America's Airmen continue to deliver.

Remarks to the House Appropriations Committee Military Quality of Life and Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee, Washington, Feb. 4, 2009

Mr. Chairman, Congressman Wamp, Congressman Young, members of the committee--thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today about issues important to America's Airmen and our Air Force.

I'm honored to be here alongside my fellow warriors as we collaborate on quality of life issues impacting all our servicemembers and their families.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of this committee and the entire House of Representatives for your incredible support. Your Air Force appreciates greatly the expansion of pay, health care and retirement benefits for servicemembers and veterans, and the visits by House Members to our personnel in the field and to our wounded warriors.

Thank you also Mr. Chairman and committee members for recommending additional Air Force infrastructure funding in the House Appropriations Committee's Economic Stimulus package. Quality facilities and services directly impact our mission and retention efforts, so we especially appreciate this recommendation to invest in our future.

Mr. Chairman, we also thank you for your continued sponsorship of the Military Child College Affordability Act, in which states offer resident rate college tuition to our military families.

Recently our Air Force had some challenges in our nuclear enterprise. We learned we needed to improve in many areas. Under the leadership of our Secretary and Chief of Staff, we have met those challenges head on to ensure we have the right focus.

We stood up the Air Force Global Strike Command-provisional to handle our nuclear missions. We now have the right organizational emphasis as we steward this very important national resource.

America's Airmen continue to deliver outstanding capabilities to the battlefield. In the War on Terrorism, more than 208,000 Total Force Airmen are engaged in this Joint and Coalition fight. We are supporting daily operations in the air, on the ground, in space and cyberspace.

We are filling Joint Expeditionary Taskings, formerly known as "In-lieu of" taskings, where our deployed Airmen work alongside Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen on missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe.

We are also focused on cyberspace, unmanned aircraft systems and United States Africa Command.

Security of cyberspace is of grave importance not only to our Air Force, but also to our Joint partners and our nation. Security of the nation's net-centric information architecture requires more than DoD emphasis, so we are committed to working transparently with our interagency partners as well.

Our unmanned aircraft systems are directly supporting warfighters on the ground. Air Force Predators, Reapers and Global Hawks are finding, fixing, tracking and attacking our enemies. The intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance capabilities these systems provide are critical to battlefield operations. We have increased from 12 UAS combat air patrols in 2007 to 33 today.

To further support U.S. Africa Command, we have a new numbered Air Force, 17th Air Force. We are gearing up to support the extensive airlift requirements of the new command, as well as humanitarian assistance, security cooperation, improved air safety and security, and assisting our African partners with their efforts in these areas.

We are constantly expanding care for our wounded warriors. Our Warrior and Survivor Care Program cares for our Airmen and their families through treatment, recovery, and into the post-separation period. We are also working with our Joint partners on a Special Monthly Compensation which will assist the families of catastrophically wounded servicemembers toward maintaining financial balance while their loved one is recovering. This compensation is intended to help family caregivers in meeting recurring monthly expenses such as rent, credit card and car payments while they are at the bedside.

Our recruiting efforts continue to be successful, despite the decreasing eligibility pool due to increases in the nation-wide high school drop-out rate, a more obese youth population, and other reasons. We met our 2008 recruiting goals, and are on track this year to meet recruiting goals in all three areas of our Total Force--Active Duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.

We have experienced a few decreases in our retention numbers. In fiscal year 2008, overall active duty Air Force retention rates finished slightly below annual goals, while Guard and Reserve officer and enlisted rates met or exceeded their retention goals. Although overall active duty retention is trending slightly upward for fiscal year 2009, some of our critical and stressed specialties continue to experience significant shortfalls.

We continue to use selective reenlistment bonuses and quality of service initiatives to resolve these shortages. We appreciate continued Congressional support for these incentive efforts.

Child care continues to be important to our Airmen and their families. With the current economic situation, many of our spouses must work to supplement the family income. We have made good progress in providing affordable child care, and we will continue these efforts. Right now we have need for about 1,900 child care spaces, and would like to cut that to zero.

Thank you all again for your continued support of your Air Force. On behalf of America's Airmen, thank you for this opportunity to testify here today.

I look forward to your questions.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley