Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I have just finished touring every single base in Texas--Army, Navy, Air Force--and I have talked to young enlisted…”

“I have just finished touring every single base in Texas--Army, Navy, Air Force--and I have talked to young enlisted people, young noncommissioned officers, recruits. I went to Lackland and I talked to people who are in their first month in the Air Force. I talked to these young people, as well as people all the way up and down the line, about their concerns. Of course, we know that we are having the biggest retention problem that we have had in the military for a long time. In fact, for every pilot we keep in the Air Force, we lose two. We are also looking at tough recruiting. We are looking for ways to say to our military personnel, we want you to come and be a part of our armed services because we are proud of the job that our armed services do; and we are saying to the experienced people in our military, we want you to stay because we need our experienced pilots and sailors and those who are on the ground. We need every one of you to stay in.”