WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley and the members of the Iowa Congressional delegation today asked the Secretary of Defense to revisit a new policy to recognize Service members who are required to mobilize or deploy with more frequency than the established Department rotation policy goals
In their letter, the members state, “While we agree that soldiers should be compensated when DOD rotation goals are not met, we are concerned that this policy does not adequately reflect the hardships and sacrifices endured by soldiers and their families.”
As a member of the Senate National Guard Caucus, Grassley has also been working with Senators to address this issue, as well as other issues of great importance to the Iowa National Guard such as the equipment shortfall and holding DOD to their commitment to reduce future deployments to 12 months total.
Here is a copy of the letter.
The Honorable Robert Gates
Secretary of Defense
1600 Army Pentagon
Washington, D.C.20301
VIA FACSIMILE 703-697-8299
Dear Secretary Gates,
We are writing to express our concern with the new Department of Defense (DOD) policy to "recognize" Service members who are required to mobilize or deploy with more frequency than the established DOD rotation policy goals. We are especially concerned about this policy as it relates to the members and families of the Iowa National Guard.
As you know, on April 18, 2007, the DOD announced that members of the Armed Services who are required to deploy or mobilize with a frequency beyond established rotation policy goals (one year deployed to two years at home station for active duty soldiers, and one year deployed to five years at home station for reserve component soldiers) will be rewarded for this hardship with days off, or "administrative absence."
While we agree that soldiers should be compensated when DOD rotation goals are not met, we are concerned that this policy does not adequately reflect the hardships and sacrifices endured by soldiers and their families. While soldiers would be able to "cash in" their administrative leave, the monetary compensation they could accrue from this exchange is not sufficient to make up for lost time at home away from their families, jobs, and businesses, or to make up for the disruption and hardships that are caused by early or extended deployments. In addition, this policy does not provide soldiers and families with sufficient flexibility or timely relief, as administrative leave would become available only after all training and deployment activity is completed, instead of during the time of disruption.
As you are well aware, our nation's National Guard troops are playing an increasing and critical role in our defense missions overseas. The Iowa National Guard alone currently has 850 soldiers serving in , 70 soldiers serving in , and will deploy at least 750 soldiers in the remaining calendar year of 2007 who could be affected by this new DOD policy. These citizen-soldiers who leave behind families and civilian jobs to serve our country should be duly rewarded for their sacrifices, and deserve adequate compensation if they are required to leave home earlier or stay on the ground longer than anticipated according to DOD rotation goals.
The nation's Adjutants General have universally rejected this policy of compensating soldiers with administrative absence when rotation goals are not met and have suggested that providing them with a $1000/month monetary award, such as soldiers currently receive when they are extended beyond twelve months in theatre, would be a more appropriate policy. We urge you to follow their guidance, and we add our voices to their call for you and the DOD to revisit this policy and develop a new compensation package which will adequately compensate our service members and their families for the sacrifices they are making on behalf of our country.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Bruce Braley
Chuck Grassley
Tom Harkin
Tom Latham
Leonard Boswell
Steve King
Dave Loebsack