Senator Patty Murray (above) is the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee and serves on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Her office issued the following:
For Immediate Release
CONTACT:
Murray (202) 224-2834
Friday, January 9th, 2014 Isakson (202) 224-7777
Top U.S. Army Official Fixes Retirement Benefits Issue After Calls from Murray, Isakson
Responding to concerns from Murray and Isakson,
Army changes policy that forced many officers to retire at a lower rank, lose as much as $1,000
per month in retirement benefits
In a November
letter to Army Secretary McHugh,
the Senators called for immediate reversal of previous policy
WASHINGTON,
D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Johnny Isakson
(R-GA) applauded U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh for reversing a policy
that caused a
significant number of Army officers to retire at a lower rank and lose
significant retirement benefits, as much as $1,000 per month for the
rest of their lives.
Under the now-reversed policy, a
significant group of Army captains and majors
(former non-commissioned officers
who were recruited for Officer Candidate School after September 11,
2001) were forced to retire at their highest previous enlisted rank,
instead of their rank as officers, as a result of the Army’s use of
Enhanced-Selective Early Retirement Boards (E-SERB).
In November, the Senators sent
a letter to Sec. McHugh calling for this change. The
new policy will result in a significant increase in lifetime retirement
benefits for the impacted soldiers, for some as much as $1,000 per month
or more, or just over $1 million over a
40 year retirement in the case of a captain forced to retire as a
sergeant first class.
“I heartily share your concern regarding those officers…who were informed they must retire in their previous enlisted grade,”
Secretary McHugh
wrote to the Senators.
“I am pleased to inform you that…I have waived the minimum requirement
for those officers, allowing them to retire as officers without
regard to the number of years they have in active commissioned
service.”
The full text of Secretary McHugh’s letter can be viewed
HERE.
"These
brave men and women answered the Army’s call to duty not just once, but
twice, and I applaud Secretary McHugh’s swift action to correct this
policy and ensure
we fully honor the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” Senator Murray said. “I'm
grateful to my friend and colleague, Senator Isakson, for joining me in this fight.”
“I
am thrilled Secretary McHugh responded quickly and is taking the steps
necessary to rectify this situation and allow these deserving men and
women to retire at
the rank they have earned and appropriately honor their service to our
nation,”
said Isakson, chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Read a one-page summary of the issue
here.
Under
the previous Army policy, a soldier must have served at least 8 years of
active service as a commissioned officer in order to retire as a
commissioned officer.
Soldiers who served 20 years total, but less than 8 years as
commissioned officers, were retired at their highest enlisted rank.
During
the “Grow the Army” effort, the Army dramatically increased the number
of officers commissioned via its Officer Candidate School (OCS). The
Army expanded to a
post 9-11 peak of 570,000 soldiers in 2010 and is currently executing
an end strength reduction designed to shrink the Army to 450,000
soldiers. Many of those OCS graduates are now being forced to retire
through the E-SERB process as the Army shrinks. Officers
with more than 18 years active service are screened by E-SERB and those
selected will be forced to retire on the first day of the month
following the month they reach 20 years of service. These former
non-commissioned officers stepped up and volunteered for
OCS at a time the Army badly needed officers and served honorably for
between 6 and 7 years, but many were being retired at enlisted ranks
they had not held in years.
Senators
Murray and Isakson were joined in sending their initial letter by:
Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Saxby Chambliss
(R-GA), Susan Collins
(R-ME), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Mark
Pryor (D-AR), Bernard Sanders (D-VT) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).
###
Sean Coit
Press Secretary
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
202-224-2834
veterans
