The Senate just completed their version of the FY2019 NDAA.  It included a reduction of end strength for the National Guard and Reserve so they stay at FY2018 levels.  It also allows the services to defer promotion consideration for reserve component servicemembers who are in a non-participatory, membership-only status.  This gives these officers more time to come back into a participating category and get good years before meeting a promotion board.

The bill text (S. 2987) is available here.

The report (S. Rpt. 115-262) is available here.

ROA’s Memorial Op-Ed was published in The Hill. “Among the sacred honors to befall a military officer away from the battlefield is to give a Memorial Day address. Speaking to Americans on this hallowed day is perhaps surpassed only by the responsibility of the gravesite presentation of the flag to a spouse or parent grieving profound loss. Or, being the first senior official to visit with the family at Dover Air Force Base as they await the repatriation of their loved one’s remains. Sharing the honor of these responsibilities with my fellow flag officers — admirals and generals — I joined an ancestry of sacred gratitude.” READ THE FULL STORY

In its fourth exclusive op-ed with The Hill, ROA continues to lead the way by being the only national military group with a regular column in a national news media publication! This past Sunday, ROA’s piece on the DD-214 “type of statement” was issued online. READ MORE

This high-priority topic is one of ROA’s major legislative initiatives for the 115^th Congress and we continue to build support in Washington, D.C. To further showcase ROA’s broad reach, the legislative team was asked to participate in a conference call with the RAND Corporation last week to discuss their research on the DD-214. Specifically, RAND has been tasked by the U.S. Government with recommending revisions to the 68-year old “Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty” form that often does not fully reflect a Reserve Component member’s service. ROA emphasized the inequities that currently exist with the DD-214 for servicemembers, specifically those from the Cold War period.

For more information on ROA's position, click here.

ROA's latest op-ed was published by The Hill on the importance of biennial defense funding. ROA is the only military group in Washington to have a monthly column in Washington media. This is our third column published since the new year in The Hill: “The budget deal signed Feb. 9 by President Trump funds the federal government for two years and postpones further damage to military readiness, especially that suffered by our hometown members of the Reserve and National Guard, by exactly that length of time. …”

CLICK HERE for the full story.

The President’s Budget included a document titled: An American Budget of the US Government Office of Management and Budget: OMB.GOV Fiscal Year 2019 Major Savings and Reforms.  An extract of the document recommendations that outline reductions or elimination of government programs is provided for those items that would most likely affect National Guard and Reserve members. READ MORE