Equal Benefits for Equal Work: New Policy, Pending Bill, Aim to Close Gaps for Reservists

AURORA, Colo.—The Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard are working to equalize their members’ status and benefits with those of Active-Duty members when both serve in the same missions.

New guidance accelerates Line of Duty determinations for reservists injured while on Active-Duty orders. The new policy, outlined in Feb. 23 release, aims to remove extra hurdles that sometimes put reservists at a disadvantage during their recoveries if were injured or became ill during their call-up, noted Lt. Gen. John P. Healy, the Air Force Reserve boss, Feb. 24 at AFA’s Warfare Symposium.

Unlike Active-Duty members, whose medical care is fully covered, reservists on Active-Duty orders must prove their injury or illness grew out of their Active status, which can be challenging with long-term health problems and has tied up some reservists in coverage disputes for months and even years.

Under the new policy, reservists activated for more than 30 consecutive days and have at least 180 total days of active service have a streamlined process to prove their ailment occurred while in the Line of Duty. Military authorities will then issue Line of Duty determinations based on the same criteria used for Active-Duty members.

“In cases that meet the criteria, officials will no longer need to determine when an illness or injury began – unless a commander requests a formal investigation,” according to the release. In addition to having Active orders for more than 30 days and at least 180 days of Total Active Federal Military Service, members must fill out a line of duty rights advisement memorandum and submit medical documentation, including a diagnosis and treatment plan, to support the claim.

Healy said the Reserve continues to press to reduce the orders requirements for line-of-duty criteria, noting that reservists can often be activated in two-week intervals multiple times over the course of a year.

“If they do two-week blocks time after time, should they also be considered for line of duty?” Healy said.

A second change will require legislative action. Reps Gill Cisneros (D-Calif.) and Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) have proposed a measure in the House, H.R. 6796, that aims to change the complex rules for reservists so that, as soon as they are activated, they have the same status and benefits as their Active-Duty counterparts. The measure will be a “gamechanger,” noted former Air National Guard Director Lt. Gen. Michael A. Loh in a January interview with Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The bill would also drastically reduce from 30 to four the active-duty status categories now used, making Reserve personnel management overly complex. “They changed from one status to another, so it would kick them off Tricare,” Loh said, of the Active-Duty military healthcare system, which also covers family members. “They could be deployed, doing this over in Europe, the Middle East, or somewhere in the Pacific, and the next thing you know, they’re getting calls from their family saying, ‘Hey, I just got a medical bill, and they said we didn’t have Tricare.”

“It is absolutely necessary for our Guard and Reserve,” Loh said.

The four proposed duty status categories in the act are:

Category I: Contingency Duty that involves missions such as military operations and national emergencies, such as natural disasters. This also covers post-deployment activities.
Category II: Training and Support activities that include required training, administrative assignments and other support missions.
Category III: Reserve Component Duty Blocks of time that involve partial-day duty and are dedicated to readiness training and support to prepare individuals and units to be ready for future use and mobilization. This category would include training periods, flight training, administrative activities, and support activities such as funeral honors support.
Category IV: Remote Assignments that involve online learning and individually assigned duties that are completed virtually.

Chief Master Sgt. Israel Nunez, Healy’s senior enlisted advisor, said the change will make a huge difference.

“Basically, you’re either Active Duty for operational work, you’re Active Duty for training, you’re doing Reserve duty in Active-Duty training, or you’re doing what we call flexible duty,” Nunez said. Nunez cited two examples where the disparities affected Guard members and their families.

A fatal 2015 Black Hawk helicopter crash claimed the lives of four Louisiana Air National Guard Airmen and seven active-duty Marines. Even though the Guardsmen were on Active orders, serving in the same mission as the Marines, their families received different survivor benefits, Nunez said.

Last year, when both California Air National Guard Airmen and active-duty Marines were assigned to provide security in Los Angeles, they received different health and education benefits based on their duty status, Nunez said.

Duty status reform has been a long way coming—Healy, now a three-star general, said he worked on the issue as a lieutenant colonel. If the bipartisan bill is successful, that long wait might finally be over.