Introduction of the National Guard Technician Recruitment and Retention Act

INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL GUARD TECHNICIAN RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION ACT -- (Extensions of Remarks - July 08, 2008)

* Mr. COURTNEY. Madam Speaker, I am proud to introduce legislation today that will restore fairness for our military technicians, who work every day in Connecticut and across the Nation to support our National Guard.

* If the National Guard serves as the backbone of our military, then our military technicians serve as the backbone of our National Guard. They play a critical role in ensuring that our National Guard is ready to respond and deploy in support of military operations abroad by supporting the training, equipment repair and restoration, logistics and other critical functions.

* Military technicians are known as ``dual-status'' employees, through which they must retain membership in the Air or Army National Guard in their State in order to maintain full-time employment as a technician. Dual-status military technicians are subject to the restrictions of the Technician Act of 1969, 32 USC 709, and other provisions of the law under which they are specifically prohibited from receiving certain benefits and rights available to them as members of the National Guard, such as reenlistment bonuses and student loan repayment assistance. In addition, if a member of the National Guard becomes a technician within 6 months of receiving an enlistment or reenlistment bonus, the Department of Defense can, and often does, require them to pay back those bonuses.

* The law also fails to fairly compensate technicians for the increased overtime hours that technicians must work to fulfill their mission by providing technicians compensatory time, rather than monetary compensation, in return for overtime work. Many technicians cannot use the compensatory time without impacting time-sensitive military work schedules and, with the military's current ``use it or lose it'' policy under which such time is lost if unused within 21 pay cycles, many technicians face the prospect of losing the time off they have earned.

* Last summer, I had the chance to visit the 1109th Aviation Classification and Repair Depot, AVCRAD, in Groton and see first hand the work they were doing to support of our National Guard. There, nearly 300 military technicians provide maintenance and logistics for aircraft and equipment for 14 States across the northeast and supports Connecticut's fleet of Black Hawk helicopters. During my visit, the leadership of the unit described how busy the facility has been over the past several years. They've literally been burning the midnight oil in trying to keep up with the demand of keeping equipment repaired and ready to deploy. It's an incredible operation, and one that is just so important to our military serving in harm's way.

* Just recently, about 150 members of the AVCRAD--many of them military technicians--deployed just last week in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yet, as these technicians deploy abroad side by side with their fellow guardsmen, they are not treated equally because of their full time employment as a military technician. At a time when we rely on military technicians more than ever to ensure that our Armed Forces are ready to serve, I strongly believe that we must do more to support, recruit and retain both our skilled military technicians and dedicated members of the National Guard. We must update outdated 30-year-old laws to ensure that they adequately reflect the challenges and needs of today's military technician.

* The bill I am introducing today, the National Guard Technician Recruitment and Retention Act, would restore fairness for our National Guard technicians. The bill ensures that no military technician is denied the opportunity to receive an enlistment or reenlistment bonus for their service in the National Guard, that they are given the opportunity to participate in a student loan repayment program and are not required to repay bonuses they receive for their service in the National Guard if they accept a position as a military technician. And, the bill will repeal the overtime prohibition against overtime pay for National Guard technicians and instead provide for flexibility in overtime compensation by allowing military technicians to chose between compensatory time or overtime pay at one and a half times their basic rate of pay--whatever suits their individual situation and needs.

* Madam Speaker, if a military technician can train, serve and deploy as a member of the National Guard, I do not think it is too much for them to ask to keep the benefits they deserve for their service in the National Guard. With all we ask of them today, I simply disagree with the notion that a member of the National Guard has to give up the benefits they are entitled to because they chose to serve their Nation as a military technician. Military technicians are the ones that keep the National Guard ready to serve--and it is time that we serve them.

* I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important legislation.

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