funding away for the op tempo for the c-23 and the intent is to divest those airplanes by the end of fy 14, and to my knowledge, there's no reconsideration of that. >> there -- what i'm told is that there is a wide number offage tent generals who feel the c-23 is important to the domestic missions. air force is looking at the c-130s to fill that mission. are you satisfied that, in fact, that mission can be served with a c-130? basically, is this the right thing to be doing? >> i feel that domestic air lift is a concern that should be addressed. i'm not sure that it's been

adequately addressed for the domestic mission. for the away game mission, i know that the army has taken the air force's position that the air force will support inner theater air lift, which is the mission that the c-23 and the c-27 airframe were designed to do any ideas or suggestions as to how we can address the domestic air lift? >> northcom is in a recent discussion with general jakoby, commander of u.s. northern command. he views looking at the homeland as a theater of operations, and i think his perspective will be very important in determining requirements for all homeland defense or homeland operations

inner theater air lift in the homeland being one of those parameters. >> mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you very much. gentleman, i thank you for your testimony this morning. and i thank you for your service for our nation. further questions? >> no, mr. chairman. i have no further questions. i do want to congratulate our panel for the leadership you're providing for our armed forces. thank you very much. >> i will be submitting some questions and as for your response. and now, the committee asks general stultz, admiral and general stenner to come forward to present their testimony. general debbink.

>> gentlemen, i thank you for joining us this morning, and may i advise you that your statements will be met by the record. so shall we start with general, admiral debbink. >> chairman inouye and vice chairman thank you for the privilege to speak with you this morning about the capabilities, capacities and readiness of our now 63,988 dedicated men and women serving in our navy reserve today.

since 9/11 performed nearly 64,000 year-long mobilizations to active duty. truly on the front lines of freedom. and navy reserve sailors represent our navy core values of honor, courage and commitment. as our motto claims we are ready anytime, anywhere. the chief naval operations admiral greener established three tenants nowhere the navy. war fighting first, appropriate forward and be ready. today's navy reserve is fully aligned with these directions and our sailors are eager to do their part to ensure the navy remains the world's premiere maritime service. reserve sailors provide both full and part-time operational capabilities and importantly also provide strategic depth for maritime missions to ensure the navy is always ready to respond globally, to crisis situations, while maintaining fisk's efficiency across the whole spectrum of operations. thanks to the work of this

congress and the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2012, service secretaries have assured access to reserve componeunits. we'll first have the opportunity to budget for such use of assured access in fiscal year '14 i wanted you to know how important your efforts were to our future force while i have the opportunity to do so. also appreciative of your support for the purchase of our 14th c-40a this year for our navy unique fleet essential air lift. congressional support for our navy reserve c-40a program is enabling critical theater capability today to be more cost effective and flexible and thus more operation relevant well into the future. our 2013 budget request will enable navy reserve to continue supporting current operations while maximizing the strategic value of the navy reserve, a force valued for readiness,

innovation, agility and accessibility. the true prize for our sailors and the navy alike will be the real and meaningful work as part of america's navy global force for good, and as a example of this work, the navy reserve assumed 100% of the navy's individual augmentee commit to the oversea commitments for finkal year '3 and beyond. i believe reserve components, all in the national guard, must be asked and even required to do those missions we are able to do so that the active component can focus on the missions that they must do for our national security. as you know, this is my fourth and final year appearing before your committee. i'm proud of the accomplishments of the navy reserve and navy and truly grateful for the support of this congress in providing our quest to become a true total force. on batch of our sailors and their families and civilians of our navy reserve, thank you for

your continued support and commitment to our navy reserve. >> thank you. thank you, admiral. general stultz. >> first of all, it's my honor to be here and thank you for all the support that you continue to give our soldier, and our families in our nation. on behalf of the 205,000 soldiers in the army reserve, that are serving our nation, that are what i refer to as the national treasure. and what epitomizes what the soldiers are all about, the young soldiers aye boug-of-i br with me today, instead of being eloquent in our opening statement i just warranted to introduce them to you. seated to my right, daniel burgess and his wife jennette. the sergeant is from the cleveland area belongs to a psychological operations unit up there. sergeant burgess last year was in afghanistan and he was in

southern afghanistan attached to the marines. out on a mission as a psy-ops sergeant helping work with the local afghans to get them to shoppe the marines locations of ieds and other dangers to protect them. while doing that, he himself stepped on an ied and he lost his leg, severe wounds to his, the rest of his body, mild tbi, and jennette said the first thing he said when she contacted him, when he got to germany was, i'm not getting out. i'm staying in. and today he is down in fort sam houston at the training brigade rehabbing so he can get back in the force. that epitomizes what we're here for. and we're here to say we've got to make sure we're doing everything within our power nrnl

an era where we are looking to save money and reduce debt but we cannot afford to shortchange these great soldiers because they are protecting our nation and they are our first line of defense. like was said, they are indispensable because our army can't do what it does without our army reserve. we are an indispensable force for them. and so i just use him as the symbol of why i'm here. and i'll like forward to your questions, sir. >> thank you for your service to our nation. just want to tell you we're very proud of you. so, please, be recognized. [ applause ] >> i think an important partner is your wife.

[ applause ] >> and i'll now call upon the general of the marines, general hummer. >> thank you very much, chairman inouye. vice chairman cochran and members of this committee. it's an honor and a privilege to speak with you here today on behalf of your united states marine corps reserve. mr. chairman, we welcome your leadership and your support. the subcommittee's continued unwavering support for marine corps reserve and its associated programs enables marines and sailors to professionally and competently perform in an operational capacity and is greatly appreciated. with me today and i'd ask them to stand up, my two senior enlisted advisers and leaders, sergeant major james e. booker, and command master chief eric

e.couzan they pe epit mids the navy marine corps team and proupdly represent our service enlisted marines and sailors who form the backbone of marine forces reserve. the [ applause ] >> the marine corps is as strong as ever in its histories. our marines are doing what they have done best since 1775. standing shoulder to shoulder to fight our nation's battles. i'm pleased to report to you today that today's marine corps attends to its commitments as a total force, and as such, the marine corps reserve is i integrated in all areas of the marine corps as never before. since 2001, this great nation required the marine corps reserve to be continuously engaged in combat operations in iraq and afghanistan as well as

in regional security cooperation and crisis prevention activities and support various geographical combatant commanders. almost 80,000 reservists have been activated or mobilized since september 11th. this operational tempo has built a momentum among our war fighters and a depth of experience throughout our ranks that is unprecedented in the generations of marine corps reservists. this operational tempo has enabled the marine force's reserve to evolve from a strategic cold war reserve to an operational force capable of simultaneously filling both roles. both the strategic and the operational role. in the operational role, marine forces reserve has sourced, preplanned rotational and routine combatant commander and service requirements across a variety of military operations. marine forces reserve continues to perform its strategic role

with combatant commander exercise involvement and focused readiness that coherently enationals a rapid transition to operational roles or support to major contingency operations. as i sit here today we have almost 1,500 marines and sailor, deployed on five continents in support of six geographic combatant commanders, which includes conducting combat operations in afghanistan to theater security activities by a special marine air-ground traffic force in eastern africa. as the active component marine corps reshapes from 2,001 marines to approximately 182, 1, the depth of the reserve will be leveraged to mitigate risk and maximize opportunities that are available. i am highly confident that the authorized marine corps reserve end strength of 39,600 is

appropriate for providing us with personnel required to support the total force during active component build down. accordingly, our manpower bonus and incentive programs for reserve rs are essential tools in achieving 100% of our authorized end strength and continued use of these programs is critically important as we rebalance the total force. it's a privilege and important and challenging times in our national defense, especially as a leader of our all-volunteer reserve component force. with your continued support, i'm highly confident that your marine corps reserve will remain a ready, relevant and responsive force that continues to be fully vested in a total marine corps. thank you for your support of our reservists, their families and their employers and from your marines, semper fidelas.

i look forward to your questions. >> thank you. may i recognize general stenner. >> mr. chairman, senator cochran, thank you for the opportunity to appear here before you today. i'd like to introduce my newest command chief of the u.s. command chief and have her stand, please, chief master sergeant kathleen buckner. [ applause ] >> sir, i strongly believe today's air force reserve is an operationally component of the total force because of our capability, capacity and accessibility as title 10 resource. air force reserve airman are seamlessly integrated and do every service core function across the full spectrum of operations. the air force reserve is responsive to national security needs and is an effective, efficient and affordable component of your air force. a ready force deployable within 72 hours.

the reserve is able to do this, because of the depth of experience among our citizen airmen. our air force reserve personnel, most of whom come to us from the active force average seven years of additional experience over our active duty counter parts and mission capabilities rates reflect that every day. without a doubt, the reserve is uniquely positioned to retain the air force's vast investment in human capital and maintain a cost-effective hedge against unanticipated requirements. the reserve has experience from over 20 years of continuous operational engagement in both combat and humanitarian missions and we've balanced this ops tempo while maintaining our national critical strategic surge capability. our air force reserves exceeds as being operationally engaged and strategically prepared due to our focus on maintaining the right balance. the correct reserve guard and active force mix is adaptable to circumstances, and i believe

today's fiscal and security environments require increased reliance on the reserve. and that our air force resourcing priorities should reflect such. the president and secretary of defense are clear ar the need for reversibility of resources. the air force reserve is a leverage to make this happen. the nation can trust the air force reserve will be then when calmed, prepared, trained and equipped for the same standards of the active component. there are challenges to maintaining this capability. the air force reserve is frachted to reduce by 900 personnel. however, that figure is just a proposed fy 13 president's budget and is the tip of the iceberg. our reserve is losing trained personnel and taking on new missions. the personnel losses are in specialties that are still essential for the total force and at the same time, don't easily transfer to up inially assigned mission areas. for instance, an aircraft maintainer with 17 years experience can't not become a cyber warrior with 17 years of experience overnight.

with that perspective, the air force is actually losing a capability of 5,000 to 6,000 experienced and trained personnel and that loss could seriously affect the posture. the alternative to these losses once again is to focus on the correct balance to adjust all three components mixed to better suit reversibility and maintain crucial capacity. i believe the active component should be an advance variety reactionary in nature, globally fielded high numbers and highly responsive. a reserve component as a projection force based on predictability of steady state and surge operations. the air force reserve is engaged today, employs for the future wir the right mix of guard, reserve and active components we can support the presidential reversibility plan, contribute to the nation's economic recovery and ensure the security of our nation and its interests. mr. chairman, members of the

committee, senator cochran, i am honored to have served the last four years of chief of the air force reserve and commander of the air force reserve commanded. i sincerely appreciate this committee's endurance and support and stand ready to respond to your questions. thank you. >> thank very much. may i now call upon general stultz. during your tenure as chief of the army reserve, you were calmed upon to transform the reserve from strategic to operational. can you give us an update of where you are at this moment? and, also, how you think your operational reserve can be used in afghanistan? >> yes, sir. coming into this job six years ago, which i only planned to stay for four, that was really the task i had at hand is, how can you transform the reserve

from a strategic footing to an operational footing, and put on a rotational employment basis. and do that at the same time while we're trying to fight a war on two fronts. iraq and afghanistan, and lesser contingencies down in africa. i can report to you today, sir that that has been a success. over the last -- during the period of oif and oef, the army reserve mobilized over 200,000 of our soldiers and put them into support missions both in iraq, afghanistan and here's at home. we have continually kept on active duty somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers every day since that inception. those soldiers are doing critical missions. as i mentioned earlier, i say our force is an indispensable force because we are what we call the enablers for the army. the engineers, the medical

structures, the logistics transportation, military policemen, all those capabilities that the army over time has shifted more and more into the reserve component. as an example of the day, if you look at the transportation capability, critic the capability as we're looking at trying to reduce our force footprint in afghanistan, that transportation ability to get soldiers and get equipment out of there is critical. 85% of that capability for the army rests in the guard and reserve. 70% of the medical capability rests in the guard and reserve. 85% of civil affairs and psychological operations, like sergeant burgess here, rest in the reserve. and so the army can't do what they do without us. so that transformation has been hugely successful, and i'll tell you, in my opinion, why -- it's not the leadership that i've given. it's the dedication our soldiers

have given. the culture of the army reserve has changed. soldiers that are in the army reserve today either have joined our force or re-enlisted to stay in our force while this nation is at war. they know what they signed up for. and that culture says, i'm joining to go and do something to serve my country. i'm not joining to be a weekend warrior. the strategic reserve. the challenge we've got, sir, is, how do we keep them? and it's critical that we have the right training, the right equipping and all to make sure that we retain that force and keep them ready, because we're not very good at predicting the future. we don't know where the next conflict will be, but there will be one. and the army is going to have to call upon us on short notice to get there and to get into the theater of operations and to sustain combat operations. and that's why things like the ngrea that you give us is so critical to me. that allows me flexibility to

buy equipment that i need now that is not programmed yet. that allows me to go and buy simulations equipment that i can use to train our soldiers to maintain that edge and keep them ready. so the ngrea, the oco to base money we're transferring to, around $200 million, $250 million to provide extra training days for these soldiers in the fourth and fifth year of the rotation cycle is critical. i can record to you today, sir, the army is an operational force and highly successful and successful because of soldiers like sergeant burgess and others. >> we've been advised that your equipment shortfalls. how does that impact on your mission? >> what i can tell you, sir, is, if you look at the figures, it says equipment on land for the army reserves.

we're better than we've ever been. 86%. however, we're 66% modernized. the equipment we have as was discussed earlier with the national guard in a lot of cases is old equipment that is substitute items for the modern equipment. now, as far as our soldiers being able to do their job in the afghanistan, iraq and other places, not an issue, because we make sure they're using modernized equipment in those theaters. we give them the best training, the best equipping before we put them in harm's way. where it impacts me is back home. impacts me back home, because now, and especially now we've drawn out of iraq and are going to start drawing down out of afghanistan i'm focusing on home station training. how do i keep these soldiers trained at home so they're ready to go? and how do i keep these soldiers trained at home so they're ready to go when i need them and i need that modernized equipment back here. it's a morale factor. if you're a young soldier and

you're been trained and equipped with the best standards and come home and go to your weekend army reserve and there's a piece of old equipment you know we don't use anymore in a wartime environment, it does have an impact on the soldier saying why aren't we training with what we just had in afghanistan? so to me the modernization of that equipment is to be ready i've got to train them with ready equipment. >> are you satisfied that the base organizations is sufficient? >> say that again? >> are you satisfied that the modernization program as we have now is adequate? >> i have some concerns, sir. my concern, i guess, would be that as the army is going through restructuring, and as the army has already announced they're drawing down their end strength over a period of years, i think that's going to lead us to make some equipment decisions

for the future that might say we can delay some modernization until we decide what the force structure looks like. and i can't afford to wait. because my soldier, need equipment today. and it's probably a smart thing to do in some cases. if year going to draw down units in the active force thars have modern equipment, then it would cascade to me and i would have that modern equipment. so the army white might say we're not going to buy more. we'll give you what we have in the active units when we do away with it. however, that's going to be years down the way. and i can't afford to wait. that's why the funding you give is so critical. if the army says we're not going to buy anymore modernized truck, for instance, because we're going to take some of the act ib trucks and give them to you in 2016, i can go ahead and buy some today and put them in my units, and then when the other ones come, fill out the rest of

our modernization jat strategy to meet my needs for the immediate future, yes, sir. >> in strategic plans for the next five years, call for drastic reduction end strength, which gives you an opportunity to get active duty people transitioning to reserves. do you have any plans to bring this about? >> chairman inouye, we certainly do in the navy. we, a couple years ago, career transition office in millington all of these transitions and are proud of the work they've done to reduce the time it takes to make the transition. what used to literally be four to six months down to somewhere two or three days by analyzing the process and making it smoonler. smoother. we believe as we look forward here in the next couple of years that the active component lane

that's been so full and stayed full starts to transition we'll have an opportunity to bring those sailors into the reserve component. we want to make that transition as seamless as possible. most regulations and policies within the department. there have been several things over the last several years you have been helpful with in making that happen. i would say the most important thing we need to do, i mentioned earlier, we have to call meaningful work for the soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen when they get to the component, that's why assured access and other provisions will be very important to us moving forward. >> what about the marines? >> thank you, mr. chairman. the commandant has recently since he's taken overer as commandant, general amos has revamped the transition assistant program from the active component. and he has various aspects, used to be it would be bring the marines together for a couple

days. give them some fast and furious education and training, and then they'd be out the door. now there's a couple times in their transition, a year before they get out, right before they get out, and then all of this information is put on the web so that they can get access to it for that legendary marine who wants to get out and go surfing in mexico for six months before he wants to get a job or go to school. in the meantime, along that, there's four tracks that are provided. one is an educational track. so it's focused and customized for them. a trade skill track, if they're going to go to school for a trade school. a business track, if they want to get into business or if they want to start a business, there's an entrepreneurial track. with regard to the reserves, we have room for nem our 396 with our latitude. we do see the