Military Officer - January 2007 - (Page 40)

washingtonscene assumed these servicemembers would be infrequently called up only for short tours of duty and could pursue a fulltime civilian career with a full civilian retirement. Today’s “operational reserve” policy requires reservists to serve 18 months on extended active duty out of every six years. Many will be activated even more frequently for the foreseeable future. This makes it more difﬁcult to sustain a full civilian career and build a full civilian retirement. Regardless of statutory protections, periodic long-term absences from the civilian workplace can only limit these servicemembers’ upward mobility and employability in the civilian workforce, as well as their personal ﬁnancial security. What’s the Election’s Impact? ■ MOAA works hard to in quality-of-life and family programs that have been used to pay for operations and maintenance shortfalls or other service needs. Further cuts to support programs place families at greater risk of not being able to address personal family issues, thus affecting retention and readiness. MOAA also supports incentives for civilian and government employers and contractors to hire military spouses. Guard/Reserve employment issues Strengthen ﬁnancial, legal, and reemployment protections for mobilized Guard and Reserve forces. In addition to strains on servicemembers, repeated deployments of Selected Reserve servicemembers place signiﬁcant strains on their employers. MOAA also supports tax incentives for employers to hire Guard and Reserve servicemembers and to help sustain their business operations during periods of mobilization. Pay-raise comparability Continue recent progress toward restoring military pay comparability with the private sector. For most of the 1980s and ’90s, the executive and legislative branches capped military pay raises below those of the private sector. As a result, the pay gap grew as large as 13.5 percent, causing a retention and readiness crisis. Subsequently, executive and legislative branch leaders have worked to improve military pay, but a 4-percent gap still remains. MOAA lauds the substantial progress made so far in this important area, but the remaining pay gap needs to be erased, especially in view of the grossly disproportionate sacriﬁces imposed on our currently serving forces. gain bipartisan support for our issues, so some top Democrats are among our agenda proponents. The election outcome may also free Republicans whose support has been limited by political considerations. We take at face value both parties’ leaders’ statements that they’ll work together to achieve progress. Travel card billing Fix the billing system for ofﬁcial travel credit cards that now holds individual servicemembers responsible 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 servicemember’s unit or to the ﬁnance center, and the servicemember should be held harmless for any late payments. Family support Fully fund family support centers and programs to assist the families of deployed and mobilized personnel, especially those who don’t reside near military installations. Additional programs are needed to help military families cope with the many stresses associated with frequent and protracted separations. Cuts should be reversed 40 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2007 GI Bill benefits Tie active duty beneﬁts to the cost of a four-year public college education and reconcile beneﬁt levels for Guard and Reserve servicemembers with service

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - January 2007

Military Officer - January 2007 Contents From the Editor From the Chairman Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: Osprey Rising? Battlefields of the Great War I Resolve ... New Mission Pages of History Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Scholarship Donors MOAA Member Services MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps Member Books Encore

Military Officer - January 2007

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