Q & A RESERVE AFFAIRS
Last year, DoD’s awards program culminated with the highest form of recognition bestowed on civilian employers, the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award. Each year, up to 15 recipients from private large and small and public-sector employers are recognized at a truly inspirational ceremony in Washington, D.C. I urge those who want more information on ESGR to please visit
www.esgr.mil and see the great things they provide to help those in need.
The VA reports more than four of 10 initial claims for service-connected disabilities come from returning Guard and Reserve members. There’s growing evidence reservists are getting lowballed on ratings for disabilities.
We understand one of the challenges here is that National Guard records, for instance, are not federal records under current policy, making it difficult to access them for medical and physical evaluation boards (MEBs and PEBs) conducted by the service branches. With continuing reliance on the Guard and Reserve expected for the indefinite future, what is DoD doing to ensure fair and equitable access to the MEBs/PEBs for members of the Guard and Reserve?
This is an important topic and has the attention of our senior leadership. We, in Reserve Affairs, monitor and report the disparities to those who can make the changes to the system and advocate for the reserve members to get their fair and equitable access to these boards. Internally, my staff regularly attends and participates in Joint Executive Committee and Health Executive Council meetings and other senior-level meetings here in the Pentagon to monitor progress.
Under DoD policy, reservists only can earn early reserve retirement credit for qualifying active duty in aggregates of 90 days performed within a fiscal year. A guard-member who begins a 90-day tour Aug. 1 and is released from active duty Oct. 31 gets no early retirement credit. An Air Force reservist who completes 89 days of qualifying active duty in one fiscal year and another 89 days in the following fiscal year also gets no early reserve retirement credit. Guard and Reserve members feel the policy unfairly denies them credit for honorable service in defense of the nation. Can you share your personal views on this issue and whether the department plans to propose any corrective legislation?
Legislative changes, specifically the changes to Title 10, USC, 12731(f ), to reduce the age for receipt of non-regular retirement pay began solely as a reward for contingency service. There were no associated force-management reasons or requirements for the reduction of the age for the start of non-regular retired pay.
When this change was enacted, the qualifying active service supporting contingency operations was expanded to include active duty for operational support, regardless if the active duty was supporting contingency operations. Along with the expanded definition of qualifying active service, certain limits to contain retirement costs and medical costs and to minimize the effects to force management were included, one of which was the “each aggregate of 90 days on which such person so performs in any fiscal year.”
We support any initiative by Congress to legislate further reductions in age for receipt of non-regular retired pay, so long as these changes do not create, or further support, any new or additional inequities of the benefit between members of the reserve components. Our goal is to promulgate policy that clearly states congressional and legislative intent.
52 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2013
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