Wilson Opening Statement on Legislative Priorities in Support of Military Families

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 opening statement for the subcommittee's hearing on legislative priorities in support of military families:

"Thank you, Mrs. Davis, for holding this hearing. And thank you to each member of today's panel.

"Meeting the needs of military families continues to be challenging and 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: physical and mental health, personal finances, and interpersonal relationships, just to name a few.

"This subcommittee, the Department of Defense, and the military services have taken a number of initiatives to address the needs of military families. Yet, there remains evidence much more needs to be done and the system of support that has been created may not be adequately meeting the needs of military families.

"Last week we heard testimony on the results of two studies that looked at the effects on military children who have deployed parents. Thankfully these studies seem to suggest our military children are more resilient than we could expect. With that said, it is also clear the well-being of our children is affected by the stability of their family and the emotional strength of the non-deployed parent among other factors.

"While I appreciate that the Department of Defense and the military services are committed to assisting and supporting military families, I am not convinced the right services are getting to the right family members at the right time. I am also concerned the provision of family support services are not always completely 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."

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