Military Officer - March 2009 - (Page 32) washingtonscene likelihood that higher fees will deter beneficiaries from seeking needed care. Are we saying you shouldn’t be concerned? Definitely not. For one thing, the director of the Office of Management and Budget for President Obama previously was the head of the CBO — the congressional agency that prepared the budget options list. It was unknown as this column was being written what the new president might put in his first budget proposal to Congress — expected sometime this spring. We’ve not seen a specific indication at this point that the new administration will share the perspective of the last one that more costs ought to be shifted to DoD and VA beneficiaries. But there’s certainly no guarantee the new budget won’t include any such proposals. What we are confident of — whether this year’s budget proposes any of these or other benefit cutbacks or not — is that it’s only a matter of time before the attacks will come again. With the nation in such a deep economic funk and skyrocketing annual budget deficits as far as the eye can see, every area of the national budget will be coming under scrutiny for possible cutbacks. With the nation at war, there remains considerable sensitivity in Congress to imposing additional penalties on the military and veterans community that already has borne such a disproportional share of the nation’s wartime sacrifice. But once those wartime headlines start to fade, watch out. In the meantime, if you didn’t already sign and mail the tear-out letters to congressional leaders located at pages 32 and 40 in the February issue of Military Officer, we strongly recommend you do so now. If you don’t have your February magazine handy, you can visit MOAA’s Web site at www.moaa.org/tearoutletters to print new copies. 32 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2009 Reserve Early Retirement Update New rules have pros and cons. I n January, the Pentagon issued draft regulations to implement a new law that reduced the retirement age for guardmembers and reservists who complete qualifying active duty service — including most active duty for training in 2008 or subsequent years. Under the new rules, each qualifying cumulative 90 days of active duty or active duty for training since Jan. 28, 2008 (the date of the law change) will generate a three-month reduction in the age (normally age 60), at which the servicemember qualifies for Reserve retired pay. Reservists with enough qualifying active duty time could retire as early as age 50 under the law. The bad news is that the law and implementation guidelines impose various restrictions that could keep some active duty service from qualifying. One key limitation is that any given 90 days of cumulative active duty service will qualify only if it is completed within a single fiscal year. For example: I Captain Ace, USAFR, was activated July 1, 2008, for 120 days, leaving active service Oct. 31, 2008. He’ll get credit for the 90 days in FY 2008 but will have to perform at least an additional 60 days to get any retirement age credit for FY 2009. I Sergeant 1st Class Striker, ARNG, was activated Feb. 1, 2008, on 12-month orders. Upon completion of his active duty service, he will have served 240 days of qualifying service in FY 2008 and 120 days in FY 2009. For reduced retirement age purposes, he’ll get 180 days’ credit for FY 2008 and 90 days’ credit for FY http://www.moaa.org/tearoutletters
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