'It Shouldn't Happen': Dick Durbin Denounces Partisanship In Military Branches

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At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned military officials about partisanship in the military.

Transcript

00:00All right, Senator Durbin, and then Senator Hovind.

00:07Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the panel for being with us today.

00:10There's one aspect of the United States military, which is not unique, but is noteworthy, that I have always marveled at.

00:20And that is the efforts made to prepare the men and women who serve in your various branches for battle and for service,

00:28which include not only your training, obvious training, but civic education as well.

00:35But all of our branches of the service have been careful to draw the line when it comes to partisanship and political involvement.

00:44And I would say with the time I've been involved in public life, very few exceptions.

00:49Men and women in the military do not display partisan feelings when it comes to politics in America.

00:57This side of the table is largely political animals.

01:02That side, particularly those in uniform, we expect to be somewhat down the middle of the road,

01:07not involved in any partisan identification activity.

01:11General Smith, am I right in that observation?

01:16Senator, you are. We are apolitical by nature.

01:19Why is that important?

01:20Well, it's important to our Constitution because we support the commander-in-chief, whoever he or she may be.

01:25Admiral Kilby?

01:28I concur.

01:30Secretary Phelan?

01:33I concur.

01:34I'm glad.

01:36I hope that we...

01:37I had dinner Saturday night with a friend who had been in the military for over 30 years,

01:43and he said his greatest fear was evidence he's seen of partisan activity in the uniformed military.

01:50I hope that doesn't happen.

01:51I hope that doesn't happen.

01:52It shouldn't happen.

01:54It shouldn't favor my party, their party, any party in that regard.

01:58I'd like to say a word or have you say a word about the quarter deck of the Navy,

02:04which is what we characterize Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

02:07It's the only boot camp and primary surface warfare specialty training center in the United States.

02:13And in the state of Illinois, we are damn proud of it.

02:16I think one of the things that I'm concerned about is quality of life, always.

02:20I can recall speaking to a chief petty officer who was transferred from Virginia to Illinois

02:28and asked him how his family liked Great Lakes, and he said, I didn't bring my family.

02:33I left my family behind in Virginia.

02:36I said, why?

02:37He said, because the schools here are not that good for Navy families.

02:40I think that's changed because that observation was made many years ago.

02:44But I'd ask you, Mr. Secretary, when it comes to quality of life, what efforts are you making?

02:51What efforts should I be making to address any quality of life issues for those who are part of Great Lakes?

03:00Thank you, Senator, for the question.

03:02Obviously, an important one to you and one of my top priorities as well, as I mentioned in my opening statement.

03:08You know, I continue to visit as many infrastructure bases as I can.

03:14And I am examining a number of different things.

03:18One, some of the private management of our infrastructure and bases.

03:24I'm still trying to understand how that economic model works and what exactly are we paying for.

03:30To be honest, I was in Guam and driving by a set of barracks in Guam.

03:37I saw a perfectly manicured golf course, and I saw buildings which I thought were condemned,

03:43which actually had sailors and Marines in there.

03:47So I stopped, went into the barracks, went into two different unaccompanied housing barracks

03:53with mold all over the place, a bathroom that was beyond words.

04:01I instructed the admiral there to have these, our sailors and Marines, out of those barracks within five days or ten days

04:12because I had just toured a brand new barracks that we had built

04:15that was apparently going to take four to five months to be inspected and cleared for them to move in,

04:21and yet it looked perfectly fine to me.

04:24So I will guarantee you we are going to change the quality of life.

04:29We have initiated with the Navy a full review of the barracks.

04:33The Marines did that last year, and we are beginning to initiate changes on that.

04:38I've heard the complaint you talked about, about families not being, when you have two service members,

04:44one being deployed, being sent somewhere else from the other.

04:47We are going to try to fix that because it is a key to our retention, is their quality of life.

04:53I would just say, just a few seconds remaining,

04:56what you just described in Guam is similar to a situation we're facing at Great Lakes.

05:01One of the privatized military housing communities set empty because 70% of its units were condemned and unlivable.

05:10Imagine that.

05:12It strikes my heart to think that the men and women who might have occupied that would be in those circumstances.

05:18We can't let that happen.

05:19When it comes to access to education, it is one of the highest priorities of all families,

05:24including Navy families and Marine families.

05:26So it's my priority, too.

05:28Sir, it's appalling, and we are going to fix it.

05:31I want to help.

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