TRICARE Reserve Select Premiums to Go Down
11/20/08 - The TRICARE Reserve Select monthly premium for both member and family coverage will significantly decrease, effective Jan. 1, 2009.  The new monthly rates will decrease from $81 to $47.51 for member-only coverage, and from $253 to $180.17 for family coverage. The TRS registration form and additional program information is available online at: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/trs/. Information on the TRS program is also available in the “My Benefit” portal at www.tricare.mil.

No Change to Earlier Retirement Age Eligibility
9/24/08 - The House and Senate reached agree-ment on the FY2009 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that does not include a corrective measure changing the active duty service date eligibility back to 9/11/2001 for the earlier retirement age enacted in 2008 (more below).

The change in eligibility would have affected approximately 600,000 Guard & Reserve personnel. NAUS and the other associations in the National Military Veterans Alliance supported this fix and are still calling for correction of this inequity. NAUS is disappointed in Congress' failure to consider this as part of the 2009 NDAA. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) S 2836, and companion bill HR 4930, spon-sored by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), were introduced in February and address this issue.

Earlier Retirement Age & Extended Education Benefits Passed in 2008 NDAA
Last year's NDAA (2008) expanded two important Guard and Reserve benefits:

• Earlier retirement age. The bill lowered the age at which reservists 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. This change applies only to assignments after January 28, 2008.
• Time extended for using GI Bill benefits. Guard & Reserve personnel have 10 years to use their education benefits after separation – no longer must you remain in drill status.

First Four-star Leads the Guard
9/08 - Gen Craig McKinley, Air National Guard, took over as Chief of the National Guard Bureau and became the first 4-star general to lead the Guard - a new rank mandated by the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. LTG Steven Blum, previous NGB Chief, is now Deputy Commander of Northern Command. "The elevation of the National Guard chief to four stars recognizes the importance of the Guard to America's overall national defense," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates at a news conference announcing the nominations last summer. Of the 462,000 members currently serving in the Army and Air National Guard, more than 50,000 are deployed on active duty.

“Active First” Army Guard Recruiting Program
Under this new recruiting program, individuals enter the active duty Army for 30, 36 or 48 months, then receive a cash bonus and can either transition to the Army National Guard (with an additional bonus) or reenlist and stay on active duty in the Army. Bonuses under this program can be as high as $60,000 for the person who serves 4 years in the Army ($40,000 on completion) and who then transitions to the Guard (another $20,000). For more information, visit Active First.

Bankruptcy Relief
6/24/08 - National Guard and reservists who experience financial hardships while serving in war zones would find it easier to file for bankruptcy relief under legislation passed by the House. HR 4044, passed by voice vote, would exempt Guard/Reserve servicemembers who have served at least 90 days in Iraq or Afghanistan 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 bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).

Mobile Commissaries
4/25/08 - Reserve and National Guard servicemembers have been authorized unlimited commissary and exchange shopping privileges since the end of 2003 (previously limited to their number of drill days). But two thirds of Guard members and almost half of drilling reservists live too far from a base to make shopping there practical. Many retirees also live far away from a base. The Defense Commissary Agency’s (DeCA) new “Bringing the Benefit to You” program takes a bit of the commissary itself to Guard/Reserve units through on-site truckload case-lot sales. These sales are open to all authorized commissary customers. The effort is still modest, involving sales of 150-400 popular items at just over 100 different places this year. Places like Nome, AK, Charleston, WV, Homestead, FL, and Sioux, SD. See the schedule of “on-site sales” here. 

Guard & Reserves Commission Reports
1/31/08 The final report (available online here) of the independent Commission on the National Guard and Reserves was released today after more than two years of study. The Commission sees “no reasonable alternative to the nation’s continuing increased reliance on its reserve components” as an operational force for missions at home and abroad. The Commission acknowledges that the Guard/Reserve components are under significant stress from ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and believes that Congress and the Department of Defense must make major changes in laws, rules, regulations, personnel, and funding systems in order to sustain an operational reserve—an essential contributor to the health of the nation’s all-volunteer military force—in the years to come.

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.

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.