McKinley Continues Fight for National Guard and Reserves
Press Release
Friday, the House adopted an amendment sponsored by Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) that would direct the Department of Defense to develop a user-friendly online calculator so that our Guard and Reserve fighting women and men can easily keep track of their active duty service that counts towards an early reserve retirement.
The "tour calculator" would specify early retirement credit authorized for each qualifying tour of active duty, as well as cumulative early reserve retirement credit authorized to date.
"Since September 11, 2001 nearly 885,000 Guard and Reserve have served on operational active duty," said Rep. McKinley. "Hundreds of thousands of Reserve and Guard have served on multiple deployments. That's why this legislation is badly needed."
Congress recognized their extraordinary sacrifice by passing legislation in 2008 that awards early reserve retirement credit for operational active duty service tours of 90 days or more in a fiscal year. However, a glitch in the law unfairly denies them some or all of that credit, and many don't know about it. A Reservist must serve those 90 days within a fiscal year or lose all of the credit.
For example, a National Guard aviator called up on August 1st for 120 days would get no credit for early retirement because the duty spans two fiscal years.
"I sponsored this amendment that would develop a user-friendly online calculator," said Rep. McKinley. "This is a start that gives our Guard and Reserve men and women full disclosure of service performed that will earn them early reserve retirement credit. These brave men and women that serve our country should not have to worry about their retirement because of a glitch in the system."
This amendment was included as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2013. Among other provisions, NDAA authorizes a 1.7% pay increase and extends bonuses and special pay for our men and women in uniform and also preserves Air National Guard aircraft and manpower and opens more opportunities for small businesses.
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