Contact: Josh Holly; 202.226.3988
Opening Statement of Congressman Todd Akin
Subcommittee Hearing on Achieving Operational Dental Readiness in the Reserve Components
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, released the following opening statement for the subcommittee’s hearing on achieving operational dental readiness for the Reserve components:
“Today’s hearing clearly demonstrates the value of our subcommittee and the good we can do for our men and women in uniform. At first glance, dental readiness may not seem to be a subject the Congress would focus on, and in fact, I’m not aware of previous hearings on this topic. Upon greater reflection though, all would conclude that dental readiness is a very timely and critical topic. Armies throughout history have suffered more casualties from sickness than from combat inflicted wounds, and today’s military forces are no exception. Indeed, medical and dental readiness are key components of insuring units are ready to deploy and effectively perform their missions in combat.
“Our witnesses are well grounded in the challenges of insuring members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force reserve components are dentally ready to deploy and in the effectiveness of Department of Defense and individual service approaches to this issue. I would not want to be in their shoes. I cannot imagine a more difficult job than theirs: find ways to entice relatively junior reserve component servicemembers, most on limited income, to undergo periodic dental examination and treatment with sometimes minimal reimbursement, so that they can deploy to Iraq for 12 to 15 months. Frankly, I’m surprised anyone goes to the dentist with a combat tour in Iraq as the reward for compliance.
“In reviewing your testimony, I understand that each component faces somewhat different obstacles and has chosen to manage the problem in different ways. I look forward to hearing about your programs and any recommendations you may have of how we in Congress can help to make your job easier and provide our reserve component men and women better dental health.”
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