Remarks by Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Senator John Cornyn (R-TX); Rep. Henry Cuellar (R-TX) at Brooke Army Medical Center

REMARKS BY ADMIRAL MICHAEL MULLEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF; SENATOR JOHN CORNYN (R-TX); REP. HENRY CUELLAR (R-TX) AT BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER

BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, FORT SAM HOUSTON, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2009

Copyright ©2009 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500, 1000 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service at www.fednews.com, please email Carina Nyberg at cnyberg@fednews.com or call 1-202-216-2706.

ADM. MULLEN: Well good afternoon. It is absolutely great to be here in BAMC with Senator Cornyn and Congressman Cuellar. But actually, the best part is being with our wounded soldiers and their families -- soldiers and sailors, airmen and Marines. I've been to BAMC several times; I'm always inspired when I come. One of the things that I'm recaptured by every time I show up is the community support here. And to walk around this great, new building and these grounds and to see the community support -- it really is incredible. And I really would just want to say thanks to the entire community, who've done so much for our men and women who serve and their families.

It's always very evident when you come to the hospital that the doctors and nurses, who are spectacular -- they do the medicine, but it is the surrounding support that really provides the healing, and we see it in families. So to those who support and again, to the families and those who are wounded, who are so special in our country and, again, to the community. It's just great to be back. Really, of the places that we visit -- and we visit a lot -- certainly, the Brooke Army Medical Center is right at the top of the list in terms of caring and standards and just everything. And I'd -- again, it's just a pleasure for myself and my wife, Deborah, to be back and see such a great place. And before we open it up to any questions, I'd like to certainly ask the Senator and the Congressman to --

SEN. CORNYN: Sure. Well Admiral, we want to welcome you and your wife, Deborah, back to San Antonio, my hometown, and certainly back to Texas. There is a rumor that medical institutions in the Washington, D.C. area consider themselves to be the gold standard when it comes to health care for our wounded warriors. I want to tell you that's completely false. Brooke Army Medical Center is state-of-the- art and is the gold standard when it comes to health care for our wounded warriors. And we're very proud of the service that is provided here -- the healing and the attention, the recovery afforded to our uniformed service members and their families.

And this particular building that we happen to be in is built primarily through private donations and the big hearts and the generosity of San Antonians who basically feel like the rest of us, that we cannot do enough -- we cannot do enough to say thank you to those who have put themselves at harm's way, to someone who has paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us free. So we're very proud of the military here in Texas. We like to say that roughly one out of every 10 individuals in a uniform call Texas home in one way or another. And we are very proud, particularly, to have you back here in San Antonio at BAMC and at this wonderful facility. We thank you for your service to our nation.

We know that these are challenging times when it comes to the national security of our country, with new and emerging threats in all sorts of places that we, maybe, would not have suspected a few years ago. But I believe, and I'm sure Congressman Cuellar will agree with me, that keeping our country safe is the number-one job of the federal government. And that ought to be our top priority. And then, keeping our commitments to those who wear the uniform and our promises to those who take off the uniform, and who are veterans of our military services -- keeping our promises to them and thanking them in some small way for the services they've provided for all of us. So we're glad to have you hear, and let me turn it over to Henry.

REP. CUELLAR: Thank you. Thank you, Senator. I also appreciate the leadership that you've given our men and women in uniform and, of course, our veterans, and I appreciate your support here. Also, of course, Admiral, I appreciate you all being here again -- you and your wife -- here in San Antonio. I believe this morning, you were at the border, in El Paso. I know you were also in Mexico about a month ago and appreciate it. Of course, as you know, for us in Texas, what happens in Mexico is so important to us. We appreciate you visiting and looking at the situation there and what can address it.

One of the things that we've always said -- I think the admiral understands this truly -- that after you look at -- you know, the parades are over, the music stops, the confetti stops hitting the ground -- you look at what sort of care you provide the men and women. And I think that's so important, why we're here today. Being in San Antonio, in regards to the center, we were talking about this a few minutes ago, if you recall back in 2005, San Antonio was going through a very interesting time because BRAC was coming in. And as you know, when BRAC hit, it really affected us here in San Antonio in a very positive way. And I think here, we're seeing not only the federal dollars coming in, but the private dollars have come in, and this is certainly one of the areas where the private-public partnership has certainly worked so well.

So, Admiral, I certainly want to say thank you for being here with us. And I think you might have missed this just by a week -- isn't fiesta just -- (laughter) -- I'm just kidding. But you can say you're here for the rest of the week, but I know you've got to head back to Washington. But again, we thank you again for being here, and thank you, Senator, for the leisure.

ADM. MULLEN: Thanks, sure. Happy to take questions. Go ahead.

Q (Inaudible) -- the right word for you, but just information surfaced today about the deaths of two soldiers here in BAMC, and also about the huge amount of suicides in the military, so regular here. Can you explain that -- first, the unexpected deaths that are occurring not only here in San Antonio, but somewhere else, and also, the increasing numbers of soldiers killing themselves?

ADM. MULLEN: Let me actually take them in reverse. I, as the rest of leadership in the military and civilian, we are alarmed with the increase in suicides, particularly in the Army. All of the services, actually -- the numbers are going up -- but the Army has spiked very badly through 2006, 7 and 8. And we are also on a pace right now in 2009 which will exceed 2008. One of the places my wife and I visited yesterday was Fort Hood, and I was struck -- 54,000 soldiers at Fort Hood -- and I was struck that, since January 1st this year, there's only been one suicide -- tragic as each one is. But that's a pretty remarkable number when you consider the number of suicides -- I'm sorry, the number of soldiers -- who are there.

I have been on other posts this year, as recently as mid- February, where there were already eight on that particular post. And the reason I bring that up, I think the solution is really leadership, and it's leadership from the top -- and that's certainly going on at Fort Hood -- but it's also leadership at the NCO level. And I know the leadership of all the services, and in particular, the Army -- very focused on this. And I think that's really a big part of the solution. But we're also -- the military has been pressed. We're in our eighth year at war -- repeated deployments -- the stress levels are up, and we have to recognize that stress is driving an awful lot of this and we've got to look for ways to relieve that stress.

So the first big step in taking care of the problem is acknowledging you have one, and we do. Suicide is never easy; solving this isn't going to be easy. But everybody in leadership is very focused on this. And there is a great example that I just saw yesterday at Fort Hood that many of us should pay attention to. As far as the specifics here, I just don't have the details on that. I know -- I'm aware that these two deaths have occurred. I know that there are investigations ongoing right now, and I don't have the details and I'm sure those will come out in time. And any additional information, I'm sure, that would be available or appropriate right now, the Department of the Army would really have to provide that for you.

Q (Inaudible) -- I'm Jessie Degollado (ph), and I'm a reporter here at ABC's station here in San Antonio. In addition to that, I know another issue has come up as far as drug interactions, because a lot of these soldiers and wounded warriors are being given medications to help them overcome whatever they're facing. But sadly, some of them have fallen victim to what is alleged to be some drug interactions that have proved fatal to these. The news of that must be equally disturbing.

ADM. MULLEN: Well certainly, it is. Wherever we go, we visit the warrior transition units -- the Wounded Warrior Transition Battalions, or brigades -- and when you speak with those who are wounded warriors, as well as you speak with those who are caring for them, there's clearly a very delicate balance here. These are very -- in many cases, very tough and stressful times on individuals. That's why coming here, the family support is so important. I mean, it is important and uplifting. And we try to pay an awful lot of attention to the symptoms that are there.

And tragically, sometimes, obviously, individuals, you know, are in a position where the downside occurs and we lose them. Certainly, all of leadership is very much aware of that. These are individuals who have been through a lot and have sacrificed a lot. It's one of the things that both of our congressional representatives mentioned today, and it's evident here in San Antonio -- the community support. I really believe that we owe, as a country, we owe these, who've paid such a price -- the ultimate price -- and those who have been wounded, that we've got to figure out how we make sure we meet their needs.

Their dreams haven't changed, if you talk to them. They still want to get an education, they vote, they need dual incomes in the family, they want their kids to go to school and they'd like to own a home. And the DOD can't do that alone; the VA can't do that alone; our country can't do that alone. But I think all of us together can bring that vision for those who sacrifice so much.

Q Admiral, the larger question to all of these issues seems to be operational tempo. In our reporting last year in Iraq and again, at Fort Hood, these soldiers are all complaining about one year in the war zone -- the one-year dwell time -- and half that dwell time is spent in the field. General Keane recently suggested raising the level of the Army to 780,000 troops; is that possible? I mean, is that a solution? And is there any other solution to these problems, beyond raising the force level in the Army and the Marines, which carry the weight of these wars?

ADM. MULLEN: Well, we're at -- today -- in the Army, about 547,000, which is the authorized end-strength increase from about 485,000 when these wars started. It's my view that we have -- that that's about right. And we just got to 547 (thousand) and I'd like to settle out on that before we make any decisions about whether that's -- whether we should increase that. But you've hit on a very critical issue, which is the operational tempo. And in my travels -- and I've talked to an awful lot of soldiers and family members -- the issue is, in fact, they're very proud of what they're doing, they have a skip in their step because of the success that they've generated in Iraq through tremendous sacrifice.

We know we've got increased requirements in Afghanistan and decreasing requirements in Iraq. And yet, for the next 18 to 24 months, even with that 547, I haven't built more brigades with them, and that what I need to do to relieve some of that. But as I look out, I think within 18 to 24 months, I can see a time where units are going to have more time at home. I pushed hard on leadership to -- and I did this trip as well -- to make sure that when they're home, they're home, so that in that 12 months, they spend as much time home as possible. In fact, the term I use is home tempo. And we need to be paying attention for every soldier, sailor, airman and Marine, you know, when I'm home in between deployments, how many nights am I sleeping in my own house -- sleeping in my own bed, with my family?

Now, Army leadership is very focused on this. It's better than it was, but it's not where we need to be. And at the same time, these are units that are going to prepare for combat again, and they have to have the right amount of training to do that, so there's a very delicate balance. But I'm not prepared to say, right now, that we need to increase the size of the Army.

Q Or increase the repetition of deployments?

ADM. MULLEN: No, actually, the pace -- I mean, for the Army right now in particular, and the Marine Corps, we're at what we call one-to-one, meaning you go for a year, you come back for a year. In the Marine Corps, you go for seven months, you come back for seven months. I don't see that getting any tighter than that; what we need to do is get that out to two-to-one. And I see us, probably in 18 to 24 months, though some units, right now, are longer than 12 months home, but I see in 18 to 24 months a time when that space starts to be created because of the obligations that we have, and in fact, the troop levels, which we hope will continue to come down in Iraq. Yeah?

Q Andrew McIntosh, Fox News San Antonio. How does it make you feel when you see these guys come back wounded, getting that top- notch care, getting to a place where they can rehab, and then seeing them either take their own lives or die because of the drug interaction or some other issue? How does it make you feel as the leader?

ADM. MULLEN: Well, I mean, actually awful and tragedy when we lose anybody under any circumstances, certainly this included. But I'll tell you the other thing -- I mean, when I come here and I go to an awful lot of places where we have wounded and families of the fallen -- we met, yesterday -- my wife and I met yesterday with a dozen or so family members who have lost their son or daughter or brother or husband or spouse, and in every case, we come away inspired by the strength.

And it has never happened that a parent or a brother or a sister or a spouse hasn't said he or she died doing exactly what they wanted to do. They were proud of their service; so are we. We would not be the country we are without that. They know that; families know that. And certainly, any loss under any circumstances is tragic and we work hard to prevent it as much as possible. That goes back to the extreme concern we have right now with suicides.

Q But do you take it harder when it's stateside than when it's military -- when it's medical care versus when it is in a war zone -- is it --

ADM. MULLEN: Well, I mean, I'd just say every single loss is tragic. And I don't differentiate, quite frankly. You know, I talked about the suicide -- the single suicide -- at Hood. In addition, you know, we lose a lot of military members to accidents. Well, just on that base, in that complex, there's not been a single automobile or motorcycle accident that anybody's been lost in since the 1st of January. That's a stunning record when you compare where we are at other places. So it's something that leadership focuses on and every single loss is equally tragic, and we work hard to try to prevent them.

MR. : Admiral, we have time for one more.

ADM. MULLEN: Yeah.

Q Sir, Airman Arpadiame (ph) San Antonio. Sir, a lot of the warriors coming back can't find jobs -- we're dealing with homeless warriors coming back, and they're wounded. What are we doing to support them, sir?

ADM. MULLEN: Well, that's another thing that I'm extremely sensitive and focused on. I'm a Vietnam -- I call myself a Vietnam baby. My peers are -- you know, we did not take very good care of them coming out of Vietnam. We generated a generation of homeless veterans, which we still need to focus on. I, as the chairman, have also tried to focus on this as well, and last September, I was at a VA hospital out in Los Angeles and I sat down with 20 OVF, OIF homeless vets. And it's tragic what they'd been through to get there, and I want to do all I can to make sure that we don't generate another generation of homeless vets.

Our country, financial crisis notwithstanding -- and I know we've got one -- but our country is rich enough and has the resources to take care of these young people who go off and fight our wars, do what we ask them to do, sacrifice so much. And one of them said to me -- and I thought this summed it up -- one of those homeless vets out in Los Angeles said, you know, I gave 100 percent; all I'd like is 100 percent back.

MS. : Thanks very much, Admiral. Appreciate it.

ADM. MULLEN: Thank you.

END.

Source