[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 133 (Thursday, November 18, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       FLEET RESERVE ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY

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                          HON. WALTER B. JONES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 2004

  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, November 11, 2004 marked 
the 80th anniversary of the Fleet Reserve Association whose original 
charter was issued on that date in 1924 at Philadelphia, PA. Known by 
the acronym, FRA, the association is the oldest and largest 
professional military organization representing men and women serving 
in or retired from the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
  FRA grew out of a need for an organization to safeguard sailor's 
rights and benefits. The idea for organizing such an association 
stemmed from the earlier action of a small group of enlisted men, who 
pooled their monies in 1919, to send two senior enlisted Navy chiefs 
from their ranks to Washington, DC to represent their viewpoint on pay 
legislation then under consideration in the U.S. Congress. The result 
of their testimony was a substantial enlisted pay increase the 
following year. These two pioneers were the first enlisted persons ever 
to testify before a congressional committee.
  The Fleet Reserve Association derived its name from a program, the 
Fleet Naval Reserve, established by the Navy to separate sailors who 
had at least 16 or more years of active enlisted service but less than 
30 for retirement purposes. Sailors could return to civilian life, 
receive retainer pay (in lieu of retirement pay), and be subject to 
immediate recall to active duty by the Secretary of the Navy until 
their combined service equaled 30 years.
  FRA originally was formed in 1922. Its first successful endeavor 
occurred in 1923 when Congress overruled an unfavorable and inequitable 
judgment by the Comptroller General of the United States. The CG's 
decision had rejected the eligibility of certain enlisted personnel who 
had already transferred to the Fleet Naval Reserve and settled in the 
civilian community. The CG ruled that those holding commissions in WWI 
could not count their wartime commissioned or warrant service to 
qualify for transfer to the Fleet Naval Reserve. The FRA effort saved 
any number of enlisted sailors from returning to active duty to make up 
time served in the commissioned ranks.
  Since its inception, FRA has produced an enviable record of 
representing enlisted men and women of the Sea Services. In the 1930s, 
the Association authored two legislative proposals that were signed 
into law by then-President Herbert Hoover. One law banished a 
requirement that Fleet Reservists and other enlisted retirees pay 75 
cents for rations while hospitalized in government treatment 
facilities. The other authorized the payment of death gratuities to the 
estate of Fleet Reservists who perished while recalled to active duty. 
In 1937, an FRA proposal to authorize commissary privileges to military 
widows was enacted into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Two 
years later, FRA's efforts to restore reenlistment allowances (bonuses) 
succeed when the President signed the legislation into law.
  For the next five decades FRA racked up success after legislative 
success on behalf of its members and others, including all uniformed 
personnel of the armed services. Its ``Hospital Rights'' study led to 
the creation of the Civilian Health Program of the Uniformed Services 
(CHAMPUS) in 1966. Almost immediately thereafter, the Association 
financed a study of the military's survivor benefit program. The result 
of the study, entitled ``Widow's Equity,'' led Congress to the 1972 
adoption of the Uniformed Services Survivor Benefit Program (USSBP).
  In the late 1970s and early 1990s FRA concentrated on protecting the 
rights of its membership. Much of its work was devoted to preserving 
the status quo for many of the benefits available to military 
personnel. FRA shared a major role in defeating an overhaul of the 
uniformed services retirement system and the proposed unionization of 
the armed forces. It targeted the defeat of a proposed plan to phase 
out funding for military commissaries, petitioned Congress not to adopt 
the former spouses' protection act, and joined as a founding member of 
The Military Coalition leading to the repeal of the reductions in cost 
of living adjustments (COLA) for military retires and their survivors.

  FRA published a pay study in 1999 that led to a major victory in 
obtaining targeted pay hikes for mid-grade enlisted personnel in 2001. 
It also authored the first legislation introduced that eventually led 
to the repeal of the 1986 military retirement system (REDUX), and urged 
the Navy to authorize sea pay for junior enlisted personnel.
  In addition to its award-winning legislative advocacy work, the 
Association encourages participation in community activities wherever 
its 300-plus branches are located throughout the United States and 
overseas. FRA also conducts an annual scholarship program and awarded 
nearly $90,000 to deserving students in 2004. Its Americanism Essay 
Contest is highly successful awarding more than $75,000 to students 
each year. The Association also generously supports a number of 
recognition awards for outstanding uniformed personnel of the Navy, 
Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The Association is recognized by the 
Department of Veterans Affairs as a veterans' service organization, and 
employs a full time Veterans Service Officer who has the authority to 
assist any veteran in filing a claim or representing them before the 
Board of Veterans Appeals.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have been a part of the Association's 
efforts to serve the men and women of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast 
Guard. At the Association's request I introduced the first proposal in 
the House to repeal the military's REDUX retirement program, to provide 
a targeted pay increase for mid-career enlisted personnel, and an 
amendment to the Coast Guard authorization bill to authorize the 
Commandant of the Coast Guard to speak his mind before members of 
Congress in the same manner as that of the other service chiefs; all of 
which have been enacted in law. There are others issues related to both 
military personnel and veterans that FRA and I will continue to work, 
most of which I plan to sponsor again in the 109th Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend the Fleet Reserve Association for its eight 
decades of representing our men and women of the Navy, Marine Corps and 
Coast Guard. May its success in effectively serving active duty, 
reserve, and retired enlisted personnel, as well as those in the 
commissioned ranks, sustain the FRA through many more years of loyalty, 
protection, and service--not only to its members but to the U.S. Navy, 
the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard and the United States of America.

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