Recommendation:
Each year, the President declares between 80 and 242 federal disasters (source: FEMA) and each year, National Guard members throughout the states and territories join together to provide emergency relief and support to their communities across the nation often in State Active Duty (SAD) Status. These selfless Guard members leave their families, employers and businesses behind for days or often weeks-on-end while serving in this SAD status. Though they may wear the uniform, because their service is not “federally recognized,” these members do not earn any credit towards their reserve component retirement. Extended disaster relief – sometimes lasting 60-90 days – precludes members from drilling in a traditional IDT status for that period, potentially costing the Soldier 12 or more retirement points towards their reserve component retirement. On rare occasion, this service could even cost a member a “good year” towards retirement. With the vast majority of personnel serving on a SAD status being “traditional” or M-Day Guardsmen, many of these members also incur a loss of civilian retirement contributions during the period of service as well. In every recent major disaster – from major hurricanes Maria and Katrina, to the Carolina and Texas flooding and the current COVID-19 crisis, National Guard members have answered the call. National Guard members should not be penalized for their selflessness and sacrifice in support of their communities. Awarding retirement points for members on SAD in support of a federally-declared disaster would go a long way towards bridging the gap between federally recognized service and SAD. STATES IMPACTED - All of the 54 States/Territories. MISSION CRITICAL NEED – During the current COVID-19 crisis, and in future large-scale domestic responses, many states are having difficulty finding the necessary personnel to support the domestic and outside the United States call of duty without significantly negatively impacting soldier and airmen family care and financial well-being.