Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Tweet[IWS] CRS: RESERVE COMPONENT PERSONNEL ISSUES: QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [14 March 2008]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL30802
Reserve Component Personnel Issues: Questions and Answers [online September 2008]
Updated March 14, 2008
Lawrence Kapp, Specialist in National Defense, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL30802_20080314.pdf
[full-text, 30 pages]
Summary
The term "Reserve Component" is used to refer collectively to the seven
individual reserve components of the armed forces: the Army National Guard of the
United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the
Air National Guard of the United States, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard
Reserve. The purpose of these seven reserve components, as codified in law at 10
U.S.C. 10102, is to "provide trained units and qualified persons available for active
duty in the armed forces, in time of war or national emergency, and at such other
times as the national security may require, to fill the needs of the armed forces
whenever more units and persons are needed than are in the regular components."
During the Cold War era, the reserve components were a manpower pool that
was rarely tapped. For example, from 1945 to 1989, reservists were involuntarily
activated by the federal government only four times, an average of less than once per
decade. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the nation has relied more heavily
on the reserve components. Since 1990, reservists have been involuntarily activated
by the federal government six times, an average of once every three years, including
two large-scale mobilizations: for the Persian Gulf War (1990-91) and in the
aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks (2001-present) . This increasing use
of the reserves has led to greater congressional interest in the various issues, such as
funding, equipment, and personnel policy, that bear on the vitality of the reserve
components. This report is designed to provide an overview of key reserve
component personnel issues.
This report provides insight to reserve component personnel issues through a
series of questions and answers: how many people are in different categories of the
reserve component (question 3); how reserve component personnel are organized
(questions 2 and 4); how reserve component personnel have been and may be utilized
(questions 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11); how reserve component personnel are compensated
(questions 8 and 10); the type of legal protections that exist for reserve component
personnel (question 12); recent changes in reserve component pay and benefits made
by Congress (question 13); and reserve component personnel issues that might be
of particular interest in the second session of the 110th Congress (question 14).
This report will be updated as needed.
Contents
1. What Is the Reserve Component? What Is Its Role? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. What Are the Different Categories of Reservists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Ready Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Standby Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Retired Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. How Many People Are in the Reserve Components? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. What Does "Full-time Support" Mean? What Are the Different Categories of Full-time Support for the Reserve Components? . . . . . . 5
Active Guard and Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Military Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Non-Dual Status Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Active Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Civilians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. What Is the Difference Between the "Reserves" and the
"National Guard"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. How Has the Role of the Reserve Components Changed in Recent Years? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7. How Does the Posse Comitatus Act Affect Use of the Reserve
Components to Handle Domestic Problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. What Type of Pay and Benefits Do Reservists Receive for Reserve Duty? . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Basic Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Special and Incentive Pays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Allowances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Medical Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Dental Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Commissary and Exchange Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9. How Are Reservists Called to Active Duty by the Federal Government? How Often Does this Happen? After Activation, How Long Can They Be Required to Serve on Active Duty? . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Presidential Reserve Call-up (PRC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Partial Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Full Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Recall of Retired Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10. What Type of Pay, Benefits, and Legal Protections Are Provided to Reservists Mobilized for Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom? . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11. Are There Other Ways in Which Members of the National Guard Can Be Activated? . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
12. What Type of Legal Protections Do Reservists Have When They Are Serving on Active Duty? What Re-employment Rights Do Reservists Have after Being Released from Active Duty? . . . . . . . . . 20
13. Has Congress Made Any Recent Changes in Pay and Benefits for Reserve Component Personnel? . . . . . 22
Premium-based Access to Tricare for Non-Activated Reservists and their Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
New Educational Benefit for Activated Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Financial Losses for Some Mobilized Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Reducing the Age at Which Certain Reservists Can Draw Retired Pay . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
List of Tables
Table 1. Personnel Strength of the Ready Reserve as of September 30, 2007 . . . 4
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Order Code RL30802
Reserve Component Personnel Issues: Questions and Answers [online September 2008]
Updated March 14, 2008
Lawrence Kapp, Specialist in National Defense, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL30802_20080314.pdf
[full-text, 30 pages]
Summary
The term "Reserve Component" is used to refer collectively to the seven
individual reserve components of the armed forces: the Army National Guard of the
United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the
Air National Guard of the United States, the Air Force Reserve, and the Coast Guard
Reserve. The purpose of these seven reserve components, as codified in law at 10
U.S.C. 10102, is to "provide trained units and qualified persons available for active
duty in the armed forces, in time of war or national emergency, and at such other
times as the national security may require, to fill the needs of the armed forces
whenever more units and persons are needed than are in the regular components."
During the Cold War era, the reserve components were a manpower pool that
was rarely tapped. For example, from 1945 to 1989, reservists were involuntarily
activated by the federal government only four times, an average of less than once per
decade. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the nation has relied more heavily
on the reserve components. Since 1990, reservists have been involuntarily activated
by the federal government six times, an average of once every three years, including
two large-scale mobilizations: for the Persian Gulf War (1990-91) and in the
aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks (2001-present) . This increasing use
of the reserves has led to greater congressional interest in the various issues, such as
funding, equipment, and personnel policy, that bear on the vitality of the reserve
components. This report is designed to provide an overview of key reserve
component personnel issues.
This report provides insight to reserve component personnel issues through a
series of questions and answers: how many people are in different categories of the
reserve component (question 3); how reserve component personnel are organized
(questions 2 and 4); how reserve component personnel have been and may be utilized
(questions 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11); how reserve component personnel are compensated
(questions 8 and 10); the type of legal protections that exist for reserve component
personnel (question 12); recent changes in reserve component pay and benefits made
by Congress (question 13); and reserve component personnel issues that might be
of particular interest in the second session of the 110th Congress (question 14).
This report will be updated as needed.
Contents
1. What Is the Reserve Component? What Is Its Role? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. What Are the Different Categories of Reservists? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Ready Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Standby Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Retired Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. How Many People Are in the Reserve Components? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. What Does "Full-time Support" Mean? What Are the Different Categories of Full-time Support for the Reserve Components? . . . . . . 5
Active Guard and Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Military Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Non-Dual Status Technicians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Active Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Civilians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. What Is the Difference Between the "Reserves" and the
"National Guard"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. How Has the Role of the Reserve Components Changed in Recent Years? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7. How Does the Posse Comitatus Act Affect Use of the Reserve
Components to Handle Domestic Problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. What Type of Pay and Benefits Do Reservists Receive for Reserve Duty? . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Basic Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Special and Incentive Pays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Allowances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Medical Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Dental Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Life Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Commissary and Exchange Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9. How Are Reservists Called to Active Duty by the Federal Government? How Often Does this Happen? After Activation, How Long Can They Be Required to Serve on Active Duty? . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Presidential Reserve Call-up (PRC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Partial Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Full Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Recall of Retired Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10. What Type of Pay, Benefits, and Legal Protections Are Provided to Reservists Mobilized for Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom? . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11. Are There Other Ways in Which Members of the National Guard Can Be Activated? . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
12. What Type of Legal Protections Do Reservists Have When They Are Serving on Active Duty? What Re-employment Rights Do Reservists Have after Being Released from Active Duty? . . . . . . . . . 20
13. Has Congress Made Any Recent Changes in Pay and Benefits for Reserve Component Personnel? . . . . . 22
Premium-based Access to Tricare for Non-Activated Reservists and their Families . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
New Educational Benefit for Activated Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Financial Losses for Some Mobilized Reservists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Reducing the Age at Which Certain Reservists Can Draw Retired Pay . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
List of Tables
Table 1. Personnel Strength of the Ready Reserve as of September 30, 2007 . . . 4
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 11:02 AM
