Email this page to friends About Ronald S. Mangum Brigadier General Ronald S. Mangum retired from the U.S. Army in 2004. His last active duty assignment was Commanding General, Special Operations Command Korea from September 2000 to August 2003. Immediately prior to that assignment, he was Assistant Division Commander of the USAR 85th Division. General Mangum is a Special Forces officer who has been awarded the master parachutist badge, scuba diver badge, pathfinder badge, aircrew badge and the Ranger and Special Forces Tabs, as well as Canadian and Korean jump wings. He held command assignments for over three-quarters of his 34 year career and retired with an award of the Distinguished Service Medal. Your Two Cents Submit your stories, news items, or a benefits update -- and help Military.com bring the best, most important stories to your fellow servicemembers, veterans, and family members. Contribute here

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By BG Ronald S. Mangum
US Army, Retired

The War on Terrorism and deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq have caused concern over the availability of combat and combat support forces. The Department of Defense is searching for new strategies to recruit and retain forces to maintain current authorized levels, while at the same time trying to grow Army forces by about 30,000 troops. One answer to these shortages is to permit retired active duty service members to join a reserve component for the remainder of their service period at least up to their Mandatory Removal Date. Currently, that is not permitted.

The reserve components have been stretched thin, but one source of manpower that has not been tapped is active duty retirees who are still short of their Mandatory Removal Date. Why would a retiree consider joining a reserve component? First, American soldiers are patriotic and most enjoy what they do, but many leave active duty with their pension as base-line income while they look for an alternative career. The reserve components offer continued involvement with the military profession, pay, retirement benefits, and under current plans, limited deployments. Moreover, under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)¹ reservists who are deployed are protected in their civilian jobs upon returning from a deployment.

Permitting retirees to join a reserve component would transition the years of training and experience of retiring active duty service members into the reserve components and enhance the readiness of the reserve component. It will also provide for a more seamless transition of active duty service members into civilian life, as well as demonstrate to those retirees that the services value their years of service and contribution to the national defense. Putting this experience in the reserve component will not provide as ready access as if the retiree remained on active duty, but the reservist can be recalled to active duty and still be protected in his civilian job. Reservists who are activated for federal service are protected in their civilian jobs under USERRA, which requires a reservist's employer to permit the reservist to retain his job as well as promotions and other benefits which would have accrued to him had he not left his employment to serve on active duty.

Permitting retirees to join a reserve component would also help create an attitude of lifetime service to the country. The Marines are great at implementing their motto "once a Marine, always a Marine," but the other services seem to cast off retiring members as if they no longer have much value. In contrast, the British create lifelong service in their regimental system in which units continue to maintain contact with retirees up until they die. The British have a true culture of lifetime military service that produces benefits including a retired military segment of the population that actively supports military issues. There have been many times that the US military could have used such public support, and the retired military can provide it if they are so motivated. Encouraging eligible retiring active component service members to remain in the military system by joining a reserve component is one step in motivating continuing support of the military from our retired military population. So why hasn't it happened in America?

The Fix

Currently, any retired active component service member who wants to join a reserve unit must forgo the compensation that he would be paid for performing reserve drills.² The message is "when you retire, we are no longer interested in your services." In addition, another message is that Reserve Component service is not valuable enough to be compensated. Both messages detract from the readiness of our services.

United States Code, Title 38, Section 5304,³ currently prohibits the payment of "more than one award of pension, compensation...concurrently to any person based on such person's own service..." This section is titled "Prohibition against duplication of benefits." The net result of this law is that an active component retired member must waive active duty pensions dollar for dollar. In addition, Army and Air Force regulations further limit any active component retired member, even one who is willing to give up his retired pay, from joining an Reserve Component for more than one year.

The law seems to be based on the concept that a person receiving a retirement pension cannot be compensated for his or her current service in the Reserve Component. This flies in the face of common sense. A retired service member is clearly permitted to be paid for employment with a civilian company, and even to accumulate a second retirement pension from the civilian employer. This proposal would simply permit the same status if a Department of Defense reserve component is the employer.

The Way Ahead

The Department of Defense should initiate legislation to amend 38 USC 5304 to remove "compensation" from the definition of a "benefit". Based on that simple change to the statute, each service should develop regulations to permit retired active component service members who join a Reserve Component to be paid for reserve drills and other reserve performance (e.g. Active Duty for Training) up to their Mandatory Removal Date.

These regulations should also permit retired service members to accumulate retirement points for a "reserve" pension payable at age 60 (similar to current reserve retirement). Active component pensions are based on retirement points for each day's active service, and are computed against the active component pay scale. Consequently, a supplemental reserve component pension would be simply added to the active component retirement payment when the service member reaches 60 years of age. The service member's overall pension amount would be adjusted to the service member's retirement grade from all service (e.g., last reserve promotion) when the service member reaches 60 years of age. The regulations would also require a service member to meet all regulatory requirements for service, such as physical fitness testing and height and weight limitation, and would entitle the service member to compete for promotion as any other reserve component member.

Conclusion

This one action will not solve the shortage of trained personnel by itself, but it would be one step to alleviate the shortage in the long run. It would not cost the Department of Defense anything that it does not already anticipate paying. In fact, retirees joining a reserve component under this program are already trained and experienced and would save considerable time and training dollars. Active component retirees would be paid for only days of reserve service, the same as reservists who are currently drilling, and would accumulate retirement on the same basis as drilling reservists.