Update on TRICARE for "Gray Area" Retirees
6/8/10 - NAUS met with TRICARE Management Activity Deputy Director RADM Christine Hunter, USN. RADM Hunter assured NAUS that DoD is on track to begin the new “Gray Area” TRICARE benefit approved in last year’s defense authorization bill by October 1, 2010. Once implemented, this program will allow Guard and Reserve retirees under age 60 the opportunity to purchase TRICARE Standard individual or family coverage at a premium equal to the full cost of coverage to DoD. NAUS has been pressing Congress and the Defense Department to move forward on developing the regulations needed to implement the expansion of TRICARE to gray area retirees for months.

National Military & Veterans Alliance Complains About Delays in Expansion of TRICARE to "Gray Area" Retirees
12/4/09 - After hearing from officials at the Defense Department Health Affairs that it could take more than a year to effect expansion of TRICARE eligibility to "gray area" retirees, NAUS, which co-chairs the Alliance, signed off on letters to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees urging them to take steps to ensure DoD acts quicker. Read letter to House, Senate.

California Names First Female General
8/19/09 - The California Army National Guard is naming a woman to be a brigadier general for the first time in its history. Col Charlotte Miller, 50, is a 30-year veteran of the Guard. She has commanded several California National Guard units, including units in Benicia and San Lorenzo. Currently, she is the assistant adjutant general of the division in Sacramento.

Extra Pay for Involuntary Extensions
5/20/09 - The House has approved $734 million in payments for troops held under what has been described as a “back-door draft;” active and reserve or National Guard servicemembers who had their deployments abroad involuntarily extended. The servicemembers would get $500 for every month their enlistment was involuntarily extended. The funding was part of the $96 billion supplemental spending bill that passed the House and will pay for ongoing military activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq.

Programs Help Guardsmen & Reservists Find Jobs
A new transition assistance program to help members of the National Guard and Reserve, and veterans, find jobs has been launched by the Department of Defense. It is called TurboTAP - www.TurboTAP.org. National Guard and Reserve personnel can access employment information, build a resume on-line, do a job search, contact their local One-stop Career Center for employ-ment assistance, and more. The Small Business Admin-istration also launched "Patriot Express," a program that helps veterans open their own businesses. It is available to veterans, reservists and National Guard members, their spouses, surviving spouses of service-members who die on active duty, and spouses of veterans who die from a service-connected disability. Learn more at: www.sba.gov/patriotexpress.

NAUS President Discusses Role of National Guard Troops on Border with DHS Secretary
7/22/10 - At a breakfast meeting, NAUS President Bill Matz asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the expected role(s) of National Guard troops deployed to the US/Mexico border, making it clear that they need to have a well-defined mission.

No Change in Eligibilty for Lower Retirement Age
12/09 - The effort to change the active duty service date eligibility back to 9/11/2001 for the earlier retirement age for Guard and Reserve personnel enacted in 2008 did not succeed. Bills were introduced in both the House (H.R. 208) and Senate (S. 644), but were not incorporated into the 2010 NDAA as was hoped. The FY2008 NDAA lowered the age at which reservists/Guardsmen can retire by three months for every 90 days of active duty served in support of a contingency operation including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, BUT applies only to assignments after January 28, 2008.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)Information
For assistance with employer-related questions or the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), visit ESGR, or call 1-800-336-4590. 

Bankruptcy Relief
National Guardsmen and reservists who experience financial hardships while serving in war zones may now find it easier to file for bankruptcy relief under legislation passed by Congress in 2008. Guard/Reserve servicemembers who have served at least 90 days in Iraq or Afghanistan are exempted from the means testing for Chapter 7 bankruptcies. Since 9/11, more than 450,000 Guard/Reserve members have been so deployed. The House Judiciary Committee estimates that up to 25% of these Guard/Reserve members may suffer from monetary problems because of a fall in income levels while deployed. "Today's passage brings us another step closer to providing modest financial relief to reservists and Guard members who are struggling to make ends meet because of their service," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), sponsor of the House bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).

Most Governors Lower Flag For Fallen Troops
28 states automatically lower the U.S. flag to half-staff when servicemembers from that state are killed, and 22 do not. Some lower flags statewide, others only at certain facilities or localities. There is a debate over whether every servicemember should receive this tribute. "Otherwise, anytime we're in a conflict, the flag would be at half-staff most of the time, unfortunately," says Joyce Doody of the National Flag Foundation. All federal buildings in a state have to comply when that state's governor orders the American flag lowered in honor of soldiers killed while serving, under a new law signed by President Bush. The bill was a response to complaints from families of fallen servicemembers who saw that the flag was often not lowered at federal buildings despite governors' instructions. Federal officials said at the time that they did not consider themselves under governors' jurisdiction.

Guard & Reserves Commission Reports
The 2008 report of the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves is available online here.