Contact: Josh Holly; 202.226.3988
Wilson Opening Statement for Hearing on Family Support Programs
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, today released the following prepared remarks for the subcommittee’s hearing regarding family support programs within the military services:
“Thank you, Mrs. Davis, for holding this hearing. And thank you to each member of today’s panel. I am particularly pleased to see the senior enlisted personnel from the services.
“Meeting the needs of military families has never been more challenging or complex. We are a nation at war, fighting on two fronts and the strains of those wars translate directly and immediately to the families of the members of the Armed Forces. When you disrupt the military family unit by deploying a key member of that family a host of issues arise that stress all aspects of family life: economic, physical and mental health, personal finances, interpersonal relationships and many more areas.
“This subcommittee, the Department of Defense and the military services have taken any number of initiatives to address the needs of military families. During my 31 years of service with the Army Reserve and National Guard, I conducted pre-mobilization legal counseling and will preparation statewide. I appreciate what efforts have been made for military families, which I know firsthand.
“Yet, despite all that has been accomplished, there remains evidence that the family support system may not be completely effective.
“While I know that the Department of Defense and the military services are committed to assisting and supporting military families, I am not convinced that the provision of those services is fully coordinated and integrated. So I am interested in hearing from our witnesses as to how effective the coordination and integration effort is.
“I am also interested in hearing where we must provide additional effort—in the form of policy and resources—to improve what is already being done.”