110 HR 3449 IH: Guard and Reserve Early Retirement Act U.S. House of Representatives 2007-08-03 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3449 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 3, 2007 Mr. Wilson of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide eligibility for reduced non-regular service military retired pay before age 60, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Guard and Reserve Early Retirement Act of 2007.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)Members of the Active Components of the United States Military Services are eligible for an immediate annuity upon attaining twenty years of creditable service. (2)Members of the Reserve Components must wait to receive their annuity until age 60. (3)Over the last 15 years, the contributions in support of Active Duty missions by both the Guard and the Reserve have increased substantially. (4)During the Global War on Terrorism Reserve Component members have gone into harms way and fought alongside members of the Active Duty. (5)These contributions have been made under various forms of active duty orders, including Active Duty for Training (ADT), Active Duty for Special Work (ADSW), Presidential Recall, and Partial Mobilization. Only a subset of mobilization orders is being credited as being in support of contingency operation. (6)Further contributions have been made to Active Duty commands within the United States during consecutive periods of Inactive Duty Training (IDT) and Annual Training (AT). (7)Additionally, both enlisted and officers within the Reserve Component are required for promotion to complete professional training and/or Joint Professional Military Education (JPME), often by taking non-paid correspondence or on-line Distant Learning courses for only inactive duty points, while Active Duty are often sent on Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) to complete such courses. Currently there is no mechanism in place to compensate National Guard and Reserve Component soldiers for required professional courses. (8)Active Duty does not differentiate between stateside or deployed duty when earning creditable duty toward retirement at 20 years. (9)As defined by section 12733 of title 10, United States Code, RC members earn one inactive duty point toward retirement for each Reserve training drill. They can also earn one active duty point for every day of active duty performed. An Active Duty year is measured as 360 points. Professional courses are assigned inactive duty points. (10)Members of the Guard and Reserve understand the point system. (11)A minimum of 50 points is required for a creditable service year. (12)Basing a Reserve Component retirement system on the accumulation of retirement points would remove differentiation of duty, clarify eligibility, and by using an appropriately structured matrix would encourage volunteerism and retention.

3.

Eligibility for retired pay for nonregular service

(a)

Age and service requirements

Subsection (a) of section 12731 of title 10, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: (a)(1)Except as provided in subsection (c), a person is entitled, upon application, to retired pay computed under section 12739 of this title, if the person— (A)satisfies one of the combinations of requirements for minimum age and minimum number of years of creditable service (computed under section 12732 of this title) that are specified in the table in paragraph (2); (B)performed the last six years of qualifying service while a member of any category named in section 12732(a)(1) of this title, but not while a member of a regular component, the Fleet Reserve, or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve, except that in the case of a person who completed 20 years of service computed under section 12732 of this title before October 5, 1994, the number of years of qualifying service under this subparagraph shall be eight; and (C)is not entitled, under any other provision of law, to retired pay from an armed force or retainer pay as a member of the Fleet Reserve or the Fleet Marine Corps Reserve. (2)The combinations of minimum age and minimum earned points (as defined under section 12732 of this title) required of a person under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) for entitlement to retired pay as provided in such paragraph are as follows: Age, in years, is at least:The minimum earned points required for that age is: 554500 564225 573950 583675 593400 601000 . (b)

20-Year letter

Subsection (d) of such section is amended by striking the years of service required for eligibility for retired pay under this chapter in the first sentence and inserting 20 years of service computed under section 12732 of this title.

4.

Continuation of age 60 as minimum age for eligibility of nonregular service retirees for health care

Section 1074(b) of title 10, United States Code, is amended— (1)by inserting (1) after (b); and (2)by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

5.

Effective date and applicability

This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the first day of the first month that begins no more than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to retired pay payable for that month and subsequent months. (2)Paragraph (1) does not apply to a member or former member entitled to retired pay for non-regular service under chapter 1223 of this title who is under 60 years of age. .