Ayotte Highlights NH Program that Helps Service Members, Families

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) today highlighted the benefits of New Hampshire's Deployment Cycle Support Program (DCSP) at an Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing.

With top Defense Department officials appearing before the panel, Ayotte said that DCSP - a public-private partnership that prepares and supports service members and their families during the full cycle of mobilization, deployment, and reintegration - is a model for the nation. She invited Pentagon officials to visit the Granite State to see DCSP in action.

"Our Guard and Reserve are being deployed multiple times, then they come back to a civilian setting where they're not on a base where other people have had similar experiences that they've had," said Ayotte. "This presents unique challenges."

Ayotte shared the story of a recent meeting she had in Afghanistan with a New Hampshire soldier who has been in the Army for eight years - and who has been deployed five times in those eight years. She said the deployments come with personal challenges for service members.

"We have a program in New Hampshire that I've mentioned before that I'm very proud of. It's called the Deployment Cycle Support Program, a public-private partnership where we've partnered state resources with Easter Seals and the non-profit sector that has raised money for it, and then taken some of the Yellow Ribbon money from DoD and really leveraged it in our state," said Senator Ayotte, who noted that money raised in the private sector helps to maximize the federal dollars.

In New Hampshire, DCSP served 523 service members and their families in fiscal year 2013 alone, resulting in tangible and very positive outcomes. For example, the program helps participants access mental health care and helps participants secure or retain housing.

Ayotte extended an invitation to the Pentagon officials who attended today's hearing to see the program in action: "We would love to have you in New Hampshire, because I think it's a model of how to leverage scarce federal dollars in a way that brings the entire community in."

Jessica L. Wright, the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and Richard O. Wightman, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, both expressed interest in visiting New Hampshire to see DCSP.
"This is a great program," said Wightman. "I'd love to come out there and see the program in action."

The New Hampshire DCSP prepares and supports service members and their families before, during, and after deployment, and assists returning service members as they transition back to civilian life. An integrated partnership between the New Hampshire National Guard, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Easter Seals, and civilian and veteran service organizations, DCSP combines public funding and private resources to establish an integrated, sustainable, and fiscally-responsible service delivery framework.

Senator Ayotte and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), both Armed Services Committee members, have worked together over the years - along with leaders of the New Hampshire National Guard - to support DCSP.

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