U.S. Army Spc. Scott D. Larousse, a forward observer with Gunfighter Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, CJTF-101, talks with Afghan children in the vicinity of Laka Tiza, Paktya Province...
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 9, 2016) -- "We're worried about our young Soldiers and non-commissioned officers. Many are living paycheck-to-paycheck, not contributing to the Thrift Savings Program," Lt. Gen. James C. McConville told a lawmaker, adding when they separate, they have no fallback plan.
McConville, deputy chief of staff for Personnel, Army G-1, and his counterparts from the other services, testified before a Senate Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on Personnel hearing, March 9.
About 85 percent of Soldiers are in the new retirement program, he continued. They will get some form of retirement. "If you max out your savings and put it in the TSP, you'll be way ahead." That's the message the Army needs to get out, he said.
Also, "we have some great noncommissioned officers who are serving 30 or 32 years doing hard work and we want to ensure they've got a good retirement" income as well, he added.
TRICARE
Are TRICARE costs soaring? a lawmaker asked.
"We need to look at savings every place we can, and TRICARE is one of those, to see where we can be more efficient and effective so we can continue to man, train and equip our force," McConville replied. There's simply "not enough money to go around."
COMBAT CARE
Combat care is the Army's No. 1 priority, said McConville, who commanded the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan on his previous assignment.
"We've got incredible medical providers" on and off the battlefield, he said. They are taking care of combat casualties, Soldiers, retirees and their families. "We have to work hard to maintain that high level of care."
SUICIDES
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology did a recent study for the Army on suicides, McConville said.
One of their findings was that "people don't commit suicide, they die of suicide, just as people don't commit heart disease, they die of heart disease." The implication being that it's a disease, not a choice.
"So we've got to ensure they get the care early on" and shift the culture. If they think there's a stigma attached, they won't seek help, he offered.
On a related note, McConville said that the MIT study included the period from 2003 to this year. At the beginning of the study, about 5 percent of Soldiers were using behavioral health care. That figure has since tripled.
The Army is also seeing the number of Soldiers with behavioral challenges declining. "The key for us was putting embedded behavioral health down at the brigade level so it's near the point of need," he said.
DRAWDOWN
A lawmaker told McConville that all of the DOD's combatant commanders have testified that the Army's drawdown to 450,000 from its current 482,000 poses great risk to the nation.
Asked if McConville agreed with that assessment, he agreed, but declined to elaborate further, saying that the Army chief of staff should be the person to answer that question.
Gen. Mark A. Milley "is taking a hard look at that," he said, adding, "I'm very concerned with that number [450,000 active]. I'm chief of personnel and I'm supposed to man the force. …
We're currently able to meet requirements, but we're stretched."
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