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Editorial: Right plan for reservists

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., is the latest lawmaker with a plan to lower the age at which reserve and National Guard members can begin drawing retirement pay.

His proposal would cut one year off the current threshold of age 60 for every two years a reservist served beyond the 20 needed to qualify for retirement, up to a maximum of 34 years of service. This would let reservists draw retired pay as early as age 53.

Another plan, sponsored by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., would cut the retirement pay threshold by three months for every three months of active duty served in support of a contingency, to include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hagel’s effort is an attempt to make reserve retirement more like retired pay for active-duty members, which reservists would certainly appreciate. But there are reasons to favor Chambliss’ plan now. For one thing, it would be less costly — and thus would stand a better chance of approval.

Second, it focuses on reservists who have given the most in recent years. The government has already set a precedent of treating activated reservists more like active duty with comparable health care and GI Bill benefits. Beginning retired pay early, an acknowledgment of the impact of cumulative deployments on a reservist’s civilian retirement plan, is a logical extension of this.

At current rates, an E-7 with 24 years of service who draws retired pay at age 58 would pull in more than $40,800 in additional retired pay over those two years — not unreasonable, considering the impact of deployment on his home life.

But Chambliss’ plan has a huge flaw — it would not begin counting contingency service until after it is enacted. His original plan was retroactive to Sept. 11, 2001, but he cut back because of expense.

Broader reforms, such as Hagel’s plan, should wait until the bipartisan Commission on the National Guard and Reserve delivers a broad study of reserve compensation later this year.

Congress should approve Chambliss’ plan, rewritten to be retroactive to Sept. 11. The entire dynamic of Guard and reserve service changed that day; changing reserve retired pay to reflect that reality by rewarding service in contingency operations is the wise course at this time.