burke.
STATEMENT OF VADM ROBERT P. BURKE, USN, CHIEF OF NAVAL
PERSONNEL, UNITED STATES NAVY
Admiral Burke. Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly,
distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to be here today and update you on your Navy's
personnel programs.
We continue to grow the Navy's manpower commensurate with
the force structure for the Navy the Nation needs. We are
simultaneously working to restore full manning to our existing
fleet. This year, we will grow the Navy by 7,500 people and
another 5,100 next year. Our fleet wholeness continues to
improve, as evidenced by steady progress in improving fleet
manning and closing gaps at sea even as we are growing the Navy
at this aggressive pace.
We still have work to do, and our success is directly tied
to our collective commitment to consistent and full funding.
Finding the right people is as important as making the numbers.
The war for talent, as you have heard already, is real, and the
competition is increasing.
We continue to make our overall recruiting goals, the
highest in decades, mostly due to our recruiting transformation
efforts, innovative use of social media, and by shifting our
``Forged by the Sea'' advertising campaign predominantly to the
digital market.
A combination of our Sailor 2025 programs, surgical use of
retention bonuses, which have been aided by predictive
analytics, and other policy levers resulted in 2018 showing the
largest enlisted retention improvements in a decade. This is
critical as it has allowed us to establish the deep bench of
experienced journeymen we are going to need to develop that
next generation of masters.
Despite overall improvements in retention, we continue to
face challenges in the usual critical areas.
Our Sailor 2025 initiatives continue to expand and get high
marks from our sailors. This program will be a critical force
multiplier going forward. The underlying transparency and the
flexibility it provides directly and positively impacts our
sailors' ``stay Navy'' decision.
We greatly appreciated the increased DOPMA [Defense Officer
Personnel Management Act] flexibility provided in the fiscal
year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, and we are
already putting each of the new authorities to work. And we
look forward to reporting our successes to you in the near
future.
But as important as the programs themselves is the manner
in which we deliver our personnel services. It has been said
several times already today, and it is true: You recruit the
sailor, but you retain the family. And what we ask of our
sailors and their families is tremendous.
But if we do a poor job of delivering basic services to
them, like pay and travel claim liquidation, or we pile
additional financial stress onto an already stressful event
like a move because of our unimaginative processes, that sends
a signal to our sailors and families that we just don't care.
Our customer service is clearly a key retention driver.
So we are on a path to deliver personnel services in a
modern, simple, one-stop-shopping mobile-device-enabled manner
with friendly, reliable call centers available 24/7 to help
with the complex issues. That is what our sailors expect and
deserve. And, yes, it is IT [information technology] systems,
to a degree, but, more importantly, it is better, smarter,
sailor-centric processes in a culture of customer service.
So this past September, we launched My Navy Career Center,
delivering enhanced 24/7 personnel pay and training customer
service, just like a modern banking or insurance call center.
My Navy Portal is our new online, one-stop personnel shop, and
it offers a multitude of self-service options.
In January, we began the move to My Navy Portal Mobile,
piloting the use of commercial cloud systems without the use
of--allowing sailors to access these systems without the use of
their Common Access Card. By the end of this calendar year, our
sailors will be doing most personnel business from their
smartphones. And even the admin associated with PCS moves, one
of the most frustrating evolutions all of us in uniform do,
will be an afterthought so that families can concentrate on
what matters most.
The other angle that we are tackling is the changing nature
of our workforce. Sixty-seven percent of our officers and over
half of our enlisted sailors are married, and many of them are
dual-professional couples. We have to address that reality if
we are going to retain the family. And we launched multiple
efforts within our Sailor 2025 portfolio to start to get after
that.
We have challenges that remain, and we still have a great
deal of work to get to where we need to be if we are going to
be truly competitive, but we are on a good path.
And I would like to close by saying thank you for your
support of these efforts and for your unwavering commitment to
the men and women of the United States Navy and their families.
I look forward to continuing our partnership, and I look
forward to your questions.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Admiral Burke can be found in
the Appendix on page 71.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you, Admiral Burke.
Next, Lieutenant General Kelly.
STATEMENT OF LT GEN BRIAN T. KELLY, USAF, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
FOR MANPOWER, PERSONNEL, AND SERVICES, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
General Kelly. Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you to talk about our airmen--
Active, Guard, Reserve, and civilian. America's airmen, your
airmen, remain always there as part of the joint team,
providing global vigilance, reach, and power in defense of the
Nation.
The Air Force's top priority is to build a lethal and ready
Air Force capable of executing the National Defense Strategy-
assigned missions. At its core, building a lethal and ready Air
Force is about people, making our airmen and their families our
most important asset. We therefore thank you for focusing this
hearing on how we manage, recruit, take care of, and retain our
airmen and families, particularly so to meet the needs of a
modern military.
We greatly appreciate your support that you provided in the
fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act for
continued end-strength growth to 690,500 total force airmen.
This growth is accelerating our readiness recovery and will
provide lethal airmen to protect and defend our Nation.
This past year, we focused the resources you provided on
our frontline pacing units, the 204 operational squadrons
required in the opening days of a peer fight. Prioritizing the
resources you provided has allowed more than 90 percent of the
lead packages to be ready to fight tonight, with 80 percent of
the fleet pacing units fully ready by the end of fiscal year
2020, 6 years faster than originally projected.
The fiscal year 2020 requested growth to 700,000 total
force airmen continues our readiness recovery, augments
existing capacity in our space and cyber mission areas, and
provides the initial maintenance and operational manpower
needed for the KC-46, F-35, and B-21.
Despite an increasingly competitive market for talent, our
Active Duty, Reserve, and Air National Guard are all on track
to meet our overall fiscal year 2019 recruiting goals.
However, with an understanding of the keen competition for
talent, the Air Force has recently established a total force
recruiting service effort responsible for recruiting and
coordinating efforts across all three components. As part of
this effort, we recently assigned a one-star Reserve general
officer as the Deputy Commander of the Air Force Recruiting
Service.
We have also established two focused recruiting entities,
one whose focus is to outreach to youth to increase awareness
around opportunities within our underrepresented diverse
populations, and the second whose job is to specifically scout,
recruit, and prepare airmen for special warfare career fields.
Both entities have shown promise during this year.
This tough recruiting market, coupled with the high
investments we make in training, places an even greater value
on retaining our airmen and our families. We therefore
appreciate the Congress' support of special incentive pays,
which are a critical component to complement our non-monetary
retention incentives. The fiscal year 2019 budget included $1.2
billion for special incentive pays, allowing the Air Force to
retain highly skilled airmen.
Our overall retention picture is positive, although we have
acute pockets where we are particularly stressed, including
among our aviators. The Air Force ended fiscal year 2018 with a
total force pilot shortfall of approximately 2,000 pilots, with
slightly more than half of that shortfall within our fighter
inventory. We appreciate the Congress support for increasing
the pilot annual cap and monthly incentive pay levels, which we
believe had a mildly positive impact this past year.
Overall, we find non-monetary programs even more important
to retention and, therefore, remain focused on improving the
life of and quality of service of our airmen and their
families.
Responding to survey data from members and spouses, we
added flexibility into the officer assignment process by
leveraging technology through our new Talent Marketplace
assignment matching system. We believe the increased
transparency and improved member input will have a positive
retention influence.
We are expanding the system to our enlisted force and
testing it to identify airmen for yearlong deployments. We are
also executing family moves in accordance with the Family
Stability Act and are utilizing high school deferments to
provide some relief from the burdens of frequent moves to our
airmen and families.
The Air Force is also committed to transforming the way we
develop, promote, and retain our officer corps. We thank the
Congress for the increased DOPMA authorities received this past
year and are utilizing early promotion and constructive credit
already to fill gaps in our inventory.
With your help, we also increased support to airmen and
families for resiliency. We increased funding for child and
youth programs by $40 million, added 119 civilian childcare
positions, increased offsets to support the 4,500 children who
annually use off-base providers, and funded youth resilience
camps.
We also know spouse employment is essential to family
retention. Earlier this week, our Assistant Secretary for
Manpower and Reserve Affairs signed out our policy implementing
license reimbursement associated with permanent change of
station for our spouses. The Air Force also remains committed
to continued work in granting reciprocal licensing between
States and adding increased employment flexibilities for our
overseas spouses.
Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly, and distinguished
members of the subcommittee, thank you again for the
opportunity to appear before you and represent our incredible
airmen and their families. Your airmen stand ready and fully
understand their responsibilities to the joint force and the
Nation.
I am honored to be here alongside my colleagues, and I look
forward to your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of General Kelly can be found in
the Appendix on page 85.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you, General Kelly.
Now we will hear from General Rocco.
STATEMENT OF LTGEN MICHAEL A. ROCCO, USMC, DEPUTY COMMANDANT
FOR MANPOWER AND RESERVE AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
General Rocco. Chairwoman Speier, Ranking Member Kelly, and
distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for this
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the high-
quality Marines who make up the Corps.
Your Marines are the foundation of the Marine Corps. They
are smart, resilient, fit, disciplined, and able to overcome
adversity. Recruiting and retaining these high-quality women
and men is my number one priority.
This year, the Corps will once again meet our recruiting
mission, while at the same time exceeding all quality goals.
Over 99 percent of our recruits are in the top education tier.
This success would not be possible without adequate funding for
advertising, and I thank you for your support in this effort.
The Corps is also on pace to meet our retention goals this
year. However, this is a continuous challenge because of the
strong civilian job market. This is particularly true for
cyber, intelligence, aviators, and many of the other critical
high-tech occupations. To be good stewards of the money you
provide us, we narrowly target our incentive pays and bonuses
to these occupations. These bonuses are vital to our retention
effort, and we appreciate your continued support for them.
To improve recruiting and retention, we are in the midst of
executing a new survey, an AI [artificial intelligence]-focused
talent management line of effort. The goal of this effort is to
utilize data to better determine and predict retention and
performance behaviors. We believe this effort will bear fruit
in the near future.
The Marine Corps is an objective standards-based
organization. We want the best Marines, female and male, and
have refocused and refined our outreach to ensure we bring
awareness of what it means to be a Marine to a broader
audience. This has paid dividends. Five years ago, the Marine
Corps was 7.3 percent female. We are now 8.8 percent. In fiscal
year 2018, female accessions were over 10 percent of the
population, and we are on that same trajectory this year.
Additionally, females are represented in all previously
restricted occupational fields. We need the best our Nation
offers, and we are getting them.
We appreciate the recent officer management authorities
that you provided in the fiscal year 2019 NDAA. They seek to
help modernize how we manage our Marines, with the goal of
recruiting and retaining the highest quality talent.
Increasingly, warfighting is becoming more sophisticated,
technical, and complex. Cyber operations, information and
electronic warfare, enhanced command and control, and
intelligence are examples of critical skills we will need for
the future fight.
We are in the process of implementing lineal list
flexibility based on merit for our officer corps for many
promotion boards scheduled to occur in 2019. We believe that
allowing the promotion board the discretion to reorder by merit
will reward those high-quality officers who demonstrate
sustained superior performance.
The adage that we recruit the Marine but retain the family
was never more true than today. To this end, we are focusing
significant effort on helping our Marine spouses gain further
education and obtain and maintain employment. We are finalizing
our policy to provide up to $500 towards licensing and
certification costs when a Marine spouse moves to another
State.
I am proud to represent the men and women of character, the
few, the proud, who have taken up the challenge of being a
Marine. By keeping unwavering focus on our Marines and the
spouses and families who support them, we can continue to keep
faith with the honor, courage, and commitment they have so
freely given.
I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of General Rocco can be found in
the Appendix on page 101.]
Ms. Speier. Thank you, General Rocco.
First of all, let me just say how impressed I am that you
have recognized the importance of the family in addition to the
service member. And I think that bodes well as we attempt to
retain service members over the long term.
Let me start with a lightning round of questions. I am
going to ask each of the services the same questions, if you
could just go down the line.
The first question I have is, what is your waiting list for
childcare, and how long is the wait? For each of you.
General Seamands. Madam Chairman, it varies from location
to location. In some cases, it is, as was cited earlier, over
100 days, in places like Hawaii where the cost of living is a
little higher and it is harder to attract people. In some
cases, it is a very nominal wait list, depending on, I think,
the workforce as well as the space.
Ms. Speier. Well, that is actually not a great answer. So I
would like for you to give me something that is more data-
driven. When we were at Fort Bragg and meeting with the
spouses, that was a serious complaint, that they had to wait
over a year in some cases. So I think we need granular data
from each of you if you don't have it.
Admiral Burke.
Admiral Burke. Yes, ma'am. We have just over 8,000
personnel on wait list right now. About 2,000 of them are in
excess of 180 days, you know, just over 6 months there. And we
continue to work on means to expand our capacity.
Ms. Speier. Okay.
General Kelly.
General Kelly. Chairwoman, I will take the discussion, as
you said, for more granular data to provide you, but what I
will provide to you now is, as General Seamands said, it varies
by bases. We have some bases with absolutely no waiting list,
and we have some others who are upwards of 140 days.
And those key areas would be Langley Air Force Base for
sure, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska as two that
come to mind and which are also problematic in that there is
not a lot of off-base childcare available at those locations as
well.
Ms. Speier. Okay.
Yes?
General Rocco. Chairwoman Speier, for the Marine Corps, we
have 800 gaps, just over 800 gaps in childcare. Those are
primarily located at Camp Pendleton, Hawaii, and Quantico. The
wait list is about, on average, for those three bases, 6
months. At any of the other bases, we don't have a problem.
And the issue is not about space. It is about having
qualified workers, the licensing, the high turnover. So we have
an area like Camp Pendleton, southern California. They come on,
they get licensed. It takes a little bit of time to get their
license. They get their credentials. They are paid at the rate
that we can pay them. And then, because they are credentialed
in such a high-income area, they find some childcare off-base
and get paid a lot more money.
So, again, it is Camp Pendleton, Hawaii, and Quantico, and
it is about 800 bed spaces.
Thank you.
Ms. Speier. All right. Thank you.
I am going to give a shout-out to the Navy, which seems to
have done a great job in some of these issue areas.
Let's start with what is called the Career Intermission
Program. At least, that is what the Navy calls it. Do each of
you have one of those that gives your service members up to 3
years to take a sabbatical?
General Seamands. Madam Chairman, the Army does have a
program. We have about 40 people in the program--officer and
enlisted.
Ms. Speier. And how long?
General Seamands. It varies. In some cases, it is a year.
It is up to the service member in terms of how long they want
to go. Some, it is up to 3 years. In fact, one of the members
went off to get their law degree and took the full 3 years. So
it varies. Another member went off to get a scuba license to be
a scuba instructor at some point.
So it depends on how long they want. It could be up to 3
years. I can get you more granularity.
Ms. Speier. Is that automatic?
General Seamands. It is. We have approved all the requests
that have come in for the amount of time the soldiers have
asked.
Ms. Speier. All right.
And, Admiral Burke, you have one, right?
Admiral Burke. Yes, ma'am. We have had 217 sailors use it.
We have had right around 125, 130 or so sailors come full
circle, complete their intermission. About 90 of those came up
on a subsequent reenlistment. They reenlisted. A lot of sailors
tell us they would not have stayed in or been able to reenlist
had they not had that opportunity to take that sabbatical and
achieve the life-work balance objectives that they were after.
Ms. Speier. General Kelly.
General Kelly. Yes, ma'am, we have the same program. We
have been in year four now of that program. We have over 200
members who have entered in that program. Some have come back
full circle, as Admiral Burke said.
We interviewed six of those folks who came back this last
year. All have decided, based on their CIP [Career Intermission
Program] experience, to stay with and made a decision to stay
and retain with the Air Force.
Our program is about 56 percent female and about 44 percent
male right now.
Ms. Speier. All right.
General Rocco.
General Rocco. Yes, ma'am. We have 11 people in the
program. We have had four that completed the program, two that
came back into the Marine Corps and two that went to an
interservice transfer.
Ms. Speier. Okay.
We have a high percentage of unintended pregnancies in the
military. The Navy has a very good program in terms of
providing information on contraception, particularly long-term
contraception. I am curious if the other services have a
similar program.
General Seamands.
General Seamands. Chairwoman, I will take that for the
record. I am not sure.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 113.]
Ms. Speier. Okay.
Anything you would like to add on that, Admiral Burke?
Admiral Burke. We start it during our life skills course--
that is the first thing that all our sailors go to right after
boot camp--and kind of give them an education on everything to
do with pregnancy and parenthood and impacts on careers and
other things like that. And then we reinforce it continually
throughout the career points.
I think that is about it, ma'am.
Ms. Speier. Okay.
General Kelly.
General Kelly. So, Madam Chairwoman, we have programs for
basic education at basic training and initial skills training.
I will get you specific on how those works.
I can tell you that we also put in place a program that
allowed pregnant airmen to make a decision, defer a decision
until after they had a chance to talk to mentors, talk to
others who had been in their--understood the resources that
were available. We did that with an eye towards retention, and
we have seen some improvements in retention. Where we used to
force them to make the decision prior to the delivery of the
child, now they have up to a year after that to make the
decision.
Ms. Speier. All right.
General Rocco.
General Rocco. The education starts at boot camp. It is
something that they can elect to attend and get educated or get
some training and some classes at boot camp.
Ms. Speier. All right. I encourage you all to look at the
Navy's program, because they have a lower--much lower rate of
unintended pregnancies.
Finally, do any of you provide in vitro services?
General Seamands. Madam Chair, I believe we do, but I will
take that for the record to confirm.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 113.]
Ms. Speier. All right.
Admiral Burke.
Admiral Burke. I don't believe that we do.
General Kelly. Yeah, I will take it for the record as well.
We know of some members who have done it, but I will have to
get back on the official stats, ma'am.
General Rocco. And, ma'am, I would like to take that for
the record.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 116.]
Ms. Speier. All right. Great.
With that, I will offer my ranking member his opportunity
to ask questions.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. Thank you, Chairwoman Speier.
You know, I have a continued focus on our Gold Star
families and how we best serve those survivors of our Gold
Star--of our warriors who die in combat. And I think that is
really important overall, because we fight best when we know
that our family and loved ones are taken care of. So I would
just ask that you continue to keep that in mind as we go
forward.
The Department of Defense has an enormous amount of data
related to service members, their families, and their
backgrounds. How are each of the services, real quickly,
leveraging the information to better understand service
members' motivations for staying in the military or leaving the
military?
And we will start with you, General.
General Seamands. Ranking Member Kelly, thank you for the
question.
We do have a number of surveys and some data that is out
there. I would say one of the top reasons people tend to leave
the Active and the Reserve force is civilian opportunities on
the outside. At least that is the survey indication we get.
With the economy doing what it is, unemployment less than 4
percent, there is a significant draw beyond.
Having said that, sir, for officer retention and NCO [non-
commissioned officer] retention, we are at record highs in
terms of people continuing to stay.
Admiral Burke. Sir, we do a number of surveys as well. In
addition to the traditional exit surveys, we have developed
career milestone surveys for the sailors that are staying in.
That is as important as finding out why people are leaving. And
then we have also developed command climate-oriented but very
targetable surveys that individual commands can tailor quickly
and do frequently that we are calling pulse surveys. So there
are a number of survey techniques.
But, most recently, throughout our personnel system
transformation and as part of our ongoing Sailor 2025 efforts,
we have developed what we are calling fleet integration teams.
And they go out and basically hold focus groups with sailors,
spouses, family groups.
An example, we went out--we took a 2-month period a year
ago, went out across the fleet to understand the pain points
associated with PCS moves. And we came up with 16 independent
solutions, 2 of which we are about to put into motion here very
shortly, to significantly ease the burdens of making PCS travel
moves. And that is how we are, you know, getting the ideas that
fuel the Sailor 2025 programs.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And, General, I am going to stop
here. If you guys can provide that for the record, because I
want to make sure--mining of the data and getting the right
data is very, very important.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
beginning on page 117.]
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And, General Kelly, this question
will be for you.
And then I will get to you, General.
Many of the personnel reforms we have discussed in the past
have included plans to increase permeability between the Active
and Reserve Components. What are your views on the need for
this, and what has been done in the Air Force?
And, specifically, I want to talk mostly Air Force and Army
on this, the permeability between National Guard, Reserve, and
Active Component.
General Kelly. Sir, as you know, our modern use in the
military for our Reserve Components, both our National Guard
and Reserve, is as an operational force, no longer a strategic
force. That means the permeability and our ability to manage as
a total force has increased tremendously over time.
We have several programs where we allow folks to move back
and forth. We have a program called the Voluntary Limited
Period of Active Duty, where the Reserve and Guard members
serve on Active Duty for up to 3 years, and we have transition
programs.
Where I would tell you we fall short and we could use help
is: The ability to move easily between requires appointment
sometimes, especially on the officer side, requires
reappointment as you move between components. In a modern force
that uses the Air Reserve Components in an operational fashion,
we would like to see us get to a place where we have an
appointment authority that allows us to move much quicker and
much easier between those components.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. General Seamands.
General Seamands. Representative Kelly, I would echo
General Kelly's comments. I think the biggest improvement we
could do is to make it much easier to transfer back. We talk a
lot about continuum of service, and if we want to encourage
people to go between the Active, Guard, and Reserve, we need to
make it easier for them and their families.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. General Rocco, this is for you.
We have repeatedly heard that there are severe shortages on
installation childcare. In many cases, military spouses are not
able to even look for outside employment without meaningful
access to childcare. What can the Marine Corps do to fix this?
Because most military spouses, either husbands or wives,
sacrifice a career for a job. So they do a job until their
spouse retires, and then they are able to maintain their
career. So what are we doing to fix this, General Rocco?
General Rocco. Representative Kelly, thank you for that
question. So I fully agree; lack of childcare impacts unit
readiness, whether it is on the spouse or whether it is on the
member who has to worry about their child in an appropriate
child development center.
So, to that point, I would say that we need to help
streamline the licensing process. And as I answered Chairwoman
Speier's question about child development, our shortage is not
in actual spaces, it is not installations. It is the actual
folks that watch the children and the licensing and the
requirements. So, one, the licensing requirements, I think, is
onerous.
Number two, I think when you get to areas--and, again,
Hawaii, southern California, and Quantico in northern Virginia,
those areas have child development centers outside, obviously,
in the civilian market. So we spend a lot of time getting these
folks licensed and get their credentials up, and then they
immediately find some higher paying jobs out in the civilian
market. So we need the freedom to pay the market value or the
market rate for these folks that are in these high-priced
areas.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And I want the answers from you
all if you all will do those in writing and submit those.
[The information referred to was not available at the time
of printing.]
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And final question. And I want
each of you to answer this, and do it pretty quickly and
succinct because we have other people.
For each of the services, what would the requested end-
strength increases in fiscal year 2020 be used for? And what
increases to end strength do you anticipate needing in the next
5 years?
And I will start with you, General.
General Seamands. Representative Kelly, thank you very
much. We anticipate 2 years' measured growth of quality
accessions to grow the force, primarily initially to fill the
formations, make sure they are ready to go, and beyond that, to
build structure.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. Admiral.
Admiral Burke. Yes, sir. Our end strength is all to do with
force structure improvements. So 7,500 this year, and then it
is a rough 5,000 increase per year out across the FYDP [Future
Years Defense Program]. And that will take us from our present
288 ships out to 314, which is in the fiscal year 2020 plan.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. General.
General Kelly. Our growth for this year is 4,400 for the
military--3,700 Active Duty, 700 in the Reserve Component.
It is a combination of continuing to improve our readiness
and resiliency and increasing capacity and capability, to
include, as I mentioned in the opening statement, adding
maintainers ahead of time and operators ahead of time,
anticipating the force structure growth for KC-46, F-35, and B-
21.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. General.
General Rocco. The Marine Corps growth is modest. It is 400
over the FYDP--100 this year and 300 through the rest of the
FYDP. And it has to do specifically with providing special
operations critical skill enablers; so radiomen, logisticians.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And just one comment. You guys,
Hawaii and the other places, we have joint bases at most of
those things. And I can't believe that we have--you four guys
get together, and let's jointly fix this childcare problem. It
is not an Army problem, it is not a Navy problem, it is not a
Marine Corps problem. Let's fix it together.
And, with that, I yield back, Chairwoman.
Ms. Speier. The gentleman yields back.
Mrs. Luria, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Luria. Well, thank you.
And thank you for being here today.
I am going to focus in on one service and one particular
aspect of that service. I recently reviewed the fiscal year
2020 Navy Active Duty Aviation Commander Command Screening
Board results, and one statistic jumped out at me. The
selection rate for women to commander command was 3.8 percent,
or 7 out of 146 who were selected. Another way to say that is
that 96.2 percent of all aviators selected for command in that
year group were men. Additionally, only one woman of color was
selected for command.
And then when you look at the aviation major command
results, they were even more stark. Only 1.8 percent of those
selected were women, and zero were women of color.
It also doesn't appear within those selection board
results, from what I could tell, that any VFA [strike fighter]
or VAQ [electronic attack] selectees--so fighter aircraft
selectees--were women.
Admiral Burke, I was wondering if you could comment why the
aviation command selection rate for women was and continues to
be so low.
Admiral Burke. Yeah. Thank you, Representative Luria, for
that question.
I would start by saying that our enlisted population is----
Mrs. Luria. I just would like to focus on women and
officers. Thank you.
Admiral Burke. Okay. Our enlisted population is more
racially diverse than our Nation. Our officer population, in
general, is not. And our aviation community, in particular,
tends to be less diverse. But----
Mrs. Luria. Is that at accession point, at commissioning,
or are you talking about over time?
Admiral Burke. And as we have recruited throughout the
years, our diversity numbers have improved across the board in
every community.
But what you are seeing right now, especially at the
command and major command selection boards, are the result of
what we were recruiting 20 or 25 years ago, depending on which
board you were talking about----
Mrs. Luria. No, this was year group 2005, so 14 years ago.
And the Combat Exclusion Act was lifted in 1994. So women have,
for much longer than that, 10 years since then, had the
opportunity to serve their careers since the beginning of their
career in combatant roles, much like I did in surface warfare.
So if we are 10 years past lifting the Combat Exclusion Act
and then those women have had the same opportunities across the
course of their career, how are we at the point that only 3.8
percent--this is just one community, one year group--were
selected for commander command and 1.8 percent for major
command?
Admiral Burke. Again, it is law of small numbers, where--
you know, we have to improve in this area. It is an absolutely
critical area, because diversity obviously makes us stronger.
It gives us better answers, better solutions.
But here is where the issue is. You know, we look very hard
at the promotion boards, we look very hard at what we are
recruiting, bringing in the front door, and our efforts to do
that, and I could talk to you about that. But the area we
haven't done well enough on is what goes on in between those
boards--and that is a retention factor--what is the environment
that is driving women to leave so that they are not around to
be able to promote to that----
Mrs. Luria. Can I pause----
Admiral Burke [continuing]. Command opportunity or be
selected for it.
Mrs. Luria. We are limited on time, so I would like to
pause. And I would like the five of you to look across the
table at each other.
Admiral Burke. Same phenomenon, though. How many----
Mrs. Luria. And----
Admiral Burke. How many do we retain to be eligible, that
is the point, ma'am.
Mrs. Luria. So, you know, no one----
Admiral Burke. We have to manage----
Mrs. Luria [continuing]. In the role of command----
Admiral Burke. We have to manage that talent.
Mrs. Luria [continuing]. Maybe personnel command, has ever
been a woman?
So I would like to focus on that. So, in the 2004 to 2006
year group, which is the year group in this one particular
command screening board, there were 13.6 women assessed. So I
agree with you that the problem is retention. And what
percentage of officers do you plan to commission this year are
women?
Admiral Burke. Roughly 25 percent.
Mrs. Luria. So 25 percent as women. So that is an
improvement, but, you know, really, statistically, it seems to
be quite a jump. Because if I look at the numbers between--I
don't have the numbers here, but, basically, in 2000 it was
14.7 percent, and in 2016 it was 18 percent. So in the course
of 16 years, we only jumped approximately 3.3 percent.
Admiral Burke. That is total inventory----
Mrs. Luria. So we haven't----
Admiral Burke. Yeah. Our accessions for the last 4 years
have averaged at right around 25 percent women.
Mrs. Luria. Okay. And is that reflected in all
commissioning sources, the Naval Academy as well as ROTC
[Reserve Officers' Training Corps] and OCS [Officer Candidate
School]?
Admiral Burke. It is.
Mrs. Luria. Okay.
So, you know, you mentioned a couple times that you have
been given additional authorities through last year's NDAA to
improve with retention. And are those things that you are
specifically analyzing and focusing on with women and also
women's input throughout their service across the career
milestone gates as to how you can use those tools effectively?
Admiral Burke. Absolutely. We have to create career paths
that all, you know, candidates, women and men alike, can see
themselves both growing professionally and personally. And they
have to meet their life goals as well as their career goals.
So, you know, the ability to have some life-work balance, the
ability to start and raise a family if that is a goal, whether
you are a man or a woman, that has to be part of the formula.
And DOPMA, as it was before the fiscal year 2019 NDAA,
really pressurized career paths, especially in our aviation
community and especially in the two communities you singled out
earlier, our TACAIR [tactical air] air communities. If you
didn't go immediately into an aviation production job, you
wouldn't meet the next milestone, you wouldn't meet the next
statutory promotion opportunity.
So the flexibilities you have given us, the opportunity to
opt out of promotion, the opportunity to build up-and-stay
career paths, those are very specific examples of where we are
building those pieces in, to give places to do something
different, achieve that life-work balance, and then come back
and get back on the treadmill without penalty to that upward
mobility, whether it is command or----
Mrs. Luria. So have any of the----
Ms. Speier. Excuse me. The gentlewoman's time has expired.
Mrs. Luria. Thank you.
Ms. Speier. Ms. Escobar is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you, Madam Chair.
To all of our panelists, thank you so much for your
service. Thank you for being here.
General Seamands, it is good to see you again. I really
appreciated our time together in the office yesterday and you
answering some of my questions during our meeting.
I wanted to follow up on something that we discussed
regarding making sure that spouses have opportunities for
employment in the communities where they are living in. And one
of the things I shared with you was not just the licensing
issue, but hopefully one of the things we look at changing is
making sure that we standardize or we create, like, a uniform
standard for folks so that they don't have to worry about State
by State standards. So that is something definitely that we can
work on.
But I am very curious about how we can help military
spouses who have professional careers who are less able to
adapt to frequent moves. Are there strategies that you all have
thought of and are putting into place for that group of
spouses?
General Seamands. Ma'am, thanks for the question.
Yes, we have. One of the things we do, the Secretary and
the Chief said we need to get away from conventional wisdom. In
other words, you have to move on a certain rotational basis. So
they have instructed us to tell an officer, if you are
someplace, say, Fort Hood, your spouse is happy, your family is
happy, and you are going off to a professional military
education, we give you the opportunity to come back. Five years
ago, that wouldn't have happened. And what that allows is
stability for the family to stay in place, to build a little
financial wealth if they live off-post, and provide stability
for the spouse and the soldiers.
The authority to reimburse them for their licensing, I
think, is going to be a big, big deal.
The Secretary is also approaching the overseas spouse,
which is probably one of the most underemployed segments of our
population, trying to make sure they have an opportunity for
employment as their soldiers deploy overseas.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Could the other service leaders weigh in, as well, if there
are other strategies that you have seen that might be workable
or that are in the pipeline?
Admiral Burke. On the overseas point, ma'am, I agree with
everything that General Seamands said, but, specifically, I
know all three service secretaries just signed a memorandum of
agreement to go after that specific issue.
And, you know, it involves starting simple. There are some
internal barriers that we can remove, like the ability to run a
home business in on-base housing, the ability to run a business
out of your APO [Army Post Office] or FPO [Fleet Post Office]
mailbox, things of that nature.
And then the corporate world can help us as well. Similar
to the programs that we run in CONUS [continental United
States] with OSD's [Office of the Secretary of Defense's] help,
the Fortune 500 companies that participate with preferential
spouse hiring for military contractors, and then actually
provide them portable careers that tend to move base to base.
There are some opportunities in not all but many of the
overseas locations, so expanding that portfolio.
That is where we are starting, but room to maneuver from
there.
Mr. Stewart. Ma'am, can I jump in here as far as DOD and
what we are doing in that area?
We have the Military Spouses Employment Partnership, which
works with 390 partner employers out there. About 134,000 have
been hired since 2011. So we have some programs out there that
are helping the services.
General Rocco. Yes, ma'am. So, for the Marine Corps--and,
granted, we are the smallest service, so our problems pale in
comparison to the larger services, but we have--from assignment
policy, which I run in my building, we have monitors to
represent every occupational field. And a Marine never gets
orders unless they have spoken to their monitor and said, okay,
here is what we are doing and where we are doing it.
And we don't just move Marines to move them. We move them
based on their promotion, there is a school, or they have a
command. And we always take into account the spousal
employment. We just recently had a senior officer--and if we
can't come to an agreement, a mutual agreement, then it comes
up to my level to see how do we adjudicate. And we recently had
a senior officer whose spouse is a certified medical
professional in southern California. Very limited on where she
can practice. So we were able to find a place where he can both
be assignable and still continue to be a Marine and not harm
his career and provide her the ability to transition.
So, again, it is on a personal level that we deal with
trying to find an agreement that works both for the Marine
Corps and the couple.
Ms. Escobar. Thank you so much.
And I just want to jump in--I am running out of time. I
just want to echo the concerns by my colleague who spoke prior
to me on diversity. And my concern also is diversity not just
for women but for all people of color in that upper echelon. It
is hard to recruit diverse people if they think there is no
place for them to move upward. So I just want to echo those
concerns.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Speier. The gentlewoman yields back.
Mr. Cisneros is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Cisneros. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you all for
being here.
I am actually going to touch on diversity. You know, Mr.
Stewart, in your written testimony, you mentioned the efforts
the services are undertaking to promote diversity and
inclusion. But you also mentioned in your written testimony
that there is no particular program of--no goals to recruit to
women or minorities.
So how can we expect these demographics to be properly
represented, particularly in our officer corps, which are
greatly underrepresented between, you know, women and
minorities? If we are not setting goals, how can we expect to
recruit to these communities and increase their population?
Mr. Stewart. Well, sir, we certainly don't want to go ahead
and set quotas, but we definitely want to go ahead and make
sure that we are reflecting the Nation as a whole.
And so particularly in the area of diversity, I know you
had a question--and, in fact, sent a letter, which we are going
to get back to you on--as far as what we are doing in this
area, particularly in the military leadership area at the
senior ranks.
We have the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, which
basically was in the NDAA 2009, which we are basically going
ahead and moving out on. I have an actual office that works
those kinds of issues, and it is the Force Resiliency Shop and
the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I have a Dr.
Allison Greene-Sands, who actually is working on that very
issue as we speak.
Before I came over here, I made sure that we checked on the
progress of your letter to the Secretary, and we are working
that, and we are going to get an answer back to you, sir.
Mr. Cisneros. Thank you. I appreciate that.
General Kelly. Sir, if I can add in--this is General Kelly.
If I could add in, regarding that discussion on goals, right,
so I am with Mr. Stewart; we don't have quotas. But we have set
goals for applicant pool goals for the United States Air Force
Academy, for our ROTC programs.
And I will tell you that this year, so our applicant pool
goal--so the applicant pool goal for female applicants at the
academy was 30 percent. We achieved that for the first time
this year for our class of 2022. We are at 28 percent for our
ROTC program.
The other thing we have done is internal, is, once you get
them in the door, how do you retain them and move them up the
chain? For all of our key slates, key slates for jobs such as
general officer aides, general officer executives, key front
office jobs, every slate that we produce in those environments
today have to have both gender and broader diversity candidates
on each slate, and that has improved those numbers from about
18 to 22 percent across the board.
Mr. Cisneros. Do we have programs in the other services?
Admiral Burke. Sir, yes, if I could add to that. We have
similar as what Air Force said. We set targets for gender
recruiting, for gender and other areas.
But more importantly, what we do is focus our efforts to
make sure that we are in the right places, that we are
accessible to folks, that we don't intentionally alienate
groups when we are sending the message of what the Navy can do
for individuals or what they can do for us and that we don't
overlook any source of talent.
And then, once folks are in, in terms of retention, it
really is the key. It is management of the small numbers, and
we put a renewed focus on managing at the very junior level so
that you have those folks available to promote up to senior
levels.
We have got a number of focus groups that continue to work.
We have set a Navy-wide high-leverage outcome goal of
eliminating unconscious bias.
We have looked hard at our promotion systems, you know, who
is eligible and who gets promoted. We think those are working
right. But what is happening is who leaves in between those
promotion boards, those command screening opportunities, and
things like that; is our culture driving them out?
And there are human unconscious biases that drive that, and
this high-leverage outcome is getting at that, engineering
processes that overcome those unconscious biases.
And then we have an Inclusion and Diversity Impact Plan
that goes with our culture of excellence that is going to
reinforce this all down to the deckplates, and I am happy to
talk with you more about that when we have more time, sir.
General Seamands. All right. It really starts at accession,
sir. So far, on the enlisted side, what we are doing is
attacking 22 cities that we have not given as much attention to
in the past, which will bring a lot more diversity to the
force. On the officer side, sir, it starts as we bring people
to West Point, ROTC, and OCS.
This week, sir, the United States Military Academy will
graduate 34 African American female cadets to become second
lieutenants, highest number ever. It will be the highest number
of female Hispanic officers being commissioned, and we will
commission the 5,000th female to graduate from West Point since
they started accepting females.
So it starts at that point, and it requires care and
nurturing as you go up to make sure they get the right
assignments so you have a broad bench to pick up for flag
officers later on.
General Rocco. And, sir, in the Marine Corps, as I stated
before, in 2018, we accessed over 10 percent female, and this
year we are on the same trajectory. On every promotion board,
there is a representative female, and there is also an officer
of color, a diverse officer. We also--by MOS [military
occupational specialty] so we don't--we don't help one
particular MOS over another. And we also included unconscious
bias training in our--all of our schools.
Mr. Cisneros. My time has expired. Thank you very much.
Ms. Speier. The gentleman yields back.
Congresswoman Davis is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Davis. Thank you. Thank you to all of you for your
dedicated service.
I wanted to just pick up on the what we call childcare
issue and just thinking about what I would call child
development educators. They don't really just watch kids. They
educate them. And whether that--and, sir, turning to you,
Lieutenant General Rocco, at Pendleton for, as an example,
where you have higher pay for a number of the educators in the
area, do you know generally what that gap is? Because you
talked about the needs--the freedom, really, to pay higher
salaries there. Any sense of that, what that gap is?
General Rocco. Ma'am, I don't know what the gap is, but I
can certainly come back to you on that and just--and I fully
agree with you in my mischaracterization of it. I have two
grandchildren who are on--who are being educated and being--are
in the child development system. So I have got personal reasons
to make sure this is done right. But we will certainly get back
to you on the numbers as far as what that gap is.
Mrs. Davis. Okay. Is it an authority that they are looking
for to do that? Is that across the board that people would have
to have authority or just in particular areas? Do we need to
write something specific?
General Rocco. I think it is a matter of--because of how
they are paid--they are paid a certain salary. And that salary,
whether you are in Camp Pendleton, Twentynine Palms, or
wherever you may be, because it is government work, it is one
salary. And, of course, you go to the high-income areas--where
it may work in, say, the Midwest, it doesn't necessarily work
in high-income areas like Hawaii or southern California and
certainly northern Virginia where they can get a much larger
salary to work out in the civilian market.
Mrs. Davis. Certainly, right. I understand that. Because I
think what happens--and I may be not necessarily fully correct
about this--but at Pendleton and some of the other bases in San
Diego that I am familiar with, often we do have spouses who
develop their own businesses in their home basically. And so
they are kind of paid outside of that system.
General Rocco. Very well--and I am sure that is exactly--
but just from a base--and, again, from Quantico, where I am
stationed at, it is a very good system. They are very flexible
in children and who they take and when they take and their
hours.
But it comes down to they can work in Arlington or they can
move up further north closer to the Capital and get paid more
money than we can pay them down at Quantico.
Mrs. Davis. Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Stewart. Congresswoman, can I help them out a little
bit on that?
Mrs. Davis. Sure.
Mr. Stewart. Within the military community and family
policy area within the Department of Defense, we are addressing
salary, benefits, and other initiatives with Joint Service
Compensation Working Group that we are currently working on
right now.
This is an area that has been identified, and we basically
have the same problem with all of the services. And so this is
at the OSD level that we are trying to help them out with that,
ma'am.
Mrs. Davis. All right. Thank you. And I know the standards
are great. People are very pleased with that. But perhaps there
are some alternatives to helping a number of women or men, for
that matter, establishing businesses that might comply and be
able to create some of those within the community. So that
would be good to take a look at.
I also wanted to just for a minute talk a little bit about
bonuses for retention and sort of understanding whether they
are necessarily competing with equivalent civilian salaries or
whether there are some incentives that would be more salient,
more critical to families that would be desirable and perhaps--
you know, you are doing some of those--obviously the Navy is
doing some--about career intermissions. I was really happy to
hear you talk about that, because, you know, we worked hard on
that trying to make people understand how important that was
for quality of life.
I spoke to so many women who left the service as a result
of that. So I am glad to know that you are working on it.
But what about that? I mean, are we trying to equate higher
salaries and maybe not looking at other kind of bonuses, other
kind of benefits that would be helpful?
General Kelly. Congresswoman, I will start. So, when we
look at our bonus structures, very rarely are we trying to
compete 100 percent with the civilian salaries. It is really
difficult. And I will give you the aviation example we brought
up before. We can't compete with those folks. What we do with
those monetary bonuses is just sort of offset the discussion
and help tilt the equation in our favor.
What we really focus on is those other incentives like you
just talked--there are other quality-of-life things we can do.
We have almost done like a sort of USAA [United Services
Automobile Association] model, if you will, where we try to,
person by person, find out, what is your incentive? What is
your discussion? Is it staying longer at the place you are at?
Is it PCSing to a certain base? Is it, you know, deciding that
you want to stay through your child's high school years? We try
to almost tailor person by person to work on the retention
piece, with the monetary piece just offsetting. But we do not
try to compete with the civil sector on that.
Mrs. Davis. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
And I was going to ask about the Blended Retirement Systems
and the fact that we see a difference, really, in the higher or
lower rates of Active Duty and Reserves, and perhaps for
another time you would be able to kind of address that issue.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Speier. The gentlewoman yields back.
Maybe you can provide that information to us for the
record.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
beginning on page 119.]
Ms. Speier. Next, Ms. Haaland is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. I am sorry. We are not----
Ms. Speier. Oh, well, we were doing it based on who came
in, but in fairness, yes, Mr. Bergman is recognized for 5
minutes.
I apologize, Ms. Haaland.
Mr. Bergman. You want me to yield the 5 to her and then get
it back?
Ms. Speier. No, you are fine.
Mr. Bergman. All right. I will take 6 back, give 5.
Government math.
Okay. Thanks for being here, everybody. And thanks, Madam
Chairwoman, for the chance to ask a couple of questions.
Number one, each of the services, you have got first
termers. What is the percentage of your first termers that you
hope to retain for a second enlistment and then therefore
potentially towards, you know, a career of 20? Any rough
numbers for each service?
I think in the Marine Corps, it used to be somewhere around
25 percent or--somewhere between 25 to 30 percent was our first
term?
General Seamands. For the Army--all of the services have a
pyramid. For the Army, it is higher than that. It is probably
about 50 or 60 percent we would like to stay. Our retention
rate is about 80 percent of those people who are fully
qualified are staying, between----
Mr. Bergman. So really when someone comes in, you hope that
you will get a minimum of 50 to 60 percent to stay for 20?
General Seamands. Not for 20, sir. About 20 percent will
stay all the way to 20. But----
Mr. Bergman. Okay.
General Seamands [continuing]. As they go up.
Mr. Bergman. So you build that career force, if you will,
out of 20 percent of those who come in the door?
General Seamands. Roughly, yes, sir.
Mr. Bergman. Okay. Fair enough.
Navy?
Admiral Burke. Yeah, first term retention, so our contracts
tend to run a little longer. So that's a 6-year contract to the
second 6-year contract.
When we are at a stable size, we need roughly around 55
percent retention to that second contract. Right now, we need
much higher than that because we are trying to balance
accessions versus retention, because we don't want a really
junior force manning that 355-ship Navy. We want a mix of
experienced people. So we need in the, you know, 70 to 80
percent region, and we are in that ballpark right now.
Mr. Bergman. Okay.
Air Force?
General Kelly. Yes, sir. So, similar to the Navy, we use 6-
year enlistments as our predominant method. And when they come
in, we are looking for somewhere between 60 and 75 percent of
those 6-year enlistments to take a second enlistment.
The numbers that we are looking to get to 20 years, similar
to the Army, we are looking for about 23 to 25 percent to get
to 20 years on our enlisted force as they go forward.
And what I would tell you is, right now, our enlisted, if I
look across all of our specialties as a whole, 90 percent of
our enlisted specialties are retaining at or above the levels
that they were in the previous year. So we are in pretty good
shape right now.
Mr. Bergman. Okay. Thank you.
We all know--you hear the numbers--roughly 70 percent of
the age-eligible men and women who we would try to enlist
can't. Largely obesity is a big--you know, big problem.
What, if anything, are you as the services doing to help
those who may walk in your recruiting center overweight to get
them so they can successfully complete boot camp?
Admiral Burke. I will take this one to start, if you guys
don't mind.
We took a holistic look at all the medical accession
standards. And those that the Department of the Navy had
flexibility in, we worked with our Bureau of Medicine to take a
fresh look at through the lens of modern medicine, things like
ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder], hearing loss
that could be corrected with hearing aids, eczema, stuff like
that that we used to just immediately turn----
Mr. Bergman. I guess I really want to focus on the obesity.
Admiral Burke. The same thing with the weight issue. So we
started putting people in delay--in physical training [PT]
programs.
Mr. Bergman. Like a delayed entry program, get them into
shape?
Admiral Burke. And then we started running the entrance
exam at the beginning of boot camp.
Mr. Bergman. Okay.
General Rocco. And, sir. I think you know in the Marine
Corps, we have the DEP, the delayed entry program, and we just
get them on the treadmill and PT them.
Mr. Bergman. Really, we do that?
But it is okay. I mean, we--because each service has a
different mission, and we need different, you know, levels of
capability in our service members to complete--to complete our
mission. But we know it is a national problem of obesity. And I
know that you all can set the standards for the entire Nation
for what--for especially our 18- to 24-year-olds.
I would like to, for the record, take it--you don't have to
answer me now. But the cost per individual from the day they
walk in the door, or let's say that you allocate--if you
picture--or your advertising dollars in your recruiting, the
cost per individual to get them through boot camp. And just if
you could, you know, take that for the record, I would
appreciate it to see what that cost is.
And thanks, Madam Chairwoman, and I yield back.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 121.]
Ms. Speier. The gentleman yields back.
Along the same lines, I think it would be helpful to the
committee if each of the services could provide us with the
reasons why those who attempt to enlist are declined the
opportunity. It would be helpful for us over the long run.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
beginning on page 113.]
Ms. Speier. Now, Ms. Haaland is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. Haaland. Thank you, Madam Chair.
And thank you very much, gentlemen, for being with us this
afternoon. I appreciate your service to our country. And thank
you so much.
I hope I am not repeating any questions, because I came in
a little late. But we will try.
Maybe this question would be best answered by Lieutenant
General Kelly.
How do you envision we can better use our Air Guard to
solve our current pilot shortage?
General Kelly. Thank you for that question.
As I mentioned earlier, but I will go again on this, is we
use our Reserve Components as operational reserves. So when we
deploy our forces, it is quite often almost impossible for you
to tell whether it is an Active Duty member, a Reserve member,
or a Guard member. They are completely interchangeable for us,
and we utilize them in that fashion.
We find, though, in this pilot retention problem where we
are at, that we have shortages across all three components. And
so, while we are able to sometimes, you know, substitute Active
Duty shortages with the Guard, we find similar shortages in our
full-time--particularly full-time pilots in the Guard and
Reserve. And so the problem for us goes across all three
components in that case.
Ms. Haaland. Anyone else like to take that question?
Admiral Burke. Yes, ma'am. We are able to do similar with
everything--except for our TACAIR that deploys on aircraft
carriers, just because of the operating model and the
deployment cycles, the training--train as a unit, deploy as a
unit, and remain ready as a unit to surge deploy.
But with other types of aircraft that deploy as
detachments, we actively integrate our Reserve Component. So
helos, patrol aircraft, transports, so on and so on and so
forth.
Ms. Haaland. Thank you. Thank you.
I was just thinking--I was recently--I gave the
commencement speech at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic
Institute. It is kind of a--it is a Tribal college, but it is a
community college, in Albuquerque. And the JROTC [Junior
Reserve Officers' Training Corps] who did the color guard, they
were all Native girls, an all Native girl color guard, which
you don't see often.
I am just wondering, is--how--like what is the percentage
of JROTC students who eventually enlist, and is like reaching
high school students a viable way of ensuring that diversity
and the female population has an equal chance at a career in
the military?
Mr. Stewart. From an OSD perspective, I will take that for
the record, to go ahead and get back to you on those numbers. I
will let the services talk about specifically their Junior
ROTCs. But, overall, we will try to get back to you with that,
ma'am.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
on page 121.]
Ms. Haaland. Okay.
General Seamands. Within the Army, ma'am, we own about half
of the Department of Defense Junior ROTC programs. Great
citizenship programs. Even if they don't come into uniform, the
leadership they learn, the skills, the values, the discipline,
I think pay off in life later on.
A number of them do come in; not only to the Army, they
come into other services as well. But we are very proud of our
Junior ROTC programs. We think they make a big--great
contribution to our Nation.
Admiral Burke. I would echo General Seamands; same for the
Navy.
Ms. Haaland. Okay.
General Kelly. I would echo as well, ma'am. But then I
would also add that there are other organizations for us
besides the Junior ROTC where we focus to try and increase our
female accessions in effect. We look to areas like BEYA, the
Black Engineer of the Year, societies. We have partnerships
with the robotics, with ELeague, with GoPro, a bunch of the
other folks, where we can do some partnerships to try and make
sure that we increase the interest and the opportunity for them
to know about the Air Force.
General Rocco. Ma'am, I think it is just a wonderful
program. And we can get back to you with the numbers, at least
for the Marine Corps, that we get. But it is programs like that
that encourage folks to serve.
Ms. Haaland. Because really when I think about the
opportunities in our Native American communities, sometimes the
unemployment rate is as high as 50 or 60 percent, and it just
seems that those are opportunities that we could increase in
those areas.
And sort of along those lines, Lieutenant General Seamands,
with 79 percent of new recruits having a relative who served,
what efforts are being made to appeal to new recruits outside
of that demographic?
General Seamands. Thank you for the question. A lot of our
recruits come from kind of a southern smile, from the DC area
all the way down to Florida, Georgia, into Texas. So we are
expanding beyond that range. We have identified 22 cities, big
cities, Pittsburgh, Seattle, other places that we may have
neglected a little bit in the past, where we think we can reach
into some diversity across our Nation.
We really want our Army to look like our Nation, and we
can't do that unless we tap into all the right places to bring
in applicants to become soldiers.
Ms. Haaland. Thank you so much.
And, Madam Chair, I will yield back.
Ms. Speier. The gentlelady yields back.
There has been a request for a second round. So we are
going to engage in that.
Let me just say at the outset to all of you and to Mr.
Stewart that one of the areas that is oftentimes overlooked is
girls' high schools in terms of recruitment. And I think that
would be a good area for you to pursue as well.
Mr. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly of Mississippi. And I am not going to take long.
But I have a unique--we are having our first Mississippi
National Guard armor officer who is a female was commissioned
last weekend. And I got to meet her; very great young lady.
But we have a policy--it is either DOD or Department of the
Army--which requires that she be--have another female officer
with her in order to serve, okay?
And so we have got to be careful with policies that
segregate, and we have got to integrate, okay? And what that
means is, is she doesn't need to be in HHC [Headquarters and
Headquarters Company]. What she needs is to be commanding a
tank platoon with whoever is in that tank platoon.
And so we have to be real careful that we--because that is
a leadership deal. We have got to make sure we keep folks in
line; that we treat them right. But we can't segregate for the
purpose of integrating, because it does not work. We have got
to make sure we give them the opportunities to perform as a
tank platoon leader, whether they are female or male or
anything else.
So I just ask that we look at that, to be careful not to
try to help and hurt by trying to help, okay?
And, with that, I yield back, Chairwoman.
Ms. Speier. The gentleman yields back.
Mrs. Luria, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Luria. Well, thank you. I would like to continue along
the line of questioning from earlier.
So, across the country, women make up about 56 percent of
all college attendees. And since one of the primary factors in
receiving a commission is a degree, I was curious as to why
currently in the Navy--and I would like to hear from the other
services, the previous question I asked, your current
accessions and people that you will be commissioning this year,
why is that percentage only half of the current population?
And, General Kelly, you might have alluded to it some as
well when you mentioned the Air Force Academy application pool,
you are getting about 30 percent of applicants.
So is it a question of the number of people applying and
presenting themselves to, you know, be members of the military
and be commissioned as officers, or is it somewhat goals that
are being set are capped by the academies and other
commissioning sources?
General Kelly. Congresswoman, thanks again for the followup
question. I will just clarify where I was before.
Our program has been focused on increasing our applicant
pool goal. So we have had to go out and do targeted efforts, do
targeted engagements to increase that applicant pool goal. So
our initial step was to get the applicant pool goal above 30
percent at the academy and ROTC. Once we get--our goal was
continue to move that north, right? We would like to get that
up to be representative of the population.
Mrs. Luria. So, with 30 percent applicants, assuming that
is the incoming class, what percentage acceptancewise are
actually going to be attending the Air Force Academy this
summer?
General Kelly. So we believe the class of 2022 will be
close to 30 percent applicant pool goal that we reached.
Mrs. Luria. You said applicant pool goal. I mean, we are at
the point now we have offered appointments. What is the actual
class composition?
General Kelly. We believe it will be 30 percent, which will
be up from--in the past, it has been about 25 percent, so we
have moved it up about 5 percent.
Mrs. Luria. Okay.
And, Admiral Burke, for the Naval Academy?
Admiral Burke. I would have to get back to you on the
applicants versus selectees. I can tell you what we graduate,
and that is what we----
Mrs. Luria. So you don't know the statistics for the
incoming class?
Admiral Burke. I don't know how many applicants we seek
versus how many we select.
Mrs. Luria. Right. I would like that information as a
followup.
Admiral Burke. I will get that for you.
[The information referred to was not available at the time
of printing.]
Mrs. Luria. And, General Seamands, for West Point?
General Seamands. Yes, ma'am, I will confirm the exact
numbers, but it is between 23 and 25 percent.
Mrs. Luria. Okay. Thank you.
And I would like to go back to Admiral Burke because, you
know, we talk about both accession, recruitment, but we also
have talked a lot about retention and how those numbers have
dwindled off significantly. The example I gave about one
community screening board was at approximately the 15-year
commission service date.
But within the Navy overall, female officer retention is
the lowest of all the services, yet male officer retention is
higher than other services.
Can you comment on that discrepancy, you know, with any of
the programs we had the opportunity to speak about in my office
yesterday? How are you targeting those specific programs to fix
these problems?
And just before you answer, I would like to comment as well
on the fact that, you know, when we talked about issues here,
about what are your policies and training on birth control, and
no one was familiar with that at the table. IVF [in vitro
fertilization] services, none of you know whether Active Duty
military have access to IVF services? That is somewhat
surprising because that is important to a female service member
who has fertility issues.
And so these are just things that I am just trying to
elevate. These are important to female sailors. And I was a
female commanding officer of female sailors, and these are
things that came up over the course of my career when these
women worked for me.
So, to go back to my question, Admiral Burke, can you talk
a little bit about the programs that we mentioned yesterday and
how you plan to target those to the demographic, to increase,
you know, both diversity and retention of women over the course
of their career?
Admiral Burke. Absolutely. Thank you.
Again, we have to do better here and make it so that folks
can see a path not only for the professional career but for the
personal goals as well.
So we talked about the Career Intermission Program. But the
parental leave latitude that was given to us in fiscal year
2017 NDAA, I believe it was, and how we are implementing that
has been a tool.
We talked about childcare. We have expanded the hours and
the capacity----
Mrs. Luria. Can we stop on that? Because we just--there was
study in The Virginian-Pilot, our local paper--obviously
Norfolk Naval Station, the largest naval station in the
country--that for overnight childcare, because many Navy
service members have to stand duty overnight, and for single
parents or dual-military parents, where one parent is deployed,
there are only 24 spots for overnight childcare within the
Hampton Roads region. That seems like an unacceptable amount to
meet the demand. And I will further carry--I know this--and I
will follow up with Langley Air Force Base, which is also in my
district, about the need there.
But for the Navy, you said that you are approximately 8,000
or so spots short for childcare. I just looked at a U.S. Naval
Institute report that the most current reporting, as of last
week, shows that we are at 9,298 spots short within the Navy.
So you need to increase your childcare capacity by 24 percent.
And that is only in places where there are childcare facilities
that have waiting lists.
In my district, for example, Wallops Island is a remote
area that has a Navy facility and has no childcare facility at
all. So every time I have a townhall on the Eastern Shore of
Virginia--myself and Senator Warner were there a few weeks
ago--we have service members show up and talk about the fact
that there is absolutely no childcare available, not only on
base, but not even within the adjacent community.
So I am just, you know, putting this out there as far as,
you know, identifying the scope of the need.
Admiral Burke. Absolutely. And to your point, you know, we
have 35,000-children capacity with our intrinsic, you know,
Navy government sources. We are outsourcing the rest of them,
some to certified home providers, some to, you know, community
commercial providers.
One thing that we have launched here, Commander of Navy
Installations Command, for example--Mary Jackson, is leading
this effort--is requests for information about the feasibility
of partnering with community commercial businesses to increase
both the facilities as well as the capacity of childcare. And
that would be a good opportunity for a location like Wallops
Island.
Ms. Speier. All right. The time has expired.
Let me just underscore what you have heard from virtually
everyone on this panel and something I heard everywhere I went.
It didn't matter if it was the Army, the Air Force, the
Marines--it didn't matter. Childcare is a huge problem on every
one of our bases. And I think what needs to happen is a
comprehensive look at what the need is and then immediate steps
taken to either start building the facilities or finding the
opportunities for these families to get quality childcare.
I will also point out that many of the childcare
opportunities that service families have to access off base are
more expensive, and they are only being subsidized to what the
rate is on base, so they are doubly impacted by it.
Mrs. Davis, do you have any further questions?
Mrs. Davis. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am just going to return very quickly. I echo that as
well, obviously. I think that we need to think out of the box
about this. There are some options that I don't think have been
tried. So perhaps we can take a look at those as well and
really developing the personnel in the communities.
I wanted to talk just a minute about the Blended Retirement
System because we know that there is a difference. The Marine
Corps, for example, had the highest rates among Active Duty and
Reserves in opting in whereas the Army had the lowest rates of
adoption.
So just trying to understand, perhaps from Mr. Stewart and
from the services, if detailed analyses have been performed as
to the origin of those differences and how those findings can
inform the retention of talent among our All-Volunteer Force.
Mr. Stewart. So, as far as the data, ma'am, we are not
there yet. Again, the Blended Retirement System, as you know,
is new. But we are tracking it, and we will provide you data
associated with it on the take rates, the reasons why, all of
the details associated with that because we know Congress is
very, very concerned about the Blended Retirement System.
Mrs. Davis. Great. Anybody else want to comment?
General Seamands. Ma'am, for the Army--on the Reserve
Component--I don't have any survey data other than me going out
and asking people why they did or didn't participate. On the
Reserve side, what they told me is if they have a civilian job,
their 401(k) is capped. In other words, they have a good
program in the civilian world. This would not necessarily
enhance them by going to blended retirement.
On the Active side, two things we got back in terms of
feedback. One was a lot of the soldiers intend to stay until 20
years, so why would they go to 40 when they intended to stay
for 50?
The second issue was for those people who intended to get
out, you can't access your blended retirement until 59-and-a-
half without a penalty. So they were investing themselves for
things, knowing they would get out at year 10 and want to buy a
house, start a business and things like that, as opposed to
having a deferred compensation package. That was the feedback
we got.
Admiral Burke. Yeah, for the Navy, we had a very robust,
you know, financial education campaign around this, as did all
of the services. But with a largely career-oriented force,
folks looked at the numbers and realized if you hadn't been
contributing really from day one, depending on your assumptions
about market values and things like that, you may not be able
to break even if you made the switch.
So we had a relatively low number of Active Component folks
that were in the decision window switch over. But that was the
driving reason; it was running the numbers.
Mrs. Davis. Okay.
General Kelly. I would echo what my colleagues have already
said, ma'am. And so our numbers for the Active Force were about
29 percent and far less on the Reserve Components. But the
Active Force, I would say a lot more career-minded folks who
are thinking about 20 years as a career. You heard us talk
about our retention goals being very high for an Air Force that
is technically oriented.
So we weren't overly surprised by the opt-in rates for
those folks. But the discussion of 50 percent versus 40 percent
if you were career-minded definitely came into play for those
folks.
General Rocco. And, ma'am, I think for the Marine Corps,
because our numbers were so high, we are also opposite of our
other services, where we have the largest turnover, close to 70
percent that we don't retain after the first enlistment. So
they looked at this as an opportunity to get vested, even for a
few years, that they can benefit from.
Mrs. Davis. Right. And would you just say overall that this
was a good move, to create the opportunity?
Mr. Stewart. Yes, ma'am, if I can. Just my impression is
that, in the past, whenever an individual spent time with the
services, it was ``thank you very much for your service,'' and
as they headed out the door, they had nothing to show for it.
Mrs. Davis. Okay.
Mr. Stewart. So this package that we have----
Mrs. Davis. Okay. Great. Thank you.
And just a question about the higher retention rates, and,
you know, we have talked about, you know, women in the services
and whether or not, in fact, culture has something to do with
whether or not they stay in and what their experiences have
been that have perhaps driven them out prematurely.
So I want--you know, I don't know if you want to comment on
that. The other thing I would just say is it is my
understanding, when it comes to IVF, that many of our wounded
warriors have had the ability to get those services. And so I
was a little surprised as well that, in fact, people in the
Active Duty are not able to access those services. So that
would be good to follow up on.
Thank you very much. I believe my time is running out.
Culture.
Ms. Speier. Twenty-one seconds on culture.
Mrs. Davis. Is that----
Admiral Burke. I mentioned those high-leverage outcomes,
and that is exactly what our focus groups are getting at. It
is, what is it about the culture that they are either seeing or
choosing to not see that is driving people's decisions?
Mr. Stewart. And if I may, ma'am, just for the record, the
Coast Guard actually did a gender diversity report that we are
looking at in OSD. They just recently did it, and we are taking
a look at that.
Mrs. Davis. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all very much.
Ms. Speier. Okay. Mrs. Davis yields back.
All right. Gentlemen, you have, I think, gotten a good
sense of where our issues are.
Let me end with two more points.
In visiting many of these bases, I found that the spouses
were either not aware that their professional license transfer
was available to them, and of the ones that did, they said they
couldn't get anyone at wherever they are supposed to contact
them in order to get it processed. So we have an issue there.
I also think it should be increased up to $1,000. And we
will attempt to address that in the NDAA.
But the other thing that they said--and I think it is a
thorny issue, and I would love to have you think about it and
then provide us a written response to--is that when many of
these spouses go out to get employment, they are discriminated
against because they can detect from their resume that they are
a military family member. And so there is a reluctance to hire
them.
So it is a huge problem. I don't know exactly what the
answer is, but I would certainly appreciate your comments on
that.
[The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
beginning on page 114.]
Ms. Speier. And then, finally, housing. The conditions of
lead, mold, asbestos that hasn't been addressed is a serious
problem.
And then the second one is the lack of responsiveness by
the housing management firms that we hire to accommodate, you
know, a clogged sink, a toilet that doesn't work, and they are
totally nonresponsive.
And we have got to get that fixed because we are paying
good money for them to provide those services, and the extent
to which they are not is very problematic. And one of the
things that we are considering is whether we need an ombudsman
at the--each of the bases to be able to provide that kind of
service to the families and, you know, shake the management
firm. So those are my questions, and I want you to give some
thought to it and get back to us.
Okay. Mr. Kelly--okay.
With that, we stand adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:05 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
May 16, 2019
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PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
May 16, 2019
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[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING
THE HEARING
May 16, 2019
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RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MS. SPEIER
Mr. Stewart. The Department of Defense provides robust resources
for military spouses through the Spouse Education and Career
Opportunities (SECO) program. These resources include access to no-cost
certified masters-level career coaches available six days a week
through Military OneSource. These coaches are experts at working with
military spouses to best highlight their skill sets on resumes and
address perceived gaps. The SECO program also provides access to the
more than 400 companies and organizations of the Military Spouse
Employment Partnership (MSEP) who recognize the value of military
spouses in the workplace and are committed to recruiting, hiring,
promoting and retaining military spouses. The SECO program is committed
to continuing to educate companies regarding the true value of military
spouses in the workplace. [See page 35.]
General Seamands. The Army follows the Defense Health Agency-
Procedural Instruction (DHA-PI) Number 6200.02, ``Comprehensive
Contraceptive Counseling and Access to the Full Range of Methods of
Contraception,'' finalized 13 May 2019. This DHA-PI includes procedural
guidance for access to comprehensive contraceptive counseling and the
full range of contraceptive methods for pregnancy prevention, to
include long term contraception and menstrual suppression for active
duty Service members. Access is provided when feasible and medically
appropriate, but at a minimum, annually during the Periodic Health
Assessment (PHA), in support of initial officer and enlisted training,
and during pre-deployment healthcare screenings. Currently in the Army,
contraceptive counseling is provided at Entry into Service (i.e.
Initial Entry Training), at pre-deployment/Soldier Readiness Processing
Sites, and at PHA and well woman exams. The Army is piloting Walk-in
Contraceptive Clinics at several military medical treatment facilities
(MTFs) to include Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, NC and
Keller Army Community Hospital at West Point, NY. In addition to
counseling being provided at various points throughout the Soldier's
healthcare delivery process, alternative educational routes are also
provided such as the mobile application released in February 2019
called Decide + Be Ready: a Birth Control Decision Aid. Army programs
at MTFs provide varying types of long- and short-acting reversible
contraceptive methods. Most MTFs will dispense a minimum 180-day supply
of maintenance medications, to include oral contraceptives, and provide
the Soldier with information on how to enroll in the TRICARE Deployment
Prescription Program to conveniently obtain refills. [See page 15.]
General Seamands. Assisted Reproductive Services (ARS), such as In
Vitro Fertilization (IVF), are available at certain Military Treatment
Facilities (MTFs) but costs are borne by the beneficiary including
active duty service members (ADSMs) in most circumstances. Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, Naval Hospital San Diego, San Antonio
Military Medical Center, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tripler Army
Medical Center, Womack Army Medical Center, and Wright Patterson Air
Force base offer IVF. ARS is not covered under the TRICARE program.
Under statutory authority ARS is available to certain categories of
seriously ill or injured ADSMs and their lawful spouse at no-cost in
both TRICARE and the MTFs listed above. Specifically, ADSMs with
urogenital trauma who are unable to conceive naturally to have biologic
children and ADSMs with a diagnosis of cancer and who will be
undergoing gonadotoxic therapy such as radiation and/or chemotherapy.
[See page 15.]
General Seamands. Unfortunately, only 29 percent of America's youth
qualify for service without a waiver. The most common reasons that
applicants are denied the opportunity to join the Army are medical
limitations (28 percent of the 29 percent) which includes both weight
and mental health issues. Drug use is the next largest single
disqualifier at 8 percent of the 29 percent. Most disqualified
applicants are disqualified for a combination of reasons. [See page
28.]
General Seamands. It is unfortunate that any employer would
discriminate against a military spouse. In order to help spouses
overcome this challenge, the Army published a policy for Home-Based
Businesses (HBBs). This directive encourages senior commanders or
delegates to approve requests for HBBs when they meet all local
licensure and legal requirements, and to grant reciprocity for HBBs as
spouses move from one installation to another. Additionally, the Army
issued policy authorizing the reimbursement of state licensure and
certification costs for a spouse if the spouse is relocating because of
a permanent change of station (PCS) for their Soldier sponsor. To
further assist Army spouses in finding meaningful employment, the Army
Community Service offers an Employment Readiness Program (ERP). The ERP
offers up to date information on available employment opportunities,
local market and job trends, education, and volunteer opportunities.
The ERP coordinates with installation Civilian Personnel Offices,
community agencies, Department of Defense contractors, local employers,
and the DOD Military Spouse Employment Partnership. The Army also
leverages the My Career Advancement Account Scholarship to connect
eligible military spouses with education needed for portable job
opportunities. Lastly, the Army Family Action Plan (AFAP) recently
furthered spouse employment opportunities. AFAP championed a change to
OPM policy which authorizes an employee federal career tenure for three
years of cumulative service. This is a change to the previous policy of
consecutive service which was problematic for Army spouses.
Additionally, with the help of Congress, the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 removed the two-year PCS
eligibility window to use noncompetitive appointment eligibility for
military spouses. With this legislative change, a military spouse may
now use the noncompetitive appointment any time during the duration of
the of the Service member's assignment at a new duty station. Prior to
this change, many spouses were not able to use this eligibility within
the two-year window due to circumstances beyond their control. [See
page 35.]
Admiral Burke. Applicants for naval service can be declined the
opportunity to enlist if they are disqualified for one or more reasons,
which can be broken down into four broad categories:
1. Moral Character/Conduct: An applicant is considered ineligible
for naval service if he or she has:
any form of judicial restraint (bond, probation,
imprisonment, or parole).
been convicted of a felony. Persons convicted of felonies
may request a waiver to permit their enlistment with the exception of
those who have a state or federal conviction, or a finding of guilty in
a juvenile adjudication, for a felony crime of rape, sexual abuse,
sexual assault, incest, any other sexual offense, or when the
disposition requires the person to register as a sex offender. Waivers
are not automatic and approval is based on each individual case.
been previously separated from the Military Services
under conditions other than honorable or for the good of the Military
Service concerned.
exhibited antisocial behavior or other traits of
character that may render the applicant unfit for service.
received an unfavorable final determination by the
Department of Defense Consolidated Adjudication Facility on a completed
National Agency Check with Law and Credit (NACLC/Tier 3) or higher-
level investigation during the accession process.
been a trafficker (supplier) of illegal drugs.
reservations about Military Service because of religious,
moral, or ethical reasons.
displayed behavior that is not consistent with military
service.
participated in any organization that espouses extremist/
supremacist causes, attempts to create illegal discrimination or
advocates use of force/violence against the U. S. Government.
been convicted of a hate crime or received adverse
adjudication resulting from a hate crime offense.
ever tested positive for drugs on a Military Entrance
Processing Station Drug and Alcohol Test.
2. Medical: Navy Recruiting Command (NRC) ensures individuals
considered for appointment, enlistment, or induction into the Navy are:
free of contagious diseases that may endanger the health
of other personnel.
free of medical conditions or physical disabilities that
may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for
necessary treatment or hospitalization, or may result in separation
from the Navy for medical unfitness.
medically capable of satisfactorily completing required
training and initial period of contracted service.
medically adaptable to the military environment without
geographical area limitations.
medically capable of performing duties without
aggravating existing physical disabilities or medical conditions.
NRC maintains a Medical Waivers Division focused on consideration
of individual medical waivers.
3. Height/Weight and Body Composition: Excess body fat and/or the
inability to pass the Navy's physical fitness assessment can be
detrimental to health, safety, longevity, stamina, and detract from
good military appearance. Applicants must be at least 57 inches in
height, not to exceed 80. Male and female applicants are screened
against height and weight standards. When the applicant exceeds maximum
weight for height, and their abdominal circumference exceeds 39 inches
(for males) or 35.5 inches (for females), body fat content is then
determined. Body fat must not exceed DOD standards of 26 percent for
males or 36 percent for females as prescribed in DODI 1308.3, DOD
Physical Fitness and Body Fat Programs Procedures. Physical fitness,
not an element of body composition, is evaluated at boot camp. Recruits
are required to pass service physical fitness requirements before
graduating Boot Camp.
4. Mental/Vocational Aptitude: Overall aptitude requirements for
enlistment and induction are based on applicant scores on the Armed
Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) derived from the Armed Services
Vocational Aptitude Battery. Applicants must score a minimum 31 to meet
minimum enlistment eligibility. Minimum of 50 AFQT for applicants with
a General Educational Development certificate is required for
enlistment purposes. [See page 28.]
Admiral Burke. Military spouses are skilled, diverse and motivated
with a strong work ethic. Employers who choose not to hire military
spouses are ignoring an incredible talent pool of potential employees.
The Department of Defense (DOD) has programs, like the Military Spouse
Employment Partnership, that educate potential employers on the value
of hiring military spouses and work with partner companies to increase
employment opportunities for military spouses and, when possible,
maintain those opportunities as they relocate. Our Navy Family
Employment Readiness Program works with Navy spouses to identify and
promote portable and sustainable career and employment opportunities,
including small business ownership and entrepreneurship. In June, as
authorized by Congress, we will announce Navy's program to reimburse
spouses for relicensure fees up to five hundred dollars resulting from
a state-to-state change of duty station. There is certainly more work
to be done. DOD's Defense State Liaison Office continues to work with
the various State legislatures to standardize policies, allow a waiver
or grace period for the spouses' current licenses, and enact
legislation that would enable military spouses to transfer their
licenses through occupational licensure compacts when they transfer to
a new State. We would certainly appreciate any support you could lend
to that effort. [See page 35.]
General Kelly. The Air Force provides a once a week, group,
contraceptive education and access clinic to all female trainees during
basic training in addition to individual counseling about
contraceptives during routine individual sick call appointments. These
one-on-one appointments educate patients on birth control methods
tailored to their individual questions and medical needs. At Military
Treatment Facilities, all female beneficiaries receive regular
contraceptive education as part of routine primary and women's health
care, including annual preventive health assessments. Additional
information about contraceptives is provided whenever requested by the
beneficiary tailored to their individual needs. [See page 15.]
General Kelly. Assisted Reproduction Services (ARS), such as In
Vitro Fertilization (IVF) are available as certain Military Treatment
Facilities (MTFs) but costs are borne by the beneficiary including
active duty service members (ADSMs) in most circumstances. Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center, Naval Hospital San Diego, San Antonio
Military Medical Center, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tripler Army
Medical Center, Womack Army Medical Center, and Wright Patterson Air
Force Base offer IVF. ARS is not covered under the TRICARE program.
Under statutory authority ARS is available to certain categories of
seriously ill or injured ADSMs and their lawful spouse at no-cost in
both TRICARE and the MTFs listed above. Specifically, ADSMs with
urogenital trauma who are unable to conceive naturally to have
biological children and ADSMs with a diagnosis of cancer and who will
be undergoing gonadotoxic therapy such as radiation and/or
chemotherapy. [See page 15.]
General Kelly. The most common reasons people are disqualified for
service are pre-existing medical conditions, law violations, inability
to score the minimum on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
test and drug usage. Our Service Secretary also retains authority to
waive any of these accession standards to be able to enlist a uniquely
qualified and talented individual who would fill a key position within
the force. [See page 28.]
General Kelly. The Air Force is highly committed to ensuring we
maximize opportunities for spousal employment. We well know the
challenges that AF spouses face as they move to various locations
within the United States and abroad. We have numerous programs that
provide military spouses an advantage in seeking employment within the
DOD and the Federal government. Our Military Spouse Preference (MSP) is
intended to lessen the career interruption of spouses. It has been
recently streamlined to increase our military spouses' flexibility to
apply for jobs that better meet their needs and personal desires for
employment. Since the Air Force transitioned to the new process, we
have received an increase of 4,122 applicants, resulting in 281
military spouses being hired in the past five months. In the public
sector, it is much more challenging as we do not have authority over
public sector employment. However, the Air Force is deeply committed to
helping our spouses secure employment. Our Airman and Family Readiness
Centers offer employment assistance for spouses which includes goal
setting, job search, resume and interview preparation, and career
planning. Installations team with the local community on employment
initiatives through job fair networks. We have also been reinforcing
the ability of spouses to contribute immediately as well as removing
barriers to employment. For example, the portability of occupational
licenses across state lines is a challenge getting attention at the
highest levels. The Secretary of the Air Force visited with members of
National Governors Association, and together with other Military
Service Secretaries signed a memorandum on 23 February 2018 to address
licensure reciprocity for spouses. Also, as of May 2019, the Air Force
has been reimbursing re-licensing/re-certification costs for up to $500
for spouses of military members resulting from a Permanent Change of
Station. As of 16 September, this new program processed 89 claims for
over $17K in support. With regard to potential ``discrimination'' by
employers, it is something we hear about quite often. The Air Force
would be supportive of some type of employment statute similar to
protections provided to our Reserve and Guard members. In this case,
rather than a guarantee of employment which is not feasible, there
could be statutory language broadly prohibiting employers from
discriminating against otherwise qualified spouses simply based on
their affiliation to the military. Of note, with respect to the unique
issues we face overseas, the Services have stood up a tri-Service
working group (Army, Navy and Air Force), to investigate and build
recommendations for change toward making it easier for spouses to find
employment overseas. This effort is ongoing. We greatly appreciate the
previous support of Congress and the continuing interest in supporting
our military spouses. [See page 35.]
General Rocco. Chairwoman Speier--thank you for the question. Navy
Medicine is responsible for providing our Marines--and their families--
with health care services. As such, the following information from the
Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery is provided in response to your
specific question on in vitro fertilization: Reproductive endocrinology
services, or assisted reproductive technology, encompasses a wide range
of treatments to include ovulation induction, egg retrieval, sperm
retrieval and semen analysis, embryology, intrauterine insemination,
freezing of sperm and eggs (cryopreservation), in vitro fertilization
(IVF) and embryo transfer. These services, such as In Vitro
Fertilization (IVF), are covered for seriously ill or injured active
duty service members who have suffered urogenital trauma, or are
seriously ill, and are unable to procreate naturally. Current TRICARE
policy allows for up to three completed IVF cycles and no more than six
IVF cycles being initiated. The costs of cryopreservation and storage
of embryos is covered for up to 3 years. Service members who may be
electively seeking reproductive endocrinology services, or who have a
diagnosis of infertility that is not due to injury or illness, are able
to access these services through a referral from their provider at
several Military Treatment Facilities. Within the Navy, REI services
are offered at Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Medical Center
Portsmouth. The scope of REI services available depends upon what
contracts are available locally with facilities that offer
cryopreservation and storage, the availability of embryology
laboratories, and whether a reproductive endocrinologist is assigned at
that location. These services are available to service members as well
as all other TRICARE eligible beneficiaries. The costs for required
embryology laboratory services, and any other service that is not
provided by the MTF, are borne by the beneficiary. [See page 15.]
General Rocco. Screening is a continual process from the initial
meeting with a recruiter through graduation from MOS school. Screening
compares an applicant's mental, moral, medical, and physical
qualifications against the enlistment criteria. Areas that are screened
include:
a. Age: 17-28
b. Citizenship: must be native born, naturalized, dual citizen,
alien who is a lawful permanent resident, non-immigrant alien, other
nationals.
c. Education: the Commandant of the Marine Corps requires 95% of
all enlisted applicants to have an equivalent to a traditional high
school graduation.
d. Drug and alcohol involvement: screened to the extent of their
drug, alcohol, or other substance involvement.
e. Mental aptitude: mentally tested to determine if they meet the
aptitude standards established for enlistment and determine appropriate
MOS assignments.
f. Physical aptitude: required to meet specific physical standards.
g. Moral conduct: screened to prevent enlistment of those with
social habits that may be a threat to unit morale and cohesiveness, or
may become serious disciplinary problems in the Marine Corps.
h. Prior service: provide prior service Marines who possess
critical skills in a designated MOS an opportunity to resume their
career in the Marine Corps. Marines who have separated and wish to
rejoin the service shall meet the same standards as initial accessions
are required to pass.
i. Body art (tattoos) or body ornamentation (piercings/gauges):
must comply with established uniform regulations. [See page 28.]
General Rocco. The Marine Corps is working to improve and promote
spouse employment. We not aware that spousal discrimination when
seeking employment in communities surrounding military bases is an
issue. Further, if this is an issue we would likely be prohibited from
pursuing legal action to combat it as this is separate from the Marine
Corps and not within the organization's jurisdiction. [See page 35.]
______
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. KELLY
General Seamands. We have transformed our human capital systems and
established strong data governance to protect personally identifiable
information and leverage emerging big data technology to ensure we
acquire, develop, employ, and retain the right Soldier for the right
job at the right time over time. The Deputy Chief of Staff, G1 (G1) and
the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs (ASA
(M&RA)) are part of the Army Data Board and Army Analytics Board that
determine highest payoff for data investments, translate strategic
questions into data projects, and harmonize disparate analytics
management efforts. The G1 and ASA (M&RA) use a combination of
quantitative and qualitative analysis. Our G1 analysts examine enlisted
and officer separations by category and existing exit surveys to inform
recruiting and retention decisions. The Army Talent Management Task
Force (TMTF) and Army Research Institute (ARI) are developing a new
exit and retention survey to collect more detailed responses. The
Army's Integrated Personnel and Pay System (IPPS-A), our on-line system
to provide integrated personnel, pay, and talent management
capabilities in a single system to all Army components incorporates
audit trails of all transactions, encrypts data, requires electronic
signatures, and incorporates additional military and industry-standard
cyber protection measures. The Army Analytics Group's Person-event Data
Environment (PDE) is an enterprise platform for integrating data across
the human capital enterprise--linking analyst, data, and tools to solve
human capital problems and ensure human subject protection regulations
and privacy rules are followed and auditable. This creates a secure and
protected space for analysts to conduct studies and to test new
analytic tools and algorithms, to include predictive analytics to
provide valuable insights on human capital to the Army. [See page
16.]
Admiral Burke. Through the collection of data into an Authoritative
Data Environment (ADE), Navy is establishing analytical capabilities
that will better allow MyNavy HR to evaluate Sailor behavior, more
accurately and efficiently assign talent, better design and account for
compensation packages, and generate a system that affords greater
flexibility, permeability, and Sailor choice. This capability is a
critical element of the Navy's Sailor 2025 program, which is designed
to modernize personnel management along with training policies and
systems to more efficiently identify, recruit, and train talented
people and manage the force while improving warfighting readiness. In
addition to traditional exit surveys, we have developed career
milestone surveys for Sailors choosing to stay Navy. Since 2014, we
have conducted both exit and milestone surveys, both of which focus
heavily on retention factors and primary influencers to stay or leave
the Navy. The milestone survey is offered to enlisted sailors 18 months
prior to their Soft End Active Obligated Service (SEAOS) and 15 months
prior to the Mandatory Service Requirement date for officers. The exit
survey is offered 6 months prior to SEAOS for enlisted sailors and 6
months prior to Estimated Date of Leaving Navy for officers. The data
for both surveys is stored in the Navy's personnel system from which we
generate quarterly reports. Through the collection of data into an
Authoritative Data Environment (ADE), Navy is establishing analytical
capabilities that will better allow MyNavy HR to evaluate Sailor
behavior, more accurately and efficiently assign talent, better design
and account for compensation packages, and generate a system that
affords greater flexibility, permeability, and Sailor choice. This
capability is a critical element of the Navy's Sailor 2025 program,
which is designed to modernize personnel management along with training
policies and systems to more efficiently identify, recruit, and train
talented people and manage the force while improving warfighting
readiness. In addition to traditional exit surveys, we have developed
career milestone surveys for Sailors choosing to stay Navy. Since 2014,
we have conducted both exit and milestone surveys, both of which focus
heavily on retention factors and primary influencers to stay or leave
the Navy. The milestone survey is offered to enlisted sailors 18 months
prior to their Soft End Active Obligated Service (SEAOS) and 15 months
prior to the Mandatory Service Requirement date for officers. The exit
survey is offered 6 months prior to SEAOS for enlisted sailors and 6
months prior to Estimated Date of Leaving Navy for officers. The data
for both surveys is stored in the Navy's personnel system from which we
generate quarterly reports. Navy also conducts two large Navy wide
surveys bi-annually: the Personnel and Professional Choice survey and
the Health of Force (HoF) survey. Navy survey specialists analyze the
data from the HoF survey and provide senior leaders with additional
information such as retention, command climate, and satisfaction with
Navy employment. Lastly, in addition to these four large surveys, we
conduct many smaller pulse surveys in coordination with, and at the
Commanding Officer's discretion. Topics focus on policy changes or
program specific issues. Most recently, throughout our personnel system
transformation and as part of our ongoing Sailor 2025 efforts, we
developed fleet integration teams, which hold focus groups with
Sailors, spouses, and family groups. As an example, last year, over a
two month period, our fleet integration teams traveled across the fleet
to better understand the pain points associated with PCS moves. These
direct conversations resulted in 16 independent solutions, two of which
we are about to put into motion (CAC-less MyPCS Mobile enabled website
and Government Travel Charge Card (GTCC) pilot program). These are just
two examples of how our team is evolving into an innovative, agile, and
responsive team, providing unparalleled service to our Sailors, their
families, and the Fleet. We will continue to apply cutting edge human
resource management practices and technology to become a customer-
experience driven organization that demonstrates, through action, that
we value our Sailors and their families. Our Transformation and Sailor
2025 efforts continue to be vital in achieving this goal. As part of
our Transformation effort, we are collapsing and integrating as much of
our data, economic data, and other pertinent data into our ADE. Once
fully integrated and populated, the ADE will provide our analysts with
a `single source of truth' data repository coupled with the latest
accredited Machine Learning software and algorithms, enabling them to
better inform and identify why our sailors stay or leave and who are
the most talented. [See page 16.]
General Kelly. The Air Force conducts Exit and Retention surveys
with the purpose of assessing factors influencing an Airman's decision
to remain in the Air Force. Surveys have been conducted since 1989 and
are governed by AFI 38-501, Air Force Survey Program. a) The Exit
Survey is conducted on a continuous basis when members are separating
from the military. b) The Retention Survey is conducted every two years
with the most recent completed in 2017. The 2019 Retention Survey is
currently underway. Retention surveys are administered to Air Force
enlisted (E1-E9) and officers (O1-O6), and are representative of the
Air Force Total Force (RegAF, AF Reserve, & Air National Guard).
Questions are geared toward the member's experience throughout his/her
Air Force career. Data is collected and analyzed to provide information
on member's satisfaction throughout their career, which includes
current job, assignment and location. Information is also obtained
concerning the member's plans on staying past their current commitment,
and intentions for staying at least until retirement eligibility. The
AF also uses survey results to inform critical skills retention bonus
and quality of life policies. The 2017 Retention Survey revealed that
the Top 10 reasons (RegAF) Airmen remained in the Air Force were as
follows:
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] [See page 16.]
General Rocco. Retaining Marines whose past service and future
potential continues to make the Corps stronger is one of our highest
priorities. As the Marine Corps manages our force, we work to retain
the very best available Marines capable of fulfilling our leadership
and operational needs. This is accomplished through a targeted
retention campaign that includes competitive career designation process
for officers and a thorough evaluation process for enlisted Marines,
both of which are designed to measure, analyze, and compare our
Marines' performance and accomplishments. Using historical data on
retention coupled with the present manpower requirements, we calculate
required retention goals. We utilize historical data on retention
behavior to focus our incentive pay programs. This allows the Marine
Corps to maintain healthy military occupational specialties and fill
hard to retain positions, such as cyber security technicians, special
operators, and counter intelligence specialists as well as increase the
inventory stability of the aviation officer population. In addition, we
are now collecting data on multiple aspects of military service that
will shape future retention policies and programs: Surveys: The Marine
Corps has developed a survey program designed to investigate not only
why Marines leave but why they stay and why they join. The Exit and
Milestone Longitudinal Survey (EMLS) consists of three specific
surveys, (1) Entry, (2) Milestone (reenlistment, career designation,
and promotion), and (3) Exit. Fiscal Year 2018 was the first full year
of data collection. In approximately three years, we anticipate we will
achieve a representative sample to make data-driven policy decisions.
Artificial Intelligence: The Marine Corps has an Artificial
Intelligence Line of Operation with the desired end state of accurately
predicting attrition, performance, behaviors, and attitudes and
consider these predictions as additive factors in not only retention
but recruitment, talent management, and increasing lethality. Our first
Line of Effort is underway with the Tailored Adaptive Personality
Assessment System (TAPAS) pilot study. This initiative will inform and
guide future Lines of Effort, thus reinforcing our efforts to retain
the best and most qualified Marines. [See page 16.]
______
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MRS. DAVIS
Mr. Stewart. As of April 30, 2019, over 615,000 Service members are
enrolled in the Blended Retirement System (BRS). Of this total number,
about 475,000 are Active Component (AC) members and about 140,000 are
in the Reserve Component (RC). This means nearly 40 percent of the AC
is participating in BRS, either because they opted-in or were
automatically enrolled, while about 20 percent of the RC is
participating in BRS (also via opt-ins or automatic enrollment). These
numbers and percentages will continue to increase as all new entrants
are brought in under BRS. The Department has consistently emphasized
that opting into BRS was a personal decision to be made by each
individual member without influence, targets, or goals. The Department
provided significant training and made extensive resources and
financial counseling available to both AC and RC members. This ensured
that all Service members had access to the necessary tools to make a
well-informed decision. The lower participation rate among RC members
can be explained by several possibilities that may have influenced
their opt-in decisions, but it is impossible to make a generalized
conclusion about the individual choices made by each eligible member.
The most significant impact was that the criteria to opt-in was much
broader for RC members. Because RC members could have any length of
service as long as they had fewer than the equivalent of 12 active
years (i.e., fewer than 4,320 retirement points), many RC members,
though technically eligible to opt-in, were actually far along in their
careers, and in many cases, already retirement eligible under the
legacy system. As a percentage, those for whom BRS would have been an
attractive option was lessened by this larger pool. Also, some RC
members may have been less inclined to opt into BRS because they
already have defined contribution plans (i.e., 401k-style plans)
through their civilian employers and were less incentivized by the
potential for matching contributions and portability of the Thrift
Savings Plan (TSP). AC members, on the other hand, did not previously
have any option for contributing to a 401k-style retirement plan that
offered matching contributions, so were likely more inclined to see
this as an attractive incentive, both for its flexibility and
portability. We know that AC and RC members tend to view retirement as
an incentive differently. AC members tend to have more clarity about
their personal preferences for long-term service, meaning the portable
benefits of BRS would have been more appealing to those active members
who are confident they will leave service prior to serving a full 20
years. Receipt of military retired pay for RC members is often more
distant and can be perceived less significantly as part of an
individual's total retirement plan when compared to AC members. As
such, RC members may have felt there was less risk from choosing to
stay in the legacy plan even if they are not certain they ultimately
serve for 20 years. Given these differences, it is not totally
surprising that greater percentages of AC members than RC members made
the decision to opt into BRS. Despite the differing opt-in rates among
AC and RC members, we are confident that all of our members were
educated and made informed choices based on their own personal
situations. [See page 26.]
General Seamands. As of April 30, 2019, over 243,000 soldiers are
enrolled in the Blended Retirement System (BRS). Of this total number,
about 155,000 are Active Component (AC) soldiers and about 88,000 are
in the Army Reserve or National Guard. This means nearly 33 percent of
the AC is participating in BRS, either because they opted-in or were
automatically enrolled, while about 20 percent of the Army Reserve and
Army National Guard soldiers are participating in BRS (also via opt-ins
or automatic enrollment). These numbers and percentages will continue
to increase as all new entrants are brought in under BRS. BRS is a
personal decision made by each individual member without influence,
targets, or goals. The Army provided significant training and made
extensive resources and financial counseling available to both AC and
RC members. We believe all Soldiers had the necessary tools to make an
informed decision. The slightly lower participation rate among the RC
could be attributable to several broad reasons. For example, some RC
members may have been less inclined to opt into BRS because they
already have defined contribution plans (i.e., 401k plans) through
their civilian employers and were less incentivized by the potential
for matching contributions and portability of the Thrift Savings Plan
(TSP). The AC members, on the other hand, did not previously have any
option for contributing to a 401k-style retirement plan that offered
matching contributions, so were likely more inclined to see this as an
attractive incentive, both for its flexibility and portability. [See
page 26.]
Admiral Burke. At the end of the opt-in window of December 31,
2018, approximately 11 percent of Navy Reserve Component (RC) members
eligible to opt-in to the Blended Retirement System (BRS) chose to
enroll in BRS compared to approximately 31 percent of eligible Active
Component (AC) members. This lower (RC) opt-in was fully expected for
several reasons. BRS is more attractive to Sailors with low years of
service. Since most RC members have prior active service, members with
low years of service are a relatively small percentage of the RC.
Additionally, most RC members join the reserves because they want to
continue their naval service career, so BRS was generally less
attractive to them. RC members are also more likely to have a defined
contribution plan (401k) through their civilian employer and it is
likely the Thrift Savings Plan matching contribution offered by BRS was
less attractive. While there is some disparity in opt-in rates between
AC and RC members, all were trained on their options and had access to
the resources needed to make the best decision for them based on their
personal situation. [See page 26.]
General Kelly. The Blended Retirement System (BRS) achieves its
goal of providing a portable retirement benefit by reducing the legacy
pension. Therefore, the closer a member gets to reaching 20 years of
service, and qualifying for retired pay, the more advantageous it is
for the member to remain in the legacy retirement system. Eligibility
to opt-in to BRS is based on 12 years of service. For members of the
regular component, this is a straightforward number of years. For
members in the Reserve component (Guard and Reserve), this 12 years of
service is based on participation points used to determine retired pay.
The qualification threshold is based on 360 points per year times 12
years which is 4,320. While Regular Component members must serve for 20
years to qualify for retired pay, Reserve component members must serve
20 ``good'' years. Minimum participation to have a ``good year'' is to
earn 50 points. Therefore, it is mathematically possible for a member
of the Reserve Component to be retirement eligible with 20 good years
and 1,000 points. The result of basing eligibility on 4,320 points is
that almost all members of the Reserve Component were eligible. We
should expect as members get closer to reaching 20 years of service
(good years), they will be less likely to opt-in to BRS and a large
proportion of the eligible members in the Reserve Component had more
than 12 good years toward retirement. Additionally, many members in the
Reserve Component are already in the civilian workforce, so the
portability feature of BRS is not as significant. These factors account
for the difference in opt-in rates between the Regular and Reserve
Components. The opt-in rates were:
Regular Component: 29.8%
Air Force Reserve: 11.5%
Air National Guard: 11.5%
[See page 26.]
General Rocco. As of 30 April 2019, 81,417 active component and
16,539 reserve Component Marines elected to enroll in the Blended
Retirement System. [See page 26.]
______
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. BERGMAN
Mr. Stewart. We estimate the cost, per individual, from the day
they walk in the door until we get them through boot camp to be around
$34,000. This data point is a DOD average and does not include the cost
of skill training--just recruiting and basic military training. [See
page 28.]
General Seamands. The average cost in fiscal year 2018 of training
a Regular Army (RA) recruit from the time the individual walks into a
recruiting center until the recruit reaches their first duty station
was $68.2K. This includes enlistment bonuses, recruit pay, recruiter
operations and support, entrance processing costs, training operations
and support costs. If marketing costs are included, the average cost of
a RA recruit was $72.3K. The actual cost of a recruit varies depending
on the Military Occupation Specialty (MOS), incentives, and bonuses.
[See page 28.]
Admiral Burke. The first two phases of the Force Development supply
chain consist of talent acquisition/onboarding and initial recruit
training. It costs the Navy on average a total of $32,795 per recruit
from initial recruitment to Recruit Training Command's (RTC) Basic
Military Training course graduation. In fiscal year 2018, it cost an
average of $15,616 per recruit for talent acquisition/onboarding, which
included Marketing and Advertising, locating and screening applicants,
collecting documentation, transporting applicants to Recruiting
Stations, Military Entrance Processing Stations and RTC. In fiscal year
2018, it cost an average of $11,829 per recruit for RTC. This included
military and civilian staff salaries, student pay, and allowances. Base
operating support functions like facility operations and maintenance,
force protection, vehicle operations and maintenance, and fire and
emergency services, cost an additional $5,350 per recruit graduate.
[See page 28.]
General Kelly. The average cost to recruit and train an Airman
through BMT in 2018 was $36,006. [See page 28.]
General Rocco. The Total Military Personnel Appropriation cost
estimate is $9,186.00 per Marine. This estimate is based on 13 weeks of
training for the E-1 population.
Line Item Details:
Base Pay = $4,206.00
RPA = $1,195.00
FICA = $322.00
Clothing = $1,136.00
Food = $696.00
PCS = $1,356.00
Personnel Structure (Instructors): $275
*FY18 recruiting mission was 36,891
[See page 28.]
______
RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MS. HAALAND
Mr. Stewart. The JROTC program is not a recruiting tool for the
military. Although some JROTC students may enlist directly from high
school or several years after high school, the Department of Defense
does not track how many JROTC students enter the military. It also does
not maintain any demographic data on JROTC participants' precisely
because it is not a recruitment tool. The JROTC program provides a
sense of accomplishment and teaches students valuable lessons in
citizenship, service to the United States, and personal responsibility.
It does not condition young people for life in the military, notably
the participants are below the age for recruitment, but it does help
prepare young people for the challenges each will face as they grow
into adulthood. Enrollment in the JROTC program is voluntary and any
high school student may participate regardless of gender, race,
religion, and sexual orientation as long as they can meet the physical
fitness standards and academic responsibilities. [See page 29.]
=======================================================================
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING
May 16, 2019
=======================================================================
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MS. SPEIER
Ms. Speier. The FY19 NDAA included DOPMA reforms that give the
services broader leeway and discretion in managing officers and their
career paths. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? How have the services and DOD begun to use the
authorities included? What instructions and authorities have been given
to personnel officials at which levels? What values underlie the
application of these authorities to managing officer corps? How are the
new authorities being used to promote diversity, diversity of
experience, and career flexibility within the various officer corps?
Mr. Stewart. First, on behalf of the Department and the Military
Services, I thank Congress for implementing the most significant
changes to DOPMA/ROPMA in a generation. In a historically competitive
job market, our charge of commissioning and retaining our nation's top
talent remains challenging. The seven major officer corps talent
management authorities provided in the FY19 NDAA have all been
implemented through DOD policies. The Military Services have already
begun using these authorities. Several communities across the Services
have raised or removed the upper age limitations, as authorized by
section 501. We will continue to use this authority, in conjunction
with the authority granted in section 502, to commission officers with
experience at higher pay grades, particularly to offer more competitive
rank and compensation to individuals with critical skill sets to meet
Service needs. Additionally, the incentives authorized in sections 503
and 504 have been met with enthusiasm, both by the Services and by
Service members. Through standardizing the temporary promotion
opportunity for officers, the Military Services are better able to
quickly fill critical skill sets and provide retention incentives for
highly talented officers. Likewise, the Services' newly authorized
ability to reorder promotion lists based on merit has quickly proven to
be a popular method to reward superior performance with the incentive
of earlier promotion, without additional tax-payer burden. The
remaining authorities granted in sections 505, 506, and 507 challenge
the DOPMA premise of ``up or out,'' with ``up and stay,'' when
appropriate. As highlighted in the Department's recent report to
Congress on the alternate promotion authority, this authorization gives
the Services incredible flexibility for targeted retention and
promotion of talented officers. The challenge in immediate execution of
this authority is the need to reasonably observe the effects of
implementing the other officer management modernization changes from
the FY19 NDAA. In aggregate, these provisions enable the Department to
attract and retain a diversity of talent and experience to continually
evolve the officer corps and meet the demands of our ever-changing geo-
political landscape.
Ms. Speier. The FY19 NDAA included DOPMA reforms that give the
services broader leeway and discretion in managing officers and their
career paths. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? How have the services and DOD begun to use the
authorities included? What instructions and authorities have been given
to personnel officials at which levels? What values underlie the
application of these authorities to managing officer corps? How are the
new authorities being used to promote diversity, diversity of
experience, and career flexibility within the various officer corps?
General Seamands. How are each of the Services and DOD
conceptualizing these reforms? Talent Management is a top priority for
the Secretary and the Chief of Staff of the Army. The Army established
a Talent Management Task Force to modernize the Officer Personnel
System from an Industrial-Age model to an Information-Age system.
How have the Services and DOD begun to use the authorities
included? The Army is aggressively identifying the best use of these
authorities. Our approach is to develop small-scale pilots to gather
data and then implement policies that integrate lessons learned from
these pilots. To date, the Army has already leveraged seven of the
authorities for pilots or Army-wide policy implementation. Using the
direct commissioning authority, the Army's Cyber Branch has
commissioned seven officers. Four of the officers have completed
training and are currently serving with Army Cyber units. While it has
not yet been exercised, the Army has integrated the repeal of the 20
Year Time-In-Service requirement by age 62 with the new direct
commissioning policy that gives the Army greater access to civilian
talent. For brevet promotions, the Army will pilot temporary promotions
with the summer 2020 assignment cycle (officers who move in summer
2020). Starting with 200 critical positions, select officers will be
temporarily promoted to the next grade. The Army plans to implement the
770 positions authorized in the 2019 NDAA over the next year. The Army
will implement merit promotions with the active component O-4 promotion
board that convenes in July 2019, and will continue this with
subsequent promotion boards. The Army is on track to allow officers to
opt out of promotion boards in fiscal year 2020. Once approved, this
policy would allow officers to request to opt-out for promotion
consideration twice per grade. If the officer's request is approved,
the officer could not compete for promotion until the following year.
DOD promotions policy was revised in March 2019 to specifically
instruct members of promotion boards to ``not consider an officer's
previous decision to opt out of a promotion board'' with prejudice.
Next, the Army is currently identifying officers with critical skills
matched against forecasted critical shortages for up to 40 years of
active service. Once those officers and shortages are identified, we
will institutionalize selective continuation boards to retain Army
talent beyond the traditional mandatory retirement date limits to meet
Army requirements. Lastly, an Army Directive to improve this Federal
Recognition process is currently being staffed. Once approved, this
would allow the Secretary of the Army to adjust the date of rank of
Army National Guard officers who faced a delay, not attributable to the
action (or inaction) of the officer(s) in receiving Federal recognition
to the next higher grade. Once approved, the directive ensures timely
Federal recognition and provides for retroactive pay due to delays in
the system. Brevet appointments will terminate when the officer is no
longer serving in a critical position or the officer is promoted to the
appropriate permanent grade. While officers are in a brevet status,
they will receive pay and allowances commensurate with the higher
temporary rank.
What instructions and authorities have been given to personnel
officials at which levels? To date, the new Direct Commissioning policy
has been approved, assigning the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, as the
proponent for the policy and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for
Manpower and Reserve Affairs as responsible for policy oversight. The
directive implementing opt out of a promotion board authority is
expected to be signed shortly, as well as several other policy change
directives. Once approved, policy instructions will be provided on how
to implement the policy. The Secretary of the Army is the approval
authority for many of the new authorities due to the impact of larger
processes such as appointments and promotions that are then confirmed
by the Senate.
What values underlie the application of these authorities to
managing officer corps? Application of these authorities is guided by
the principle that we need the right officer in the right assignment at
the right time, over time. The flexibilities that these authorities
provide allow us to build readiness and retain talent.
How are the new authorities being used to promote diversity,
diversity of experience, and career flexibility within the various
officer corps? The Army Talent Management Task Force is working to
modernize the Army's personnel system from a data-poor, industrial-age
system to a data-rich, information-age system that captures an
officer's talents--knowledge, skills, and behaviors. It is also
creating a regimen of assessments to help each officer develop their
talents and to help the Army better inform the selection of its future
strategic leaders. Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A)
will be a cornerstone to successfully identify and optimize talent.
Through the authorities granted in the 2019 NDAA, the Army is
demonstrating value in a broader diversity and experience by creating
this system with a granular view of talent. The Army can now offer
increased flexibility in career paths to permit officers to develop
this talent. The new authorities allow us to recognize that each
officer has unique talents, qualifications, and aspirations. We have
the flexibility to address and optimize each.
Ms. Speier. The FY19 NDAA included DOPMA reforms that give the
services broader leeway and discretion in managing officers and their
career paths. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? How have the services and DOD begun to use the
authorities included? What instructions and authorities have been given
to personnel officials at which levels? What values underlie the
application of these authorities to managing officer corps? How are the
new authorities being used to promote diversity, diversity of
experience, and career flexibility within the various officer corps?
Admiral Burke. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? Our process of conceptualizing these reforms began as a
review several years ago of the existing Defense Officer Personnel
Management Act (DOPMA) provisions to identify modifications that permit
greater officer management flexibility to compete for civilian talent
and cultivate, retain and reward in-service talent. Navy's DOPMA reform
proposals, along with those of the other Services conceptualized under
similar processes, were vetted during working group meetings under
Department of Defense (DOD) stewardship.
How have the services and DOD begun to use the authorities
included? We immediately began development of programs to implement
officer personnel management reforms enacted in the John S. McCain
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, including:
expanded constructive service credit to recruit civilian
candidates with education, leadership, and experience credentials for
leadership roles in cyber and engineering fields.
expanded spot promotion opportunity for captains with
post-command executive leadership and commanders with operational
command executive leadership. First board scheduled to convene July 25,
2019.
expanded continuation to retain certain control grade
officers with targeted skills in aviation, intelligence, acquisition
corps, and as attaches beyond the traditional statutory limits. First
board scheduled to convene in September 2019.
relaxed the requirement that original appointments be
granted only to individuals able to complete 20 years commissioned
service by age 62.
current execution of merit re-order promotion authority
to incentivize top performers across all active officer communities.
Promotions boards are authorized to recommend up to 15 percent of
selectees for merit reorder. Merit reordered officers will be promoted
in the first promotion increment. Additionally, we plan to exercise
promotion deferment authority beginning with the fiscal year 2021
promotion board cycle to afford greater flexibility for top performing
officers whose competitiveness might otherwise suffer due to
participation in career-broadening and education opportunities
What instructions and authorities have been given to personnel
officials at which levels? The following officer personnel management
instructions issued by the Secretary of the Navy concerning promotions,
temporary spot promotions, and continuation have been updated to
include implementation guidance for expanded continuation, merit
reorder and promotion deferment.
Department of the Navy Commissioned Officer Promotion
Program, Secretary of the Navy Instruction (SECNAVINST) 1420.3 of March
28, 2019
Temporary Spot Promotion of Officers, SECNAVINST 1421.3L
of March 12, 2018
Continuation on Active Duty of Regular Commissioned
Officers and Reserve Officers on the Reserve Active Status List in the
Navy and Marine Corps, SECNAVINST 1920.7C of January 22, 2019
The following officer accession program authorizations have been
updated and provided to our Recruiting Command and individual officer
recruiters to implement the expanded constructive service credit
authorizations enacted in the John S. McCain National Defense
Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019.
Active Component Cyber Warfare Engineer Officers
Active Component Engineering Duty Officers
Reserve Component Cryptologic Warfare Officers
Reserve Component Information Professional Officers
What values underlie the application of these authorities to
managing officer corps? We are modernizing our personnel policies and
programs to give Sailors more control and ownership over their careers,
as well as allow the Navy to adapt to economic changes and
corresponding effects on the recruiting market and retention. Our
transformation personnel initiatives are designed to continue to
recruit and retain the very best talent, empower commanding officers,
increase transparency and flexibility, provide better tools to Sailors
and leadership, and give Sailors more choices. This will allow us to
reward and encourage superior performance with increased options and
authorities in managing talent.
How are the new authorities being used to promote diversity,
diversity of experience, and career flexibility within the various
officer corps? First, the authorities from John S. McCain National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 allow Navy to find
talent from a wide breadth of backgrounds and cast a wider net of
talent, which inherently increases the diversity of experience. Before,
if the Navy was looking for a senior officer with certain skill sets,
the only option was to grow one from a 20-30 year career. Now, we are
able to retain officers with specific skillsets and experience beyond
statutory limits to keep required knowledge or commission an outside
candidate with the same specific skillsets up to the paygrade of O-6
provided they meet the education, leadership, and qualifications.
Second, the increased flexibility in career paths we have put into
place promotes diversity by acknowledging there are many paths to a
successful career. The authorities put into place increase an officer's
ability to serve while balancing their professional, educational, and
family goals. By having a multitude of pathways to success, Navy
increases the appeal of a career to officers with different goals,
thereby increasing the talent pool and retention. These authorities
allow us to fill coveted positions with the best and brightest that the
Navy has to offer.
Ms. Speier. The FY19 NDAA included DOPMA reforms that give the
services broader leeway and discretion in managing officers and their
career paths. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? How have the services and DOD begun to use the
authorities included? What instructions and authorities have been given
to personnel officials at which levels? What values underlie the
application of these authorities to managing officer corps? How are the
new authorities being used to promote diversity, diversity of
experience, and career flexibility within the various officer corps?
General Kelly. The Air Force appreciates the expanded authorities
and is focusing our execution of them to help drive deliberate
development of our officers to meet current and future requirements
across our diverse mission sets and functional communities. We have
used constructive credit to recruit officers in very competitive cyber
career fields. As part of our work in revamping our officer promotion
process we are working to incorporate order of merit promotion
sequencing, temporary promotions, and alternative promotion authority.
The last two are being incorporated with our work to redefine our
officer competitive category structure in order to provide increased
developmental agility. The DOPMA reforms are currently being developed
into policy for consideration and execution, understanding that each
effort is closely linked to one another, and must not be implemented
disparate of one another. The authorities afford the ability to
flexibly manage when officers meet promotion eligibility windows,
promoting the best qualified officers at the right career point along
their unique development paths, matching the right officers to the
right requirements at the right time in order to meet institutional
requirements, while also fostering a more diverse officer pool. We
think this is key in order for us to develop and deliver the right mix
of officers we need to satisfy the diverse mission sets tasked to the
AF as part of the National Defense Strategy.
Ms. Speier. The FY19 NDAA included DOPMA reforms that give the
services broader leeway and discretion in managing officers and their
career paths. How are each of the services and DOD conceptualizing
these reforms? How have the services and DOD begun to use the
authorities included? What instructions and authorities have been given
to personnel officials at which levels? What values underlie the
application of these authorities to managing officer corps? How are the
new authorities being used to promote diversity, diversity of
experience, and career flexibility within the various officer corps?
General Rocco. The Marine Corps appreciates and is leveraging the
officer personnel management authorities granted in the Fiscal Year
2019 National Defense Authorization Act (FY19NDAA). They seek to help
modernize how we manage our Marines with the goal of recruiting and
retaining the highest quality talent. Of the authorities available, the
Marine Corps has implemented lineal list flexibility (merit-based
promotion list reorder), is exploring opt out methods, and is in the
final administrative stages of making the Career Intermission Program
(CIP) permanent (anticipated completion in November of 2019). The
Marine Corps' Fiscal Year 2021 Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and Colonel
Promotion Boards executed merit reorder with up to 100 percent of the
promotion list eligible for merit reorder. We anticipate that this
authority will benefit the most competitive officers selected for
promotion as those officers may be moved to the top of the promotion
list. The authorities allows the Marine Corps the flexibility to design
the ideal balance within the officer corps to respond to future
requirements, stabilize the force, drawdown when required by Congress,
and accurately program and budget the service military personnel
account. Also, the Marine Corps is planning to offer a new opt out of
consideration for promotion option for the FY2022 promotion boards.
These policies are anticipated to positively impact officer
continuation rates by offering individual officers career flexibility
from the legacy up or out promotion system. The underlying goal of
utilizing these reforms is to create career flexibilities and
ultimately, to retain the highest quality Marines. We want to continue
to recruit and retain the best men and women of our Nation with diverse
experiences, advanced education, and valuable critical skills to
increase our readiness and lethality--so that we continue to be ready
when the Nation is least ready.
______
QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. CISNEROS
Mr. Cisneros. A recent report from Mission Readiness, an
organization of retired admirals and generals, states that 71 percent
of young Americans aged 17-24 are not eligible for military service,
often due to poor health and fitness or lack of education. How is the
Department handling the decreasing pool of eligible recruits? Do the
services need to revisit eligibility standards? What can DOD do to
increase the pool of eligible recruits?
Mr. Stewart. The report cited is accurate. Nearly 71 percent of
young Americans aged 17-24 are not eligible for military service, often
owing to poor health and fitness or lack of education. These issues
impact more than just military recruiting and are being addressed by
states and the federal government. In light of these and other changes,
the Department continuously reviews the eligibility standards for
Military Service. Adjustments to these standards are made based on
findings in the medical community or based on the broad acceptance of
new social norms. While these issues limit the pool of eligible youth,
there are a sufficient number of high-quality, qualified youth that are
eligible to serve. The challenge for the Military Services is how best
to reach these youth and overcome misperceptions or inaccurate
information regarding what it means to serve. Today, there are fewer
veterans to tell their positive stories. When combined with the
constant messaging from numerous wounded warrior veteran support
programs, our ability to communicate positive messages about Military
Service is even more challenging. To expand the pool of high-quality,
qualified youth who are willing to serve, the Department and the
Military Services must consistently share the positive message of what
it means to serve in a way that reaches today's youth.
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