Briefed lawmakers on a Pilot Shortage affecting all four of the services. This House Armed Services subcommittee hearing runs about an hour 1 2. And a half. Comes to order. I want to welcome everyone to the hear on the shortage of pilots in military services. Today well hear from the services on their progress towards increasing the retention of military pilots both officers and warrant officers. We know pilot demands are increasing in the commercial sector and the demand to hire qualified military pilot is this higher than the available pool of candidates. With the problem being particularly acute in the United States air force. With the deficit at one point of over 1,000 total pilots. We are here to hear from the Armed Services on their plan. We know we cannot buy our way out of the problem since the military does not compete with the potential salary and some cases of the lifestyle of commercial airlines. So we must make sure the services are using all the levers in their control. F
Test. Test. Test. Test. And weve talked im not going to put you on the spot, but the bottom line is there is a lawsuit that has an impact and not replacing something that has an impact on the training readiness and the policy, would that be correct, general peterson . It does, but were compensating with the extension of the legacy aircraft which was proven. Past years, sir. This i think Lieutenant General gross, one question that i have, the 35,000 bonus, it amazes me that anyone would question, after five years in service the officer or 11year person that is critical. When they go to the airline, five years later theyre probably at the airline making double what a u. S. Army major what a u. S. Air force major or a wo3 would be making at that point, would that be correct . The data we have right now is very quickly you will get to 160,000 a year so probably. I havent really done the math, but i think thats correct. Quite a bit and those folks thats not for the 20year guys. I know i mis
Have been occurring on a regular basis since Early September so i would like to thank you and i appreciate the time that you have invested in openly communicating with the staff on the house and the senate side of the committee on the implementation issues in the progress that you have been making on this implementation issues. In the va i hope it is a precedent for improving relationships as we go forward. The law provided Additional Resources and authorities to provide for the key improvements for veterans. Timely access to health care, expansion of the internal capacity and the indication of the benefits. Today i hope you will hear tangible ways that benefits. The veterans are getting the outcomes intended. If there are roadblocks to the implementation you need to know what they are and how it can be fixed on those roadblocks. With regards to timely access to health care i am aware that the department has expressed serious concerns with the 90 day deadline on the Choice Program. The
Please proceed with your testimony. Chairman miller, distinguished members of the committee, our goiding principles for implementation of the choice act have been to do whats right for veterans and to be good stewards of taxpayer resources. While our challenges are clear, were turning those challenges into opportunities to improve the care and service we provide to veterans. We are reorganizing v. A. For success to make sure we maximize those opportunities. We call that reorganization my v. A. , an associated Customer Service solution that goes along with it. Because we want veterans to view us as an organization that belongs to them. Providing quality care in the ways they need and the ways they want to be served. My v. A. Entails functions, operations, improving processes, leveraging technology and enhancing efficiency, increasing productivity and effectively implementing the choice act. A 360degree effort to provide veterans with a Seamless Integrated v. A. Regardless of how they co
So one of the, i think, test when the rubber hits the road here is what is the capacity in private secretarior to really absorb patients in a more timely way than we have been able to provide that care. Thank you. How is the v. A. Tracking the use of the 10 billion allocate had for the Choice Program . All of that will be accounted for separately under the Choice Program. This is actually a mechanism very similar to what we set up back in may for the accelerating Care Initiative where we were allocating specific amounts of funding out into the field. So we had already established a separate accounting clan to be able to track and record all of this information. So we will know exactly at any point in time whats been expended and insured that only been expended for those Choice Program activity. Great. Thank you. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Youre recognized for five minutes. [ inaudible ] you said that an ses employees cannot be fired for without what the chairman called a phanto