Veterans Affairs committee  Well, we're always the best. Isn't that right?

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, sir. I've done many comparative studies of various countries, particularly the U.K., Denmark, Ukraine, and Israel. In the U.K.—and I'm sure you guys have a version of this, depending on the military occupational specialty—if someone is a heavy equipment operator in the British army, they can't operate that equipment on base until they're licensed by the civilian credentialing body.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. We have to work every day to destigmatize post-traumatic stress and what the media and, unfortunately, our own Department of Veterans Affairs have misreported for the last several years. Veterans are not dangerous employees. They won't bring this to the workplace. In fact, 98% of us are ready to go to work the day we step off the base into the community that we return to.

Veterans Affairs committee  That's an interesting question. Initially, a lot of what the media and the VA and Congress reported was that veterans are broken and need mental health services when they return. All of our data shows that this is not the case. We need to prevent mental health issues—with employment, connection to social activities, family services, and volunteering in our communities, giving us a mission and a purpose when we have that loss of identity when we take off the uniform.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, sir. We actually partnered with our regional chamber of commerce and our economic development corporation to use the same branding they deploy to companies and to workers all over the United States and the world to engage them and attract them to come to Houston. At the end of the day, when they transition out of military service, veterans are what our Department of Labor refers to as displaced workers.

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't know if there is much empirical evidence that shows the effectiveness of some of these animals, especially with equine therapy. I haven't seen that, but I haven't done a ton of research on it. As I said, I'm more on the employment side of the equation; I'm not a mental health expert by any means.

Veterans Affairs committee  Unfortunately, we do have a skills gap. In many different cases, the military doesn't provide credentials according to civilian standards. The only real cases that exist are for lawyers and medical doctors, which we all know are jobs that probably account for less than 2% of the total active force.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, sir. Thank you for doing that. That is one of the best ways that our community identified early on in 2008. It was shortly after the scandals at Walter Reed, which were very apparent in the media, that former mayor White and county judge Ed Emmett got together and created the returning veterans initiative.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. When a veteran is referred to a different organization you can actually see that. If my organization, which provides employment services, makes a referral to one of your organizations that provides veteran benefit services, we can actually see that referral move along and progress through the status updates in the system, so that we know they're being....

Veterans Affairs committee  All three branches of VA, most importantly, the health administration, which we want all of our veterans to enrol in so they have access to good health care; the benefits administration to help execute that; and, God forbid, the cemetery administration, which most of us hope we don't need for quite a while....

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely, and we firmly believe, as you do, that you have to support the family unit, especially in that sometimes difficult transition from military to civilian life when they're coming from different places all over the country, or even the world, to a large community like Houston that doesn't have a military base.

Veterans Affairs committee  We started with a small group, a brain trust so to speak, of six organizations that really identified the need to collaborate more effectively. At that time, during the Obama administration, we were facing large-scale reductions in force. We thought we would see almost double the number of service members coming into our communities, so we needed to prepare ourselves.

Veterans Affairs committee  Absolutely. That's a great question, and this will also help to answer the previous question. We actually engaged KPMG, which of course is a top-five consulting firm globally. They wanted to be a part of what we were doing here. They're a local veterans affinity group, so all the veterans who work at KPMG in their consulting vertical wanted to be a part of this.

Veterans Affairs committee  There is basically a corrective action provided by the backbone staff. We have five full-time staff members who work for Combined Arms. It really functions as a chamber of commerce, so to speak, for these organizations. If they don't accept the corrective action, then the board can take immediate action to remove them from the system.

Veterans Affairs committee  We're capturing what category of service they're requesting. Typically, one in three veterans comes through the system looking for career transition, which I think is obviously the most important part. If we can prevent unemployment, we can prevent substance abuse, family challenges, homelessness, criminal behaviour, and suicide, most importantly.