 Mr. Chairman, it's a privilege for me to appear before you today, along with the membership and leadership of DAV, to present our recommendations for the coming year and to report our accomplishments. My personal story is a prime example of what DAV does. As a helicopter pilot, I log more than 2,800 flight hours and flew 25 combat missions before I was medically retired. I met a DAV member who took me in and transformed my life. DAV empowered me to get my education, care for my family, and continue to serve my fellow veterans. Before engaging in the substance of my report to you about DAV's work and our mission, I want to share some personal thoughts on being national commander in my guiding principle. DAV is a unique organization with a narrow focus on disabled veterans and their families. Behind wartime, disabled veterans are spouses, children, parents, and siblings who also served in sacrifice. When a veteran is wounded, that injury affects everyone around him or her. As national commander, I intend to intensify DAV's commitment to caregivers of all generation. These individuals not only share their lives with their injured loved ones, but in fact, they save the federal government vast sums of money. Currently, comprehensive caregiver benefits are only available to veterans injured after 9-11. That needs to change. We call on Congress to pass legislation to extend comprehensive family caregiver services and support to caregivers of all severely injured veterans. It's the right thing to do. Mr. Chairman, DAV's primary mission is providing free professional assistance, representing all veterans and their families in the VA claims process. This is accomplished by nearly 4,000 chapter, department, transition, and national service officers, including DAV accredited county veteran service officers. During 2015, more than 270 dedicated and highly trained DAV national service officers filed over 195,000 new claims for VA benefits and helped veterans obtain more than $4 billion in new and retroactive benefits. DAV also operates a fleet of 10 mobile service officers. That travels almost 105,000 miles last year to extend our service to local communities all over the country. I'm especially proud to highlight that more than 12,000 DAV and auxiliary volunteers provided more than 1.7 million hours of services, which saved taxpayers more than $39 million. Last year, DAV donated 111 vans to VA facilities, which helped transport over 600,000 veterans to VA healthcare appointments. Our national employment program helped over 26,000 individuals at 71 DAV sponsored job fairs with 2,000 employers in 40 cities. Mr. Chairman, I have highlighted a number of our core programs and services, but we offer many more. I'm proud of the real difference DAV makes for those who serve. While DAV volunteers are working hard to assist veterans in the VA medical centers across the nation, the healthcare system has been under intense scrutiny for most of the past two years. We acknowledge the need for change, and our members have passed a resolution calling for significant reforms. However, to our dismay, some groups and politicians have called for the VA to be significantly downsized or dismantled. While we know that many problems still exist in VA, this system is our greatest hope of keeping our promise to care for those who serve and their families. Our members rely on VA, we need VA, and we have earned VA. We want to ensure the future of the VA for the people in this room and future veterans who are needed. Unfortunately, there are a number of misleading ideas and proposals that sound good on the surface, but in our opinion would have devastating consequences of veterans converting VA from a robust, comprehensive, full-service healthcare system into a few centers of excellence would result in the closing of hundreds of medical centers and outpatient clinics. This would ultimately force hundreds of thousands of disabled veterans who rely on VA to travel further and wait longer for their care. Or, for example, another proposal would turn the VA healthcare system into an insurance program that no longer provides direct medical service for veterans. This would throw away all of the experience and expertise that VA doctors and researchers have amassed. We ask you to take a careful look at these and other simplistic proposals that may sound good on the surface, but if enacted, would weaken healthcare for the men and women who serve. In the coming weeks and months, DAV is launching a campaign to set the record straight. On these dangerous proposals, editors critical that veterans, the very people the VA was created to serve, have us say in the future of our healthcare system. Mr. Chairman, there's a better way to reform VA. We believe that the future for veterans' healthcare must include both a robust VA healthcare system and an integrated private sector component. We have put together a plan that has four pillars. First, restructure, consolidate, and integrate non-VA community care programs into the local network that creates new options close to home. Second, realign VA services to increase access to care, including urgent care for all enrolled veterans. Third, rebuild VA's internal capacity to provide timely, comprehensive, high-quality care. And fourth, reform VA's management and culture within transparency and real accountability. VA's new health reform plan that was sent to Congress is similar in many regards, and we look forward to working with VA and Congress to develop a plan that ensures veterans get the best healthcare when and where they need it. To be clear, we do not believe that simply increasing VA funding without making some significant reforms will lead to better health outcome for veterans. However, no VA reform plan has any chance of success unless sufficient resources are consistently provided. In closing, as national commander, it has been an honor and a highlight in my career to appear before you today to represent our great national institution, to demonstrate that DAV devotes resources to the most meaningful services for wartime injured veterans to present our legislative goals for 2016 and to share our concerns. I know that all of us in this room and all DAV and auxiliary members nationwide share a deep and abided respect for the brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our nation today, especially those in harm's way overseas. May God watch over them and keep them safe. Thank you.