National Guard and Reserve Retirement Plan

There is a provision in the 2008 Defense Authorization Act that will allow National Guard and reserve retirees to begin drawing their retirement pay 90 days before they turn 60 for every 90 days spent mobilized in support of a contingency operation.

This is overdue recognition of the many Guard and reserve members who have served, and continue to serve, in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, the lawmakers did not make this provision retroactive - which means that the thousands of deployments made by Guard and reserve members since September 11, 2001, will not count toward a lower retired-pay age.

Representative Joe Wilson, R - S.C. wasted no time reopening debate over reserve retirement benefits. On Dec. 19, just days after Congress passed the plan to credit future mobilization toward earlier retirement checks for Guard and reserve members, Wilson introduced a bill to make the plan retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001.

Rep. Wilson's bill, HR 4930 (National Guardsmen and Reservists Parity for Patriots Act), was referred to the House Armed Services Committee which balked at retroactive retirement credit when it adopted the original plan. While that measure was hailed as the first step in relaxing the requirement that Guard and reserve members wait until age 60 to draw retirement, Wilson is responding to complaints from reservists who expected more.

NAVY TIMES, 7 January, 2008