It’s not often that Congressional hearings are held in South Bend, but that was the case Friday.

The House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity wanted to see if there was room for improvement in the treatment of soldiers and their families.

There was a very good reason why today’s session was held on Hoosier soil. “We have over four thousand (soldiers) on the ground in Iraq right now its an amazing total from a state…” said Indiana Second District Congressman Joseph Donnelly. “You know, we’re not the size of Texas or Ohio or New York or California but we have more men and women serving right now in the guard in Iraq than any other state.”

Many of the Hoosiers who have served, have come and gone more than once.

Members of the panel simply wanted to know what that was like.

“My own experiences have not been great,” said Lori Massapollo, the wife of a reservist. “I think there's a lot of room for improvement.”

Lori’s husband has spent 42-of the last 79-months on active duty. Lori has often been left all alone in caring for the family’s five children.

“With Gary's deployments we have not received the services or support or outreach of the various groups that have service available,” she said.

The panel also heard some encouraging words. The Indiana National Guard claims to have made great strides in reaching out to returning soldiers and their families.

“In the last eight to nine months, we’ve actually grown from six staff to a total of 32 people,” said Major Cathy VanBree, the Director of Family Programs for the guard. “It’s all to provide resources to our service members and their families.

One common area of criticism centered on with health care.

It appears there are substantial problems with the TriCare insurance program.

“Providers often find that system very difficult to work with and frequently drop out of the program,” said Lori Massapollo. “You may have to change doctors and providers numerous times in order to continue treatment just because they drop out of the program.”

When asked how many times she had to change physicians during her husband’s four deployments, Massapollo said she didn’t know. When asked if she knew her present doctor’s name, she simply responded, “no, we’ve had to change numerous times, yes.”

Three U.S. Representatives presided over today’s hearing. They were Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota, U.S. Rep. John Boozman of Arkansas, and U.S. Rep. Joseph Donnelly of Indiana’s 2nd District.