A New Season

May 2011 - Navy
By RADM Timothy D. Moon, USN (Ret)

Spring has finally arrived! It surely came in with a bang as we continued to experience devastating wind and rain across the country, we filed our 2010 income tax returns, and Congress reached last-minute agreement on the 2011 budget to avert a government shutdown. Also in April, the AUSN Board of Directors met and began to chart the course for the future of your Association. Led by Rear Admiral Steve Israel, the Chairman of the Board, they are focused on increasing membership and securing the financial health of AUSN. They are tackling tough issues while providing direction to the AUSN elected officers and full-time staff. I left the meeting even more impressed with the level of commitment, dedication and enthusi- asm that this group has for AUSN.

Captain Ike Puzon, AUSN Director of Government Affairs and Legislation, has been working tirelessly as a strong advocate for health care and retirement benefits that our veterans enjoy. He is in regular contact with Congressional staffers, the Navy’s Office of Legislative Affairs and other Veterans Service Organizations and has provided extensive written and oral testimony to the Military Personnel Subcommittees of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. I want to thank all of you who provided input to help him prepare the testimony that he provided on our behalf. We need and value your input; so please, participate in the process and let us know what is on your mind.

One issue receiving a lot of attention by AUSN is the early receipt of retired pay by Reserve members who served active duty tours of at least 90 cumulative days since January 2008. AUSN has taken a strong position that this benefit should be based on service retroactive to September 11, 2001. On September 11, 2001, the contract for Guard and Reserve members was effectively changed from an obligation to serve one weekend a month and two weeks during the year, to a commitment that requires much more time and an expectation of frequent involuntary recalls to extended periods of active duty. The stress and uncertainty that this places on service members, their families, and their employers cannot be measured and presents an additional burden that Active Component service members do not experience.

Arbitrarily to pick a date of January 2008, when Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen from the Guard and Reserve have been instrumental and integral parts of every operation conducted by U.S. military forces since the attacks on September 11, 2001, is inequitable and unreasonable. More import- antly, between 2001 and 2007, members of the Guard and Reserve were involuntarily recalled on short-fused orders without the benefit of the many lessons-learned policies and proce- dures that are in place today. These pioneers paved the way for Guard and Reserve members who are involuntarily recalled today with policies and procedures in place to ensure that they, and their families, are taken care of throughout the entire continuum of service and the constant transition between active and reserve status.   Any periods of active service by Guard and Reserve members after September 11, 2001 should be included in any calculations to receive retired pay at an earlier age.

We are always looking for ways to increase our membership rolls. One idea that I heard recently is to give an AUSN membership as a thank-you gift. So, when you are thinking about what to give the people who helped plan and execute your promotion, re-enlistment, change-of-command or retirement ceremonies, please consider giving a gift of AUSN member- ship to say thank you. That is a “win” for the service member, for AUSN and for you. I look forward to seeing you at the annual AUSN golf tournament on May 26th at Andrews Air Force Base and the AUSN National Conference in New Orleans from 13 to 16 July. You can register for both of these events on the AUSN Web site at http://www.ausn.org. Please sign up, join us, and bring a friend to introduce him/her to AUSN!