OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MCHUGH
Total Force Subcommittee Hearing
Military Resale and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Programs

The Subcommittee is honored to turn its attention to a series of issues of great importance to service members and their families-the military resale programs and morale, welfare, and recreation or MWR activities.

I have just returned from Afghanistan and can confirm that these programs play a critical role in relieving the stress and providing that touch of home that is so important to the troops on the front lines of the War on Terrorism.

Perhaps even more important to the individual warrior than his or her personal welfare is the need for a level of comfort that the family members they leave behind are secure in a quality environment at home. This is the real measure of the value of a benefit in time of war. I would submit there are few factors that contribute more to readiness and combat capability than relieving the service member of concerns about the welfare of his or her family.

It is part of the military's ethos to create a community that service members turn to for support and commissaries, exchanges, and MWR activities are critical elements of that military culture. That culture has produced the wonderful armed forces that continue to fight with courage and skill in Iraq, Afghanistan, and trouble spots around the world. The connection between these pillars of the military community and our stunning battlefield victories is very clear in my mind. Family readiness equals military readiness.

I am increasingly concerned that some people in the Department of Defense do not see commissaries, exchanges, and MWR programs in the same way as I do. There is some evidence that these programs are now seen as a drain on the budget and not worth their cost.

Let me be clear in my belief that these programs are worth every penny that we invest in them. These are powerful readiness generators and retention tools that reach into every military home. I will resist any effort to seek budget savings in these programs that result in the reduction of services or benefits.

That having been said, it is the responsibility of all managers to be more efficient and effective, but such improvements must not be at the expense of service members and their families.
 

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