general simonds. you are now recognized for five minutes. >> chair coffman, ranking member speier, distinguished members tft committee, i thank you for the opportunity today to appear before you on behalf of the men and women of the united states army. i've submitted a statement for the record and now i'd like to highlight a few of the points. many of our army is one of the key components of readiness and army fight and win our nations wars. thank you for the fiscal year 2018 national defense authorization act which authorized army to grow by 8,500. also appreciate the two year budget deal which will improve readiness and ensure our formations are filled in the years to come. to build fuel tour army, we must recruit a diverse men and women high quality and character and competitive market as a chairman talked about, where only one in four, 17 year olds is eligible to join and one in eight has propensity to enlist in the military. maintaining the quality will continue to be our priority and the army wi