Chambers, Justice M., representing the Reserve Officers Association.. Duffie, Brig. Gen. Harold R., AUS, retired, executive director of Jones, Lt. Col. James O., Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for 3 MISCELLANEOUS BILLS THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 1956 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a. m., in room 212, Senate Office Building. Present: Senators Stennis (presiding), Symington, Saltonstall, Flanders, Smith of Maine, and Duff. Also present: Harry L. Wingate, Jr., chief clerk, William H. Darden, Ed Braswell, K. E. BeLieu, and Herbert Atkinson, of the committee staff. H. R. 9952 Senator STENNIS. The committee will come to order. Senator Russell could not be present today, and he asked that the committee have its regular meeting and proceed with such bills as it saw fit. Senator Duff, we have a few bills here that are relatively short, and and then in executive session we have nominations. Those of you that are here to appear before the committee, this is the busiest part of the session. We have many other meetings. We will proceed along now just as rapidly as we can consistent with the subject matter. Most of the members have other matters this morning, and I, myself, must go to a conference committee meeting before too long. The first bill today is H. R. 9952, a departmental bill that would authorize a lump-sum readjustment payment to members of the Reserve components who are involuntarily released from active duty after having served on substantially continuous active duty of at least 5 years. This bill was amended in some respects in the other body and a committee print that is before the members shows in parallel columns the text of the departmental proposal and the text of the bill as it was referred to this committee after having passed the other body. (H. R. 9952 is as follows:) [H. R. 9952, 84th Cong., 2d sess.] AN ACT To provide a lump-sum readjustment payment for members of the reserve components who are involuntarily released from active duty Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952 (66 Stat. 481), as amended, is further amended by adding the following section after section 264: "SEC. 265. (a) A member of a reserve component who is involuntarily released from active duty after having completed immediately prior to such release at least five years of continuous active duty, except for breaks in service of not more than thirty days, as either an officer, warrant officer, or enlisted person, is entitled to a Jump-sum lump-sum readjustment payment computed on the basis of one-half of one 1 month's basic pay in the grade in which he is serving at the time of release from active duty for each year of active service ending at the close of the eighteenth year. For the purposes of this subsection, a part of a year that is six months or more is counted as a whole year, and a part of a year that is less than six months is disregarded. "(b) The following persons are not entitled to any payments under this section: "(1) A person who is released from active duty at his own request. "(2) A person who is released from active duty for training. "(3) Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense, a person who is released from active duty because of moral or professional dereliction. "(4) A person who upon release from active duty would be immediately eligible for retired pay, retirement pay, or retainer pay based entirely on his military service under any provision of law. "(5) A person who upon release from active duty would be immediately eligible for severance pay based on his military service under any other provision of law. However, such a person may elect to receive either readjustment pay under this section or severance pay, but not both. "(6) A person who upon release from active duty would be eligible for disability compensation under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration. However, such a person may elect to receive either readjustment pay under this section or disability compensation under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration, but not both. Election of readjustment pay shall not deprive a person of any disability compensation to which he may subsequently become entitled under laws administered by the Veterans' Administration. "(c) The acceptance of readjustment pay under this section shall not deprive a person of any retired pay, retirement pay, retainer pay, or other retirement benefits from the United States to which he would otherwise become entitled. "(d) Under regulations prescribed by the appropriate Secretary, which regulations shall be as uniform as practicable, a member of a reserve component who is on active duty and is within two years of qualifying for retired pay, retirement pay, or retainer pay under any purely military retirement system, shall not be involuntarily separated from that duty before he qualifies for that pay unless his separation is approved by the appropriate Secretary. "(e) A member of a reserve component who on the effective date of this section is serving on active duty under an agreement authorized by section 235 of this Act, and who is involuntarily released from active duty before completing his agreed term of service, may elect, in lieu of separation payment under that section, to receive readjustment pay under this section. "(f) Any payments accruing to a person under this section shall be reduced by the amount of any payment previously received by that person under this section, unless he has already refunded the prior payment to the United States. If he has refunded the earlier payment, the period covered by the earlier payment shall be considered as a period for which no payment has been made under this Act. "(g) A person who receives readjustment pay under this section is not entitled to mustering-out pay under the Mustering Out Payment Act of 1944 or under the Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952. "(h) For the purpose of this section, the term 'involuntary release' shall include release under conditions wherein a member of a reserve component, who has completed a tour of duty, volunteers for an additional tour of duty and the service concerned does not extend or accept the volunteer request of the member for the additional tour." Passed the House of Representatives June 12, 1956. RALPH R. ROBERTS, Clerk. Senator STENNIS. Colonel Jones, you represent the Department. Come around and sit next to the reporter here. If you have a prepared statement, turn it in to the reporter, please. Explain the high points of this bill. You say "lump sum." The first thing we want to know is how much is involved per year, if it is on a yearly basis. I judge that it is. STATEMENT OF LT. COL. JAMES O. JONES, OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR PERSONNEL, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY Colonel JONES. I think I cover the broad details of the bill in the statement, if I might offer the formal statement. Senator STENNIS. Colonel Jones, we would be glad to have you do it, but it won't help us a bit to have you sit here and read those six pages. Originarily we would be glad to take the time anyway, but we just don't have the time this morning. Can't you cover the highlights of the bill? Colonel JONES. Yes, sir; I can. (The prepared statement submitted by Colonel Jones is as follows:) Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Lieutenant Colonel Jones, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Department of the Army. I represent the Department of Defense for this legislation, and representatives of each of the services are present to assist in answering any questions that you may have. The Armed Forces require today and will in the foreseeable future continue to require large numbers of Reserve officers on extended active duty to meet the commitments of national defense. In order to retain the required number of capable Reserve officers in the active establishment they must be provided with a reasonable degree of security. The law provides authority for keeping Reserve officers on active duty for long periods of time and also for releasing them when their services are no longer required. It makes no provision, however, for readjustment pay or other monetary cushion to ease their transition back to civilian occupations. We consider such a provision essential to good personnel management. The proposed legislation before this committee would resolve this problem by providing readjustment pay for members of the Reserve components who are involuntarily separated after a reasonable period of service. The Reserve element of our active officer corps consists of both volunteers and nonvolunteers. The nonvolunteers in the group are for the most part the newly commissioned Reserve second lieutenants serving the 2-year obligation which they assumed in order to complete their college education and ROTC training. We need to retain a considerable number of these officers on extended active duty beyond their obligated periods of service in order to provide a balanced officer structure. These officers must, however, be subject to release when their services are no longer required. After 18 years of service, the Reserve officer on active duty has reasonable assurance of qualifying for retirement benefits. Up to this point our Reserve officers need protection against economic dislocation during the critical earning period of their life. So long as our national policy requires Reserves to augment the active forces, some compensation to assist them in readjustment to civil life is certainly a justifiable element of the cost of national defense. We have given this problem careful study. The Reserve Forces Policy Board participated in the study which led to development of this legislation. The principles upon which this recommended legislation is based are fundamental to our basic purpose of improving stability of the officer corps. These principals are as follows: First, it must provide decided inducements for members of the Reserve to remain in the active service following conclusion of their legally obligated service. Such individuals must be assured that if, after extended service, their active duty career is terminated prior to qualification for retirement, some financial assistance will be provided to facilitate their conversion to civilian pursuits. Second, such emolument must provide adequate and just, but not excessive, compensation for those personnel. Third, it must not be so attractive as to deter members of the Reserve from striving for Regular appointments or from enlistment in a Regular component, nor must it influence persons released to inactive duty to terminate their Reserve affiliations. And, last, it must not prevent an individual who received benefits thereunder from acquiring retirement eligibility at a subsequent date under other provisions |