Thank you, Chairwoman Herseth-Sandlin and other committee members for the opportunity to speak with you. My name is Ole Lassegard I am a sergeant with the 235th Military Police Company in the South Dakota Army National Guard. My wife Yvette and I have one son Aric, he is six.

I joined the Army National Guard in September of 1993 in order to pay for college. I will have completed 15 years of service in September of this year, and will have 19 and a half years of service when my current enlistment is finished. I do plan to serve twenty or more years.

During my 14 years of service I have been on state duty for 1 fire in the Black Hills (Jasper), helped with snow and power pole removal near Watertown South Dakota after a major blizzard, and did security detail at Camp Rapid after 9/11. I have also serviced on active duty orders twice.

My first deployment was a state side mission in Ft. Carson Colorado from February 2003 to January 2004. During this deployment we conducted law and order missions while the active duty Military Police from Ft. Carson went overseas.

My second deployment was an overseas mission to Afghanistan from October 2006 to February 2008. During this deployment my unit conducted missions that consisted of detainee Ops (enemy prisoner of war), convoy security, law and order on some of the smaller forward observation bases (F.O.B’s), customs missions on several smaller outlying F.O.B’s, and village assessments.

Being away from my family was not easy either time. During my time in Ft. Carson it was very frustrating to be so close to home, but not be at home. My integration back into my family life and my civilian job was fairly smooth. While deployed to Afghanistan, things were different. I was half way around the world from my family and home. Being in a war zone was very stressful. This time when I came home, integration back into my civilian life has been a little different. Yvette and I have both became stronger more independent people. My son Aric had finished preschool and was almost done with kindergarten and had grown up so much. The most important part of our live now, is our time together as a family. My transition back to my civilian job has gone good without any major problems.

Our demobilization was at Ft. Carson Colorado. The out processing including briefings/debriefings were long and drawn out. We felt that some of it could have been completed at our home station Camp Rapid so we could have been with our families after having been gone for more than a year. Once I was home, I was able to get into the VA at Ft. Meade for a dental appointment within a week. However my post deployment medical check up before going back to work was not as easy. I was told at first I should get an appointment in 30 days. This did not happen. I was told several different times that they were “full” and I would have to wait. When checking back in with them I was getting several different stories, depending on whom I would talk to. Things were finally straightened out and I was able to get the appointments I needed. It was very frustrating for me to have had to deal with this, but in all the VA has been a nice benefit in which I will continue to use as needed.

Thank you for your time.