House National Guard & Reserve Components Caucus members, OSD officials, the Reserve Component Chiefs, and Senior Enlisted Advisers were in attendance at the ROA co-sponsored House Reserve Component Caucus Breakfast to discuss key National Guard and Reserve issues today.
Secretary Dennis M. McCarthy, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, was the keynote speaker and the first to take the podium. Secretary McCarthy, noting we are entering a period of transition after a decade of mobilization and combat, posed the question: What’s next for the Guard and Reserve Component? In this new period of transition, he explained his top three priorities are resetting equipment, growing an “innovative and efficient” force, and managing the personnel transition from high to low optempo. He also explained that the Reserve mission over the next 10 years will require a new set of authorities, and that limiting leaders to acting only in times of crisis compromises the nation’s safety and security.
The Service Chiefs were then invited to give their top three priorities. Collectively, the Chiefs stressed the importance of the following:
• Through a fiscally responsible strategy, recapitalize and modernize the total force with modern equipment and facilities.
• Fully fund family readiness and support programs.
• Fully fund and support the training, education and professional development of Guard and Reserve Members.
• Improve a continuity of health care.
Also discussed was the urgent need for Congress to pass a budget and appropriate defense funds.
Reps. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), a captain in the Marine Reserve and the first Iraq and Afghanistan veteran in Congress, and Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a retired Army National Guard command sergeant major and the highest enlisted man ever in Congress, urged the associations in attendance to continue to educate lawmakers and the American public about defense spending and the effects of policy decisions. They closed by expressing their commitment to working with associations and across the aisle to resolve the budget and support the Operational Guard and Reserve.
Secretary Dennis M. McCarthy, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, was the keynote speaker and the first to take the podium. Secretary McCarthy, noting we are entering a period of transition after a decade of mobilization and combat, posed the question: What’s next for the Guard and Reserve Component? In this new period of transition, he explained his top three priorities are resetting equipment, growing an “innovative and efficient” force, and managing the personnel transition from high to low optempo. He also explained that the Reserve mission over the next 10 years will require a new set of authorities, and that limiting leaders to acting only in times of crisis compromises the nation’s safety and security.
The Service Chiefs were then invited to give their top three priorities. Collectively, the Chiefs stressed the importance of the following:
• Through a fiscally responsible strategy, recapitalize and modernize the total force with modern equipment and facilities.
• Fully fund family readiness and support programs.
• Fully fund and support the training, education and professional development of Guard and Reserve Members.
• Improve a continuity of health care.
Also discussed was the urgent need for Congress to pass a budget and appropriate defense funds.
Reps. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), a captain in the Marine Reserve and the first Iraq and Afghanistan veteran in Congress, and Tim Walz (D-Minn.), a retired Army National Guard command sergeant major and the highest enlisted man ever in Congress, urged the associations in attendance to continue to educate lawmakers and the American public about defense spending and the effects of policy decisions. They closed by expressing their commitment to working with associations and across the aisle to resolve the budget and support the Operational Guard and Reserve.
1 comment:
When is the Chiefs and the ROA going to make EARLY retirement RETROACTIVE to 9/11. Also the GI bill so it is transferable to dependants.
It is time to do the right thing. I hearing your soldiers say they don't believe what the government did to the post 9/11 soldiers. They did the heavy lifting. It is becoming a moral and trust issue. We already have issue with Congress we don’t need trust issues with the services.
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