In December, the full Veterans Affairs committee held a hearing on suicide.  We heard from the parents of an Iraq veteran who took his own life following his return from combat.  Tim, the soldier in question, never sought help for his demons.  It is impossible to know whether things would have been different if Tim had learned of counseling and therapy available at VA through televisions advertisements, or Facebook postings, or other means that featured Iraq veterans experiencing the same problems readjusting to civilian life.  But one thing I do know: we have an obligation to try to reach the Tims of this world.

The necessity of outreach is not limited to veterans like Tim.  Many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are dealing with combat stress and reintegration issues.  Many vets have been exposed to IED blasts that may have caused subtle visual dysfunctions, or hearing loss, that VA can help with.  And veterans have earned a number of benefits provided by a grateful nation, including the newly enacted GI bill educational benefit.  VA, and DoD as well, provide lots of information to our troops during the discharge process, but numerous hearing of this Subcommittee, as well as its sister subcommittees and the full Veterans’ Affairs Committee, have shown the necessity for VA to proactively seek out veterans after discharge.

The need for outreach is not limited to our younger veterans.  The VA has transformed itself over the past 10 to 15 years.  VA needs to find ways to communicate to older veterans that the VA has health and other services, and many benefit programs of which veterans might not be aware, that veterans of all ages can benefit from.

Modern media, such as the Internet and television, are essential tools for outreach, particularly when it comes to the younger service members.  For 20 years, the VA has operated under a policy that restricted the use of paid media.  On June 16, Secretary Peake rescinded this policy.  I want to personally commend him for this action.

The VA now needs to take advantage of the communication possibilities of modern media.  But it must do so intelligently.  VA marketing efforts, if that is the right term, are not about the VA, it is about our veterans.  Before doing anything, the VA must learn to see the world from the perspective of the veterans VA wants to reach.  VA must come to understand where veterans can be reached and what messages and messengers will get veterans’ intention.  This is not something VA has done before.

We have assembled an impressive and, we believe, very helpful group of people to discuss these issues.  We will first hear from Liz O’Herrin, an Iraq veteran, who knows as well as anyone the difficulties involved in outreach, as well as the necessity for doing so.  We will hear from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, which has partnered with the Ad Council to do outreach.  And we will hear from two marketing experts who know very well how essential it is for VA to understand the veterans it is trying to reach, and who are fully aware of the unique difficulties and pitfalls government agencies face when trying to use modern media to reach beneficiaries of government programs.

We look forward to hearing as well from the VA about its plans to move forward.  We understand that this is new to the VA, but we also know that VA must use all of the tools available to reach out to our veterans.  Hopefully this hearing will be a catalyst for the VA and that in short order, consistent with VA doing this the right way, the VA will be moving forward and will be able to provide a detailed plan of action to Congress and the public.