WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords questioned Defense Secretary Robert Gates today, asking what is being done to monitor the mental health of soldiers who have served in Iraq.
Giffords' question came during Gates' appearance before the House Armed Services Committee on which the Tucson lawmaker serves.
Giffords also questioned Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A transcript of the exchanges is below.
GIFFORDS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary Gates and also General Pace.
We heard the chairman mention in his opening remarks that readiness is the job of this committee. And we’ve heard a lot of questions about readiness. But I want to address one in particular and that is the readiness in terms of the mental health of our soldiers. I’m very concerned that we’re asking more and more and more of these young men and women and I don’t believe that our government is stepping up to our responsibilities to make sure that they’re receiving the care that they need.
I’m curious what the Department of Defense is proactively doing to monitor the mental health conditions of our troops as they return home and before they’re asked to be sent back into combat.
GATES: Yes, ma’am. I’m told that 100 percent of our troops are screened after their deployment. Approximately 22 percent test positive. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they have post-traumatic stress disorder. They are reassessed — the troops are reassessed three to six months after — again, three to six months after the deployment, and then screened again during the redeployment. And after they return, care is available for both the active and the reserve force for a period of time.
GIFFORDS: Mr. Gates, I recently met with an Army officer who’s responsible for the pre-redeployment screening. He told me that 70 percent of the soldiers that he’s seen, he’s advising to seek immediate counseling — 70 percent. And the majority of those soldiers are not receiving the counseling. Could you please address that?
GATES: I’ll have to take that for the record. That’s simply not consistent with the information I’ve been given. I’ll go back and check.
GIFFORDS: General Pace? First of all, I want to commend the Army. I know that there’s a disproportionate burden placed on the Army right now, particularly the Guard and Reserve; the Marine Corps as well. But it’s really the Army that’s stepping up right now and bearing the large cost of this war in terms of the people that are serving. And I’d like to hear from you what you think about how we are caring for our soldiers and making sure that they have everything that they need to continue to protect and to fight for our country.
PACE: Well, first of all, I agree with you that the United States Army is performing magnificently and is doing everything we’ve asked them to do, and in fact is going beyond what we’ve asked them to do. I think the burden is equally shared by the Marines, who are on the same kind of X number of months over Y number of months back. So the burden is shared equally between the services.
However, the Army being the United States Army, it is carrying the bulk of the load of the nation, that’s for sure.
I think, first of all, with regard to your first question, about mental health, we do need to pay very close attention to that, and we should allocate the resources necessary not only for the sake of the service members, but their families as well. There’s stress on the families that we need to be attentive to as well.
I believe that in the budget, that the quality of life that is fundamental is how we prepare our troops to be deployed, how well they’re trained, how well they’re equipped, the force protection means that they have, and that this budget continues to allocate the right amount of resources to ensure that the technology that we have available to our troops is the best in the world and that as it’s developed that we field it as quickly as possible.
GIFFORDS: And, General, I do see that we’re allocating — obviously, as Secretary Gates mentioned, there’s a lot of assessments, but if the counseling isn’t there and the resources aren’t there for the families — I participated in a Returning Warriors weekend program, funded by the VFW, a program for returning soldiers as they come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, that integrate the family, that integrates the kids, to make sure that the support is there.
GIFFORDS: And for members that have participated in the program, they say, “If I would have had this, my marriage probably would still be intact.”
Is funding available in this budget for programs like that? Or why are we looking for the VFW to be funding programs for soldiers that are going to be redeployed? I mean, these are necessary services, really important, really critical for families.
PACE: I don’t know if Ms. Jonas has the exact numbers, but I certainly agree with the philosophy, that we need to make sure that we pay attention to the needs of our families before they deploy, while they’re deployed, and then when they return, and we should fund that properly.
GATES: And we will have somebody get in touch with you and talk further about this, because it’s a concern to us.
GIFFORDS: Thank you.