I wish to begin by congratulating the Secretary and the General for the performance of the men and women in the Air Force in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places around the world.

Time and time again, the extraordinary ability of our men and women in uniform and all the people who work to support them has been demonstrated.

It is a pleasure to join my colleague and friend Chairman Stevens as we begin this review.

I find that there are two elements involved in the development of a combat soldier. One is morale, naturally; and the other is the sense of belonging to a unit.

With all this, would you find that an active duty soldier fighting together with a Reserve soldier side by side, one getting full benefits, the other question mark, is not quite fair?

Does the administration have any exit plan for a time when we might be reducing these temporary forces?

I think the general view is that we will be able to ramp down our forces over time.

I encourage you to include us in the decision making process as you proceed.

Integration began in the Army. That is the first place. It was not the Interior Department or any other Department; it was the Army.

The following two words are ones that we hear quite often in the political arena: 'exit plan.'

However, these ongoing operations have strained our troops.