[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17395-17396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     PROUDLY RESTORING OFFICERS OF PRIOR ENLISTMENT RETIREMENT ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss 
the Proudly Restoring Officers of Prior Enlistment Retirement, or 
PROPER, Act legislation that I will be introducing this week that will 
support America's

[[Page 17396]]

involuntarily separated servicemembers.
  For the first time since the 1990s, the Army is shrinking. As our 
military continues to draw down in the Middle East, all service 
branches have been tasked with making difficult force reduction 
decisions.
  Our All-Volunteer service has made considerable sacrifices, valiantly 
fighting two concurrent wars while solely remaining dedicated to the 
mission at hand.
  As the Pentagon continues to implement a drawdown policy, provisions 
in the law could create unwarranted and unnecessary reductions to 
military retirement pay for thousands of involuntarily separated 
servicemembers.
  Mr. Speaker, these men and women have honorably served our country 
and deserve better. For example, some prior enlisted soldiers who 
received a commission into the officer corps are now facing a difficult 
situation. Years after being commissioned, the Army has made the 
determination to relieve these experienced soldiers from military 
service.
  To make the situation worse, many of these individuals do not have 
the required time in the officer corps and are forced to receive a 
lesser retirement pension. Mr. Speaker, after having earned an 
officer's rank, these soldiers have been reduced in rank for retirement 
purposes.
  Mr. Speaker, our soldiers have honorably served our country and 
deserve better. These men and women deserve to collect full pension and 
benefits equivalent to their service in uniform and not subjected to an 
arbitrary reduction in rank and pay after being involuntarily separated 
from the military.
  To prevent this injustice, I will soon be introducing the Proudly 
Restoring Officers of Prior Enlistment Retirement, or PROPER, Act. The 
PROPER Act does not prevent further troop reduction. It merely assures 
these soldiers and those affected, through each military branch, can be 
made financially whole with due respect for their service.

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