<DOC>
[109th Congress House Hearings]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID: f:28449.wais]
TRANSITION ASSISTANCE FOR MEMBERS OF ACTIVE DUTY RESERVE AND NATIONAL
GUARD, AND EDUCATION BENEFITS FOR THE TOTAL MILITARY FORCE
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JUNE 19, 2006
HEARING HELD AT ELLSWORTH AFB, RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA
__________
Serial No. 109-53
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
STEVE BUYER, Indiana, Chairman
MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida LANE EVANS, Illinois, Ranking
TERRY EVERETT, Alabama BOB FILNER, California
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida LUIS V. GUTIERREZ, Illinois
DAN BURTON, Indiana CORRINE BROWN, Florida
JERRY MORAN, Kansas VIC SNYDER, Arkansas
RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine
HENRY E. BROWN, Jr., South Carolina STEPHANIE HERSETH, South Dakota
JEFF MILLER, Florida TED STRICKLAND, Ohio
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon
JEB BRADLEY, New Hampshire SILVESTRE REYES, Texas
GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JOHN CAMPBELL, California JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado
JAMES M. LARIVIERE, Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas, Chairman
RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana STEPHANIE HERSETH, South Dakota,
GINNY BROWN-WAITE, Florida Ranking
JOHN CAMPBELL, California DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon
LANE EVANS, Illinois
C O N T E N T S
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June 19, 2006
Page
Transition Assistance for Members of Active Duty Reserve and
National Guard, and Education Benefits for the Total Military
Force.......................................................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Chairman John Boozman............................................ 1
Prepared statement of Chairman Boozman....................... 37
Hon. Stephanie Herseth, Ranking Democratic Member................ 2
WITNESSES
Aune, Chief Master Sergeant Clyde W., Command Chief, 28th Bomb
Wing, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, SD................. 4
Prepared statement of Chief Master Sergeant Aune............. 42
Brown, John L., South Dakota District Director, U.S. Small
Business Administration........................................ 27
Prepared statement of Mr. Brown.............................. 70
Fillman, William, Director, Central Area, Veterans Benefits
Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs............ 29
Prepared statement of Mr. Fillman............................ 74
Gerlach, Andy, Deputy Secretary, South Dakota Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs, and Major, South Dakota Army
National Guard, on behalf of Major General Mike Gorman,
Adjutant General, South Dakota National Guard, and Secretary,
South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs....... 10
Prepared statement of Major Gerlach.......................... 51
Kolden, Todd, Veterans' Services State Coordinator, South Dakota
Department of Labor, on behalf of Pamela Roberts, Secretary,
South Dakota Department of Labor............................... 14
Prepared statement of Mr. Kolden............................. 57
McClung, Captain Chennel, Officer in Charge of Personnel
Employments and Relocations, 28th Mission Support Squadron,
Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, SD....................... 3
Prepared statement of Captain McClung........................ 40
McNulty, David, Director for Veterans Employment and Training for
Wyoming, U.S. Department of Labor, on behalf of Earl R.
Schultz, State Director--South Dakota, Veterans' Employment and
Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor..................... 25
Prepared statement of Mr. Schultz............................ 64
Mitchell, Staff Sergeant Ann M., United States Air Force,
Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid City, SD....................... 6
Prepared statement of Staff Sergeant Mitchell................ 49
Moore, Karen, Core Compliancy Manager, Transition Assistance
Program, Family Support Center, Ellsworth Air Force Base, Rapid
City, SD....................................................... 12
Prepared statement of Ms. Moore.............................. 54
Summerside, George W., Veterans Education Program Specialist,
South Dakota State Approving Agency............................ 17
Prepared statement of Mr. Summerside......................... 59
TRANSITION ASSISTANCE FOR MEMBERS OF ACTIVE DUTY RESERVE AND NATIONAL
GUARD, AND EDUCATION BENEFITS FOR THE TOTAL MILITARY FORCE
----------
MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2006
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunities,
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:10 a.m., at
the 28 Operation Support Squadron Auditorium, 1956 Scott Drive,
Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, Hon. John Boozman (chairman of the
subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Boozman and Herseth.
Mr. Boozman. The hearing will come to order. I'm delighted
that our Ranking Member Stephanie Herseth has invited the
Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity to visit South Dakota to
hear from service members and veterans on how well the
Transition Assistance Program and the GI Bill are doing.
Before we begin, I'm sure everyone has heard about the
recent loss of veterans' data at the VA. Tomorrow Ms. Herseth
and I will hold a hearing to find out what effect that loss
might have on the benefits programs under our jurisdiction. I
want to assure each of you that we will do everything possible
to minimize the damage that might have been done. I wish we
could guarantee veterans that they will not be affected, but
that is not yet to be determined.
In the meantime, I urge each veteran to check their credit
files, watch their monthly statements very closely, and take
aggressive action if something appears amiss.
If you have access to the Internet, the Committee website
www.veterans.house.gov has several links to information and
assistance.
Normally I make our Ranking Member Ms. Herseth listen to me
as I ramble on about the various things having to do with the
programs that we're going to talk about, but today I just want
to say that we really do enjoy working with Ms. Herseth. She's
truly been a pleasure as our Ranking Member. The Veterans
Affairs Committee is very bipartisan. We work really hard. Most
of us--in fact, all of us--have asked to serve on this
Committee. It's not something that we were told, ``You've got
to do this.'' Most of us--in fact, all of us--like I say, have
asked to be on that Committee in an effort to help veterans. We
appreciate all that she does for veterans, and we'll turn
things over to Ranking Member Herseth.
[The statement of Mr. Boozman appears on p. 37.]
Ms. Herseth. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for accepting
the invitation to come to South Dakota. A few months ago, I
accepted the invitation of Chairman Boozman to join him in the
great State of Arkansas where we held a hearing similar to this
one today, a series of hearings we've been having at the
Subcommittee level to evaluate the effectiveness of our
Transition Assistance Programs for our active duty service
members as they transition to civilian life, to talk with our
leadership of the National Guard and Reserve components in our
states and other states around the country, to talk about the
importance of the demobilization process for our members of the
Guard and Reserve returning home from often lengthy deployments
in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, as well
as gauging the interest in and accepting ideas about how to
effectively modernize the Montgomery GI Bill to meet the needs
of active duty servicemen and women, to meet the needs of our
National Guard and Reservists, and what we do to make those
benefits more flexible for all of the men and women who serve
in the Armed Forces as they seek opportunities in the civilian
sector after they've served the country so admirably.
But it is wonderful to be able to host you here in South
Dakota, members of your Committee staff that are traveling with
you, I want to thank our Air Force escorts on the trip in
making this a time worth everyone's while here this morning,
but also taking advantage of what South Dakota has to offer:
The beautiful Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore where we were last
night.
And I think that we're all in agreement, as the Chairman
said, that this is a very bipartisan full Committee and a very
bipartisan Subcommittee. I've certainly enjoyed working with
Chairman Boozman on a number of issues under the purview of our
jurisdiction, whether it be education, employment, transition,
job training, other programs to ensure a level of oversight to
make them as effective as possible because we know that the
young men and women who choose to serve in our Armed Forces
deserve the very best while they're serving and after they're
serving. So thank you for your interest in being here today and
we look forward to hearing the testimony of our panelists.
Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you. We've had several hearings on
transition assistance and the GI Bill including field hearings
in New Hampshire and Arkansas. Each has provided the
Subcommittee with additional insights regarding the
effectiveness of the programs, especially how they apply to the
members of the National Guard and Reserves.
TAP is important in the transition process for both active
duty members and those in the Selected Reserves.
We've seen that when commanding officers and their State
officials make a concerted effort to use TAP to help stabilize
the lives of their active duty, Guard and Reserve members
returning from extended active duty, post-deployment problems
decrease and retention rates increase.
Post-deployment issues for the Guard and Reserves are a bit
different from those facing the regular forces. In many ways,
those issues are more difficult because of the dispersion of
the unit upon return. In fact, by denying the mutual support of
unit members with whom members have shared tough times, I
believe the current 90-day restriction placed on drilling
following extended deployment is a mistake and may foster
higher rates of stress-related issues such as those involving
other family members and risky behavior. I'm looking forward to
hearing from officials on how they are meeting the needs of
their members.
You may have heard that Steve Buyer, the Chairman of the
House Veterans Affairs Committee, has expressed his support for
a modernized GI Bill, and I for one, welcome his initiative.
The Montgomery GI Bill has served the nation's veterans well
for 20 years, but with the prospect of continued integration of
Guard and Reserve forces with the regular military, we need to
look at what will make that benefit more relevant to today's
operational climate. This will likely be a very expensive
undertaking, one that will probably take some time to do. For
those who have not known the history of the Montgomery GI Bill,
it took seven years to enact it.
Let's start with our first panel. First of all, I know some
of you all will drift in and out and that's fine to do. I
really do want to thank everyone for their hospitality. We'll
talk about this a little bit later. This is the first time that
I've been to this part of the country for any length of time,
and we really had a good time. The community's great. Seeing
Mt. Rushmore in the evening, lit up was tremendous. The
Subcommittee thanks you for your hospitality. It's been great
so far. Hopefully it will continue until we get on the plane.
On this panel we have Captain Chennel McClung, Command
Chief Sergeant Clyde Aune, and Staff Sergeant Ann Mitchell.
Let's begin with Captain McClung and we'll go right down the
line. Captain?
STATEMENT OF CAPTAIN CHENNEL McCLUNG, OFFICER IN CHARGE OF
PERSONNEL EMPLOYMENTS AND RELOCATIONS, 28th MISSION SUPPORT
SQUADRON, ELLSWORTH AFB, RAPID CITY, SD
Captain McClung. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Committee
Members. I'm Captain Chennel McClung from the 28 Mission
Support Squadron here at Ellsworth, and I'll start this morning
by talking about the Transition Assistance Program.
I went through the Transition Assistance Program after
learning that I was eligible for this first round of Officer
Force Shaping. The Air Force is attempting to shorten up their
forces and the first round of Officer Force Shaping involved
the 2002 and 2003 year groups of lieutenants. The board
convened and the results came out in May and fortunately, I was
not force shaped out, but I did go through the Transition
Assistance Program just in case I were to be force shaped out
and would have to separate this year, and I did learn a lot
more than I thought I would when I first walked in; basically
everything from how to do a resume, how to start a small
business, how I could use my Montgomery GI Bill after getting
out, information on home loans, and anything I needed to be
able to help myself transition from active duty to being a
civilian.
My position is a little bit unique, but not too much. I am
married to another military member, so I wasn't worried about
things like benefits, health insurance and things like that,
but you do grow accustomed to a two-income household.
So being able to find work after making the transition was
a concern of mine, and I am very confident that after going
through the TAP program, I would not have been out of work long
given the tools that I picked up from the program. It was very
helpful. There were about 30-some-odd other people going
through at the same time that I did, and it seemed to--it
seemed to help pretty much everyone that was there.
It's a great benefit. It really is.
[The statement of Captain McClung appears on p. 40.]
Mr. Boozman. Chief Master Sergeant Aune.
STATEMENT OF CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT CLYDE W. AUNE, COMMAND
CHIEF, 28TH BOMB WING, ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, RAPID CITY, SD
Master Sergeant Aune. Yes. I really appreciate the
opportunity to talk with you today about the Transition
Assistance Program, and I'd like to share a comment or two
about the Montgomery GI Bill as well. And so we tried to put
together, I think, some folks up here today representing many
different aspects of the military. I happen to be the only one
of the three of us not married to another military member so I
can share that particular side of the equation with you.
In my case, I joined the Air Force 28 years ago, and if we
recognize that prior to joining the Air Force, I had only
worked in one job. That was a job I filled out an application
for and was asked if I could start that same evening.
So I sit before you now 46 years old and ready to leave the
Air Force having never, ever interviewed for a job other than
the one I currently hold and that's a military one. I have
never written a resume. I filled out one application as a high
school student and that's the only application I've ever filled
out in my life. And so if you just recognize then that people
in my particular situation have to count on something like this
Transition Assistance Program to prepare us for this
significant transition into what, for many of us, is our first
time ever competing for employment in the civilian sector.
My wife was able to attend with me. My current position
dictates that my wife attend many functions with me and, as a
result, has chosen not to be employed during the two years that
I've spent here at Ellsworth, and so she was able to attend the
Transition Assistance Program and the three-day briefings with
me and came away from that with a tremendous amount of
information and knowledge that I regret, frankly, that every
one of our spouses could not come away with that same thing.
And so in spite of the tremendous program that our Family
Support Center has put together and puts in front of us here
specifically at Ellsworth, were it that I could ask for any
improvement in this program not specific to Ellsworth, it would
be that spouses would have the opportunity to attend so that
they could also understand the tremendous variety of benefits
available to us.
We were talking up here before we started about retirees
we've all known who tend to pass away a very short time after
retiring. In my case working for a supervisor here, a Master
Sergeant who, 11 days after retiring, was walking out to his
mailbox and died of a heart attack halfway to that mailbox and
left a spouse then completely unaware of what benefits she may
be entitled to now.
My wife, like me, took a tremendous amount of notes at the
Transition Assistance Program seminar and came away from there
meeting with our Unlisted Spouses Group on Base recommending
that each and every one of them has to make time, has to take
time off work, has to arrange for child care such that they
also could attend and come to understand the tremendous range
of benefits that exist.
Our Transition Assistance Program is just a tremendous
three days' worth of information to help us prepare for not
only what I've talked about, filling out applications, resumes,
but also conducting mock interviews, something many of us have
never done in our lives, and conducted by human resources
people from the surrounding community that can help prepare us
for what we will face, access to what our veterans' benefits
are and what time lines exist that we must be knowledgeable of
in order that we don't sacrifice any of those benefits.
As an example, I learned for the first time in my life you
have to enroll for VA healthcare within one year of retirement.
I learned that you have to convert to Veterans Group Life
Insurance within four months of retiring or you would have to
complete a complete physical in order to reapply for the VGLI.
And then also applying for disability. Having served 28 years,
I think very few people would serve that length of time and not
have some sort of medical issues they had incurred during that
period of service, and that number--or those disabilities, I
think, will only increase because of our service in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
So learning that we don't have access to those--or I should
say, we would not be compensated for those disabilities until
the day that we apply. This helps us all understand how
important those time lines are.
And so a last few comments then about the Montgomery GI
Bill. I would prefer to speak about the estimated 77,000 of us
on active duty in the Air Force today that fell between the old
GI Bill and the new Montgomery GI Bill and entered our Air
Force during the time I mentioned. The education benefit was
VEAP or Veterans Education Assistance Program.
Like many others who came in my same time, we were called
together in the Base Theater on this base and counseled by our
own Education Office that this was not a good benefit and was a
benefit that we should frankly decline. Being a good airman at
that time, I knew how to take direction and I did decline as
did many of my counterparts and will now leave our Air Force
without any education benefit. And so my plea would be a
recognition of those men and women who followed direction given
to them by their very Education Offices and declined VEAP.
Thank you.
[The statement of Chief Master Sergeant Aune appears on p.
42.]
Mr. Boozman. Sergeant Mitchell. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF STAFF SERGEANT ANN M. MITCHELL, UNITED STATES AIR
FORCE, ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, RAPID CITY, SD
Sergeant Mitchell. Good morning. I'm Staff Sergeant Ann
Mitchell, and I thank you for the opportunity to speak here
today. I'll be sharing a brief summary of my situation and the
Transition Assistance I have received.
I have been in the Air Force for seven and a half years and
I just got back from my fifth deployment. While I was deployed
this last time to Kyrgyzstan, I was 100 percent sure that I was
going to get out of the service. I was tired of all the
deployments and I was not really happy with where I was
working. So after talking it over with my husband, who is also
Active Duty, we decided it would be better if I just got out.
With this decision in mind, I started looking for jobs in
the local area and I also got scheduled to attend the
Transition Assistance Program. This class really helped me with
all my doubts about getting out. I especially liked the
veterans that came in and talked to us about numerous topics to
include our benefits, resumes, cover letters, etc. They also
told us that we could go downtown to their office for more
assistance if we needed. In my opinion, this was an excellent
class for transitioning people that are getting out of the
service into civilian life.
But as time went on, I changed my mind about getting out
and staying in about a hundred times. I came into the Air Force
to go to school, to travel around the world, and have a
guaranteed paycheck. I just kept thinking about all the great
benefits that we have in the military, and the more I looked
for jobs around here as a civilian, the more I was thankful
about being in. I guess I'm really thankful to have job
security, equal opportunity, education, and medical benefits,
travel opportunities, and the list could go on. So I guess this
all outweighed my initial decision about getting out because I
was scared about leaving my family all the time. I guess if my
husband and I made it through seven deployments already, we can
make it through anything as long as we keep doing what we are
doing.
I am so proud to be in the United States Air Force and to
be a part of something larger than myself. Thank you again for
hearing my testimony today.
[The statement of Staff Sergeant Mitchell appears on p.
49.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank all of you very much.
Ms. Herseth.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for the
testimony. It brings up a number of questions based on each of
your separate experiences with TAP. And so if I could start
with Master Sergeant, do you think in your experience, in your
28 years and--well, let me ask you first, how many people
participated in the seminar with you, because I know that
Captain McClung said about 30 others participated with her. Is
that about the size of the group that participated?
Master Sergeant Aune. That's correct, there were 26 in the
seminar that my wife and I attended.
Ms. Herseth. Okay. And the same with you then, is that
what----
Sergeant Mitchell. I was in the same class with Captain
McClung.
Ms. Herseth. All right. Do you think that the TAP program
should be modified depending on whether or not you've been on
active duty for 20-plus years or, for four to six years,
whether or not you have a spouse who's not also in active duty?
Do you think it should? Maybe that's what they did in your case
where most of the other participants were also transitioning
out after 15, 20, 25 years or more. Was that the case? Was it
sort of adapted to meet the needs of longer-serving members of
the Air Force?
Master Sergeant Aune. Okay. In the TAP seminar we were all
asked to come in civilian clothing so that there's a beginning
and a realization of the fact that it's time to start thinking
about another way of life. And in my personal opinion, there
was great value in the wide range of the service options. In
other words, from young folks like her (indicating) to people
at my end of the scale so that the questions that each of us
asked seemed to bring to light things that we would not have
otherwise considered or thought of.
So I felt no need or reason to separate or segregate based
on time of service or retiring at 20-plus years or separating
early in your career or, frankly, being married to a military
member or a civilian member. I saw no need to separate
whatsoever. In fact, I felt great value in all of us being
there at the same time.
Ms. Herseth. And I noticed some nodding of the heads by the
two of you, would you agree with that statement?
Captain McClung. [Nodding head up and down.]
Sergeant Mitchell. [Nodding head up and down.]
Ms. Herseth. And then I know you mentioned maybe one way to
improve it is extending that opportunity to spouses.
Master Sergeant Aune. Yes.
Ms. Herseth. So as you're taking the notes and because of
the wide range of benefits and other information presented over
the period of the program, it's always helpful to have sort of
two eyes. And so do you think that there are other factors that
we could consider as we work with those who administer the TAP
program that either of the other two witnesses would--a follow-
up after a certain period of months, being able to talk a
little bit about how some of the--not so much the resume-
writing, but looking through how job applications have changed,
as information technology has changed dramatically as well. Any
other thoughts on how we might be able to improve the program?
Sergeant Mitchell. Well, I think they keep it pretty open
as far as if you need help, their doors are open, and the
veterans downtown are really open with helping everybody. So I
don't think there's any other--I mean, I think it was a great
class and they covered all aspects.
Master Sergeant Aune. My main concern, if we consider the
Survivors Benefit Plan, if you're familiar with this program,
the Survivors Benefit Plan requires a spouse's signature if the
active duty member is going to decline anything other than the
maximum coverage allowed under the Survivors Benefit Plan. So
my wife had to come with me to our military personnel flight
and receive a briefing on the Survivors Benefit Plan, what does
that benefit entitle, and then if we chose to receive anything
less than the maximum benefits, she would have to sign saying
she agreed with that decision.
And yet, that's important. I think that's a really good
plan, but what I'm concerned about is that the access spouses
would have to the tremendous array of benefits I have earned as
a military member which she otherwise would be ignorant to
because she's not a military member. We currently do nothing to
safeguard her access to or knowledge of those benefits.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you. I don't have further questions at
this time other than just to acknowledge the point that you
made about a gap that exists here based on advice given as it
related to the value of the educational benefit for the 77,000-
plus individuals that you've identified. Geoff and I have
talked about this and we know that this is an ongoing problem,
and we'll certainly work with the Chairman and the Committee
staff and the other members on the Committee to keep finding
ways to address this in light of the situation where you find
yourselves now and the importance of receiving--and that really
goes to the flexibility of the benefits that are provided and
how we compensate for some of what happened in the transition
from the older GI Bill to the change that we made a number of
years ago. So thank you for your time in that regard.
Master Sergeant Aune. Appreciate it.
Mr. Boozman. We've really got an interesting panel because
we've got three kinds of unique situations. We have someone
that has been in and decided to retire, has made plans; someone
else that with force reduction, felt like there might be such
that you might have to separate; and then somebody that had not
been in as long, but just decided that you needed to get out.
And yet, with all those disparate motives being there, it seems
like the course was very beneficial to everybody, so that's
what we like to hear.
One of the things, as we've talked to people, because of
your testimony, because of your experience, something I felt
like, and I don't want to influence you, but is TAP a program
that needs to be mandatory in certain periods through people's
careers? One of the problems that we've heard is that if you
take the TAP program and you're not planning on separating
right then, then maybe there's a stigma attached as to, such
as, why are you doing this?
What are your thoughts as far as making it such that people
are encouraged, if not required, but encouraged during various
parts of their career to take the program rather than when they
feel like they're going to separate?
Captain McClung. I think it would be a great idea if more
people who felt like they may separate or retire at some point
were encouraged to go to the TAP program, but I think for the
most part, people are--I didn't feel a stigma going to the
class; you know, I'm going to jump ship or get out or anything.
It was just, kind of protecting myself against not being
educated enough to be able to fend for myself if I did happen
to separate from the service. Again, the class was a great
benefit.
To piggyback on the couples attending, I think it's great.
There were, I think, two mil to mil couples that were there
during our class and they seemed to get a lot more out of it. I
think if more spouses were educated on the benefits that they
would get if their spouse were to separate or retire from the
service, it would help a lot of people. I see so many widows
coming in to speak to our Casualty Assistance Rep, that their
spouse had passed away, had been retired for so many years and
they declined their benefits, and nine out of ten of them will
tell you, ``If I knew exactly what I was entitled to, I would
not have let him or her make that decision.''
Master Sergeant Aune. I would just like to be clear here,
you referred to a stigma attached to attendance at TAP and
perhaps a negative stigma, like, ``What are you doing,''
considering perhaps some other course of action. The reality is
that, I think, in today's Air Force we recognize that many who
want to continue serving will not be allowed to serve in our
Air Force because of the reductions that we are going through.
And so there's no stigma, in my opinion, attached to attendance
whatsoever. In fact, we highly encourage folks to go twice: One
at two years or more out and one within the year in which you
are separating or retiring.
Mr. Boozman. Well, I appreciate that, we've visited with
lots of different folks in lots of different ranches and that's
not always the case. I really like your suggestion.
Seems like all of you are signing on that, the spouses
learn a lot. What can we do to make it such that it's easier
for spouses to attend? We live in a very active world and it is
tough, sometimes with little ones, most of the time working. Do
we need to talk about some night opportunities or what would be
easier for--to make it such that we can actually do that?
Master Sergeant Aune. Okay. So we currently do what we call
Heart Link. This is another fantastic program run in our Family
Support Center. This is to indoctrinate people who are new to
our Air Force. Primarily that's our target audience, those who
are new to our Air Force, and here's all that's available on
the Base to help you get indoctrinated to the military way of
life.
We conduct these in the evenings and then child care is
provided and so this affords then active duty members and their
spouses to attend together and know that their children are
just down the hall being cared for. It seems to me--my wife and
I discussed this at great length trying to figure out how could
we get spouses to this TAP seminar because, the reality is most
of our spouses work. I mean, that's just the way it is. We're
two-income families today; that's the norm. And with 64 percent
of our Air Force--approximately 64 percent of our Air Force
married today, that's the norm as well, that we have a lot more
spouses than not.
So evening seminars is the only answer that we could come
up with that you would have to extend--these were three eight-
hour days, and so I'm not going to be very successful in three
eight-hour nights after the spouses have already worked that
day and with the child care issue. So it would certainly have
to be stretched out over a longer period, but it seems to me
that evenings are the only way to ensure the largest number of
spouses could attend.
Mr. Boozman. Yesterday, somebody made the comment that you
recruit the individual and then in trying to encourage,
retention, you recruit the family. And probably you need to
have, it sounds like, what you're doing here is that we almost
need the transition of the family also rather than just the
individual.
Have you got anything else?
Ms. Herseth. I don't have anything else.
Mr. Boozman. Is there any other thing that you'd like to
add? You've been very, very helpful. Are there any other
changes that you'd like for us to consider in the TAP program?
We appreciate your comments on the GI Bill. Are there any other
things that you think we should look at or----
Master Sergeant Aune. No, sir. We really appreciate the
opportunity to talk to you.
Mr. Boozman. Well, thank you very much for being here. We
appreciate your testimony and taking the time to come and share
with us. It is important and especially, I think that the
family and the spouse and other things that you've given us are
very, very important. It sounds like the program here is doing
quite well. Thank you very much.
Mr. Boozman. Let's go ahead and have the second panel. With
us is Mr. Andy Gerlach, the Deputy Secretary of the South
Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Ms. Karen
Moore, the Community Readiness Consultant and Director of the
Transition Assistance Program for Ellsworth Air Force Base; Mr.
Todd Kolden, the Veterans' Services State Coordinator for the
South Dakota Department of Labor; and finally, Mr. George
Summerside, the Education Program Representative for the South
Dakota Division of Veterans Affairs. Let's begin with Mr.
Gerlach.
STATEMENT OF ANDY GERLACH, DEPUTY SECRETARY, SOUTH DAKOTA
DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND MAJOR, SOUTH
DAKOTA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD, ON BEHALF OF MAJOR GENERAL MIKE
GORMAN, ADJUTANT GENERAL, SOUTH DAKOTA NATIONAL GUARD, AND
SECRETARY, SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS
AFFAIRS
Mr. Gerlach. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congresswoman
Herseth. It's great to have you in South Dakota, sir. Great to
host you, and great to always see the Congresswoman. I
appreciate the opportunity to testify today. In holding this
hearing, I think you're going to hear some very good testimony
by all groups on issues that are important to all of us in
South Dakota and veterans.
I am testifying today on behalf of Major General Mike
Gorman, Adjutant General for the South Dakota National Guard
and Secretary of the Department of Military and Veterans
Affairs. My name is Andy Gerlach. I'm the Deputy Secretary for
the department, a Major in the South Dakota National Guard, and
a veteran.
This morning I would like to share with the Committee
information on our Readjustment Program who assists the local
War on Terror veterans, their families, employers, and South
Dakota communities. South Dakota's outreach effort has been a
partnership of State government and the Federal government
along with the private sector organizations and individuals
across South Dakota.
Since the beginning of the War on Terror, South Dakota has
had over 5500 new veterans, and our overall veteran population
is nearing an all-time high. Of the 5500 new veterans, over
two-thirds are members of the National Guard and Reserves who,
after their mobilization, have returned to South Dakota to
continue their lives.
Shortly after the first of our National Guard units was
mobilized in late 2003, the Department of Military and Veterans
Affairs saw the need to establish the Readjustment Program for
South Dakota's returning veterans. In addition, we recognize
the program needed to include the service member families,
employers, and the communities to which they were returning.
From this concept, our Readjustment Task Force was
established. The Task Force is headed by the Department of
Military and Veterans Affairs and directs all facets of service
member readjustment and transition in South Dakota. Along with
the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, the Task Force
includes representation from the State Division of Veterans
Affairs, South Dakota National Guard, the State Department of
Human Services, the South Dakota Council on Mental Health
Centers, the Department of Labor in South Dakota, Veterans'
Administration, and the Veterans Administration Vet Centers.
In South Dakota our readjustment effort has been far-
reaching and begins well before the service member returns
home. Teams made up of representatives from each of the Task
Force organizations provide assistance in the following areas.
Family support briefings that begin the process and are held
prior to the unit returning home. At our family support
briefings, we utilize professionals to talk about what to
expect in terms of a behavior standpoint for everyone involved.
They also provide benefit information to the families and
points of contact.
Our demobilization stations are conducted at the active
duty military post upon the unit's return. Teams from the
Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs, Veterans'
Administration, and National Guard travel to the demobilization
station for personalized briefings with the soldiers.
Our welcome home briefs are conducted 30 to 90 days after
the return of the unit's--to the unit's location. Follow-up
information is presented to reiterate what was stated at the
family support and demobilization station briefings. Close
attention is also paid to specific readjustment issues within
the unit.
Mr. Chair, I noted in your opening statement that you had
talked about the 90-day issue, and I will tell you that in
South Dakota here, we feel 90 days is too long to bring a unit
back. The camaraderie that they gain during their mobilization,
the ability to talk to one another, the ability to identify
issues from our standpoint is important far closer to 90 days,
and we think the 90-day issue is too long, and I wanted to note
that to you as well.
We also give welcome home packets that are sent to the
Division of Veterans Affairs to all returning veterans with
printed information outlining State and Federal benefits.
The information is also found on our Department home page.
And finally, we have veteran's forums across South Dakota
sponsored in communities throughout the State in partnership
with our veterans service organizations. These forums provide
benefit overviews and service information to all members in a
public setting.
Each of these venues is important in registering veterans
for the VA and it's something that we also stress in each one
of these settings.
In each of the past four years, the Department has hosted a
Veteran's Summit as well. Our Veteran's Summit brings together
representatives from all major organizations in South Dakota to
work with the military. Information is shared and ideas are
exchanged. The Veteran's Summits address a wide range of issues
along with fostering a spirit of cooperation and gives the
Department ideas for initiatives to work into our strategic
model.
Last month our 2006 Veteran's Summit was held in Pierre.
The theme dealt specifically with post-deployment mental health
issues faced by our service members and their families.
I'm glad to report that we have gained results by this.
South Dakota's readjustment and transition effort focused on
our new veterans has given us a large number applying for and
gaining VA benefits. In fact, in a report from April 30, 2006,
by the VA, South Dakota had a total of 2176 Global War on
Terror veterans registered in the VA System. This total is more
than any State in VISN 23 which includes South Dakota, North
Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.
The State of South Dakota has also been very helpful in
legislation at the State level. Veterans Transition Partnership
has involved elected leaders in the Executive and Legislative
branch in South Dakota. Some recent initiatives include
revising the definition of periods of service which qualify for
veteran's benefits in South Dakota, reestablishing the South
Dakota Veterans Benefit program to include our bonus program
that gives $500 to veterans from South Dakota when they return
home from their service, and offering free education benefits
at South Dakota Regent Campuses and Technical Schools for
spouses and children of members of the National Guard in South
Dakota who have been killed or permanently disabled while
serving on active duty. We've also passed legislation in South
Dakota to prohibit picketing at military funerals.
In closing, I would like to reemphasize that the success
that we have had as advocates for veterans is the result of
cooperation among leaders, organizations, and agencies and the
sharing of ideas and resources. Since our troops have been
deployed, South Dakota has stood as a true national leader in
developing innovative ways to serve our returning service
members and their families. The citizens of our State can be
proud of this. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Gerlach appears on p. 50.]
STATEMENT OF KAREN MOORE, CORE COMPLIANCY MANAGER, TRANSITION
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM, FAMILY SUPPORT CENTER, ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE
BASE, RAPID CITY, SD
Ms. Moore. Good morning, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member
Herseth. I am Karen Moore and I am in charge of the Transition
Assistance Program here at Ellsworth, and I would like to make
some comments about the chief--what he said and some other
comments that were made.
For our transition class, we try to include everybody.
All--whether they've been in two years, 28 years, whatever it
is, we would like to have them all in the same class. The
reason why is we have learned through all of this process that
you need to have that experience along with that other
knowledge and the other knowledge that the younger people bring
is Internet. They know how to access the computer.
They know where to find all of the websites. So a lot of
times it's very interesting to watch the class interact because
the older ones are helping them find benefits, and the younger
ones are helping the older ones find websites of where to find
jobs, where to find information on relocation and things like
that.
Our class size normally runs between 12 to 47. We have had
to go to four in a quarter because of the force shaping things
going on, so we're having to do that, and we tried that for our
last quarter and we were able to get the same amount as we had
in one month in the previous year. But what I would like to say
on that is we like to have smaller classes. I don't like to
have 47 people crammed into a room. I have a huge classroom,
but I still do not have enough room for interaction. TAP is so
important, the information that has been talked about is very
important and that we need more one-on-one, and that's why we
like to have our classes smaller. The class that the Chief was
in, it had 30-something in it, I guess. It was quite large.
The other thing I'd like to comment on is about spouses.
Here at Ellsworth we do invite spouses, but as the Chief was
saying, it's very difficult with people working. You need two
incomes to make it in this world nowadays. So one thing that we
had looked at, and I have been traveling around doing some
instructing and I was with my peers two weeks ago, and I asked
them a question. If with TAP, would you want it to be
mandatory? And I didn't get any comments, but I did get a side-
bar from an individual who came up to me, and she runs a
program at another installation, and she told me no. And I was
very surprised and I said, ``Well, why not?'' And she said the
reason why is that she saw it as they may think that it's
something that they have to do. It may have a stigma somehow
get attached to it that it's another mandatory briefing that
I've got to go to. I'm not going to get any benefit out of this
program. Sometimes people walk into those classes with that.
So with her comment, we spoke about it and I said, ``Well,
what about if TAP was able to be taken at any point in time?
Not just when you're separating, not when you're ready to go
out the door, not when you're having to leave. Why couldn't it
be used as a retention tool?'' At the Transition Assistance
Conference last year, they said that 18 percent use it as a
reenlistment tool. They came back in; they decided to stay.
Well, I would really like to see that utilized for that more
than just leaving when you're going out the door because so
many other things are going on. I've been in charge of this
program for two years now, and my gentlemen and my ladies are
so overwhelmed when they walk out the door with all the
information, and I would like for them to be able to take it
when they have the opportunity to sit down and take things home
and look at it a lot more in-depth.
Spouses, I also think, need to have the opportunity to take
the class, and I think you need to be able to take it and look
at it more at home because a lot of our spouses have children.
So what I would like to see for TAP is that it also be online.
Not the class itself, but the manual so it--and the reason why
I say that is we go out to the line when people are leaving.
It's very interesting to talk to military members when they're
getting ready to deploy for the fifth time, as the airman said,
in a year. And you look at that and a lot of comments they make
is that, ``Okay. My spouse told me this is my last one. I gotta
get out.''
``Well, I understand that, but let me give you some
educational things to think about while you're gone. You're
going to have plenty of time to think. Let me give you the
tools to look at and think about that while you're gone.'' So
having access not only for the spouses to come whenever the
class is going on, but also on the Internet, I think, would be
a huge benefit for us.
Also, the other thing I would like to add is that we have a
decision time briefing in the Air Force, and that's where
first-term airmen, second-term airmen get to make that decision
of whether they should stay in or go. I would like to have TAP
as maybe an offer for that to where they can go to the class,
get more information on cost of living, see where they want to
go, see what jobs are available, and then from that point, make
that decision. But I know right now it's just a four-hour class
basically and information is thrown at you, and this is such a
huge decision, it's so much information and time and effort has
gone into this, just not the three days or three and a half
days along with DTAP that we've now been doing here at
Ellsworth, you need to really be able to process that.
So I would like to say DTAP is a program we started in
March of last year. We have had excellent critiques on that
program. We've had 157 come through it, which is very good.
Here at Ellsworth, we offer it up to anyone who thinks they're
going to file a claim. We're not looking at just you getting
out for a medical reason. We want you to be able to file a
claim. That has had great benefits here. So having DTAP added
on to TAP has also helped us with that.
So I'm very pleased to be working with the TAP program.
I thank you very much for the opportunity to have some of
my participants here this morning to be able to talk to you and
for this opportunity also. Thank you.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Moore appears on p. 54.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Kolden.
STATEMENT OF TODD KOLDEN, VETERANS' SERVICES STATE COORDINATOR,
SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, ON BEHALF OF PAMELA ROBERTS,
SECRETARY, SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mr. Kolden. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Herseth, good
morning. Probably it may feel like afternoon to you since it's
still afternoon Eastern Time. My name is Todd Kolden. I'm the
Veterans' Services State Coordinator for the South Dakota
Department of Labor, and I also serve as an active member of
the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA),
Veterans Affairs Committee, and I am the State Employment Chair
of both the VFW and the Disabled American Veterans of South
Dakota.
It is my honor today to appear before this Committee on
behalf of South Dakota Secretary of Labor Pamela Roberts to
present the views of the South Dakota Department of Labor
regarding the Transition Assistance Program Workshop at
Ellsworth Air Force Base and to discuss any questions or issues
you may have. As we feel all benefits owed to veterans are
important, my testimony this morning is going to focus
primarily on TAP.
In order for TAP to be successful, the partnerships between
the Department of Defense, which in this case is Ellsworth Air
Force Base, VA Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment, South
Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, U.S.
Department of Labor, Veterans Employment Training Service, and
the South Dakota Department of Labor need to be solidly in
place. I'm pleased to say that these partnerships are well-
established in South Dakota and have been instrumental in the
success of TAP facilitated at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Without
these solid partnerships, veterans attending TAP would not be
receiving the full benefit of transition services they richly
deserve. However, we do ask for your assistance to ensure these
partnerships can continue to function successfully.
In recent months the ``Key to Career Success'' campaign was
launched by the Employment and Training Administration in
partnership with DOL/VETS and the Department of Defense which
assists active duty service members in transition and also
helps returning Guard and Reserve members connect to employment
and supportive services available through the Department of
Labor. This campaign employs a wallet card that highlights a
service member's special status upon arrival at the local
employment office--in South Dakota we refer to that as South
Dakota Career Centers--and contains important information about
DOL services and electronic tools. This card is primarily
handed out during our TAP Workshop, and we feel this has been a
good asset to help get the word out on the employment services
Department of Labor provides to veterans and assist in their
transition.
The importance of our DVOP Specialists and LVERs is not
only serving veterans in the local office, but also conducting
outreach. One of the best times for outreach is during the
facilitation of TAP Workshops. In South Dakota our DVOP
Specialists and LVERs facilitate approximately 80 percent of
the TAP Workshop and 25 percent of the Disabled TAP Workshop,
DTAP, which are conducted normally once a month. Often through
a TAP Workshop, transitioning service members develop a one-on-
one working relationship with the DVOP or LVER which enhances a
successful transition.
As the Subcommittee is aware, there has been discussion at
the national level to make TAP Workshops mandatory for Guard
and Reserve components as well as for active duty service
members before transitioning or retiring from military service.
The South Dakota Department of Labor feels it should be
mandatory for active duty personnel since many of these service
members have been in the military for more than four years and
most likely have been serving since a fairly young age. Many
have probably never had a civilian job, and this possibility
will be an abrupt change. For Guard and Reserve components,
South Dakota Department of Labor feels it should be made
mandatory coming from the command level. In other words, it
should be mandatory for the Adjutant Generals of each State to
inform their units about the TAP Workshops and allow them the
opportunity to attend a TAP Workshop if they desire by sending
them on a no-cost TDY (or TAD) orders. As you know, many of
these individuals may have already jobs--may already have jobs
they are returning to and may not have the desire or need to
attend TAP, but again, it should at least be mandatory to have
the opportunity.
In South Dakota the Department of Labor made this request
nearly three years ago to the Adjutant General and thanks to
the partnership we have established, there is an unofficial
agreement in place. Currently there are full-time Guard members
attending TAP when they retire or separate. As you know, Mr.
Ciccolella from DOL/VETS reports that about 60 percent of our
service members are attending TAP at this time with the goal
over the next couple years to reach 80 percent, and we feel
that this initiative--we support this initiative and we feel
that if TAP is made mandatory by these means that we could
reach that 80 percent of service members attending TAP.
Another example of the strong partnership is reflected by
who facilitates a TAP Workshop. Being job-ready after attending
TAP and leaving the service is very important, but it's not the
only service that takes place. During our TAP Workshops we have
the following services presented:
Finances, labor market overview, personal appraisal, job
search techniques, employment applications, resume cover
letters which includes work groups, interview process which
includes mock interviews and those are taught by the Department
of Labor personnel, but there's also VA benefits presented. The
County Veterans Service Officers are present, the Vet Center,
and then also a one-day half--a one-half day Disabled TAP
Workshop is facilitated for service members who have or may
have a service-connected disability focusing on the benefits
available to them which includes vocational rehabilitation and
employment. So as you can see, TAP informs service members not
only about how to get ready to make the transition and receive
benefits, but also what they are entitled to and how to go
about receiving these benefits. Again, we feel this instills
the importance of the partnerships involved to successfully
assist in the transition of our service members.
Finally I want to share my personal experience with TAP.
When I retired from the military service in 1997, I was given
the opportunity to attend TAP. The information I learned and
the resources I was provided helped me immensely and
immediately and still assist me to this day. I feel the TAP
Workshop is one of the best resources we currently have for our
service members who are making the transition from military to
civilian life, and for Guard and Reserve individuals who want
to make a career change.
Again I want to thank the Committee again for allowing me
to testify. This concludes my testimony, and I'd be happy to
discuss or respond to any questions.
[The statement of Mr. Kolden appears on p. 57.]
Mr. Boozman. Mr. Summerside.
STATEMENT OF GEORGE W. SUMMERSIDE, VETERANS EDUCATION PROGRAM
SPECIALIST, SOUTH DAKOTA STATE APPROVING AGENCY
Mr. Summerside. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Herseth,
and Members of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, I'm
pleased to appear before you today on behalf of the South
Dakota State Approving Agency to provide comments on the missed
opportunity by many of those eligible for VA educational
benefits as it relates to training on the job. Another issue of
concern is the regionalization of claims processing, customer
and education liaison service.
Recommendation 1. VA educational benefits are not just for
classrooms. Some individuals learn better from practical hands-
on training. The training on the job assists employers in
hiring and retaining skilled workers which will provide our
country with a highly educated and productive work force.
From my experience and discussions with my colleagues
nationally, it is our sense that VA educational training
programs have not been utilized to their fullest potential. The
two tables that were provided in my written testimony
illustrate the lost opportunities from the first 60 years. 35.9
million veterans were eligible for benefits during these
service periods. 16.5 million veterans did not use any VA
educational benefits at all. Over the last decade, State
approving agencies across the nation have been actively
promoting training on the job. Through these efforts, there has
been a dramatic increase in the number of approved and active
training establishments, but we need greater cooperation from
our service partners. The DOD and the VA will need to do a
better job of promoting and educating those who are eligible
for VA educational benefits about this excellent training
opportunity.
The Department of Labor should make direct referrals to the
respective State approving agency when placing those that are
eligible for VA educational benefits and training programs. If
the above recommendation was implemented, these individuals--
eligible individuals for VA educational benefits would be
afforded opportunities that have not been seen in previous
service periods.
Recommendation 2. Over the past decade the VA has moved
towards a regional approach to serving those eligible for
benefits and their service partners. In theory it would seem
like this approach would make better use of limited resources,
and if properly managed, would provide outstanding results. The
system has not delivered as intended and those eligible
individuals are suffering. The VA has looked towards technology
to solve all issues and in reality, their business plan should
include additional staff with a greater emphasis on training.
First there should be a comprehensive review of the claims
processing system to identify problems and then provide the
necessary resources to resolve these problems.
Second, the toll free number and online inquiries is just
not working. There are dropped calls, erroneous information
provided, delays in responding to online inquiries. Good
customer service is an absolute necessity for any benefit
system to be successful.
Third, in the past each State has had a local VA contact or
Education Liaison Representative. Upon the retirement of our
representative in 1999, this position was transferred to
Kansas, and over the past seven years, we've had five different
representatives. This has created challenges for our State
since direct access is an important aspect of this
relationship. Another concern would be, has the VA planned for
the future? Will there be trained professionals to fill future
vacancies. Our current liaison, Mr. John Streedbeck, is a
valuable asset and partner whose professionalism is greatly
appreciated and needed.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and extend a
special thanks to Carl Thunnel, Randy Johnson, and Barry
Walser, all of the St. Louis Regional Processing Center.
These individuals have provided this State with outstanding
service with the limited resources available. Simply put, the
current system needs additional resources to ensure those
eligible for VA educational benefits are provided quality and
timely customer service.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Herseth, and
Members of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, I would
like to thank you again for the opportunity to comment on these
issues related to training on the job and the regionalization
of VA educational services. I would be happy to respond to any
questions.
[The statement of Mr. Summerside appears on p. 59.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you. Ms. Herseth.
Ms. Herseth. Well, I'll start with a few and then come back
because there's a lot to get at here, and I appreciate the
testimony that each of you have provided. Let me ask you,
first, Mr. Gerlach, and as you described the Readjustment Task
Force that was put together, I know that includes the State
Council of Mental Centers.
Mr. Gerlach. Correct.
Ms. Herseth. And in your opinion, assuming in a perfect
world the resources were there, that resources weren't
questioned, do you think that follow-up mental health
assessments and counseling should be required after
demobilization?
Mr. Gerlach. I don't think that they should be required
simply because if the individual wants to stay in the military,
there's some issues with counseling that could affect their
military service. However, I would suggest that individuals who
want that should be granted the anonymity needed to gain that
help, yet stay in the service, and I think that's an important
point.
Ms. Herseth. I think it is, too, but I'm curious as to, I
mean, if it were required for everybody, if it was just part
of----
Mr. Gerlach. The general process?
Ms. Herseth [continuing]. The process, then wouldn't you be
able to minimize the issues associated with those wanting to
stay? I mean, if everyone goes through it and you kind of deal
with the issue of anonymity in terms of the privacy of what's
discussed, but if it's part of the demobilization process or
whether it's 30 days, 60 days after, as you try to identify
some of the problems when they come back, again, assuming that
resources weren't an issue, would that be--you'd still suggest
that it should just simply be made available to those who
choose it?
Mr. Gerlach. No, I think you bring up a good anecdote in
that if it were a systemic process coming off of
demobilization, and it is in the way that at the demobilization
station you're asked to fill out a questionnaire and it asks
you some questions about how you're feeling and then some
general type things. They do that at the demobilization
station. Is it the most effective way to identify issues? I
would submit probably not, and I think where you're going with
a systemic program coming off of demob. does have some merit.
Ms. Herseth. Now I know that, Ms. Moore, you addressed the
issue of TAP among your counterparts in other programs that to
a certain percentage, it could effectively be used as a
retention tool, and even a couple of the individuals on the--
well, one in particular on the first panel chose after,
receiving the information, but for whatever reason, to stay, so
do you think that the demobilization process that we've put
together here, Mr. Gerlach, has also been beneficial as a
retention tool for the National Guard?
Mr. Gerlach. Absolutely, and I'll tell you why. I think
that the sharing of information that goes on in our
demobilization process enables individuals to transition
effectively and easily. In addition, it gives them the
opportunity to meet with individuals such as county veteran
service officers. In South Dakota where we have a rural State
and individuals go home from Rapid City where they demobilized
out of and go to Mobridge or Faith or Chamberlain, out in the
rural areas, it gives them the point of contact not only at
their local level, but at the State level in the National
Guard, too. So I would submit that that whole transition
process and having the right people there has allowed us to
retain service members.
Ms. Herseth. I appreciate that. Now I have a follow-up
question for you turning to education benefits separate from
the demobilization process and the different information that's
provided there. As a major in the South Dakota National Guard,
what do you think our--what is the primary factor, in your
opinion, in the men and women that you've worked with over the
past number of years for them to reenlist with the National
Guard?
Mr. Gerlach. I think with reenlistment, their main factor
is the bonuses that go with the reenlistment. I would also
state, you mentioned the education. I think education a lot of
times gets individuals in the National Guard, Reserve and
active duty in the door.
I would submit that a good thing that you would look at the
Federal level and the State level is a continuing education
program. I think that once you get to a certain level in the
military, whether it be an NCO or an officer and you're serving
in the National Guard or Reserve, you have become a
professional soldier. Even if you're not on active duty, you're
still a professional soldier. I think increased emphasis on
professional degrees, graduate level degrees for senior NCOs
and officers is a program that I think could continue to help
soldiers and in terms of reenlistment because reenlistment may
give them some future incentives.
Ms. Herseth. I think that's a very good point to make and I
appreciate you stating it in terms of what we've done here and
the bonuses as well and perhaps also just the sense of duty and
camaraderie, but let me ask you this question because this came
up down in Arkansas and it's come up in our Committee hearings
in D.C. As we look to modernize the GI Bill, as we know, active
duty upon separation still utilize the education benefits that
they accrue. National Guard and Reservists, they can only take
advantage of them to the extent they continue----
Mr. Gerlach. Correct.
Ms. Herseth [continuing]. In the Guard. Do you have a
serious concern that if we were to modernize the GI Bill in a
way that allowed for some utilization, even though if the
individual service member chose to leave the Guard, that
perhaps the education benefit would decrease, they wouldn't be
entitled to the full magnitude of the benefit, but still had
some access to the benefit, do you have serious concern that
that would cause problems with retention?
Mr. Gerlach. I think it's something that needs to be
addressed, and Mr. Summerside and I have in-depth conversations
at times about this. I think as you apply to the National Guard
and Reserve, seeing the National Guard and Reserve mission the
way it is right now in the operations standpoint, I think that
they should be given more latitude to access the GI Bill than
what they have right now. It could help retention and
recruiting, but I think from a fairness standpoint, I think it
needs to be addressed. And Mr. Summerside could maybe comment
additionally when you get to him, but it's a very good
question.
Ms. Herseth. Well, let me go to Mr. Summerside on
particularly the Chapter 1607, the new benefit. Have you seen
an effective utilization of that benefit so far? And I know
it's relatively new, but based just on what you're seeing from
South Dakota National Guard members, their familiarity with the
benefit, their utilization of the benefit, could you comment
how you think it's working thus far in South Dakota?
Mr. Summerside. Representative Herseth, basically what I've
seen so far, we got ahead of the game right shortly after the
legislation and I think it was in December of 2004. We put it
in all our brochures, we had public meetings, we worked and
trained with our county and tribal service offices. We tried to
get the message out, and part of it is we have a real strong
base in on-the-job and apprenticeship training. What we tried
to do is when these individuals left whatever job that was, we
tried to diary that when they got back to make sure they knew
about the Chapter 1607, and many of them, in our State anyway,
we help them or assist them in actually applying for the
Chapter 1607.
I think--are we getting them all? No, but with the
cooperation that we've had with the county and tribal service
offices, also with the National Guard, I work with their
Education Office to try to identify people. I think we're doing
a fairly good job. I think there are a fair number of
individuals that have received benefits. I think there's a
fairly good percentage. I don't have the exact data that have
actually applied, and many of these I worked on. I assisted a
Guardsman last Friday and we finished his. He's going back to
2003 when he came back from active duty and we're picking up
for a year that he would get the greater benefit. Actually he
had exhausted his Chapter 1606 and he was applying for the
greater benefit.
I work with people on a daily basis on the Chapter 1607. I
think DOD--I understood that they were to provide a letter to
all of these individuals. I don't know if that ever got to
those individuals. The people that I have worked with did not
receive that correspondence, so I believe in South Dakota we
have got the message out fairly well. We still have more work
to do, and we continue to do that. We have an annual workshop
here in a month and a half where we'll address it again at the
County and Tribal Service Officers Association. We have many
conferences twice a year and we address it at both of those.
And I think overall in South Dakota, we're in fairly good
shape.
They're behind a little in the processing in St. Louis, and
it's a very difficult program and process because some of these
claims are going back four years. They need to pay the greater
benefit. They need to weigh out kickers. There are a lot of
variables in there and there are a lot of challenges.
Ms. Herseth. You're right, and the Chairman and I have
tried to, in our oversight as we look to some being behind the
ball in processing those claims for 1607 benefits, we've been
asking on a fairly frequent basis where they are. I think
they're doing a little bit better now that there's an
electronic payment system in place in terms of that transfer of
the benefit. But I certainly appreciate what you're saying in
terms of some of the complexity of the benefit, and I do think
it's worth our follow-up to determine whether or not the
Department of Defense has communicated effectively with those
members entitled to Chapter 1607.
Before I turn it back, I'll ask just one last question for
Mr. Kolden, and how do you feel that the local work force
markets across South Dakota have responded to service members
that have separated, active service members that have
separated, and National Guard and Reservists that are coming
back for employment or reemployment?
Mr. Kolden. Are you asking specifically about USERRA or are
you asking do we have employers that are hiring veterans?
Ms. Herseth. Just do you feel that employers in the various
work force markets across South Dakota have been effectively
integrated into the coordination and communication certainly
working with our career centers and others to--I was pleased to
hear of the card that is given at the TAP programs. That's
beneficial, but do you think that the response has been one
where employers are aware of and want more information in
trying to identify those who are separating from service and
may be seeking employment here in the Rapid City area or
Aberdeen or elsewhere?
Mr. Kolden. I believe they have. As the Department of Labor
we market--we go on a marketing stream probably about every
three months where we really reach out to the employers and
say--or ask them to hire veterans and why they should. We don't
just say, ``Hire a veteran.'' We tell them why they should hire
a veteran.
The ESGR in South Dakota is very strong. In fact, Lt. Col.
Michels, who's out in the crowd and he's from Camp Rapid and
the ESGR Chairman of the state, I believe is his title, and
ESGR is very strong. ESGR works very closely with my Federal
counterpart Earl Schultz who has USERRA. He deals with it
professionally.
You know, with the veterans service organizations, we
recognize employers who hire veterans, and just recently we
recognized an employer right here from Ellsworth Air Force
Base, AKL Security. 60 percent of their employees are veterans.
You know, that's unheard of basically across the country to
have 60 percent of your employees veterans.
And when I accepted a lot of nominations for employers for
hiring veterans this year, it was a tough pick because we had a
lot of employers who had a lot of veterans working for them and
that tells me--you know, I look at it statistically. About 10
percent of our population is veterans. You would expect that a
business is going to have 10 percent veterans in their work
force. A lot of businesses I looked at have 25 and 30 percent
of their employees are veterans. So that tells me that they are
hiring veterans, that they're accepting them. When they return,
I can't officially comment on USERRA issues. That would be Mr.
McNulty or Earl Schultz to comment on USERRA cases we've had
across the state, but it's been pretty mild. I think we have a
lot of cooperation.
Again, the ESGR has done a great job of educating
employers, and I think that was the key was educating the
employers on what a service member's rights are when they
deploy and when they come back and what their obligation is.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you.
Mr. Boozman. Mr. Gerlach, following up on Ms. Herseth's
question about the educational benefits, recently in the 2004
study--Reserve Personnel Study, it said that 14 percent of the
people, when asked, said that with reenlistment, they
considered the educational opportunity. Would it be a factor as
far as reenlistment if we offered the benefit after they left
the service?
Mr. Gerlach. Absolutely, and in this day and age, I think
that it's more appropriate than ever. With the Guard and
Reserve members that have been mobilized and have served, I
think a unique benefit for them to leave after--even if they do
leave their service, it's more than appropriate in the times
that we live.
Mr. Boozman. All right. So it's appropriate to do it. Do
you feel like it would adversely affect reenlistment?
Mr. Gerlach. I don't think so in South Dakota. You know, I
throw out the fact that education is important, but I will tell
you that I think that camaraderie and being part of the
National Guard in South Dakota trumps that. I think individuals
that serve in the units, and I think it's that way on active
duty in many places, too, the main reason they serve in the
Guard is you get to serve your state, you get to perform State
missions, you get a cadre of individuals that you get to see on
a drill weekend and that you enjoy serving with, you get
leadership training and when you package that all together, I
think that's probably the most important thing that people get
out of serving in the Guard.
So I don't think that additional benefits will bring about
a windfall of people going out the door. I think that those
things are the core reasons people serve.
Mr. Boozman. That's interesting. That's the exact answer
that we hear over and over again as we pose that question. I
guess, as you alluded to earlier, we do have a fairness
question since we've got people that serve a couple tours, and
then transition out and really have no benefit at all which
doesn't seem fair, when you compare it to the guys, that are in
the Reserve doing the same job.
Mr. Gerlach. Yes.
Mr. Boozman. You mentioned about in the TAP programs that
45, I think, or 47 was too large. What's a good number?
Ms. Moore. The size that we like is about 20 to 24.
The reason why with us, we do these resume work groups. We
need to have them small so it's more hands-on. I also bring out
employers, HR professionals. Well, to be able to effectively
give them a 10- to 15-minute interview, I need smaller groups
because I really believe that, as I said, I always make them
laugh and I ask them, ``Did you leave today with a headache?''
because we purposely have so much information in these classes
that having smaller classes allows us to really deal one-on-
one. These people are coming from all different walks of life,
all different times of service, retiring, separating, medical,
spouses, children.
So we really do need to be able to spend more hands-on time
with them, and that's why we here at Ellsworth like to have
smaller classes.
Mr. Boozman. You're to be complimented in the sense that it
seems like your pupils, speak very highly of the program.
Ms. Moore. Thank you.
Mr. Boozman. Is there an opportunity to brainstorm to
figure out how we can get more spouses involved in the sense of
maybe thinking outside the box as far as when it's offered,
maybe quarterly; that one of them is done on a weekend or an
evening or--see what I'm saying?
Ms. Moore. This has always been an issue. It was ironic
that the Chief brought up Heart Link. That's also my program; I
also run that. We had that started as a daytime program. I
could never get over more than 11 people. If we have it in the
evening and have child care, we have normally 19 or more. So it
does help to have it in the evening, but I think also there--
you were talking about stigmas. The spouses do have a stigma
with coming to some of the classes. They think it's only for
the military members, and this has been instilled in them for
years, and that's one of the stigmas we have always had to
fight at Family Support with our programs is that a lot of
times, spouses just don't know about it or they say, ``Oh, you
don't need to go to that,'' and that is something that we have
been tackling for years. I wish I had a good answer, but we
have been fighting this ever since Family Support has been
here.
Mr. Boozman. Mr. Kolden, you mentioned recognizing the
employers; they're doing a good job and that's good. Are we
doing a good enough job of recognizing employers? Is there any
way we can help you with that? I think people like to be
thanked and, we like to reward good behavior. Are there enough
programs in place for doing that or do we need to do a better
job of trying to think up something?
Mr. Kolden. Sir, could I comment on your question to Ms.
Moore first?
Mr. Boozman. You can comment on anything you want.
Mr. Kolden. I was just going to--as you know, DOL/VETS
funds TAP separately; it's a separate funding stream from what
we'd normally get for the DVOPs and the LVERs.
What we did in South Dakota is that we recognized that the
classes were getting larger. Karen--you know, we have a
quarterly TAP meeting. You'll hear from me that I think
communication and cooperation and partnership is probably the
most important of all this that happens for transitioning
service members is that I can't do it alone, DOL can't do it
alone, DOD can't do it alone, Military and Veteran Affairs
can't do it alone. We have to all do this together in
partnership to give the best service we can.
But what we did after Karen communicated about the draw-
downs that were coming is that we went ahead and funded instead
of--normally we could fund one TAP session or one TAP workshop
per month. We went ahead and got the funding for two a
quarter--or four a quarter instead of three a quarter. We had
added an extra one in there in case we had additional
individuals, and if we didn't have additional individuals to
attend TAP, that money we could just give back to DOL. It's not
money wasted; we just give it back.
I know we've had a double workshop, so far just one, where
we would have 60 members in one TAP Workshop, and we feel
that's too many. That's too big a class. As we all know, a
classroom should be 25 to 30, somewhere in there. I think the
new national MOU for TAP between DOD, VA, and DOL has indicated
35 at the maximum, and that's what NASWA recommended to DOL is
don't go over 35. I haven't seen that. It's being signed right
now by all the interested parties so I'm not sure that that's
what it says, but we were told it would say 35 would be
recommended.
Right now it seems like, to your question to me directly,
the veterans service organizations are doing, in my opinion, a
very good job of recognizing employers. Does DOL recognize
employers like that? Not in that sense they don't. In our South
Dakota Career Centers, we have employment representatives who
go out and talk to employers, and when they go out and talk to
employers, they're--you know, we're telling them what our
services are, and when we go out and talk to employers and tell
them about our services, one of the services that we describe
is our veteran services, what we do for veterans.
We promote the hiring of veterans, but again, do we
recognize them like the veterans service organizations do? I
would say probably not. The ESGR does a good job of recognizing
employers, but other than that, I don't think DOL does probably
quite enough to recognize them, in my personal belief.
One thing I would say is that being I'm the employment
chairman for two of the veterans service organizations that we
recognize employers. Pam Roberts comes to our conventions,
State conventions, and she's recognized the employers as well.
So as the South Dakota Department of Labor Secretary of Labor,
she has recognized them as well and saying thank you. So that
helps, but we could probably do more.
Mr. Boozman. Ms. Herseth, do you----
Ms. Herseth. No.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you.
Mr. Gerlach. I have one follow-up, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boozman. Very well.
Mr. Gerlach. Earlier I wanted to make a comment and Mr.
Kolden articulated really well and I think you asked a really
good question. I think that the unsung heroes in this whole
mobilization and deployment process have been the employers.
We've always looked the last 20, 25 years and asked ourselves
at the Federal level and State level, if we call up a lot of
Guard and Reserve people, what's going to happen? Are they
going to get their jobs back? When you pass good legislation at
the Federal level, and you have, but I will tell you in South
Dakota, you probably didn't need that legislation. We've had
individuals all the way from three-person welding shops in
Estelline to major banks in Sioux Falls who have made up the
difference in benefits and pay to mobilize an individual,
helped family members while they were gone. So I think your
question about are we doing enough for our employers is a good
one because I will submit that they are doing a lot.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you very much. Well, thank you,
panelists, so much for sharing your thoughts and we just
greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Mr. Kolden. Thank you.
Mr. Boozman. For our final panel of the day, we have Mr.
Dave McNulty, Director For Veterans Employment and Training for
Wyoming at the Department of Labor; Mr. John Brown, District
Director, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the U.S. Small
Business Administration; Mr. William Fillman, Director for the
Central Area for the Veterans Benefits Administration; and Mr.
Fillman is accompanied by Mr. John Smith who is the Director
for the Dakotas Regional Office of the Veterans Benefits
Administration. Let's start with Mr. McNulty.
STATEMENT OF DAVID McNULTY, DIRECTOR FOR VETERANS EMPLOYMENT
AND TRAINING FOR WYOMING, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, ON BEHALF
OF EARL R. SCHULTZE, STATE DIRECTOR--SOUTH DAKOTA, VETERANS'
EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mr. McNulty. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Herseth, and
the Committee members, Earl Schultz regrets that he could not
be here. It was impossible for him to and he appreciates the
fact that you would allow me to represent him. We come from
similar states that have similar problems and we deal
oftentimes with them in the same way.
You've got his written testimony and I won't--I'll go over
briefly what we're responsible for. I won't, although I could
answer questions on his testimony, if you have it. I know he
covered what's been done out here at the Base.
Wyoming has a similar Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Warren Air
Force Base, so both of us deal pretty much with the same
things.
Basically the Department of Labor is responsible to ensure
that we've got TAP manuals, we've got people that are trained
to provide TAP. We do that through NVTI in Denver, Colorado,
and to ensure--it's been mentioned by several speakers here
today that we work together. None of us can do it alone. It
takes the Department of Defense, it takes the National Guard,
it takes the Base TAP Facilities Coordinator, it takes a lot of
people in the private sector to come in and to provide these
TAP programs. And basically we're responsible to make sure that
they--they're put together and that they run. I know Mr.
Schultz is really appreciative of what this Committee does not
only because you do things help veterans, but you're concerned
enough that as to how we're spending our money and what we're
doing in providing the services that they need.
I'd like to touch on a couple things that were covered that
I think are important. I think a lot of people could benefit
from TAP, especially spouses. When you look at active duty
military, lots of them may consider getting out because every
two or three years, they're transferred somewhere else, and
their spouse is put into a position that they have to look for
work every two or three years. The service member knows they
have a job to go to. They don't have to worry about it. I think
it's really important to do what we can to encourage spouses to
go.
Someone mentioned earlier that it would be good to allow
people that their spouse may be just in for the first time to
allow them to go because if they have to look for work over and
over again, I think it's extremely important to give them the
tools they need.
The other lapse that I think every state's trying to deal
with is in the National Guard and the Reserve units. We've got
people in Wyoming National Guard, and I'm sure South Dakota
does, that are from 34 different states. It's not even just
within the State of Wyoming. We've got pilots from Hawaii in
the Wyoming National Guard. When those people are deployed,
their spouses are located out in areas where it's extremely
difficult to get to them. Also when they come back and once
they disperse, it's extremely difficult to get to them.
So I think there are ways that we can deal with some of
those programs. We've--there's some TAP manuals that are
actually on disk that they can take with them. We can send
those. NVTI's got a job search program put together that you
can take as an individual and sit through tapes. It's not as
effective, I don't think, as having TAP trainers teaching the
class, but it's better than not giving them anything at all.
And I know in South Dakota, many, many local offices could
provide that type of course to the individual spouses or
individual Guard and Reserve members or to individual military
that may not have had the opportunity to take it before they go
out. And so I think there's some opportunities there that we
could look at.
I think the funding for TAP, as Todd said, is we built in
extra sessions to provide TAP specifically for Guard and
Reserve units. We've done it on weekends. I think the bigger
issue is when we've got spouses that are only going to be
available nights and stuff and they're scattered all over, that
there are ways, I think, that we can--we can deal with some of
those to offer some opportunity.
I think generally in this part of the country that we get a
tremendous amount of employer support for TAP, and employers
are looking for individuals that are drug-free, good work
ethic, everything a military member brings to the employment
arena, and they're not hard to place if we give them the tools
on how to look and where to look and who to go to for help.
So I won't really deal much more with Earl's testimony. If
you've got specific questions on that, I'd be glad to ask--
answer them. I think Wyoming deals with the same kind of state.
Low population spread out all over in small towns across huge
areas of land, and that overall, I believe in our area in
general that TAP provides an excellent service to members that
are either returning from and staying in the Guard and Reserve
or going--Wyoming does the same thing that they do here. We
allow any of them to come to Cheyenne. The problem is
oftentimes driving 200 to 500 miles to go to TAP may not be
real effective.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I know Mr.
Schultz was extremely sorry he couldn't be here and he does
appreciate what all of you do for veterans. Thank you.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Schultz appears on p. 64.]
STATEMENT OF JOHN L. BROWN, SOUTH DAKOTA DISTRICT DIRECTOR,
U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Brown. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Herseth, thank
you for requesting our views on the important subjects of
today's hearing. My name is John Brown and I'm the District
Director of SBA's South Dakota District Office.
I've been here about ten months and I'm very pleased to be
here today. Administrator Barreto has asked me to testify about
the SBA's efforts to provide small business transition
assistance to American military men and women.
For the record, I would like to recognize that accompanying
me today is Elton ``Mick'' Ringsak, SBA Regional Administrator
for Region VIII.
SBA maintains 68 district offices and 10 regional offices.
All SBA programs and services including counseling and training
are available to active duty personnel, Reservists, veterans
and their families as they are to all citizens. To ensure easy
access to our programs for veterans, SBA has a designated
Veteran's Business Development Officer in each office who acts
as the initial point of contact for veterans seeking to use our
programs. That person can also assist veterans in locating
information on other programs that may be available through
other resources and agencies.
SBA is an active participant with other Federal agency
resource partners including the Departments of Defense, Labor,
and Veterans Affairs in the delivery of transition assistance
for active duty and Reserve component members.
SBA is a regular contributor to the Transition Assistance
Program and the Disabled Transition Assistance Program for soon
to be discharged military personnel and their families, and for
demobilizing Reservists.
SBA has been an active participant in the TAP and DTAP
programs for many years nationwide and in the State of South
Dakota. At SBA we know the potential that veterans have to
become entrepreneurs and we've always sought participation in
the TAP programs.
SBA offers counseling and loans to veterans, service
disabled veterans, reservists, active duty military and their
families. At SBA veterans, service disabled veterans,
reservists, active duty military and their families all come
under the heading of ``Veterans Services.''
SBA provides targeted services intended to meet the unique
interests of veterans as well as providing them with the
overall business assistance programs available to other small
business persons and owners.
SBA provides those services through a network of 68
district offices, 900-plus Small Business Development Centers,
387 SCORE Centers with over 10,000 SCORE volunteers, 90-plus
Women's Business Centers, five Veterans Business Outreach
Centers, 16 Export Assistance Centers, and approximately 1700
lenders participating in the SBA's Express Program alone. And
I'm proud to say that we're tracking ahead on loans in this
State to veterans, so I'll just toss that in.
SBA provides government contracting information and
assistance to veterans and others through 67 Procurement Center
Representatives and Commercial Marketing Representatives across
the nation as well.
In addition to face-to-face services, SBA offers on-line
training and counseling opportunities largely through our SCORE
members.
SBA offers a variety of loan programs for veterans.
These include Military Reservists, Economic Injury Disaster
Loans, the MREIDL Program, and 7(a), largely the SBA Express
Program, which makes a special effort to meet the needs of
veteran borrowers as well as our Community Express Loan
Program.
SBA recognizes that lending to veterans is a very important
component of what we should be doing. As such, lending to
veterans has been identified as one of the public policy goals
of the 504 Loan Program. This designation allows us to increase
the eligible size of a loan when it's identified as a loan to a
veteran.
SBA actively pursues opportunities to educate veterans
about resources provided by the Agency. It's critical to inform
existing and potential military veteran entrepreneurs about
opportunities afforded to them. As entrepreneurs, they must
make their own decisions on what resources and services fit
their needs, but it's our obligation to get the message out,
and that's frankly one of our largest challenges.
SBA works with other agencies including the Departments
Defense, Labor, VA and others to inform veterans and those
recently called up about SBA's offerings.
The SBA website has a special link to the Office of
Veterans Business Development that provides a guide to the full
range of services available that can be accessed from anywhere
in the world.
Hundreds of thousands of print, CD and electronic copies of
specific program materials, resource guides and fact sheets are
distributed to veterans annually. There's an ongoing long-term
outreach program that includes reaching veterans when they're
participating in special seminars, conferences, training
programs, ``webinars'' and other opportunities as they arise.
This includes TAP seminars where SBA has been asked to
participate.
The Office of Veterans Business Development produces a
quarterly newsletter which is circulated throughout the agency
and is distributed to veterans, veteran organizations, veteran
business owners, and other Federal and State agencies such as
the ones today. This newsletter is distributed to more than
44,000 readers.
These services are all provided through SBA programs and
partners, Federal, state, and local governments, veteran
service organizations and entrepreneurial organizations.
SBA's Office of Advocacy undertakes a number of research
projects, studies, and other efforts to identify critical
issues for veterans. Some of these issues include procurement,
propensity for entrepreneurship, and veteran business
databases. Advocacy works with SBA's Office of Veteran Business
Development, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Defense
Research Initiatives and veterans service groups to identify
needs for ongoing research. This is a relatively new pursuit
instituted by the Bush Administration during the past six
years.
The South Dakota District Office provided TAP and business
workshops at Ellsworth Air Force Base in conjunction with the
TAP Program here. Our office continues to supply materials and
resources to the vet centers located throughout the State as
well as access to our programs and resource partners. The
district also provides procurement training and contract
opportunities through the delivery of procurement fairs in
Rapid City and Sioux Falls aimed at assisting SBA clients and
Veteran Owned Businesses. In fact, a NIST/SBA computer security
workshop is scheduled, I believe, for June 30 at this facility.
In conclusion, SBA has reached hundreds of thousands of
veterans nationwide with materials about the educational and
lending programs offered through the agency. There were over
6,000,000 visits in fiscal year 2005 on the Office of Veterans
Business Development web pages compared to some 280,000 such
hits in FY 2000. Providing services to veterans will continue
to be of great importance to the SBA in the future.
This concludes my testimony, and again, thank you for
inviting us to be here and present on this matter. I'd be happy
to answer your questions.
[The statement of Mr. Brown appears on p. 70.]
Mr. Boozman. Mr. Fillman.
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM FILLMAN, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL AREA, VETERANS
BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Mr. Fillman. Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Herseth,
Members of the Committee, it's good to see you again. I'm
William Fillman, Director of the Central Area Veterans Benefits
Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs. I appreciate
the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the role
of the Veterans Benefits Administration in providing
transitional assistance to members of the National Guard and
Reserves in the State of South Dakota. Today I'm accompanied by
Mr. John Smith of Sioux Falls, Director of the Regional Office
for the Dakotas. My testimony will address the current outreach
efforts in the Sioux Falls Regional Office and the transition
assistance provided our servicemen and women in South Dakota.
The Sioux Falls Regional Office provides a variety of
veterans benefits and services including disability
compensation, pension, and vocational rehabilitation and
employment services. The office is actively involved in the
outreach services and benefits counseling throughout the state.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a long history of
special efforts to bring information on VA benefits and
services to active duty military personnel. Returning service
members including members of the National Guard and Reserves
may elect to attend the formal three-day workshop provided
through the Transition Assistance Program, a joint effort of
the VA, the Department of Defense, and Department of Labor.
At TAP workshops service members are provided information
describing the VA benefits available and are encouraged to
apply for all benefits to which they are entitled.
Additionally, service members receive employment assistance to
include resume-writing, skills marketing, job referral, and
other transitional services.
The Sioux Falls Regional Office actively supports the
commitment to provide a seamless transition to returning
military members. In fiscal year 2005, the office conducted 12
Transition Assistance Program briefings here at Ellsworth Air
Force Base for 483 participants. To date in fiscal year 2006,
the office has conducted nine briefings for 203 participants.
The Sioux Falls Regional Office is working diligently to
ensure members of the Guard and Reserve understand the VA
benefits to which they may be entitled. So far in 2006, 60
South Dakota National Guard recruiters and 74 members of the
Navy Reserve received training on VA benefits.
Employees from the Regional Office also participated in the
Veterans Benefits Forum hosted in Aberdeen in July of 2005. The
office staffed an informational booth and answered questioned
concerning VA benefits. Also in July of 2005, the office
participated in the South Dakota Veterans Summit by providing
an overview of VA benefits. Members of the National Guard and
Reserves, County Veterans Service Officers, Veterans Service
Officers, and Congressional staff members were in attendance at
that meeting. The Regional Office is working diligently to
ensure South Dakota National Guard Members' transitions are as
seamless as possible and are doing whatever they can to ensure
members and their families are aware and know how to access VA
medical care and benefits.
VBA has also assisted in training 54 newly hired Department
of Defense State Benefit Advisors. These individuals work for
the State Adjutant General's Office and serve a coordinating
function between demobilizing National Guard and Reserve units
and local VA facilities. There's a State Benefit Advisor
located in each State including one in South Dakota.
Mr. Chairman, we at the VA are proud of our continuing role
in serving this nation's veterans. We continually evaluate and
seek opportunities to improve the quality and scope of our
outreach efforts to members of the military. I hope that my
testimony today has provided you and the Subcommittee with a
better understanding of the Transition Assistance Program
extended by the Sioux Falls Regional Office to the veterans of
South Dakota. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before
you today.
This concludes my testimony, and John and I would be
pleased to answer any questions from Members of the
Subcommittee.
[The statement of Mr. Fillman appears on p. 74.]
Mr. Boozman. Thank you. Ms. Herseth.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for
being here and for your testimony. We appreciate the work that
you do. And thank you, Mr. McNulty, for filling in for Mr.
Schultz. We'll look forward to seeing him the next time. But
just a couple of quick questions for each of you.
First, Mr. McNulty, you addressed some of the same concerns
that Ms. Moore and others have addressed in terms of spouses
and their accessibility to some of the information provided in
the TAP program, and one of the suggestions that I think
someone made was to put the TAP manual on-line. Now you
mentioned that currently the manual is on disk and that there
are tapes available. Do you think that--is it on-line and
should it be and do you think that that would help especially
for remote access in states like South Dakota and Wyoming?
Mr. McNulty. It is available on-line through NVTI, and I
think having it on-line is certainly one way to provide it to
people that are a long ways away. At Warren Air Force Base
we've actually put the entire TAP Manual and all the handouts
that anyone gives. It costs about 50 cents apiece to do those,
and they've got everything that the presenters have given. Even
when they go through it, they get that so that they can take it
with them. It's easy to keep all that information, and it keeps
them from having to try to write down all the things that
presenters are giving. And so I think those are potentially
things that could work anywhere in the country.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you. And then, Mr. Brown, you provided a
lot of very helpful information. I appreciate SBA being as
involved as you are in the number of different outreach
programs that you have, both short-term and long-term.
In working with veteran entrepreneurs, how closely do you
work the franchise businesses, franchise associations? That's
something that we've addressed at the Subcommittee level in the
past in terms of, again, the flexibility of opportunities
available to veterans, particularly those that are
entrepreneurs.
Mr. Brown. Veterans we have found are really uniquely
situated and prepared for entrepreneurship. They get military
training and experience that prepares them in such a way that
really years in other vocations could not. So they're, to a
large extent, very viable candidates for immediate
entrepreneurship. Franchises are an excellent way for people to
get into business, vets and non-vets. We work very closely with
any number of national franchise organizations. For instance,
we maintain in coordination with Franchise Registry a listing
of franchises that are approved by SBA for an accelerated
process through our loan programs. Usually when we receive an
application for a franchise, it has to be screened, and largely
we do that to protect the individual who is trying to gain
access to that franchise and the loan to buy and get into that
franchise.
There are some covenants that are sometimes very difficult
to comply with and that fundamentally take away rights that we
want to make sure that the borrowers do have. So we review
every franchise in the nation to get onto that registry. If
they are on the registry--if a franchise is on the registry, it
receives automatic approval as a franchise for the application.
So in other words, the application does not have to go through
a secondary review to approve the franchise organization
itself.
So we work very closely, and that's a very viable way to
move veterans into entrepreneurship.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you. Mr. Fillman, good to see you again.
Thank you for the work that you do. A couple of questions for
you. First, if you might want to comment on Mr. Summerside's
testimony as it relates to how do we more effectively, with
participation by DOD and VA or the other partners here, utilize
on-the-job training programs for veterans? If you wanted to
comment on that as well as, I think, something similar that we
heard today that we heard in Arkansas which is that there may
be a difference as we look to the advantages and disadvantages
of regionalization within the system and the impact of turnover
as it relates to the different regional offices that our folks
more locally are working with. And so if you might want to
comment on any aspect of that testimony, and then the other
thing I'd like you to address briefly is the VEAP decliner that
was brought up in the first panel and what you see to be any
sort of particularities that preclude those who may have
declined their VEAP benefits in participating in these open
windows of the past couple of defense re-authorizations.
Mr. Fillman. Okay. I certainly think that we could probably
be more involved in on-the-job training benefits. I think we
have to get out in the communities to push those programs in
efforts with the SAAs and those folks that really help us do
that. It's an excellent program, and I just believe that not
enough employees--employers are aware of the benefits of hiring
veterans and I think they make excellent employees. They come
readily trained, they have skills to offer, and I think it is
an area that probably is under-utilized.
I'm trying to remember now, the second part of your
question was the results of turnover and this type of thing?
Ms. Herseth. [Nodding head up and down.]
Mr. Fillman. I think turnover is different in different
parts of the country. St. Louis--as George was talking about,
St. Louis has had some turnover this past year which created
some problems earlier in the year for them. We were able to
assist them in getting their work load back under control.
They've also been authorized to hire over 25 people in the last
60 days.
They're also looking at being sure that those offices are
able to fill positions as they lose or as they are able to
anticipate upcoming retirements so that we can get staff on
board so that there is not a loss of expertise to delay
benefits. This group that we just hired in St. Louis will be on
board and be trained and ready to go this fall enrollment so
that hopefully there will not be some of the delays that they
saw this past year in fall enrollment.
With the declination of the VEAP program, each individual
service man looks at this differently. In many cases, I'm not
familiar with the reasons that the military would recommend to
these people not to participate. I certainly think, as we look
at the changes to the education program, if there's a way that
we could include these people back in to give them the
opportunity to use some education benefits that they missed. As
our programs change over the years and evolve, we have done
that in the past with areas that there weren't any groups of
veterans who were not included, when we wrote a new law, we
brought those people back into the program, and that is
possibly something that we could do for those folks.
Ms. Herseth. One last question, if I might.
Mr. Smith, could you--just two short questions. If you
could describe the current status of the claims work load at
the Regional Office in Sioux Falls, and then in anticipation of
next week's--or this week's hearing, I should say, and the
other hearings we've had, I'm sure hopeful that your office is
among those that the GAO or the Inspector General has found to
be implementing effectively the recommendations of securing
personal data, and perhaps you could talk just briefly about
the steps that have been taken in the Regional Office in Sioux
Falls before or since the news of some of the compromised data
as it relates to the medical records.
Mr. Smith. Sure, I'd be glad to. First of all, with the
work load in Sioux Falls, we have had very good performance.
We've been able to have support for staffing that we might need
as far as changes and increases in our work load. Right now we
are in the very top ten in the United States as far as claims
processing. Our average days pending is right around 100 days
and our average days to complete claims since October of this
year to date is 129 days.
We've been able to get good support, and I would like to
comment saying that with our office in Sioux Falls, we could
not achieve these results without the support of the national
service officers, the State officers, the county veterans
service officers, and the medical centers that complete our
exams and provide us with the medical records.
One of the things that you will find in the State of South
Dakota is good cooperation and sharing of the resources and
getting any of the information that we need. If you're talking
about transitional assistance, I think this State is one of the
model states that provides good care for our soldiers and
Guardsmen, and we all work together for the one common goal.
So one of the things that I've enjoyed, and I'm on 29 and a
half years in the Sioux Falls office in medical processing, is
that we are unique in that aspect in that we do good
performance, sustained performance in that aspect.
Along with that, I will now talk about some of the current
issues that are stressful to everybody and that would be the
securing of the reference data. We have had minor breaches, if
you want to look at it that way, of data that's happened in the
medical center medical releases. We have looked at our
organization, both in VBA and VHA, to make sure that we have
strong increased heightened awareness of this, and we have just
completed two trainings with all of the entire staff on IT
security and also physical security of the records themselves.
We have taken steps to ensure that any offices that are off-
base have secured those records. We have discontinued using
untrackable methods of moving our records back and forth. We
are looking at encrypting laptops that are taken out in the
field to process our work and also our email communication. All
the data that would be going on is doing that.
Today we are looking in the Sioux Falls office as far as
having some additional minor construction to restrict access
into areas where we have claims processing. In the past we've
had pretty much open campuses to where veterans would walk
over, come in and sit down and talk to us. With today's way of
doing business, we have to reevaluate that and make sure that
they still have the opportunity to come in and talk to us, but
also not to have them--I should say restrict any of those areas
where we do have that concern.
Ms. Herseth. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boozman. Mr. McNulty, have you seen an increase in
USERRA claims, and can you comment on what's going on in that
regard?
Mr. McNulty. I haven't in my state. Earl Schultz did have a
huge jump in claims because of a National Guard issue on past
pay that when full-time National Guard people were required to
use their own time rather than get 15 days off, he had, like,
70 claims all at once. Those have pretty much all been resolved
nationally. Last year in Wyoming I had one claim. Earl, I
think, had about five or six.
I think that it was mentioned earlier ESGR in these states
do an excellent job. What we're trying to do up front is not
only let the service member know that's leaving to sit down
with their employer, fill out where they're going, what they're
going to be doing, and also what they will expect or what they
should get by law when they come back.
We've also been doing a number of employer seminars
statewide. Senator Enzi came back for one of them, but we're
doing employer seminars so that most employers, if they're
aware--a lot of them don't know there's a law that require them
to re-employ the veteran. And we've found, and this may not be
typical nationwide, but claims could be going up, but I think
that if we do a better job up front of educating employers and
the Guard and Reserve members on what their responsibilities
are, that when they come back, there's a lot less problem.
We've got employers that are, I mean, really impacted. We've
got police departments in some towns that lose five police
officers in a 30-man force all at once for a year and a half,
and you can't just go out on the street and say, ``Well, we'll
hire you and you can be a police officer.''
So I think there's things that we can do, but it does have
a huge impact on employers, and I think doing a better job up
front by DOL and by ESGR and the Guard and Reserve of educating
employers and their members and active duty personnel, too,
that those will be reduced.
Mr. Boozman. Thank you very much.
Mr. McNulty. You're welcome.
Mr. Boozman. Have you got anything, Ms. Herseth?
Ms. Herseth. No.
Mr. Boozman. I thank you all so much for being here and
sharing your testimony. It really is appreciated. We've got
some additional questions, without objection, that we'd
appreciate your responding to. Again, thank you so much for the
job that you're doing for veterans.
We talked earlier about thanking people, about thanking
employers, and as I look out, I know we've got a lot of
veterans represented here and we really do appreciate your
service. We appreciate all you've done for your country, and
that's really what the Veterans Affairs Committee is all about.
And we appreciate Ms. Herseth. Nobody's working any harder in
Washington for veterans than she is, so we appreciate her
stance in that regard.
Also our panelists. They've done a great job. We've learned
a lot. We've learned some new things, but reinforced some old
things that we've heard at other places.
Also I appreciate the community. It's been great. I'm from
Arkansas so I guess what we'd call Southern hospitality has
been very prevalent in this part of the country. A special
thanks to Mr. Gerard Baker, the Superintendent at Mt. Rushmore,
for giving us a great experience. Airman First Class Kyle
Rosier, our driver, who's done a great job.
Christine Galbraith, the Director of the Family Center,
who's been showing us around. Mark Wheeler for our Base tour
yesterday. Jeff Smith, the CO of the 28th. Colonel Bruce Emig,
Vice Commander of the 28th. Our escorts Mark Ross and Andrea
Miller. And then most importantly for Stephanie and me is our
staff that really does make all of this happen. So we really
appreciate Mike, Geoff and Devon and the local staff that's
been here, Leif and Lesley. Thanks to all of you. Have you got
anything you'd like to say, Stephanie?
Ms. Herseth. Well, just a final comment. You know, I've
been privileged to serve on the House Veterans Affairs
Committee, and I appreciate the kind comments of the Chairman
on how hard I've been working, but equally so as the leader of
the Subcommittee and his participation in the full Committee is
Chairman Boozman, and seeing that and seeing and having a
chance to meet some of his constituents in the National Guard
and others in his district a few months ago confirmed in my
mind how fortunate I am to be able to work with him on this
Subcommittee.
At a number of different hearings, oftentimes when I'm
posing questions to witnesses, they'll often gently remind me,
although I don't necessarily need reminding, how great we're
doing in South Dakota on particular issues. And I oftentimes
raise those issues because I know what we're doing in South
Dakota. I hope that we do serve as a model on a number of
different things in serving veterans and the type of
coordination we have among different agencies which is why I
was so pleased that we could have a hearing here to make the
record with some of our folks here in South Dakota and our
friends in Wyoming that will join us to offer the type of
testimony we heard today about the type of communication
coordination that we do in leveraging limited resources,
limited time, and sharing ideas and facilitating that exchange
of information.
I want to echo the thanks that the Chairman expressed to
all those who have been part of our trip as well as to thank
Colonel Smith and everyone here at Ellsworth Air Force Base for
having us here. It is great to be here and to see folks that
I've had a chance to work with on issues important to the Base
as well as with our National Guard and Reserve leadership.
And just to echo the thanks to our staff, Geoff Collver and
Leif Oveson who work closely with me on issues for the
Committee, and, of course, with Devon and Mike and Lesley
Kandaras, my West River Director, and I know that we have
Darrel Schumacher here from Senator Johnson's staff. So I
appreciate everyone taking the time and their interest in the
issues discussed today. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Boozman. The meeting is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:15 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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