washingtonscene
qualifi ed them to apply for active duty access of their active duty counterparts.
MGIB benefi ts. But orders for the rest of The Senate approved the readjustment
the unit were for one year and 364 days benefi t in its version of the FY 2008 De-
— one day short of two years. Based on that fense Authorization Act and the House
one-day orders snafu, the Army denied adopted the consolidation provision in its
active duty-level benefi ts for the latter version of the bill. Norton urged legisla-
group, offering them an option worth about tors to put those fi xes into law.
$8,000 less. After “NBC Nightly News” and For the longer term, MOAA recom-
other media highlighted that unfair deci- mends tying MGIB benefi ts to the average
sion, the Army let the soldiers apply for an cost of a four-year public college education.
administrative correction that would make
them eligible for the active duty benefi t.
Norton told the panel the real prob- Disability Panel
lem facing mobilized reservists is that
they’re not allowed to use their MGIB to Congress:
benefi ts after leaving service, whereas all
other active duty veterans are allowed 10 “Pony Up”
years’ eligibility after separation. Further,
Fixes costly, but necessary.
reservists aren’t allowed to accumulate
multiple activations toward more educa-
tion benefi ts. All Guard and Reserve ser-
vicemembers who serve multiple tours
in Iraq or Afghanistan for less than two A
fter two years of studying vet-
erans’ disability benefi ts, the con-
gressional commission charged
continuous years lose all MGIB benefi ts with making recommendations to mod-
when they leave service. ernize veterans’ disability payments has
Norton urged Congress to make two endorsed full concurrent receipt, elimi-
key MGIB fi xes. First, consolidate reserve nation of SBP-Dependency and Indem-
and active duty programs under one law, nity Compensation (DIC) offsets, and a
with benefi ts scaled in proportion to ser- number of other MOAA priorities. That
vice rendered. Second, allow activated re- came as a surprise to some legislators
servists the same 10 years of post-service who had hoped the commission would
urge scaling back some benefi ts.
The VDBC rolled out its long-antici-
pated report at an Oct. 3 press confer-
ence before several military and veteran
organizations. The 540-page report titled
“Honoring the Call to Duty: Veterans’
Disability Benefi ts in the 21st Century”
includes 113 recommendations for DoD,
the VA, and Congress.
The commission highlighted 14 prior-
ity recommendations including several
MOAA goals for retirees, survivors, and
veterans. Some of these major recom-
Col. Bob Norton, USA-Ret. (right), mendations include:
urged correction of GI Bill inequities for ■ VA disability compensation should be
Guard and Reserve personnel at an upgraded to refl ect adverse effects on
Oct. 18 House hearing. quality of life (QOL). Congress should in-
PHOTO: TOM KOCHEL DECEMBER 2007 MILITARY OFFICER 33
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