Wilson Opening Statement for Hearing on Psychological Stress in the Military: What Steps are Leaders Taking?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2009

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 psychological stress in the military.

“Thank you Chairwoman Davis for holding this hearing. Today’s hearing continues our commitment to work with the Department of Defense to find ways to address the psychological stress that our service members are struggling to overcome and to continue to improve mental health services for our military personnel and their families.

“I am encouraged by the direction that the Department and the military services are taking to recognize and alleviate psychological stress experienced by our troops, particularly our combat veterans.

“From my own service in the National Guard and reserves, I understand that the responsibility for finding the right answers to this problem does not lie solely with the military medical departments. This is also a leadership challenge and I commend the military services for making the mental health of our military and their families a leadership priority.

“With that said, I remain concerned that the programs that each of the Services are implementing to address psychological stress are disjointed and neither well coordinated nor communicated. I am anxious to hear from the military senior leaders on our two panels about what steps they have taken to develop a comprehensive, multi-disciplined approach to addressing psychological stress.

“I thank our witnesses for their service and for participating in the hearing today.”

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