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of divorce rather than at the time of the servicemember’s retirement from service. State courts should be barred from requiring payments to start before the servicemember actually retires from active duty and from dividing VA disability compensation, which is the exclusive property of the servicemember. DoD has supported these and certain additional modifications of USFSPA requirements. MOAA continues to seek congressional sponsors and hearings for legislation to reform unfair USFSPA provisions.
Permanent ID card reform MOAA will seek to lower the age of eligibility (currently 75) for permanent ID cards for spouses and survivors.
Final retired pay for survivors Support legislation that authorizes payment of a full month’s retired pay for the month of the servicemember’s death. Under current law, a prorated portion is summarily recouped from the survivor. MOAA believes it’s wrong to impose such unexpected and insensitive financial penalties on survivors at what is already a traumatic time.
DIC continuation Seek authority to lower the age at which survivors in receipt of DIC retain this benefit upon remarriage from 57 to 55. Continuation of benefits on remarriage at age 55 is authorized for all other federal survivor programs, including SBP. DIC survivors deserve equal treatment.
TRICARE eligibility continuation Seek authority to restore TRICARE coverage to remarried SBP annuitants if the remarriage subsequently ends in death or divorce, just as the VA already restores the Civilian Health and Medical
Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs for survivors in similar situations whose original spouses died of service- connected causes.
Active and Reserve Force Issues
Operations and manpower Sustain military manpower levels needed to match service missions, ease deploy- ment rates, and improve quality of life, retention, and readiness. Current operat- ing tempos are easing, but budget-driven end-strength reductions might cut end strength too deep to meet national secu- rity interests. Adequate manpower levels and associated resources for recruiting, retention, training, and family support are essential.
Guard and Reserve retirement MOAA supports crediting all activated service toward early Guard/Reserve re- tirement. Under current law, only acti- vated service after Jan. 28, 2008, receives credit, denying eligibility for hundreds of thousands who served one or more com- bat tours between 2001 and 2008. Further, MOAA supports elimination of the current rule that bars credit for 90-day periods that span more than one fiscal year. Guard and Reserve families cannot be indefinitely burdened with irreconcilable tradeoffs between civilian employment, personal retirement planning, and family obligations absent fundamental reform of the 1940s reserve retirement system that was based on activations as an exception vice the norm in the 21st century. Opera- tional Reserve policy requires reservists to serve one of every five years on active duty, though many already have served multiple combat tours equal to active force deployment cycles. Regardless of reemployment protections, periodic long-
JANUARY 2015 MILITARY OFFICER 47
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