..to listen to their son whine about being bored.

….to keep a straight face when people complain about potholes.

….to be tolerant of people who complain about the hassle of getting ready for work.

…to be understanding when a co-worker complains about a bad night’s sleep.

….to control their panic when someone tells them they needs to drive slower.

…..to be compassionate when a businessman expresses a fear of flying.

…to keep from laughing when anxious parents say they’re afraid to send their kids off to summer camp.

…..to keep from ridiculing someone who complains about hot weather.

….to control their frustration when a colleague gripes about their coffee being cold.

……to remain calm when their  daughter complains about having to walk the dog.

…..to just walk away when someone says they only get two weeks of vacation a year.

….to be forgiving when someone says how hard it is to have a new baby in the house.

The only thing harder than being a service member…..

Is loving one.

The Army announced last week that they were joining the Marines in suspending future tuition assistance program enrollments.  The Army move is likely to affect more than 201,000 soldiers and save the Army $373 million.  This amounts to what some in the DoD have referred to as a “rounding error” in the DoD’s annual budget.

Today the Coast Guard officially suspended TA for the remainder of FY2013. And, the Dayton Daily News is reporting that the Air Force may soon follow suit. According the article (posted on Military.com), Air Force officials said they will announce their decision this week.

To date, the Navy has not made an official announcement on the subject, but two weeks ago they were said to be leaning away from making the tuition assistance cuts. This is likely to change this week as the DoD has directed the service branches to “consider significant reductions in funding new tuition assistance applicants, effective immediately and for the duration of the fiscal year.”

According to some reports, some in Congress are planning to introduce legislation that would effectively block the services from suspending tuition assistance. The legislation may be introduced sometime this week.

In 2012, in evaluating 15 proposed VA leases that each exceed the $1 million threshold, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that Congressional rules require that funds to offset the entire 20-year prospective lease cost would need to be included either in the VA budget, or would be taken from funding of ongoing veterans programs—all in the first year of each lease.  CBO indicated this policy also would apply to renewals of existing VA leases. This CBO decision multiplied VA’s costs for these proposed 15 leases by 20-fold, for a total need of $1.2-$1.5 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2013.  Since funds of this magnitude could not be diverted from other VA accounts for this surprising new requirement and aren’t covered in the budget request that had been submitted to Congress, these 15 leases were dropped from further Congressional consideration last year.

In VA’s current planning, including 15 new community-based outpatient clinics located in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Louisiana (2 sites), Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Texas (2 sites), and South Carolina, VA also projects a need to lease or renew existing leases for 23 more community-based health care facilities through FY 2017 to provide care for more than 340,000 veterans across 22 states and US territories.

Unless CBO changes its policy or Congress acts to overturn this CBO decision with legislation or makes a change in House Rules in current funding policy, most if not all these leases are in jeopardy.  Veterans consequently will be denied access to VA health care in these locations.

Please use the prepared electronic letter provided in this alert, or write your own letter, to express to your Senators and Representatives your concerns about this unfair policy that will negatively impact availability of services to wounded, injured and ill veterans.  Unless a change is made, VA will be forced to buy land and construct government-owned clinics, or more likely will require veterans who need VA care to travel longer distances to receive it.  VA-built clinics would be more expensive, would take much longer to approve and activate, and would reduce VA’s flexibility to place and move facilities based on the changing needs of the veteran population.  Forcing veterans to unnecessarily travel for care would increase inconvenience and add additional costs.

As always, DAV appreciates your grassroots advocacy in the DAV Commander’s Action Network (DAV CAN) and your support for wounded, injured and ill veterans who need VA care.

TRICARE PRIME ROLLBACK

TRICARE Management Activity has a new online tool for retirees under age 65 and surviving spouses to verify if their Prime network will end Oct. 1, forcing them to use TRICARE Standard.
With the new fiscal year, managed care networks operating beyond 40 miles of military treatment facilities or base closure sites will be halted under next-generation TRICARE support contracts. The change, to impact 171,000 beneficiaries, is intended to cut TRICARE costs for taxpayers.
At the website http://www.tricare.mil/psazip, TRICARE users can type in their zip code and learn whether their Prime service area will exist after Sept. 30. They also can find contact information for contractors and can sign up for email alerts on additional changes planned to Prime service areas.
Of the three TRICARE regions in the United States, the South will be most heavily impacted by rollback of managed care networks. The contractor there, Humana, now offers Prime everywhere across Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (Fort Campbell area only), Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas (excluding the El Paso area). Effective Oct. 1, Humana’s networks will shrink to those within 40 miles of a military treatment facility or of a base-closing site.
In North Region, military managed care for under-65 retirees and survivors will end in these areas: Springfield, Mass. (into Connecticut); Kankakee, Ill.; Gary, Ind.; Auburn, Mich.; St Louis, Mo.; Charlotte, Greenville, Raleigh/Durham, Wilmington and Winston-Salem-Greensboro, N.C; Akron and Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pa. and Milwaukee, Wis.
In West Region, Prime networks will end in: Des Moines, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minn., Springfield, Mo.; Eugene, Medford, Portland and Salem, Ore.; Portland and Yakima, Wash, and the Outer Islands of Hawaii.

WASHINGTON — With automatic budget cuts looming in just over a week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday notified Congress of a plan to furlough nearly 800,000 civilian employees one day each week beginning in April.

Work days and pay will be cut if Congress does not find a way to avert budget cuts known as “sequestration,” which are scheduled to kick in March 1 and remove $500 billion from the Pentagon budget over the coming decade.

The furlough, which can legally begin 45 days after the notification to Congress, would save $4 billion to $5 billion, DOD Comptroller Robert Hale said Wednesday.

The threat of such deep cuts was instituted on Capitol Hill to spur a deal to rein in the federal deficit, but a bitterly divided Congress has been unable to work out a compromise across partisan lines.

Sequestration threatens to impact long-term military readiness by potentially cutting operations, training and weapons buys, commanders have said with increasing urgency in recent days. It threatens military and civilian DOD personnel as well, said Jessica L. Wright, acting undersecretary of personnel and readiness.

“The effects of sequestration and the continuing resolution on our military personnel will be devastating, but on our civilians it will be catastrophic,” she said.

DOD has little flexibility to head off the 20 percent pay cut and other effects civilians would have to endure under sequestration, Panetta told Pentagon employees in a written statement.

“We are doing everything possible to limit the worst effects on DOD personnel – but I regret that our flexibility within the law is extremely limited,” Panetta said. “As a result, should sequestration occur and continue for a substantial period, DOD will be forced to place the vast majority of its civilian workforce on administrative furlough.”

Pentagon officials said that if sequestration is not averted, they would notify civilians in late March of impending furloughs. Based on guidance from the Pentagon and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, here’s what sequestration could mean to hundreds of thousands of DOD employees worldwide:

Q: Who’s subject to furloughs?

A: All DOD civilians except for those deemed exempt for the protection of life or property, certain high-ranking political appointees and those whose pay come from sources other than Congressional appropriations. Thousands of DOD intelligence workers may be deemed exempt as well, a decision being mulled over by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Pentagon officials say.

Q: What about the troops?

A: By presidential order, military personnel are exempt from furloughs brought on by sequestration.

Q: I’m a civilian working downrange. Will I be furloughed?

A: No one working in war zones will be furloughed.

Q: When will furloughs start?

A: If sequestration is not averted, employees will begin losing one workday a week in late April, continuing through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, totaling 22 days.

Q: How do I know what days I’ll be furloughed?

A: Your bosses will make the call. Agencies and offices will schedule furlough days to create minimum impact on operations.

Q: How do I know if I’m an “essential employee”?

A: Unlike past planning for government shutdowns, no one is automatically deemed “essential.” Military branches and agencies must submit lists of proposed exempt workers who must stay on the job to preserve life or property by March 1. Pentagon leaders will make decisions soon after that. Individual employees will be notified of furloughs in April and have one week to appeal.

Q: What if I’m an emergency worker or first responder?

A: You might be furloughed. To save money, agencies will exempt the minimum number of staffers needed to protect life and property.

Q: What about my children’s teachers and school staff?

A: They are not exempt from furloughs. The Department of Defense Education Activity is scrambling to develop plans to prevent learning disruptions in potentially understaffed schools and to protect schools’ accreditation.

Q: How will the furlough affect my pay?

A: You will not be paid for furloughed days, and lost pay cannot be recouped, as it was after government shutdowns in the past.

Q: Will furloughs at DFAS hold up paychecks?

A: While employees at Defense Financing and Accounting Services can be furloughed, the Pentagon says the agency will continue processing pay as usual.

Q: What about leave accrual?

A: While working four days a week during the furlough period, you will accrue annual and sick leave more slowly than usual.

Q: Can I use accrued leave time on furlough days to prevent income loss?

A: No.

Q: Can I apply for unemployment compensation on furlough days?

A: Probably not. DOD worked out the one-day-a-week plan in part to prevent employees in any state from filing for unemployment, which comes out of DOD’s budget.

Q: How will this affect retirement contributions?

A: If you contribute a percentage of your pay, the same percentage will continue to be withheld, resulting in a smaller contribution. If you are in a Thrift Savings Plan and contribute a set dollar amount, the same amount will continue to be withheld. In either case, the employer match would continue as before.

Q: Do I lose health coverage on furlough days?

A: No. However, furloughs of some medical employees could cause delays and cancellations at military health facilities, particularly for civilians, because military members’ health care must remain unaffected by sequestration.

Q: As a DOD civilian working overseas, will housing or post allowances be cut?

A: No, there would be no effect until after 14 consecutive days of furlough, which won’t happen under the current plan.

Q: Will the furlough affect my Social Security work credits or eventual monthly payment at retirement?

A: It would probably not affect Social Security credits, because maximum yearly credits require less than $5,000 income to earn. But because Social Security retirement benefits are calculated based on yearly earnings, the furlough could have a marginal impact.

Q: Are there any tax deductions or credits to help furloughed government employees?

A: None at this time.

Q: What if I need to borrow from my retirement savings account to help make up for lost income?

A: DOD says it does not manage retirement accounts. Presumably, however, early withdrawals could result in penalties, unless, for example, they’re taken in the form of a 401k loan and paid back on time.

Q: I’ve got a project due. Can I telecommute on furlough days?

A: No, furloughed employees are forbidden from any work at all — even reading emails. During government shutdowns in the past, DOD collected gear like computers that could be used for work purposes, although it is not clear that would be done this year if furloughs are imposed. You and your boss will have to work it out.

FREE-FOR-ALL TOURNAMENT

Who:  Anyone registered for the Louisiana National Guard Annual State Conference.  If you paid for the Conference Registration or the Hospitality Night Registration, you are eligible to be a competitor in the HALO-4 Tournament.

When:  Saturday, March 9th, 2013 from 1830 – 2100 hrs.

Where:  Behind Paragon Casino Resort in RV area during Hospitality Night.  Slot 176.

Tournament will be played on 9′ x 16′ screens with JBL sound systems.  Prizes for 1st thru 4th place, and give-aways for all competitors.

HALO-4 Tournament Registration form must be received no later than March 5th.  Registration Form can be found here.

Don’t forget to buy your LANGEA Shirt for the Conference at our LANGEA Shop.

The electronic version of the magazine may be found by clicking here.

NGAUS Washington Report

(Feb. 12, 2013) Members of Congress in both chambers are planning to introduce legislation long supported by NGAUS that will give National Guardsmen proper credit toward retirement benefits.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., will join Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, as sponsors of bills that would overturn the current policy regarding early retirement credit for members of the reserve component.

The current policy from 2008 allows the minimum retirement age for reserve component members to be moved up three months for every 90 days they spend on overseas deployments.

However, all of those 90 days must fall within one fiscal year. If circumstances beyond the control of the reserve member cause those 90 days to cross into two fiscal years, no credit toward retirement is earned.

The legislation not yet introduced would correct this technicality.

“This is bad policy and unfair to the men and women who serve in harm’s way,” said Pete Duffy, the NGAUS acting legislative director. “Consistent with our longstanding resolution, we will push hard for this legislation to become law once it has been introduced.”

Duffy said NGAUS will distribute a Legislative Alert to association members once the bills are introduced.

The members of the Louisiana National Guard Enlisted Association are now able to choose the style of item they want from our LANGEA Apparel Store.  We have bags, hats, shirts, jackets, and accessories.  You can shop, purchase, track, and received your orders from the comfort of your home.

There are over a dozen Men’s shirts to choose from, there are sizes for the Ladies, and all of it comes embroidered with LANGEA in 1 of 3 different colored thread.  As we grow, we will modify items in the store, add some additional logo options, and even look at including your military rank on your items.

As you order, make sure that you are selecting the correct color item and the correct color logo when looking at your shopping cart before you purchase.  While the store will replace items that are damaged, they will not replace an order that was due to a mistake on the shoppers part (i.e. purchasing a black shirt with a black logo, when you meant to order a white shirt with a black logo).

However, we will do everything we can to ensure that you are satisfied with your purchase.  We have items in the store to fit everyone’s budget and taste, and that was the motivation for starting this project.

Don’t be Dumb……Get you Some!!!!

Click Here to start shopping!