Thank you Mr. Chairman and I want to thank Ranking Member Brown as well for the opportunity to testify today. 

This Committee has always been active in supporting the needs of America’s Veterans and I look forward to working with you on this endeavor. 

I also want to thank the Veterans Service Organization’s in attendance today for their commitment to our men and women in uniform and for their lifetime of service.

The two bills before you today that I have sponsored, HR 2698 and 2699, will have a direct impact on improving the behavioral health of our nation’s heroes and their families. 

As a Member of the House Armed Services Committee who represents more than 25,000 servicemembers and dependants and nearly 96,000 veterans and retirees in my Southern Arizona District, I have seen firsthand the trials and tribulations of our servicemembers returning from the front lines. 

I know this issue is one that is close to both of your hearts, and I am hopeful that today’s hearing signifies an important step in moving this vital legislation forward and passing it this Congress.

There is no cause more honorable than service to our country.  As our nation’s warriors bravely step into the breach, we must be prepared to care for them when they return home. 

In war, our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines face unspeakable horrors – sometimes on a daily basis – and readjusting to everyday life is a long and complicated process.  Every day, thousands of our nation’s bravest men AND women are suffering from different degrees of Post Traumatic Stress.  In recent years, diagnosed cases of PTSD have increased by more than 50 percent for servicemembers returning from overseas deployments, and many experts believe that the actual number is much higher because a large majority of servicemembers never seek treatment. 

For an untold many diagnosed with the worst warning signs of PTSD, there are no simple fixes.  We see each month the unfortunate and deeply saddening results as the Department of Defense releases its number of servicemember suicides.  The trend is currently hovering slightly above the national average, more than double what is was 5 years ago. 

When I spoke with the Vice Chief of the Army, General Chiarelli, a year ago he agreed that even one suicide is unacceptably high, especially when there is so much more that we can be doing.  Fellow members, there is much more we can do and, while my legislation is not a silver bullet cure it is one round in the chamber.

PTSD and other related behavioral health issues severely affect an individual’s ability to perform everyday functions that we all take for granted.  PTSD though, is treatable through a variety of methods including behavioral therapy and medication with a majority of servicemembers seeing an improvement after just one or two sessions with a behavioral therapist. 

Unfortunately, there are not enough behavioral healthcare providers within the military or VA to treat these servicemembers, their families or surviving spouses for the anguish they’re suffering.  What’s worse still is that there aren’t enough therapists to treat each other. 

Ultimately, our ailing heroes or the families they leave behind must wait to see a caregiver, often receive incomplete or inadequate care, or in some cases do not receive care at all leading to one of a few inevitable conclusions – depression, anger management problems, substance abuse or death. 

This is the first in many clear signs that the system is failing our men and women in uniform and badly needs to be fixed. 

H.R. 2698 establishes a scholarship-for-service program that provides educational benefits to those training in behavioral health care specialties critical to the operations of Vet Centers.  These individuals would then pay back the investment by serving as a behavioral health care specialist at Vet Centers across the country.

Because of the unpredictable nature and a lingering lack of understanding surrounding PTSD and its symptoms, many former servicemembers do not realize they are suffering until long after they have left military service.  My bill will permit our nation’s Guardsmen and Reservists to access behavioral health care at Vet Centers even after they have been released from their Active Duty service requirement and provides for referrals to assist them to the maximum extent possible in obtaining behavioral health care and services from sources outside the Department.

In such cases where a servicemember may have been discharged for actions connected to his or her PTSD, my bill would ensure that they are apprised of their rights to petition for a review of their discharge on those grounds, ending forever the practice of discharging those suffering from PTSD because of the nature of their disease.

HR 2698 and H.R. 2699 also ensure that the Veterans Administration carry out a competitive grant program for nonprofit organizations that provide peer-to-peer emotional support services for servicemembers, veterans and survivors including members of the National Guard and Reserve who are often left out because of the changing nature of their service or the accessibility of care in local communities.

But what additional counselors and additional opportunities cannot do is force a servicemember or veteran to get care.  For too many, PTSD is still an inescapable sentence.  Servicemembers and vets are bound on one side by their service and the other by the deep stigma that still surrounds behavioral health issues.  Rumors persist within the rank and file that behavioral health disorders cause you to lose your clearance or that PTSD treatment will be reported up the chain of command, ruining an otherwise promising career.  According to a report by the American Psychiatric Association, an estimated 60 percent of those surveyed feared reporting that they were suffering from behavioral health-related problems. 

The unfortunate fact is that ten years ago we hardly acknowledged the existence of PTSD and had no logical measure of its effects.  Five years ago, we began acknowledging it was a real problem.  Today we have in place only a patchwork quilt of forms and meetings, training seminars and online courses that our servicemembers must complete along with dozens of other regular re-certifications and proficiency tests.  What we are not doing is taking a comprehensive look at the problem and designing a smarter and more realistic solution.

HR 2699 provides for just that by establishing a pilot program at three Posts across the country that each house high op-tempo mission sets - Fort Leonard Wood, home of our Military Police Corps and the NCO Academy; Fort Carson, home of the 10th Special Forces Group, 4th Infantry Division and 10th Combat Support Hospital; and Fort Huachuca, the home of our nation’s Center of Intelligence Excellence that trains and supports the best intelligence professionals in the world.

By focusing on these three bases we can ensure that a new program focuses on the most stressed and most over-utilized units across the force and use real-life feedback from Soldiers and their families on the best way to provide treatment and track their results. 

We cannot continue to accept that what is being done is the best we can do.

I am committed to fixing the problems we know about and uncovering those we don’t.  I know that you Mr. Chairman and the Ranking Member and the others on this Committee share my passion and my commitment to those in service to our country and the families who serve in their own way as well.

I look forward to receiving the feedback of the VA and from the Veterans Service organizations in attendance today.  And I look forward to working with the Committee to make these necessary changes into law.

Thank you.