Geoff Davis, R-Ky.
Member, House Armed Services Committee
Place yourself, for a moment, in the boots of two soldiers at a forward operating base (FOB) on a hot, dusty day in a very bad part of Iraq.
It is the sixth month of a 15-month deployment.
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Rep. Geoff Davis brings Capt. Joe Geraci, commander of A Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, chili from home during a visit to Afghanistan. The Kentucky congressman introduced legislation to equalize the disability retirement pay for all service members whether they served on active duty or in the reserve components. |
One soldier is an infantry squad leader and paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. The other, also a staff sergeant, is an Arabic linguist from the U.S. Army Reserve who is attached to the units of the FOB.
The two noncommissioned officers have developed that special bond of comradeship born of months of service together under arduous combat conditions.
For the pair, today is like so many days at the FOB until shortly after the mid-day meal when the searing heat of the Iraqi summer is accompanied by a deafening blast.
The reserve sergeant is aware of terrific pain throughout his entire body after he is violently thrown to the ground by the blast of a mortar round. The paratrooper sergeant who is also now on the ground feels excruciating pain in his left arm and hand.
Both soldiers are quickly airlifted to an Army medical facility where they are treated side-by-side. They continue on parallel paths through the Army medical system and receive world class medical care.
Both sergeants received fragments from the exploding mortar round, both are awarded the Purple Heart and both are medically retired with a thirty-percent disability.
The former 82nd Airborne squad leader is retired after the amputation of his left thumb. The linguist, formerly in the U.S. Army Reserve, is retired for limited movement in his scarred right knee and the migraine headaches that dog his days and nights and will forever affect his home and work life.
The two veterans maintain an active correspondence and are astounded to learn that despite the fact that they have the same degree of disability resulting from the same enemy mortar round, the former reservist is receiving 8-percent less disability retired pay.
As a former enlisted soldier and West Point graduate, I have made protecting the rights of our service men and women one of my top priorities.
I am dedicated to ensuring that all men and women who wear or have worn our uniform have access to the resources they need and receive the recognition they deserve for their selfless service to our nation.
For the past three years, I have been fighting to correct a longstanding inequity in the military’s method of computing military disability retirement pay.
In 2006, I met a severely injured member of the Kentucky Army National Guard at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
This service member, whose home is in Kentucky’s Fourth District, told me about a disparity between what reservists and members of the active armed forces receive in disability retirement pay after being wounded in action and deemed to be permanently disabled.
Under current law, a reservist only gets credit for the time he actually spends in uniform.
For instance, a soldier who has spent thirteen years in the Kentucky Army National Guard may have only four years of service when his duty days are calculated.
As a result, the reservist may receive less disability retirement pay than his active counterpart despite equal time in the Army and the same disability.
In other words, two soldiers with equivalent disabilities from wounds incurred in the same fire fight – like the paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne Division and the staff sergeant from the U.S. Army Reserve who were injured by the mortar round – can end up with a different disability retirement benefit.
With a 30 percent disability, this reservist gets about 8% less disability retirement pay than his active counterpart. A difference of 8 percent can significantly affect the retiree’s quality of life.
When I discovered this problem, I began working on a solution.
In 2006, I sponsored the Citizen Soldier Equality Act of 2006.
This bill would have equalized disability retirement pay for all service members who are wounded in action regardless of whether they serve in the active armed forces or the armed forces reserves (to include the National Guard). The bill’s provisions were successfully included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 that passed the House.
However, Pentagon officials opposed the provisions of the Citizen Soldier Equality Act.
I reintroduced this legislation in 2007 in the form of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, but it was opposed by congressional leadership.
Earlier this year, I again introduced this legislation in the form of a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009. Consistent with my goal of prior years, the provision would have equalized disability pay for reservists and members of the National Guard who are wounded in action.
Any reservist who earned the Purple Heart and was medically retired as a result of his or her wounds would receive disability retirement pay equal to that received by his or her counterpart in the active armed forces.
Benefits would be calculated based on the total number of good years served in the armed forces reserves (to include the National Guard).
After working closely with Rep.Susan Davis, chair of the Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, I can proudly say that the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (H.R. 5658) included this provision.
However, the provision was ultimately removed from the final version of the legislation (S. 3001) again as the result of Department of Defense opposition.
Many men and women in uniform have been affected by the disparity in disability retirement pay. It is astounding that this error has yet to be corrected.
A bullet does not discriminate between an active and reserve member of the United States armed forces. Neither should we.
As the nation increasingly relies on the National Guard and reserves, it is only fair that their members, who are permanently disabled as the result of enemy action, receive the same retirement benefits for the same service.
I will continue fighting for legislation to equalize military disability retirement pay.
I encourage you to contact your senators and representatives to ask them to support similar legislation.
You can reach the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask an operator to connect you to your representative or senator.
It is only right that our government should care for those who have safeguarded our nation’s very existence.
As a veteran and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will continue to closely monitor legislation affecting the well being of veterans.
Our country is deeply indebted to them for their service and sacrifice.