Page 1
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA * * * *
BUDGET HEARING
DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY & VETERANS AFFAIRS * * * *
House Appropriations Committee
Main Capitol Building Majority Caucus Room 140 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Monday, February 25, 2013 - 10:00 a.m.
1300 Garrison Drive, York, PA 17404 717.764.7801 877.747.2760 Page 2
1 COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: 2 Honorable William Adolph, Jr., Majority Chairman Honorable Ryan Aument 3 Honorable Karen Boback Honorable Jim Christiana 4 Honorable Gary Day Honorable Gordon Denlinger 5 Honorable Brian Ellis Honorable Mauree Gingrich 6 Honorable Glen Grell Honorable Seth Grove 7 Honorable Thomas Killion Honorable David Millard 8 Honorable Duane Milne Honorable Mark Mustio 9 Honorable Donna Oberlander Honorable Bernie O ’Neill 10 Honorable Michael Peifer Honorable Scott Petri 11 Honorable Jeffrey Pyle Honorable Curtis Sonney 12 Honorable Joseph Markosek, Minority Chairman Honorable Brendan Boyle 13 Honorable Matthew Bradford Honorable Michelle Brownlee 14 Honorable Michael Carroll Honorable Scott Conklin 15 Honorable Madeleine Dean Honorable Deberah Kula 16 Honorable Timothy Mahoney Honorable Michael O ’Brien 17 Honorable Cherelle Parker Honorable John Sabatina 18 Honorable Steve Santarsiero Honorable Jake Wheatley, Jr. 19 20 REPUBLICAN NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: 21 Honorable Stephen Barrar Honorable Lynda Schlegel Culver 22 Honorable R. Lee James Honorable Rick Saccone 23 Honorable Mark Gillen Honorable Will Tallman 24 Honorable Paul Clymer Honorable RoseMarie Swanger 25 Page 3
1 REPUBLICAN NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT (CONT’D): 2 Honorable Katharine Watson 3 Honorable Dick Hess Honorable Ron Miller 4 Honorable Jerry Knowles Honorable Kate Harper 5 Honorable Marcy Toepel Honorable Becky Corbin 6 Honorable Ron Marsico
7 DEMOCRATIC NON-COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT 8 Honorable Dan Frankel 9 Honorable Chris Sainato Honorable William Kortz 10 Honorable Pamela DeLissio Honorable Ryan Bizzarro 11 Honorable Mark Longietti Honorable W. Curtis Thomas 12 Honorable Phyllis Mundy Honorable R. Ted Harhai 13 Honorable Nick Kotik Honorable Mark Keller 14 Honorable Michael McGeehan Honorable Michael Schlossberg 15 Honorable Stephen Kinsey
16
17 STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: 18 David Donley Republican Executive Director 19 Ritchie LaFaver 20 Republican Deputy Executive Director 21 Dan Clark, Esquire Republican Chief Legal Counsel 22 Miriam Fox 23 Democratic Executive Director 24 Beryl Kuhr, Esquire Democratic Chief Legal Counsel 25 Page 4
1 INDEX OF TESTIFIERS
2 TESTIFIERS PAGE
3 PA Adjutant General Wesley Craig...... 10
4
5
6
7
8
9 INDEX OF REQUESTED DOCUMENTS OR INFORMATION
10 (None) 11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25 Page 5
1 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you. Good
2 morning. I ’d like to call to order the House
3 Appropriations Budget Hearing. This morning’s
4 budget is on the Military and Veterans Affairs.
5 At this time, I’d like to go over a
6 couple introductions, as well as some
7 housekeeping. First, with the housekeeping. I
8 would ask all members and guests and testifiers
9 to check your cell phones and your iPhones and
10 please put them on silent. It will interfere
11 with the PCN coverage of the hearings.
12 Also, for the members and also for the
13 testifiers, if you could bring the microphones
14 as close to your voice as possible and try to
15 use a normal speaking voice.
16 My name is Bill Adolph. I’m the
17 Republican Chair for the House Appropriations
18 Committee, and I ’d like to welcome Major General
19 this morning. We will go through the
20 introductions. I ’d like each member to identify
21 themself and the area of the Commonwealth of
22 Pennsylvania that they represent. Thank you.
23 MR. DONLEY: I ’m Dave Donley;
24 Republican staff, Executive Director.
25 MR. CLARK: Dan Clark. I ’m Chief Page 6
1 Counsel of Republican Appropriations Committee.
2 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Representative
3 Steve Barrar from Delaware and Chester County.
4 REPRESENTATIVE PETRI: Scott Petri;
5 178th District, Bucks County.
6 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Good morning.
7 Representative Bernie O ’Neill; 29th District,
8 Centre and Bucks counties.
9 REPRESENTATIVE OBERLANDER:
10 Representative Donna Oberlander; Clarion and
11 Armstrong counties.
12 REPRESENTATIVE KILLION: Tom Killion;
13 Chester and Delaware counties.
14 REPRESENTATIVE ELLIS: Brian Ellis;
15 Butler County.
16 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Seth Grove;
17 York County.
18 REPRESENTATIVE SONNEY: Curt Sonney;
19 4th District, Erie County.
20 REPRESENTATIVE MILLARD: David
21 Millard; Columbia County.
22 REPRESENTATIVE CHRISTIANA: Jim
23 Christiana; Beaver County.
24 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Good morning.
25 Jeffrey Pyle; 60th Legislative District, Page 7
1 Armstrong and Indiana counties.
2 REPRESENTATIVE AUMENT: Ryan Aument;
3 41st District, Lancaster County.
4 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES: Lee James;
5 District 64, Venango and part of Butler County.
6 REPRESENTATIVE SCHLEGEL CULVER: Lynda
7 Schlegel Culver; part of Snyder and
8 Northumberland counties.
9 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: Karen Boback;
10 District 117, Luzerne, Wyoming, Columbia
11 counties. Good morning.
12 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL: Good morning.
13 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: Good
14 morning. Gordon Denlinger from eastern
15 Lancaster County.
16 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: Good morning,
17 General. Representative Mauree Gingrich;
18 Lebanon County, home to the stellar Indiantown
19 Gap military installation.
20 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Good to
21 see you, m a ’am.
22 REPRESENTATIVE SACCONE: Rick Saccone;
23 39th District, Allegheny and Washington County.
24 CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Good morning. I ’m
25 State Representative Joe Markosek; Allegheny and Page 8
1 Westmoreland counties. I’m the Democratic
2 Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
3 With us, we have some guest members here:
4 Representative Chairman Sainato, who is the
5 Democratic Chair of the Veterans Committee, as
6 well as Representative Mark Longietti and
7 Representative Bill Kortz and Representative
8 Ryan Bizzarro are also here.
9 MS. FOX: Miriam Fox; Executive
10 Director, House Appropriations Committee,
11 Democrat.
12 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO:
13 Representative Chris Sainato. As Chairman
14 Markosek said, I’m the Democratic Chairman of
15 the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency
16 Preparedness Committee, and I represent the 9th
17 District which is in Lawrence County and a small
18 section of Beaver County.
19 REPRESENTATIVE BROWNLEE: Good
20 morning. State Representative Michelle
21 Brownlee; Philadelphia County, 195th Legislative
22 District.
23 REPRESENTATIVE PARKER: Cherelle
24 Parker, Philadelphia County, 200th District.
25 REPRESENTATIVE CARROLL: Good morning, Page 9
1 General. Mike Carroll, Luzerne and Monroe
2 counties.
3 REPRESENTATIVE O ’BRIEN: Good morning.
4 Mike O ’Brien; 175th District, Philadelphia.
5 REPRESENTATIVE MAHONEY: Good morning.
6 Tim Mahoney; 51st District, Fayette County.
7 REPRESENTATIVE KULA: Good morning.
8 Deberah Kula; Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
9 REPRESENTATIVE CONKLIN: Scott
10 Conklin; Centre County.
11 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Good morning.
12 Madeleine Dean; Montgomery County.
13 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Good
14 morning. Jake Wheatley; Allegheny County, 19th
15 District, City of Pittsburgh.
16 REPRESENTATIVE SANTARSIERO: Good
17 morning, General. Steve Santarsiero, Bucks
18 County and part of my side or back, whatever the
19 case may be.
20 CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Representative Pam
21 DeLissio from Philadelphia County, is also here.
22 Thank you.
23 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, Chairman,
24 and thank you, members. As is the custom for
25 the budget hearing that we invite the standing Page 10
1 committee chair, both Republican and Democrat,
2 Chairman Barrar and, as Chairman Markosek said,
3 that Chairman Chris Sainato is present.
4 Good morning and welcome.
5 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
6 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Major General Craig,
7 thank you very much for being here today. And
8 more importantly, thank you very much for your
9 service to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I
10 want to express my gratitude to you and all the
11 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
12 Our guardsmen have been involved with
13 many operations, ranging from deployment to the
14 Middle East; responding to national disasters
15 here in Pennsylvania and responding to other
16 states to assist with their emergencies. We are
17 incredibly fortunate to have these men and women
18 who respond whenever asked to protect their
19 fellow citizens.
20 You can start with your remarks when
21 ready; then with questions we'll proceed. Thank
22 you.
23 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you,
24 Mr. Chairman. Just a few brief remarks.
25 As has been mentioned, the Department Page 11
1 of Military and Veterans Affairs has a dual
2 role; quality care and advocacy for the 960,000
3 Pennsylvania veterans of all wars, and command
4 and control of the Pennsylvania Army National
5 Guard and Air National Guard.
6 For veterans, we run six veterans’
7 homes of some 1500 residents, involving some
8 1700 state workers. And we also outreach and
9 advocate for the 960,000 veterans that are in
10 the state.
11 We have three new programs which are
12 working very hard; the Veterans’ Trust Fund,
13 which I can speak about later. We’ve expanded
14 what we know as Act 66, which is the Veterans’
15 Service Outreach Program, by adding 50 percent
16 to it in funding and be allowed to grow our
17 membership, or our numbers of workers in that by
18 another 50 percent; and we’re also just
19 expanding our outreach by reorganizing the
20 Department of Veterans Affairs.
21 Pennsylvania National Guard is 15,400
22 Army guardsmen, 3,900 Air guardsmen. It’s the
23 third largest in the United States. It is the
24 busiest in terms of proportion and total numbers
25 of mobilization for overseas deployment. But Page 12
1 now, in 11 years, 33,000 Pennsylvania Air and
2 Army guardsmen have been overseas for either
3 peacekeeping, combat or counterinsurgency
4 operations. Their record of accomplishments is
5 nothing short of remarkable.
6 In domestic operations, as the
7 Chairman has mentioned, we’ve been extremely
8 busy as well. In 2011, deployment within the
9 state here of Pennsylvania with Hurricane Irene,
10 followed two weeks later by Tropical Storm Lee;
11 1,300 soldiers and Airmen in the first
12 deployment; 1,600 more two weeks later.
13 Last year, Hurricane Sandy, you saw
14 1,600 of us mobilized in several hours’ notice.
15 We were on op of state active duty for more than
16 a week, and we sent 450 of our fellow soldiers
17 and Airmen to New York and New Jersey to help
18 them in the devastation that hit them. And
19 finally, just two weeks ago we deployed, on a
20 moment’s notice, 90 Air and Army guardsmen to
21 Connecticut to help for recovery operations in
22 Winter Storm Nemo. So we work very hard to
23 maintain ourselves and live up to our motto as
24 always ready and always there.
25 And I invite the Chairman and other Page 13
1 members here with their questions.
2 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, Major
3 General.
4 In looking at your budget request, the
5 first thing that jumps out at you is the
6 decrease in the state funding for the veterans'
7 homes of approximately $3.874 million. Now, I'd
8 like you to give the members of this Committee,
9 as well as the residents of Pennsylvania, why
10 the decrease in state funds. I know the answer,
11 and I think it's important that the veterans out
12 there that rely on these veterans' homes know
13 where the additional funding is coming from.
14 And that's part 1 of my question.
15 And then part 2 of my question is, how
16 will the situation in Washington D.C. with the
17 sequester affect the veterans' homes, and have
18 you received any information regarding that?
19 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Mr.
20 Chairman, yes. First in regards to our
21 veterans' homes, we've been working very hard
22 and, through a number of initiatives, have come
23 up with a tremendous surge in federal funding
24 for the homes; primarily through EVR or
25 Medicaid. So, we've been able to surge federal Page 14
1 funds, which allowed us to decrease the state
2 funding.
3 In addition, we’ve taken a very
4 careful, deliberate approach and committed
5 ourselves to running these homes to offer the
6 same or better care at the same or less cost.
7 Through work from my Veterans’ -- Bureau of
8 Veterans’ Homes and also the Administration,
9 we’ve come up with a number of cost-saving
10 initiatives stretching over the last several
11 years where we’ve been able to deliver on that
12 promise.
13 We’ve been able to reduce overtime by
14 some 40 percent. We ’ve been able -- We’re in
15 the middle of right-sizing; taking a look at
16 every staffing person and position in every home
17 and be sure we have the right amount there at
18 the right time.
19 We’ve had very good success in a
20 number of privatization initiatives, such as
21 physical therapy, medical care; primarily
22 doctors. We have an experiment going on, two
23 studies, for pharmacy; savings in pharmacy.
24 Working with the Department of General Services,
25 we’ve been able to renegotiate a number of Page 15
1 statewide contracts at a savings -- using local
2 vendors at a savings for the home.
3 So, all these together have saved
4 millions of dollars in our operation of
5 veterans’ homes. So I can assure you and the
6 veterans that they will get the same or better
7 care that they’ve always gotten in our homes.
8 For the second part of your question,
9 sequestration. As I mentioned to you, Mr.
10 Chairman, I just visited D.C. yesterday, and
11 I’ll be down there again tonight for the next
12 several days. To outline the situation that the
13 federal government is in, they’ve decided,
14 through the Budget Control Act, that they’re
15 going to have a 10 percent cut across all
16 federal funding, and they’ve decided that it’s
17 going to be shared equally between Defense as a
18 group. Fifty percent of the cut will go to the
19 Defense, even though the Department of Defense
20 only has 20 percent of the national budget. And
21 the other 50 percent out of the other parts is
22 discretionary budget.
23 This has been complicated -- And this
24 takes into effect on the 1st of March; only
25 several days from now. So, all departments of Page 16
1 Defense, including the Army and the Air, will be
2 forced to take a 10 percent reduction. Somewhat
3 complicated by the fact that the President
4 decided to spare all personnel accounts. So
5 that phase, the one -- the cuts that will come
6 now will make the 13 percent of the rest of our
7 budget. It's also complicated by the continuing
8 resolution authority, which the federal
9 government has been operating under for the
10 rest -- for all of this year and, really, most
11 of next year.
12 Continued resolution basically keeps
13 the Department and the federal government at
14 last year's level and will not allow transfer of
15 funds between accounts. So, if the Department
16 of Defense, Department of the Army and
17 Department of the Air Force are over in some and
18 under in the other, you can't move funds between
19 the others to balance that equally. If you're
20 over that account, then you've really got to
21 stop spending in whatever account you're over to
22 make up the difference, which must be made up by
23 the end of this fiscal year.
24 The Secretary of Defense has issued
25 guidance; that one of his ways he's gonna save Page 17
1 personnel costs is to furlough all Department of
2 Defense civilians starting sometime in April and
3 going for the rest of the year. And this
4 furlough would not be a complete layoff. It
5 would be one day off, without pay, every week.
6 So that, if you’re one of these furloughed
7 employees, it means you’re facing a 20 percent
8 pay cut immediately.
9 To put it in terms of dollars and
10 cents here in the Commonwealth, that would
11 impact by what we call military technicians who
12 provide a lot of our support. They’re military
13 members. They wear uniforms; they’re part of
14 the military unit, but for some quirk in the
15 law, the Department of Defense can insist on
16 considering them as a DoD civilian. So they
17 maintain our aircraft, they maintain my ground
18 equipment. They do a little bit of
19 administration work, but, primarily, they’re
20 maintainers.
21 So there will be, if this goes
22 through, obviously, a decrease in readiness in
23 aircraft, both fixed and rotary wing, and,
24 obviously, ground vehicles. These issued guides
25 to this will take into eff -- into effect. Page 18
1 The National Guard Bureau says they
2 don’t agree with that. They insist that these
3 are, indeed, military members. And they cite
4 case law Title 32 U.S. Code Section 709 that
5 proves it; that they are in the command and
6 control of the Adjunct General, and I cannot be
7 directed by the Secretary of Defense to do that
8 and follow through on that. I talked with the
9 Governor, and our position is that we’re not
10 going to follow that direction.
11 However, the Department of Feds
12 obviously has the power of the purse, so they
13 can take the money. We think we have ways that
14 we can save money within the personnel account
15 by putting a hiring freeze on, which will spare
16 practically all of my military technicians from
17 furlough. You’re talking of 941 military
18 technicians in the Army Guard; 837 in the Air
19 Guard that could be impacted by this. And, say,
20 every-other-week payroll in the Commonwealth is
21 some six and a half million dollars. We think
22 we have a way ahead on this, so we think we can
23 adjust this.
24 The other accounts, which are buying
25 things from ammunition, travel funds, what we Page 19
1 call training off-depot, we think we have enough
2 money in that that we can adjust and live
3 through this until Congress gets their act
4 together.
5 There will be another thing that -
6 Continued resolution expires on 27 March of this
7 year. It's crucial that if they're -- either
8 the Congress passes a budget, which then allows
9 for a transfer of funds; or, if they decide to
10 go with the continued resolution again, which
11 they can do, that they allow -- they so craft
12 the language to allow transfer of money between
13 funds. If that comes through, we could probably
14 be spared the furlough, and we can live through
15 the rest of the year.
16 For your question about veterans'
17 affairs and veterans' homes, right now the
18 federal Department of Veterans Affairs, which
19 supplies a tremendous amount of money to our
20 veterans' homes and all our veterans' programs,
21 right now they are spared from this as well.
22 So, DoD, military members and the Veterans
23 Affairs Administration are spared from these
24 cuts.
25 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you. Thank Page 20
1 you very much for that detailed answer. My
2 numbers come up to about an 8.6-million-dollar
3 increase compared to what the feds are
4 increasing the amount to the veterans’ homes.
5 That takes into effect the three-million-dollar
6 decrease of state funds.
7 So, hopefully those figures are
8 correct. They normally are. I just wanted to
9 assure that the veterans and the families of the
10 veterans that are in those homes are not going
11 to suffer.
12 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No, they
13 will not, because it is -- This is personal to
14 me. I have a mother who is very aged. She’s
15 not in the veterans’ home, but she’s in a care
16 home, so I understand how they work and what -
17 how -- what an important role they play in -
18 near the end of someone’s life when they need a
19 lot of care.
20 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you very much.
21 Members will be coming and going, and
22 I will try to acknowledge them when they come
23 in. At this time I’d like to acknowledge
24 Representative Swanger and Representative Gillen
25 who has joined us. Page 21
1 We will now go to the Chairman of the
2 Military Affairs, Representative Barrar,
3 followed by Representative Sainato.
4 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Thank you,
5 General, for being here today. And also, I want
6 to commend you on, we always hear great stories
7 about the work our guardsmen are doing.
8 On sequestration, which will probably
9 be a big topic today, if you don’t have the
10 flexibility to deal with this the way we’re
11 recently discussing, what would that do to your
12 ability to maintain a state of readiness if you
13 had to let these technicians and building
14 technicians go? How would that affect you?
15 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: If we had
16 to go to a -- it would be a 20 percent reduction
17 in available manpower and available work that
18 could be done. So, you would see a derogation
19 of my -- obviously, the rotary-wing fleet and
20 the fixed-wing fleet aircraft. They’re very
21 maintenance-intensive. You’d see a derogation
22 and reduce the ability of us to respond to a
23 domestic emergency because I’d have less
24 aircraft ready to fly at any one time.
25 So, they require scheduled services on Page 22
1 a regular basis; so many hours flown, they must
2 go through an inspection. And, of course, if
3 something breaks, they've got to be put down for
4 that as well. It would take longer to impact
5 the ground vehicles because they're, obviously,
6 a lot more simpler system to maintain. But if
7 this would maintain over time, same thing would
8 happen. We would lose scheduled services, like,
9 taking your car to a state inspection, and you
10 could have breakdowns. So it could have been an
11 impact on us as well for that.
12 I will say also, in the rotary-wing
13 aircraft fleet especially, half of what we have
14 in Pennsylvania is deployed to Afghanistan. So
15 I've only got half now left. So now that
16 there's -- any one or two, the impact of those
17 going down due to lack of maintenance is
18 magnified.
19 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Our guardsmen
20 that are currently deployed and those that may
21 be deployed in the future, do you -- do you see
22 that they will be deployed for longer periods of
23 time? Will these sequestration cuts impact our
24 deployment; the number of guardsmen that will be
25 deployed in the future? Page 23
1 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Mr.
2 Barrar, I don’t believe that they will. There’s
3 no plan at that point being discussed that I’m
4 aware of with the Department of Defense. They
5 still maintain -- Obviously, we’re getting ready
6 to come out of Afghanistan by the end of ’14.
7 The President announced we’ll be out of there.
8 We have one brigade that’s on the -
9 on the target list to go. We’re now hearing
10 they may not go. That’s the 56 Stryker Brigade.
11 So we’re not exactly sure if they’ll go or not,
12 but I don’t see them extending them in country
13 at this point. That was briefly discussed and
14 then was pretty much dumped in Department of
15 Defense communications.
16 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Thank you.
17 Can you give us an update on the status of the
18 proposed changes for the 171st Air Refueling
19 Wing and also the elimination of the 911th
20 Airlift Wing?
21 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: A good
22 news report on both fronts. First off, the
23 171st Air Refueling Wing of Pennsylvania Air
24 Guard unit has been recognized again as one of
25 the best air wings in the Air Force, period. It Page 24
1 is one of only five air wings that is competing
2 now for the brand-new KC-46 tanker, which would
3 be a top-of-the-line tanker. It would show the
4 Air Force’s competence in this unit.
5 The base has been surveyed. We expect
6 an announcement of which wing will win that in
7 about a month, month and a half. Everything
8 looks very good. They’re very, very
9 competitive. They’ve got a great deal with the
10 Pittsburgh Airport. They’re in a great
11 position. There’s four runways there. A little
12 infrastructure needs to be changed and they
13 could accommodate these new airplanes.
14 So, 171st’s future, I ’m convinced, is
15 great.
16 The 911th Air Wing, from what I ’m
17 hearing from a number of sources, I ’m pretty
18 darn -- I ’m very confident that they’re gonna
19 maintain the business at this point. The
20 official news will come out in early March, but
21 it looks like the Air Force has reconsidered -
22 We won’t know this until they actually make the
23 announcement. That’s what I’m hearing.
24 Reconsiderable; give them new airplanes and
25 continue to maintain that 911th Wing, at least Page 25
1 for the next several years.
2 I will caution everybody in here, I
3 am -- There is no doubt in my mind, that if they
4 are continued for the next year; that when the
5 2015 BRAC, which is being rumored to come, they
6 will be targeted once again or will be
7 considered by that BRAC. So, good news, I
8 think, in the near term. It's something we'll
9 have to watch in the long term.
10 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Last year we
11 passed the legislation creating a Veteran Trust
12 Fund. And we've also since then have sold the
13 Scotland school.
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right.
15 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: And that will
16 be used for an initial funding of the -- this
17 Veteran Trust Fund. How is this coming along at
18 this point in time? Can you give us an update
19 on that? And also, have we yet started to pay
20 up any grants to the veterans at this point?
21 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, we
22 have. It's come along fine. We got $700,000
23 once the agreement of sale was made, which we
24 then passed through directly to increase the
25 funding in what we know as Act 66, the Veterans' Page 26
1 Services Outreach Program. So that’s already
2 happened. The remaining million dollars is held
3 by the Governor’s Budget Office in budgetary
4 reserve.
5 And as soon as the actual sale is done and the
6 money is transferred, which should be a month or
7 two, that will then -- all that million dollars
8 will come to the Veterans’ Trust Fund.
9 We’ve raised money for -- which we
10 then passed through, also, to the Veterans
11 Foundation about a hundred thousand dollars from
12 private donations, and, of that, we’ve already
13 done grants to individual veterans and
14 organizations of some $70,000. So, we’re
15 already starting to see how this fund will grow
16 and continue. It has touched a whole variety of
17 small organizations and charities, such as the
18 Pennsylvania -- the Philadelphia Veterans
19 Multi-Service Center; the homeless shelters run
20 by the American Legion, and another one of them
21 in Pittsburgh. So we’re quite happy and quite
22 enthused about the progress to date.
23 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: One last
24 question on the sale of the armories. Can you
25 give us an update on that? I think we have Page 27
1 legislation coming through our Committee that we
2 should be able dealing with very shortly to sell
3 off a few of these.
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes. We
5 have an omnibus bill which we prepared, which
6 we’ve -- which has been introduced, which will
7 sell 12 excess armories, a weekend train -- a
8 weekend training center and an old maintenance
9 shop.
10 Since 2006, we’ve been fortunate
11 enough, and with the investment the Army has
12 made in the 56 Stryker Brigade, came 12 new
13 armories and 12 major renovations of other
14 existing armories, and we’ve been able to
15 leverage other investment funds and build four
16 other armories. So we’ve had a major
17 construction boom in the past six, seven years
18 here.
19 So we have these 12 armories, which
20 are very old, outdated, and are very willing and
21 eager to sell because they cost twenty, $25,000
22 a year just to heat. Some of them are
23 susceptible to break-ins and vandalism, so that
24 would be a big help. And I would respectfully
25 request everyone’s support in moving this Page 28
1 omnibus bill along and selling these armories,
2 because the money then comes back to the DMVA,
3 which we then reinvest in our existing armories
4 to maintain them as well.
5 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Thank you,
6 General, for being here today.
7 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
8 REPRESENTATIVE BARRAR: Thank you, Mr.
9 Chairman.
10 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you, Chairman
11 Barrar. Chairman Sainato.
12 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thank you,
13 Chairman Adolph.
14 General Clark (sic), it's a privilege
15 to have you before us today. First, I'd like to
16 thank you for always being responsive to our
17 Committee, you and your staff. I think it's
18 very important that we all work together, for
19 the type of work that you and your men and women
20 do for this Commonwealth is to be commended.
21 You know, we're in some difficult
22 times, as you said in your testimony.
23 Unfortunately, a lot of times, people don't
24 think of your unit and the emergency work that's
25 done in the state until something happens. Page 29
1 Everyone just takes it for granted that these
2 things just happen. And through our Committee,
3 we’ve seen the dedication and hard work that’s
4 being done in the great Commonwealth.
5 Just to follow up on Chairman Barrar’s
6 question on the 171. Our Committee last year
7 had an opportunity to go up and to see how it’s
8 done and the whole process. It’s just amazing
9 to see what’s done. I don’t think a lot of
10 people realize how vital that is to our national
11 security, you know, throughout the world, the
12 work that’s done there. To be honest, I didn’t
13 realize that whole process. And when you see
14 the connection, it’s just amazing how it could
15 be done; and so promptly and, you know,
16 efficiently. The troops did an outstanding job
17 on that day, and -
18 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
19 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: — it was a
20 great education for the members of our Committee
21 that had that opportunity to witness this. So I
22 would like to thank you for giving us that
23 opportunity to see it in action.
24 You had mentioned about the KC-46
25 tanker aircraft. You know, we’re a small Page 30
1 candidate for that. What effect would that have
2 on the surrounding community if we are able and
3 successful in getting that aircraft?
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you
5 very much, Mr. -- Representative. I’ll bring -
6 I ’ll call out, also. My new deputy, Adjutant
7 General for Air is here, Colonel Tony Carrelli,
8 and Colonel Carrelli spent a year as the wing
9 commander of the 171st until I snatched him out
10 of there and made him my deputy.
11 So, he is well aware. We are -- It is
12 a tremendous unit. With the operations over in
13 Libya, they mobilized and deployed and ran that
14 operation with 24 hours’ no -- less than 24
15 hours’ notice. The lead aircraft staff and
16 commander left within an eight hours’ call.
17 We ’re talking about a National Guard unit where
18 there are traditional -- people who have a
19 civilian skill.
20 The impact of the tanker would be
21 tremendous. It would cement the future of that
22 wing for decades to come, because that aircraft
23 is gonna be around for decades. We know the
24 KC-135 tanker is eventually gonna be phased out.
25 It would bring some active duty presence because Page 31
1 it's thought that -- it's projected to be what
2 we call an associate wing, so we would have some
3 active duty. We'd bring in several hundred
4 active duty members who would then live right
5 there in Pittsburgh as part of that wing, and
6 they would fly the airplanes, as well as our
7 traditional guardsmen. So, long-term benefit to
8 say the least.
9 The airplane itself is also configured
10 and built so you can carry a fairly large
11 capacity of troops on board it as well. So we
12 could transfer our troops from the western part
13 of the state to the eastern part of the state in
14 a domestic emergency, or if we have to help out
15 New Jersey or New York or Connecticut; whoever
16 else calls for help, we can get the troops there
17 in a flash. So it would be a really great thing
18 to have for that wing, for the Pennsylvania Air
19 Guard as well, and cement that wing for years
20 and years to come.
21 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thank you on
22 that, General. I have just two more quick
23 questions, though, on the veterans' homes. We
24 had -- The Committee also had an opportunity to
25 tour that last term, one in eastern Pennsylvania Page 32
1 and we were impressed with the operation that
2 was there. So you are on top of the needs for
3 our veterans.
4 I know Chairman Adolph had asked you,
5 though, the effects of the -- The state funding
6 is going to be made up with federal funds; is
7 that correct?
8 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: That is
9 correct. I would say, we’ve also been able to
10 garner savings and efficiencies. But there is,
11 as you see in the budget, a really large surge
12 in federal funding, which really helps us out a
13 lot. That’s part of our job; is to get every
14 federal dime we can.
15 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Excellent,
16 because I think that is very important. I think
17 a lot of people don’t realize, you know, at the
18 state level, we have to have a balanced budget.
19 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right.
20 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: And when —
21 you know, when cuts are made, it has a serious
22 effect. So it is important, if we are able to
23 offset, you know, some of that money with the
24 federal funds, that this service is provided to
25 our veterans, especially our older veterans who Page 33
1 served. We don’t want to see any services cut
2 for them, because it is so vital. When you tour
3 a facility like that, you get a new perspective.
4 I mean, this is their last resting place.
5 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right.
6 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: And I know it
7 was a new facility we were -- we toured; they
8 were under construction. So, I think they were
9 doing a very good job there.
10 Just last, the transition for many of
11 our troops and guardsmen who go overseas; they
12 go to Afghanistan; they’ve gone to Iraq, and
13 then they come back. Unemployment,
14 unfortunately, is not where we would like to see
15 it at right now. And veterans have a tendency
16 to have a little higher unemployment rate.
17 Is there anything that you and what
18 your staff is doing to help these veterans
19 transition back into the workforce?
20 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes.
21 That’s a very good question. We certainly work
22 on that very hard. We’ve partnered with U.S.
23 Department of Labor, the state Labor and
24 Industry, the DoD, department of Employer
25 Support of the Guard and Reserve, which I used Page 34
1 to be the state chair before I got this job, and
2 various several other agencies; the Veterans
3 Affairs as well.
4 We now -- When the units are getting
5 ready to come home, they do an online survey
6 where we talk -- We make them do a complete
7 survey, every member, and -- to determine their
8 employment status. Do they have a job, or do
9 they have a job they want to get out of and go
10 somewhere else.
11 We then, already, do online job fairs
12 before they come home. When they return home,
13 we go through it again and question -- We want
14 to -- Of these 2000 Pennsylvania guardsmen we
15 have overseas right now, it's our goal, when
16 they come home, to have -- to complete a hundred
17 percent employment status on every one of them,
18 and then use these agencies that I mentioned.
19 Plus, I also mentioned the Marcellus
20 Shale Coalition, who is very active and very
21 supportive, and we've employed some 40 plus
22 members of the Guard working with Marcellus
23 Shale, giving them full-time jobs as well. So
24 that's also a very good news story.
25 So, we will work very hard with these Page 35
1 agencies and all our soldiers coming back. Our
2 goal is to get all either in school, if that’s
3 what they want to do, or employed when they come
4 home.
5 REPRESENTATIVE SAINATO: Thank you,
6 General Clark (sic), and I look forward to
7 working with you the rest of this term. I’d
8 also like to thank Chairman Adolph and Chairman
9 Markosek for giving myself and our Committee
10 members an opportunity to participate in this
11 hearing today.
12 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
13 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
14 Representative Mauree Gingrich.
15 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: Good morning
16 again, General.
17 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Good
18 morning, m a ’am.
19 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: Welcome to
20 the rest of our military personnel and any
21 veterans in the room. Thank you for your
22 interest and thank you for being here.
23 You probably noticed my shameless plug
24 for the Indiantown Gap military facility when we
25 were saying good morning the first time. And I Page 36
1 do that not just for the outstanding operation
2 that it is, but it is also one of our largest
3 employers in Lebanon County.
4 So that brings me to one of the
5 specific G.G.O. budget lines, if you’ll talk to
6 me a little bit about that. It’s proposed that
7 there will be an increase of two -- I think it’s
8 2 million, that’s like an 11 percent increase,
9 for very special, two initiatives that are
10 identified. And one is 300,000 for information
11 technology enhancements, to streamline the
12 payroll processing, as I understand it, for the
13 Guard member, and then 241,000 to provide for
14 enhanced security at Fort Indiantown Gap. I
15 know you and I talked about that last year -
16 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes,
17 m a ’am.
18 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: -- in the
19 budget hearing. So, if you’ll talk a little bit
20 about why it’s necessary so that we remind
21 people, and then what kind of security issues
22 still face us out there and where we are this
23 year compared to last and what this additional
24 funding might do.
25 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, Page 37
1 ma'am. First, for the security issue. It's a
2 large post, 17,000 acres. It's completely open.
3 Anybody can drive on, drive off. We have done
4 some fencing in very sensitive areas, such as
5 the air field; some of our equipment maintenance
6 areas and repair areas, but it's still a largely
7 wide-open post.
8 There's some two and a half billion
9 dollars' worth of federal equipment we house
10 there; aircraft, vehicles of all type. We have
11 about 1,500 full-time workers there, Monday
12 through Friday. On a weekend you could have
13 eight to 10,000 troops in training there as
14 well. So, it's a very busy place. It's our
15 training center where we do all -- practically
16 all our weekend training. It's very, very
17 valuable for us.
18 This addition to the budget that you
19 mentioned brings -- adds four -- eight part-time
20 equivalents or four full-time equivalents to our
21 police force, and the police force is run by -
22 is a -- are state employees. And we have also
23 added six military policemen to that patrol
24 force, and we have six contract guards -- 12
25 contract guards as well. Page 38
1 So, by allowing more people on patrol,
2 this allows us -- when we have a busy weekend,
3 we can surge our coverage and add more patrolmen
4 there, making the place safer.
5 And also, when we put troops through
6 Soldier Readiness Processing when they’re
7 getting ready to deploy, they’re always unarmed;
8 they’re always a large group of them together,
9 and you can create a situation like happened
10 several years in Fort Hood when Major Hasan
11 showed up with his gun, and there was a couple
12 hundred troops in there going through medical
13 checks; none of them had any weapons, and he
14 just starting shooting and discriminately killed
15 and wounded a number. That’s what I want to
16 avoid.
17 And by having policemen there -
18 Before we had this bump up in the police force,
19 literally, I’d have two on patrol at a time.
20 So, if there was a random shooter and he took
21 out the first policeman that got on the ground,
22 the second one would have to call the state
23 police, and that could be 15, 20 minutes; way
24 too long. So this basically allows us to surge
25 and put four, five, six patrolmen on duty when Page 39
1 we have things like that. It’s greatly
2 appreciated and very much needed.
3 Now I’ll just briefly touch on the
4 active duty you mentioned. That’s dealing with
5 state active duty. We have a -- When you’re put
6 on state active duty and you’re a National
7 Guardsman, you become a part-time worker of the
8 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the duration of
9 that emergency only; and so, they have to pay
10 you by a hard check, because there’s no way to
11 electronically funds transfer that.
12 So, we generate our own payroll
13 manually by punching it all in. It comes to my
14 veteran -- my office of administration, who has
15 to manually redo it again into the state
16 payroll; from the federal to the state. And,
17 no, the systems don’t talk to each other. So,
18 this some $300,000 is a study program. We think
19 we have a way where we could actually have the
20 information electronically dumped into the state
21 system, which will eliminate not paying my
22 soldiers and airmen because it went to the wrong
23 address or there was something wrong about it,
24 and it would simplify and streamline the effort
25 completely. Page 40
1 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: Thank you.
2 I would think that efficiency is very
3 important -
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: It is.
5 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: -- and an
6 excellent use for that funding. And, of course,
7 we were horrified thinking about some of the
8 things that happened last year, and it still
9 concerns me this year, so I’m glad to see that
10 we’re increasing some of the security issues.
11 It still doesn’t seem like a whole lot of people
12 when you’re talking about -
13 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: It isn’t.
14 But if we take a -- do a risk assessment, and
15 when we’re at our riskiest, which is when we
16 have our most people there and when they’re not
17 armed, that’s when we surge our police force.
18 It does help a lot.
19 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: We look at
20 the Homeland Security side of it. Is there
21 anything else out of that funding -- that
22 additional funding; are there any other upgrades
23 or facility changes that we ought to know about
24 or -- of those two components going to utilize
25 that money? Page 41
1 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Not
2 directly out of that, but using the other
3 variety of federal and state funds, we continue
4 to upgrade Indiantown Gap. My goal is, in two
5 years, to have all the barracks that remain, 120
6 of them, completely renovated. So, if you come
7 in there in an emergency, you've got a decent
8 place to stay that has heating and air
9 conditioning in it.
10 We're also doing all the -- It will
11 probably take three or four years to do all the
12 dining facilities, because everything else -
13 everything there when I -- most of the
14 facilities when I got here were World War -
15 were brand-new as of World War II and hadn't
16 been touched since. So they were great in World
17 War II, but they need a lot of work, and we are
18 very actively engaged in that.
19 One last thing about Indiantown Gap;
20 during the emergencies of Sandy and Tropical
21 Storm Lee, we found ourselves thrust into the
22 role of running an intermediate staging base for
23 food and water distribution to communities in
24 the Commonwealth that needed that assistance;
25 usually for two weeks; sometimes 10 days. Page 42
1 So, we’re grading a parking lot and
2 building a -- part of our issue is to build
3 docks; the cross-docking docks that we can use
4 out on one of the range roads to make that
5 process flow even better. PEMA came up with the
6 idea; we’ve endorsed it, and it looks like
7 that’s gonna be coming a recurring mission for
8 us. So these improvements will allow that to
9 make things move quicker.
10 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: Thank you
11 for bringing that up. I complete (phonetic) to
12 say that; that the partnership with PEMA is
13 excellent, and you -
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: It is.
15 REPRESENTATIVE GINGRICH: -- never
16 know when that need’s gonna rise. So, thank
17 you.
18 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yeah, we
19 work with PEMA all the time, not only in
20 emergency, but during drills and developing
21 scenarios.
22 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
23 Representative O ’Brien.
24 REPRESENTATIVE O ’BRIEN: Thank you,
25 Mr. Chairman. Page 43
1 General, let me begin by thanking you,
2 as well as the women and men of the Guard, for
3 your service. God bless you.
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
5 You're welcome.
6 REPRESENTATIVE O'BRIEN: If
7 sequestration should happen on March the 1st,
8 where, we will still be in our budget period,
9 obviously, those who are in harm's way should be
10 taken care of first. But, we have a concern of
11 what you do in the case of domestic disasters.
12 If this should take place, what do you
13 see as the appropriate response from the
14 Commonwealth to assure that the Guard stands
15 ready when these national disasters occur?
16 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Very good
17 question. It is a concern, obviously.
18 Fortunately, the personnel accounts for the
19 uniformed members are not affected, so we will
20 maintain full strength; be able to maintain full
21 strength by numbers that I already have; all
22 19,300 of us.
23 The real question is the readiness of
24 the equipment. As I indicated, if the
25 furloughs, which are dictated by Secretary Page 44
1 Panetta, come about, there could be a day -
2 there will be a degradation in the amount of
3 aircraft that I can fly and wheeled vehicles I
4 can put on the street.
5 I think the plan that I ’ve discussed
6 with the Governor, which is, we’re gonna pay
7 back that bill by using a hiring freeze rather
8 than furlough, will mitigate that risk
9 tremendously, and I think that’s a correct way
10 to do it.
11 And I have real hope that the national
12 argument between General Grass, the chief of the
13 National Guard Bureau, and the Secretary of
14 Defense, which is, you can’t furlough nor lay
15 off our technicians because they are actually
16 military members that should not be part of
17 this. If they win that argument, then I can
18 tell you, we would not have any problem
19 responding. There will be no degradation at all
20 in our ability to respond.
21 REPRESENTATIVE O ’BRIEN: So, you feel
22 that, come September or October when our friends
23 in New Jersey get themselves in a pithole,
24 you’ll be able to help them?
25 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, sir, Page 45
1 I do.
2 REPRESENTATIVE O ’BRIEN: Thank you
3 very much, General.
4 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
5 Representative Oberlander.
6 REPRESENTATIVE OBERLANDER: Thank you,
7 Chairman.
8 Thank you, Major General. And I, too,
9 offer my sincere gratitude for the men and women
10 of the National Guard and the good job that you
11 do for us.
12 Given the challenges facing the
13 Pennsylvania National Guard, are you meeting
14 your recruitment objectives right now?
15 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes,
16 m a ’am, we are. I ’m proud to report that both
17 the Army and the Air Guard are over-strengthed.
18 We can -- We are confident we could even expand
19 our force even more if we were allowed to grow
20 our force structure. But, yes, recruiting and
21 retention is very good.
22 REPRESENTATIVE OBERLANDER: That’s
23 wonderful news. Do you believe that the
24 enhanced method offered, like, the bonuses, the
25 Family Relief Assistance efforts and the Page 46
1 Veterans Educational Assistance programs have
2 helped you with that recruitment effort?
3 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes,
4 m a ’am, very definitely, and especially for the
5 recruiting and the retention of the Guard
6 members using the Educational Assistance Program
7 where we pay a scholarship to basically pay for
8 the cost of tuition at a state university, and a
9 tremendous tool in recruiting. It allows us to
10 out-compete the active component, who does not
11 have that benefit, and allows us, then, to
12 encourage these young soldiers and Airmen who
13 take this benefit, they have to complete and
14 serve -- complete and serve well, and then they
15 attend -- go -- It’s paid to the Pennsylvania
16 State University, so there’s goodness to that.
17 And that, usually, also they graduate
18 while they’re still there to encourage them to
19 stay in the Guard and get a job in Pennsylvania,
20 and help the brain drain as well. But it is a
21 very powerful tool. And I thank this body and
22 the Senate for continuing that.
23 REPRESENTATIVE OBERLANDER: Thank you,
24 sir.
25 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you. Page 47
1 Representative Wheatley.
2 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Thank you,
3 Mr. Chairman.
4 Good morning, Major General. I also
5 want to join and say that the men and women of
6 our Armed Forces are outstanding and deserve all
7 of our accolades and support.
8 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
9 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: So I look
10 forward to supporting you and working with your
11 department, because it is very necessary and
12 very important for what we do here in the
13 Commonwealth.
14 With that being said, I ’m also
15 interested to learn more about what you and the
16 Department are doing as ways to supporting our
17 veterans, as well as our active servicemen and
18 women when they come home from deployment, or
19 have been here in our Commonwealth and they’re
20 struggling to meet day-to-day demands of life.
21 So, can you explain to me what are
22 available for our men and women, both our
23 veteran and our active-duty men and women, as
24 ways to supporting their growth, quality of life
25 once they come back to our Commonwealth? Page 48
1 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes,
2 Representative, I can. For the re-deploying
3 members of the Pennsylvania Guard, Army and Air,
4 we run what we call a Yellow Ribbon Program.
5 That has some 65 uniformed and contract members
6 spread out through all the state. We set up and
7 run family assistance centers at all the major
8 units when they're getting ready to deploy. We
9 work with them prior to deployment; work with
10 their families while they're deployed, and then
11 work to reintegrate them back into society and
12 their jobs when they come home.
13 It's very important to us. We have -
14 These centers are all over the state, so if
15 there's a problem with a family, they can just
16 go to this center, either physically or call in
17 or e-mail in, and get immediate help. They're a
18 one-source-fits-all. If you have a problem with
19 anything, call there.
20 They also support the Family Readiness
21 Groups, which are volunteered members of the
22 families of the deploying unit, which help
23 peer -- help each other as peers. Whether it's
24 something as simple as babysitting or a major
25 emergency, again, you've got somebody who's Page 49
1 sharing the same thing with you as well; same
2 experience, and that, we found, is very
3 powerful.
4 As far as the -- when they come home,
5 or veterans of other wars who are maybe not
6 Guard members, the Veterans’ Trust Fund and the
7 MFRAP, which is Military Family Relief
8 Appropriation, can provide emergency -
9 emergency money and services to somebody who
10 finds themself all of a sudden down and out.
11 They’ve run out of money, or they don’t have
12 money for rent. And if it’s due to military
13 employment, we can help with immediate cash out,
14 if that’s what will help them.
15 So, we maintain this. And we also,
16 then, when you get past that, we have a
17 resiliency program where we look at the long
18 term to be sure everyone reintegrates. If
19 you’ve been in infantry and exposed firsthand,
20 the hearts of combat or friends killed around
21 you is a lasting impression, and working long
22 term with these veterans through the Veterans’
23 Trust Fund and this host of organizations that
24 are throughout the Commonwealth. The Veterans’
25 Trust Fund can help them do their good work like Page 50
1 the Pennsylvania -- like the Philadelphia
2 Veteran Multi-Service Center. It’s an
3 outstanding example of this. We ’ve given them
4 some grants to continue their good work.
5 So we work with -- through all aspects
6 of state government and also communities and the
7 county directors, so we try to hit all aspects
8 of it to be sure no one drops through the
9 cracks.
10 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Thank you.
11 Do you think, from your opinion, or could you
12 advise us, are there things that we should be
13 doing more to support our veterans or our
14 returning active-duty men and women?
15 And I’m particularly concerned
16 because, as you know, with our current economic
17 condition, a lot of our veterans are making up
18 our rolls of our homeless. When we’re talking
19 about our food banks and support for working men
20 and women, we’re seeing growing numbers of
21 veterans, and even some active men and women,
22 families, that are needing that additional
23 support.
24 So, can you tell me or suggest to me
25 what we should be doing more to support our Page 51
1 military men and women?
2 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: That is a
3 concern as they return. We think continued
4 support of the Veterans' Trust Fund because we
5 can outreach and help people that way; continued
6 support of any employment initiatives, which
7 we're working with several agencies that I
8 mentioned before, like Employer Support of the
9 Guard and Reserve, all that will help
10 tremendously.
11 The support and the growth of
12 veterans' courts; we have 15 of them in 15
13 different counties. That helps a lot because
14 then they can intercede before someone really
15 gets into the criminal justice system and
16 becomes a chronic problem. That's a high
17 success rate. All those initiatives, I think,
18 are quite helpful.
19 So, continue the expansion or support
20 and funding for the Veterans' Trust Fund would
21 be a great way to start. And working with -
22 Philadelphia has got an excellent veterans'
23 court. I just met Judge Dugan just yesterday,
24 who's very big in that and very active in that.
25 So, other counties that don't have Page 52
1 veterans’ courts, I would encourage
2 consideration for that as well. It gets
3 somebody out of the criminal justice -- or gives
4 them a chance of not getting into the criminal
5 justice system, turning their lives around,
6 because it involves peer-on-peer counseling.
7 This veteran who did something stupid is talking
8 to other veterans who may have done that and
9 have turned their life around. So, that’s very
10 powerful.
11 REPRESENTATIVE WHEATLEY: Thank you,
12 Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Major General.
13 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: You’re
14 welcome. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
16 Representative Gordon Denlinger.
17 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: Thank you,
18 Mr. Chairman.
19 And, General, welcome. Good to have
20 you join us today.
21 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
22 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: I want to
23 echo the sentiment of appreciation for the fine
24 work of the Guard and your leadership,
25 particularly, and that of your team. So, we Page 53
1 appreciate all that you do.
2 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
3 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: Two areas
4 of question this morning. As we think about the
5 responsibilities of the Guard and deployments,
6 the future in terms of international conflict is
7 often centered in computer security and cyber
8 security. We see that playing out with rogue
9 nations and, particularly, some attempts to
10 develop nuclear arms programs.
11 Could you bring us up to date in your
12 efforts in that regard; what is expected of you
13 by DoD, and your interactions with them in
14 relation to developing a program of cyber
15 security and computer security?
16 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: An
17 excellent question. It is a definite threat.
18 Just down yesterday at the Adjutant General
19 Association, we were briefed by a four-star
20 general who runs Cyber Command, and that is a
21 growing concern and a big concern. Because not
22 only could it be a direct attack on DoD
23 networks, but also could attack our banking
24 network and, really, things we take for granted;
25 the power grid and so forth. Page 54
1 Right now the Pennsylvania National
2 Guard has only a very small network security
3 section that works up at Fort Indiantown Gap
4 that works to protect our own military network
5 here in the State of Pennsylvania.
6 The Air Guard is on record now of
7 asking for a cyber security squadron--Actually,
8 it's part of the 171st Air Refueling Wing in
9 Pittsburgh--to take advantage of the technology
10 experts that are in Carnegie Mellon University.
11 That is a matter of record. We've been asking
12 for that for two years because the Air Force
13 wants to get more and more into cyber
14 protection.
15 In addition, we have an initiative we
16 just started with the Army where we want to
17 build a cyber protection platoon, probably in
18 the Philadelphia area, to reach the expertise
19 that's found in the University of Pennsylvania
20 and Drexel University where we recruit people
21 for these groups, these units, and they would
22 first start and go to training for cyber
23 security; then potentially could even go into
24 cyber attack.
25 So, those are evolving. We don't have Page 55
1 them yet. We are protecting our own network.
2 We think it’s very important because, if they -
3 for the Department of Defense, if they can get
4 this distributed across all 54 states and
5 territories, it will raise the security measures
6 of our Internet considerably.
7 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: Very good.
8 And then another area of -- sort of developing
9 military technology, of course, is the use of
10 drones. And I ’m wondering, can you share with
11 us your interaction, again, with the
12 international theater on that plane; but also,
13 your understanding of your legal authority to
14 use drones within the Commonwealth of
15 Pennsylvania; whether you are currently doing
16 so, or is there a plan to do so in the future
17 and a time frame?
18 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Another
19 good question. Yes, we have been using, first,
20 the Raven, which is a small hand-held airplane;
21 wing span of about this long (demonstrating).
22 We ’ve been using that in Iraq for a number of
23 deployments, including the 56 Stryker Brigade’s
24 deployment. That has a range of -- a duration
25 of about an hour; a little cool thing; has a Page 56
1 small camera on board; an automatic downlink to
2 the ground control station.
3 We also fly those as training measures
4 at Fort Indiantown Gap, and we’re restricted to
5 Fort Indiantown Gap to what’s called the
6 controlled air space, which is the air space
7 right above the post. Because, obviously, a
8 drone aircraft can’t see other airplanes
9 approaching; and so, the FAA keeps us to there.
10 In addition, the 56 Stryker Brigade
11 and, really, now, the other two brigades in the
12 20th division are equipped with the Shadow,
13 which is a larger airplane; about a 12-foot wing
14 span, 11-foot length; six-hour duration; carries
15 two cameras. They’ve been used extensively in
16 Iraq. Two of our three platoons have been -
17 one platoon’s been over twice. The other
18 platoon’s been over once, and the third platoon
19 is just forming. Those airplanes are on the
20 ground at Fort Indiantown Gap, and we do fly
21 them for training at Fort Indiantown Gap in the
22 controlled air space.
23 And then finally, the initiative on
24 the Department of the Air Force to install an
25 MQ-9 Reaper, which is a much larger airplane; Page 57
1 probably double the size of the Shadow, and that
2 can be weaponized. It carries weapons. And
3 that’s -- We have a proposal, and it looks like
4 it’s going to happen, to be assigned to the
5 111th Air Wing in Willow Grove Naval Air
6 Station -- or Horsham Air Guard Station.
7 Now, this would be only the pilot part
8 that flies it. The airplane would not be there.
9 The airplane, there are some several dozen, as
10 they call them, orbits that are all over the
11 world; that we would be assigned one of these
12 orbits, and an airplane would be, wherever it
13 is--not in the United States--and it would be
14 orbited, and our pilots would fly it from a
15 ground-controlled station actually on the
16 grounds of Horsham Air Guard Station. So,
17 that’s really good news for us. It adds more
18 funding, more Air -- full-time Airmen to that
19 base and brings us into the 20th Century.
20 So, that’s a proposal. It hasn’t been
21 approved yet, but it looks like that’s going to
22 happen.
23 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: And then
24 the second part with regard to -- You explained
25 that you’re using drones for training purposes Page 58
1 over the Gap -
2 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right.
3 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: -- on the
4 property there. But going forward, plans for
5 use beyond that territory and the legalities of
6 that, could you -
7 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: We can
8 only fly them in controlled air space, so I
9 can't fly them off the grounds of Indiantown
10 Gap. That question came up last year, and the
11 only possible -- say, I could see, if there were
12 a major catastrophe involving either nuclear
13 chemical contaminants and we wanted to find out
14 what was going there, then I might get the
15 exception of the policy to allow to fly that
16 airplane, to fly it over if there was a city
17 that had been blown up by a bomb, an atomic
18 bomb, or something like that, and that's only my
19 conjecture. But at this point, I'm not allowed
20 to fly it over anything other than Indiantown
21 Gap, and we don't.
22 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: And
23 exceptions would be granted by the Department of
24 Defense?
25 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes. That Page 59
1 would have to come, probably, from the
2 President.
3 REPRESENTATIVE DENLINGER: Thank you.
4 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
5 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
6 Representative Dean.
7 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Good morning,
8 Major General. How are you?
9 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: M a ’am.
10 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Nice to see you
11 this morning. Thank you, too, for your service,
12 and thank you to all the veterans who are here.
13 We very much appreciate it.
14 I was wondering about the budget. You
15 spoken about this a little bit. I just want to
16 flush it out a little more. The final item with
17 the outreach, which shows an increase of
18 $700,000, 40 some percent increase, is that a
19 true increase or is that a consolidation from
20 another line item?
21 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No, m a ’am.
22 That is a continued increase. We asked for it
23 this year. And by moving money through the
24 Veterans’ Trust Fund, we were able to execute it
25 this year. And the budget you see for ’13-14 is Page 60
1 a true increase and a permanent increase.
2 It runs what we call Act 66, or our
3 Veterans’ Service Outreach Program, where we
4 employ members of the veterans’ service
5 organization; American Legion, VFWs, the Disable
6 American Vets, AMVETS, and so forth, and we pay
7 to employ. Right now we have about 34 of them.
8 And this will allow us to push it close to 50.
9 And these men and women are trained -
10 are given training on what federal benefits are
11 available for their members. And then they go
12 actively out there and act as counselors for
13 everybody; for all their members, looking for
14 federal benefits that are there for the taking.
15 We have found--over now, we’ve been
16 doing this for about four years--for every
17 dollar the state puts in, we get about $124 back
18 to an individual veteran. So, this 2.3-million-
19 dollar investment could conceivably be close to
20 $300 million returned; not to the State of
21 Pennsylvania, but to the veteran who needs the
22 help. We think it’s a tremendous program.
23 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Just accessing
24 help that is there that they wouldn’t otherwise
25 know about? Page 61
1 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right;
2 that they wouldn't know about. I mean, they
3 don't know how to go to the website, or
4 whatever; they're not aware of what benefits are
5 there, because there are plenty of benefits.
6 These VFOs do a great job. We think it's a
7 real -- We call it, in the military, a combat
8 multiplier.
9 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: That's great.
10 In your tenure, can you identify any changing
11 needs for the either international-returning vet
12 or the domestic-returning vet that you see that
13 the outreach also helps with?
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: The
15 outreach is vitally necessary if you've been
16 exposed to close combat. Let's face it.
17 Deployment away from home, even in a benign
18 theater -- We first started these deployments,
19 and we did security missions in Europe for six
20 months; not anywhere near as stressful as
21 deployment to Iraq where you're involved in
22 house-to-house combat, but it's still a stress
23 on the family. So, that has grown and added a
24 lot of stress.
25 So, we have grown in our outreach, in Page 62
1 our Yellow Ribbon. We’ve gotten a lot better
2 now. We deliberately now target every person
3 who comes home; sit them down and make them go
4 through a rather large questionnaire about how
5 they feel about themselves to see if there is
6 any potential PTSD that could be in the horizon.
7 We not only go beyond that -- And that
8 we’ve always done. We go beyond that and now
9 question their first-line supervisors, their
10 squad leaders, their platoon sergeants, their
11 platoon leaders; if Private Craig has been
12 acting strange; he’s withdrawn; anything that
13 would clue us into the -- maybe a potential
14 problem. Because, we have found that rapid or
15 quick medical treatment, even in theater, has
16 tremendous impact. So if we can identify the
17 problem earlier, then we act on it and usually
18 get a much quicker return, and also get someone
19 who can reintegrate a lot better.
20 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: And my final
21 question is, are you seeing any delay in
22 identifying a need and being able to give that
23 person, that service person, the kinds of
24 services; mental health services or other kinds
25 of stress services, needed for his family or her Page 63
1 family?
2 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: The mental
3 health piece has been evolving. And to be
4 honest with you, Representative, years ago and
5 early in this war, the military wasn’t all that
6 well-situated to deal with that. Never really
7 dealt with it much; we never really talked about
8 it.
9 There have been mental health problems
10 and PTSD since the Revolution. We just didn’t
11 talk about it much. Right now, the V.A. has
12 some 18,000 veterans who are under treatment
13 with diagnosed cases of some type of -- level of
14 PTSD. Only 4,400 of them, oddly enough, are
15 from OIF and OEF; Iraq and Afghanistan. All the
16 others are from Vietnam, Korea and World War II.
17 So, it’s been out there.
18 We’ve been really, thank goodness,
19 working in conjunction with people that’s, oddly
20 enough, like the NFL with the TBI, the trauma
21 brain injury, which can lead to PTS (sic).
22 We ’ve grown a lot in the last six years. So I ’m
23 really happy to see that. We need to continue
24 that; primarily a federal effort, but we need to
25 identify it at the local unit, which we’re Page 64
1 working very hard on.
2 REPRESENTATIVE DEAN: Okay. Thank you
3 very much for your work.
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: You’re
5 welcome, m a ’am.
6 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
7 Representative. I ’d like to acknowledge the
8 presence of Representative Sabatina,
9 Representative Curtis Thomas of Philadelphia,
10 and Representative Duane Milne of Chester
11 County. Representative Jeff Pyle has the next
12 question.
13 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Thank you,
14 Chairman. General, good to see you again.
15 Last year we moved some nice
16 legislation with the Veterans’ Trust Fund. I
17 have a question about the actual veterans
18 designation on the driver’s license. I know,
19 when we passed that, it was projected it was
20 going to take a little while to get it up and
21 running. I was wondering if PennDOT had given
22 you any kind of an update.
23 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: PennDOT is
24 working on that. Instead of a V, they’re
25 looking now at an American flag with the word Page 65
1 veteran under it, which I think is really great.
2 It looks super. Everyone has seen the mock of
3 that and really likes it. That's several months
4 away. They've been given, I think, 18 months, I
5 think, to do it. So, I've been giving them the
6 poke every once in a while. So, hopefully this
7 will be up fairly soon; hopefully, before the
8 end of this year.
9 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: I've got a lot
10 of guys back home that are really looking
11 forward to this. And, frankly, I think your
12 projection at the time that sales of these
13 license plates would take off was spot-on. I've
14 had a lot of inquiries; not by the veteran, but
15 by the family of the veteran that wants to buy
16 that as a gift for their loved one. And I think
17 that's -- that's gonna be very exciting for the
18 Veterans' Trust Fund in the future.
19 If you don't mind, I'd like to hearken
20 back just a minute to my good friend from
21 Lancaster's question; the use of unmanned aerial
22 surveillance in Pennsylvania. You said, right
23 now you are held to the air space over the Gap.
24 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right;
25 what's called controlled air space, yes. Page 66
1 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Do you have a
2 similar limitation in the Pittsburgh area with
3 the 911 Air wing?
4 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: I can’t
5 fly them anywhere in the State of Pennsylvania,
6 except over Fort Indiantown Gap.
7 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: No drug
8 interdiction, national -- or natural disaster
9 monitoring; nothing like that?
10 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No, sir.
11 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: So if we see one
12 of these things flying outside the Gap, that
13 means you got the order from somebody higher up
14 than all of us to go ahead and do it, right?
15 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, sir,
16 and that has not occurred.
17 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Okay. The
18 reason I ask; I was watching the news the other
19 day, which I rarely get to do anymore, and I see
20 seven states in the Gulf Coast are currently
21 experiencing civilian overflights using drone
22 aircraft. I believe they identified Alabama,
23 Louisiana, Texas, Florida and a few others.
24 I don’t want to be next is where I’m
25 going with this, General. But, if we are -- The Page 67
1 reason I ask about drug interdiction, the other
2 day we had the Attorney General here, and she
3 said that the flow of drugs from one specific
4 ethnic group was identified and virulent and
5 apparent. And I'm wondering, if we are going to
6 deploy these resources paid for out of our
7 taxpayers' dollars, just how far does the
8 application go?
9 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No. At
10 this point we have used our Counterdrug to fly
11 rotary-wing aircraft, looking primarily for
12 marijuana fields, and that's been ongoing for
13 several years now, and that's the OH-58
14 aircraft, which is a small, Vietnam-era,
15 four-bladed helicopter.
16 But there's no plan to use drones.
17 And I will tell you, flying drones outside of
18 controlled air space, because the drone can't
19 see where it's going. It has a camera looking
20 down on the ground.
21 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Right.
22 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: If there's
23 another airplane there, it doesn't know it. So
24 now you've got an air-borne airplane that's
25 flying blind. So the FAA is absolute in that, Page 68
1 saying you can’t do it until -- because of the
2 fact of -- to avoid mid-air collisions.
3 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Well, thank you
4 very much, General. Hey, by the way, guys from
5 the 110th and the 112th are best-in-the-world
6 civilians, patriot citizens.
7 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
8 REPRESENTATIVE PYLE: Thank you,
9 Chairman.
10 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you,
11 Representative. Chairman Markosek.
12 CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Thank you.
13 Major General, thank you again for
14 your service to our community and our state and
15 our country. I have one brief question that’s
16 relative to veterans’ homes. We ’ve heard a lot
17 about the potential for Medicaid expansion.
18 Does that affect the veterans’ homes’ patients
19 at all in any way?
20 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: There are
21 some that are eligible for Medicaid, and we’ve
22 experienced -- we’ve deliberately gone after
23 that to get more federal funding. So, at this
24 point, we’ve shown quite a growth, actually, in
25 that area with the amount of funding. Page 69
1 So, yes, it will have an impact. So,
2 growth in that or ability to find veterans that
3 are eligible for that will allow us to continue
4 to maintain our high rates of standard with not
5 quite so much state investment in it.
6 CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Okay. So there
7 are some. I know there’s been talk about the
8 so-called woodwork effect when all of this kicks
9 in first of the year 2014. A lot of folks are
10 going to show up and say, hey, I ’d like to
11 apply, and maybe they don’t -- they find out
12 they’re already eligible, and some of those
13 could be folks that use the services that you
14 provide, and that would be additional cost.
15 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, sir.
16 You’ll notice in that budget line it’s grown by
17 several thousand dollars two years ago to last
18 year, and now it’s really taken a jump of about
19 five thousand -- $5 million, excuse me, into
20 this year because, as we found, more and more
21 people are more eligible and didn’t even know
22 it.
23 CHAIRMAN MARKOSEK: Okay. Thank you.
24 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
25 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you. Page 70
1 Representative Grove.
2 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Thank you,
3 Major General. I appreciate your service, and
4 please extend our heartfelt thank you to the men
5 and women that serve with you.
6 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: I ’ll do
7 that.
8 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: I have a cold,
9 so -- And if you have any biohazard suits, let
10 me know. I could use one to not get my
11 colleagues sick either.
12 My question is about the home front.
13 Obviously, your Family Readiness Centers are
14 there to ensure that the family has support and
15 alleviate a huge burden for men and women
16 serving and make sure their families are taken
17 care of.
18 Will sequestration have any effect on
19 the funding of those centers?
20 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No,
21 Representative, they are not. The Family
22 Readiness, Family Support has all been excluded
23 from sequestration.
24 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: That’s
25 terrific. And we also have some line items Page 71
1 going into that as well. Obviously, the
2 Military Family Relief Assistance Program
3 checked off. Can you give us a status update on
4 that as well?
5 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes. That
6 fund has grown to about $900,000, so we’re amply
7 benefited there; ready to issue benefits.
8 We have found that act to be somewhat
9 restrictive, and we’ve -- working with the
10 legislature to see if we could make it a little
11 less restrictive so we could outreach and impact
12 more people, and we’d appreciate support in
13 that.
14 There are a number of things in there;
15 time things that make it very restrictive. If
16 the veteran doesn’t apply almost immediately, he
17 could be excluded right away. But, we have
18 ample funds. We still get funds in that from
19 the tax check-off, and it’s a great program. We
20 dispensed about $93,000 to some 32 veterans from
21 that fund last year.
22 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Great. I ’ll
23 make sure my constituents, when they come in
24 with PA-40s, make them aware of that.
25 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: We ’d Page 72
1 appreciate that. Thank you.
2 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Will do. Also,
3 the Veterans' Fund, is some of that money gonna
4 be used for Family Readiness as well; do you
5 foresee?
6 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: The
7 veterans' funds we'll put through to the
8 Veterans' Trust Fund and then to the Veterans
9 Foundation will be expanded on a grant-type
10 basis. So you have to have family groups, or
11 whatever, apply for a grant. We'll have them
12 set up a grant-writing season and then apply for
13 a grant. So, if they qualify for the grants,
14 yes, it is possible they could be used for that.
15 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Excellent. I
16 have met with my local Easter Seals chapter, and
17 they do a lot of outreach, specifically for the
18 children of deployed veterans. And, obviously,
19 Easter Seals specialize in also special needs
20 kids -
21 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Right.
22 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: -- which I
23 don't think a lot of private organizations
24 specialize in. So I'll have to turn them onto
25 that; that wonderful plan funding for them. Page 73
1 Thank you.
2 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
3 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
4 Representative Boback.
5 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: Thank you, Mr.
6 Chairman.
7 Thank you, Major General, for being
8 with us today. I understand that the National
9 Guard has a program with Counterdrug called the
10 National Guard Counterdrug Program. Is this
11 something under the guise of Homeland Security,
12 and do you coordinate your efforts with the
13 Pennsylvania State Police?
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes,
15 m a ’am, we do; with the Attorney General’s Office
16 and also the Pennsylvania State Police. Part of
17 the surveillance I discussed with the -- about
18 the helicopter looking for drug fields is part
19 of that program.
20 Unfortunately, that program has been
21 steadily eroded in the last several years by
22 budget cuts. It still is an existing program,
23 but it is probably about almost half -- less
24 than half of what it was several years ago.
25 It’s a good benefit. We also offer Page 74
1 free training for SWAT teams from counties and
2 local municipalities that don't have the
3 finances to do that. That's done at Fort
4 Indiantown Gap. That's all part of this as
5 well.
6 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: So do you feel
7 that an increase to that particular line item or
8 that part of the budget would be advantageous,
9 because you also take care of international?
10 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: We do. We
11 do international training, and we're looking at
12 potential lie detector training from several
13 other countries who come here and train here.
14 That is a federal program. So, yes, we would -
15 If you're writing to your counterparts down in
16 Washington D.C., Counterdrug is -- for a small
17 amount of investment, gives you a really good
18 buyback, that's for sure; a good payback.
19 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: National
20 security; I mean, it makes so much sense, and
21 I'm disappointed that the funding is not what we
22 feel it should be. But, okay, my counterpart
23 will hear from me. Thank you, sir.
24 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you,
25 ma'am. Appreciate that. Page 75
1 REPRESENTATIVE BOBACK: Thank you.
2 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
3 Representative O ’Neill.
4 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Thank you,
5 Mr. Chairman.
6 Welcome, Major General. Real quick;
7 just a few couple questions. I know the hour is
8 getting late. You said we’re the third largest
9 National Guard -
10 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: National
11 Guard in the country.
12 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Who are the
13 two?
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Texas and
15 California.
16 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Texas and
17 California. And we’re the first in deployment?
18 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes, sir.
19 First in percentage and also first in total
20 numbers.
21 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: And, can you
22 just give us a brief reason why we’re first
23 in -
24 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: We ’re the
25 best. Page 76
1 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Other than
2 that.
3 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: No. Quite
4 honest, we have -- we are organized with units
5 and equipment that are vital to the war fight.
6 Most of our force on the Army side are part of
7 the 20th Infantry Division. Every brigade has
8 been deployed at least once; some twice. Some
9 combat units are a premium.
10 In the Air Guard side, we have three
11 wings. One does special operations, which is
12 broadcast information operations. It’s the only
13 one in the Air Force; the entire Air Force, so
14 they’re gone -- have somebody gone all the time.
15 Air Refueling has mentioned before, at
16 the Pittsburgh Air Base, we’re ideally suited to
17 support the tanker bridge that goes across the
18 Atlantic. That keeps them busy all the time.
19 And the 111th Wing, who supply A-10s,
20 my favorite airplane, and Colonel Carrelli’s
21 because he used to -- he also commanded that
22 unit. They were huge in the Desert fight as
23 well. So, that’s the reason is the type of
24 units that we have.
25 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Okay, great. Page 77
1 Thank you. You had mentioned the Willow Grove
2 Naval Air Station earlier. I had the privilege
3 of being on a land use authority to close the
4 Johnsville Navy base, which, I could throw a
5 baseball from my house. So, I have a very close
6 interest in that since it butts up to my
7 district. And the housing for the Willow Grove
8 Navy Base is actually in my district and,
9 literally, almost across the street from me.
10 Can you just give us a quick update on
11 what is going on with the Willow Grove? You
12 don’t have to give a long -- because I know the
13 time is getting -
14 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: We will
15 maintain an enclave there. We have a 111th
16 Fighter Wing there. They’ve been remissioned
17 now. They will have this Reaper mission. They
18 have several other missions. We have a RED
19 HORSE, which is the Air Force engineers are
20 there as well. They’re going to be there for
21 the foreseeable future.
22 The headquarters of 56 Stryker Brigade
23 built a new armory, and they’re on the base.
24 The United States Army Reserve has also built a
25 large training center. So that enclave at the Page 78
1 north end of the base, about several hundred
2 acres, will be maintained. The rest of it, the
3 Navy actually is still there with a very small
4 presence and will fairly soon turn it over to
5 the Horsham Redevelopment Authority, which will
6 be all the Navy hangars, all the rest of the
7 base and the entire runway for reuse as Horsham
8 Redevelopment Authority sees fit.
9 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: So you
10 literally will be reconfiguring what is being
11 left to, you know, fence it off and -
12 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG:
13 Representative, that’s already been done.
14 REPRESENTATIVE O ’NEILL: Oh, it’s
15 already been done. Okay. I haven’t been over
16 there so -- Okay, great. Thank you.
17 And one real quick question, and I
18 don’t know if this was brought up earlier, about
19 your veterans assistance program; that
20 appropriation has been deleted. Could you just
21 explain real quick what that program does, and
22 is it going to be picked up somewhere else in
23 your budget?
24 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Yes.
25 We ’re picking that up with the Veterans’ Trust Page 79
1 Fund, so we figured it'd just be -- why have
2 several different programs when we can have just
3 one. So there's more money in the Veterans'
4 Trust Fund, and we'll pick it up and do it -
5 use that money to expense and cover -- those
6 veterans will be covered by that.
7 REPRESENTATIVE O'NEILL: Great. Thank
8 you very much and appreciate your service.
9 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: Thank you.
10 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you. The
11 Chair was very satisfied with your answer
12 regarding that the Pennsylvania National Guard
13 unit is the best.
14 So, with that, I want to thank Major
15 General for his testimony. But more
16 importantly, we want to thank you for your
17 service to the country and the residents of the
18 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And we will do
19 everything to honor your budget request.
20 PA ADJUTANT GENERAL CRAIG: I
21 appreciate that. And the thanks go to the
22 19,300 soldiers and Airmen; plus, the state
23 employees that run our six veterans' homes. So,
24 thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate
25 it. Page 80
1 CHAIRMAN ADOLPH: Thank you.
2 For the members, we will start the
3 next budget hearing with the state-related
4 universities at 11:20. Thank you.
5 (At 11:10 a.m., this public budget
6 hearing concluded).
7 * * * *
8 C E R T I F I C A T E 9
10 I, Karen J. Meister, Reporter, Notary Public, duly commissioned and qualified in and 11 for the County of York, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, hereby certify that the foregoing 12 is a true and accurate transcript, to the best of my ability, of my stenotype notes taken by me 13 and subsequently reduced to computer printout under my supervision, and that this copy is a 14 correct record of the same.
15 This certification does not apply to any reproduction of the same by any means unless 16 under my direct control and/or supervision.
17
18 Karen J. Meister - Reporter Notary Public 19 My commission expires 10/19/15 20
21
22
23
24
25