operations, and mr. john pendleton, director of defense for structure and readiness issues at the government accountability office. i'd like to take a moment to recognize family members who lost loved ones in the fitzgerald and mccain collisions who are here with us today as our honored guests. from the fitzgerald, eric rooem, the wife of chief petty officer gary reem. steven ritzco and show know douglas parents and brother of petty officer third class shingo douglas. senior chief petty officer victor and carmen shah boy yn -- sa buyian, and they're son luke. parents and growth of petty officer first class carlosvictor sa buy on. wayne and nikki rigsby, father and stepmother of seaman dakota rigsby. darryl martin, chief -- father of petty officer first class xavier martin. and from the mccain, jennifer simon, wife of petty officer first class kevin bushel, and his mother karen bushel, along with her wife anne shane. rachel economiels, mother of metty officer secretary class timothy ekels, teresa and austin palmer, mother and brother of petty office every second class logan palmer.

have with us admiral bill moran, rear admiral robert boxall, and mr. john pendleton, the director of the structure issues of the u.s. accountability office. i will now turn to the congresswoman for any remarks she may have. >> thank you for agreeing to convene this hearing on navy readiness, particularly with the seventh fleet operations in the indo-pacific region. we recently returned from japan, and saw the damage to the uss fitzgerald firsthand. thank you to our witnesses for joining us today. i appreciated our meeting earlier this week, and i look forward to continuing our discussion. mr. pendleton, thank you as well for your time and work on this subject, as it is critical in our mission on this committee. the recent mishaps resulted not only in significant damage to the vessels, but also the tragic, tragic loss of life of 17 american sailors. earlier in the year, we saw two additional mishaps, avoidable, as i understand it, also involving surface ships assign todassigned to the seventh fleet. and investigations are still ongoing, with reviews of surface fleet operations, i'm in

and mr. pendleton, we all appreciate the government accountability office for independent professionalism. particularly important to me personally, i have a son serving in the u.s. navy and your recommendations are so important for the health and safety and protection of the people. additionally, i particularly appreciate that a report was presented as a report to the congressional on june the 14th, which highlighted the issues of readiness just four days before the fitzgerald incident. so your efforts just could not and your organization's efforts could not be more timely and they're greatly appreciated by all of us. provided by the training group and the cruisers and destroyers in japan. and the 15 report from 7% expired to 37% expired in june of this year. again, in the month of the incident. mr. pendleton, can you explain the short trend of the training certifications sent your report or the gao's observations and what's happening with the forward deployed forces. >> we updated the information and preparation for this hearing and not been back out to talk to the fleet