AUSA President Meets with Rep. Norm Dicks
AUSA President Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, USA, Ret., met with Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., to discuss a wide range of topics related to national security.
Rep. Dicks, a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, is a long-time supporter of the Army. He and Gen. Sullivan discussed several issues including the future of national defense funding as well as the size of the Army, the cost of Army reset and the Army’s Future Combat System.
Commission on the National Guard and Reserves to Release Report this Week
The final report of the congressionally-mandated Commission on the National Guard and Reserves will be released on Thursday.
A press released issued by the Commission stated that the report will document the results of a nearly two year examination of the seven reserve components of the U.S. military The product of the most comprehensive review in 60 years, it includes the Commission’s assessment of
- the necessity, feasibility, and sustainability of the so-called operational reserve—a force significantly different from the strategic reserve of the Cold War;
- the role of the Department of Defense, and the reserve components in particular, in the homeland, and whether it is sufficiently well defined and the forces involved sufficiently well resourced to protect the nation from new and emerging threats;
- those reforms needed to enable DOD to better manage its most valuable resource—its people—by establishing a true continuum of service and an integrated personnel management system;
- the reforms needed to develop an operational reserve that is ready and accessible for its array of overseas and homeland missions, particularly those changes aimed at improving readiness and updating antiquated mobilization policies;
- ways to improve current programs and organizations that support service members, their families, and their employers; and
- organizational and structural changes—to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military services, and the categories of reserve component service—that are required to support a truly operational reserve force.
According to the Commission’s statement, they see “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 reserve components are under significant stress from ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Commission 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.
Look for more specifics from the Commission’s report in the next Newsletter.
Veterans' Disability Benefits Topic at Senate Hearing
A hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs focused mainly on the recommendations of the congressionally-mandated Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission.
The Commission, charged with studying laws related to veterans and survivor compensation and assistance and the VA’s implementation of those laws, released its report late last year. The report contained over 100 recommendations covering a wide range of topics including healthcare, claims processing, disability payments and treatment for veterans’ with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
LTG James Terry Scott, USA, Ret., the Commission chairman testified that the commission favors a sliding scale of benefit increases for quality of life that would top off at a 25 percent increase for completely disabled veterans, a recommendation applauded by AUSA.
However, it was noted by the Committee’s ranking member Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., that changes to the disability system have not come quickly in the past and that similar recommendations were made by a commission headed by Gen. Omar Bradley in 1956!
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii said that changes to the current system will not be dealt with quickly. Congress “must undertake a thoughtful and deliberate review and analysis of the many matters at issue and then work to develop legislation, said Akaka.
In a statement released after the hearing, Sen. Burr said, “We cannot continue to ignore the need for modernization. We need to create a system for today’s veterans and not leave them with a system that was outdated before they were even born. I hope we can all work together to find the best way to modernize this system for all veterans.”
He added. “It is a failure of the highest magnitude if we don’t provide these heroes, who have sacrificed so much for their country, with the benefits and services they need and deserve to return to full, active, and productive lives.”
AUSA strongly agrees.
To see the Commission’s complete report, visit their website at www.vetscommisson.org