Darlene Hooley: “with four in 10 members of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan serving in the Reserve component, it is clear that our…”

“with four in 10 members of the military in Iraq and Afghanistan serving in the Reserve component, it is clear that our National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve, but an operational reserve. And as such, we must change the way we treat the Guard if we want to maintain recruitment and retention because it is the right and fair thing to do. After 5 years of mobilization, both involuntary and voluntary, our National Guardsmen are still navigating the system that was intended for use by the active duty rather than our current nearly even blend of Reserve and active components. My amendment to H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warriors Act, is simple. It allows members of the National Guard and Reserve who are returning from theater with minor injuries or other outpatient care needs the option to seek treatment at the military medical treatment facility closest to the member's home rather than closest to the base from which the member was deployed. When an active duty soldier with certain injuries comes back to the United States, he gets treated at the medical facility closest at his home base where his family lives. But for Oregon Guardsmen and Reservists and soldiers from about a dozen other States that have no bases, our troops must remain for weeks at the base they deployed from for follow-up care. These can be hundreds or even thousands of miles away from home and family.”