WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS), Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, made the following remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the Subcommittee's hearing titled, “Diversity in Recruiting and Retention: Increasing Diversity in the Military – What the Military Services are Doing:”
"Thank you, Chairwoman Speier.
"I wish to welcome both of our panels to today’s hearing on diversity in the military.
"The strength of our military is our people. With rapidly evolving warfighting and technology, our national defense depends on the military services’ ability to recruit and retain qualified individuals with a wide array of skills necessary to keep pace with our adversaries.
"Given that only 29% of 17-24 year olds are eligible to serve in the military without a waiver, it is essential that the services do everything they can to increase the recruiting pool. After reading through the witnesses’ statements, it is evident that the services have vastly improved their efforts to recruit from a diverse population. For example, the makeup of the services has largely paced the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. population. In addition, the number of women in the military have steadily increased as well. The Chairwoman and I recently had the privilege of meeting with female Soldiers who are in combat arms MOSs at Joint Base Lewis McChord, and it is clear that the success of these groundbreaking troops is inspiring other young women who may not have otherwise thought about a military career.
"Despite the significant efforts made by the services, there are still areas for improvement. Specifically, the services must re-double their efforts to improve diversity among the officer corps. While women and minorities are represented in larger numbers than ever before, the services must look for new and innovative ways to improve recruiting and retention.
"With the recent opening of combat MOSs to women, I am very interested to hear from our witnesses today about how these additional opportunities for female service members may impact both recruiting in general, and particularly officer recruiting.
"It is also important that the services continue to strive for a diverse force in other areas. In addition to race and ethnic diversity, the services must also consider geographic diversity and diversity of experience.
"In an effort to meet end strength goals, the services often focus their recruiting efforts on the areas of the country that produce the most recruits. While this makes sense from an efficiency standpoint, it often means that certain parts of the country, particularly rural and inner city areas, are greatly under-represented in the military. I understand that the Army has recently increased its efforts to recruit in areas that were historically overlooked. I would like to hear from all of the services about their efforts to broaden the recruiting pool in this way.
"In addition, diversity of experience is crucial as the services continue to develop and employ new technology. Given increased demands in the fields of cyber and technology, the services may need to recruit individuals who are older and with more private sector experience. Recent reforms to DOPMA have given the services greater flexibility in this regard, and I look forward to hearing from the witnesses how they intend to use these authorities.
"Once again, I want to thank our witnesses for their many years of service and for being here today.
"Thank you and I yield back."