Liz Saville Roberts: “a few weeks ago I called the Senate's attention to several issues in the military that are contributing to problems in…”

“a few weeks ago I called the Senate's attention to several issues in the military that are contributing to problems in recruiting and retention of key, midcareer military personnel. Briefly, those issues were as follows: We are asking the military, significantly smaller than it was during the cold war, to operate and deploy much more frequently. We are asking the military to deploy on missions that may not be in the vital national interest of this Nation. We are not paying servicemen and women a salary that is comparable to the pay they could get outside the military for the same skills. We are not providing quality health care for the families of the military, and we have not provided the promised health care for the retired members of the military. We are not providing quality housing to all military families. And we are not providing a retirement program that is adequate to justify a career commitment to the arduous lifestyle and the difficult family separations that are necessary in military life. Mr. President, I rise today to offer legislation to address military retirement.”