COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE HEARING
STATE CAPITOL MAIN BUILDING ROOM 140 HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016
PRESENTATION FROM DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS
BEFORE:
HONORABLE WILLIAM F. ADOLPH, JR., MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE JOSEPH MARKOSEK, MINORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE KAREN BOBACK HONORABLE GARY DAY HONORABLE GEORGE DUNBAR HONORABLE KEITH GREINER HONORABLE SETH GROVE HONORABLE SUE HELM HONORABLE WARREN KAMPF HONORABLE FRED KELLER HONORABLE TOM KILLION HONORABLE JIM MARSHALL HONORABLE DAVID R. MILLARD HONORABLE MARK T. MUSTIO HONORABLE MICHAEL PEIFER HONORABLE JEFFREY P. PYLE HONORABLE MARGUERITE QUINN HONORABLE CURTIS G. SONNEY HONORABLE MIKE VEREB
JEAN DAVIS REPORTING 285 EAST MANSION ROAD • HERSHEY, PA 17033 Phone (717)503-6568 1 BEFORE (cont.'d)
2 HONORABLE MATTHEW D. BRADFORD HONORABLE TIM BRIGGS 3 HONORABLE DONNA BULLOCK HONORABLE MARY JO DALEY 4 HONORABLE MARIA DONATUCCI HONORABLE JOHN GALLOWAY 5 HONORABLE STEPHEN KINSEY HONORABLE MICHAEL H. O'BRIEN 6 HONORABLE MARK ROZZI HONORABLE KEVIN SCHREIBER 7 HONORABLE PETER SCHWEYER
8 ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: 9 DAVID DONLEY, REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 10 RITCHIE LaFAVER, REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CURT SCHRODER, REPUBLICAN CHIEF COUNSEL 11 MIRIAM FOX, DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TARA TREES, DEMOCRATIC CHIEF COUNSEL 12 HONORABLE DOM COSTA HONORABLE CRIS DUSH 13 HONORABLE MARK GILLEN HONORABLE MAUREE GINGRICH 14 HONORABLE PAT HARKINS HONORABLE BARRY JOZWIAK 15 HONORABLE JOHN LAWRENCE HONORABLE DAVE MALONEY 16 HONORABLE JOE PETRARCA HONORABLE MIKE REGAN 17 HONORABLE RICK SACCONE HONORABLE CHRIS SAINATO 18 HONORABLE JUDY WARD
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20 JEAN M. DAVIS, REPORTER NOTARY PUBLIC 21
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2 1 I N D E X
2 TESTIFIERS
3 NAME PAGE 4 ANTHONY J. CARRELLI, BRIGADIER GENERAL, 4 5 ACTING DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL
6 MARK AUSTIN, DEPUTY, 12 BUREAU OF FACILITIES & ENGINEERING 7 JERRY BECK, RETIRED, BRIGADIER GENERAL, 14 8 DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL, VETERANS AFFAIRS
9 DEE McPHERSON, DEPUTY, 44 OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION 10
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3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S
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3 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
4 If I could have everyone's attention. Thank you
5 very much.
6 I'd like to reconvene the House Appropriations
7 Committee Budget Hearings for the Fiscal Year '16-'17.
8 The next testifiers are with the Department of
9 Military and Veterans Affairs.
10 Gentlemen, lady, I want to first thank all of
11 you, all the brave men and women, involved in your
12 Department that have served this country and State. We
13 certainly appreciate everything that you do.
14 Sorry for the delay. But these hearings
15 sometimes run a little longer than we expect.
16 I will first turn the mike over to you, sir.
17 And you can identify yourself and the lady and gentlemen
18 that are with you at the table.
19 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Thank you, Mr.
20 Chairman and Committee.
21 My name is Brigadier General Tony Carrelli. And
22 I'm the Acting Adjutant General of Pennsylvania.
23 The staff that I have here with me today,
24 starting on my far left, Brigadier General Tim Hilty.
25 He's the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania
------4 ------1 Army National Guard. To my immediate left, Ms. Dee
2 McPherson, she's our Deputy for the Office of
3 Administration; to my immediate right, Brigadier
4 General, retired, Jerry Beck, our Deputy for Veterans
5 Affairs; and to his right, Mr. Mark Austin, our Deputy
6 for Facilities and Engineering.
7 In the interest of time, I'll just abbreviate my
8 statement so that we can get to the questions. I'll
9 just read you the brief introduction.
10 The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs'
11 Fiscal Year '16-'17 budget will help build a stronger
12 Pennsylvania by providing vital State support for our
13 Pennsylvania National Guard and our Veterans' programs.
14 I believe our budget enables the Department to
15 advance on several fronts and continue to provide the
16 high level of services our veterans expect and deserve.
17 DMVA has two missions. With regard to Veterans
18 Affairs, DMVA oversees and manages the programs to
19 provide for benefits and assistance to an estimated
20 nearly 917,000 veterans in Pennsylvania.
21 The Pennsylvania National Guard trains and
22 conducts domestic operations under the command and
23 control of the Adjutant General and the Department when
24 it is not in active Federal service.
25 The Pennsylvania National Guard is the only
------5 ------1 military force shared by the State and Federal
2 Governments. In both of these missions, the DMVA works
3 in close partnership with the Federal Government,
4 including the Department of Defense and the U.S.
5 Department of Veterans Affairs, to carry out its dual
6 mission for the Commonwealth and the nation.
7 DMVA is one of Pennsylvania's top ten employers
8 with approximately 2,700 Commonwealth employees and
9 20,000 National Guard members/Federal employees in more
10 than 90 communities statewide.
11 The Governor's executive budget proposes a state
12 budget of $443 million of which only $149 million are
13 state appropriated.
14 I'd like to thank the Committee for the
15 opportunity to present this written report on the fiscal
16 and operational issues affecting the DMVA. As a result
17 of the commitment of Governor Wolf and his
18 Administration, our Agency faces the challenges of the
19 future with the confidence that we can prevail.
20 We can help build a stronger Pennsylvania for
21 our veterans to prosper and the Pennsylvania National
22 Guard to maintain its force structure and capabilities.
23 Ultimately, we are humbled by the opportunity to
24 work with and serve heroes, including our veterans and
25 those who serve in our Pennsylvania National Guard.
6 1 We look forward to your questions.
2 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you very much,
3 General, for your comments.
4 Chairman Markosek for some welcoming comments as
5 well.
6 MINORITY CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Thank you very
7 much, Chairman.
8 General, lady, and gentlemen, thank you for
9 attending today.
10 I want to echo the Chairman's thoughts, really
11 thanking you for your service and thanking all of the
12 veterans, about a million veterans, I guess, in
13 Pennsylvania that we have. We can't thank them enough.
14 Publicly, I want to say that and welcome you here today.
15 We look forward to your testimony.
16 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Thank you, sir.
17 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: General, as is the
18 custom, Chairman Markosek and I, we invite the Chairmen
19 of the standing House Committees. And today we have the
20 Democratic Chair of the Military Affairs Committee,
21 Representative Chris Sainato.
22 Unfortunately, Representative Steve Barrar could
23 not make it. But well in advance, I received a letter
24 from Chairman Barrar on January 14th explaining to us
25 his disappointment that he could not be here and that
------7 ------1 he's looking forward to working with you.
2 He also asked if it would be permissible for the
3 subcommittee of the standing committee to ask a couple
4 of questions that Representative Barrar wanted to ask.
5 Being a very nice person, I agreed to that.
6 And I thank Chairman Markosek as well.
7 So I'd like to introduce, for the first time at
8 an Appropriations hearing, as a questioner, Subcommittee
9 Chair Rick Saccone.
10 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: Thank you, Mr.
11 Chairman.
12 And thank you, General Carrelli, for all of your
13 testimony and for all of your service of you and your
14 staff here, both current and past.
15 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Thank you.
16 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: I'm really proud of our
17 Pennsylvania Guard. I think Pennsylvanians don't
18 realize how important you are and the services that you
19 provide for our State and our country. So thank you for
20 that.
21 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Thank you.
22 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: With that, I just want
23 to ask this one question. If you can give us an
24 assessment of the current status of our military
25 facilities and the infrastructure as it relates to BRAC.
------8 ------1 That's always a concern almost every year for us. And
2 if you could also speak to the health of our veterans'
3 homes, which I think it's vital that we take care of our
4 veterans. There's many more veterans in need than we
5 can actually take care of.
6 But if you could give us an update on those
7 facilities, too, it would be appreciated.
8 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
9 And I will tell you I just got back from a
10 meeting of all the Adjutant Generals within the country.
11 We also got to discuss with some of the senior leaders
12 of the Army and the Air Force a lot of the current
13 issues that we're dealing with.
14 Of course, force structure and the way ahead on
15 force structure and BRAC, we're part of the
16 conversations. And from what we were briefed, basically
17 there does not -- the Department of Defense is still
18 looking to BRAC. They're saying — the Department of
19 the Army themselves are saying that they have 20 to 30
20 percent excess facility structuring. So they, of
21 course, are looking forward to doing a BRAC.
22 And as you well know, it seems like every
23 defense budget time, they've proposed that as a proposal
24 to help them cut costs.
25 Of course, the temperature right now in the U.S.
------9 ------1 Congress is not to have a BRAC at all.
2 I will tell you we also pushed back on their
3 assessment. Even though they feel that the active duty
4 has a 20 to 30 percent excess in facilities, the Guard,
5 we have proposed a Readiness Center transformation
6 master plan, which identifies the Guard being way under
7 the amount of square footage that we need to conduct our
8 training.
9 So in any BRAC discussion, we are inputting that
10 information in that, yes, there may be an excess of
11 facilities in the active duty but there is a shortage in
12 the National Guard.
13 This master plan is an aggressive plan really
14 for the National Guard as a catch-up for military
15 construction that we have not seen and has been needed
16 dearly over the last decade, decade and a half. It is
17 an aggressive plan originally proposed to be about $28
18 billion over a 15-year period.
19 Pennsylvania's contribution to that plan, our
20 piece of that plan, is about $629 million. So we feel
21 that's an essential measure for us to move forward. And
22 we have been working, of course, with our own
23 Congressman Dent, who obviously knows the issues at Fort
24 Indiantown Gap very well and his experience on the
25 Military Construction Committee. We have worked with
------1 0 ------1 his office and his staff. But there are a number of
2 Adjutant Generals and, of course, all of the
3 associations. And the NGAUS fully support this
4 Readiness Center transformation master plan.
5 So we do think i t 's vital. We do need that. We
6 do have — and I will say — and I'll be asking Mark
7 Austin, our Facilities Deputy, to comment. But we have
8 had success in the last decade and a half in doing a
9 large number of renovations. We are by no means meeting
10 our needs. I mean, we still have some that have to be
11 done.
12 So in that aspect I do think the military
13 construction is needed. It's mostly a Federal-type
14 priority, of course, of which there will be a State
15 share to that.
16 But I see the biggest movement right now is to
17 get that Federal support that we need. And that, of
18 course, would bring a State share bill.
19 Actually, the transformation master plan does
20 not come with a State share. That $62 9 million is all
21 Federal. The only State responsibility in that would be
22 in places where we're actually looking to expand in our
23 facilities. If we needed more property, that would be a
24 State responsibility. But other than that, that whole
25 $62 9 million would not require a State match.
------1 1------1 I'll let Mark, Mr. Austin, first comment on that
2 before we move to the veterans homes.
3 DEPUTY AUSTIN: Just to elaborate on what
4 General Carrelli mentioned. The Army is pretty good at
5 measuring how many facilities they have, how many square
6 feet they have. They have a baseline based on what type
7 of unit you have. If it's for two units, you're
8 supposed to get 300,000 square feet, something like
9 that.
10 What the study determined is we're about a half
11 million square feet short, a deficit, in the space we
12 need. Our Readiness Centers, what we called armories,
13 we have about 3 million square feet of Readiness Centers
14 across the State. We need another half million dollars
15 to match the equation that the Army applies to measuring
16 facilities.
17 Do you want to speak on the VA homes?
18 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes. Briefly I'd
19 like to just frame the VA homes.
20 You will notice there is increased funding in
21 this year's budget for our veterans programs. And
22 you'll see, I think, it's about $13 million. And of
23 that, about seven and a half million is cost to carry
24 from our different programs. It also includes a rate
25 increase that we have in our workmen's comp, which
------12 ------1 almost came to $1 million.
2 The remainder of the 13 is the Veterans' Homes
3 Renovation Plan and our five-year plan, which is a plan
4 to continually try to replace equipment as it becomes -
5 as it gets older. So that increase is in our plan.
6 And then I'll let Mark -- or Mr. Austin and
7 General Beck give you further details about homes.
8 But we've been undergoing a number of
9 renovations through the last couple of years. I know
10 that you've seen those. And w e 've had to change our
11 care. We've had to close some beds in certain areas and
12 move some of those to other areas so that we can
13 complete those renovations. But those have been
14 ongoing.
15 I'll let General Beck hit that first.
16 DEPUTY AUSTIN: But first, I can tell you what
17 has been done. There's six veterans homes across the
18 state. And over the last five years, they've seen
19 numerous infrastructure renovations. They had sprinkler
20 systems installed in all the homes. The emergency
21 generators are currently being installed in all the
22 homes. And I know there's electronic security systems
23 that were recently installed in all the homes.
24 It's a combination of both State, capital funds,
25 and some Federal grants.
------1 3 ------1 Over the next five years, there's an aggressive
2 plan to renovate all the bed spaces. The two homes that
3 are under design right now are Gino Merli and Delaware
4 Valley. And then the other homes are going to fall in
5 the subsequent years.
6 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: I will tell you
7 the good news on the changes -- you know, we've taken
8 the Personal Care Unit out of the Pittsburgh home so
9 that we can add 32 additional skilled nursing beds. We
10 found that our waiting list is much longer for skilled
11 nursing than it is for the personal care. And it's
12 really the skilled nursing veterans that need the most
13 support and the most assistance.
14 So by closing that, as we did the renovations,
15 we moved those folks to Erie and to Hollidaysburg so
16 that we'd have more skilled nursing beds.
17 As it stands right now, across the six homes, we
18 have 131 veterans on the waiting list and 132
19 non-veterans on our waiting list, with our Hollidaysburg
20 home having no one on the waiting list.
21 We constantly tell those veterans that are on
22 our waiting list that they can come to Hollidaysburg and
23 we'll move them to the home of choice whenever a vacancy
24 becomes available. But that doesn't happen very often
25 that somebody wants to do that.
------14 ------1 So the actual waiting time, three to six months
2 it takes for a veteran to get into the home, much longer
3 than that for our non-veterans because our non-veterans
4 don't get moved as much because we have to keep the
5 percentage low for the non-veterans since we don't get
6 reimbursement from VA for non-veterans.
7 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: Thank you very much.
8 And thank you, Chairman, for letting me ask
9 those questions.
10 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
11 Representative.
12 Chairman Chris Sainato.
13 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thank you, Mr.
14 Chairman.
15 Thank you, General. I thank all of you. I echo
16 Chairman Adolph and Chairman Markosek's remarks. We
17 thank you for your service.
18 As Democratic Chair of the House Veterans
19 Affairs Emergency Preparedness Committee, I also would
20 like to thank you on behalf of myself and Chairman
21 Barrar, I mean, for the very good relationship our
22 Committee has had working with you and your staff for
23 the past five years that we've had an opportunity. I
24 think it's so important. I know that Pennsylvania is
25 one of the top states when it comes to National Guard,
------1 5------1 especially with the deployments.
2 We've had an opportunity with our Committee to
3 see the State and see the great work that is being done,
4 especially at Fort Indiantown Gap and the fueling
5 station up in Pittsburgh.
6 With that comment, could you give us an update
7 on the National Guard deployments?
8 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
9 The National Guard obviously was way -- our
10 (inaudible) was pretty significant over the last decade
11 and a half. As we saw pulling more and more forces out
12 of Iraq and Afghanistan, that seemed to wane. So it
13 seemed like we were on our way down for quite a while.
14 I will tell you as of last year and now for this
15 year, there seems to be another upswing. So the
16 (inaudible) is increasing a lot more.
17 Last year on the Army side we had approximately
18 up to about 150 soldiers deployed total for the year.
19 On the Air side we had about 1,600. This year coming up
20 we expect over 500 on the Army side and probably at
21 least to match what we did on the Air side.
22 Some of our most stressed career fields -- you
23 mentioned the refueling station up in Pittsburgh. Air
24 refueling professionals throughout the Air Force is one
25 of the most deployed functions out in the Air Force.
------16 ------1 And I will tell you the Pennsylvania Guard
2 probably contributed the most of any Guard Unit to the
3 refueling mission out overseas this past year. They
4 held the bulk of those deployments.
5 And, of course, our Pittsburgh Unit is a double
6 squadron. So we have 16 aircrafts, where most of the
7 other 19 units throughout the Guard only have usually
8 eight or ten aircrafts. So we carried the bulk of that
9 this year.
10 And for a number of months through the fall all
11 the way through Christmas into February, we had a couple
12 hundred airmen deployed overseas at any one time.
13 We tried to remain on about a one-to-five
14 deployment schedule. So for every year you spent
15 deployed, you'd get five years off, you know, for a
16 guardsman. That has been the objective since the wars
17 came down. We set that number for the guardsmen to be
18 able to manage their own civilian jobs with their time
19 and, of course, time with their family as well.
20 Right now in our air refueling community, we're
21 at 1 to 3.5. So it is a very stressed career field.
22 And we have a number of those throughout.
23 So I would say our deployment tempo is on an
24 upswing. We are getting busier and busier as time goes
25 on. And we're getting notices for mobilizations at a
------1 7------1 greater rate than we used to.
2 So what I will also say is you will see a lot of
3 other support, Federal support, in the European theatre
4 as well. The mobilizations mostly are going out to
5 southwest Asia. But there is a great interest in
6 showing our European allies assurance. And we have been
7 sending a great number of guardsmen out into the
8 European theatres, which we are doing a lot again this
9 spring as well.
10 Those don't count as mobilizations. But, of
11 course, our guardsmen are on Title 10. They're on
12 Federal orders and they're away from their families and
13 they're away from their civilian jobs just as much.
14 So I think we have hit bottom. I think a year
15 and a half to two years ago was bottom. And we're on
16 our way up aggressively again.
17 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thanks, General.
18 I know that, you know, Pennsylvania -- are we
19 still No. 1 when it comes to the National Guard as far
20 as troops?
21 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: The size, we are
22 the third largest National Guard in the country. We
23 also happen to have the fourth largest veterans
24 population. So when you talk about our department
25 numbers, we are leading the country in most categories.
------1 8 ------1 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: That's what I thought.
2 I remember we were one or two. We're always fluctuating
3 when you look at our veterans.
4 I know in my area, especially in Western
5 Pennsylvania, we have one of the highest number of
6 veterans that are out there.
7 I think Representative Saccone's questions about
8 the hospitals and everything, I think that's very vital
9 and important.
10 Just one last comment and a question on it. I
11 mean, the refueling wing, our Committee had an
12 opportunity to see that three years ago. And I'm going
13 to tell you it's amazing to see what they do. And once
14 you go up and see the operation, our hats go off to the
15 men and women who preform those duties. I mean, it's
16 the most critical duty, especially when you're halfway
17 across the ocean and getting refueled. If they don't do
18 that duty, there's no other options.
19 It's just amazing what's being done there. And
20 with that statement, it's so critical that that unit
21 stay in Pittsburgh. And we, as a committee, strongly
22 support that. And I'm sure most of the members of the
23 Legislature do.
24 Just any efforts that you need from us to
25 continue that operation in Pittsburgh, please contact me
------1 9------1 or Chairman Barrar because, I mean, that's just a
2 critical, critical aspect of, you know, public safety
3 and safety for our troops.
4 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
5 And I think the 171st — as I said, there's 19
6 National Guard KC-135 Units, which is the aircraft they
7 fly, the air refueling aircraft. They are certainly the
8 biggest and the most used of all. And, of course,
9 they're the best.
10 There has been talk about the new tanker, the
11 KC-46, which we are a candidate base. Pittsburgh is
12 still a candidate base for the KC-4 6. We're down to
13 four candidate bases left. And the site selections will
14 take place probably in another four years because the
15 basing is out in the 2024-'25-'26 time frame.
16 And so they're going to pick three more Guard
17 bases. There's four on the candidate list. And we're
18 one of those. And we feel that we have a great shot
19 because we feel we lead all of the categories. We're in
20 a great place in the country geographically, within all
21 the populations centers of the Northeast. We're a great
22 jumping-off point overseas to Europe, which a great
23 number of missions are. And we're on a great airport.
24 We have an agreement with the Airport Authority
25 where we, as the Guard, use all of the airport
------2 0 ------1 facilities for somewhere between one hundred twenty and
2 one hundred thirty thousand dollars a year. That's
3 runway. That's the navigation aids. That's the
4 security. That's snowplowing. That's all of the
5 construction on the airport.
6 So that is just a great deal for the Air Force
7 to have us in that situation. And, of course, if you've
8 been following along in the proposed budget, the Federal
9 budget that's coming out now, they are proposing the
10 sister wing, the reserve wing, there in Pittsburgh, the
11 911th Airlift Wing is to get C-17s, which is a
12 larger-sized strategic airlift.
13 So that's a great jewel for the Pittsburgh area
14 for that. And that will really make Pittsburgh a
15 mobility hub in the future. So if they're able to stay
16 with the C-17 and we're able to move in with the KC-4 6,
17 that Pittsburgh area will become a major mobility hub
18 for the United States Air Force.
19 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thank you, General.
20 And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
21 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, Chairman
22 Sainato.
23 Representative Karen Boback.
24 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
25 My question has several components. So I will
------2 1 ------1 ask all of them and feel free to answer accordingly.
2 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
3 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: It has to do with the
4 Cyber Force Structure. So can you explain how the
5 Pennsylvania National Guard is prepared to assist the
6 Commonwealth in another high-tech mission such as a
7 cyber attack event? What kind of funding and personnel
8 do you need or do you have dedicated to this mission?
9 And given the threat of foreign and domestic cyber
10 threats, please describe the Guard's Cyber Force
11 Structure and is there a possibility of more staff and
12 facilities being located in Pennsylvania for training
13 with additional missions?
14 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Okay, ma'am.
15 First let me start by saying there is a big
16 transition right now going on in the military. We have
17 -- if you rollback a decade or two decades ago, we were
18 much more involved. When we talked about communications
19 or cyber, we were much more in the Army signal based and
20 on in the Air Force communications based, meaning that
21 we set up our own servers and our networks to be able to
22 use. And we would harden those so that we would never
23 be denied use of those attacks.
24 Of course, with the evolving cyber threat over
25 the last decade, we are now transitioning to the point
------22 ------1 where we need to move a lot of our force away from the
2 structural and base integrity as far as maintaining
3 these networks and actually get out to where we had
4 cyber defenders. And then, of course, in the Federal
5 sense, we also would only have an offensive force as
6 well.
7 This transition in the military is late to need.
8 I mean, the cyber threat is out there. It's real.
9 Talking with General Hyten, who is the Air Force Space
10 Commander -- I was at a conference with him about a year
11 ago. And he said, right now in the Air Force, about 80
12 percent of our force structure is postured into base
13 communications. And we're only doing about 20 percent
14 working in cyber.
15 He wants to flip that upside down. He wants to
16 transition our force where we may be through contracting
17 -- we may be in the military contracting out our e-mail
18 services, contracting out our Internet services, and our
19 storage. And then using the actual force that we have
20 to do cyber, offensive and defensive.
21 So the military is caught in this big transition
22 right now where we're trying to get out of doing the
23 maintenance of our own communications and get out there
24 and be offensive and defensive in cyber.
25 So specifically in Pennsylvania, we have been
------23 ------1 trying. We have been putting proposals forward for a
2 number of years now to get one of these transitioning
3 cyber units.
4 In the Army, we have a number of Communication
5 Units at the Gap. We have built kind of our own. We
6 have taken manning away from some other things to build
7 a Commonwealth-type cyber entity that we have been
8 working and trying to work with State Government, a lot
9 of industry within Pennsylvania, and a lot of the
10 academia among Pennsylvania.
11 We've had a number of meetings over the past
12 year trying to get all of those stakeholders involved so
13 that we can come up with a Commonwealth cyber plan.
14 Now, we have also been successful on the Air
15 Force side to getting an actual cyber operations
16 squadron. And on the 1st of April out in your Air Guard
17 Station in Horsham, we are standing up the
18 Commonwealth's first actual cyber squadron. And that's
19 a 71-person squadron, which will include a cyber
20 protection team, which are these teams that we're
21 talking about doing the response to.
22 So that will be Pennsylvania's first major
23 capability in the cyber area. We have also proposed to
24 have the Army teams as well. And we have been working
25 with the Army Guard and with the Department of the Army
------2 4 ------1 to try to get an Army team in Pennsylvania as well
2 because of our size.
3 I will tell you the determination nationwide —
4 because every Governor and every state is screaming for
5 cyber capability. Originally, they were just trying to
6 put cyber capability in each of the regions. And now
7 they're trying to spread cyber capability into each
8 state.
9 So I feel we have a solid plan in order to
10 garner an Army team as well. But I think our holdup is
11 there's so many other states that have no cyber
12 capability. Some of those cyber units have been
13 allocated to other states so far.
14 But we are still trying to keep -- you know,
15 we're not satisfied with just the one team that we're
16 getting. But that does stand up in April. And they
17 will be fully operational in, you know, 18 to 24 months
18 after that.
19 So we will integrate that team in all the state
20 planning with all the state partners. And I will tell
21 you, a great resource that we have been working with is
22 local universities. A lot of the resident cyber
23 knowledge is in our universities right now. So they are
24 working with us as a partner to help us set up our cyber
25 program. We're using them to help educate our airmen
------2 5 ------1 and our soldiers to help us get better at cyber.
2 And then we're hoping to, with some of the
3 recruiting money that we get from committees like this,
4 grab some of those people out of the university and make
5 them the guardsmen.
6 We think this whole government-type approach
7 where we use Local Government, State Government, and a
8 lot of industry as well as our academia combined will be
9 the way to crack this nut here in the future.
10 Funding and personnel, I think I covered that as
11 well. So that's where we are now. We are still taking
12 some people out of (inaudible) for the team that we
13 built here at the State headquarters as well. The cyber
14 force structuring and stationing plan again is mostly
15 Federal. But we are trying to double up in
16 Pennsylvania. We want another Army team.
17 We are also looking at getting possibly another
18 Air team. As you can imagine, once the set costs are
19 done, to get a cyber facility, to have the secured
20 location, to have the communication lines that we need,
21 it's millions of dollars to get that bill.
22 Now that we have that built, to put another
23 squadron just in the same building is really a minimal,
24 minimal cost versus standing one up in some other area.
25 So we're pushing hard. We're going to try to
------26 ------1 double and triple up our capability. I mean, when you
2 look at our size, when you look at the size of industry
3 and the number of people that live in the Northeast, we
4 think it's sorely needed. So we're going to continue to
5 push for that.
6 I don't know if that answers all three of your
7 questions.
8 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: More than answered.
9 Thank you. I like your style, General. I'm
10 glad you're at the helm. I feel much safer.
11 Thank you.
12 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Thank you, ma'am.
13 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
14 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
15 Representative.
16 Representative Schweyer.
17 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: Thank you, Mr.
18 Chairman.
19 General, folks, on behalf of all of my
20 colleagues on the Veterans Affairs Committee, I'd like
21 to especially thank you and your staff for having
22 developed such a good working relationship with not only
23 the Democratic staff but the Republican staff.
24 I echo Chairman Sainato's comments about our
25 ability to work well together. It really is, of all of
------2 7 ------1 my six committees that I serve on, really one of the
2 most -- one of the best working relationships I have
3 with any department. And so credit to you and credit to
4 all of your staff.
5 And that's just more than just simply getting
6 information, but actually developing policies as we move
7 forward to help Pennsylvania and specifically our
8 veterans population. That's been my experience. So
9 thank you for that.
10 I was going through, with great interest, your
11 budget because I not only serve on that committee, but
12 I've a deep concern for our veterans population,
13 particularly with regard to PTSD and suicide rates.
14 My father was a Vietnam vet who, although
15 undiagnosed, certainly suffered from PTSD from the
16 service in Vietnam. And because he was undiagnosed, he
17 was untreated. He passed away in 2001.
18 And so many of our veterans are suffering from
19 PTSD and other related and similar conditions. I'm not
20 telling you anything you don't know. I'm not telling
21 the public anything they don't know.
22 When I look through your budget, I'm trying to
23 find a specific line item or series of line items that
24 goes directly to the case of our ability to work with
25 veterans and third-party organizations that may be not
------2 8 ------1 necessarily part of the veterans system but are experts
2 in either PTSD or specifically suicide prevention.
3 So could you point out some parts in here where
4 we talk about those two things?
5 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Sure. And I'll
6 hand this off to General Beck.
7 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: Thank you.
8 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Because you're not
9 going to see an actual line item that just says that.
10 It's actually incorporated in other programs that we do.
11 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: Okay. Thank you.
12 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Almost everything
13 we do with suicide prevention and PTSD is done in
14 collaboration with using somebody else's money. I have
15 no money that is allocated to me to do that.
16 We used our Veterans Trust Fund to give out
17 about $450,000 this year to support those non-profit
18 organizations that are doing things that support PTSD
19 programs and suicide programs.
20 We work very closely with OMSAS out of DHS in
21 setting up programs that are for suicide awareness and
22 suicide assistance for our veterans. And this also ties
23 in with the National Guard program and their family
24 programs as well so that all of those people can
25 collaborate together and we can use the monies that are
------29 ------1 available to support those programs.
2 So when you look through the budget, you
3 wouldn't see that. But there is a lot of action going
4 on on the outside to make sure those programs are put
5 into place.
6 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: And when I look
7 through your budget — so thank you for that, General.
8 You're talking about the competitive
9 organizational grant grants?
10 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Correct.
11 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: And we're talking all
12 of $450,000 in that —
13 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Correct.
14 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: — of not Commonwealth
15 money but acquired through other means. And that's not
16 just PTSD and that's not just suicide prevention,
17 correct?
18 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Correct.
19 REPRESENTATIVE SCHWEYER: So we need to figure
20 out a better way to -- or a way to provide you with some
21 real resources that may be -- which is, I would say, our
22 responsibility to do so that we can better deliver those
23 services. And that's not necessarily on you any more
24 than it's on me or any other member of this Committee or
25 this General Assembly.
------3 0 ------1 So I appreciate that. I don't think — I think
2 for all the attention that we give PTSD and suicide -
3 and frankly a lot of lip service that, you know, I'll
4 say as a -- and I'm taking this as a responsibility on
5 us. We've passed resolutions and those sorts of things
6 talking about veteran suicide and the need to partner
7 and those sorts of things. But in terms of hard
8 dollars, we don't allocate much.
9 And so your staff knows that. And I've been in
10 communication with your staff to try to address that.
11 And I hope that next year when we see your budget, we're
12 going to have a specific line item in there.
13 So I appreciate all of your work and all of your
14 service to our veterans and to our Commonwealth. Thank
15 you very much.
16 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
17 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
18 Representative.
19 Representative Sue Helm.
20 REPRESENTATIVE HELM: Thank you.
21 Thank you and welcome. Speaking of your general
22 government operations appropriation, additional funding
23 was provided in prior years to enhance security at Fort
24 Indiantown Gap. Since installations are targets for
25 terrorist activities, what preparative measures have
------3 1 ------1 been put in place? And is there sufficient funding to
2 safeguard our facilities? And please explain the
3 security issues confronting Fort Indiantown Gap to
4 protect soldiers and civilians there. And could you
5 tell me how many soldiers train at Indiantown Gap every
6 year?
7 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
8 I will tell you we take security very seriously.
9 And over this past year, we've had that shooting out in
10 Chattanooga, Tennessee, at the recruiting center.
11 At that point, we had pulled our recruiters out
12 of our public sites as we do a study and look at the
13 concerns for our security.
14 Fort Indiantown Gap, we have done a number of
15 measures. I'll let Mr. Austin go into some of the
16 details on those for things that we have put in place.
17 I will also tell you we work very closely with
18 the Department of the Army. Security of our military
19 installations, particularly in our Guard sites -
20 because most of the active duty installations are behind
21 fenced walls and they have active security. Most of our
22 Guard installations do not.
23 Our reserve centers throughout the Commonwealth,
24 you can usually walk right up to the buildings.
25 Now, we have done a lot of security measures to
------32 ------1 harden those buildings and make them more difficult.
2 Some of the exact details of some of our security
3 posturing, I would rather not get into in a public
4 forum. I can certainly provide you any information that
5 you need for that.
6 I will say Fort Indiantown Gap -- you mentioned
7 by name -- we have a measure in place that we've been
8 working with the Department of the Army through the
9 Guard Bureau, which would do a major security project
10 for Fort Indiantown Gap.
11 Last I heard, about two weeks ago they were very
12 optimistic that it may make this year's defense budget.
13 It's about a $22 million project to work on the Gap. So
14 we've been doing measures on our own over the last few
15 years. I think that would go a long way.
16 During our peak training season, we can have as
17 many as 10,000 soldiers at the Gap just for training on
18 any one single day.
19 So when you compare the openness of Fort
20 Indiantown Gap to all of the other installations within
21 the Commonwealth, there certainly is a need there. So
22 we have been pressing that. We have been working that
23 hard. And I think we have a Federal solution to that.
24 And I believe that $22 million does not come with a
25 State share.
------3 3 ------1 So we are optimistic that we will have that in
2 place. And that will make a major change at Fort
3 Indiantown Gap because it is the largest Guard training
4 center in the country at the Gap.
5 We need to do more to make sure our soldiers and
6 those that come there to train have a secure environment
7 to do that.
8 I'll let Mr. Austin talk about some of the
9 measures that we've taken locally over the last few
10 years.
11 DEPUTY AUSTIN: Over the last five years we've
12 secured some of the separate areas within Fort
13 Indiantown Gap. Our headquarters building is surrounded
14 by not a fence, but a guardrail, and there's a gate that
15 has security guards where people have to check their IDs
16 to go in.
17 That's kind of the situation we have for
18 different little pockets of where the larger working
19 population works at Fort Indiantown Gap.
20 Not everything is protected. A lot of the
21 facilities are only there on a temporary basis, even
22 though they've been there for 50 years, but they're only
23 used a couple times out of the year. But for the most
24 part, the large money that we are expecting is in the
25 next year.
------3 4 ------1 Outside of that, we increased security, I think,
2 three or four security guards — not security guards.
3 Police officers have been appropriated through the State
4 funds. And we have an additional workforce, police
5 force.
6 REPRESENTATIVE HELM: Thank you.
7 As you know with the redistricting, I now have
8 part of the Gap in the 104th District. So I'm always
9 interested in knowing what's going on out there. So
10 thank you.
11 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
12 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
13 Representative.
14 Representative Daley.
15 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
16 And thank you all for being here, for your
17 service, and the service that you provide to our
18 veterans.
19 I just want to tell you really quickly that we
20 do a veterans trip every other year. And last fall we
21 went out to Fort Indiantown Gap. And I cannot tell you
22 how those veterans enjoyed that visit, especially the
23 museum that is set up with, you know, some of the old
24 equipment, the kitchen equipment, and other kinds of
25 equipment. They just raved about it. A number of them
------3 5 ------1 had served there. I heard a lot of good stories on the
2 way home.
3 So thank you so much.
4 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
5 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: So we're all familiar
6 with the struggles that a lot of the post-911 veterans
7 face when they return home from serving abroad.
8 I would just like to focus and hone in on the
9 women who have served. Staff provided me with numbers
10 that show a historic number of females returning over
11 the last decade, so more than 230,000, from Iraq and
12 Afghanistan.
13 What initiatives do you have to reach out to
14 these women veterans to help them transition to civilian
15 life so that they have the appropriate support that they
16 might need?
17 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
18 I'll let General Beck talk about the women's
19 symposium that we've had.
20 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: First of all,
21 about 8 percent of our veterans are women veterans.
22 When we held our annual veterans symposium -- two years
23 ago, we started with just a women's veterans symposium.
24 And we've now combined that to a veterans symposium.
25 And we break it out so that there are women's issues, so
------36 ------1 that women veterans can attend. And the male veterans
2 have their issues as well.
3 Right now one of our county directors of
4 Veterans Affairs from Monroe County is acting as our
5 women's veterans coordinator actually for the county
6 directors, but we utilize her to assist us in any of the
7 programs that come up that will assist women veterans.
8 One of the members of our outreach staff that
9 goes out in the vans to outreach to our veterans that
10 are looking for what benefits they have coming to them
11 is also female so that she can meet with female veterans
12 as we're going out throughout the Commonwealth.
13 As it stands right now, that is all that I have
14 that supports the women veterans programs, other than
15 the enormous benefits and services that all veterans
16 have that our office supports.
17 But that's the only thing that's separate.
18 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Did you say that was an
19 annual symposium that you hold?
20 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Yes. It's been
21 the last years. There is not one this year. The
22 attendance last year was very light.
23 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Okay.
24 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: So we determined
25 that we might want to do this every other year as
------3 7 ------1 opposed to every year. So there will not be one this
2 year. But the following year there will be another
3 symposium.
4 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: And where have you held
5 them?
6 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: The first year was
7 in Gettysburg. The year before that was Pittsburgh.
8 And last year it was right at Fort Indiantown Gap.
9 REPRESENTATIVE DALEY: Okay. Thank you so much
10 for your answers.
11 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
12 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
13 Representative.
14 Representative Tom Killion.
15 REPRESENTATIVE KILLION: Thank you, Mr.
16 Chairman.
17 Good afternoon and great to see you. You know,
18 we all know we owe a great debt to all our veterans.
19 And over the years, the past couple of years, we've seen
20 the mistreatment at the Federal level, the Federal level
21 at the VA hospitals.
22 I'm just curious. What protocols do you have in
23 place to make sure that our veterans are getting the
24 utmost care in our veterans homes?
25 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
------3 8 ------1 First, I'd like to say, you know, when you look
2 at our budget, the State appropriation piece of that is
3 $14 9 million. Over 111 of that goes directly to our
4 veterans and their veterans programs. So it is very
5 much a priority of this Department to look out for the
6 veterans.
7 I know over the past few years, with the
8 problems that have been going on in the Federal VA, a
9 lot of that has been laid on us because of the public
10 perception. They don't know the difference between the
11 Federal and the State VA.
12 So some of it has just been a PR campaign. I
13 mean, we have solid, great veterans programs here in the
14 Commonwealth. We get great support from the Legislature
15 for those programs. But a lot of it has been just kind
16 of a PR campaign to separate us from some of those
17 problems that we've seen in the Federal system.
18 I'll let General Beck expound some on what we're
19 doing.
20 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: In regard to the
21 veterans homes, we receive inspections throughout the
22 year, annual inspections, by the Department of Health,
23 annual inspections by the Department of Human Services,
24 for the homes that have PC, personal care, veterans in
25 them, and annual inspections from the Department of
------3 9 ------1 Veterans Affairs.
2 As we're going through this now, we're adding
3 beds and changing some beds around to add skilled
4 nursing that requires the VA to come in again and do
5 additional inspections to certify that we're prepared to
6 take in those veterans.
7 As it stands right now with those inspections
8 that go on, five out of six of our homes are running on
9 a regular license. One, however, is not. And that is
10 our Gino Merli home in Scranton that is running on a
11 provisional license because of prior inspections by the
12 Department of Health.
13 As of about three weeks ago, the Department of
14 Veterans Affairs came to Gino Merli for their annual.
15 And they received a no-deficiency inspection. So they
16 are well on their way to getting things back in order so
17 that we can get the provisional license removed from
18 there.
19 As it stands throughout our veterans home
20 system, there's great quality care being done for all of
21 our veterans at great savings to the veterans that come
22 into the homes as well as their spouses.
23 REPRESENTATIVE KILLION: Thank you. And I
24 appreciate that. And I do know you're doing a good job.
25 I've been in office now 12 years. And I have
------40 ------1 never had a complaint of a veteran at our State nursing
2 homes. And I encourage you to keep up the good work and
3 separate yourself from what's happening at the Federal
4 level.
5 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Let's move all of
6 our homes to your District.
7 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: And, sir, I will
8 also add to that. We do customer satisfaction surveys
9 in the homes. And we have a 94 percent satisfaction
10 rate in your VA homes.
11 REPRESENTATIVE KILLION: Thank you.
12 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
13 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
14 Representative.
15 Representative Bullock.
16 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: Thank you, Chairman.
17 Good afternoon, gentlemen.
18 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
19 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: How has the role of
20 women in the Pennsylvania National Guard evolved over
21 the years? Did the recent Federal National Defense
22 Authorization Act affect it in any way?
23 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
24 Of course, the December announcement from the
25 Department of Defense to open up all combat specialties
------41 ------1 to women changed a lot of how we're going to incorporate
2 our women through our different specialties in the Army.
3 In the Air Force it made a little bit of a
4 change. I think the Army, because of the direct combat
5 rules, had been slower to incorporate women into certain
6 specialties. In the Air Force, just about every career
7 field was already opened up.
8 So the announcement did not have a profound
9 effect on the Air Force. There's really just one
10 specialty that we have within Pennsylvania that will be
11 incorporated that was not before.
12 But on the Army side, there are a lot of other
13 direct combat rules that did change. And as of the
14 announcement, we have been recruiting women into those
15 specialties. I think from December we have — I think
16 the number was over 120-some women have now been put
17 into combat specialties where they were not allowed to
18 do that before. So that's just in the last couple of
19 months.
20 The Department of Defense is also looking at a
21 number of different things that will go along with that,
22 the training, some of the requirements, some of the
23 physical requirements of each of those specialties. So
24 as time goes on, we're still waiting for those decisions
25 to be made as to how that will be incorporated.
------42 ------1 But it has completely changed. I mean, if you
2 mark back through the decades, you know, when -- of
3 course, you can go way back to where there were no women
4 in the military and there were no women in any combat
5 roles in the Air Force. There were no women who were
6 allowed to fly in fighters.
7 And in the early '90s we changed that. So this
8 seems to be the last barrier that has been broken down.
9 But we're already moving forward on that. And we have
10 already incorporated women into our combat specialties.
11 So that's an ongoing thing.
12 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: Thank you for your
13 efforts on that. I'm very much encouraged to see more
14 women in different roles in our military and armed
15 services.
16 In regards -- or in the same spirit of that line
17 of questioning, could you share with me your
18 department's numbers in regards to both women and
19 minority throughout various -- throughout your workforce
20 in both entry level in addition to mid-management,
21 senior management?
22 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, ma'am.
23 In the Department as a whole, women make up 58
24 percent of our Department, so well over half. Of those
25 58 percent, 14 percent of that 58 percent are minority
------43 ------1 females. So that's on the Department side.
2 And then on the National Guard side, we are 17
3 percent in the Army. And I believe it's 21 percent in
4 the Air Force, which are right at the national average
5 for the Army. I think we're actually 2 or 3 percent
6 above the Air National Guard average for women in the
7 Pennsylvania Guard.
8 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: That's great.
9 And for minorities?
10 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Minorities for the
11 military, 34 percent of that number are female minority.
12 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: And just minorities in
13 general, not women?
14 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Total minority
15 representation is 20 percent, ma'am.
16 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: And that's the
17 Department?
18 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Departmentwide.
19 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: Okay.
20 DEPUTY McPHERSON: And I think across the
21 Commonwealth it's 14, if you talk about the average
22 Comonwealthwide. So obviously, we're above that number.
23 REPRESENTATIVE BULLOCK: Great. Thank you very
24 much.
25 That ends my questions, Chairman.
------4 4 ------1 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
2 Representative.
3 Representative Warren Kampf.
4 REPRESENTATIVE KAMPF: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
5 General, lady, and gentlemen, thank you on
6 behalf of my constituents for your service to our
7 veterans and to our citizens.
8 Small thing, but important, particularly some
9 people in my area are involved in the Civil Air Patrol.
10 This is an item that has in the past gotten some
11 resources through the State budget. Unfortunately, that
12 was line item vetoed, I believe, out of our House Bill
13 1460.
14 Do you interact, interface, at all with the
15 Civil Air Patrol? I don't know myself.
16 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir, we do.
17 And I've had the opportunity, you know, in my
18 previous position as the Deputy Adjutant General for the
19 Air side, I've done a lot with the Civil Air Patrol and
20 attend a lot of their functions. We actually host their
21 statewide training event at Fort Indiantown Gap. And
22 they, of course, have their offices located right on the
23 Gap as well.
24 The Civil Air Patrol has been recognized by the
25 Air Force this past fall as part of the total force now.
------45 ------1 They were always an auxiliary of the Air Force. Now
2 they have official recognition as part of being the
3 total force. You know, there's active duty. There's
4 Guard, the Reserves. There's civilians. And now
5 there's Civil Air Patrol.
6 The Civil Air Patrol plays a vital role in the
7 protection and security and health for citizens of the
8 Commonwealth. They provide a lot of search and rescue.
9 They provide support for our normal disasters. They
10 provide security.
11 I had an opportunity to speak at one of their
12 squadron functions in Lebanon. I was talking to that
13 group and I had mentioned just two weeks before that I
14 had just watched the local Harrisburg news and there was
15 an aircraft crash at the Lebanon Airport, the Lebanon
16 County Airport.
17 And they had the normal footage of the aircraft
18 there, but there is in the background you could see a
19 couple of Civil Air Patrol cadets. They were called to
20 secure the site. And they were staying at the site
21 until the NTSB and Federal authorities could get there.
22 They spent the entire night and most of the next morning
23 securing the site until the Federal officials were able
24 to arrive.
25 That's just one little thing that you see that
------46 ------1 they do. And they provide this great resource to us at
2 very little funding.
3 We did discuss their presence. Of course, their
4 funding is not part of our organization. But I've had
5 discussions with the Civil Air Patrol and kind of a
6 strategy because they are one of our partners when we
7 talk about doing domestic operations. When we're
8 talking about managing a disaster, whether it's a
9 natural or manmade disaster within the Commonwealth,
10 they're one of the resources that we use along with all
11 the other first-response agencies.
12 So I've had discussions with them as far as a
13 strategy. I think what we should probably do is instead
14 of trying to look for funding for just operational and
15 maintenance costs, I think maybe a better strategy is to
16 talk about some of the equipment that they require to
17 help them be more efficient and help them integrate
18 better with existing first responders.
19 So we're going to work with them over this next
20 year to try to come up with some line-item-type things.
21 So instead of seeing a line item just for, say, $100,000
22 for general costs, you're going to see something more
23 specific for this piece of equipment, that piece of
24 equipment. And we'll explain to you what the good is in
25 getting that unit, that equipment, and how it will
------47 ------1 benefit the Commonwealth.
2 So we're going to see kind of a shift in that
3 sense. And I hope that we'll be able to find a way to
4 support that.
5 REPRESENTATIVE KAMPF: Thank you.
6 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
7 At this time I'd like to acknowledge the
8 presence of Representative John Lawrence, who has joined
9 us .
10 And the next question will be asked by
11 Representative Maria Donatucci.
12 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Thank you, Mr.
13 Chairman.
14 And welcome, everybody, today. Thank you for
15 your testimony.
16 What does it cost for the maintenance and repair
17 of existing armories?
18 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Mr. Austin.
19 DEPUTY AUSTIN: On average — we ran a report.
20 I mentioned earlier, we have 90 facilities out there.
21 Our total operating cost for the last fiscal year was
22 just over $10 million. That equates to about $3 per
23 square foot. We have 3 million square feet out there.
24 It's not cheap.
25 Most of that, the majority of that money, at
------48 ------1 least 65, 75 percent of that, comes from the Federal
2 Government. The balance comes from the State.
3 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Okay. And can you
4 tell me how much money you've garnished from the sale of
5 armories?
6 DEPUTY AUSTIN: From the sale of the armories,
7 over the last five years, it's just over -- close to $6
8 million.
9 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Okay. Now, my next
10 question is, because sometimes rumors ran rampant, and
11 to the best of your knowledge, is the Southampton Armory
12 in Philadelphia at risk?
13 DEPUTY AUSTIN: No.
14 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Okay. Thank you.
15 And I have one more direction to go. I'm glad
16 to hear that. Thank you.
17 How many disabled veterans have applied for real
18 estate tax exemption in Pennsylvania? And can you
19 address the status of the backlog on that program and
20 what's being done to correct it?
21 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Okay. And I'll let
22 General Beck give you the exact numbers.
23 But I will also say that we asked for three
24 extra positions on our complement for that specific
25 purpose last year, which, with our budget issues in the
------49 ------1 current '15-'16, we were unable to hire those positions.
2 We are again supporting those positions again for this
3 next year's budget that would directly have an impact on
4 that program.
5 But I'll let General Beck give you some more of
6 the specifics.
7 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Thank you.
8 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: We're just short
9 of 10,000 folks that are on the program. We have done a
10 massive reorganization within the Department to lower
11 the amount of time that it takes to receive the approval
12 for the program. And we're now less than 90 days in
13 processing those applications.
14 That's why the need for the three people comes
15 in, because I've got to get my people back doing what
16 they were supposed to be doing, because everybody has
17 been concentrating on clearing up our files.
18 And we'll tell you that we've brought our files
19 down to less than 100 that are sitting waiting to be
20 worked on. And they were up over five or six thousand
21 last year at this time. So there's been considerable
22 progress made on the program.
23 And I think as we move forward with the people
24 that we have to help get us forward, that it's not going
25 to be an issue any longer.
------50 ------1 REPRESENTATIVE DONATUCCI: Thank you. And I
2 commend you on your great work. Thank you.
3 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
4 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
5 Representative.
6 Representative Keith Greiner.
7 REPRESENTATIVE GREINER: Thank you, Mr.
8 Chairman.
9 Good afternoon, lady and gentlemen. I want to
10 echo, too — I represent Lancaster County. And I think
11 I can speak for them. I want to thank you for your
12 service to the country and as well as to the
13 Commonwealth. I'm glad to have you all here today.
14 My question is going to be fairly quick. I
15 actually -- my mother, who unfortunately is no longer
16 with us anymore, but she was from Philadelphia and had
17 family down in that area. And it made me think about
18 the status of the PA Air National Guard 111th Fighter
19 Wing, which is located in Horsham in Montgomery County.
20 And I was wondering about the ground control
21 station there. A lot of people talk about drones. I
22 mean, it's going to be the new technology moving
23 forward. And I wanted to give you an opportunity to
24 tell me what's happening there and where you see that
25 going in the future. Because I do think that's
------5 1 ------1 something that our military is going to be dealing with
2 in the future.
3 Thank you.
4 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir. I
5 appreciate the question.
6 The 111th Attack Wing now — we renamed it. And
7 we don't say the D word. We say remotely piloted
8 aircraft. So that's the Air Force term for those
9 aircraft, remotely piloted aircraft. It's a very
10 high-demand mission.
11 The Air Force has set up 60-some CAPs now.
12 That's up from a couple of years ago when we were down
13 in the 40s.
14 The Horsham base will be accepting a CAP at the
15 end of this month. And they will also have the duty to
16 surge to a second CAP once the rest of the equipment is
17 installed at Horsham Air Guard Station. It's called
18 ISR. Intelligence, surveillance, and recognizance is
19 the mission. Of course, the RPA aircraft are also
20 equipped with weapons. So they also can do attack
21 missions as well.
22 But I will tell you, probably 95 percent of
23 their time is done with the ISR piece in mind.
24 There is a huge appetite for that in the major
25 commands throughout the world. They cannot get enough.
------52 ------1 So we cannot fill all the requests for ISR that are
2 being filed out there in the major combatant and
3 commands throughout the world.
4 So the Air Force is still trying to put more and
5 more into that organization. But, of course, with your
6 Federal budgets, the Air Force has been capped with
7 personnel issues. And there also is another swing
8 toward the nuclear enterprise and, of course, towards
9 cyber. So there's all these competing priorities.
10 But the 111th is well established now. They're
11 about 80 percent trained. They have been — airmen from
12 the 111th, their control station will open at the end of
13 this month. So at the end of this month, we will
14 actually fly our first combat overseas from Horsham. So
15 that starts at the end of this month.
16 But I will tell you for the last two years, we
17 have been slowly training more and more airmen from the
18 111th. So Pennsylvania guardsmen, not from
19 Pennsylvania, but they have been on temporary duty
20 assignments in New York, South Dakota, Texas, Nevada,
21 California, Tennessee, Iowa. They have been flying for
22 the last two years. They have been doing these
23 missions. So they have been doing admirable work.
24 And like I said, in about three weeks, we're
25 going to be doing it from home. So a very good news
------53 ------1 story there.
2 REPRESENTATIVE GREINER: I think that's
3 exciting. I know our budget is tight. I know the
4 Federal budget is tight. I thought that was important
5 to get on the record to let people know what's going on
6 down in the southeastern part of the state.
7 So once again, thank you all for being here.
8 And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
9 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
10 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
11 Representative.
12 Representative Tim Briggs.
13 REPRESENTATIVE BRIGGS: Thank you, Chairman.
14 Over here, guys. And thank you for all you've
15 done for the Commonwealth and for the citizens of
16 Pennsylvania.
17 For the last couple terms I've been one of the
18 Chairs of the Legislative Caucus, the Brain Injury
19 Caucus. My interest stemmed from my young kids and
20 sports and then we were able to pass a piece of
21 legislation to protect young athletes.
22 But can you talk a little bit about the high
23 number of returning veterans that are dealing with
24 trauma brain injuries or concussion, blast-related
25 concussions, or what kind of programs that we might be
------54 ------1 trying to explore in Pennsylvania?
2 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes. And there are
3 a broad range, as you said. It's just as common to have
4 a traumatic brain injury from a youth playing football
5 or playing soccer or being involved in an automobile
6 accident as it is to any of our soldiers or airmen in
7 combat.
8 The brain doesn't know the difference. So it's
9 something that's common ground that we need to work on.
10 In our military sense for any of our soldiers or
11 airmen who are deployed, they're on a Federal status and
12 they're injured in combat. When they return, they're
13 still in the Federal system. So it's not going to be
14 for us to treat. They will come back and they will go
15 to like a Walter Reed or another location to get their
16 treatment.
17 And the Department of Defense will do a line of
18 duty on that individual, basically owning that injury
19 for that service member's lifetime. So much of that
20 care is given outside of our network. We're not
21 actually in the business of treating our own. So they
22 will be treated at these other Federal locations.
23 I can also tell you we have partnered with -- I
24 think it was the University of Pennsylvania that is
25 doing some research, the Department of Veterans Affairs.
------5 5 ------1 We have been looking at other projects that have been
2 developed here within Pennsylvania, different
3 technologies that map some of the brain nodes when
4 there's an injury. We see that.
5 We did support that program. And we're going to
6 put a member from the National Guard or from our
7 Department on that panel. It's the University of
8 Pittsburgh. I see a need for that. I see a time for
9 that.
10 And we also look at ourselves. You know, we
11 have a couple of different hats that we wear. And, of
12 course, as an arm of the military, yes, we're out there
13 to do the nation's business.
14 But we're also a department of the Commonwealth.
15 And we're also here to promote academia, promote
16 business, promote the welfare of Commonwealth issues.
17 And that's certainly an initiative that we can really
18 get behind and support because there's direct
19 application to our members, our military members, to our
20 veterans.
21 But again, like you said, it also applies to
22 some of the youth in Pennsylvania as well.
23 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: If I may add, not
24 only did we take care of looking at things for the
25 veterans, but we're looking at clinicians as well.
------56 ------1 We've had several workshops in collaboration with PCCD
2 and with OMSAS and DHS and DOH on how to deal with
3 military veterans, what is the military culture like,
4 how does that affect how a veteran reacts to things?
5 And it teaches the clinicians, the
6 psychologists, psychiatrists, and so forth, how to react
7 to a veteran when they come to them with an issue.
8 So it's not only taking care of them, but it's
9 also looking at the outside world as well.
10 REPRESENTATIVE BRIGGS: Thank you very much.
11 I know Representative Barbin in western
12 Pennsylvania has been very involved with the University
13 of Pittsburgh with the scans.
14 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: He was in our
15 meeting that we had at Fort Indiantown Gap to introduce
16 that.
17 REPRESENTATIVE BRIGGS: Terrific. I just wanted
18 to make sure that connection was made. I'll talk to him
19 to see how the caucus can get more engaged in that.
20 Thank you.
21 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
22 Representative.
23 Representative Seth Grove.
24 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
25 Lady and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming
------5 7 ------1 in. Again, I just want to pass my regards, like
2 everybody else. Thank you for your service and your
3 duty. And please pass that along to your ranks as well.
4 We appreciate what they do, both nationally and here in
5 the State with emergency situations and so forth.
6 First question. I have to know, coming from
7 York County, how is Brigadier General Scott Perry doing?
8 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Sir, he's one of
9 our -- you know, our guardsmen have a wide range of
10 civilian jobs. And his is quite interesting.
11 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: It is.
12 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Obviously, it takes
13 up a lot of his time.
14 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: I assume he's a big
15 advocate in Congress for National Guard and National
16 Guard funding.
17 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir.
18 Coincidentally, he's a very good supporter of
19 the Guard. And I'll tell you his aviation background
20 came in very handy with the move to change Army
21 aviation, the ARI, the Army — you know, Aviation
22 Restructuring Initiative was to take all of the attack
23 aviation out of the Guard. And he was one of our
24 greatest advocate s out there.
25 And of course, the Army Commission, which just
------58 ------1 came out, then recommended that that aviation does stay
2 in the Guard. So we're waiting for the implementation.
3 But w e 're hopeful.
4 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Wonderful. Great to
5 hear.
6 When we look at our State's veterans homes, they
7 do a great job, great service. When you map it out
8 across Pennsylvania, there's kind of a bit of a gap in
9 the southcentral area. Do you think there's a need
10 moving forward for another veterans home and, if so,
11 what's your thought on locating that kind of home in the
12 southcentral region?
13 I'm sure you don't have the data. But I would
14 like to know how many individuals in the homes are
15 connected back to southcentral Pennsylvania.
16 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: I think that is a
17 very good proposal. We have discussed this in a number
18 of years. And it seems like everyone agrees that that
19 area is probably the area that would be the greatest
20 need.
21 We have done some studies to try to gather that
22 information. Of course, in the tight budget climates,
23 that would be really the biggest question. We're
24 looking at somewhere between a 6- to 10-year project to
25 do this. I think the total cost was somewhere around
------59 ------1 $83 million.
2 Of course, for the veterans homes, the State's
3 share of that is 35 percent, so somewhere near the range
4 of 30 million.
5 And then, of course, the O&M cost, which would
6 continue to operate that 7th home, probably the largest
7 cost to put in front of this Committee would be the
8 complement. And for that size home, we're talking just
9 over 300, probably a complement for the employees there.
10 So we are looking at it.
11 I'll let General Beck provide any other details.
12 But that's certainly a proposal and something we would
13 have to work closely with the Committee to be able to
14 do.
15 RET. BRIGADIER GENERAL BECK: Yeah. The
16 location that we're looking at actually is the VA
17 Hospital in Lebanon. They have offered up property that
18 we wouldn't have to pay for to put the home on the
19 property. And then they want to collaborate with us and
20 add to our home some of the facilities that we don't
21 have when it comes to taking care of psychiatric-type
22 patients and assist us in doing that.
23 It's a great advantage to being there because
24 then that helps us with helps us with pharmaceuticals.
25 It helps us when we have veterans that need to get into
------6 0 ------1 the hospital in a hurry and so forth. So that's where
2 we're looking.
3 And we think by having it there in Lebanon, you
4 know, with the Find My Ride Program that we have coming
5 out of York right now -- that program brings them to the
6 Lebanon VA -- this could also then assist in getting
7 more veterans up there to the Lebanon VA.
8 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: It sounds like a great,
9 smart move tying in the veterans, the hospital in
10 Lebanon with that. So I applaud that.
11 I would love to have you come in and talk to the
12 Southcentral Caucus a little bit more about that and see
13 where we can go to see if we can facilitate that and
14 make that happen. I think that's great.
15 Thank you. And again, thank you for your
16 service. Keep the Brigadier General on his toes,
17 please.
18 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir. Will do.
19 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
20 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
21 Representative.
22 General, General, General, Ms. McPherson,
23 Mr. Austin, thank you so much for coming in and spending
24 some time with us regarding your budget. I certainly,
25 as always, get educated during this testimony.
------6 1 ------1 Once again, thank you for your service. And
2 we're looking forward to working with you.
3 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: Yes, sir. I
4 appreciate that.
5 And thank you for all of your support as well.
6 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
7 BRIGADIER GENERAL CARRELLI: We find ourselves
8 in a great position. Most of our programs have great
9 support throughout. We appreciate that.
10 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Great information.
11 For the members' information, we will reconvene
12 at 2:15 with Pennsylvania Labor & Industry.
13 (Whereupon, the hearing concluded.)
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6 2 1 I hereby certify that the proceedings and
2 evidence are contained fully and accurately in the notes
3 taken by me on the within proceedings and that this is a
4 correct transcript of the same.
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8 Jean M. Davis 9 Notary Public
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