Military Officer - April 2008 - (Page 36) washingtonscene month deployments to reduce stress on the force. Mullen stated the ground forces are not broken, but can break. Family support: Mullen said the budget proposes broadening federal hiring preferences for military spouses and expanding child care benefits. He also expressed interest in relaxing rules on transferring Montgomery GI Bill benefits. Wounded warriors: Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) discussed the cooperative efforts between the VA and DoD to streamline the transition of wounded warriors and solicited Gates’ thoughts of creating a permanent joint DoD/VA office. Gates said he’s “very open to this the bureaucracy should be the ally of the soldier, not the adversary.” duty or off active duty (inactive duty); I streamlining pay systems to allow smooth transition on and off active duty; (MOAA thinks this can be done without compromising the current compensation value of the traditional “2 for 1” base pay mechanism for reserve drill duty.) I improving family health coverage continuity by allowing a choice to have the government subsidize continuation of a private employer’s family coverage during activation; and I enhancing reserve retirement and Montgomery GI Bill benefits. Commission Chair Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, USMCR-Ret., told reporters, “There is an appalling gap in readiness for homeland defense.” He said 88 percent of National Guard units were “not ready,” primarily because they have not been adequately trained for homeland defense missions and lack the equipment and other resources to carry them out. Punaro chastised both DoD and the Department of Homeland Security for touting the “operational reserve” and taking inadequate steps to allow them to meet the demands placed on them. MOAA was surprised and disappointed the commission endorsed the proposals of last year’s Defense Advisory Committee on Military Compensation that would make major changes in the active duty retirement system, including requiring servicemembers to wait until age 57 or older to draw retired pay. A much more modest change enacted in 1986 had to be repealed in 1999 when the Joint Chiefs complained it was hurting career retention. MOAA is concerned such proposals don’t adequately address long-term sustainment requirements for decades of arduous service in the all-volunteer force. The ongoing 10th Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation will be looking at this issue in more detail. MOAA intends to ensure that any such proposals will Reserve Panel: Delay Regular Retired Pay In studying the Guard and Reserve, panel endorses active duty retirement overhaul. A fter two years’ study, public hearings, and scores of interviews, the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves has released its final report to Congress. The 11 commissioners and chair were appointed in a bipartisan process specified by Congress. The final report includes six major conclusions and 95 recommendations that address roles and missions, training, equipment, compensation and benefits, funding, and sustainability. The recommendations match many of MOAA’s recommendations to the commission, including: I increasing resources to secure enough manpower, equipment, and training to sustain “operational reserve” missions; I reducing the number of duty statuses from the current 29 to two — on active 36 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.