Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Recent Changes to the U.S. Military Retirement System

Hearing

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Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you both for being here today. Thank you both for your extraordinary service to our Nation.

I would agree with my good friend Senator Graham in his assessment that we are on a path to repeal the very unfortunate and unwise COLA cuts in retiree pensions that were a flaw in the budget agreement. I would disagree with him only on his reference to ""glide path,'' which implies an ease and unimpeded track that is rarely found in Congress. I think it will take some doing to have that path achieved.

But I think that the debate and the discussion here this morning and your testimony have been very helpful to reaching that path, which I think we have an obligation to do. I voted for the budget agreement. Like so many of my colleagues, I did so with the understanding that that flaw would be corrected and that it would be corrected before the next NDAA, as soon as possible, right away, for all the reasons that you've outlined so well: the effect on the morale and really the dedication of our armed services and the brave men and women who serve us. They deserve better than this kind of cut without any provision for grandfathering, but the cut itself in my view is offensive.

But I want to deal with the broader issue that has been referenced here this morning as well, which is how we attract, recruit, retain not only new best and brightest of their generation, but also the midlevel officer and noncommissioned leadership that is battlehardened and perhaps battle-weary, but one of our greatest assets in the country, because at the end of the day--and I would hope that you agree--they are as important as any weapons systems, any platform that we have.

I know that you've outlined well the impact that retirement and other benefits may have. But if you could give me a broader assessment, give the committee a broader assessment. Admiral Winnefeld, if you could begin, and then I'd be interested, Secretary Fox, as well. What are the incentives we need to offer? How do we change, if we need to change? Because we need to do it before 2015 when this commission reports back. I think we need to do it now, right away.

Admiral WINNEFELD. A very good question, Senator. I'd address recruiting and retention separately. On recruiting, we take surveys of people who have decided to raise their right hand and put on the cloth of their Nation. Why did you do this? Why did you come in?

It's interesting that the number one reason that we are hearing back right now is pride, self-esteem, honor. The number two reason is to better my life. The number three reason is duty and obligation. The number four through eight reasons are travel, future education, experience, and they want to be challenged. Next comes pay, more discipline in their life, adventure, helping others.

So that gives you--that actually makes me feel pretty good, that our young men and women--

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Very encouraging.

Admiral WINNEFELD.--are coming into the service for the right reasons.

In terms of retention, particularly for those midgrade officers and NCOs that you're talking about, there really are two variables I think that are fundamentally--they have all kinds of sub-variables, but the two most important variables are quality of life and quality of service. And retirement, of course, is something that the senior folks look forward to.

But in terms of quality of life, as we adjust the glide slope of compensation we're going to tune it very carefully. We have to be watchful of that. There are so many other things that go into what quality of life really means: How often do you move and can your spouse get a job, that sort of thing.

In terms of quality of service, we're hearing more and more from our people that they're sort of surprised by all of this. What really matters to them more than keeping this high rate of growth is they want to fight in a modern and ready force. They want to go to work every day and they want to have parts in the bin where they can repair the thing that they are entrusted with. They want to be able to drive it or fly it or sail it, and they want to feel confident that they are on a winning team.

That matters. It's an intangible, but it makes a tremendous difference for our people, and we have to look after that as well as the quality of life piece.

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Secretary Fox.

Ms. FOX. Senator, I would just add that I think Admiral Winnefeld laid it out beautifully. These intangibles I think are important as we look at any changes to retirement, for example, going forward. I do believe we have really excellent--I've dug into them--models of the broad economics. I am pretty convinced that, whatever we do, we can find ways to tweak it with pays and incentives and so forth.

It's very hard for those models to account for the intangibles and the individuals' view of what they are there to do and what they're able to do, given the way we support them in this broad term that's overused, ""readiness.'' But that means the things that Admiral Winnefeld outlined about their ability to operate it, their ability to have parts to fix it, their ability to show up for duty on a ship and have other people there. They're not trying to do three or four jobs--all of the things that I think are eroding the morale of our force right now.

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Another way of putting it might be the sense that the country appreciates what they're doing as well, that they're not only on a winning team, the best team, the gold medal team, but that the country appreciates the work that they're doing.

Admiral WINNEFELD. You can't even begin to understand how important it is to our young soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen as they walk through airports, train stations, you name it, when ordinary Americans come up to them and thank them for their service. It's huge.

Senator BLUMENTHAL. You know, one other question in the limited time I have left. I know that you do surveys, that you try to apply some scientific method to assess the incentives and so forth that you've just described. And of course we all have our personal experiences. Senator Kaine has a son who is serving. I have two. We know friends and so forth.

I wonder how well you think those surveys, the scientific effort, are doing in measuring the kinds of incentives and so forth that are at play here.

Admiral WINNEFELD. That's a good question. You always have to take any kind of survey or data with a grain of salt. If you're not listening to the drumbeat that you're hearing from people anecdotally, what they're saying to you, what your senior enlisted
leaders, who are terribly important to this process, are saying to you, then you don't get it.

So we have to temper anything we hear in the surveys. I don't have a crisp answer for you on whether there's a dichotomy there. But I think in general it's what we're hearing, that they're both reflecting the same thing.

Ms. FOX. I do think we're very aware surveys can lag. I do think that's why our service chiefs and our Secretary spend so much time out talking to the force, to the men and women in uniform.

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you. Thank you for your excellent testimony this morning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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