The Department of Defense announced today in a personal phone call from Undersecretary of Defense David Chu to Senator Norm Coleman that the Department will waive the current 60-day “hands-off policy” on a pilot basis for Minnesota National Guard troops returning home from combat. Importantly, the Department has also decided to fund Minnesota’s Beyond the Yellow Ribbon reintegration program at federal expense. Coleman, who first informed Secretary Gates of the need to rescind this policy earlier this year, has been working to ease the reintegration process for the 2,600 Minnesotans who recently returned home from serving in Iraq.

“With thousands of Minnesota Guard soldiers back home from Iraq, it is essential they have immediate access to valuable reintegration services,” said Coleman. “I have met with members of the 1/34th who recently returned home, and they have told me time and time again that adjusting to life as a civilian alongside their comrades is one of the most important components of the redeployment process. When I first informed Secretary Gates of the problems with the hands-off policy last month, he pledged to look into the issue and address the concerns I raised. Today’s decision to officially rescind the 60-day policy and fund reintegration initiatives for Minnesota troops is the right decision, and I applaud the Secretary and Undersecretary Chu for their quick response to this concern and their commitment to our troops returning home.”

Sen. Coleman’s efforts to repeal the 60-day hands off policy were sparked by a trip to Camp Ripley last month, where he met with members of the Minnesota National Guard who had returned from Iraq in 2005. At this meeting, the troops told Coleman of the importance of the reintegration program and the problems associated with the 60-day “hands off” policy. Coleman also met with returning members of the 1/34th at Fort McCoy who expressed similar concerns. In response to these visits, Coleman called Secretary Robert Gates on July 17th to urge him to rescind the policy for returning troops and to inform him of the effects the 60-day policy is having on these soldiers and their families.

In addition to this effort, Sen. Coleman is a co-author of the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program Act of 2007 with Senator Amy Klobuchar. Congressman John Kline has sponsored similar legislation in the House of Representatives. The bill is modeled after Minnesota’s successful Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program that provides informational events and activities to assist National Guard soldiers, families, and community members through all phases of their deployment cycle including pre and post deployment. Such events and activities include family and marriage counseling, financial planning and education, small business planning, community outreach, and healthcare and veterans benefits education. The bill also requires reintegration activity seminars 30, 60, and 90 days after soldiers return home to assist returning troops and their families with specific challenges presented by the reintegration process.