WEBVTT

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- Good morning, everyone.

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As we wait for the lights to come on

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let me welcome you to Brookings.

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I'm Micheal Handlin and we're delighted,

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here at Brookings, to be partnering with

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Blue Star Families in this important discussion.

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Based on their survey and ranging across

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a wide number of issues for military families

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and veterans about the stresses

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and strains and challenges

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of military service in today's world.

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It's an honor, as I say, for us to be involved in this.

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The way we're gonna precede having seen this excellent

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video is I just want to give this brief word of welcome

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and introduce, very briefly,

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my good friend Kathy Roth-Douquet.

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Who is the CEO of Blue Star Families

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and then she will offer some thoughts and some comments.

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Then we'll convene a panel including with the

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acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel matters

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as well as some other experts from Blue Star Families

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and from Syracuse on these same sets of subjects.

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A brief word about Kathy.

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I've known her for more than 20 years.

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She and I were graduate students together at Princeton.

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She's a military spouse.

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She wrote, partly as a result of her experience

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as a military spouse, one of the most important books

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of modern civil military relations in the United States.

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And since it's November and Christmas is coming

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(everyone laughs)

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for those of you who haven't yet read this,

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AWOL The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes

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From Military Service and How It Hurts Our Country,

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a book she wrote with Frank Schaeffer.

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Remains a very very powerful voice

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and important activist on this set of issues.

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So let me please ask all of you to join in welcoming

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Blue Star Families and specifically Kathy to Brookings.

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(audience applauds)

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- Micheal Handlin proving that he is,

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indeed, a very good friend.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much for joining me here today.

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I want to thank our sponsors and our friends

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and partners who made this possible.

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USAA, Mike Kelly is here with us today.

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Lockheed Martin, Marianne Downs.

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Facebook, who's not with us today.

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Northrop Grumman, I'm not sure if Karen is with us,

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and many others.

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In addition, you saw on that last screen our partners.

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Those are the people who help us put this survey out.

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They help us suggest topics and questions

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we might want to ask and push out to their

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constituencies and their members.

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The people they touch so that we could

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have the widest possible girth.

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If people are here from our partner organizations

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now would you raise you hand so we can recognize you?

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Raise them higher.

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(applauds) Thank you.
(audience applauds)

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We are a village. We need each other.

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In the government, in the non-profit space,

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in the foundations and corporations, and the think tanks.

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So what we are doing here I hope we

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can model for the country.

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I love our survey.

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It was the very first thing Blue Star Families

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did when we decided to become an organization.

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A group of military family members,

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myself and others, wanted to keep doing the job of

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defending and supporting our country

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through being part of a military family

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as a service member or as a spouse, as a family.

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But it was hard.

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And we have the responsibility not only to the job of our

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country but to the job of taking care of our family.

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And we felt that that job could be easier.

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But it wasn't something anyone of us

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as an individual person could make easier by ourselves.

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It was something we needed to work together

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as a community so that we could articulate

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to the larger society what the challenges are

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and what we thought, perhaps, the solutions might be

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and work together with the different sectors,

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the government, non-profits, communities, others

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to get to a better place so we could keep dong this

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mission that we did love but we couldn't do at the

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expense of our families.

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Just like any other American can't do something

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that hurts their families.

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So that's the premise of Blue Star Families.

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Is for us to provide a platform for military families,

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to articulate their solutions,

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to help solve them, to provide a fellowship

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that makes the job possible.

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We knew we needed data.

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Everyone has an anecdote but we wanted to know

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that we were on the right track.

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So we fielded a survey.

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That not only helped us tell the story

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but helped us understand where we

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wanted to focus our efforts.

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And it gives us surprising outcomes every year.

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This is the eighth time we've told this story.

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This is the eighth time we've...

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Distributed the survey.

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We get to ask different things each year.

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Because we allow people to give open ended responses.

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By giving open ended responses we're not only

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forcing people to give the answers they want;

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which is something that had often frustrated me

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in surveys I'd taken in the past.

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Do you feel that deployment has

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helped your children or hurt your children?

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Well, both. The answer is both.

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But both wasn't a choice.

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So we let people tell us things that

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maybe we don't know to ask.

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And based on that we ask new questions in subsequent years.

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I think a great example of that is our experience with

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our families and our experience with communities.

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I'm also very proud this year that we

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got a lot more data and the experience

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of women serving in uniform.

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Because I think that can be very helpful for us to

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creating the kind of force we want to have in the future.

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For me, the survey is full of good news.

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Because it's full of pathways forward.

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It's full of ways that we can really

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create a 21st century military force

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for a 21st century family unit

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that lives in a 21st century society.

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The community issues are key.

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We do not live on bases anymore.

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We live in communities but we're such a small number

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and our lifestyle is so different from others

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and we are moving so frequently

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often we don't know our neighbors.

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When we asked the question; how many conversations

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did you have with people, outside of the military,

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in your community in the past month?

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30% of service members said zero.

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So that gives us an opportunity.

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That's something we know we want to change.

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Because we also saw that when people were

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engaged in their communities,

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when they did feel they belonged,

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when they did have conversations

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they actually felt better about their military service

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and they felt more likely to recommend it to others.

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So, there you go. It's a path forward.

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I was very very interested to see that the

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number one issues for service members,

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not just for spouses but for service members,

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their number one concern in their ability

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to continue doing their job was the time away from family.

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In the years that we've done this survey,

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since 2009 and in fact in any survey I've ever seen

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whether it was done by the Triangle Institute for Security

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Studies or any of the other major studies,

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that has never been the number one concern

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for service members about their service.

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I also suspect it's never been offered as an option

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for people to answer.

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Because it's not what we think about

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when we think about a person in uniform

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and what makes their job hard.

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But that's really important insight.

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Why? Well, one of the things I mentioned last night

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is the unintended consequences of some of the

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policies and outcomes that we have in place

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drive families apart more than they used to.

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Micheal Handlin did a great job with the book

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that came out last year talking about some of those

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issues moving back or forward deployed bases.

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It used to be when the Army deployed overseas

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their families went with them.

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Increasingly, they're going without their families

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because we've closed those bases.

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That might've been a good decision or not.

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But the unintended consequences is more separation.

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Sequestration means very short notice

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on moves, on trainings, on deployments often

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that causes greater separation.

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Sometimes the families can't move as much.

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The needs of a 21st century lifestyle

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and the needs to field two incomes.

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Increasingly families are just choosing

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to live apart to keep that second income going

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so they can stay afloat as a family.

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25% of our families say that they choose to live apart.

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That's a concern for anyone who wants

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to have their families thrive.

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So we have outcomes that no one wanted.

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But they are putting pressure,

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on top of the fact that our force is Millennials

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and Millennials have a higher concern

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and expectation about their family lives

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and our force is more female.

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For them the cost of being away from their families,

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what they report back to us, it rates even higher.

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So, we encourage you to dive into the survey.

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There's so many nuggets like this

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to help us understand the challenges

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and to understand the opportunities forward.

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The overall message is that it's really very

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similar to what it's always been.

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We need to tell this story.

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Blue Star Families mission is to tell the story

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and to create community and solutions through

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communities around the country.

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So it's a call to action for us.

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But I think it's a call to action for everyone in this room.

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I so appreciate Brookings giving us the platform

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to dive a little bit deeper into the survey.

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And I welcome all of you to ask questions

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and engage with our folks.

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I do want to say hello to our Blue Star Family members

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around the country who are watching on Facebook Live.

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As Secretary Kurt and I were discussing;

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the transparencies that these new tools give us

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to include our community in the work that we do

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is really spectacular.

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So I want you to know that we are joined

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by thousands if not tens of thousands this morning.

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Thank you for your time and attention.

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Thank you, Mike and Thank you, Syracuse

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for making the survey possible.

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And also Cristina Orr Shiffer, our survey director.

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Thank you.

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(audience applauds)

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- Well thank you Kathy. That was fascinating.

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I agree that the survey is very rich.

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In fact, as we've been doing these events together

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the last few years I've come to appreciate

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just how much, myself as a defense policy analyst,

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I need to understand these issues.

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Because they do affect the way one thinks

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about everything from the size of the force

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to OPTEMPO, to where we base people,

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to how we base people, how often we ask them to move.

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So many issues that are really central

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to defense policy can be informed in many

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important ways by this survey.

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Now we have a panel to help us dive in a bit more.

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Let me, please, briefly introduce them

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and then we'll go right at it.

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Our intention in to spend about a half hour up here

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with initial thoughts and then go to you

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for your concerns and your questions.

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So immediately to my left we have Tony Kurta.

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Who is carrying out the duties of

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The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

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He's a retired rear admiral from the US Navy,

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hails from the great state of Montana,

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graduate of Annapolis but also the

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Air Command and Staff College and also Georgetown, I believe

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and has been now in the senior executive service

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for about three years starting in the second Obama term

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and now continuing into the Trump administration

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working on military personnel issues.

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To his left we have our good friend Cristina Orr Shiffer

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with military Blue Star Families

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and she is the director of research and policy

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outreach for Blue Star Families

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and has been on this panel with us in many previous years

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and we look forward, we'll begin with her in just a moment.

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To her left is Rosalinda Vasquez Maury who is with

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Syracuse's Institute on Veterans and Military Families

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from the great Empire State that I also hail from.

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But she is originally from Texas

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and studied at San Antonio and has been doing this job

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at Syracuse now for a number of years.

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But previously had also worked on various jobs

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and associations with both The Coast Guard

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and The Air Force so has a wide array of experiences as well

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She'll probably hone in, initially, on veterans questions.

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So we're gonna definitely get at both

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military families from the active and reserve forces

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today as well as veterans issues as well.

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Without further ado and Cristina we'll begin

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with a couple of just general thoughts from you

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please on whatever else you would want to say to

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reinforce or add to what Kathy's already presented

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the most important survey results.

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I like the way Kathy raised both concerns

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but also the good news and what are both our

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problems and weaknesses we've gotta try to repair

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in the broader military community

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but also some of the enduring strengths

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that you see in the survey.

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- Sure. She did set us up well.

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I'll leave you or I'll introduce three thoughts.

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First two, problems. Third one, solution.

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And these seem vain.

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The first thought; as we worked through the data

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operational tempo deployment these things

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are getting harder for folks to choose to

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continue to serve given high operational tempo.

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We had that 72% indicate, which is the same statistic

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we had last year, of military families,

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service members and their spouses

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who are saying that the tempo is too high.

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They're not getting enough dwell time.

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They're not getting enough advanced notice.

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Also, the ability to know where one is moving.

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So, PCS's, short notice PCS's comes under that same idea.

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If you are only given a few months before you're

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able to PCS being able to make that jump to that

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next location is increasingly challenging.

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The second area that really came up is the need

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for diverse support for a modern military.

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If we have a diverse need now for all sorts of

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different skills within the military

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and to insure the defense, we also need to think that

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modern families are just as diverse as those needs.

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So we can't forget that there are single parents

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that are service members, that there are professional

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spouses who choose to work.

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Increasingly families need a second income.

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We're 23% lower, if you look at the average rate of

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married families who field two incomes.

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The American public is around 60%.

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The active duty military is around 40%.

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So the fact that, 45%, so if you look at the

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difference there we're not there yet.

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We're always a little bit lower than where we need to be.

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So we would need to think about diverse

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and new modern to provide support to military families.

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This is not your grandpa's military anymore.

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It's a different military and we need to think about that.

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The third, the solution, the happier thought is we really

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did see opportunities for community engagement.

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DOD can't fix these problems alone.

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Military families can't fix these problems alone.

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But when we're able to wrap in the community

15:52.577 --> 15:56.325
we find that this is a solution that's a great opportunity.

15:56.325 --> 15:59.990
As I mentioned, those PCS's are stressful and one of the

15:59.990 --> 16:02.338
reasons that they're stressful is that everyone needs to

16:02.338 --> 16:04.567
rebuild all those support mechanisms.

16:04.567 --> 16:07.123
From finding new schools to finding new jobs

16:07.123 --> 16:09.189
to figuring out where the grocery store is

16:09.189 --> 16:11.457
to figuring out who's gonna be the person

16:11.457 --> 16:13.957
on your child' emergency form.

16:14.723 --> 16:16.593
When you move to a new area,

16:16.593 --> 16:18.986
this happens to me every time I move,

16:18.986 --> 16:20.188
I don't know anyone.

16:20.188 --> 16:22.157
So when you say in case of emergency

16:22.157 --> 16:23.369
who's gonna pick up your child?

16:23.369 --> 16:25.193
(audience laughs)

16:25.193 --> 16:28.550
I hope that my neighbor looks trustworthy, right?

16:28.550 --> 16:30.411
So these opportunities to really bring

16:30.411 --> 16:33.347
the community in is a terrific opportunity.

16:33.347 --> 16:35.122
So again the OPTEMPO deployment makes

16:35.122 --> 16:38.455
it very difficult to continue to choose.

16:39.085 --> 16:41.058
Diverse support is something that we can do to

16:41.058 --> 16:42.530
start thinking about that.

16:42.530 --> 16:44.556
New understandings of military families

16:44.556 --> 16:45.855
and how we support them.

16:45.855 --> 16:48.548
And three, bringing that community in

16:48.548 --> 16:49.607
and bringing the civilians in

16:49.607 --> 16:52.169
and wrapping them around and using

16:52.169 --> 16:55.252
coordinated opportunities for support

16:56.060 --> 16:58.565
between military families and local communities

16:58.565 --> 17:01.676
as a solution to many of these issues.

17:01.676 --> 17:03.260
- Thank you. I've got a couple of quick follow-ups,

17:03.260 --> 17:06.259
if I could and some of them are fairly broad.

17:06.259 --> 17:07.534
So they may not be ones that you

17:07.534 --> 17:08.766
can easily answer from the survey.

17:08.766 --> 17:10.653
We may wind up talking about them all morning.

17:10.653 --> 17:13.784
But one thing that occurs to me when we hear about the

17:13.784 --> 17:17.951
difficulty of a spouse keeping a job or finding a job.

17:18.254 --> 17:20.499
Do people consider this to be sort of inherent

17:20.499 --> 17:23.286
to the nature of the military enterprise?

17:23.286 --> 17:25.067
And I guess that also relates to the sense

17:25.067 --> 17:27.769
of belonging in a community, right?

17:27.769 --> 17:31.012
They don't feel, always, that they're really

17:31.012 --> 17:33.429
fully integrated or welcomed.

17:34.546 --> 17:37.287
Do you sense that military families

17:37.287 --> 17:39.191
believe that there are things we could do

17:39.191 --> 17:41.254
differently that would really solve these problems

17:41.254 --> 17:43.229
or is this inherent to the nature of being

17:43.229 --> 17:45.741
in the service and just the cost of doing business?

17:45.741 --> 17:47.708
People are willing to tolerate it for a certain

17:47.708 --> 17:49.836
period of time for themselves,

17:49.836 --> 17:51.463
a lot of them don't want it for their kids.

17:51.463 --> 17:53.152
Which is one more thing your survey found.

17:53.152 --> 17:55.104
That so many military families don't

17:55.104 --> 17:56.914
really wish this life upon their kids.

17:56.914 --> 17:58.671
Even though they're proud to have done it themselves.

17:58.671 --> 17:59.893
But, in other words, is this just inherent to the

17:59.893 --> 18:02.734
military enterprise or do people have a sense

18:02.734 --> 18:04.542
that there really are policy changes we could

18:04.542 --> 18:08.650
make that would really alleviate some of these stresses.

18:08.650 --> 18:10.003
- I'll go back to my point about this not being

18:10.003 --> 18:11.600
your grandfather's military anymore.

18:11.600 --> 18:13.455
It's a different military and the

18:13.455 --> 18:14.988
people serving in the military.

18:14.988 --> 18:19.155
The expectations for family support from service members.

18:20.463 --> 18:24.273
For the time to be home, to cook dinner, to coach soccer.

18:24.273 --> 18:27.971
It's a different modern time and what we're finding

18:27.971 --> 18:31.804
out is that spouse employment is part of that.

18:33.715 --> 18:37.318
If you want bright people to join your military,

18:37.318 --> 18:39.454
bright people tend to marry other bright people

18:39.454 --> 18:42.559
and those people really prefer not always to

18:42.559 --> 18:45.122
give up a career for 20 years or more.

18:45.122 --> 18:46.544
So one of the challenges that we find

18:46.544 --> 18:49.461
is addressing the income challenge.

18:49.780 --> 18:52.120
To say how do we solve that gap?

18:52.120 --> 18:54.862
We ended up seeing that 51% of spouses

18:54.862 --> 18:57.436
who even were employed were earning under

18:57.436 --> 18:58.880
20 thousands dollars a year.

18:58.880 --> 19:02.130
So, it's not just about employing them.

19:02.436 --> 19:04.619
It's also about giving them jobs that

19:04.619 --> 19:06.786
are opportunities to earn.

19:07.960 --> 19:10.543
I think that's a big challenge.

19:10.621 --> 19:13.787
I would also just say in terms of where we are

19:13.787 --> 19:16.705
with spouse employment is it is an expectation now.

19:16.705 --> 19:18.105
It's not always an expectation.

19:18.105 --> 19:20.478
We understand, the data really shows,

19:20.478 --> 19:23.034
that there are periods with civilians as well,

19:23.034 --> 19:24.692
there are seasons when it's more likely

19:24.692 --> 19:26.498
that one would be able to work.

19:26.498 --> 19:29.136
There are some seasons when you are not as able.

19:29.136 --> 19:30.859
If your choosing to raise children

19:30.859 --> 19:33.582
or there are other challenges in the home.

19:33.582 --> 19:35.434
But just like civilian communities,

19:35.434 --> 19:38.433
military spouses and military couples

19:38.433 --> 19:40.766
have those same desires now.

19:41.003 --> 19:44.453
The interesting part about our unemployment rate

19:44.453 --> 19:47.904
this year, which increased to 28% for military spouses,

19:47.904 --> 19:51.400
is I don't see that as military spouse unemployment

19:51.400 --> 19:53.697
getting worse, what we saw is a decrease in the number

19:53.697 --> 19:57.627
of spouses who are opting out of the workforce overall.

19:57.627 --> 20:01.794
So there's an increasing expectation for employment.

20:01.825 --> 20:04.053
It's the opposite, it's not that there's an expectation

20:04.053 --> 20:06.428
that one can't work, rather there's an increasing

20:06.428 --> 20:08.928
expectation now of employment.

20:09.275 --> 20:10.893
- Thank you.
- Can I add something here?

20:10.893 --> 20:12.843
- It's a good moment because I wanted to shift over to you.

20:12.843 --> 20:14.434
- I think that there is definitely

20:14.434 --> 20:16.255
some impact during service.

20:16.255 --> 20:18.978
But there is actually impact after service.

20:18.978 --> 20:22.085
What people don't realize is these disadvantages

20:22.085 --> 20:26.252
have long-term consequences on a military spouses career.

20:26.683 --> 20:29.565
So yeah there might be cycles of it.

20:29.565 --> 20:32.446
But these cycles continue as a veterans spouse

20:32.446 --> 20:35.192
in unemployment and underemployment.

20:35.192 --> 20:38.787
In the same survey we had 41% reporting

20:38.787 --> 20:40.802
incomes of less than 20 thousand.

20:40.802 --> 20:42.782
I mean, that puts the veteran spouse

20:42.782 --> 20:46.949
at a huge disadvantage compared to their counterparts.

20:47.796 --> 20:50.008
Another aspect of this that I do want

20:50.008 --> 20:53.137
to highlight or emphasize is that military

20:53.137 --> 20:56.054
spouse employment eases transition.

20:56.113 --> 20:59.411
So when you have a military spouse fully employed

20:59.411 --> 21:02.651
there's a more positive transition experience

21:02.651 --> 21:05.651
compared to when you don't have one.

21:05.874 --> 21:09.501
So, it's not just the spouse and the nature and the job.

21:09.501 --> 21:12.202
It's part of the service in the military, as well.

21:12.202 --> 21:15.962
- So, Rosalinda, let me move over to you now and ask

21:15.962 --> 21:19.102
about any other broad reactions you have to the survey.

21:19.102 --> 21:20.828
But the specific questions that I really

21:20.828 --> 21:23.035
wanted to pose to you, as well,

21:23.035 --> 21:24.890
you could maybe weave into your opening thoughts

21:24.890 --> 21:29.057
is; were you surprised that so many military families,

21:29.437 --> 21:33.270
who are currently serving, don't feel all that

21:33.736 --> 21:35.180
integrated into their community?

21:35.180 --> 21:37.166
Because we know how much our country,

21:37.166 --> 21:40.485
I think it's fair to say, admires the military.

21:40.485 --> 21:42.652
This is not a Vietnam Era.

21:42.697 --> 21:45.826
We don't have, Kathy's book told us all that

21:45.826 --> 21:48.969
we have a civil military division or separation.

21:48.969 --> 21:51.029
But we have very strong appreciation,

21:51.029 --> 21:53.347
I think, for the armed forces.

21:53.347 --> 21:56.937
So do you attribute that problem to the frequency

21:56.937 --> 21:58.491
of moves and then when people become veterans

21:58.491 --> 22:00.555
and they settle down, perhaps, in one place

22:00.555 --> 22:02.480
a little longer then they do tend to feel more

22:02.480 --> 22:04.034
integrated and more appreciated for their

22:04.034 --> 22:05.767
service of prior years?

22:05.767 --> 22:09.100
Or do you see a deeper problem going on?

22:12.485 --> 22:15.126
- Adjustment, readjustment to civilian life

22:15.126 --> 22:16.689
is difficult for veterans.

22:16.689 --> 22:20.496
I think that when during active duty they become

22:20.496 --> 22:22.919
more integrated it could possibly ease the

22:22.919 --> 22:24.904
readjustments afterwards.

22:24.904 --> 22:27.462
So, I see a potential solution hopefully by the integration

22:27.462 --> 22:30.689
that the long term impacts can make an easier

22:30.689 --> 22:32.689
adjustment for veterans.

22:32.773 --> 22:35.227
But, yeah, I think when one settles down

22:35.227 --> 22:37.042
you get integrated with the community.

22:37.042 --> 22:38.985
And I do think Veterans are a part of that

22:38.985 --> 22:41.632
military civilian divide or the active duty

22:41.632 --> 22:43.715
military civilian divide.

22:43.769 --> 22:46.854
They're part of that solution as well.

22:46.854 --> 22:47.728
So, I don't know if you wanted to

22:47.728 --> 22:49.632
follow up on anything, Cristin.

22:49.632 --> 22:51.061
- [Cristin] That's pretty good.

22:51.061 --> 22:52.981
- Well, one more question Rosalinda

22:52.981 --> 22:55.262
before we go to Secretary Kurta for his thoughts.

22:55.262 --> 22:57.987
I just think that it'd be good to get your take

22:57.987 --> 23:01.386
on how veterans collectively feel like they're doing.

23:01.386 --> 23:04.547
I realize the survey doesn't emphasize

23:04.547 --> 23:06.071
the veterans community quite as much.

23:06.071 --> 23:09.274
But, as you look out at the broad range of issues

23:09.274 --> 23:11.182
that face veterans today.

23:11.182 --> 23:14.765
Everything from second careers to finances,

23:16.011 --> 23:17.895
military pension, military healthcare,

23:17.895 --> 23:21.228
veterans healthcare, PTS related issues.

23:21.270 --> 23:25.437
What's most on your mind and did the survey help you,

23:25.680 --> 23:26.962
this years survey in particular,

23:26.962 --> 23:28.636
help you identify any other key

23:28.636 --> 23:30.307
issues that you had previously?

23:30.307 --> 23:32.325
- Yeah, I think that, for me at least,

23:32.325 --> 23:34.742
the biggest insight is really

23:35.990 --> 23:37.931
the service members and families

23:37.931 --> 23:41.098
are not really well prepared for the transition.

23:41.098 --> 23:43.518
It's a financial preparedness.

23:43.518 --> 23:47.685
It's an emotional, it's a mental being unprepared.

23:48.603 --> 23:52.353
So for example, approximately 15% of the

23:53.289 --> 23:56.884
sample is planning to exit with the next two years.

23:56.884 --> 24:00.432
Out of that 15%, the ones that are separating

24:00.432 --> 24:04.599
within one year, 54% have less than five thousand

24:04.607 --> 24:08.607
in savings and available in case of emergencies.

24:09.965 --> 24:13.041
One would think, oh okay four to five thousand not bad.

24:13.041 --> 24:16.283
However when we look at the veteran population,

24:16.283 --> 24:19.206
17% it took over a year to find a job.

24:19.206 --> 24:20.883
So then that four to five thousand,

24:20.883 --> 24:25.050
is that sufficient enough for that year while you wait?

24:25.995 --> 24:28.622
When we talk about transition GPS

24:28.622 --> 24:31.039
and how well it prepares you.

24:32.303 --> 24:33.136
We asked a number of questions.

24:33.136 --> 24:34.508
It was TAP, it was transition GPS.

24:34.508 --> 24:35.882
We looked at it within the ones

24:35.882 --> 24:38.293
that separated this past year, two years.

24:38.293 --> 24:39.775
So we've looked at it in many ways.

24:39.775 --> 24:41.707
But it was really consistent.

24:41.707 --> 24:43.125
It was almost 50/50.

24:43.125 --> 24:44.311
Half of them felt prepared.

24:44.311 --> 24:45.978
Half of them didn't.

24:46.152 --> 24:49.569
So, there's definitely an unpreparedness.

24:50.676 --> 24:54.490
You're getting some but you're not getting others.

24:54.490 --> 24:58.490
One thing that we asked differently this year is

24:59.853 --> 25:01.131
how would you like those services

25:01.131 --> 25:03.486
for you available after transition?

25:03.486 --> 25:05.683
And a good quarter of them actually wanted

25:05.683 --> 25:08.516
the TAP services that TAP training

25:08.710 --> 25:10.718
available two, three years after

25:10.718 --> 25:12.873
they had already separated.

25:12.873 --> 25:14.628
Because at the time that you're separating

25:14.628 --> 25:15.590
you might not be thinking.

25:15.590 --> 25:16.976
You may not be mentally prepared.

25:16.976 --> 25:18.188
You may not be all there.

25:18.188 --> 25:20.719
But you have to make some decisions.

25:20.719 --> 25:21.860
You have to do that now.

25:21.860 --> 25:25.360
But again, having that resources available

25:25.989 --> 25:28.574
afterwards would be a huge help.

25:28.574 --> 25:30.295
- Then one just clarifying question then I'll

25:30.295 --> 25:32.571
go to Secretary Kurta unless Cristin

25:32.571 --> 25:33.565
wants to comment as well.

25:33.565 --> 25:34.798
But just to make sure we're all,

25:34.798 --> 25:37.259
I realize people in this room are not confused

25:37.259 --> 25:39.145
about what a military veteran is

25:39.145 --> 25:40.978
and who that could be.

25:41.524 --> 25:44.524
But just to be clear, most of these people in the survey

25:44.524 --> 25:47.357
who are either recently retired or

25:49.096 --> 25:51.415
about to transition out, most of them probably

25:51.415 --> 25:53.487
haven't done 20 years, some of them have.

25:53.487 --> 25:54.376
- [Rosalinda] Some of them have.

25:54.376 --> 25:55.849
- But many of them are going into a

25:55.849 --> 25:57.786
civilian workforce with not only just

25:57.786 --> 25:59.029
five thousand dollars in their pocket

25:59.029 --> 26:01.495
but no pension from the military

26:01.495 --> 26:03.425
and they're quite often gonna be people

26:03.425 --> 26:04.889
in their late twenties or thirties

26:04.889 --> 26:07.038
as opposed to people nearing the end of their career.

26:07.038 --> 26:08.897
Is that a fair way to characterize the

26:08.897 --> 26:10.864
- Absolutely very few people make

26:10.864 --> 26:12.934
the military that one career.

26:12.934 --> 26:15.783
A lot of people will exit earlier in their twenties,

26:15.783 --> 26:18.366
early thirties have another job

26:18.655 --> 26:20.334
and obviously aren't financially prepared

26:20.334 --> 26:22.213
for that sort of transition.

26:22.213 --> 26:23.674
- Right. Cristin any further thoughts

26:23.674 --> 26:25.103
on the veterans issues before we go to

26:25.103 --> 26:27.523
- No. Actually, I will note that one bridge,

26:27.523 --> 26:30.118
one opportunity to bridge, to build on what Rosie

26:30.118 --> 26:33.451
was saying, was the fact that we did see

26:33.782 --> 26:36.784
a very strong relationship between those people

26:36.784 --> 26:38.963
who had engaged with civilians in their local

26:38.963 --> 26:41.407
communities and their willingness

26:41.407 --> 26:43.824
to recommend service overall.

26:44.022 --> 26:45.116
Our recommending service numbers,

26:45.116 --> 26:46.197
we can talk about those.

26:46.197 --> 26:48.554
But we did see that one real opportunity is

26:48.554 --> 26:50.830
if you're engaged with your civilian community,

26:50.830 --> 26:52.873
if you're talking to your civilian neighbors

26:52.873 --> 26:54.894
more frequently that was strongly

26:54.894 --> 26:58.305
associated with likelihood to recommend service.

26:58.305 --> 27:01.356
So I think veterans are a definite opportunity there

27:01.356 --> 27:03.628
to help bridge that with active duty.

27:03.628 --> 27:05.773
- Absolutely.
- It's a great opportunity.

27:05.773 --> 27:07.253
- So Secretary Kurta, I'm sure you've

27:07.253 --> 27:08.999
got a lot of thoughts already.

27:08.999 --> 27:11.873
But I guess the way I would put a question to you is;

27:11.873 --> 27:13.884
it really strikes me as a mixed bag, doesn't it?

27:13.884 --> 27:15.802
That we've got an amazing force,

27:15.802 --> 27:19.969
we've got incredibly dedicated people, excellent people.

27:20.273 --> 27:23.383
The survey says that 95% of them are proud

27:23.383 --> 27:26.240
of their service and happy they've done it.

27:26.240 --> 27:28.744
Yet, many of them don't want their kids

27:28.744 --> 27:30.566
to go through this same life.

27:30.566 --> 27:32.488
Many of them wonder what they're asking

27:32.488 --> 27:33.625
their families to go through,

27:33.625 --> 27:35.845
their spouses to go through.

27:35.845 --> 27:38.861
So it strikes me as just a fundamentally mixed bag.

27:38.861 --> 27:40.492
I wonder if you agree with that?

27:40.492 --> 27:42.356
And then the other big broad question

27:42.356 --> 27:44.395
is how much of this is inherent to

27:44.395 --> 27:45.553
the nature of military service

27:45.553 --> 27:49.720
and how much of it can we possibly change through policy?

27:50.677 --> 27:52.251
- Great, Mike. Thank you for that.

27:52.251 --> 27:53.608
And thank you for hosting.

27:53.608 --> 27:56.437
Just one disclaimer, not Secretary Tony Kurta.

27:56.437 --> 27:57.425
I don't want to get in trouble with

27:57.425 --> 27:59.158
Senate or anybody else (laughs).

27:59.158 --> 28:00.098
(audience laughs)

28:00.098 --> 28:01.232
You know, just one of the duties here.

28:01.232 --> 28:03.182
- [Mike] I think you are Deputy Assistant Secretary.

28:03.182 --> 28:04.099
- Yes. Yes.

28:06.074 --> 28:08.825
But I also want to thank Kathy and Blue Star Families

28:08.825 --> 28:10.609
for what you do and for being here

28:10.609 --> 28:13.167
and for hosting this and inviting

28:13.167 --> 28:15.493
the department to participate.

28:15.493 --> 28:18.993
All of you that support Blue Star Families

28:19.937 --> 28:23.437
and everybody here, it gives me great hope

28:24.060 --> 28:26.224
knowing that as we try to sustain

28:26.224 --> 28:29.557
the all-volunteer force we're not alone.

28:29.808 --> 28:32.558
We have an entire community here.

28:34.135 --> 28:38.302
Academia, non-profits, the government sector, corporations.

28:39.185 --> 28:42.514
It makes me very hopeful for the future.

28:42.514 --> 28:45.847
You know, it's not like this everywhere.

28:46.115 --> 28:49.128
You travel around and meet our allies and partners

28:49.128 --> 28:52.795
around the world and our all-volunteer force

28:54.163 --> 28:58.330
and the support that we get from our citizenry is unique.

28:59.714 --> 29:00.995
I think Mike talked about it.

29:00.995 --> 29:05.093
But there's a lot of thanking people for their service.

29:05.093 --> 29:06.007
Wasn't always that way.

29:06.007 --> 29:08.248
I think our Vietnam Veterans would say they might've

29:08.248 --> 29:11.908
had a different experience than our veterans today.

29:11.908 --> 29:15.075
But, we're getting a lot better at it.

29:15.397 --> 29:19.564
A lot of that is how we sustain our all-volunteer force.

29:19.646 --> 29:23.577
But I think what we're seeing is the success and the

29:23.577 --> 29:27.567
future of that all-volunteer force is not guaranteed.

29:27.567 --> 29:30.119
And we talked about the military civilian divide,

29:30.119 --> 29:33.210
we talk about 1% of our population serves.

29:33.210 --> 29:34.800
All of that is true.

29:34.800 --> 29:37.965
We talk about that it's increasingly a family affair.

29:37.965 --> 29:42.132
You only serve if somebody in your family has likely served.

29:42.866 --> 29:45.547
So any data that says that trend is going down

29:45.547 --> 29:47.714
is particularly troubling.

29:48.001 --> 29:49.905
But Mike to go back to your question about whether

29:49.905 --> 29:53.905
a lot of what we see is inherent in the service.

29:55.346 --> 29:57.360
I would say a couple of things.

29:57.360 --> 30:00.364
One is we know our families are changing.

30:00.364 --> 30:02.764
It's not your grandpa's military.

30:02.764 --> 30:05.645
The family structure that we have today is

30:05.645 --> 30:08.640
not the same as it was 40 or 50 years ago.

30:08.640 --> 30:11.557
Obviously we have to adapt to that.

30:12.261 --> 30:14.567
But I'll also say we have to adapt to

30:14.567 --> 30:17.317
the nature of the threat as well.

30:17.616 --> 30:19.550
The threat's not the same today

30:19.550 --> 30:21.772
as it was 20 years ago, right?

30:21.772 --> 30:25.939
9-11 fundamentally changed what we do, how we do it.

30:25.982 --> 30:29.699
The all-volunteer force, as it was designed in the 70's

30:29.699 --> 30:32.032
was not designed to keep us,

30:33.144 --> 30:36.938
now on our what, 17th continual year of conflict

30:36.938 --> 30:39.271
with really no end in sight.

30:39.522 --> 30:43.274
The fact that it has prospered, been successful,

30:43.274 --> 30:45.724
and it still vibrant and strong,

30:45.724 --> 30:49.557
I think is, kudos go to those that designed it

30:51.017 --> 30:55.184
and our entire citizenry for being able to sustain it.

30:58.700 --> 31:00.057
There are some warning signs.

31:00.057 --> 31:03.974
This survey every year points us to those areas

31:04.440 --> 31:07.082
that we have to work at to ensure that 20 years

31:07.082 --> 31:11.249
from now we can still field an all-volunteer force.

31:11.367 --> 31:12.718
But the nature is changing.

31:12.718 --> 31:14.135
We know that our,

31:14.400 --> 31:18.317
we kind of talk about the time with the family,

31:18.880 --> 31:20.247
the time away from the family.

31:20.247 --> 31:22.997
We hear in the news about sailors

31:23.778 --> 31:27.945
in the Western Pacific working hundred hour work weeks.

31:29.517 --> 31:31.563
There's no time with your family at

31:31.563 --> 31:33.730
a hundred hour work weeks.

31:34.692 --> 31:37.691
Part of this is the challenge that we're under

31:37.691 --> 31:39.745
I talked about the world events.

31:39.745 --> 31:43.912
The force that we have, generally, is getting smaller

31:46.042 --> 31:48.292
and the demands are rising.

31:49.008 --> 31:51.177
At the same time we have budget caps,

31:51.177 --> 31:54.344
sequestration, continuing resolutions,

31:54.971 --> 31:56.819
the people caught in the middle

31:56.819 --> 32:00.986
are our forces who keep getting asked to do more and more.

32:01.595 --> 32:04.644
So obviously they're going to be under strain.

32:04.644 --> 32:08.482
I don't think any of us should be surprised at that

32:08.482 --> 32:10.880
and the fact that as years go on

32:10.880 --> 32:13.530
we take care of things like the retirement system.

32:13.530 --> 32:16.880
We take care of things, relatively, like compensation

32:16.880 --> 32:20.284
and those things slowly go down the list.

32:20.284 --> 32:24.412
What we have the hardest time and we need everybody for

32:24.412 --> 32:26.703
is the fact that people are just being asked

32:26.703 --> 32:30.370
to do more with their time in their service.

32:30.730 --> 32:33.279
Therefore we're seeing, this is the issue.

32:33.279 --> 32:36.446
Why am I spending so much time away from home?

32:36.446 --> 32:38.623
Because that's what my country is asking me to do.

32:38.623 --> 32:39.757
We're not sending people with their

32:39.757 --> 32:41.598
families to Europe anymore.

32:41.598 --> 32:45.082
When the Army goes over there they're going to

32:45.082 --> 32:47.332
remote or temporary fields.

32:48.302 --> 32:50.135
We're all over Africa.

32:50.142 --> 32:52.508
We're in Afghanistan and Iraq.

32:52.508 --> 32:55.158
The nature of how we use the force that we have,

32:55.158 --> 32:57.541
including our reserve and guard members,

32:57.541 --> 33:00.346
is completely different than it was 20 years ago.

33:00.346 --> 33:03.263
So, I acknowledge all of the issues

33:03.448 --> 33:05.569
that we're gonna talk about today.

33:05.569 --> 33:09.736
They deserve every ounce of energy we can put into it.

33:10.412 --> 33:12.827
I just always want us to keep in mind

33:12.827 --> 33:14.396
why our families are under strain.

33:14.396 --> 33:16.834
Because their country is asking them to do these things.

33:16.834 --> 33:21.001
And I am heartened that people are still signing up

33:22.766 --> 33:26.933
every year, 250 thousand young Americans join every year

33:28.068 --> 33:30.160
and we're still able to field this

33:30.160 --> 33:32.109
incredible all-volunteer force

33:32.109 --> 33:33.571
and that's wonderful but we have to

33:33.571 --> 33:35.920
pay attention to the warning signs

33:35.920 --> 33:37.580
and that's why I think it's so valuable

33:37.580 --> 33:41.247
that we have forums like this so that we can

33:41.381 --> 33:45.134
get ahead of the problem and not just react to it.

33:45.134 --> 33:48.378
- So as we go to a second round of thoughts and then to you.

33:48.378 --> 33:50.442
Let me add my thanks, as a civilian,

33:50.442 --> 33:52.790
to military families and veterans.

33:52.790 --> 33:54.740
Vice President Pence did a nice job on

33:54.740 --> 33:57.629
Veterans Day of reminding us all to say thank you.

33:57.629 --> 34:01.429
I just want to do that myself and put in the word of

34:01.429 --> 34:04.953
admiration for what the small group of not just men and

34:04.953 --> 34:07.700
women in uniform but their families do for our country.

34:07.700 --> 34:10.950
But also I want to comment on a couple of specific

34:10.950 --> 34:14.283
points in the survey and then just offer

34:14.733 --> 34:16.681
a couple of policy provocations

34:16.681 --> 34:18.653
and see if folks want to chime in,

34:18.653 --> 34:22.379
add to any of those, critique any of those thoughts.

34:22.379 --> 34:25.946
I think among the many kernels of wisdom in this survey,

34:25.946 --> 34:27.823
two that really stood out for me.

34:27.823 --> 34:29.490
One is certainly, Kathy mentioned these,

34:29.490 --> 34:32.745
one is certainly that 40% of all families

34:32.745 --> 34:35.125
had someone in uniform in their family

34:35.125 --> 34:39.292
deploy for at least six months out of the last 18.

34:41.367 --> 34:43.337
It raises some questions in my mind.

34:43.337 --> 34:45.170
First question is why?

34:45.470 --> 34:47.331
Although, I also would like to know how many of those

34:47.331 --> 34:49.812
families were in the nine month and up category.

34:49.812 --> 34:52.395
Because six out of 18 is a lot.

34:52.769 --> 34:54.093
But it's sort of what some people

34:54.093 --> 34:55.997
think they're signing up for.

34:55.997 --> 34:59.830
Nine, ten, twelve is not what, or 15 out of 18

34:59.833 --> 35:01.581
is not what people can realistically

35:01.581 --> 35:03.998
or reasonably be asked to do.

35:04.371 --> 35:06.752
So I'm struck by the OPTEMPO.

35:06.752 --> 35:09.576
But I'm also curious as to how many families

35:09.576 --> 35:12.340
are doing a lot more than six months.

35:12.340 --> 35:13.714
That's certainly one set of findings

35:13.714 --> 35:14.950
that I find very important.

35:14.950 --> 35:16.779
Secondly, this compensation question.

35:16.779 --> 35:19.401
To me, I have to acknowledge, it's changed the way I

35:19.401 --> 35:22.064
think about military compensation.

35:22.064 --> 35:24.911
To think about the spouse and the difficulty

35:24.911 --> 35:28.056
of the spouse finding a job and finding a good paying job.

35:28.056 --> 35:29.938
It's really changed the way I think about this.

35:29.938 --> 35:34.105
Because since the Reagan years military compensation in

35:34.757 --> 35:38.924
this country by some definition has been pretty good.

35:39.438 --> 35:40.929
I say that with some trepidation

35:40.929 --> 35:42.126
sitting in front of an audience like this.

35:42.126 --> 35:43.606
(audience laughs)

35:43.606 --> 35:46.329
But if you look statistically and you compare

35:46.329 --> 35:49.417
to different aged cohorts and education cohorts

35:49.417 --> 35:53.093
military compensation, even before you factor in

35:53.093 --> 35:55.200
retirement for those who do 20 years,

35:55.200 --> 35:57.512
is statistically pretty good.

35:57.512 --> 36:00.479
But it doesn't factor in these second order effects.

36:00.479 --> 36:02.234
These second order considerations.

36:02.234 --> 36:04.320
So I have to admit, I've been fundamentally

36:04.320 --> 36:06.820
affected by this set of facts.

36:06.975 --> 36:09.882
And it makes me ask, what can we do about it?

36:09.882 --> 36:11.643
Everybody up here has said it's a problem.

36:11.643 --> 36:14.040
We're all struggling for solutions.

36:14.040 --> 36:16.702
So let me just put a couple of ideas on the table

36:16.702 --> 36:18.709
and then see how people want to respond

36:18.709 --> 36:20.821
to these or other thoughts about what we should be

36:20.821 --> 36:24.597
doing to address some of the real challenges here.

36:24.597 --> 36:26.005
One thought I have is to the extent that

36:26.005 --> 36:29.303
operational tempo in the military is still high.

36:29.303 --> 36:31.506
I think we have to get out of the expectation

36:31.506 --> 36:33.033
some may have that we're gonna build

36:33.033 --> 36:35.747
a much larger military to address that.

36:35.747 --> 36:37.704
I think the military should be a little bit larger

36:37.704 --> 36:41.087
but if the 700 billion dollar budget goes through,

36:41.087 --> 36:44.052
and I'm dubious that it will when all is said and done

36:44.052 --> 36:45.601
at the end of this year, we're not gonna have a whole

36:45.601 --> 36:48.507
heck of a lot of money to grow the force very fast

36:48.507 --> 36:50.257
and in large numbers.

36:51.182 --> 36:54.945
So I think the services have to view this issue,

36:54.945 --> 36:56.773
partly, as their own challenge.

36:56.773 --> 37:00.940
And instead of, maybe the grandfather's military image

37:00.989 --> 37:02.941
has changed for military families.

37:02.941 --> 37:05.834
I'm not sure it's always changed for military leadership.

37:05.834 --> 37:08.904
I think there's still a machismo that deployment is good.

37:08.904 --> 37:12.237
And even doing exercises away from base,

37:13.748 --> 37:15.593
maybe sometimes people do a few more of those

37:15.593 --> 37:16.830
than they really need to do.

37:16.830 --> 37:19.515
Maybe, exercises and training can be done at home base.

37:19.515 --> 37:21.073
I just want to ask that question.

37:21.073 --> 37:24.370
I wonder if, to pick on a couple of services,

37:24.370 --> 37:26.339
I wonder if our friends in the Army can

37:26.339 --> 37:28.726
think about asking civilian leadership

37:28.726 --> 37:31.124
if we could have the brigade in Poland

37:31.124 --> 37:33.637
be permanently stationed there with families

37:33.637 --> 37:35.441
and the same thing in Korea?

37:35.441 --> 37:37.805
I don't know, Korea's a developed country these days.

37:37.805 --> 37:39.288
Yes, it's a dangerous place.

37:39.288 --> 37:42.423
But we have 200 thousand civilian American's living in Korea

37:42.423 --> 37:43.891
I don't think military families are so shy

37:43.891 --> 37:47.391
of being in a dicey, geo-strategic theater

37:47.425 --> 37:49.447
that we can't consider that.

37:49.447 --> 37:51.368
Because right now the Army likes to say,

37:51.368 --> 37:54.285
well we are rotating forces through

37:55.076 --> 37:58.328
and that's a way to spread the burden and so forth.

37:58.328 --> 37:59.819
But the Army also complains that it only

37:59.819 --> 38:02.379
has three brigades ready out of 58.

38:02.379 --> 38:04.379
Which is another debate.

38:04.417 --> 38:06.651
Also we know that our Army families

38:06.651 --> 38:09.886
are some of the families responding to this survey.

38:09.886 --> 38:11.980
Saying that they feel over deployed.

38:11.980 --> 38:14.647
So if separation is the problem,

38:15.189 --> 38:17.876
maybe we can reunite families with service

38:17.876 --> 38:20.255
members in more of the locations abroad

38:20.255 --> 38:21.708
where they typically serve.

38:21.708 --> 38:22.762
I'm not suggesting that we can do that in

38:22.762 --> 38:25.222
Afghanistan or Iraq but I do think there are

38:25.222 --> 38:27.040
places we can consider it.

38:27.040 --> 38:29.600
Can the Navy think a little bit differently

38:29.600 --> 38:32.903
about the way it maintains forward deployments?

38:32.903 --> 38:34.929
Again, maybe we have too much of a machismo

38:34.929 --> 38:36.020
that says we've gotta have a certain

38:36.020 --> 38:37.888
number of ships deployed.

38:37.888 --> 38:42.055
Maybe more irregular deployments of different lengths

38:42.396 --> 38:45.603
can sometimes be just as affective in certain theaters.

38:45.603 --> 38:47.090
There may be places where you literally need

38:47.090 --> 38:50.122
a ship within 30 miles of a potential enemy all the time,

38:50.122 --> 38:51.117
I don't dent that.

38:51.117 --> 38:53.721
But there may be other places where a more

38:53.721 --> 38:56.054
unpredictable set of deployments

38:56.054 --> 38:58.644
and at a somewhat lower pace could actually

38:58.644 --> 39:01.244
achieve many of the same strategic effects.

39:01.244 --> 39:03.598
And I wonder if the Navy could also think more

39:03.598 --> 39:05.965
about dual-crewing for given ships.

39:05.965 --> 39:07.661
We do this with minesweepers, with submarines.

39:07.661 --> 39:09.179
The Navy has never wanted to have

39:09.179 --> 39:11.326
surface combatants share crews.

39:11.326 --> 39:14.326
Where a crew would train on one ship

39:14.567 --> 39:17.331
in home waters and then fly to relieve a crew

39:17.331 --> 39:19.360
on a deployed ship overseas.

39:19.360 --> 39:20.496
You save the two months of ocean

39:20.496 --> 39:22.674
transit going and coming with that approach.

39:22.674 --> 39:23.992
I know there are a lot of logistical

39:23.992 --> 39:25.938
complications and my Navy friends

39:25.938 --> 39:27.663
have explained them to me at length.

39:27.663 --> 39:30.746
I'm just not convinced that it really

39:30.800 --> 39:33.498
has to just be one crew for one ship all the time.

39:33.498 --> 39:35.190
I could go on but you've probably heard enough

39:35.190 --> 39:36.232
of these kind of thoughts.

39:36.232 --> 39:38.614
I'm really just trying to provoke a conversation.

39:38.614 --> 39:40.792
The last thing I'll say and then I'll really just turn to

39:40.792 --> 39:42.213
the panelists for their thoughts on these

39:42.213 --> 39:46.380
or any other policy options we might have before us.

39:46.849 --> 39:50.214
I think the services have tried to give people

39:50.214 --> 39:51.759
a little more predictability in where they're

39:51.759 --> 39:53.518
based in The United States with some of

39:53.518 --> 39:56.212
the mega-bases for better or worse.

39:56.212 --> 39:58.116
We know our Marines are often in North Carolina

39:58.116 --> 39:59.911
and California and a lot of our soldiers

39:59.911 --> 40:02.293
are in Texas and a couple other states

40:02.293 --> 40:04.276
where there are concentrations of bases

40:04.276 --> 40:07.443
and other services have done the same.

40:08.123 --> 40:12.133
I wonder if that process could and should go further?

40:12.133 --> 40:14.717
So that people have an even greater likelihood

40:14.717 --> 40:17.376
of staying in one place for two or three tours,

40:17.376 --> 40:19.361
if they so choose and if they want that.

40:19.361 --> 40:21.542
Or maybe it's just not realistic.

40:21.542 --> 40:24.654
And if it's not realistic to have people stay

40:24.654 --> 40:26.388
longer than how are we really going to affect

40:26.388 --> 40:28.826
the spousal employment challenge?

40:28.826 --> 40:31.322
I don't really know what else we can do.

40:31.322 --> 40:34.863
Maybe we have to just accept that we're gonna

40:34.863 --> 40:37.225
have a high spouse unemployment rate.

40:37.225 --> 40:38.852
Therefore this is an additional argument

40:38.852 --> 40:42.093
in favor of military compensation increasing a little bit.

40:42.093 --> 40:44.588
Even though on paper it looks pretty good already.

40:44.588 --> 40:46.011
So these are some of the ideas I just want to

40:46.011 --> 40:48.571
put before the jury, so to speak.

40:48.571 --> 40:50.280
But you can ignore them and offer any other,

40:50.280 --> 40:53.947
I just want to have one round of thoughts on

40:54.299 --> 40:58.299
solutions or ways we can remediate some of these

40:58.868 --> 41:01.160
problems we're seeing in the military community today.

41:01.160 --> 41:03.117
Why don't we start with you Rosalinda.

41:03.117 --> 41:06.867
- I'll comment on the military spouse issue.

41:07.110 --> 41:08.861
Just like the Army's changing.

41:08.861 --> 41:10.826
Just like the military's changing.

41:10.826 --> 41:13.829
I think employment landscape is changing.

41:13.829 --> 41:16.584
It's not the same employment situation

41:16.584 --> 41:20.705
or the landscape, it doesn't look the same 20 years ago.

41:20.705 --> 41:23.653
Technology is a huge component of it.

41:23.653 --> 41:26.796
Because of that we're able to work remote.

41:26.796 --> 41:29.879
We're able to be flexible, adaptable,

41:30.403 --> 41:32.653
and do much more with that.

41:33.013 --> 41:36.787
So for employers wanting to work with military

41:36.787 --> 41:39.954
spouses offering career portability is

41:40.366 --> 41:44.205
one opportunity instead of increasing the pay of military.

41:44.205 --> 41:45.455
But having these opportunities

41:45.455 --> 41:48.038
available for military spouses.

41:48.509 --> 41:51.342
I would definitely have employers,

41:53.501 --> 41:56.623
and I work in both the military families

41:56.623 --> 41:58.982
and the veteran space, and I see it.

41:58.982 --> 42:03.149
All with good intentions, I do see a lot of initiatives

42:03.905 --> 42:05.947
and we tend to lump veterans and

42:05.947 --> 42:07.740
military families together.

42:07.740 --> 42:10.057
But they're not the same population.

42:10.057 --> 42:13.238
They have unique challenges, different challenges.

42:13.238 --> 42:15.463
So I would encourage employers to specifically

42:15.463 --> 42:18.370
look at the unique aspects of military spouses

42:18.370 --> 42:20.634
and what potential opportunities does your

42:20.634 --> 42:22.399
employment can offer that.

42:22.399 --> 42:23.341
So, that's all I have to say.

42:23.341 --> 42:25.463
- [Mike] That's great. Thank you. Cristin?

42:25.463 --> 42:29.117
- I would add to that that our survey data does

42:29.117 --> 42:32.700
bear out that it's not employment readiness

42:33.655 --> 42:36.226
or even the ability to find a job.

42:36.226 --> 42:40.393
Often times the greater challenges have to do with

42:41.025 --> 42:43.398
aligning with schedules or the moves.

42:43.398 --> 42:44.415
You're right on the moves.

42:44.415 --> 42:46.684
The moves are a challenge which could potentially

42:46.684 --> 42:49.421
be addressed with some of the portability

42:49.421 --> 42:51.074
or the virtual work.

42:51.074 --> 42:54.074
But the other one is just schedules.

42:55.014 --> 42:57.847
More predictability in scheduling.

42:58.769 --> 43:02.352
Many military families in their qualitative

43:02.761 --> 43:05.336
responses, we ask open ended questions sometimes,

43:05.336 --> 43:08.419
and one of the trends that we see is,

43:08.557 --> 43:11.227
it's the fact that I don't know what time

43:11.227 --> 43:12.909
my spouse is going to be home tonight.

43:12.909 --> 43:16.909
I don't even know if he's flying a plane at 5 PM

43:18.228 --> 43:19.947
the next day maybe I'll find out if he's

43:19.947 --> 43:22.067
gonna fly in the morning or the afternoon.

43:22.067 --> 43:23.763
Those are the kinds of things, I can't commit

43:23.763 --> 43:26.491
to a schedule even that addresses that heightened

43:26.491 --> 43:29.297
work load that the service member's having.

43:29.297 --> 43:31.478
Because there is so little predictability

43:31.478 --> 43:34.285
even when the service member is at home.

43:34.285 --> 43:36.894
And a lot of that may have to do with budget caps

43:36.894 --> 43:39.929
right now and inability to fund at levels

43:39.929 --> 43:42.361
that are needed by the services.

43:42.361 --> 43:43.688
But I would say that increasing the

43:43.688 --> 43:47.855
predictability at home, not when they're deployed,

43:48.831 --> 43:52.666
but just when they're at home does go a long way

43:52.666 --> 43:56.416
to increasing the ability of spouses to work.

43:56.728 --> 44:00.228
I would also say, in terms of the OPTEMPO.

44:03.076 --> 44:05.363
Burnout is the top reason that people leave

44:05.363 --> 44:07.613
jobs in the civilian world.

44:07.943 --> 44:11.002
Over half of the turnover every year,

44:11.002 --> 44:13.816
half the people who leave, they leave because of burnout.

44:13.816 --> 44:16.109
So we know that military families

44:16.109 --> 44:18.535
or service members aren't different than

44:18.535 --> 44:19.603
their civilian counterparts

44:19.603 --> 44:22.164
and that burnout is one of these issues.

44:22.164 --> 44:26.331
It's burnout, it's too much time, it's also family reasons.

44:27.165 --> 44:29.011
We asked people who were intending to exit,

44:29.011 --> 44:31.390
what was the top reason that you're intending

44:31.390 --> 44:33.361
to exit in the next two years.

44:33.361 --> 44:35.578
And the top two reasons both had to do with family.

44:35.578 --> 44:38.684
One was the concern, the impact of service on children

44:38.684 --> 44:42.758
and on their families and number two was just time away.

44:42.758 --> 44:43.932
It was just too much time away

44:43.932 --> 44:45.651
to feel that they were missing out

44:45.651 --> 44:48.270
on too many opportunities with their,

44:48.270 --> 44:50.603
their life was not complete.

44:51.446 --> 44:52.788
So I will say that those are really

44:52.788 --> 44:55.454
the two areas that I think are really opportunities.

44:55.454 --> 44:58.954
Is looking at more predictability at home.

44:59.495 --> 45:03.014
Which is directly linked to some of the funding challenges

45:03.014 --> 45:06.883
that we're having right now, hopefully those may improve.

45:06.883 --> 45:10.966
And then also this idea of addressing family time

45:11.430 --> 45:12.509
while they are home.

45:12.509 --> 45:14.205
Giving them that more predictability

45:14.205 --> 45:16.017
and then giving them the ability to do things

45:16.017 --> 45:18.246
like coach soccer for their children

45:18.246 --> 45:21.079
or be there to relieve the time so

45:21.294 --> 45:22.934
their spouses are able to go to work.

45:22.934 --> 45:25.061
Those are two opportunities that

45:25.061 --> 45:27.046
are close to some of the policy suggestions

45:27.046 --> 45:27.925
that you have, yeah.

45:27.925 --> 45:29.508
- So. Please, yeah?

45:31.730 --> 45:34.982
Come on up and grab the microphone so we can hear you.

45:34.982 --> 45:36.789
- Just to take the prerogative.

45:36.789 --> 45:39.539
I think there's so many solutions

45:39.886 --> 45:42.985
and a lot of them don't require government work.

45:42.985 --> 45:45.251
Because we have an economy that really needs

45:45.251 --> 45:46.847
talented workers and we have a lot of

45:46.847 --> 45:49.703
underemployed or unemployed talented workers.

45:49.703 --> 45:51.725
Blue Star Families has 34 employees

45:51.725 --> 45:53.743
who are mostly military spouses.

45:53.743 --> 45:55.798
They've been growing at a rate of 20% a year,

45:55.798 --> 45:56.945
year over year.

45:56.945 --> 46:00.994
Even while our folks deploy, move on short notice.

46:00.994 --> 46:02.957
Cristin moved on two months notice to Italy.

46:02.957 --> 46:04.510
She didn't lose her job.

46:04.510 --> 46:05.593
All of us do.

46:05.821 --> 46:08.632
And we can keep the enterprise going.

46:08.632 --> 46:12.237
We need help from DOD in articulating to the larger

46:12.237 --> 46:15.320
country that this is a patriotic duty

46:16.172 --> 46:18.367
and an economic opportunity for people

46:18.367 --> 46:20.950
to bring on talented personnel.

46:21.223 --> 46:23.927
But we need them to have jobs that can be done remotely

46:23.927 --> 46:25.551
or have career portability.

46:25.551 --> 46:27.365
They need to have flexibility of hours.

46:27.365 --> 46:29.723
They need career progression if someone wants progression

46:29.723 --> 46:33.414
or the opportunity for quality gig work if people want that.

46:33.414 --> 46:35.241
We have a military spouse employment program

46:35.241 --> 46:38.107
which does great work but they can't do it alone.

46:38.107 --> 46:39.617
Organizations like ours.

46:39.617 --> 46:41.401
Hiring Our Heroes, others.

46:41.401 --> 46:44.610
But corporations and a message that this is what

46:44.610 --> 46:48.775
our military needs to be able to field the missions it has.

46:48.775 --> 46:50.919
It can't be that this is the package.

46:50.919 --> 46:52.842
Because if it's the package that 40% recommending

46:52.842 --> 46:56.019
services is gonna become 30% and then 20%.

46:56.019 --> 46:58.456
The solution is, everybody wins.

46:58.456 --> 47:00.265
The military gets the second employment.

47:00.265 --> 47:04.432
The second income, the employers get the good quality.

47:05.764 --> 47:07.986
We need innovative ways to make that easier to identify

47:07.986 --> 47:11.896
people and I'm very positive about the solutions.

47:11.896 --> 47:14.482
I just wanted to jump in and add that.

47:14.482 --> 47:17.086
- That's great and Mr. Kurta I know you've not only

47:17.086 --> 47:18.896
got an important job at The Pentagon today,

47:18.896 --> 47:20.725
you've been an admiral in The Navy so you've

47:20.725 --> 47:22.602
seen this from multiple vantage points.

47:22.602 --> 47:23.435
There's a lot on the table.

47:23.435 --> 47:26.935
I just wondered how you'd want to comment.

47:27.494 --> 47:29.870
- Well you know, there's so much in this survey

47:29.870 --> 47:32.537
and so much to keep us all busy.

47:32.840 --> 47:35.757
But the one item in it that, to me,

47:38.780 --> 47:42.039
is the darkest cloud on the horizon, potentially.

47:42.039 --> 47:44.449
Because one of the things that seizes me the most

47:44.449 --> 47:48.616
is what's the state of the all-volunteer force in 20 years?

47:49.371 --> 47:52.621
Are we still able to recruit and retain

47:53.104 --> 47:57.142
and train and maintain the force that we have today.

47:57.142 --> 47:59.725
As I said, it's not guaranteed.

48:00.517 --> 48:02.683
Without a lot of hard work and the entire country

48:02.683 --> 48:04.933
behind us we won't succeed.

48:06.257 --> 48:09.976
Since we have relatively small all-volunteer force,

48:09.976 --> 48:13.344
since it is 1% of our population or less,

48:13.344 --> 48:16.677
since it is a family business all of the

48:17.213 --> 48:19.692
strain that we talk about here is leading

48:19.692 --> 48:23.775
those currently in service, at declining amounts,

48:24.314 --> 48:26.849
to recommend to their children, not only to their children

48:26.849 --> 48:31.016
but to everybody they know, for those coming behind them

48:31.915 --> 48:35.748
to put on the uniform and serve their country.

48:36.173 --> 48:38.214
And of course, it's not just those in service today

48:38.214 --> 48:41.613
that recommend country, it's the influencers out in society.

48:41.613 --> 48:45.780
So this goes back to where we need everybody's help.

48:45.802 --> 48:48.468
It's our teachers, it's our coaches,

48:48.468 --> 48:52.433
it's our high school counselors, it's our pastors.

48:52.433 --> 48:56.126
All of those people are recommending military service

48:56.126 --> 48:57.709
at declining rates.

48:59.089 --> 49:02.089
Now, part of that is 16 years of war

49:03.121 --> 49:07.288
and in society everybody appreciates the military, yes.

49:08.163 --> 49:10.398
But there's an increasing view

49:10.398 --> 49:11.878
of what our veteran looks like.

49:11.878 --> 49:14.851
Those people that transition from society

49:14.851 --> 49:18.965
are either ill, have a problem transitioning back into

49:18.965 --> 49:21.798
civilian society, they're injured,

49:21.965 --> 49:25.132
or personally disabled in some manner.

49:27.093 --> 49:30.701
That's just, we have the data, that is an increasing

49:30.701 --> 49:32.784
perception among society.

49:34.930 --> 49:38.930
Part of that is all DOD's fault because we don't

49:39.204 --> 49:41.704
combat that perception enough.

49:41.860 --> 49:45.457
But we need everybody's help in talking about

49:45.457 --> 49:48.290
the power of our military spouses,

49:48.554 --> 49:51.356
the power of our veterans, how much they contribute

49:51.356 --> 49:55.523
to society, how much they can and do contribute to society.

49:55.536 --> 49:58.608
And influencers which is everybody in this room

49:58.608 --> 50:02.762
in highlighting the positive aspects of military service.

50:02.762 --> 50:04.831
We see when people get out of the service,

50:04.831 --> 50:05.966
what do they miss the most?

50:05.966 --> 50:08.597
What is the protective factor that they lose

50:08.597 --> 50:11.404
that actually raises their risks for suicide

50:11.404 --> 50:13.047
when they leave the service?

50:13.047 --> 50:16.032
It's that comradery, it's that sense of mission,

50:16.032 --> 50:17.885
it's that being a part of something

50:17.885 --> 50:19.563
that's bigger than yourself, a mission that's

50:19.563 --> 50:21.313
bigger than yourself.

50:21.717 --> 50:23.933
Yet, we don't do a very good job of highlighting

50:23.933 --> 50:26.685
that to our young men and women in the age 17-24

50:26.685 --> 50:27.826
to come into the service.

50:27.826 --> 50:30.394
Yes, we talk about the pay package.

50:30.394 --> 50:33.169
Yes, we talk about all of the benefits;

50:33.169 --> 50:34.776
The G.I. Bill, all of this sort of thing.

50:34.776 --> 50:36.327
All of those things are great.

50:36.327 --> 50:38.919
What job you can train and how it

50:38.919 --> 50:40.429
may give you a skill for life.

50:40.429 --> 50:42.846
All those are very important.

50:44.115 --> 50:46.519
And everything appeals differently to people.

50:46.519 --> 50:49.350
You've gotta do everything to get 250 thousand

50:49.350 --> 50:53.100
young qualified interested people every year.

50:53.114 --> 50:56.753
But we need to highlight that sense of mission

50:56.753 --> 50:59.473
and what people get out of contributing to the country,

50:59.473 --> 51:01.151
the value of public service.

51:01.151 --> 51:03.122
There's many ways to serve our country, uniform is one of

51:03.122 --> 51:06.205
them, that happens to be the business that we're in.

51:06.205 --> 51:08.361
But, there's many ways to do it.

51:08.361 --> 51:11.944
So we need everybody's help here in talking

51:12.119 --> 51:15.454
up the value of public service to our young people.

51:15.454 --> 51:18.114
There's a responsibility that comes with citizenship.

51:18.114 --> 51:21.646
Again, many things you can do, uniform is one of them.

51:21.646 --> 51:24.962
We'd like to see a certain number of them choose that path.

51:24.962 --> 51:28.629
But, it's the role of influencers in society

51:28.709 --> 51:31.369
talking to young people to say, hey take a look at it.

51:31.369 --> 51:34.071
When you see the message, when somebody talks to you

51:34.071 --> 51:37.337
about service be open to it because these are

51:37.337 --> 51:40.622
the great things about serving your country in uniform.

51:40.622 --> 51:42.142
That's where we need everybody's help

51:42.142 --> 51:44.413
and that's why I so much appreciate Blue Star

51:44.413 --> 51:46.693
and their survey asking this question

51:46.693 --> 51:50.151
because that's a trend that absolutely can not continue

51:50.151 --> 51:53.663
if we need and want a volunteer force in 20 years.

51:53.663 --> 51:55.729
- Fantastic. By the way let me say as we go to your

51:55.729 --> 51:59.336
questions and your thoughts that this will live

51:59.336 --> 52:02.833
on not only on the Facebook page of Blue Star Families

52:02.833 --> 52:05.318
but also their website bluestarfam.org,

52:05.318 --> 52:07.949
the brookings.edu website and so we look

52:07.949 --> 52:09.700
forward to now including many of your

52:09.700 --> 52:11.051
thoughts and questions as well.

52:11.051 --> 52:13.380
So let's, let me take two or three at a time.

52:13.380 --> 52:15.580
I will start with, I can't resist a woman with the baby

52:15.580 --> 52:19.497
in the back and then we'll also take a question

52:19.731 --> 52:23.898
up here, two questions up here before we go to the panel.

52:24.119 --> 52:26.035
- [Woman] Hi, my name is,

52:26.035 --> 52:27.208
- [Man] Can you speak up please?

52:27.208 --> 52:30.625
- Yeah she will, microphone's not on yet.

52:35.230 --> 52:36.370
We probably need the microphone

52:36.370 --> 52:37.307
because we want to make sure that

52:37.307 --> 52:39.807
you're recorded for posterity.

52:43.325 --> 52:47.242
Are we switching out mics or what are we doing?

52:55.822 --> 52:59.322
- I'm sorry.
- That's okay. No, thank you.

53:00.498 --> 53:02.317
So again, we'll take three questions together

53:02.317 --> 53:04.507
and then we'll have a series of responses.

53:04.507 --> 53:05.507
Over to you.

53:05.798 --> 53:08.186
- [Female Audience Member] Hi, my name is Amanda Lefler.

53:08.186 --> 53:10.206
Oh, sorry, it's really echoey.

53:10.206 --> 53:12.747
I'm from After The Long Walk which is a peer-to-peer

53:12.747 --> 53:15.683
support network for explosive ordinance disposal

53:15.683 --> 53:18.189
technicians and their families.

53:18.189 --> 53:21.939
So our goal is to reduce suicides by offering

53:22.367 --> 53:25.185
peer-to-peer support through hotline

53:25.185 --> 53:27.268
and also a Facebook page.

53:27.607 --> 53:28.450
It's working really well although

53:28.450 --> 53:30.817
we don't have numbers because we don't have a survey.

53:30.817 --> 53:32.830
But as we've been talking today,

53:32.830 --> 53:34.827
one of the things that I've been wondering is;

53:34.827 --> 53:37.827
why don't we break this down by MOS?

53:38.208 --> 53:42.018
So that way you can see what the challenges are by MOS.

53:42.018 --> 53:44.226
Because what you're talking about,

53:44.226 --> 53:47.359
our community experiences to the extreme.

53:47.359 --> 53:50.748
100% of our techs have traumatic brain injuries

53:50.748 --> 53:53.285
and also injuries to the rest of their bodies

53:53.285 --> 53:56.035
from the percussive force injury.

53:57.745 --> 54:00.353
So you think if you're experiencing repeated

54:00.353 --> 54:04.224
explosions, that's doing a lot to your entire body.

54:04.224 --> 54:05.657
Not just your brain.

54:05.657 --> 54:09.740
So, bringing that stress home, our family members

54:10.350 --> 54:13.638
are experiencing high stress all the time.

54:13.638 --> 54:15.588
Because they're stressed when they're away

54:15.588 --> 54:18.421
like my husband is gone right now for an entire year,

54:18.421 --> 54:21.754
over in Afghanistan, you mentioned that.

54:22.499 --> 54:26.292
But, there's also the stress when they come home

54:26.292 --> 54:28.584
because they don't leave that on the battlefield.

54:28.584 --> 54:31.220
It comes home with them and it's at home

54:31.220 --> 54:32.846
with them all the time.

54:32.846 --> 54:36.513
So, maybe also talking about branch specific

54:38.158 --> 54:41.930
or MOS specific since we're all four branches.

54:41.930 --> 54:44.390
How do we go ahead and help folks

54:44.390 --> 54:46.687
where they're at in that niche?

54:46.687 --> 54:49.037
Because our needs and our community

54:49.037 --> 54:51.669
are very different from a flyers needs

54:51.669 --> 54:55.252
or surface warfare or anybody else, really.

54:56.225 --> 54:57.401
- Very much for the question.

54:57.401 --> 55:01.121
Come up here now to the fourth row and then to the fifth.

55:01.121 --> 55:02.622
- Hello. My name is Patty Baron.

55:02.622 --> 55:04.769
I'm with the Association of the United States Army.

55:04.769 --> 55:07.245
I wanted to kind of piggy back on what you said,

55:07.245 --> 55:10.092
Mr. Handlin, and that was about the services.

55:10.092 --> 55:12.513
Maybe looking at some of the specific things

55:12.513 --> 55:13.930
that they can do.

55:14.393 --> 55:16.347
Three things came to mind while you were talking

55:16.347 --> 55:19.185
and there are things that I've been seeing an awful lot of.

55:19.185 --> 55:22.212
A lot of military spouses are entrepreneurs.

55:22.212 --> 55:24.298
They're starting their own businesses.

55:24.298 --> 55:26.062
That's one way that they're seeing that they

55:26.062 --> 55:28.395
can manage the employment or

55:28.874 --> 55:30.871
unemployment piece in their lives

55:30.871 --> 55:32.086
and they're doing pretty good.

55:32.086 --> 55:35.054
As a matter of fact, as AUSA when I contract out,

55:35.054 --> 55:37.455
when I have consultants, I hire only military spouses

55:37.455 --> 55:39.696
to help me with some of the things I need.

55:39.696 --> 55:41.632
But what we heard was when they go from

55:41.632 --> 55:44.231
installation to installation, sir,

55:44.231 --> 55:48.127
the installation policies for being able to have

55:48.127 --> 55:50.659
your own business on an installation are very archaic.

55:50.659 --> 55:52.511
They need to be updated.

55:52.511 --> 55:54.899
So that's something that the services can look at.

55:54.899 --> 55:58.316
Update those policies so that it's easier

55:58.500 --> 56:01.700
for a spouse to have their own businesses on an installation

56:01.700 --> 56:02.918
The second thing that I wanted to mention,

56:02.918 --> 56:05.401
and it's in the survey and that's childcare.

56:05.401 --> 56:08.356
We need to make childcare more available for those

56:08.356 --> 56:10.812
that have part-time employment

56:10.812 --> 56:13.895
or need it only for specific reasons.

56:14.076 --> 56:16.761
I have a spouse that I talked to the other day

56:16.761 --> 56:17.779
who has her own business.

56:17.779 --> 56:19.584
She's moving from Colorado Springs

56:19.584 --> 56:21.667
to Fort Irwin, California

56:22.102 --> 56:25.435
and she can't even sign up for childcare

56:26.435 --> 56:29.084
because she has to attend a course that

56:29.084 --> 56:31.449
the childcare center is offering before

56:31.449 --> 56:35.616
she can then apply for her child to be in that center.

56:35.630 --> 56:39.309
Now that is ridiculous because she has all the paperwork.

56:39.309 --> 56:41.641
She could send it, she could fax it, she could do whatever.

56:41.641 --> 56:44.162
But until she's physically there to attend that course

56:44.162 --> 56:46.955
she can't sign her child up for childcare.

56:46.955 --> 56:48.561
So I think we need to look at that.

56:48.561 --> 56:50.974
Then the third thing that I want to talk about.

56:50.974 --> 56:53.596
And it just left me so when it comes back.

56:53.596 --> 56:55.576
- Okay. Two is good
- I'll let you know.

56:55.576 --> 56:58.111
- Let's do one more and then we'll come back to the panel.

56:58.111 --> 57:02.278
It was the woman in the red shirt right behind or was it you

57:02.791 --> 57:04.231
There were two in a row here who

57:04.231 --> 57:05.592
- I think it was right here.

57:05.592 --> 57:06.546
- Okay, we'll go to Sandy.

57:06.546 --> 57:07.546
- Thank you.

57:08.796 --> 57:10.296
Sandy Apgar, CSIS.

57:12.602 --> 57:16.769
First, would opening bases in the manner that we had

57:18.029 --> 57:22.196
before, pre 9-11, help to foster community engagement?

57:23.808 --> 57:26.879
During my term in office we used to measure installation

57:26.879 --> 57:29.620
commanders on their effectiveness

57:29.620 --> 57:31.751
in the local community engagement

57:31.751 --> 57:34.144
and of all of their services.

57:34.144 --> 57:36.894
And secondly, if you were to have

57:37.443 --> 57:40.610
commissioned this survey in the 1990's

57:41.615 --> 57:45.782
housing would've been first on the list or among the top two

57:47.027 --> 57:50.080
But I note that it's not on the list anymore.

57:50.080 --> 57:52.961
Does that suggest that the poor condition

57:52.961 --> 57:56.294
of military housing and related services

57:56.413 --> 57:59.580
has been largely addressed by the DOD,

58:00.222 --> 58:03.283
public/private partnerships and other initiatives?

58:03.283 --> 58:06.371
What else could be done using the same vehicle

58:06.371 --> 58:08.849
since it has been proven to be effective?

58:08.849 --> 58:10.790
- Thank you. Okay, why don't we start,

58:10.790 --> 58:12.962
would you like to begin Mr. Secretary?

58:12.962 --> 58:13.984
Or do you want to start at the other end

58:13.984 --> 58:16.234
and we'll work towards you?

58:16.768 --> 58:19.185
- I'm happy to talk about it.

58:20.263 --> 58:23.364
First, I want to say, thank you very much for

58:23.364 --> 58:26.114
any peer-to-peer support network.

58:27.567 --> 58:30.567
That's certainly an emerging area of

58:32.688 --> 58:36.605
help and comfort to all of our service members.

58:36.816 --> 58:40.360
We offer a lot of, through Military One Source,

58:40.360 --> 58:43.027
a lot of non-medical counseling,

58:43.374 --> 58:44.824
military and family life counseling

58:44.824 --> 58:47.438
to all of our service members 24/7

58:47.438 --> 58:49.355
in many different ways.

58:49.935 --> 58:54.018
But, an emerging subset of that is in partnership

58:55.650 --> 58:58.650
with the VA is peer-to-peer support.

59:01.610 --> 59:04.362
When we talk about family resiliency,

59:04.362 --> 59:05.774
you're right, it's not all the same.

59:05.774 --> 59:09.478
Because people, not only by MOS but by service,

59:09.478 --> 59:13.311
by geography, are facing different situations.

59:14.453 --> 59:16.071
So, particularly in the peer-to-peer

59:16.071 --> 59:20.238
support world it tends to be a little bit more focused.

59:20.558 --> 59:23.141
Whether it's on service or MOS.

59:24.186 --> 59:27.071
So, I applaud you for helping with that.

59:27.071 --> 59:30.988
I acknowledge all of the particular challenges.

59:33.498 --> 59:37.665
Particularly those in the special operations world

59:38.001 --> 59:40.806
are experiencing over the last 16 years, in particular.

59:40.806 --> 59:43.639
Probably have the highest OPTEMPO,

59:43.808 --> 59:47.975
clearly have the highest OPTEMPO across the board.

59:48.015 --> 59:50.476
So while I know the special operations community

59:50.476 --> 59:53.546
is doing a lot of their own medical research,

59:53.546 --> 59:56.125
and as well in the peer-to-peer support

59:56.125 --> 01:00:00.042
there's clearly a lot to be done in that world.

01:00:00.787 --> 01:00:03.204
When we talk about childcare,

01:00:05.372 --> 01:00:06.955
it continues to be,

01:00:07.521 --> 01:00:08.819
we talk about the nature of the families,

01:00:08.819 --> 01:00:12.652
dual-employment, obviously childcare continues

01:00:14.131 --> 01:00:16.410
to be at the top of the list.

01:00:16.410 --> 01:00:19.743
I think we made some very good progress.

01:00:21.191 --> 01:00:24.386
We're basically the largest private healthcare,

01:00:24.386 --> 01:00:28.219
or private childcare deliverer in the country.

01:00:29.643 --> 01:00:33.560
And we offer a creditation, accredited services

01:00:34.320 --> 01:00:37.453
and at a much much higher rate than you will

01:00:37.453 --> 01:00:40.036
find out in the civilian world.

01:00:40.583 --> 01:00:42.999
One of the things that we've tried to do is,

01:00:42.999 --> 01:00:44.905
specifically to the point that you've talked about

01:00:44.905 --> 01:00:47.423
is allow people earlier access to understand

01:00:47.423 --> 01:00:51.090
what the childcare resources are in the area

01:00:51.103 --> 01:00:53.207
that they're going to and being able to sign

01:00:53.207 --> 01:00:55.933
up and get on the list before you arrive there

01:00:55.933 --> 01:00:58.961
and you're already a day behind in need, right?

01:00:58.961 --> 01:01:02.358
So, militarychildcare.com is supposed to get

01:01:02.358 --> 01:01:03.655
at exactly what you stated.

01:01:03.655 --> 01:01:06.872
So people can get on a waiting list and know what's

01:01:06.872 --> 01:01:10.714
in the area available to them, long before they get there

01:01:10.714 --> 01:01:14.107
and sign up and find out what resource is best for them.

01:01:14.107 --> 01:01:17.237
Doesn't mean we've got the problem solved

01:01:17.237 --> 01:01:19.989
or anything like that but it has attention,

01:01:19.989 --> 01:01:22.209
we're making some progress.

01:01:22.209 --> 01:01:25.459
Clearly, much more to do in that world.

01:01:25.772 --> 01:01:28.855
Then the last question on open bases.

01:01:30.567 --> 01:01:34.474
We would love to have the situation on our bases

01:01:34.474 --> 01:01:38.641
that we had in the late, well probably in the early

01:01:39.071 --> 01:01:40.654
to mid-90's, right?

01:01:41.012 --> 01:01:44.469
Unfortunately, events like the Washington Navy Yard,

01:01:44.469 --> 01:01:47.386
Fort Hood, take any number of those

01:01:48.059 --> 01:01:51.245
and you have to be kind of, a little bit,

01:01:51.245 --> 01:01:54.328
cognizant of the time that we live in

01:01:55.958 --> 01:01:57.747
and the threat that we face.

01:01:57.747 --> 01:02:00.243
So I don't, as much as it would address

01:02:00.243 --> 01:02:03.461
a lot of the problems that we have it would also

01:02:03.461 --> 01:02:07.044
open up avenues to others that I'm not sure,

01:02:07.044 --> 01:02:09.914
You know when you balance that risk,

01:02:09.914 --> 01:02:12.695
I'm not sure anytime soon we're gonna see

01:02:12.695 --> 01:02:14.945
easier access to our bases.

01:02:15.612 --> 01:02:17.679
It doesn't mean we can't have smarter access

01:02:17.679 --> 01:02:20.047
and work on identity management a lot better.

01:02:20.047 --> 01:02:21.564
I mean, there's whole lot of things that

01:02:21.564 --> 01:02:23.755
we can do and do better in there

01:02:23.755 --> 01:02:27.257
so that we know who we're letting onto our bases.

01:02:27.257 --> 01:02:28.726
But I doubt if that environment

01:02:28.726 --> 01:02:30.703
is gonna change anytime soon.

01:02:30.703 --> 01:02:32.203
- Cristin?
- Sure.

01:02:32.428 --> 01:02:34.761
So in terms of peer-to-peer,

01:02:35.417 --> 01:02:38.401
we found this year substantially higher rates

01:02:38.401 --> 01:02:41.759
of depression and anxiety among all subgroups

01:02:41.759 --> 01:02:43.194
except for active duty.

01:02:43.194 --> 01:02:47.111
So we had the rate for depression, to be clear,

01:02:47.538 --> 01:02:48.678
what we were asking was;

01:02:48.678 --> 01:02:51.673
have you been diagnosed, medically diagnosed,

01:02:51.673 --> 01:02:53.436
with depression or anxiety?

01:02:53.436 --> 01:02:56.878
And we had 24% of active duty military spouses

01:02:56.878 --> 01:02:59.795
indicate that they had been diagnosed with depression

01:02:59.795 --> 01:03:01.758
and 30% with anxiety.

01:03:01.758 --> 01:03:04.008
It's a tough job out there.

01:03:04.085 --> 01:03:08.252
Veterans and veteran spouses the rates were worse.

01:03:09.210 --> 01:03:12.297
So peer-to-peer counseling is one opportunity.

01:03:12.297 --> 01:03:13.601
I think that really is something

01:03:13.601 --> 01:03:15.898
that we need to keep moving on.

01:03:15.898 --> 01:03:19.398
Because we are just starting to talk about

01:03:19.484 --> 01:03:21.590
some of the emotional strains that over time

01:03:21.590 --> 01:03:23.786
have really come to the forefront.

01:03:23.786 --> 01:03:26.575
As we've been able to talk about suicide

01:03:26.575 --> 01:03:27.900
in veterans, I think we're starting to

01:03:27.900 --> 01:03:30.377
open up other mental health opportunities.

01:03:30.377 --> 01:03:34.510
Also, for active duty as the news has been covering lately.

01:03:34.510 --> 01:03:37.286
And also for military spouses as well.

01:03:37.286 --> 01:03:39.114
Because that's a largely unexplored issue.

01:03:39.114 --> 01:03:41.055
But it's kind of an open secret within

01:03:41.055 --> 01:03:43.555
the military spouse community.

01:03:44.871 --> 01:03:48.288
In terms of what Patty was talking about.

01:03:48.702 --> 01:03:51.091
Updating business practices, to me,

01:03:51.091 --> 01:03:52.858
is a really important opportunity

01:03:52.858 --> 01:03:55.544
and it's illustration of the need

01:03:55.544 --> 01:03:58.381
for an updated model for DOD to think

01:03:58.381 --> 01:04:01.025
a little but more about what the modern

01:04:01.025 --> 01:04:02.460
service member and their family looks like.

01:04:02.460 --> 01:04:04.271
So I think you really hit the nail on the head.

01:04:04.271 --> 01:04:06.369
This one that's an easy change.

01:04:06.369 --> 01:04:09.109
But there is that traditional model.

01:04:09.109 --> 01:04:11.008
So I think they're getting there.

01:04:11.008 --> 01:04:14.523
But that's certainly one that we're working on changing.

01:04:14.523 --> 01:04:16.812
Then three, with the housing,

01:04:16.812 --> 01:04:20.645
60% of service members now live off base.

01:04:20.915 --> 01:04:24.011
So, I think one, housing has gotten better.

01:04:24.011 --> 01:04:26.682
It's not at the same level in our survey.

01:04:26.682 --> 01:04:28.722
But one of the things that we are watching

01:04:28.722 --> 01:04:31.373
that is a perennial concern is the issue

01:04:31.373 --> 01:04:34.290
with BAH, the reductions over time.

01:04:34.355 --> 01:04:36.842
Every year it's dropping by one, two percent.

01:04:36.842 --> 01:04:39.194
With the goal of, I think, 95% of BAH being

01:04:39.194 --> 01:04:42.362
covered instead of 100% in a few years.

01:04:42.362 --> 01:04:43.282
So, that's an issue that's very

01:04:43.282 --> 01:04:44.885
concerning for our community.

01:04:44.885 --> 01:04:47.135
And in terms of open bases.

01:04:49.148 --> 01:04:51.239
Yes, I think, our organization experienced

01:04:51.239 --> 01:04:53.341
some challenges with that initially too.

01:04:53.341 --> 01:04:57.091
Trying to provide services, support on bases.

01:04:58.212 --> 01:05:02.046
But also, it ties back into the community opportunity.

01:05:02.046 --> 01:05:05.017
I think we have many opportunities to also have

01:05:05.017 --> 01:05:08.323
off-base events that are still recognized

01:05:08.323 --> 01:05:10.406
and communicated on base.

01:05:10.758 --> 01:05:12.239
That may be an easier way to kind of

01:05:12.239 --> 01:05:13.772
square the circle with that one.

01:05:13.772 --> 01:05:15.577
At least until we get into an environment

01:05:15.577 --> 01:05:18.020
that's a little bit more secure.

01:05:18.020 --> 01:05:20.037
- [Mike] Thank you. Rosalinda?

01:05:20.037 --> 01:05:22.803
- Well, I'll only add a few things.

01:05:22.803 --> 01:05:24.212
But I like the MOS.

01:05:24.212 --> 01:05:26.425
I definitely think we should be including that.

01:05:26.425 --> 01:05:27.822
Yeah, there ya go.

01:05:27.822 --> 01:05:29.103
- [Cristin] The wheels are spinning.

01:05:29.103 --> 01:05:31.691
- The wheels are spinning, for sure.

01:05:31.691 --> 01:05:35.245
Because it is exactly, there is diversity in the military.

01:05:35.245 --> 01:05:37.381
Not all branches are equal and just like that

01:05:37.381 --> 01:05:40.512
there's diversity in the occupations that they're in.

01:05:40.512 --> 01:05:44.595
And there's not a lot of data of veteran suicide,

01:05:44.711 --> 01:05:47.904
active duty suicide, military spouse suicide,

01:05:47.904 --> 01:05:50.150
and depression and all of it.

01:05:50.150 --> 01:05:54.317
So, absolutely, adding the MOS allows us to zone in.

01:05:54.467 --> 01:05:56.638
- Could you define the acronym and use BAH.

01:05:56.638 --> 01:05:58.059
So we make sure we're an acronym free zone.

01:05:58.059 --> 01:06:00.185
- Military Occupation Specialty, yes.

01:06:00.185 --> 01:06:02.441
- I'm sure everyone in this room knows.

01:06:02.441 --> 01:06:03.319
And then BAH?

01:06:03.319 --> 01:06:04.406
- Basic Allowance for Housing.

01:06:04.406 --> 01:06:06.691
The stipend that offsets the cost,

01:06:06.691 --> 01:06:09.157
in certain areas where you're living, for housing.

01:06:09.157 --> 01:06:10.661
- Thank you. Back to you Rosalinda.

01:06:10.661 --> 01:06:14.460
- So, yeah, definitely something to include for next year.

01:06:14.460 --> 01:06:15.979
I'm glad that you mentioned military spouse

01:06:15.979 --> 01:06:20.090
entrepreneurship as a pathway for military spouses.

01:06:20.090 --> 01:06:22.480
When you're dissatisfied with the civilian sector

01:06:22.480 --> 01:06:24.737
and the opportunities go create your own business

01:06:24.737 --> 01:06:25.904
and go for it.

01:06:26.796 --> 01:06:29.523
I don't wanna say, hire a military spouse,

01:06:29.523 --> 01:06:30.872
it's good for business, it's good.

01:06:30.872 --> 01:06:32.754
No, there is actually a business case

01:06:32.754 --> 01:06:34.837
to hire military spouses.

01:06:34.869 --> 01:06:37.750
The same reasons that the PCS, they moved around.

01:06:37.750 --> 01:06:39.618
Well, that made them adaptable.

01:06:39.618 --> 01:06:40.790
There's a lot of skills.

01:06:40.790 --> 01:06:42.703
Skills that are valuable for employers.

01:06:42.703 --> 01:06:44.829
So, again, just those same skills

01:06:44.829 --> 01:06:47.688
can be applied towards entrepreneurship.

01:06:47.688 --> 01:06:50.959
And definitely for those that are dissatisfied

01:06:50.959 --> 01:06:52.738
to look into entrepreneurship.

01:06:52.738 --> 01:06:54.739
Because you can create your own opportunities.

01:06:54.739 --> 01:06:55.572
There you go.

01:06:55.572 --> 01:06:57.160
- Great. So, another round.

01:06:57.160 --> 01:06:58.464
It might have to be the last one so I'll probably,

01:06:58.464 --> 01:07:01.526
this time I think I'll take it more in the spirit of a lot

01:07:01.526 --> 01:07:03.525
views and we'll just, we're not gonna oblige

01:07:03.525 --> 01:07:06.317
the panel to respond to each and every concern.

01:07:06.317 --> 01:07:07.989
But especially in this forum, I like to make sure

01:07:07.989 --> 01:07:10.289
people get a chance to express their concerns.

01:07:10.289 --> 01:07:11.854
So I'm gonna take about six questions

01:07:11.854 --> 01:07:13.268
and then we're just gonna have one quick round

01:07:13.268 --> 01:07:14.357
of wrapping up.

01:07:14.357 --> 01:07:17.940
We'll begin here in the fourth row. Please.

01:07:20.296 --> 01:07:21.612
If you could wait for your microphone,

01:07:21.612 --> 01:07:23.336
then also identify yourself please ma'am.

01:07:23.336 --> 01:07:24.981
- Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Christy Hamm.

01:07:24.981 --> 01:07:27.308
I'm from Military Families for High Standards

01:07:27.308 --> 01:07:29.842
and I'm on the board of United Through Reading.

01:07:29.842 --> 01:07:33.092
You listed 7,891 surveys were received.

01:07:33.723 --> 01:07:37.222
Can you break those down by your three categories?

01:07:37.222 --> 01:07:39.382
How many were military spouses?

01:07:39.382 --> 01:07:40.549
How many were active duty?

01:07:40.549 --> 01:07:42.507
And How many were veteran?

01:07:42.507 --> 01:07:44.783
- Let's wait. Let's just do a big group.

01:07:44.783 --> 01:07:48.050
Okay there was a hand over here. Yes, please?

01:07:48.050 --> 01:07:50.550
Then we'll go back three rows.

01:07:52.022 --> 01:07:53.615
- Good morning. Colonel Aries Mencer.

01:07:53.615 --> 01:07:57.150
I'm a military fellow at The Woodrow Wilson Center.

01:07:57.150 --> 01:07:59.863
Just a question on, if you look across the services,

01:07:59.863 --> 01:08:02.360
assignment notification vary, assignment notification

01:08:02.360 --> 01:08:04.946
policy varies between six months and 18 months

01:08:04.946 --> 01:08:07.821
ahead of being relocated by service.

01:08:07.821 --> 01:08:10.254
Then if you look at policies for how assignments

01:08:10.254 --> 01:08:12.349
are applied you'll see that some services

01:08:12.349 --> 01:08:15.038
have greater transparency, greater member input,

01:08:15.038 --> 01:08:18.540
and greater consideration of the military spouse

01:08:18.540 --> 01:08:20.309
who is not an active duty member.

01:08:20.309 --> 01:08:23.518
What are we doing from an internal department perspective

01:08:23.518 --> 01:08:27.435
to as we look at evolving our talent management

01:08:27.535 --> 01:08:29.486
practices for today's all-volunteer force

01:08:29.486 --> 01:08:32.069
to allow for more member input,

01:08:32.108 --> 01:08:33.988
more assignment notification and

01:08:33.988 --> 01:08:36.099
more transparency in our policies.

01:08:36.099 --> 01:08:37.408
- Great and then we'll go three rows back.

01:08:37.408 --> 01:08:39.075
If we could, please?

01:08:41.655 --> 01:08:44.180
- Yes, good morning. Just a dove tail

01:08:44.180 --> 01:08:47.013
on what the lady ahead of me said.

01:08:47.906 --> 01:08:51.989
An update on the force of the future initiatives.

01:08:53.140 --> 01:08:54.595
As she was mentioning, the flexibility

01:08:54.595 --> 01:08:57.666
with assignments and things of that nature

01:08:57.666 --> 01:09:00.940
that would get at a lot of the great ideas

01:09:00.940 --> 01:09:03.490
that everybody on the stage has mentioned.

01:09:03.490 --> 01:09:05.226
We've been talking about these things for years

01:09:05.226 --> 01:09:09.226
and the issue's been actually implementing them.

01:09:09.728 --> 01:09:11.550
So one, it would be wonderful to hear

01:09:11.550 --> 01:09:13.086
an update on the force of the future

01:09:13.086 --> 01:09:15.840
which I believe Secretary Carter was onto

01:09:15.840 --> 01:09:18.540
something really good with things like

01:09:18.540 --> 01:09:21.229
transparent assignments, giving people a say,

01:09:21.229 --> 01:09:24.729
that they have a say in their assignments.

01:09:25.281 --> 01:09:27.527
And when they do feel heard they're more loyal to

01:09:27.527 --> 01:09:29.979
their organization and likely to stay

01:09:29.979 --> 01:09:33.729
even if they don't necessarily get their way.

01:09:33.984 --> 01:09:36.061
So, one issue is force of the future.

01:09:36.061 --> 01:09:40.034
And the second is, what are we doing or looking at

01:09:40.034 --> 01:09:43.117
as far who's in the manpower systems,

01:09:43.435 --> 01:09:46.268
who will implement these policies?

01:09:47.017 --> 01:09:49.691
Right now we have a blend in all the services

01:09:49.691 --> 01:09:52.539
of active duty as well as civilians.

01:09:52.539 --> 01:09:56.030
But as we know many of the people that are civilians

01:09:56.030 --> 01:09:57.665
are former active duty and that's not

01:09:57.665 --> 01:09:59.476
necessarily a bad thing because of their

01:09:59.476 --> 01:10:01.630
experience and understanding the system.

01:10:01.630 --> 01:10:04.547
But sometimes that creates somewhat

01:10:05.447 --> 01:10:08.377
of a myopic view or paradigm to where

01:10:08.377 --> 01:10:11.337
we can't possibly implement something new.

01:10:11.337 --> 01:10:15.428
That would break the system or that would cost money.

01:10:15.428 --> 01:10:17.904
So we're talking about, it's not our grandparents

01:10:17.904 --> 01:10:21.313
military and yet we still have some people

01:10:21.313 --> 01:10:24.313
who are even pre all-volunteer force

01:10:24.927 --> 01:10:26.607
working in the manpower system

01:10:26.607 --> 01:10:29.231
and can't get their heads around

01:10:29.231 --> 01:10:31.868
some of these wonderful ideas and it creates

01:10:31.868 --> 01:10:34.297
an institutional inertia by people

01:10:34.297 --> 01:10:37.516
who are institutionalized who therefore

01:10:37.516 --> 01:10:40.677
will ultimately hurt the institution in the long run.

01:10:40.677 --> 01:10:42.204
- Thank you. So we're gonna do one here

01:10:42.204 --> 01:10:44.096
and then maybe one in the back.

01:10:44.096 --> 01:10:48.263
Then we'll come to the panel for the final set of remarks.

01:10:52.410 --> 01:10:54.022
- [Male Audience Member] Hi. My name is Andy Rivett

01:10:54.022 --> 01:10:56.202
and I'm currently an engineering Ph.D. student.

01:10:56.202 --> 01:10:59.780
So excuse me if my question gets a bit technical.

01:10:59.780 --> 01:11:01.210
And this primarily to Admiral Kurta,

01:11:01.210 --> 01:11:03.543
and you Dr. Handlin is this.

01:11:03.717 --> 01:11:07.467
Brack survey, like Brack analyses for various

01:11:07.525 --> 01:11:10.440
rounds of base closures have never accounted for

01:11:10.440 --> 01:11:12.378
metropolitan areas size of community

01:11:12.378 --> 01:11:16.295
and thus the employability for spouse or other.

01:11:16.642 --> 01:11:20.226
And so over the rounds of Brack you had bases

01:11:20.226 --> 01:11:22.754
close in major metropolitan areas

01:11:22.754 --> 01:11:25.187
where there's a lot of potential employability

01:11:25.187 --> 01:11:29.270
whereas bases and because that isn't factored in.

01:11:29.718 --> 01:11:33.659
Like you had Bragg and Polk and all these places

01:11:33.659 --> 01:11:35.528
out in the middle of nowhere where service

01:11:35.528 --> 01:11:37.445
spouses can't get jobs.

01:11:38.837 --> 01:11:42.157
Where other than like Lewis and San Diego

01:11:42.157 --> 01:11:45.282
virtually none is in a major metropolitan area.

01:11:45.282 --> 01:11:48.496
So, that but then how do you also deal with

01:11:48.496 --> 01:11:50.900
issues surrounding licensure.

01:11:50.900 --> 01:11:53.461
Like, one of my best friends who's the town signal officer

01:11:53.461 --> 01:11:57.517
he was then accepted into Army special operations command.

01:11:57.517 --> 01:12:00.905
Chose to get out because his wife who is an optometrist

01:12:00.905 --> 01:12:04.688
couldn't transition her license to North Carolina.

01:12:04.688 --> 01:12:06.736
So they chose to get out and he took

01:12:06.736 --> 01:12:09.249
a civilian job with the FBI instead.

01:12:09.249 --> 01:12:10.097
- Thank you. Excellent.

01:12:10.097 --> 01:12:12.416
There's one here in the back, yes?

01:12:12.416 --> 01:12:14.521
- Good morning. My name is Chris Pace.

01:12:14.521 --> 01:12:15.540
I'm the health director for the

01:12:15.540 --> 01:12:17.468
US Army Soldier for Life program.

01:12:17.468 --> 01:12:18.856
I would like to dovetail on the other

01:12:18.856 --> 01:12:21.125
statistics question up here.

01:12:21.125 --> 01:12:23.287
Curious, out of the eight thousand respondents,

01:12:23.287 --> 01:12:25.077
nearly eight thousand, what's the break down

01:12:25.077 --> 01:12:27.600
with enlisted versus officer and the average

01:12:27.600 --> 01:12:30.959
age of the respondent is what I'm really curious of.

01:12:30.959 --> 01:12:33.229
And then secondly, of the veterans,

01:12:33.229 --> 01:12:34.787
what definition would you use for veteran?

01:12:34.787 --> 01:12:36.972
Is it the standard VA definition for veteran

01:12:36.972 --> 01:12:39.746
or was there another case definition in your study?

01:12:39.746 --> 01:12:42.273
- So, Cristin you wanna start with that

01:12:42.273 --> 01:12:43.554
and any other questions you want to address

01:12:43.554 --> 01:12:45.221
and then we'll just,

01:12:46.228 --> 01:12:48.102
- Sure, I'll actually, because it's a veteran question

01:12:48.102 --> 01:12:49.442
I'll go ahead with Rosie with that one.

01:12:49.442 --> 01:12:52.292
- Yeah we use the same question that the VA asks

01:12:52.292 --> 01:12:53.953
as well as the American Community survey.

01:12:53.953 --> 01:12:56.357
So, did you serve on active duty for at least

01:12:56.357 --> 01:12:58.944
30 days in the past and so forth.

01:12:58.944 --> 01:12:59.777
- [Chris] And the discharge status?

01:12:59.777 --> 01:13:01.020
- And the discharge status, exactly.

01:13:01.020 --> 01:13:03.864
- Yeah, anywhere that we could use standard questions

01:13:03.864 --> 01:13:07.281
that are used in either the census or ACS

01:13:07.900 --> 01:13:11.567
we use the same ones so we can compare them.

01:13:11.745 --> 01:13:14.828
I will say in terms of our breakdown.

01:13:16.795 --> 01:13:19.663
The majority of the respondents were military spouses.

01:13:19.663 --> 01:13:22.751
We had about 65% military spouses, 15% active duty,

01:13:22.751 --> 01:13:26.918
20% veteran give or take, that's off the top of my head.

01:13:27.139 --> 01:13:28.668
So forgive me if it's not quite accurate.

01:13:28.668 --> 01:13:31.387
But, we also do analysis to identify different areas.

01:13:31.387 --> 01:13:33.594
So we cut the data so we can look.

01:13:33.594 --> 01:13:36.546
We don't take it as a whole and then interpret it like that.

01:13:36.546 --> 01:13:38.877
So we will look at just the active duty perspective

01:13:38.877 --> 01:13:42.427
for some, we will look at active duty with the active

01:13:42.427 --> 01:13:44.433
duty spouse for some, and then sometimes

01:13:44.433 --> 01:13:45.813
we'll look at all of them overall.

01:13:45.813 --> 01:13:48.086
So we look at different cuts of the data

01:13:48.086 --> 01:13:51.843
based on what we think is the most enlightening,

01:13:51.843 --> 01:13:54.112
where that question's most relevant,

01:13:54.112 --> 01:13:55.825
and what data set and what respondent

01:13:55.825 --> 01:13:58.824
set is most relevant to those questions.

01:13:58.824 --> 01:14:00.133
- [Mike] Rosalinda, any other questions

01:14:00.133 --> 01:14:01.096
and then we'll let secretary,

01:14:01.096 --> 01:14:02.645
- I just want to add that probably

01:14:02.645 --> 01:14:06.709
the only survey that does take all these populations

01:14:06.709 --> 01:14:10.301
into one survey and we're not focused on one service

01:14:10.301 --> 01:14:12.110
branch, it's not just the Army.

01:14:12.110 --> 01:14:13.213
It's across all armies.

01:14:13.213 --> 01:14:15.494
I don't have the numbers off the top of my head

01:14:15.494 --> 01:14:16.856
on the enlisted versus officers.

01:14:16.856 --> 01:14:20.788
But I do think that there was a represen, do you know?

01:14:20.788 --> 01:14:24.304
- A representative template, yeah. We were, oh,

01:14:24.304 --> 01:14:25.933
- But we do have a, I mean, there is both

01:14:25.933 --> 01:14:27.866
representation on both enlisted and officer.

01:14:27.866 --> 01:14:31.570
- 60% enlisted. So it was a little higher on officer.

01:14:31.570 --> 01:14:33.500
But in terms of branches we were within 1%

01:14:33.500 --> 01:14:37.667
of the breakdown for every branch of the population.

01:14:37.859 --> 01:14:39.942
So, we were pretty happy.

01:14:40.275 --> 01:14:43.590
This is our best representative sample that we've had.

01:14:43.590 --> 01:14:45.382
- I'll just say one quick thing and then leave

01:14:45.382 --> 01:14:48.296
whatever is left for you Mr. Secretary.

01:14:48.296 --> 01:14:51.030
But the question that was posed to me and to you as well

01:14:51.030 --> 01:14:52.490
about the Brack process.

01:14:52.490 --> 01:14:55.094
Which isn't gonna solve most of our problems.

01:14:55.094 --> 01:14:57.324
Because we're not gonna presumably reopen bases

01:14:57.324 --> 01:14:59.205
we already shut to solve these problems.

01:14:59.205 --> 01:15:00.927
But, going forward, I think your question

01:15:00.927 --> 01:15:02.760
is actually very good.

01:15:02.827 --> 01:15:04.723
Because I think it's basically correct.

01:15:04.723 --> 01:15:07.545
That even though Brack legislation allows for

01:15:07.545 --> 01:15:09.481
other factors to be considered,

01:15:09.481 --> 01:15:11.780
DOD has used the Brack process primarily

01:15:11.780 --> 01:15:14.076
to maximize it's own internal efficiency.

01:15:14.076 --> 01:15:16.914
Which that's what it was asked to do, in fairness.

01:15:16.914 --> 01:15:18.350
But, there are a lot of other consideration.

01:15:18.350 --> 01:15:21.323
Not just whether you're near a big city or not.

01:15:21.323 --> 01:15:22.593
But even within a city.

01:15:22.593 --> 01:15:25.240
I mean, I'm still confused as to why

01:15:25.240 --> 01:15:27.538
Walter Reed, Washington got closed

01:15:27.538 --> 01:15:30.387
in a part of D.C. that needed the jobs

01:15:30.387 --> 01:15:31.930
after they just spent a billion dollars

01:15:31.930 --> 01:15:33.693
refurbishing the installation.

01:15:33.693 --> 01:15:35.460
In Bethesda where we don't need anymore

01:15:35.460 --> 01:15:37.211
traffic or business got all the joy

01:15:37.211 --> 01:15:39.356
and all the, we love Walter Reed.

01:15:39.356 --> 01:15:41.856
But we also love Bethesda Navy

01:15:41.875 --> 01:15:44.684
and I'm not sure we needed to combine them.

01:15:44.684 --> 01:15:48.298
But the 2005 Brack decided to promote jointness

01:15:48.298 --> 01:15:50.171
and that was part of why I think we saw that.

01:15:50.171 --> 01:15:51.934
So if we're gonna do another Brack

01:15:51.934 --> 01:15:54.723
I think issues like economic opportunities

01:15:54.723 --> 01:15:56.797
for individual military families

01:15:56.797 --> 01:15:59.282
but also for that community at large

01:15:59.282 --> 01:16:01.272
should be part of the equation.

01:16:01.272 --> 01:16:03.160
And we need a broader definition of what Brack's

01:16:03.160 --> 01:16:05.107
trying to achieve than simply internal

01:16:05.107 --> 01:16:06.972
DOD accounting efficiency.

01:16:06.972 --> 01:16:09.316
So I second your general point.

01:16:09.316 --> 01:16:12.851
And with that, sir, over to you to wrap up for us today.

01:16:12.851 --> 01:16:13.877
- Okay. Well, thank you.

01:16:13.877 --> 01:16:15.388
I'm gonna take a little bit of a poetic license here

01:16:15.388 --> 01:16:18.276
and not try to answer every question that there was.

01:16:18.276 --> 01:16:20.133
But there are a few things, at least two,

01:16:20.133 --> 01:16:21.875
that I want to just talk about.

01:16:21.875 --> 01:16:25.708
One is the panoply of ideas that was under the

01:16:26.453 --> 01:16:28.786
force of the future moniker.

01:16:30.042 --> 01:16:32.792
And I just assure everybody that,

01:16:35.830 --> 01:16:37.633
particularly those that dealt with the

01:16:37.633 --> 01:16:38.804
future of the all-volunteer force

01:16:38.804 --> 01:16:40.730
which was many of them directly,

01:16:40.730 --> 01:16:44.897
we still continue to churn away at all of those ideas.

01:16:45.335 --> 01:16:47.166
Some of the things that you see today

01:16:47.166 --> 01:16:48.963
we directly as a result of that.

01:16:48.963 --> 01:16:52.963
The increased dollars and hours that went to our

01:16:54.808 --> 01:16:58.308
childcare centers, the expansion of family

01:16:59.029 --> 01:17:02.696
and adoption leave, all of those things were

01:17:04.887 --> 01:17:06.554
part of that effort.

01:17:07.829 --> 01:17:10.848
One of the good things about that effort

01:17:10.848 --> 01:17:13.065
was it was a lot of ideas that had bubbled up

01:17:13.065 --> 01:17:16.239
that had been in the minds of the personnel experts,

01:17:16.239 --> 01:17:17.536
if you will, for many years.

01:17:17.536 --> 01:17:21.014
We just needed some help getting things over the line.

01:17:21.014 --> 01:17:24.746
Raising the awareness and the importance of those.

01:17:24.746 --> 01:17:27.786
The last piece of those that continues,

01:17:27.786 --> 01:17:30.432
mostly on the service level, is their individual

01:17:30.432 --> 01:17:33.159
advancement of their talent management systems.

01:17:33.159 --> 01:17:36.159
And it won't be a one size fits all,

01:17:36.326 --> 01:17:37.508
I don't think on that.

01:17:37.508 --> 01:17:40.002
Because the service cultures are so unique.

01:17:40.002 --> 01:17:41.544
They have different personnel systems

01:17:41.544 --> 01:17:45.711
and those service cultures are a war fighting advantage.

01:17:47.425 --> 01:17:50.707
So there are sometimes that you want to have a DOD

01:17:50.707 --> 01:17:53.123
solution to something, particularly if it's

01:17:53.123 --> 01:17:56.090
in a business line or something like that.

01:17:56.090 --> 01:17:57.747
But when it comes to war fighting cultures

01:17:57.747 --> 01:17:59.715
and talent management is a war fighting culture,

01:17:59.715 --> 01:18:01.603
you want to take advantage of those

01:18:01.603 --> 01:18:04.110
service identities, those service cultures.

01:18:04.110 --> 01:18:07.277
You want to enhance and maintain that.

01:18:07.642 --> 01:18:11.382
Such that they retain their fighting effectiveness.

01:18:11.382 --> 01:18:12.941
So, those talent management systems

01:18:12.941 --> 01:18:15.776
tend to be going on inside each one of the services.

01:18:15.776 --> 01:18:18.160
We could talk forever about how each service

01:18:18.160 --> 01:18:20.327
is doing that differently.

01:18:20.358 --> 01:18:22.581
Then last, the gentleman, when you talk about licensure,

01:18:22.581 --> 01:18:25.164
credentialing, and portability.

01:18:26.037 --> 01:18:28.674
We talk about it, yes in the context of our military

01:18:28.674 --> 01:18:31.841
spouses but also in the context of our

01:18:32.491 --> 01:18:36.241
active duty service members and our veterans.

01:18:36.389 --> 01:18:40.270
Sometimes you talk about the hard work of government.

01:18:40.270 --> 01:18:44.020
And dealing with states who control licensure

01:18:46.652 --> 01:18:49.060
and credentialing and portability.

01:18:49.060 --> 01:18:51.393
There has just been a ton of

01:18:52.776 --> 01:18:55.238
awfully hard sloughing that has been done

01:18:55.238 --> 01:18:57.317
over the past number of years.

01:18:57.317 --> 01:18:58.613
You can engage with a lot of the governors

01:18:58.613 --> 01:19:00.194
and you find out that in many states,

01:19:00.194 --> 01:19:02.043
the governors don't have the executive power to do it.

01:19:02.043 --> 01:19:03.482
You gotta work with the state legislatures.

01:19:03.482 --> 01:19:07.012
So we are literally working with every state

01:19:07.012 --> 01:19:11.179
legislature to advance the cause of credentialing,

01:19:12.381 --> 01:19:14.631
portability, and licensure.

01:19:18.120 --> 01:19:21.203
Part of that is every state wants you

01:19:21.463 --> 01:19:23.625
to change and get a new credential,

01:19:23.625 --> 01:19:25.609
a new license when you come into their state

01:19:25.609 --> 01:19:28.192
because it's money, it's money.

01:19:28.535 --> 01:19:31.451
Right? So when you say, I'm in Maryland

01:19:31.451 --> 01:19:34.061
and I will accept Idaho's licensure.

01:19:34.061 --> 01:19:35.225
Well if you don't get money for that

01:19:35.225 --> 01:19:37.357
the state has to figure out to do that.

01:19:37.357 --> 01:19:40.274
So, I just want to share everybody,

01:19:40.344 --> 01:19:42.927
somethings aren't very visible.

01:19:43.108 --> 01:19:45.941
They're not necessarily very sexy.

01:19:46.417 --> 01:19:49.667
But there are a lot of dedicated people

01:19:50.711 --> 01:19:52.981
in and out of government that are working

01:19:52.981 --> 01:19:54.354
issues like that.

01:19:54.354 --> 01:19:57.547
It will pay off but it will payoff over time.

01:19:57.547 --> 01:19:58.930
But it's a very very important issue.

01:19:58.930 --> 01:20:01.037
- Kathy, unless there's anything you want to say

01:20:01.037 --> 01:20:03.708
at this point I'll close now by thanking you

01:20:03.708 --> 01:20:06.281
and Blue Star Families and everyone here.

01:20:06.281 --> 01:20:07.935
Military and veterans families for

01:20:07.935 --> 01:20:09.651
what you do for the country for being here today

01:20:09.651 --> 01:20:11.404
and please join me in thanking the panel.

01:20:11.404 --> 01:20:14.487
(audience applauds)