▶ 0:13:57The subcommittee will come to order. I ask unanimous consent that the chair be authorized to declare recess at any time. Without objection, so ordered. I want to welcome everyone to this hearing of the military personnel subcommittee. Today's hearing is focused on the personnel policy makers who were charged with developing the policies, guidance and programs that affect the strategic objectives for accessions, recruitment and assignments, benefits, career development and much more.
▶ 0:14:25That is to say, you are largely responsible for developing the tools that shape the total force in each of your services. This is no small task. We are here to hear from you on the effectiveness and consequences of all of these policies which makes what we are going to discuss here today so important. First and foremost, I wanted to congratulate all of you on the turnaround and recruiting.
▶ 0:14:48This is a testament to the hard work and focus that the services the recruiters on the ground, this committee and the administration have have invested in making sure we are fully manned, lethal and ready force. However, with the danger from China increasing, we need to make sure we keep our focus. I also wanted to hear from you how the implementation of the fiscal year 25 NDAA quality of life provisions are going. Are the dining facilities getting better?
▶ 0:15:14Are you doing a better job at making sure our service members and families have access to safe and affordable housing? Our service members seeing doctors they need to see in a timely manner and getting their prescriptions filled? Do our military children have access to quality child care? Are military spouses gainfully employed and pursuing careers they want? These are just some of the questions I hope we can answer today because if we don't ensure that our service members and their families are prioritized, our excellent recruiting will dry up and we may very well have retention problems.
▶ 0:15:44I want to thank all of our service members, active duty, reser, and guard members who are serving our great nation around the world as we speak. You and your families are really the subject of this hearing as the policies and regulations controlled by these senior officers profoundly affect your lives and your very decisions to stay in the service. I would now like to welcome our witnesses.
▶ 0:16:05Lieutenant General Brian Eiffel, United States Army Deputy Chief of Staff, and Vice Admiral Richard Cheeseman, United States Navy Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Personnel. Admiral Cheeseman, I know this is your last hearing. I want to thank you for your dedicated service to the Navy. I know you've made the Navy a stronger, more lethal fighting force as CMP, and your replacement will have big shoes to fill.
▶ 0:16:28Lieutenant General Caroline Miller, United States Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Manpower and Personnel and Lieutenant General Michael Schulty, United States Marine Corps, Deputy Command, Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Miss Katherine Kelly, Deputy Chiefs of Chief of Space Operations for Human Capital. Before hearing from our witnesses, let me offer ranking member Hulahan an opportunity to make any opening remarks. Thank you.
▶ 0:16:57I really appreciate you being here today so that we can have this conversation and thank you very much to all of you all. It was a pleasure to talk to you earlier this week or actually last week on the phone. I look forward to the conversation with you too. Without soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and guardians, we can't man military weapon systems, deliver humanitarian assistance, or effectively respond to security challenges around the g globe.
▶ 0:17:22And yet, the declining propensity for military service among America's youth is a cause for deep concern for me. I come from a military family where several generations, including myself, opted to serve. But that exposure to a military lifestyle is decreasing across our nation. and parents and teachers and counselors and coaches are less and less likely and willing to recommend military service to young people in their spheres of influence.
▶ 0:17:48This is compounded by the fact that according to Blueest Star families 2024 military family lifestyle survey only 32% of active duty families would actually recommend military service to a young family member. I'm also concerned that we might have instituted unintended barriers to service that may be preventing those who are willing to serve from joining the military. So, I'd like to partner with my colleagues and services to identify ways that we can actually widen the pool of applicants from which we draw our all volunteer force.
▶ 0:18:17I'm interested in how the Army and the Navy's prep programs which help potential recruits overcome physical fitness or academic barriers might have been might expand the pool of applicants. It will be important to understand the long-term impact of these kinds of efforts on firstterm attrition and retention. We have seen all inspiring technological advances in these last 50 years which suggests that the jobs of the military must evolve to meet the future fight.
▶ 0:18:44That's why I also want to hear from you in the services in particularly from the Navy about examples of new occupational specialties that might help our military keep their tactical edge in war fighting. We ask a lot of our service members. We ask them to risk their lives to protect our country. And in turn, we must make sure that we have their backs in support of them and their families. And I'm afraid that we don't always live up to that. And we need to do better.
▶ 0:19:10So that it's imperative that we continue to work as we started in the last year's bipartisan quality of life panel to evolve and improve the quality of life. The fiscical year 25 NDAA included several of the recommendations made by that panel, but there still is room to for improvement and work to be done in areas such as food in security, housing, child care, and access to health care. The soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and guardians who serve us today have different needs than they did in the past.
▶ 0:19:39Women serving have increased to over 17% of the force, and nearly a third of our active duty service members have children. More than ever, the military must be able to provide service members with affordable and convenient child care. However, child care staffing shortages have resulted in untenable weight lists that negatively impact unit readiness across the force. Moreover, we must not lose sight of the impact that current events have had on our military.
▶ 0:20:06It does seem like every other day, and sometimes every day, we're hearing about another scandal out of the Pentagon, and I'm really concerned about how these stories might be affecting the morale of the force. It is also true that there are a series of recent changes in personnel policy which could potentially sideline exceptional men and women who are currently serving as well. All of these events, including the indiscriminate attacks on the Department of Defense civilians, could have lasting effects on the military and likely negative effects.
▶ 0:20:36What we should be doing is working together to foster a culture that encourages and rewards excellence, creativity, innovation, and critical thinking so that our military can continue to meet the emerging challenges around the globe. As our military has grown more diverse and more inclusive, it has increasingly reflected our nation and our lethality remains as strong as it ever has been.
▶ 0:20:59It's a false choice to say that we have to choose between acknowledging diversity and building an effective and formidable military. As I mentioned earlier, and with many of you on our one-on-one calls, I'm very concerned about this administration's assault on our federal civil service, which threatens the essential support programs for military families and the partnership between military and civilian personnel across our military.
▶ 0:21:24Bureaucratic delays and incompetence in implementing these flawed personnel policies to include chaos over exemptions and hiring freezes have left milit military personnel sometimes with two or three jobs while positions are being reviewed for exemption or from hiring freezes. And it makes no sense that civilian employees spend months and months that the DoD spends months and months hiring are now being sent home in droves without really any logical rhyme or reason.
▶ 0:21:50So, I'd really love to hear from you all about the impacts that these actions against civilians might be having again to morale or to retention. My notes say Mr. Chairman, but my eyes say no. Madame Chairman, thank you very much for having this hearing today so that we can discuss the importance of personnel policy on the lives of our service members. And thank you again to our witnesses for being here. again especially to Vice Admiral Cheeseman on this his last testimony before retirement.
▶ 0:22:21I am jealous. I yield the ballots of my time and thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Hulahan. And each witness will have the opportunity to present his or her testimony and each member will have an opportunity to question the witnesses for five minutes. We respectfully ask the witnesses to summarize their testimony in five minutes or less. Your written comments and statements will be made part of the hearing record. With that, Lieutenant General Eiffel, you may make your opening statement. Thanks, Madam Chair, Ranking Member Hulahan, and distinguished members of the subcommittee.
▶ 0:22:52Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. It's an honor to represent the more than 948,000 soldiers, 200,000 Army civilians and their families, all part of the most powerful army on the planet. The Army stands ready to to defend our nation as part of a joint force. With more than 109,000 soldiers currently deployed across the globe, our army is lethal, cohesive, and ready. We are proud, but not satisfied.
▶ 0:23:19Thus, the army is transforming its organizations and delivering technology to keep up with the evolving battlefield. Continually transforming means the army is more adaptable, flexible, and lethal. The army is moving forward under four focus areas that directly address an increasingly volatile world. These pillars are war fighting, delivering ready combat formations, undergoing continuous transformation, and strengthening the profession.
▶ 0:23:45Within these four pillars, our team of professionals will execute all human resource actions that directly support our most important asset, our people. Under this framework, the goal is to improve, streamline, and renovate how we do things in the HR community to be faster and more efficient. Our readiness for the largecale combat operations depends on it. As an example, we will focus on the overhaul and revamping of our retention processes as well.
▶ 0:24:16This will ensure quality over quantity and provide leaders the right skills for our formations. The Army remains committed to quality of life initiatives to ensure our soldiers remain focused on their missions. Barracks renovations and modernization efforts are correcting outdated housing. Dining facilities are being updated to provide more flexible and nutritious options.
▶ 0:24:38The H holistic health and fitness program or H2F and feds experts directly into units to ensure peak performance. Recruiting will remain a priority. The Army exceeded its FY24 goal with over 55,000 new soldiers and is targeting 61,000 this year. We are currently on glide path to surpass our goal without lowering standards.
▶ 0:25:02With congressional support, we will keep the army on a sustainable strategic path as we transform for the future. We will deliver ready combat formations with the grit and advanced capabilities required to defend our nation and its interest. As we celebrate our 250th anniversary this year, I thank you for your unwavering support of our talented soldiers, civilian professionals, and their families.
▶ 0:25:28Thank you very much, Senate General Eiffel, and uh now Vice Admiral Cheeseman, we offer five minutes to you to make an opening statement. Chair Kiggins, Ranking Member Hulahan, and distinguished subcommittee members. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, representing the incredible sailors and families of our United States Navy. Supporting me today is my senior enlisted adviser, Fleet Master Chief Delbert Terrell, who provides wise counsel on all issues, whether officer, enlisted, or civilian.
▶ 0:25:57It is those sailors and civilians that we both serve who are on a on duty around the clock and around the globe, a lethal fighting force working to deter aggression, particularly in the Red Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific. Continuing resolution 25 funds a thorough strategy-driven Navy budget that is focused on delivering resources to ensure our our naval forces remain ready, resilient, and agile to execute national tasking and preserve peace through strength.
▶ 0:26:28I thank you for your support within CR25 that helps Navy's recruiting and retention efforts as well as our quality of service initiatives writ large. They are making a difference and I encourage continued congressional support in these areas for FY26 and beyond. Navy recruiters had a historic 2024 contracting more sailor than in any given year since 2003.
▶ 0:26:52We exceeded our increased contracting goal by implementing real-time data informed processes, capitalizing on the future sailor prep course, streamlining medical waiver reviews, increasing the quality and number of recruiters, and identifying and removing barriers to recruiter productivity. As a result, we are on pace to exceed our FY25 recruiting recruiting goal of 40,600 future sailors.
▶ 0:27:18I remain focused on ensuring our schoolhouse supply chain is ready to receive this influx of motivated students and we are ensuring every future sailor receives the training they need to be ready on day one in a fiscally responsible, efficient and effective manner. Additionally, we will continue to we continue to exceed retention forecasts across all zones in part due to consistent congressional support in funding sailor special incentive pays and bonuses.
▶ 0:27:45Sea duty manning is an essential element of operational readiness and I know our chronic shortfalls impact job satisfaction and retention. We are driving barrier removal across the enterprise and we can now predict a steady drop in gaps at sea over the next 18 months. My goal remains achieving 100% rating fill by 2027. Our sailors, civilians, and their families are the backbone of our Navy.
▶ 0:28:10It is our duty to take care of them by delivering the highest qu standards of quality of service. We must build great people, great leaders, and great teams to innovate, solve hard problems, and dominate in combat. Our sailors stand ready as a lethal fighting force to deter or confront any adversary. You and every American can be proud of your Navy and this team.
▶ 0:28:34It is a privilege to serve and I sincerely thank all the members of this subcommittee and the staff for your past, present and future support. I look forward to your Thank you, Vice Admiral Cheeseman. And uh with that, Lieutenant General Berg Schultzy, you may make your opening statement. Thank you, Madame Chair Keegan, Ranking Member Hulahan, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. It is an honor to appear before you today to discuss your Marine Corps.
▶ 0:28:59Marines take great pride in the fact that the strength of our core, the most important weapon system is the individual Marine. That tough, smart, gritty Marine that's ready to close with and destroy the enemy. Today, your Marine Corps has over 30,000 of those Marines deployed operationally in 35 different countries across the globe. These Marines support our nation's campaigning efforts, underpin deterrence, under the banner of peace through strength, and stand ready to respond when our nation calls upon us.
▶ 0:29:29The Marine Corps approaches the challenges of this critical manpower portfolio with a singular focus, and that's delivering combat ready lethal forces to operational units wherever they are needed. Every decision we make, whether that's recruiting, whether that's retention, assignment, or policy, is evaluated through this lens of lethality, as it should be. Now, sustaining this high state of war fighting readiness depends entirely on our ability to recruit and retain lethal warriors.
▶ 0:29:55I'm pleased to report that we continue to win on the recruiting front and the Marine Corps will make mission again this year. We will make mission without with exceeding all DoD quality standards without lowering and without ever compromising those standards that you expect of us and that define the Marine Corps. We believe our discipline, culture, war fighting ethos and the high standards that we carry attract that competitive young American, high performing American that have what it takes to earn the title of United States Marine.
▶ 0:30:24And this is why our retention of Marines has also reached historic heights. This year, we've exceeded last year's unprecedented numbers. And in the first three months in March here, we surpassed 100% of our retention goals for this year. But we're not stopping here. We're continuing to drive.
▶ 0:30:40This marks the highest number and the highest quality through metrics of retained Marines in a decade and proves that Marines that want to that once they earn that title Marine, they want to stay Marine and that they are proud to protect and defend the nation that we all love so much.
▶ 0:30:55I'd also like to thank you each of you for your your unwavering support providing the services which e which with the tools that we meet that we need to uh carry on these successes and that's in the form of financial incentives quality of life initiatives school access for our recruiters family support programs programs like CDC's and such and many many more that keep a Marine in the Marine Corps stay in Marine or make a difference when a young American decides to come into the Marine Corps.
▶ 0:31:24Now, I'd like to throw out a challenge that I did a couple weeks ago in the SAS to you, and that is that if you have sons or daughters or family or friends that you think have what it takes to be a Marine, I've got a list. I got a bunch of contact cards right here if you're up for the challenge, and I'll give them to you after testimony. But after all this success talk, I would I must stress this. We cannot stop here. The momentum each service is highlighting the fantastic things that all the services are doing right now that remains very fragile.
▶ 0:31:54The force depends not only on the resources but on something more enduring and that's the value of military service. Our nation must reawaken a sense of purpose around serving around being part of something bigger than self. Together we must restore the value of service in the eyes of our fellow citizens. We must not just talk about we we must talk about the positive impacts of service and not just the negative issues in our national narrative.
▶ 0:32:23In closing, I would ask that we all commit to attacking each key decision through the lens of lethality and warfighting excellence. Our Marines and our nation are counting on it. I look forward to your questions. Seer Fidelis, thank you very much. And uh last we have Lieutenant General Miller. Uh you may now make your opening statement. Oh, I'm sorry. Say that, Miss Kelly.
▶ 0:32:45Madame Chair Kiggins, Ranking Member Hulahan, and distinguished members of this subcommittee, I am honored to have this opportunity to appear before you with my fellow service personnel colleagues. The Department of the Air Force is committed to ensuring we are postured to deter and if necessary, prevail against our sophisticated peer competitors, including China and Russia. As the department looks to the future, readiness continues to be the foundation of our mission success.
▶ 0:33:12Readiness can be assessed through multiple lenses, but our most significant competitive advantage is our people, our airmen. This year, we continue to focus on recruiting, developing, and retaining skilled and innovative individuals, ensuring they are equipped with essential operational skills and Fiscal year 2024 saw improvements in recruiting due to an increase in recruiting manning, changes to training processes, and an increase in the delayed entry
▶ 0:33:42program to its highest level in 10 years. The department is also improving pilot retention through increased assessions and training using monetary and non-monetary authorities granted by Congress. Readiness is directly linked to the welfare of our airmen and their families.
▶ 0:34:00And so we continue to target barriers to well-being and overall force readiness in areas such as economic security, access to quality child care, sexual assault and sexual harassment prevention and suicide prevention. Efforts to reduce financial stress include training through programs such as personnel financial readiness and direct financial assistance authorized by the fiscal year 2025 NDAA.
▶ 0:34:26We remain committed to improving access to available, affordable, and quality child care programs by continuing to invest in our child care providers and programs such as community-based child care fee assistant to bolster sexual assault and sexual harassment response and prevention. We have implemented policies to establish standards for care providers to ensure accountability and facilitate interoffice collaboration.
▶ 0:34:53The department has codified the DoD suicide response system and implemented a postvention command support team. They deliver leader focused training designed to implement rapid response activities following a suicide tovent suicide event to minimize suicide contagion, facilitate individual and unit cohesion, and reduce negative impacts on force readiness. Talent management remains the cornerstone of our efforts to build and develop the force we need.
▶ 0:35:23Our talent management philosophy is based on high standards, accountability, and meritocracy. Each airman's record is evaluated on its own merit, specifically in terms of job performance, demonstrated skills, and war fighting readiness. To improve readiness, the department is focused on developing specialized skills to solve operational and strategic challenges.
▶ 0:35:45As the Department of the Air Force looks to the future to preserve our supremacy against adversaries, I assure you the Air Force leadership is wholly focused on maximizing readiness and lethality while caring for our force. Thank you for your continued partnership and advocacy of the United States Air Force. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much. And with that, our last opening statement from Miss Kelly.
▶ 0:36:11Thank you, Madam Chairwoman Keegan and Ranking Member Hulahan and distinguished members of this subcommittee. I sit before you today on behalf of the United States Space Force in an environment where strategic competition in space prevents a serious threat to national security. Our mission in the Space Force is clear to secure our nation's interests in, from, and to space. And this mission is achievable because of the incredible men and women who are guardians in the United States Space Force.
▶ 0:36:39and I'm proud to represent them here with you today. As the newest branch of the armed services with a fiercely contested domain, we must recruit and retain the very best talent. I'm very proud to share that the Space Force has exceeded its fiscal year 24 enlisted recruiting goal by 4% and is on track to meet our 2025 recruitment goals as well. And furthermore, Guardian Retention has an all-time high of 96% today with a goal of landing at 92% by the end of this year.
▶ 0:37:09We're very proud of our guardians who are willing to join and stay to ensure the long-term pipeline of guardians. Last year, we established our own recruiting squadron. And we're also leveraging technology and new marketing platforms to reach individuals with the specific talents, the technological talents that our service in particular needs.
▶ 0:37:31For example, this Friday on National Space Day, we will be premiering a show to introduce the United States Space Force at planetarium audiences across the country. Building the force America needs requires continued growth and investment in our space professionals. We are developing Guardians with the foundational skills and experiences needed in this dynamic and lethal security environment.
▶ 0:37:54And at every step, the Space Force is ensuring the warrior ethos is the nucleus of our service and our lean civilian workforce is aligned to critical functions in direct support of war fighter readiness. As our guardians are concentrated on the mission, we are keenly focused on readiness and their quality of life with the spectrum of resources from our guardian resilience teams to spouse employment initiatives to name a few.
▶ 0:38:20And among our top priorities is access to child care, quality child care, as this is especially crucial for those guardians who provide 247 operational support to the joint fight on duty around the clock directly supporting those who deployed around the world. Thanks to the continued partnership of this committee, this past year, we made significant progress in consolidating space expertise from across the Department of Defense.
▶ 0:38:46We opened the first application window for reserve professionals to transfer into the space force and more than 300 are projected to transfer in 2025 with more interest to join than we had spaces to fill. I want to thank you for your flexible service options provided to us in the personnel management act which will integrate active reserve and guard components into a unified service with both full and part-time work roles in one service without separate component.
▶ 0:39:15The Space Force is unique from other services in this way, and that particular flexibility is key to attracting and retaining the talent necessary to counter the increasing threats to our security. Madame Chairwoman and Ranking Member Hulahan and distinguished members of this committee, thank you again for the opportunity to represent our Space Force guardians and to be here with you today. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, Miss Kelly.
▶ 0:39:45With that, we'll move to questions. Uh I will I will start. Let's see. With last year's NDA, it was particularly focused, as we know, on our quality of life issues, on paying compensation, on housing, on child care, on healthcare, on spouse employment. So, in your discussions with service members, what is the sense of their view of how these reforms are helping? Are they actually feeling them?
▶ 0:40:06I know I've gone to some community events in Hampton Roads and my my district in Virginia Beach and have had junior enlisted people come up to me and thank me for their pay raise, which is very nice uh considering there's I'm sure a lot of things they they would like to complain about as well. But so just to hear that firsthand has been very meaningful. And where do you see that we've had the most improvement and uh what are the services doing to aid service members and their families? And what else should we be doing? How are we getting that word out that we've put this these meaningful changes in place?
▶ 0:40:36I just want to make sure that people are actually feeling that and that you're hearing that. So, if you could maybe each take a couple a minute or two to explain. Thanks, Madam Chair. I think this is uh one of those topics that we can't ever take our foot off the gas on. Quite honestly, we do have to balance quality of life with readiness. Uh where do we invest in our money that we we put in all the programs as well as uh preparing for combat? And I think that's always a an intense balance. and we we look at that all the time. I think there there's been some great progress made.
▶ 0:41:05I don't think we're satisfied as I said in my opening statement. I think we've got some work to do. Barracks has always been a problem and we're continue to work on that and that, you know, that's a big bill. We know that. So, trying to spend money properly and efficiently uh in accordance with our structure. That's very helpful. So, we're making progress. I personally saw saw it firsthand up in Alaska in the 11th Airborne Division. We built the largest CDC and DoD.
▶ 0:41:30Uh and but we get challenged with manning that you know and and having, you know, only about 84% manned across the CDC's. Uh we still need to um add the incentives even more than what we've already added uh to get the workers there. Just like the the assistance with their bringing their their children in where they can get it free and their second one, you know, 50% off basically. Uh those type of incentives we got to keep working on.
▶ 0:41:55And I think al as well as housing, I think having outside um inspectors come in that we're doing this year all through Konis and Okonis to make sure we're meeting the standards to make sure our our soldiers and families are living in better conditions. I think we got to continue to work on that. Thank you, Congresswoman. Thanks thanks for the question. To your point about the 10% pay raise, it is most welcomed. I've heard the same thing from sailor. They they enjoy the extra money. I would like to say though that that was funded for FY25 and 25 only.
▶ 0:42:25We need to make sure that we pass a budget on time uh for on October 1st or that becomes a build of the services and we will have to make choices in special incentive pays in other places so we can meet payroll. So a combined effort there to do that on time and not you know get into a CR and 26 would be most helpful. That said I think the overwhelming thought from sailor is it's a good start right?
▶ 0:42:48So for all these quality of service initiatives, I know on my portfolio, they're very appreciative of the fact that we've made policy where no sailor has to go into a yard period for more than two years at a time. No first-term sailor, so they can be operational. And those first-term sailors that are in uh, you know, yard maintenance, get, you know, TAD opportunities to get to, you know, to get to see so they can learn their trade and learn their craft. In addition, you know, as you know, we've, you know, increased access to medical care in the Hampton Roads area, in the Newport News area. We've taken a strategic view on housing.
▶ 0:43:17We're taking a strategic view on parking and Wi-Fi. So all the things have been very helpful for our sailors. Ma'am, good. Thank you. Well, ma'am, uh again, thanks for the question. Like my other colleagues have have mentioned, quality of life equals retention, which equals lethality in war fighting. I mean, just quite simply, I mean, like I said in my opening comments, the strength every service, we we champion this often is that the strength of the Marine Corps is the individual Marine.
▶ 0:43:40And so retaining that marine after you've trained them and you've gotten them to this high uh uh high level of war fighting, you know, capability, you want to retain them. And so how you do that as they get a little bit older, they have families. And so you retain the families. So I'll just highlight a couple of things that I think are that I've heard that are are very important. Um haven't been in command here not too long ago with child care, uh the CDC's, right? So I think all the services we all wrestle with is it is expensive. In the Marine Corps, what we're doing, our weight lists are down.
▶ 0:44:09We still have a wait list, but we are down. Uh 40% of our child care workers are military spouses, which is fantastic. Thank you for your help in allowing uh the credentiing to be much easier as you as you move from say Virginia to California that credential you don't have to recredential. That was a huge barrier. Uh we've increased the pay. I think all the services have increased the pay for ch our direct uh childare workers. Um and then we're we're we're building five new uh CDC's.
▶ 0:44:38uh which you know we're we're excited about. My I my wife my spouse works she has a career demanding career and that has been a retention effort for us. We have had our kids we had a couple of little monkeys and they have been in these CDC's their whole lives and they're world class. They're better than out in town. So uh uh really just very much uh appreciative of that and that has allowed both of us uh to work at at this level. So we have 30,000 other kids in in child care. Another 10,000 in school age program.
▶ 0:45:08So those are other parents that are staying in the Marine Corps because their kids are taken care of. So uh really just appreciate. So that's point number one. I could go on and on about the childcare facilities. Big fan. Barracks. We can't put enough money in the barracks. Uh so our comedant, this comedant uh has put his money where his mouth is and put money into barracks. And we've got to uh and and it's expensive. It is a big bill with a bee, a lot of bees and and uh you know that's challenging, right?
▶ 0:45:36So uh what we tried to do was show our Marines something right away because you know building a new barracks takes years. So we have those plans. However, what can we do now to to refurbish them? We actually have a program operation uh clean sweep that we start on the west coast where Marines can actually fix their barracks. We we'll provide them some funds. Hey, they can fix some things. You punch the wall, you can I can drywall. Uh, and so they're they'll fix some of those things. They shouldn't be punched in the wall, but if they do, we'll drywall it over. Uh, but just just a couple uh points.
▶ 0:46:06Thank you. That that's great. Thank you very much. Yes. Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question. I mean, I think quality of life over the focus for the last um year has been phenomenal. Uh, you see all of the services, the recruiting numbers are going up.
▶ 0:46:22um the you know about two years ago it was the all the narrative out in the press was you know if you come into the services you're going to be raped you've got this terrible you know living conditions no schools for your children and everything but so I think that we've turned the corner on a lot of that similar to my colleagues here the CDC's um huge huge improvements over the last two years we um a lot of that had to do with the ability to incentivize our care workers our direct direct care
▶ 0:46:52providers. Initially, it was just that, you know, each of the direct care providers would get 100% uh on their first child and then and then they we expanded that to the second one and then we expanded it to everybody that worked in the CDC. So, not only the direct care providers, but those that were running it, those that were doing training. Um so, that was a very big win. We needed to continue to focus on that. Um you know, we are we um we see a little bit of a decline with the hiring freeze.
▶ 0:47:19We have uh worked collectively um with OPM and OSD to make sure that we can make sure continue the flow of hiring the child care providers um and everybody in the NAF. So that will that will continue on. I will also um emphasize the fact that the the um ease in which we can have spouses uh go from one uh organization to another is is so helpful. Um, you know, you do recruit the individual, but you retain the family.
▶ 0:47:48And we have said that for a couple years, but that's very true. When you get an assignment, the first thing you do, especially if you have a spouse and children, is you look at the schools, you look at where you're going to live, and you look at whether or not your spouse, if they're working, will be able to be employed. And that that is all improved. Um, as as my colleagues have stated, uh, the dorms, um, barracks, they're they need some work. Um, and we have been focusing on that a little bit.
▶ 0:48:12uh but they are um we want to make sure that we have good living conditions for our airmen um as they come into the service and so overall I think the quality of life is good we will continue to focus on that area. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. I'll add two things that are somewhat unique to the space force although I completely agree with my colleagues in their preceding comments. From the space perspective, the child care concerns are about having child care 247 for some of our guardian operators.
▶ 0:48:42So, one of the things that we need to continue to work on is making sure that they have an understanding of the multitude of programs that are out there that aren't just the traditional brickandmortar CDC from early in the morning to to a normal day, but the things that actually support them throughout the evening and on weekends and in shift work, which a fairly sizable portion of our guardians are in.
▶ 0:49:04So we work very hard to make sure that those a ancillary programs that are in support are available to them and more importantly that they understand them and know how to access them. I think there's been great progress but I would definitely advocate that we need to do more work on that.
▶ 0:49:19The second thing that for the space force given some of the unique skill sets that we have almost exclusively cyber intel space and acquisition all of which are critical um we know we're head-to-head against industry in those areas and so incentive pays like assignment incentive pay or special duty assignment pay tied to the location or the expectation of the job and tying those incentives to credentiing which is the way that the technical side of private sector validates the techn technical credibility
▶ 0:49:50of those individuals. We're really focused on leveraging those flexibilities that you have given us. The junior enlisted pay raise obviously has been super helpful. I would echo Admiral Cheeseman's comments about making sure that that stays funded in the future because it's absolutely critical for our junior guardians as well. And thank you for the question. Thank you. And I'm way over time so I apologize to my colleagues, but just in in wrap up and thank you. That was really helpful.
▶ 0:50:13And I know that Congresswoman Holyan care and Congresswoman Jacobs and all of us who sat on the quality of life panel really appreciate and and are interested in these updates. We need a PR campaign to I know I traveled around with the books, the quality of life books in my trunk of my car and every time I ran into something like, oh, look at all the great things we're doing that we're trying to take care of our military families. But but getting that word out is so important and the housing the barracks is a passion project I think for all of us. So we'll continue to work on that.
▶ 0:50:38I think one last comment uh that I think we left out a little bit in our quality of life work was you all mentioned child care and families and and you know that's how we retain people but the moving piece and and how frequently we're moving people I I don't feel like we spend enough time talk it's an expense number one but I mean you talk about the impact of especially the people who have kids and and when your spouses have jobs and whatnot I mean that movement piece and I just can can we just I ask that we reevaluate that sometimes do we really need to move I understand the career
▶ 0:51:09progression and what that looks like for being stationed in in different places. But uh but I just I know how it felt when we were when we and we're a military family. So when we moved around a lot and then when we were able to stay for the last few years and our kids were getting older especially and and what that meant and how that set them up for success uh and and the impact it had on our our decision and I'm sure every military family's decision to to stay or to leave the service. So So I just ask that we that we put some some more thought into that piece. But and with that, I apologize.
▶ 0:51:37So, I'll I'll yield to my ranking member. Thank you. Uh, chairwoman, can you guys hear me? Okay. I don't know why we're organized this way, but I feel like I'm uh perched up here. But, uh, as I mentioned during my opening remarks, I'm really concerned about what's going on with our civilian uh, personnel at D Do DoD.
▶ 0:51:59Uh many of you I spoke to I shared that my experience when I served active duty was that probably at least one to one ratio of uniform to to civilian. I think that we talked about the fact that it was uh I you wanted to say 50 50% more than 50% in the in the air force as an example.
▶ 0:52:19So this means as we uh are giving people fork in the road decisions or potentially riffing them uh at the civilians we're necessarily asking more of those who are in uniform, who are left behind. And we probably have very little expectation or understanding whether those positions will be um uh retained or backfilled.
▶ 0:52:42So, I'd love to be able to hear from each of you um whether or not you're hearing whether service members are being asked to pick up additional duties created by these vacancies and what the impact has been on readiness and morale. General Eiffel, it looks like you're Thanks, Ranking Member. Hey, I I appreciate that question, the concern and I probably speak for everybody here. The civilians maintain an important role for us for our readiness, for our continuity.
▶ 0:53:09Uh don't want to under uh score that enough. And so we we continue to look at this. So with the DRP with the delayed resignation program, we had about 16,000 sign up to do that, which is significant. We haven't had to cut anybody.
▶ 0:53:26Uh and so right now we're in the analysis of looking at okay what's the impact because we don't we like you indicated we don't want to impact on readiness or the mission and so right now we're in the middle of reorganizing and see like I said in the open statement streamlining where are we having holes or gaps or things that we're falling through we haven't had to make any uh cuts yet and so we're still looking at okay is there an impact uh because we are doing some reorganization because of that and that's something we're we're looking closely at to make sure we don't
▶ 0:53:56have a a gap in our coverage as far as uh the mission's concerned. How is it possible that there can't be an impact when you're talking about 16 18,000 people who have been who have voluntarily or otherwise decided not to not to serve any longer or not able to serve any longer? Yeah. And I I think that's what we're looking at because if we can reorganize, we do. We can combine some similarities between some of our organizations. I know them. We're doing that in inside of the the Army G1 to see what that's going to look like.
▶ 0:54:25And since those those thousands haven't left yet, we still have some time to sort of figure that out. And I think internally as a staff and with the the Army staff, we're briefing back uh in the next couple of weeks. Okay, how have we reorganized? Where are the gaps so we can say, hey, we need to backfill this person or this position uh to make sure we're not missing any of the missions or so. And there are some concerns out there as well. Thank you. from the admiral. Yes ma'am thanks for the question.
▶ 0:54:52So similar answer to you know as my army counterpart I don't have uh total visibility on the entire department of the navy that portfolio is not in my in my you know or that piece is not in my portfolio but in my own enterprise about 10% of our folks took the DRP. So to your point there will be an impact. We just don't know what it is as we look at potential reorganization and how it will shake out. I I can't do my job without my three star civilian equivalent deputy. It's it's it's important. She's did not take the DRP. Good for me.
▶ 0:55:23Um, but I am very concerned about my force development pipeline, how it will affect the school houses and how it'll affect our pay systems going forward depending on how that shakes out. So, we've done a lot of work in the last two years uh, you know, in modernizing our pay systems. We're in a much better place. We are, as far as I'm concerned, the gold standard in getting paid transactions done and taking care of sailors. I don't want to see any impact at all and we'll be paying attention to that to make sure we mitigate appropriately. Thanks.
▶ 0:55:48And I know I won't have enough time, but I would like to follow up with you about that conversation that we also had about the fact that you don't have visibility or you're not different than the other services, including the Marines. You don't have that direct connection to the civilian uh pipeline. And I think that's interesting and worthy of exploration. It's managed at the secretarial level. Yes, ma'am. Yes. And and uh General, thank you. Yes, ma'am. So, our Marines are civilians. We call them civilian Marines. We we don't call them civilians. We call them civilian Marines.
▶ 0:56:17I think some of you have heard of that just because of that. These are dedicated professionals that uh many 60% of them are veterans uh of our civilians. So, you know, just key teammates and and I would argue that, you know, the one the challenge that the Marine Corps has is it's got the any civilian that we lose uh through DRP or or or termination or whatnot has an outsized impact on the Marine Corps. And here's why. Because we have we're more lean than any of DoD.
▶ 0:56:46We have a nineto one ratio. Nine Marines to one civilian and the rest of DoD is 2 to1. So I had to ask when I got these numbers why what are we doing wrong? But that has an outsiz impact uh as far as you know how many how many student so losing one civilian. Our numbers are smaller. Uh we have 1,600 approximately uh that took the DRP which was a you know a good deal for some of those individuals and some were uh you know more more senior more experienced.
▶ 0:57:14Um so again as we look at the like the other services we're looking at the impacts of uh of what uh losing these individuals is and then restructuring as appropriate uh to um you know handle that challenge. And then some had exemptions which was helpful too. Recruiting exemptions and things uh child care was exempted uh and such. But uh uh thank you for that question. Civilian Marines. Yes ma'am. Thank you for the question.
▶ 0:57:42and we talked a little bit about this at our phone call, but what I would say um we are same as as my colleagues here that we're looking at how to restructure. Um we're going to lose probably about 12,000. Um we're we're assessing that right now. My um so there is going to be an impact but more importantly I think you know to the individuals we're trying to do it all voluntarily so they you know we do not want to go down the rift pathway.
▶ 0:58:07Um but I think what uh we all need to be consider concerned about is the impact that it's going to have on recruiting. um if there is an uncertainty about coming into a service on whether or not you'll be able to re maintain that um position that I think is going to impact we have done tons of work over the last several years to really you know um express the goodness of our service why we serve it's for a bit different purpose a bigger purpose um um and you know a lot of it is job
▶ 0:58:37security we have education all of the benefits that go along with being a war fighter um so I think that that's you know as we continue down this road for the next several years or for you know we just have to watch the second and third order impacts of how is that going to impact recruiting. Right now we are not seeing any impacts at all which is great. We have a lot um on the military side and on the recruiting side I mean on the civilian side we are trying to get more people in as we can. Thank you. And lastly and I know I'm over time uh Miss Kelly. Yes.
▶ 0:59:06Thank you ma'am for giving me a few minutes. I I would just offer this. Um, you know, the Space Force is in a very similar boat, arguably a smaller boat than the way that the Marines just described the problem. We're a third civilians of a total force of 17,000. So, the the impact of losing civilians is exponentially hard on the space force because of the outsiz impact of the total population. We believe that through the voluntary reductions, we're going to lose somewhere around 10%.
▶ 0:59:35And so we have to look very carefully at how to mitigate that 10% and how to be very very intentional about making sure that that does not have a direct mission impact. I will tell you because we rely heavily upon the air force for support and that the preponderance of our guardians military and civilian are operationally focused. This is going to be a challenge for us.
▶ 0:59:58So, I will yield back to the chairwoman, but it just is astounding to a person, woman and man, um that you guys each said, "Well, we're going to try to have to figure it out." It just feels sort of ironic because it's like this fire, aim ready kind of concept. We we literally in some cases are firing or removing people and then we're figuring out what to do about it. Um I really appreciate the cander of your responses and I yield. Thank you. The chair now recognizes Mr. is ner for five minutes. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
▶ 1:00:29And if I could just say, um, it is a total force. You know, nearly a million of the DoD is about a a million are civilian employees and they play an essential role in the defense of this nation. Uh, but with that, I'd like to move on to a different topic. Um, 2021, there was the IRC on sexual harassment. uh they came forward with 82 recommendations of which Secretary Austin at the time agreed to all uh 82 recommendations.
▶ 1:00:59I was sitting in the PNR chair at that time. We put forward the plan to institute those recommendations. Um, hiring a civilian workforce, uh, professionalizing a lot of the collateral duties that the services had used around training, uh, victim counseling, uh, advisers to the command, uh, 44.5 billion is what we asked Congress to fully fund this to implement this plan. Uh, and it was going to take about seven years in total.
▶ 1:01:26Um, but I would like to know how that plan is going right now and really how the hiring freeze is impacting uh getting to the full potential or the full um professional workforce that you needed to mitigate sexual harassment and we can start with you general there and we'll just kind of work our way down. Yes sir. I'll try to save some time for my colleagues this time. Yes, I I think uh that is something we are trying to to implement fully.
▶ 1:01:54I think the hiring freeze has had an impact on some of those professionals that we're trying to bring in there. I think equally as important as a force that we've we we have not gotten where we need to be on sexual assault prevention.
▶ 1:02:08Um, and we're trying not to let that sty us because to me and what I saw firsthand is it's inside the force that we've got to make sure we're teaching the correct values and when we bring people in, we're making sure that they absorb the values of who we are as a service uh for all the services. And so I think we still have to work on that, but uh we are implementing those uh a lot of those. I remember they came and visited us up in Alaska had great discussions on that of how to get forward and get after the prevention aspect.
▶ 1:02:38So I appreciate the support on that. Congressman, thanks for the question. So similar answer obviously the hiring freeze is slowing down our ability to hire integrated primary prevention workforce right now. Other than that, we are essentially on plan. Uh to your point about the seven-year plan, our culture efforts over recent years as we're buil you know building culture founded on respect and trust, we have seen a drop in destructive behaviors