Hearing of the Military Construction Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee: Fiscal Year 2005 Hearing on Quality of Life- Spouses

HEARING OF THE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

FISCAL YEAR 2005 HEARING ON QUALITY OF LIFE - SPOUSES

February 25, 2004 Wednesday

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE JOE KNOLLENBERG (R-MI)

LOCATION: B-300 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

WITNESSES:

SUSAN SINCLAIR, WIFE OF ARMY SERVICE MEMBER;

JOSEPH S. DAUGHTRY, HUSBAND OF NAVY SERVICE MEMBER;

ANGIE BARRETT, WIFE OF MARINE CORPS SERVICE MEMBER;

TERESA A. CLARK, WIFE OF AIR FORCE SERVICE MEMBER

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REP. C. W. BILL YOUNG (R-FL): Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. And I, as Mr. Edwards was saying, I appreciate the fact that early in your hearing process for Fiscal Year '05, you've held this particular hearing on quality of life. Mr. Knollenberg, by the way, is very committed to quality of life for members of our military and their families, as is Mr. Edwards.

And I would say that every member of this subcommittee is strongly committed to a good quality of life.

My message is simply of the billions and billions and billions of dollars that we invest-that Americans invest in the security of our nation, new technology, state of the art, research and development, all of these things that we create, which we hope will be better than anybody else's technology, but the best thing that we have going for our own national security and the best thing we have going for our high technology is the men and women who wear uniforms for our nation. Without them, all this great technology wouldn't be worth probably half of what it costs. So we're definitely committed to doing everything that we can to constantly improve quality of life for the military and their families.

And I will tell you that I live with a wife who is so committed to locating and identifying problems involving quality of life issues and who insists that I do something about it. And then I come back to Mr. Knollenberg and Mr. Edwards and others on the committee and we do the best we can to do something about it. So all in all what we're saying, I think, to you is that we appreciate you more than you know and that we are totally committed to providing the best quality of life for all of you that we possibly can. We're your friends and we appreciate what you do and the sacrifices you make and the security that you provide for this great nation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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REP. C. W. BILL YOUNG (R-FL): Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

And I appreciate all of you and what you had to say. I don't have a lot of questions because I understand the problems that you're dealing with, having been on this committee for a long time. But I would like Ms. Clark to know that-and especially her husband, we have-Betty (ph) and I have three sons, our oldest son was in the Air Force, and one of his duty stations was at Langley. And when he deployed to Saudi Arabia, we got permission to go in and steam clean his carpets, wash down the walls, fix some lamps that had loose wires coming out of the ceilings. And I would tell you that as much as you hear so much about how Air Force lives better than anybody else, I can tell you from personal experience that my son's quarters were anything but luxurious. So we do have personal experience with and recognize that.

And, Mr. Daughtry, I was really impressed with your comments about the public/private ventures. We've had a chance to visit with many, many of them including in San Diego and I agree, that's a tremendous program. Something that concerns me is the fact that we don't have enough of that, but you mentioned some of the sailors have to live maybe two hours north of San Diego. We met some sailors who actually lived in Mexico in order to be able to live and survive on their income because the cost of living was less expensive there. And that's just not right. We do have to do better, and you know, the Congress, this committee, the subcommittee on National Affairs as well as the Armed Services Committee and we recognize all of this and we're doing the best we can.

President Bush has asked for major increases in the Defense budget for Fiscal Year '05 as he did in Fiscal Year '04. A lot of the effort is going toward the war effort, of course, and the global war on terrorism which is something that we have to do. But I just appreciate all of you-and, General, I've been to Fort Rucker, and have enjoyed visiting there with those who are learning to fly our helicopters and we're just so proud of all of our services and all of those who serve. And believe me, we do understand these issues and these problems, we will just continue to do the very best that we can on pay raises, every chance we get we add a little extra pay raise.

My youngest son is only 16 but he's 6 foot 4 and growing and his whole goal in life is to be a marine. And he tried to get the commandant to give him a waiver to get in before he graduated from high school but, of course, they wouldn't do that. And our middle son is a midshipman in Navy ROTC whose goal is to be a fighter pilot for the Navy. And I would tell you, just briefly, you all know who Duke Cunningham is, a tremendous fighter pilot in the Vietnam war. And my son who wants to be Navy fighter pilot visited him one day and he said, he said, "Son," Duke said, "you know that carrier deck is really small and tiny out there bobbing around in the ocean." And my son, being a bit of a smart ass said, "Well, Congressman, if you can hit it I think I can hit it too." So we're committed as a member of Congress, as a family, to do the best we can and we just appreciate your calling our attention to these issues that are so important to all of us.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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REP. YOUNG: When Harry walks in the room --

REP. KNOLLENBERG: I know, I saw Harry before I said anything. Thank you very much.

REP. YOUNG: Thanks all of you for being here, we appreciate it.

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