From NGAUS:
Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, is seeking support among his colleagues for a section of the fiscal 2015 Senate Armed Services Committee defense bill that would provide National Guardsmen with an easier path toward an earlier retirement. He is requesting that his colleagues sign a letter to Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asking them to support the Senate bill’s language when the chambers come together for the conference process. McKeon and Smith are the chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.
At issue is the current law reducing the retirement age for Guardsmen by three months for every 90 days they spend in an overseas contingency or national emergency. However, to qualify, those 90 days must take place in one fiscal year.
If the 90-day period of service falls in two fiscal years, it does not count toward an earlier retirement.
A section of the Senate Armed Services Committee version of the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act would authorize the early retirement if those 90 days fall across two fiscal years.
“This would allow a narrowly targeted reduction in the reserve retirement age at a fraction of the long term costs associated with other retirement reform proposals,” reads the letter Latham is asking his colleagues to sign.
NGAUS wants its members to tell their representatives to sign Latham’s letter.
Pete Duffy, the NGAUS legislative director, said, “The current law is wrong. It means some Guardsmen do not benefit from the law’s intent despite their service overseas or in a national emergency. We support Mr. Latham’s effort to ensure this important change becomes law.”
