With the nation’s Ready Reserve facing a significant shortage in dozens of critical wartime specialty positions, U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) on July 1 sponsored a bipartisan bill that would authorize certain retired members of the United States Armed Forces to be placed in the Ready Reserve, where they would receive retired pay, as well as their pay and allowances for any duty performed.
“In order to remain the greatest fighting force in the world, our military needs to address shortages in specialty MOSs within our Ready Reserves,” said Rep. Wenstrup, referring to Military Service Obligations (MSOs). “Those shortages are not a result of a lack of funding or a shortage of existing specialists, but rather due to financial disincentives for service members facing retirement. Our bipartisan, commonsense bill would correct those issues.”
Current law imposes restrictions on a retiree’s ability to simultaneously collect distributions from their already-earned pension and receive pay for Reserve service, disincentivizing qualified personnel from serving in the Ready Reserve upon retirement from active duty, according to information provided by Rep. Wenstrup’s office.
To address this problem and provide the Armed Forces with an additional tool to fill critical shortages, Rep. Wenstrup introduced the Patriot Retention Act, H.R. 4343, with lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), which would allow a Service Secretary to select highly trained, retiring active duty service members having a skill in which the Ready Reserve faces a critical shortage of personnel to serve, while concurrently receiving pay for their Reserve duties and their pension, according to Rep. Wenstrup’s information.
H.R. 4343 has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee.