As a veteran myself, I know the difficulties experienced by those transitioning to civilian life.

H.R. 3245, Congressman Jeff Denham (R-CA)--the 'Efficient Service for Veterans Act,' directs the Secretaries of the VA and Defense to jointly ensure that the Vet Centers of the VA have access to the Defense Personnel Record Image Retrieval…

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before this Subcommittee, and I yield the balance of my time.

I strongly believe that the professional staff and counselors at Vet Centers should be given the same tools to serve our veterans.

This bill would provide Vet Centers with one additional tool to serve our veterans: the ability to search in the electronic database base of DD-214 records.

I have got to tell you, as a guy who has only been here 14 months, thank God some of us are here now.

It is my intention to work with the ranking member to produce a guidance letter from this committee that would spell out an expectation.

When you worked for Senator Obama, I am sure your Chief of Staff told you, 'No surprises for the Senator,' right?

As your Representative, I have heard time and time again from veterans and families in our community about the important work being done by the Central Valley's Vet Centers.

Now more than ever we must be vigilant about safeguarding the health and mental well-being of our servicemembers and veterans.

Vet Centers are a vital home front support system for our veterans and their families.

as you stated in the opening remarks, Congressman Denham

Gentlemen, I am so grateful to each of you for taking time out of your busy lives to be here with us this afternoon to share your stories and expertise.

It's an immense honor to represent you and all the citizens of California's 19th District.

Given the level of veteran unemployment that we have right now, nationally we're above eight percent unemployment.

I think the military men and women that are leaving active-duty have a greater awareness that PTSD is real.

We know there's a huge problem that's out there, how do we address today's problem for the future?

This is an American issue and we're both very committed to that. We have to find a solution for that.