We are trying and we are making some headway, but again, it is these little things.

if we fail to invest adequately in our soldiers, that is where we fail, that is where we have the vulnerabilities.

I think would be a strategic critical error.

Last year you testified that the Air National Guard makes up 30 percent of our Nation's Space Force capacity.

if we don't take care of our people, if we don't give them predictability, those decades of experience that they have, that will take decades to replace, they are going to vote with their feet, and they are going to do something else.

In the fiscal year 2025 budget, Air Force is acquiring less fighters than originally projected six less F-35s, six less F-15EXs than originally planned.

I think would be a strategic critical error.

The United States is an Arctic nation, and of course, this is a strategically important region to us.

We are appreciative and grateful. We recognize, so many of us recognize just the role of our Reserve Forces.

I need to know and I'd like your commitment, Admiral, that the Navy as the contract agent for this effort is proactively supporting the Coast Guard and their acquisition of additional icebreakers.

I think that tight coupling is where when the dollars get big there needs to be a service partner identified in advance before the money gets too big.

Thank you all for being here and your focus on what we need to be doing better when it comes to accelerating in the acquisition space.

What is really going to cost us is when these people vote with their feet, when they leave, and then we lose that experience that we have invested in them.

Thank you for being here, thank you for your leadership.

I need to know and I'd like your commitment, Admiral, that the Navy as the contract agent for this effort is proactively supporting the Coast Guard and their acquisition of additional icebreakers.

So, let me ask a question about the expansion of research and the modernization funding in OSD.

Count me amongst those that are worried about our shipbuilding capacity and our infrastructure.

more than 50 percent said they would not transfer to the Active Duty Space Force.