Washington, D.C.
July 22, 2009
Chairwoman Davis, Representative
Wilson, members of this distinguished committee - I
appreciate very much this opportunity to speak with you
today about issues important to Airmen and their families.
I would like to first thank you Chairwoman, the
Members of this committee, and the entire House of
Representatives for your extensive support for our Airmen
and their families. We greatly appreciate your efforts,
actions and legislation on our behalf to expand our pay and
financial benefits and to improve health care for
servicemembers, veterans, and their families.
We are
especially thankful for your visits to our wounded warriors.
Our wounded warriors and the families who support and care
for them sacrifice much.
Our American Airmen have
answered our nation's call to serve. No matter whether they
are deployed to overseas contingency operations, or whether
they are deployed in places at a stateside base and
supporting combatant commander requirement, our Airmen are
doing an incredible job.
Their families serve also.
They support and care for their own Airman; volunteer across
a spectrum of support activities; and comfort other members
of their family who experience an often-absent parent or
spouse. Yes, our military families serve honorably.
Developing and caring for Airmen's families are one of our
top priorities. We have focused much of our efforts in this
area. Some of our recent initiatives have concentrated on
expanding child care capacity, increasing child care for
Guard and Reserve families, improving financial readiness,
and improved education and developmental opportunities for
spouses and children.
Our Airmen are experiencing an
increased deployment schedule, so we are also providing
increased deployment support - not only for our Airmen, but
specifically for our military families. We offer programs
and services across all phases of the deployment.
We
have more than 14,000 families with special needs
requirements enrolled in our special needs program - the
Exceptional Family Member Program. We have a good process
for identifying families and facilitating personnel moves
and assignments based on special need families'
requirements. However, we have determined the need for a
companion program to provide families support as they move
from location to location. We are improving our program to
assist these families.
We are also working on
leveling the playing field for our military children who
experience differences in academic standards and transfer
and acceptance of credits and courses. We are also concerned
with variable elementary grade-level promotions and
graduation requirements as well as eligibility for sports
and extracurricular activities.
We are working with
States to loosen up the eligibility of unemployment
compensation for our military spouses who are compelled to
leave their job when their Airman must change duty
locations. We are working on providing opportunities to
train and license in portable career fields to abbreviate
the job search timeframe for these spouses.
We will
remain engaged on our family support programs, and we plan
on constantly improving the programs we already have in
effect.
Thank you all again for your continued
support of your Air Force. On behalf of America's Airmen and
their families, I appreciate this opportunity to testify
here today.
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