>> if he -- >> if he didn't reenlist at seven or eight years. >> and there is probably data to illustrate this, do we have any problem with this mid career senior nco officer in the six to nine year range? >> it depends on the military operation specialty. it is one thing to get a infantry man in for 20 years as opposed to someone who has i.t. stills or is an airplane mechanic. that is why it is essential that they, based on the military occupation specialty, i will tell you, rather than stair step, i believe that our modelling shows this is the critical period. my guys used to tell me the critical period was eight years and 27 days. if i could keep someone in it under a defined contribution past that average mark, i had a better opportunity to maintain them longer. our modelling for this particular plan tells us that that ten to 12 year mark is critical. >> my time is almost expired. my last question will need to wait for another day. >> you want to ask another question? >> sure, i would be happen to. >> i have been stationed at bases that had nice commissary and we need them to provide

. >> the rock star dream was almost a memory as john was about to sign reenlistment papers.uddy videotaped him singing a song about the positive side of the war effort and it took off. a record label signed him. john's dream was about to come true. except it didn't. leaving him crushed. >> i moved up here to the bay area. put the guitar down and stopped playing. >> john tried a few years later. this time a bet are musician but the same results. so he got on with life. a father and palo alto firefighter. closing the door on music except it just kept knocking. when john learned of the struggles of war time friend it was time to try again. >> somewhere along the way, something blessed me with the talent that i won't let it sit on my couch and ponder. you know we're going to take whatever i can do with that talent to raise awareness for the rest of the country. >> and make this happen. >> your war is over is the song he wrote. his old record label released it followed by an ep last fall. he is working on songs for an album right now. what makes this third time such a charm, john

confederates than by exchanging prisoners or by paroling prisoners which means they can't be allowed to reenlist in the army. he's going to release confederate troops which will only lengthen the war. that's not grant's position at all. his position is simple. he's happy to exchange prisoners for prisoners provided that the confederates will exchange all prisoners of war. the confederate government led by secretary of start setten with the approval of jefferson davis and with the approval of robert e. lee and with the approval of the entire confederate high command says, "we will not exchange black prisoners of war because we refuse to recognize that black people can legitimately be soldiers." and therefore if they cannot be soldiers, we cannot exchange them as prisoners of war. in fact what the confederate army does for a short while is enslave them. a violation of every known rule of war at the time. a throwback to the roman empire. if you add to this jubilorly's excursions twice where he hunts down blacks to bring them back to the south, the confederate army looks like a weird modern version

some of the men recognized beatty as a defector and said, he was in our ranks so they reenlist him.they did not even punish him really. he rejoined the regiment, and then he escapes again. he whines about british headquarters -- ends up back at bridge headquarters and receives back wages. i found the document and shared it with my advisor. he said, that doesn't surprise me. a great deal of fluidity, and a lot of enlistment. congress isn't always keen. towards the end of the war, they actively recruit prisoners of war. [inaudible] >> officers and enlisted men were they permitted to write home? if so, has any of that survived? are you aware of anything that might be particularly interesting or anecdotal? >> i have not found any of these actual letters but many of the officers are writing letters writing correspondence. because of their misbehavior eventually some of that mail is being censored. the local committee is trying to lay eyes on it before it begins to circulate. they are trying to read those documents before the officers can send them anywhere. that doesn't always work. some

you have people that reenlist to go back and get it again.hey know they are never going to get in civilian life. some will try with drugs, some will try driving motorcycles down the freeway. it will never have that same rush, the same aliveness ever again. >> i second everything. you are not going to find it. i think a fallback to that, like bob was alluding to, depression. there is a huge part of that. you finally realize i'm not going to get there again. i'm not going to find that high again. then what do you do? what you do from there? you have to the evil to channel the energy you have harnessed to do something. i think to get back to the compassion part of it, i'm not going to speak for everyone here but i can speak for myself. every day is a gift. i have a true appreciation for this thing we call life. this is a biological response. you get over there and you're having a biological response to stress. it shoots that way, and the other way, and you come back and that drops through the floor. >> that happened to chris kyle. >> that happen

>> if he -- >> if he didn't reenlist at seven or eight years. >> and there is probably data to illustrate this, do we have any problem with this mid career senior nco officer in the six to nine year range? >> it depends on the military operation specialty. it is one thing to get a infantry man in for 20 years as opposed to someone who has i.t. stills or is an airplane mechanic. that is why it is essential that they based on the military occupation specialty i will tell you, rather than stair step, i believe that our modelling shows this is the critical period. my guys used to tell me the critical period was eight years and 27 days. if i could keep someone in it under a defined contribution past that average mark i had a better opportunity to maintain them longer. our modelling for this particular plan tells us that that ten to 12 year mark is critical. >> my time is almost expired. my last question will need to wait for another day. >> you want to ask another question? >> sure, i would be happen to. >> i have been stationed at bases that had nice commissary, and we need them to provide ch

for having two or three periods where you encourage people to reenlist or officers to remain? >> the current program as it is today, we have the senate page and those bonuses that they are being paid. we have those programs already. this would be that career retention which would take the service member to a point of having 12 years with a four-year obligation to get him to that 60 -- 16th year. >> so not many people leave after 12 and few leave after 60 -- 16? >> that is correct. >> under this proposal, let's say a hypothetical e seven who served three tours downrange seven or eight years downrange three or four deployments, he would be leaving with his contributions to his defined contribution land and the government matches that, right? >> if he elected to -- >> if he didn't reenlist in eight years. >> yes. >> do we have any problem retaining this kind of midcareer, senior nco, senior field grade officer in the six to nine year range? >> it depends on the military occupational a shelti. -- specialty. it is one thing to maintain and infantrymen who hauled a 60 pound rock up

reenlisted -- the enlisted crew in the back of the airplane are in their teens, some of them. when they congregate, on the port side their responsibility is to take out the life raft. they will not succeed in detaching the liferaft. from the storage straps. they will not succeed in launching it over the side. on the starboard side, both the seven and 12-man rafts will be successfully launched out the hatch. nothing else. not the water bottles, not the communication equipment not the first-aid kits, nothing. so when the aircraft settles and they start to evacuate, they will take with them a seven-man raft and a 12-man raft out the starboard side of the aircraft. courts -- >> elmendorf, this is alfa foxtrot. our position has stabilized. we are now 500 feet [indiscernible] north 16645. east. we are going to try to make it into chimia at this time. i will keep you posted if our situation changes. request verification you have our alert. over three of court -- over. it >> matt is telling them they will try to stretch it out and get to the base. he's asking for confirmation the sear

bringing in and actually over the last couple of years and reduce that the ability for people to reenlist. i will increase if we go to sequestration. >> at those levels are their soldiers that tend to have multiple combat deployments? >> that is absolutely correct. >> they are losing their combat experience and the privates and lieutenants who don't have it? general dunford, your >> could you explain to a layman to note why such a small reduction could be so hurtful? >> that could have an impact on the ratio. we did a study on this in 2011. the optimal level would be -- marines. that would allow marines to be home for seven months, going for seven months, in town again. we came down to 182 thousand. we're deploying seven months home, back out for seven months. if we go down to 174,000 that would be about hundred and 75 would be the only change i would make from my predecessors comments. many would be closer to 1-12 1-2. marines would be home for seven or eight months. as an impact on quality of training we are able to >> provide as well as impact on families. >>admiral, you testified of s

and so you have people that reenlist to go back and getit again because they know they willwill never get it in their civilian life some willtry with drugs, some will try with driving amotorcycle 150 miles down the freeway but never have that same sense of -- that same rush, that same sense of aliveness ever again. >> i mean, i second everything. jake just said you are not going to find it. and then i think as a fall back to that like bob alluded to, depression is a huge part of that, because i think at some point you finally reaize, i am not going to get there again. i am not going to be able to find that high again. and then what do you do? what do you do from there? you have to be able to channel that energy you have harnessed up in -- inside of you to do something and i think to get back to the compassion part of it i am not going to speak for everyone here but i can speak for myself every day is a gift. i have a true appreciation for this thing we call life. in is a biological response they are talking about too. you know, you get over there and having biological response to stre

extreme example is to get a pilot to the point where they can go an f-22 quality and it's -- the reenlistment bonus is 250,000 but the cost to retrain is $17 million. now scale that down to whatever forces that we have here. what is the reason that, major reason that they come in and then they leave? >> thank you for the question, senator. we spent a lot of time looking at that, that specific issue that you address. it's a very important one. as we think about how to modernize the compensation programs, compensation programs for tomorrow, we are thinking about exactly what is required for the military to be able to recruit and retain people. and we have to think about the new generation, that they value and prefer. those are the kind of things that we listened to and heard as we talked to people. as it was already indicated to today, 83% of the enlisted force actually wind up leaving without any kind of retirement benefits, which is why we made the recommendation that we did, to be able to extend some of the retirement benefits for those service members who will serve and then move on to do o

. >> if he didn't reenlist at seven or eight years? >> yes. >> there's probably data to illustrate this. do we have any problem retaining this kind of mid-career senior nc orks nco, senior company grade officer, field grade officer in like the 6 to 9 year range? general. >> it depends on the military occupational specialty. it's one thing to retain an in infantry man who goes up a 60 pound rock and keep him in as a platoon sergeant or one with it skills that can find work in other areas. that's why it's absolutely essential the flexibility pay and services have the ability based on the military occupation specialty to apply different amounts on the military occupational specialty. i will tell you rather than staur step stair step, the rand model tells us. i was told it was 27 28 days, if i can keep somebody under defined contribution under 50% past that magical mark i had a better than average opportunity to maintain them longer but our modeling for this particular plan told us that 10 to 12 year mark is absolutely critical. >> my time

soldiers we are bringing in and over the last couple years have reduced the ability for people to reenlist. that will increase if we have to go to sequestration. >> at those levels of those are the soldiers who didn't have the multiple combat deployments underneath their build? >> that is correct. >> so you're losing their experience with the privates and the kids who don't have a? >> yes sir. >> general dunford, your predecessor had projected that you have to decrease your in strength of about 187174,000. is that still active? >> senator, that's correct, with sequestration. >> with sequestration. could you explain to a layman what may seem like a relatively small reduction of about 13,000 could be so hurtful to the core? >> the biggest impact would be that reduce capacity would have an impact on the deployment ratio of our rings. so today we consider the optimal force and we did a study on this and 2011, the optimal force would be 186,800 marines. that would allow marines to be gone for seven months over 21 months and gone for seven months again. we call that a one to three deployment to

in 1867, he decided to reenlist.e was assigned to a unit stationed in columbia, where the army had become basically a goodwill delegation after the transfer of power from the military units that oversee the election of state government under a new constitution, after the military transfers power entirely to civilian government. he started up a series of afternoon band concerts that were tremendously popular. concerts three times a week. it was a fixture of social life in columbia. at the end of his term of enlistment, he decided to stay in columbia. he opened a music store. he was a central figure in the music life of columbia. he handled bookings for the major musical venues in town. he became the bandleader for the firemen's band, a natural continuation of his work at the post. it was his work that the leader of the herman's band -- of the firemen's band that brought him to the state fair in 1871, the third since the end of the war. the state fair was an institution that developed beginning in 1869, explicitly as a

extreme example is to get a pilot to the point where they can go an f-22 quality and it's -- the reenlistment to retrain is $17 million. now scale that down to whatever forces that we have here. what is the reason that, major reason that they come in and then they leave? >> thank you for the question senator. we spent a lot of time looking at that, that specific issue that you address. it's a very important one. as we think about how to modernize the compensation programs compensation programs for tomorrow, we are thinking about exactly what is required for the military to be able to recruit and retain people. and we have to think about the white new generation, that they value and prefer. those are the kind of things that we listened to and heard as we talked to people. as it was already indicated to today, 83% of the enlisted force actually wind up leaving without any kind of retirement benefitingsbenefits which is why we made the recommendation that we did, to be able to extend some of the tiernlt benefits for those service members who will serve and then move on to do other things from 17

extreme example is to get a pilot to the point where they can go an f-22 quality and it's -- the reenlistment bonus is 250,000 but the cost to retrain is $17 million. now scale that down to whatever forces that we have here. what is the reason that, major reason that they come in and then they leave? >> thank you for the question, senator. we spent a lot of time looking at that, that specific issue that you address. it's a very important one. as we think about how to modernize the compensation programs, compensation programs for tomorrow, we are thinking about exactly what is required for the military to be able to recruit and retain people. and we have to think about the way the new generation, that they value and prefer. those are the kind of things that we listened to and heard as we talked to people. as it was already indicated to today, 83% of the enlisted force actually wind up leaving without any kind of retirement benefits, which is why we made the recommendation that we did to be able to extend some of the retirement benefits for those service members who will serve and then move on