NGAI

NGAI Alert #12-3; 13 Feb 2012

moose — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:33:37 +0000

Dear NGAI Member,

We expect Legislative Alerts to start accelerating on both the State and National scene. With the release of the President’s Budget and the U.S. Congress in session, both NGAUS and EANGUS will be following issues closely. Meanwhile, we at NGAI will be monitoring the Sate issues as our General Assembly has just a month to wrap up business. Please read the attached NGAUS Alert reference, “Preserving the FERS Annuity Supplement for Mil-Techs”. This requires your immediate attention!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NGAUS ALERT

At the State level, tomorrow, February 14 at 1000, Room 233, the Senate Committee for Homeland Security, Transportation and Veterans Affairs will hear testimony on HB 1059. At nearly the same time, in the House, the Committee on Veterans Affairs and Public Safety will meet at 1030, Room 156-D to consider SB 0031. Both bills concern the Military Family Relief Fund and expanded benefits for our Hoosier Guardsmen. All members are encouraged to attend and present testimony if you desire. If you do go to the Indiana Statehouse, be sure to go as a Citizen and not a Guardsman.

Meanwhile, we are a little over 2 months out from our NGAI Annual Conference in French Lick. Please join us in welcoming LTG and Mrs. William Ingram, Jr. as he speaks to us from his new position as Director, Army National Guard. All conference information and registration is available on our website, www.ngai.net. Thanks for your support and check our site often for the latest updates.
Mike

Mike Sturm
Executive Director
National Guard Association of Indiana

NGAUS Legislative Alert; 13 Feb 2012

moose — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:28:59 +0000

The Issue: Preserving the FERS Annuity Supplement for Mil-Techs

Immediate Action Required: Contact your Representatives to urge them to preserve the FERS Annuity Supplement for National Guard Mil-Techs by supporting a floor amendment to H.R.3813 scheduled to come to the floor in the House of Representatives on February 15th as part of the Highway Bill or H.R. 7.

Unless amended, H.R.3813 would eliminate the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) annuity supplement for National Guard Military Technicians (Mil-Techs) as defined by section 10216(a) of Title 10 and for all other all federal employees except those who are recognized under Sec. 4 (B) of H.R.3813 to have a mission of protecting the public. H.R.3813 will come to the floor for consideration on February 15th as part of the Highway Bill, H.R.7.

The FERS annuity supplement is currently payable to federal employees who retire before attaining the eligibility age of 62 for Social Security. It is particularly critical for the transition into retirement of our Mil-Tech population who generally must retire at age 60.

Sec. 4(B) of H.R. 3813 does make an exception that preserves the FERS annuity supplement for public safety employees referenced in 5 USC 8412(d)-(e). Included in this exempt group are law enforcement, Capitol or Supreme Court Police, fire fighters, nuclear materials courier, customs border protection officers, and air traffic controllers.
Unfortunately and unfairly, the exemptions in Sec. 4(B) exclude our Mil-Tech population who do as much or more to protect our public in a far more dangerous environment than the current exempt class. As citizen soldiers Mil-Techs wear the uniform daily as federal employees administering and training the National Guard while being ready to serve frequently in domestic and contingency operations.

Since 2001, the National Guard Mil-Tech population has served when called as part of the domestic, state-level security force and a vital part of the major federal component in U.S. combat power for overseas operation. The last ten years of war as well as disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have demonstrated to our country that the National Guard Mil-Techs are an indispensable element in our national security and disaster response forces.

Mil-Techs deserve the FERS annuity protections that Sec. 4 (B) would afford other public safety employees.

Please write your Representatives now to urge them to act immediately on or before February 15 to support a floor amendment to HR 3813 to preserve the FERS annuity supplement for Mil-Techs.

NGAI Alert #12-2; 8 Feb 2012

moose — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:25:12 +0000

Dear NGAI Member,

Here are a few things for you to read and opportunities for action.

Membership: Please read the attached letter from the Association President, COL Kenneth Newlin, regarding important information about our 2012 membership drive. (click to read the letter)

Federal Budget: With the delayed release of the President’s budget, we do not have all the details of the Air Force's plan for Ft Wayne. But we do know they plan to pull our A-10s. Once the airframes are gone it makes the people a ripe target before being remissioned. It is a high risk scenario. Please stand by to write your Representative and Senators once we know the plan. Please review the statement from Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., the NGAUS president. (click to read the letter)

Ballot and Annual Conference: Attached is the ballot for 2012 Board of Director positions. Ballots will be accepted at the NGAI office through Tuesday, 17 April 2012. After that date, ballots must be delivered to staff at the Annual Conference at French Lick, IN. The ballot and the conference registration forms are on the NGAI website (links are on the front page). Questions may be directed to linda@ngai.net or by calling Linda at 317-247-3196. The ballot is a fillable PDF file. You can print it out and fill it in by hand. Or you can fill it out on your computer, then it must be printed and signed by hand. (click to download the Ballot)

Thanks for your continued support.

Mike

Mike Sturm
Executive Director
National Guard Association of Indiana

Letter from the NGAI President; 1 Feb 2012

moose — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:02:07 +0000

Please read the attached letter from the Association President, COL Kenneth Newlin, regarding important information about our 2012 membership drive.

NGAI President's Letter to the Membership

NGAUS Legislative Alert #12-1; 1 Feb 2012

moose — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:09:36 +0000

The Issue: Ensure that the Department of Defense Doesn’t Cut Your Benefits

Immediate Action Required: Contact your Senators and Representative and urge them to ensure any proposed changes to military personnel pay and benefits takes into consideration the sacrifices our young people are making to defend freedom and protect lives and property.

Young people in America volunteer to serve in our nation’s Armed Forces for a variety of reasons: patriotism, to learn new skills, family tradition, and possibly some may see it as a way of proving they can accomplish something of value. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that since the mid-1970s our nation has filled the ranks of our Armed Forces with volunteers that signed on the dotted line to serve based on a moral contract with our country that they, in return, would receive modest pay and benefits including health care and retirement.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of those who make this commitment don’t ultimately collect on many of the benefits that were offered as incentive to join. Some separate well before qualifying for retirement. Unfortunately, many never returned from combat, including 5,000+ in the Middle East, and tens of thousands suffer from debilitating injuries or PTSD/TBI that severely limit their marketability in the corporate world.
Despite the sacrifices our young people are making, every time the Pentagon is faced with trying to balance their budget, one of the first things you hear is that “health care and retirement must be reformed.”

To illustrate, during the recent roll out of the Pentagon’s new strategic defense priorities, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated that, “The budget will contain a roadmap to address the costs of military pay, health care, and retirement in ways that are fair, transparent, and consistent with our fundamental commitments to our people.”
Contact you senators and representative and urge them to stand up for the brave men and women who volunteered to serve our country, and to defend the modest pay and benefits our country promised our veterans – because they earned it!

TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:
By using the “Write to Congress” feature on the NGAUS Web site at www.ngaus.org/writetocongress, you can IMMEDIATELY e-mail your elected representatives. A sample letter is included in our “Write to Congress” feature. You can e-mail the pre-written message or edit the sample letter as you desire. This is the quickest and most effective method of expressing your views to Congress.

Also, contact your friends and family and urge them to use Write to Congress as well. For further information and background visit our web site at www.ngaus.org. Please direct any questions concerning this issue to Richard Green, NGAUS Director of Legislation, at 202-4408-5881 or via email at richard.green@ngaus.org.

2012 Indiana Legislative Watch

moose — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:50:15 +0000

NGAI Members,

With the Right to Work legislative standoff now behind us, the rest of the 2012 Indiana General Assembly agenda will now be addressed in what is left of this short session year. We have a number of bills of interest we are watching under the State Issues tab on the Legislative Page. We also have links to the Indiana General Assembly home page where you can check on the current schedule and status of bills which may be of interest to you. Not sure who your state and national representatives are? Just click on the Find Your Legislator tab and type in your address. It’s that simple.

If you know of a specific issue that we may not have addressed, please bring it to our attention by emailing me at michael.sturm@ngai.net. If a major issue does arise during the session we will broadcast an NGAI Alert email to your attention. If you are not receiving email alerts, it is probably due to the fact that we do not have a good email address for you under our current membership list.

Not a current member? Just click on join now or update your email address through the Newsletter Sign Up. Thanks and please refer to our website regularly as the session progresses for any possible updates.

2012 Legislative Actions Short Version

2012 Legislative Actions Affecting Indiana Veterans

2012 Call for Nominations

moose — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:41:12 +0000

This is a call for nominations for NGAI Board of Director positions.

CLICK HERE to get more information

NGAI Alert #12-1; 9 January 2012

moose — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:36:06 +0000

Dear NGAI Member,

Congratulations! Your e-mails and phone calls to your Congressional Representatives have paid off. See the information below from NGAUS headquarters “National Guard Empowerment Now Law of the Land; Defense act adds Guard officer to Joint Chiefs”. This is a direct result of your involvement. Now we need to remain vigilant and keep our voices heard as the defense budget battles are played out on all the news networks and Capitol Hill. Membership in NGAI, NGAUS and EANGUS are more important than ever at this time. Our 2012 Membership Drive is off to a great start. Join NGAI and your respective national association online by visiting us at www.NGAI.net. Your NGAI Board of Directors has waived the credit card processing fee so take advantage of our secure online membership payment. Visit our website often for the latest and keep responding to the Legislative Alerts! Some significant dates:

Indiana General Assembly, Jan 6. While 2012 is a short year for the assembly, it grows shorter each day as the House has not been called in to session. Please visit our website often to review the bills of interest as the Senate session progresses.

The Nominations Committee and schedule will be posted on our website 13 Jan 2011 followed by a call for nominations to all members in good standing. If you are interested in serving on the Board of Directors please get your information to the committee chair by emailing linda@NGAI.net before 02 Feb 2012.

NGAI Sponsored Professional Development Opportunities. We will be contacting the MACOM’s soon to get nominations for the NGAI sponsored attendees to NGAI, EANGUS, and NGAUS conferences. Please take advantage of this opportunity to reward some of your top soldiers and airmen with these great professional development conferences.

The NGAI Annual Conference in French Lick is just a few months away. Please mark your calendar and join us 20-21 April 2012. Registration will be available on the website very soon. LTG William Ingram, Jr. Director, Army National Guard has been invited to be our guest.

The NGEDA Conference is in Reno later this month and we will be reserving a block of hotel rooms for the NGAUS Conference. If you know you will be attending NGAUS please confirm with linda@ngai.net or call at 317-247-3196 so we can have a good estimate on the number of rooms needed. The NGAUS Conference dates are 9-12 September 2012. Registration will be on the website shortly after NGEDA.

The Educational Grant Fund application is available on the website with a link to it on the front page. Deadline is 15 March 2012 so if you or one of your dependants is planning on being in college in the fall of 2012, please submit your application.

Our 13th Annual Car Show is scheduled for Saturday, 7 July, 2012 at the Indiana War Memorial downtown Indianapolis. Flyers and registration will be available on our website. We are looking to break last year’s record number of registrations.

The 2012 EANGUS Conference is in Long Beach, CA 26-29 August, 2012. We had a record number of attendees at last year’s conference and look forward to the same this year. More information to follow.

Our annual golf event and motorcycle ride dates will be announced later this month.

Thanks for your continued support and hope to see many of you in French Lick.

Mike

Mike Sturm
Executive Director
National Guard Association of Indiana

National Guard Empowerment
Now Law of the Land
Defense act adds Guard officer to Joint Chiefs
January 3, 2012

WASHINGTON — The National Guard community — nearly 500,000 men and women in uniform plus hundreds of thousands of family members and retirees — is hailing language in the fiscal 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that adds one of their own to the nation’s senior panel of military advisors.

President Barack Obama signed the NDAA on Saturday. It includes a provision giving the Guard’s senior officer, the chief of the National Guard Bureau (NGB), a permanent seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The president’s signature culminated a legislative effort to “empower” the Guard that began years ago. It gained momentum last spring after the House passed an amendment that would give the Guard a seat at the table and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the co-chairs of the Senate National Guard Caucus, included the same proposal in a more comprehensive Senate bill.

The House and Senate ultimately agreed on a package of Guard Empowerment provisions, including adding the NGB chief to the Joint Chiefs.

“This is the Guard’s most significant legislative victory since the Militia Act of 1903 created the modern, dual-mission National Guard,” said retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., the president of the National Guard Association of the United States. “But the real winner here is the nation’s homeland security.

“The primary role of the Joint Chiefs is to advise the president, the secretary of defense and the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security,” he said. “Without the Guard at the table, our civilian leaders didn’t have direct access to expertise on the Guard’s domestic-response capabilities. In the post-9/11 world, it was a void that had to be filled. And now it has been filled.”

The NGB chief — a four-star general — previously participated as an invited guest in some discussions with the Joint Chiefs. However, he was not a required participant and was often excluded from meetings. Nor did he have the ability to nominate Guard officers for positions that require Senate confirmation.

The provision in the NDAA enables the NGB chief to sit with the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — none of whom have ever served in the Guard — and provide the Guard, for the first time, permanent representation among the nation’s senior military officers.
Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., co-sponsored the legislation in the House.

Other Guard Empowerment provisions in the NDAA include requirements for the Pentagon to delineate Guard and Reserve equipment procurement in future budget requests, to prepare a report to Congress on the costs of Guard and Reserve units versus similar active-component outfits, and to consider Guard and Reserve officers for appointment to certain command positions.

The NDAA also creates a new three-star position of NGB vice chief and provides permanent funding to the Guard’s State Partnership Program with democratic nations around the world.

NGAUS Legislative Alert #11-29; 6 Dec 2011

moose — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:33:24 +0000

The Issue: Waiving the January 1, 2012 deadline imposed by the Department of Defense (DOD) on colleges and universities desiring to participate in the Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA) program to sign DOD’s flawed Memorandum of Understanding governing the program.

Immediate Action Required: Contact your Senators and Representative to urge them to have the Department of Defense (DOD) waive the fast approaching January 1, 2012 deadline for colleges and universities desiring to participate in the Federal Tuition Assistance program to sign DOD’s flawed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

An urgent situation has arisen which puts the Federal Tuition Assistance (FTA) program at risk for members who plan to attend classes under the program after January 1, 2012. The Department of Defense is requiring all schools wishing to accept federal funds under the FTA program after January 1, 2012 to have signed a flawed memorandum of understanding (MOU).

A majority of colleges and universities have not signed for a variety of reasons, including the perception by many that it is heavily weighted in favor of for-profit institutions and largely non-protective of service members. If not corrected, this could cause thousands of cadets enrolled in ROTC programs across the country at non-signing colleges and universities to lose their FTA.

Of the more than 7,000 current Title IV- participating institutions, about 2,000 have signed the MOU, which is disproportionately composed of for-profit providers and collegiate institutions.

Several administrative provisions of the MOU are extremely burdensome, and, in some cases, legally or financially impracticable for many institutions. The MOU appears to make promises to service members that many institutions simply cannot fulfill, including representations regarding transfer of credit, prior learning, credit-by-exam, and residency. Signing the MOU will cause enormous confusion among military students as to the actual academic terms and conditions for graduation.

The MOU will do nothing to protect service members from unscrupulous providers, or clean up the waste, fraud and abuse in the Tuition Assistance Program that likely led to the current MOU requirement. Indeed, the only practical result of the MOU, if it were to stand, would be to limit service members' access to the nation's finest colleges and universities.

Several educational associations have asked the Department of Defense for a waiver of the January 1, 2012 deadline to allow time for the MOU to be revised, but DOD has refused.

Contact your Senators and Representative to urge them to demand that the Department of Defense waive the January 1, 2012 deadline for colleges and universities desiring to participate in the Federal Tuition Assistance program to sign the DOD Memorandum of Understanding governing the FTA program to allow time for the MOU to be revised.

TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:
By using the “Write to Congress” feature on the NGAUS Web site at www.ngaus.org, you can IMMEDIATELY e-mail your elected representatives. A sample letter is included in our “Write to Congress” feature. You can e-mail the pre-written message or edit the sample letter as you desire. This is the quickest and most effective method of expressing your views to Congress.

Also, contact your friends and family and urge them to use Write to Congress as well. For further information and background visit our web site at www.ngaus.org. Please direct any questions concerning this issue to Pete Duffy, NGAUS Deputy Legislative Director at 202-454-5307 or via email at pete.duffy@ngaus.org

NGAUS Legislative Alert #11-28; 21 Nov 2011

moose — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:32:16 +0000

The Issue: National Guard Empowerment

Immediate Action Required: Contact your Senators and ask them to reject Sen. Jim Webb and Sen. Jack Reed’s NDAA amendments (SA 1201 & SA 1321) to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Empowerment amendment (SA 1072)

Following the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on Nov. 10, it was clear, especially to those who were in attendance, that the proponents of creating a permanent seat on the JCS for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) had clearly made the better case for passing this historic legislation, when, within days, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) added their names to the impressive list of co-sponsors.

Today, however, with 70 co-sponsors and a clear mandate that “the National Guard’s time has come” for full representation on this critically important forum of our top military leaders, opponents of the legislation have initiated two amendments with the intent to either stall, defeat or dilute the initiative.

Sen. Jim Webb’s amendment (SA 1201) to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Empowerment amendment (SA 1072) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) eliminates the text of Leahy’s amendment in its entirety and replaces all eight provisions with an “independent study,” conducted at the direction and under the supervision of the secretary of defense on the advisability of adding the CNGB to the JCS. At last count, the secretary was clearly on the side of supporting the joint chiefs’ opposition to placing the CNGB onto the JCS. How a study of this nature could be classified as “independent” is beyond comprehension. If allowed to go forward, the Webb amendment would gut the Empowerment initiative, and amount to nothing more than a biased effort to kill or at least delay the legislation.

Sen. Jack Reed’s amendment (SA 1321) would create an unnecessary disparity between the CNGB, who must receive the recommendation of his/her governor, and the Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau (VCNGB), who, in Reed’s view, need not. The president and the secretary of defense would not nominate, nor would the Senate confirm, a VCNGB who does not have the full recommendation of his/her state governor. This section of the Reed amendment would reduce from three to two the requirements to become VCNGB, thereby opening the position to a broader pool of less-qualified candidates.

Further, Reed’s attempt to limit the CNGB’s advice to strictly non-federalized operations, and eliminate conforming language in the law that would establish the role and duties of the CNGB as that of any other member of the JCS, amounts to a poison pill for Guard Empowerment. Instead of empowering the Guard, the changes will disempower and weaken the Guard by codifying in law the Guard’s present second class status as a “by-invitation-only” member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Contact your senators immediately and urge them to support a strong and ready National Guard by voting against SA 1201 and SA 1321, and voting for Leahy’s Empowerment legislation (SA 1072) that would create a permanent seat on the JCS for the CNGB. Providing a permanent seat on the JCS will help ensure that the chief of the National Guard Bureau has a seat at the table to represent the unique nonfederalized perspectives of the National Guard.

MG (Ret.) Gus Hargett
President, NGAUS

TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION:

By using the “Write to Congress” feature on the NGAUS Web site at www.ngaus.org/writetocongress, you can IMMEDIATELY e-mail your elected representatives. A sample letter is included in our “Write to Congress” feature. You can e-mail the pre-written message or edit the sample letter as you desire. This is the quickest and most effective method of expressing your views to Congress. Also, contact your friends and family and urge them to "Write to Congress" as well. For more in-depth information and background visit our web site at www.ngaus.org. Please direct any questions concerning this issue to Pete Duffy, NGAUS Deputy Legislative Director via email at pete.duffy@ngaus.org