“The purposes of today’s hearing are many and diverse.

 “First, we will receive an update on how the Department of Defense has implemented the recommendations of the Defense Task Force on Mental Health.  The Task Force was mandated by Congress in the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, and was charged to both assess the military mental health care system and to make recommendations on how to improve it.

 “Second, we will have an opportunity to hear about the findings of the Army’s Mental Health Advisory Team-5. The results of other MHATs have provided great insight into the mental health needs of our military because the teams conduct their research and interviews on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

 “Finally, we will have the opportunity to hear about what individual mental health needs are and are not being met from service members and family members.

 “Today’s hearing will have two panels. The first panel, before us now, includes Dr. S. Ward Casscells, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Lieutenant General Eric Schoomaker, Surgeon General of the Army, Vice Admiral Adam Robinson, Surgeon General of the Navy, Lieutenant General James Roudebush, Surgeon General of the Air Force, and Dr. Shelley MacDermid, the Director of the Center for Families at Purdue University, Co-Director of the Military Family Research Institute, and a Co-chair of the Department of Defense Task Force on Mental Health.

 “These senior medical leaders will tell us what has changed since our last hearing, what they are doing now, and what they have planned for the future. Dr. MacDermid will help frame these responses in relation to the findings and recommendations of the Task Force.

 “Welcome to you all.

 “The second panel will have two currently serving soldiers, Chief Warrant Officer Richard Gutteridge and Major Bruce Gannaway, who have been treated for mental health conditions and are willing to share their experiences. Thank you both for your courage in being willing to testify.

 “We are also very fortunate in that we will hear from a spouse of one of these soldiers, Mrs. Sarah Gannaway, so we can understand the experience from the family’s point of view, as well as learn what mental health services our family members require.

 “Finally, Mr. Christopher Scheuerman  will share with us the story of his son, Private First Class Jason Scheuerman, who committed suicide in Iraq in 2005. The story will be painful hear, but it is illustrative of how the system failed a soldier, and will provide some insights into just how comprehensive and integrated military mental health services need to be.

 “To all of the witnesses on the second panel, thank you for your willingness to share such intimate and painful experiences with us to help ensure that others do not have to suffer as much.

 “All of the members of this subcommittee remain unanimous in their support for our service members and their families.  With multiple, long-term deployments now the norm for our military, mental health is more important than ever.  It weighs heavily upon the readiness of our force, our ability to retain combat veterans, and our obligation to care for those who volunteer to serve our nation.”

 “At our last mental health hearing I made it clear that this was going to be a long process.  It will take a sustained effort from all concerned for the foreseeable future to make the required changes to the Defense Health Program.  We will face challenges in recruiting or training additional mental health providers.  We will encounter institutional resistance from those who think the current system is adequate. We will also face fiscal challenges.  The structural and cultural changes needed will require significant and continuing financial outlays, but our service members and their families deserve no less. 

 “Finally, I would like to make mention of the fact that all of the second panel witnesses and many of the topics for the first panel are in some way connected to the Army. This is not because we feel that the Army is the only service that faces mental health challenges. Far from it: we feel that all of the services need to do better.

 “Why, then, does the Army figure so prominently in this hearing?

 “First, the Army has the largest number of personnel in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Second, the Army has undertaken a number of self-assessments on mental health issues, and has unselfishly shared them. Finally, when the subcommittee staff interviewed potential witnesses, there were those with experiences that stood out as excellent examples of what improvements have been made, and what still needs to be done. By random chance, those happened to have a connection to the Army.

 “It would be a disservice to the Army to assume that these coincidences single it out as having more problems than any other service. Instead, we should be grateful to the Army that so much information is available to us to help guide our discussions.”