this morning agree that without this additional funding, our reserve components would be woefully underskipped. it is our duty to our men and women of the guard and reserves who are called on to deploy in harm's way just like their active duty counterparts to make certain they're adequately trained, adequately equip theed. so gentlemen, i look forward to hearing your perspective on these issues. and working with you this year in support of our guardsmen and reservists. i would like to thank all of you for your testimony this morning. your full statements will be made part of the record. we'll begin with our hearing with the panel of national guard. but i'd like to call upon mr. alexander because our vice chairman has been slightly delayed. he has just called to say he'll be coming in shortly. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'll condense my remarks to welcome to -- welcome, gentlemen. we look forward to your comments. reequipping the guard is one of the biggest challenges facing the department of defense. i think our chairman's outlined that very adequately. and the president's proposed budget