Military Officer - January 2006 - (Page 40)

washingtonscene members’ Civil Relief Act must be further strengthened in recognition of the increased activation tempo of the Guard and Reserve forces. ble for paying these bills, even when the ﬁnance center fails to make timely payments or the member is deployed on contingency operations. The current system makes members pay interest penalties and incur credit damage because of circumstances imposed by the government. Expense account bills in the private sector go to the employer, not the employee. Travel card bills should go to the member’s unit or to the ﬁnance center, and the member should be held harmless for any late payments. Pay-raise comparability MOAA wants to accelerate recent progress toward restoring military pay comparability with the private sector. For most of the past two decades, Congress capped military pay raises below those of the private sector. As a result, the pay gap grew as large as 13.5 percent, accompanied by a retention and readiness crisis. Subsequently, executive and legislative branch leaders have worked to improve military pay, but a 4.4 percent gap still remains as of January 2006. MOAA lauds the executive and legislative branches for their substantial progress in this important area, but the remaining pay gap must be erased. PCS reimbursements MOAA will continue pursuing adjustment of permanent change-of-station (PCS) reimbursements to offset expenses servicemembers incur in conjunction with government-ordered relocations. The FY 2002 Defense Authorization Act provided the ﬁrst update to some of these allowances since 1986, including increases in en route per diem and the maximum daily temporary lodging expense allowance. But that was four years ago, and PCS reimbursements still fall far short of the average cost of military moves. More should be done to restore the principle that it’s the government’s responsibility, not the servicemember’s, to pay the cost of military-directed moves. Budget Crunch Ahead? ■ As deficits rise and Family support funding MOAA will seek additional funds for Guard and Reserve family support centers assisting families of mobilized personnel, especially those who don’t reside near military installations. MOAA also seeks to authorize more programs to assist all military families coping with stresses associated with frequent and protracted family separations. budgets tighten, “budget hawks” have greater incentives to seek benefit cutbacks. As we seek continued progress, we also must be on the alert to protect the major improvements we have won in recent years. Premium conversion/ﬂexible spending account MOAA will continue to pursue DoD implementation of premium conversion and ﬂexible spending accounts for active duty and Selected Reserve members. These initiatives will allow members to pay out-ofpocket health and dependent care expenses and government health and dental insurance premiums on a pretax basis — as is already authorized for all civilian employees. GI Bill benefits MOAA supports legislation to establish a “21st century Montgomery GI Bill (MGIB)” for active and reserve forces. Basic beneﬁts should be benchmarked to the average cost of attending a four-year public college. Senior career servicemembers who entered service between 1977 and 1984 but declined to enroll in the VEAP educational beneﬁts program of that era should be offered a onetime opportunity to enroll in the MGIB. There is a particular need to increase Reserve GI Bill beneﬁts, which now provide only 28 percent of basic beneﬁts — versus the benchmark of 47 percent set in 1984 when the MGIB was ﬁrst authorized. In- Travel card billing MOAA will ﬁght to ﬁx the billing system for ofﬁcial travel credit cards that now holds individual servicemembers responsi40 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2006

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Contents Features Departments From the Editor Chairman's Page Board of Directors Nominations Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Member Books Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: On the Edge Storm Stories Our Brilliant, Bloody Future eXtreme Seniors Pages of History Information Exchange MOAA Scholarship Donors Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - January 2006

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