NGAUS Legislative Alert #12-1; 1 Feb 2012

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.