Following its Christmas recess, Congress approved a revised fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act; President Bush signed the $696 billion bill into law on January 28. The President refused to sign a previous bill because it contained a provision that exposed the Iraqi government to lawsuits from crimes committed during the regime of Saddam Hussein.

The defense act authorizes a 3.5 percent salary increase for troops; all pays and bonuses will be retroactive to January 1. The bill establishes a 120-day grace period for anyone who enlisted, reenlisted or signed a new service contract after December 31, 2007. Those individuals are eligible for the bonus as if the bonus authority had never lapsed. In addition, anyone who served in a combat zone from December 31, including troops who left the combat zone prior to the signing of the bill into law, is exempt from federal income tax on that payment. Separating disabled veterans are eligible for up to two years of both military and Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care; all combat veterans are eligible for up to five years of post-service VA medical care without having to prove a service-connected need.

Among other provisions of the bill are:

• Authorization for 13,000 new soldiers for the Army in fiscal year 2008.

• Increases in monthly hardship duty pay to a maximum of $1,500.

• Allocation of $2.9 billion to complete DoD’s effort to eliminate inadequate domestic family housing and funding for elimination of inadequate overseas family housing by 2009.

• Authorization of $17.6 billion for additional mine resistant ambush protected vehicles.

• A Wounded Warrior section mandating, among other measures, that DoD and VA jointly develop a comprehensive policy on care and management of soldiers and that DoD establish standards for processing medical and disability evaluations.

• Reduction of the retirement start date of age 60 by three months for every 90 days served in support of a contingency operation for Army Reserve and National Guard deployments after the bill’s enactment. Proponents of the change intended it to apply to all troops called up since 9/11, but budget constraints prevailed. The provision now leaves out some 600,000 members mobilized for Afghanistan, Iraq and national disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

President Bush issued a signing statement asserting that he is not bound by four sections of the bill because they “impose requirements that could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations …” Among the sections he might waive are:

• A provision to set up a committee to investigate fraud, waste and abuse in contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• A provision barring federal funding for installations or bases that would offer “permanent stationing” of U.S. troops in Iraq or for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil resources.

Congress has still not approved $102 billion in funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that President Bush requested last year; the Pentagon has received $86.7 billion.


2009 DEFENSE BUDGET
President Bush sent a $515.4 billion DoD base budget for fiscal year (FY) 2009 to Congress in February. The figure represents a 7.5 percent increase of $35.9 billion from FY 2008. Some $140.7 billion of the funds are for the Army. The budget includes $15.5 billion to add 7,000 soldiers—which would increase active Army end strength to 532,400—and allocates $10.7 billion to training, recruiting and retention.

DoD has requested $158.3 billion, an increase of 10.4 percent, to maintain operations at a level consistent with that of FY 2008. The budget includes $183.8 billion for modernization to meet future threats, a figure that includes procurement and research and development. The budget allots $149.4 billion for military pay (including a 3.4 percent increase), health care, housing and quality of life for servicemembers and their families.

Currently, supplemental war funding remains outside the Pentagon budget. DoD requested an additional $70 billion as emergency spending to cover operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the first quarter of FY 2009. In testimony on the budget before the House Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates said he could not provide a realistic estimate of the cost of the wars for FY 2009. He said that must wait until commanders recommend troop levels later this year. At the same time, he urged Congress to approve the $102 billion remaining warfighting funds requested in the FY 2008 supplemental request.


NATIONAL GUARD EMPOWERED
Part of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act elevates the chief of the National Guard Bureau from the rank of lieutenant general to that of general and increases the duties of the position. The chief will be the principal adviser on Guard issues; the bureau also becomes a joint activity of the Department of Defense.

The bureau will coordinate with state and federal agencies and military commanders on operations, budgets and personnel on behalf of DoD.

The defense act increases the number of flag officer billets from 10 to 15 so that members of the National Guard (and Reserve) can receive assignments. It also mandates that at least one deputy commander position in U.S. Northern Command be reserved for a National Guard officer (unless one is designated as the commander).

The transformation of the National Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational reserve prompted most of the major changes; they are among the most sweeping in National Guard history.


PUTTING THE ARMY 'BACK IN BALANCE'
At a January breakfast sponsored by the Association of the U.S. Army, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. addressed the current state of the Army.

“Things aren’t as we would like them,” Gen. Casey said, but noted that as the size of the Army grows and the number of brigades committed to Iraq declines, soldiers now stressed by long and multiple deployments will have enough time at home. Currently, units are home only about a year before deploying again, and they train primarily in counterinsurgency operations. Gen. Casey said that the Army needs units home for at least 18 months so that they can recover and train for full spectrum operations.

As troops come back, Gen. Casey said, referring to the five Army combat brigades that will return by July, “we’ll start getting more flexibility back.” If present trends continue, the Army could return to a normal pace. If the Army can hold steady with “about 15 active brigades deployed,” he continued, “we can put ourselves back in balance in about four years.”

The Army, Gen. Casey added, must prepare for a future that is a “hybrid of irregular warfare and conventional warfare.” Because the Army will be fighting enemies who are “not bound by the rules we use,” it must adapt in the way it operates as an institution and the way it trains its forces.


VA GETS $3.7 BILLION
President Bush has released $3.7 billion for veterans discretionary programs. The appropriation was part of $11 billion in emergency funds included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008. The money, which is not part of the $41.3 billion Veterans Affairs budget, will be used to reduce the backlog of more than 600,000 benefits claims, fund medical research for conditions such as traumatic brain injury and expand mental-health care. Including the released funds, the Department of Veterans Affairs allocation for fiscal year 2008 is $87.6 billion, an increase of $8 billion from fiscal year 2007.