it's exactly the reason i gave up my cell phone number during the first national press conference in september and i get calls every single day from veterans and to listen to them. because you've got to keep that this will put the above we're trying to do. it's all very personal. >> thank you for your dedication. thank you, mr. chairman. i do have some questions that i will submit for the record. >> thank you, mr. chair been. also secretary, thank you for being here. appreciated. i visited with you before about legislation that i put forward,

the veterans access to extended care. and it's all about making sure that we can encourage nursing homes to take va reimbursement for veterans by limiting the small business contracting requirements that are currently under when they take va reimbursement but that they don't have to deal with when they take medicare reimbursement. that's a burden that really makes no sense for them. they even have to undergo a separate so there's a lot of red tape, a lot of compliance issues so many nursing homes will not take the reimbursement. just ask you to comment if you would on how you can help advance that legislation so we can get it put in place. >> we are very much in favor of it so we want to talk to everyone who's going to vote and make sure they vote in favor because we think that's the way to go. we've got to focus on their outcomes, veteran customer experiences and there's just so much red tape that's getting in the way of it.

our people try to work in a system where they are prisoners of the system rather than working on working veterans needs so we are very much in favor of the legislation you have described and want to work with you on it. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i recently had a roundtable in my state and many nursing homes were represented there and they said if we could get this passed that they would then look at taking the reimbursement so i think would be very helpful and appreciate your willingness to a. the second question i have for you is it's similar but it goes to the health care medical care from local providers. you've touched on here in a number of your responses but i'm a cosponsor, senator moran is the prime spots and there's other stuff is on the bill but similar. it's a veterans access to community care. you've touched on that and some of the cost factors, but essentially the idea is to get

veterans care closer to home when they have to go a long distance to a health center. they may have a seat block but for example, in my state we have one va health center. exhibit good health center, covers north dakota and most of western minnesota. they do a good job but it's a long way from an 800-mile round-trip from williston which is the fastest growing community under 50,000 in the country now, maybe over 50,000 but when they can't get that serbs were real geographical issues here. your thoughts on what we can do to address that in a way that serves our veterans and then makes sense in terms of dollars and cents, affordability. >> i think job one is to really execute the redefinition of the 40-mile limit and do that as quickly as possible so we can really determine how many people will want to use community care. we really don't know today how many people who want to use

community care. we know that the redefinition of 40-mile limit will virtually double the number of veterans will take advantage of it. that's what we think of me defined data. secondly i want to redefine or reinterpret the geographic burden so that we have more flexibility, i have more flexibility to provide the ability for people to call it that geographic burden and go to community care. the 13 we're looking at which we talked earlier is whether or not we look at whether we define it as a va facility that can provide that service or a va facility that doesn't. opening up that aperture could potentialpotential ly be extremely costly as i said earlier, could be $10 billion a year to $40 billion a year. of course, the whole choice act, this part of it was $10 billion over three years. that's a conversation we will have to we need some experience to be able to develop that algorithm. >> and i think, you know, really

unimportant air to figure out how to do this. because again if they are within 40 miles of a va health center, well then that 40-mile rule works pretty well. but if you have these really long geographic distances where they have a cbot, it's a real problem because there's a big difference. if they have to have open-heart surgery, well sure, maybe that trip i understand and so today but there's a lot of situations where there's services and between what he cbot can provide and what a the health center can provide what actually would be cost-effective for the va, too because of that better made to travel one day get the surface of the second second day, traveled with her day and you're going to pay for both the travel and the accommodations as well as the service. indicates that a very senior person, think about the burden of the travel.

for a younger person who's working they are not taking three days off work. so it's not only about figuring how to do this for the veteran i think it can be cost-effective for the va if we do as you say, if we figure out the numbers and figure out how to do it. so there's a difference between a carte blanche and doing it in a way that makes sense. thanks for help understand look forward to working with you on it. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. mr. secretary, good to see you again. last year i introduced legislation to expand the caregiver support services that the offers and has finally made the full program available to veterans of all areas. i'm going to be reintroducing that legislation tomorrow. senator collins is my cosponsor on that and i want to work with you to make sure strengthen the program and make sure it has the resources it needs to take on an additional workload. i really was happy to see the department requested a significant increase in funding

for the program and have also asked for additional resources for the department who are more caregiver support coordinators. i want to ask you today do you know how many more caregiver support court invaders you think you'll need over the next two years to support the current needs? if you take care of new veterans airareas come into the program? >> i don't know exactly i do know we are very supportive of the legislation you have written. we think pre-9/11 caregivers should get the same benefits post 9/11 do. i've spent a lot of time with caregivers myself there from the unsung heroes of our nation. many of them have to give up their jobs and many of them have to purposely not take on work and not take on income because then they would fall out of the program. so it's a real conundrum for them and it's life-changing for families. we've got to do this and we are you take it on and we are eager

to hire the people we need. i've been to several college campuses. there are people who want to join the va to do this job. they are really eager to. we would love to work with you on legislation. >> if you can let us know what you think you'll need over the next few years particularly with this edition of this i think is absolutely vital so thank you. i also want to ask about the spokane the medical center. as you are very aware the emergency room at the spokane medical center has dramatically cut back its operations because of staffing problems. the medical center has repeatedly pushed back the date to resume full-time operations and now i've been told it isn't going to be until next fall. the slowpoke -- this book in va has also recently asked for a surgical complexity rating to be downgraded and i'm concerned about that request and the potential impact on access to care for our veterans in that region. last year i asked citations us the end the intersection whether

the plans to reduce programs and services at the spokane medical center and they assured me they were not. yet we now see this assembly being downgraded. the medical center is not getting the job done so want to know what you're going to do to restore emergency services and physical care for the veterans everyone is spoke in va. >> one of the big challenges we've had and we discussed this previously is actually recruiting top notch -- >> i can think of for 10 years. >> i meeting with the college of emergency physicians either next week with a week after that to try to see if we can help with them. deregulate it also has some ideas about how we might work with some hospitals and would also raise the available salaries so we can be paid to people there. ultimately, if we can't recruit top notch talent i think we're going to need to export some kind of partnership between the spokane facility at local hospitals vis-à-vis emergency

care. >> will look this up an ongoing forever and if nothing resolve and it's a huge issue for spokane veterans so i want to talk to you again, mr. secretary, we've got to get this result however we do it. >> while i know it's been going on forever and we accept full responsibility for it i have been to over a dozen medical schools recruiting doctors. i've been to the osteopathic convention recruiting doctors. we are the canary in a coal mine. we are seeing the problem that exists in american medicine. we need more primary care doctors, more doctors who live in rural areas and we need more mental health professionals. we are working extremely hard to do that and to find them identify them and convince them and give them a monetary incentive to locate there. we will continue to work hard and to get that spokane facility up and running. >> i really appreciate it. one of the question. i just have a few seconds left.

right now the veterans' affairs committee is holding a hearing on va service for women veterans. i want to stress to critically important it is for the va to prepare now to meet the needs of the growing population of women veterans. i was really pleased to work with senator how to introduce the women's access to quality care at this year. that legislation is going to go a long way in helping the va provides safe, private health care for women. va already has a cyst backlog and construction but it's a number of women veterans, to be a need for more space dedicated to gender specific care. i wanted to ask you what the va is going to do to make the treatment space for women veterans over the next 10 years. >> some of our budget that was cut dramatically in the house markup was slated for women's clinics. we are installing women's clinics in our facilities. we are hiring the gynecologists

and other specialties that we need in order to staff those clinics. and to us this is critically important. 11% of veterans today are women. it's going to go up to 20% by 2017 or so. so got to get this done. many of our buildings as i said earlier are over 70 years old. some of them -- >> they don't have a private space for women. >> and they have single gender bathrooms. that's where construction budget was as high as it was. >> mr. chairman, i'm out of time. i will so that the rest of the question but i appreciate that. i want to keep working with you on this. >> transport and talk about the hippopotamus smoking in the room about denver you guys asked for $5 billion to help fix denver. where to be go from there in your view? >> where to go in terms of -- >> what is your in state for

denver? denver? >> our instant forgiveness to finish constructing the medical complex. we would use -- >> i would say finish constructing the medical complex under the supervision of the army corps of engineers. >> yes. they are on the project and they would complete the project with us and with plenty of the army corps of engineers in the future for major construction projects. >> i will make it simple for you. my position as cory gardner's position to make sure you work very closely with senator gardner. >> we agree. >> thank you. >> in fact the deputy secretary was out in every aspect has been i think the seven times since he's come into possession. >> let's go with senator baldwin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and hopefully three questions i can get in this second round. i'm sure there will be follow-up for the record also. dr. clancy, you at the field

during in wisconsin on march 30. i joined i'm a member of the senate homeland security committee that jointly held that with the house veterans' affairs committee. we heard incredibly powerful testimony from family members of veterans who have lost their lives at that facility or after care there, as well as whistleblower's. now several months into this investigation can't even at that hearing we are hearing of more tests that were unexplained and we had not heard before. in fact, i sent you another letter today, not based on testimony facility came into being after the hearing and said my husband was printed and i have concerns related to all those that you've been hearing testimony about. and so i just want to stress how important it is to have the investigation be sufficiently

expanded to review those deaths and they want your assurances back to the degree we can follow up on everyone that has been reported during the conduct of the investigation that you will follow those, follow the evidence where it leads. >> you have my full commitment absolutely. >> i appreciate that spirit is the senator would yield a. let me just add that i would associate my comments with senator baldwin because a lot of illinois veterans which use the tomah facility so we want to make sure we fix the candy store it was called -- >> candyland. >> candyland yes. >> on the issue of treatment, proper treatment for pain secretary mcdonald, not only do we have to increase to crack

down on inappropriate use of opioids, we have to increase the alternatives to narcotics for pain management and veterans are calling for alternatives and complementary medicines and treatments for pain treatment. we are here in the appropriations committee want to ask you how the va budget request supports the expansion of complementary and alternative medicine and wellness programs that would help veterans deal with acute and chronic pain. >> as we look at the opioid use which is in the dr. clancy said we truck quite closely, it's moving down. and the reason it's moving down is i think we are the largest user of alternative approaches in the country. we've had tremendous success with acupuncture with yoga with electronic stimulation, and

we want to continue that. anything we can do to provide a different approach than opioid use we want to do. and as i've been touring all of our facilities, i think i visited about 125 so far, i'm always inspired by those people who are teaching yoga. in one location i was not too long ago there was an art instructor that was helping use art as a way to allow people to become themselves again without opioid use. equine therapy can we now use equine therapy in places like new bedford, massachusetts. is a been proven to be successful. so many database way we can improve sex to -- sex the program we want to. >> we are doing a lot of research in this area trying to get to understand which veterans and what characteristics to predict a better response to

alternatives for narcotics because that is very very critical. i think it's back to the notion of informed conversation between a clinician at a veteran, famine and so forth. >> great. one final question. we were just talking about the health workforce the va. and one of the things that i certainly observe in rural medicine, for example, is if for example is if you see for training there, perhaps if you were born and raised in a rural environment you are likely to make a commitment in your career to remaining there. i think the same is very much true with regard to the va. in the va reform law that was passed last year i authored a provision that was ultimately included that would increase by 1500 over five years the number of gme residency positions. and it's my understanding that in his first year of

implementation, 204 new resident physicians were added. i would like briefly for you to give me a status update on the program's implementation. >> senator, first, thank you for the additional residency slots because i think that's something that will keep paying dividends in terms of capacity. we didn't actually think that we could start residency positions until a year from this july because of the slow ramp up. however, what we did was to go to our existing partners and ask do you have additional spaces and that's when we got the 204 slots. we don't know what the uptake has been. so, for example, every year for the national match where medical students, it's kind of like the dating game right, primary care slots into go unused and so forth so we can get you a report on the 204. match day with just a few weeks ago. one the other areas to get back

to your point about roe care that we are working on is trying to figure out how do we work with facilities and communities that would desperately like to do what you just described but may not have the infrastructure. how do we do that to make sure we could get them the faculty support that they need to the residence who are trying to get a proper education and so forth. it's a very exciting opportunity, so thank you for that. >> we are also pursuing osteopathic doctors osteopathic doctors tend to be more famine or primary care physicians. they also tend to locate in rural areas because that's also whatwhat the medical schools. today less than 1% of our doctors in va are deals so we are seeing it as a way we can get more details but i spoke at their convention in order to get more people to locate and rural areas. >> i think we pretty much beat this to death now. let me call this to a close. we will keep the record open until tuesday, april 27 so that

members may have a chance to submit questions for the record. called it adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] home i figured he secretary jeh johnson will be on capitol hill today to testify about his department's operations. is expected to talk about

borders that you become immigration and counterterrorism efforts among other topics. the hearing is being held by the senate judiciary committee. you can watch that live at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> remarkable partnerships iconic women. their stories in "first ladies." >> she did say the portrait of washington which was one of the things that endanger to the entire nation. >> will we ever find out what she was wearing, what should look like, who she was saying? that would help sell papers. >> she takes over radio station and starts running it. how do you do that. she did it. she exerted enormous influence because she would move a mountain to make sure that her husband was protected. >> "first ladies" up a book looking inside the personal life of every first lady in american

history based on original interviews from c-span's first lady specific learn about their lives commendations family and judnick partnerships with the presidential spouses. "first ladies" presidential storage on the lives of 45 iconic american women filled with lively stories of fascinating women who survive the scrutiny of the white house sometimes at great personal cost, often changing history. c-span's first ladies is an illuminating, entertaining and inspiring read now available as a hardcover or an e-book for your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. >> next, representatives from the defense department and various military groups examined changes for women in the military following a 2013 decision by the pentagon to end its ban on women in combat. this was hosted by the groups women in international security, the alliance for national defense.

[inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. can ask all of you to take a seat. i think we want to start our proceedings. i am the president of women in international security, also known as wise. this is the fifth major event that wise is organized on this particular topic on the issue of integration of women in the military and i would like to recognize and thank the director of our combat integration initiative for her leadership on this issue. to combat integration initiative really has a very simple objective, and that is to support the successful integration of women in the military and to support the dod policy that lifts the ban on women serving in combat

physicians -- position the initiative brings together academics and other analysts and experts of all generations i would say. they are the versatile players in the military as well as a very young generation. and many of them are in the room who are participating in the working group that we have established under the combat integration initiative and i would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts on this program. and for more on this program i would like to refer you to the wise website wise global.org. we are quickly approaching january 2016, the day when all physicians are to be open to get a think what is clear is that women have certain combat positions. had done so effectively and

heroic leap agricultural support team described in the book are a vivid example of that. i think it is also clear that in the 21st century the military cannot afford to lose out on those most talented regardless of their gender. no one wants to compromise the readiness and effectiveness of u.s. armed forces come and to think least of all the women who are willing and eager to serve. change is difficult for any institution can any organization particularly a large organization such as the u.s. military. and we hope that this conference will help answer some of the outstanding questions, some of the services may still have with regard to for the implementation of the new policy. this afternoon we have a very full program and a very rich program and will be examining

the key issues that keep coming up in this debate. one is about the standards for occupational physician put the second is about unit cohesion and a third is about issues of leadership. we will also hear about the actual experiences of women in combat and we will be joined later on by gail limit, the author of ashley's war. will talk about her book and speak with three women who have served in cultural support teams in afghanistan between 2010 and 2013. finally, we'll also hear from two members of congress have been closely following this debate, loretta sanchez from california and representative -- from arizona. i would like to take this occasion to thank them for their support for this particular

issue. i would also like to thank our organizers the alliance for national defense, no exceptions, and initiative of the truman national security project, and the reserve officers association. and last but not least, a big thank you to robert coffman in the robert coffman funded in the new york community trust. but waste start off this discussion -- we still start office discussion this afternoon osha begin with the department of defense and see where we stand. we are very happy to hear from you people at first of all we'll hear from major general jacqueline van ovost who was serving as -- response affordable range of issues including some of these issues. general van ovost started her career in the u.s. air force.

afterwards we'll hear from juliet beyler who is the director of officers and enlisted personnel management at the office of the secretary of defense, and prior to her current position was senior policy advisor in the office senator jim webb but she also has a 23 year career in the marine corps. so without further ado general van ovost, please take the floor floor. >> thank you and good afternoon. dr. oudraat, thank you. fellow security professionals thank you for inviting us here today to discuss the ground combat rule. as an air force pilot removing gender related areas to open combat positions of all women is important to me both professionally and personally.

in 2013 secretary panetta and and general dempsey announced a decision to rescind the direct combat the definition and assignment rule. 2013 also marked the 20th anniversary of opening combat aviation to women including enlisted female aircraft and an unlimited begin flying combat missions. i highlight this milestone because i stepped through that door and it, too rescinded its challenges. but we got it right. women jumped at the opportunity to be the first to enter but no one wanted to be the first to fail. if one of us failed it reflected poorly on all of us. if a mail fails, it was just a normal statistic. successful integration and the -- requires thoughtful implementation as a captain i was oblivious to the extent of the efforts taken to ensure my

success. the right policies, the right preparation, training a viable career path, engaged leadership mentors and robust communication across the force. today i am inspired by the young women across the surfaces who desire to serve their nation is critical combat roles. and i also as a senior leader and as a woman invested in their fully successful implementation. today 95% of all military occupations are open to women. women are contributing in unprecedented ways. to the military's mission of defending our nation. women have achieved the rank of 4-star general and flag officer and haven't top senior enlisted positions. women are committing major combat units and navy warships. some have asked, why not? over the last decade more than 280,000 women have deployed in iraq and afghanistan.

military leaders across all services saw firsthand that women were already performing at a growing number of critical roles on and off the battlefield. our military women are a force multiplier antipode general dempsey, women strengthen the force. the pictures to represent examples of the functions women are performing. since 2013 dod has notified congress of intent to open 91000 positions that were previously closed. in the top -- the marine corps allowed in the superduper debate in basic training as part of the ongoing research to determine what additional combat jobs may be open to female personal. approximate 34% completed the course. they enlisted infantry school last eight weeks and in good physical to come classroom worker, overnight exercises that include life fire if it.

they are critical to assess and validate the gender-neutral standards. a female was produced in a navy course at camp lejeune. and december of 2013 the navy notified congress of intent to open 267 positions and is one example of a field that is open and implemented. a female attempting to combat skills force patrols the training grounds during an exercise. discourse is a five week training class that teaches combat skills, weapons fundamentals and equipment, land navigation from urban operations, offensive and defensive patrols and communication. and navy commodore commented on his personal experience in a combat environment.

he said his biggest mission weakness while commanding a squadron in iraq in 2008 was the fact that no women assigned. he recognized it was less effective to change the hearts and minds of villages along the river banks when you only deal with 80% of the population. one of the most heartening things he has seen upon his return as a west coast commodore has been women graduates and women populating his unit. in the bottom photo reflate the army announced his intent to combat combat engineers to include listed women to engage in providing offenses, defensive and stability operations. such as reconnaissance mobility, counter mobility and survivability. these engineers operate mounted or dismounted and deployed demolition, explosives, u.s. landmines, counter mine ops, location detection of ieds basic compact construction,

bridging support or combat forces. women poverty attended the army's combat engineer school and is considered a model for developing women in combat standards. our military leaders strive to ensure that operations are carried out by the best qualified and most capable service members. this has not changed as we continue to open more positions to women. in fact, the guiding principles established by this chairman of the joint chiefs center and maintaining a strong military, ensuring the success of our war fighting force and by preserving unit readiness, cohesion and the quality of our all-volunteer force. we are not lowering the standard nor are we compromising our military doctrine. vicki goetze of the right standard for the right occupation. when we have done so the general neutral standard position provide a wider pool of skilled military personnel and provide commanders more flexibility, not

less. although some expected the integration to occur immediately, the joint chiefs remained committed to deliver process to ensure women are fully successful at the joint chiefs are closely monitoring the progress within our armed forces. the chairman continues to be a key player as a single military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense for the most anticipated decision of course will be whether not to open combat arms infantry armor and special forces units in occupations to win. as part of his assessment general dempsey.org engages the military leaders come he also seeks the opinion of men and women of all ranks, genders and occupational specialty. i am inspired by the chairman's leadership and commitment to get this right. i can assure you his recommendations to the secretary will be based on rigorous analysis. but the work will not stop on one january. we've all learned lessons from previous integration efforts

this is a journey that requires continuous assessment and refinement, leadership engagement, and motivated female volunteers to institutionalize our progress with the right policy. with that in mind i want to turn it over to juliet beyler to talk about the policy. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. so good afternoon. dr. oudraat, thank you. thank you for the invitation to talk about our work. similar to general van ovost like many of you here as you becomeheard from my 23 years in uniform, i lived evolving changes to limit assignment policy from below as a sergeant platoon sergeant only woman in my company delivers dumbfounded and told us to logistically difficult to take me to desert

storm, to the hyping the first, one of the first women with open combat engineers to marines in 1994, female marines, getting approach to leading marines in iraq. so getting this effort right at document elimination of these remaining gender-based areas to service, it matters to me. so this effort is often referred to as historic and it certainly is but in my mind it was also very much the next logical step. the experience in iraq and afghanistan and discussions in 2010, 2011 and 2012 that the joint chiefs to unanimous conclusion that the time had come for us to change our thinking on this. the tipping point had been reached with no longer made sense to open positions to women by exception. we flipped that presumption on its it. the presumption is everything should be open and less the case can be made to keep a close. a big change in the departments

thinking on assignment policy. to that end on january 2013 secretary panetta and chairman dempsey rescinded in 1994 direct combat definition and assignment rubric they directed the development of plans described of the service of special operation command instance integrate women into those previously closed jobs and occupation. an adequate review and validate their occupational standards to ensure that they occurred operationally relevant and deployed gender-neutral he. they were directed to complete all of the studies i september 2015 and ensure as you all know full implementation by january 1, 2016. since that time in nearly 2013 the department of services had been thoughtfully and thoroughly implementing this policy change. so where are we now? since the ground combat role was recently notified congress of our intent to open more than 91,000 positions. prior to that in 2012 which i

consider to be still part of the initial stages of this effort we opened another 14,000 positions. each service entrance against dementia detrimental opening of the their positions on the required notification into general categories. the first currently open occupations that were closed by virtue of the unit of assignment so for example administered clerk in a tank battalion or a truck driver, a user often in an artillery battery. and then a 100% close occupations, or combat arms special operations. so this one under six positions i mentioned mostly in been one open occupations close by virtue of the unit of assignment. however, those the departments opened up a whole post a preview close 1% close occupations as well. for the record of opened up ground intelligence officer can light armored vehicle repair ordnance of vehicle maintenance achieve, the army and one abrams tank maintainers, walkable

launch rocket crew member, artillery officer the navy has opened all eight enlisted submarine ratings in the 77 classification codes. all significant changes in and of themselves. one of the chairman strengthen social venture service members are set up for success. with a viable career path. not only on the opening the positions and occupations we are identified and to think all of the schools the skill identifies as the profession develop identifies as a professional developer path but it's a holistic effort. approximate 240,000 positions are still closed. but most of those aside into closed occupation competent infantry, armor, artillery and of course, special operations. from the beginning we knew those be the most difficult to review and we fully expected it would be the last to be addressed. for services special operations command in the department as a whole are on track to announce the final decisions on opening or integration of those 200 ma

fall 240,000 of those remaining closed positions for any exception defaulted on or about january 1, 2016. as we move toward the end of the year, each service a special operation command is working to conclude that there is a doctrine, training, education facilities and policy study and analysis, all again part of a deliberate process. lastly each service in transit and continues to work with her agencies as the review and validate the occupational standards. and as you've seen in the news each of them are nearing completion of the associated study effort to does not agree the marine corps ground combat task force, refinishing up their work at 29 homes -- twentynine palms california and movie the final stage to camp pendleton and the bridgeport to do the amphibious and mountain warfare sections of that assessment. and, of course, the ongoing army ranger assessment that is due to

conclude around the june timeframe. sawada services in socom have taken different approaches until you have a panel to look at that later this afternoon, i'm sorry -- lost my place. sorry about that. the end result will be the same. all occupational standards will and must be validated prior to the final decision. i think that's an important point i want to point that out. the service is within all of the standards, not just the occupations are currently closed. it's given us the opportunity really look at our standards. after training pipelines to look at it all with a fresh eye. and to have the difficult conversations that whenever possible because of outdated policy barrier we used to have. so through this we expect to learn a lot. possibly even more about our existing forces and training pipelines as google of gender

integration technology to standards regardless of the gender of the service member performing them only enhance the quality, readiness and the overall effectiveness of our force. so in conclusion, a constant for the department since 2013 is that this effort began and stopped about raising or lowering standards but rather ensure we have the right standards and the right policies. this coupled with expanding the talent pool from which we can recruit and the final of ensure the continued success of our forces in our individual servicemembers. i look forward to the end of this year. but this will continue long after january 1, 2016 as we recruit, says, trained and grow those leaders of tomorrow. some say we are going to slow some say we are going to fast. we think we've got it about right. our goal is to take a measured and responsible approach akin to have those hard conversations and to really look closely at this issue. and i'm comfortable that we have

succeeded. as i mentioned in the beginning this is an historic effort and senior leaders across the department of defense recognize that. they are personally engaged constantly talking to each other and their leading on this effort. so again thank you for having us over look forward to your questions. [applause] thank you very much. we have about 20, 25 minutes for questions. i would like to group them by two or three. please introduce yourself, and hewho would like to start off, please. i'm with the "christian science monitor." i just got back from ranger school this past weekend so watching some of the first women go through and now there are eight remaining and so in talking to some of the rangers were running for school and some of the senior military leaders

even about the women have not made it through some of the 20 start out the school one week ago today. there are eight left. they said the wednesday talk to once they watched that even as they went out of the school that they would be proud to serve with them on the battlefield and would love to see them come back to ranger school. such a small percentage of people who go to ranger school make it through the first time. so what i'm wondering is what are the criteria that you going to use to allow an exception to policy, and exemption? you know i'm going to be allowed to be rangers or not? is it going to be based on their success? given that a lot of these guys need a second third, fourth trying to get through ranger school. >> okay, any others? yes, please. >> good afternoon.

i'm a marine corps reserve lieutenant colonel and like both of you i've got extensive experience without any fellow female officers and no female superior officers. i've got a question about one of the terms that's been thrown around, the critical mass or sufficient cadre and i was wondering if you all could offer a definition of that route might be university applied? and it has been some kind of information recently that's what the importance of that delight because it has only been something that's been deployed within dod before. >> let's start made with these 21st questions. so about the criteria in terms of exceptions and issue critical mass. >> i'll start out on an exception to policy. first of all thank you for going out and to dissipate in ranger day. thank those for whom out for the marine corps version as well. i think it was was the lighting of how we got pretty good coverage come and to think that they were fairly transparent in who they talked to in getting the word

out and to show the attitudes of the men and the women that were going through the course. so thanks for that. as you pointed out less than 50% make it through the first day of the ranger school. we are sitting at a 43% successful rate for women 48% success rate for men but it's within historical norms for the course. so we are pretty proud of the eight that are still indicating that there. so you asked about what we're going to do with that, what ranger school is doing it is validating, assessing the core tasks that folks do as a ranger in that will allow us to then baseline on the standards that are required one, for the pretesting them it was a pre-ranger face as you probably know and for applications about the mos in the occupation skills. the data will be used as a reference for the general

standards. it is not necessarily going to be the be all end all of it was not they go through because as you point out there are several phases as you can eliminate it from a phase, there's an opportunity later to come back and to retry. we hope the few women have gone through the may want to retry in the future that they would. so because of that there is no penalty. we're just excited about those who went through. >> i guess i would just add on to question regarding exception, it is no simple answer to that. as laid out, any request for request has not a requisite justification, has to be based on the skills and the knowledge skills and abilities needed to do the job. what i will tell you it will be multilayered. is not a simple binary answer and it will be thoroughly reviewed and discussed across the department for any decision is made.

spirit what about the issue of critical mass come is that important? >> thanks for the question on critical mass. each service is going to come back with a publication plans by occupational specialty. we certainly don't want to blanket number but against a specially because it's all going to be different whether there in the field or out, whether it's on a ship or two officers, for enlisted, submarine peace will be different than a surface ship will be different from a marine corps infantry unit. different from a combat unit or a socom task force. but the important thing is that we do have a structure there. as we learned through previous lessons learned, we need to have -- the are some strategies of their, would replace women with similar occupational specialties within you to come whether they are co-located with similar is or leadership of being there. because i have personally

watched a woman crash and burn because she did have the support structure necessary because we moved down to quick. this was 20 years ago in 83 or 93, but it was important that we have a structure that the so when they come forward with the occupations that were previously closed, they will have implementation plans adequately looked at it in stride will be evaluating them every step of the way to ensure that women have the support they need to do well. because if they fail because we haven't place at the right support, it will be hard for us to get motivated volunteers to follow that same path. we want to do it right the first time we continue to generate the folks want to come in behind him and he well. >> do you want something to add? let's go for a second round. yes, please.

>> i'm a reservist and air force assigned to the air force special operations field and i was part of cs 33. my crush was one of the site to airair force special operations who i had come able to work with some of the researchers for the joint special operations university who are looking at the implication plans and part of the study they mentioned, cultural study, so what exactly does that mean what kind of data has come out and how is that being used in the implication plans going forward? >> and the lady in the back. yes please. >> my name is lisa, i'm a contractor with the dod office. i've a question regarding the best practices mentioned earlier. you mentioned open communication and proper training, not something that you could elaborate on that and what you found what is practices might help support success in the future?

>> why don't i try to tackle the studies question first. so from the beginning of them back into 2011-2012 timeframe we envision the services and special operations command would want to do studies surveys to try and identify with issues are. again as general van ovost said we've done this before and there's a lot of lessons learned from before, so the army did a lot of surveys initially the kind of find out where people perhaps have misperceptions, we where there might be issues that might need to be addressed and so socom i can't also wanted to do studies even socom unique way they operate in small teams. they wanted to do studies to understand how this would impact the special operations community and connecticut develop plans to best implement it. that's the reason behind the study. >> could i ask you are some of the results of these studies going public at some point? >> at some point yes it does

with one, we've not made any other public yet because of course the services can recommend a special operations commander will use the results one, to develop mitigation strategies identifies something that needs to be addressed so they can address it to make sure we're successful, and then, of course, these the studies to open for any finer recommendations that they may make to the secretary. >> i would like to address the training and communications peace, which is key, so thank you for keying in on that. that's a key part of the implementation plan. services need to bring forward or out of one of the specialties. first of all as a spoke about all of the standards are going to be gender neutral standards that's just a focus on a standard, occupations that are close right now but all of them. so as we produce those by the end of september each servicemen and women have to be trained to the standard.

they will help us better identify with a special areas where people may need preassessment training like the ranger school where we give preassessment work to make sure that folks understand what the physical activity of the course required so they can be more successful when they actually come to the course. so that's a key part of that. and then when it comes to the communication, clearly can indications is a big part of our trust. we need to explain why be gender neutral standard, how we're going to ensure everybody meets the standards both men and women, why they are necessary for the occupation in the first because there's some question, is it really the right task that should be done in the standards committees different mos's. and then by communicating that a little more effectively than we have this will help us build that trust for both men and women to want to continue down that pipeline for those different suspects appreciate

that. it's an important part of the application plan. >> sioux falls until i'm the chair of the u.s. military academy board of visitors. we argue with critical mass i want to go back to that because i want to follow-up deeper. we talk about critical mass. i'm surprised he is a if you like to be different depending on talking about a ship or infantry platoon or summary of whatever the unit. so how do you define what critical mass would be? is there a common definition where you say this is the best operating tip of the unit? and sufficient countries, of course is a different question. i would want to establish going about defining the thick of it understand how we're going about defining standards standards for the mission versus standards for the name. even though there's work to be done at least we have a way to define that but i would like your or definition. >> go ahead if you want.

>> so maybe to expand upon what general van ovost already said we believe it would be different based upon requirements of the service and based on the requirements -- for instance what works ownership may not be what's needed for an army unit over a marine corps unit or for a small special operations unit. so we think it's a board to allow the services to define contradicting 50 more thing is leadership at the point of insertion and ensure we have the right support structure there. but it isn't going to be a singular definition, a one size fits all definition that works for all units and all services. >> let me also add we will astride checkpoint, in other words, we're going to watch them very closely to see if it does different specialties they've done the right things, the right support structures and measure

those, if it sufficient great come if it's not sufficient we need to make changes. just because they say it's going to take two females on a submarine today doesn't mean it's going to hold a year from now. again this is not going to stop on january 1. will continue to do it in stride assessment. we want them to succeed. >> any other questions? let me ask you a question everything then afterwards you will have to go. with the studies that have been done thus far, what have been some of the biggest surprises positive or negative? and what do you see as some of the biggest challenges moving forward? >> well, i often use well a bigger surprise. we were reviewing and developing the standards.

why do you kill to all those? again it was to review to make sure that our current. and i use there's a historically the way airborne school has been a 45-pound pack weight. we always thought that 45 pounds since world war ii because that's the way of diminishing of how much water, that's what an infantry airborne soldier had to care in world war ii. but when the army command start to look at behind what was the standard and why, what they found was that 45 pounds with a minimum weight they sold it to have below them as a jumping out of airplanes or anything less than 45 pounds would fly up and get tangled. so that was a classic example of that 45 pounds had nothing to do with being an infantryman nothing to do with being airborne soldier and a duty to do with falling out of an airplane. so an example of standards that we've had for many years that everyone accepted as a necessary standard but perhaps it wasn't the right standard. >> do you have a good example

like that? >> that's a great example that's reason why don't jump out of airplanes by the way. [laughter] but i think one of the challenges to address the other half is that all throughout this process we've got to maintain the trust of not only the service members but the public and to do that we need to discontinue our communications have the right implementation plans, and we just we are taking are motivated volunteers and helping them be successful. not that they need a help out or had outcome which is the to make sure everything is in place for them to do what they do best. we needed to introduce other ladies both on the marine corps school and the rangers this weekend, i am so inspired that despite office they are excited to be there. they will make a difference. they are paving the way and our job is to implement the right

policies so that they can continue down a successful career path and become her senior leaders of tomorrow and that's our biggest challenge. >> thank you. ..